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Don K.

Don K.

I am retired from all sorts of things.I live with my wife of 39 years on a small farm in North Dakota near the Canadian border. We support a few chickens and three fat horses. I work on the farm and do a fair amount of volunteer work besides. I have read lots of books. The books on my shelf are some that I will admit to having read.
  • Turtle Mountains, ND, USA
  • member since December 4 2007

Groups

  • Chronological Read of American History Discussion Group
  • Good Reads Discussion Group

Friends

My Favorite books

     
 
 
 

Public Notes

  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    Sounds great, start sending those welcome notes and let me know if you want me to take a turn in January.

    In one of my groups, our current administrator had himself appointed administrator by Shelfari since the originator hadn't been heard from in ages. It might be easier to start a new group. Your idea of contacting people with Solomon's book is excellent (although I need to make sure it's on my shelf) and perhaps similar books. I think sending a private message and posting a note to the current administrator asking to be made a coadministrator is an excellent place to start. The more members you have, the higher you appear in the Shelfari listings, correct?

    My fall order is rather small but the witch hazel and a basswood tree are new species. Two flowering dogwoods I planted last fall didn't make it - too wet I think - so after a little research I decided the site could work well for witch hazel. One of them is native to our area so hopefully they will thrive. We've been trying to get all of the plants in our personal nursery into the ground this fall and then want to take a hiatus from planting new trees/shrubs next spring and focus on maintenance. We have a lot of invasives that we need to locate and eradicate and beat back from things we have already planted.

    I bought wild flower seeds this fall and per the instructions have been waiting for the first killing frost to plant them. I cannot believe we still haven't had one.

    Will be checking out Solomon's site. Thanks!

    posted 11 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    We've read a lot of the same books and agree on some and disagree on others. I hate to talk up an author too much because I sometimes think high expectations get in the way of how much I like a book, but I will definitely make it a point to read Fergus' next book.

    Just use your best judgement on how much to post. I'm interested in what you think. What I find boring is when people have no lively opinions. What's to discuss if we all agree? I think the biggest influence on whether someone stays with the group or not is whether they like the books that are chosen. Two months with books that don't interest them, and they find another group. Only the administrators feel obligated to read them all;-) I have to say, though, I've liked some books that I didn't think would interest me and disliked some books that I thought I would love.

    The group wasn't sending welcome notes when I inherited it, but I've occasionally thought about doing it. Do you want to take turns (every other week or every other month) or do you want to just be in charge? It would be interesting to see if it changes our participation.

    I do suspect, however, that we were a little too fringe in our gardening interests for the rest of the Shelfari world... Speaking of gardening, my fall shipment of shrubs is scheduled to arrive in 2 days. I'm especially excited about the witchhazel!

    posted 11 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    May I suggest one of Jim Fergus's books? The Wild Girl or 1000 White Women. I'd be interested in hearing what you thought.

    posted 11 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jabberwocky

    jabberwocky says

    I have been looking for a copy of the Magic Island. I read somewhere that it was the first Zombie book written, and that it was the inspiration for the movie "The White Zombie." I get into different genres and try to pick up as much as i can before my mood changes to the next genre. But the good thing about that is that whenever my mood changes i have a stack of book at my house to choose from ;)

    posted 13 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    I just posted the discussion for Mistress of the Art of Death

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    We have a drain pipe from our gutters that comes out on a hillside - I'm thinking stones for the occasional waterfall to help our erosion, too. Yours sounds lovely. The main thing we need to do (the whole property is on a hill) is create depressions along our paths in the woods. I've decided we need to bring in dirt to create a u shaped bowl across and around the paths. Our soil is very sandy so if we can force the water to pool instead of racing down the path, it will drain quickly. We can site plants that prefer a little more water along the u. Unfortunately, I also want dear hubby in on this plan. He can bring home free dirt from work and perform half of the manual labor. As of now, he's not sharing my vision but I have the entire winter to work on him. Right now, we have about a dozen potted plants we want to get into the ground before winter and a few more on order so that's the fall agenda. We plan to buy no new trees or shrubs in the spring and focus on maintenance - lots of undesireable vines and weeds we need to address and, perhaps, create a depression or two.

    A cistern sounds great! We finally hooked up 2 rain barrels this fall. What I really liked was the roof gardens but don't think that's on our horizon.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings CROAH member!


    We are now accepting nominations for the next group read to cover the fourth US President, James Madison.

    Please send your suggestions via one of 2 ways:

    a) a private note to either Regina or Dog Lover (this method reveals your email address to us), or

    b) use the "Questions About this Group" text box found on the member's tab. This sends an email to both administrators and masks your email address.

    Please do NOT post your nomination to the site's discussion tab.

    Please include the title, author, and brief description of the book. It would also be nice if you included the Shelfari book page URL.

    Nominations will be accepted through the 18th. Nominations will be posted and voting will take place through the 25th. We will post the selected book on the 26th.

    Because we are approaching the Holidays a revised schedule will be followed for the remainder of 2009 and beginning of 2010. We will vote for the Madison read in October, post discussion questions in November, skip December, vote on Monroe reads in January, and post discussion questions in February.

    A suggestion has been made to continue the extended reading schedule past the Holidays and provide 2 months between book selections. We would be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Would it help you? Would you lose momentum? Are you too busy to participate on the current schedule.

    Please post your comments on this proposed scheduling change to the nomination thread found at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/146618/James-Madison-Nominations-are-Open

    The four books we've chosen since the group started have been fabulous. We look forward to seeing the nominations for the fifth.

