Burning Last Easter's Palms

Sunday, March 6, 2011. Ash Wednesday comes next week, the beginning of Lent. We get ashes for that day from last year's Easter palms: and today was the day the palms were burned. Our Lady of the Angels church has been using a wire-mesh burner for a few years now: a big improvement over what we had before.

This year the weather cooperated, with just enough breeze to blow smoke - reliably - in one direction. Last year's 35-mile-an-hour winds, I'm told, made burning the palms something of a track-and-field event: what with chasing down wind-blown palm bits.


Some of last year's palms reduced to ash, loading more in. March 6, 2011.


Those bits on the ground got gathered and burned a few minutes after I took this picture. March 6, 2011.

We got re-introduced to Scrip today, again at Our Lady of the Angels. I've written about it before. (February 17, 2008) Quite a few businesses in town have agreed to pay a percentage of what's bought with a Scrip card to Holy Family School. Sounds like a good idea.


Really brightly-colored poster, illustrating how Scrip works: at Our Lady of the Angels church. The kids at far right had been singing. March 6, 2011.

We've had quite a bit of snow this winter: more came down today. It's picturesque, and easier on the lungs than open winters where wind-blown dust turns the sky a tannish brown.

On the other hand, all that snow can be an inconvenience. Or worse. The roof of Wagner Hardware, over in Glenwood, collapsed back on February 1, if I'm getting the date right. 4:00 p.m., according to the Pope County Press. They've got an article about the collapse that starts with:

"It's a miracle of God that Dave (Guindon) and Sam (Martin) weren't skewered by broken wood timbers," said Garrett Wagner, who owns and operates Wagner Hardware in Glenwood.

"There were five Wagner Hardware employees in the building when the west side of the store's roof came crashing down at about 4 p.m. last Tuesday...."
(Tim Douglass, pctribune.com (February
7, 2011))

The Wagner Hardware roof collapse reminded me of when the Pamida store roof caved in, quite a few years ago now. Nobody hurt then, either. I've heard that Wagner plans to rebuild, starting this summer.

Like I said, we got more snow today: a nice, gentle, steady snowfall throughout most of the day. Nice to look at, from inside: and enough to keep me away from the grill. I've been out grilling burgers in much worse: but I'm getting over some sort of bug, and decided to be smart. Actually, my wife pointed out the prudent choice.

Finally, Our Lady of the Angels' Lenten Parish Mission with Steve Ray: starts a week from today, March 13th. The Sunday thing starts 6:45 p.m. at the Sauk Centre High School auditorium, I understand - then there's another session Monday at Our Lady of the Angels Church. I wrote about the mission and Steve Ray last week. Well, I mentioned it anyway.