    Thanks,

    Regina & DL

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    Only 3 stars for Perfume? That's not very encouraging. I'm still waiting for my copy from iterlibrary loan.

    Happy to see Lonesome Dove appear on your favorites shelf.

    And finally, did you catch the postings responding to you on the Middlesex thread that were added about a week ago?

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Regina L

    Regina L says

    I missed a nomination. Please check the ballot threat and make sure you don't want to change your vote. Thanks

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings CROAH members!

    The nominations are in for the CROAH September group read about Thomas Jefferson.

    You'll find the ballot at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/137240/Vote-for-Thomas-Jefferson-Reads---September-2009

    This is a "ballot" therefore...

    Please vote only once.

    Please indicate only a vote "for" - do not vote against a title.

    Please do not include any sales talk or justification for your vote - just "yae" or "for".

    The last 3 reads have been just fabulous. With this range of nominations, it looks as though we'll have another winner for our 4th group read!

    Thanks so much to all of you who submitted nominations - great job!

    Lookin' forward to your votes,

    DL

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Evelyn S

    Evelyn S says

    The weather has been pretty awful here too Don, yes we have had a bit of sunsh9ine here and there but often accompanied by strong winds, cold winds, or rain . I have very few tomatoes and the ones growing are the large variety so I guess they will remian green until ripened indoors, we shall see. I have few runner beans biut very few as tthe snails and slugs have demolished a lot of the plants even though I am diligent about removing them. This is the weather to keep them active. I have had a few zucchini but not that many 5 or 6, a few strawberries too. As always, the blackberries are doing well and the new autumn fruiting raspberries have put out flowers and I have a few berries to come, so nice. The pumpkin that was growing suddenley upped and died, i have one or two more very smalal ones, we shall see. Even the flowers are poor for the most part. What a summer, Huh?
    Take care,
    Evelyn S

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings!

    The Chronological Read of American History Group (CROAH) is now ready to receive your nominations for the group's September read.

    The subject is Thomas Jefferson. To nominate a biography, please send the title, author, and a brief description of the book to the group administrators. You might choose to also include the URL for the Shelfari book page associated with your nominated title.

    To send us your nominated title, you may use either the "private note" feature (which will reveal your email address to the administrators) or the "Questions about this group?" text entry box found on the member tab of CROAH which will protect your privacy.

    Nominations will be accepted through Aug 16 2009.

    Voting will take place from August 17 - 23, 2009 with an announcement on August 24, 2009.

    Lookin' forward to seein' your nominations!

    DL

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Evelyn S

    Evelyn S says

    Hi Donn, just finally checking in to see how your summer is goling and how the chickens are and the horses and your wife's flowers?
    Weather has been poor and so many of my plans for the garden have literally, not born fruit/veggies/anything. I am getting a few zucchini and even less green beans. The tomatoes are even poor which is not usual for me, the only ones so far that look like gicing me some produce, even if late, are the large tomatoes, not the black Russian I was hoping for. Cab't work it without warm sunshijne and we have had precious little warm sunshine. So I am making Christmas cards, yes I am, in July and August, to get ahead of the game.
    Found a lot of hard copies of many, though not all, of my short stories, not many of my poems though. maybe they are in another file somewhere?
    Take care, enjoy what you have,
    Evelyn S

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • cagrowngirl

    cagrowngirl says

    The red rose is beautiful. Thank you for sharing!!!

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Regina L

    Regina L says

    Like the avatar. Is there a story?

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Denizen

    Denizen says

    Enjoying your avatars.

    posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings,

    Chronological Read of American History - July 2009 Ballot: John Adams

    Nominations are now closed for our collective read on John Adams. Voting will be open until June 19. Please vote one (and only one) time for one of the nominated books.

    http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/125744/July-2009-Ballot-John-Adams

    Hope to see your vote soon,

    DL

    Note: If you are one of the early birds that have already voted, please excuse this note. Bookkeeping is difficult in tasks such as this!

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • doughgirl5562

    doughgirl5562 says

    Hi!

    The Minneapolis-St.Paul-Minnesota Group recently hit 100 members, so we're kicking off a 100-Member Celebration! Details are available on the group site. Hint: It involves a drawing for some gift certificates, and participation is required in order to be eligible for the drawing :-) Come celebrate with us!

    Also, we've announced that our summer group read will be Leif Enger's newest book: So Brave, Young and Handsome. I'm reading this book right now and will have the discussion thread up by next week. The thread will be available for discussion this entire summer.

    Doughgirl5562 / Lynne – Co-Admin of the Minneapolis-St.Paul-Minnesota Group

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings!

    There are 3 items on the Chronological Read of American History (CROAH) Group that need your attention.

    1) Nominations are now open for us to select the group read for July 2009.

    The July 2009 read will cover John Adams. To nominate a book send a private note to one of the administrators with the book title, author, and a brief synopsis of the book. Another communication route is via the "Questions about this group?" box found on the Members page of the group.

    We will post nominations sometime over the wekend following Friday, June 12. Voting will take place until Friday, June 19. The selection will be posted sometime that weekend.


    2) We'd really like your feedback on how the group worked for the first 2 group reads.

    http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/122443/May-vs-March-Discussion-Structure


    3) There is a new Shelfari group closely related to CROAH that we hope will interest you.

    http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/123132/The-U-S-Supreme-Court

    http://www.shelfari.com/groups/38428/about


    Thanks for helping make CROAH a great resource for learning more about the USA's history by examining each of its Presidents.

    DL

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • jabberwocky

    jabberwocky says

    Thanks for the site Don. I will check it out soon. Did you stop in Germany on your way to India ?

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )


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