Is this a standard file Mac/private/var/root ( root being one of 6 with a red circle in the lower right hand corner with a minus sign in it.) My apologies if this is a really lame question, Im new here and Ive learned a lot over the last few years but all self taught, so clearly have a lot to go. I get the red circle, and aware of what root is, just concerned about these folders and why I wouldn't have permission. It says I have "no access" System has "read and write" wheel has "read only" and everyone has 
no access" .  Its been calculating size for about 30 minutes now, says it was created march 12,2016 at 12:03pm , modified may 22nd at 4:18pm . So weird. So yeah just wondering is this standard and Im just being paranoid haha.  Thanks in advance for any help .
The red circle with dash or a minus sign in it refers to a folder to which you do not have permissions to see the contents of. The folder you are specifically showing in that screenshot are System files owned by the root/system. You shouldn't attempt to modify, move or delete these files as they are important to your operating system and that is why the permission has been set. 

To answer your question, yes it's completely normal, it's likely that its just logging errors, system activity or even a programs activities, it's nothing that you need to be worried about, it's just standard system operations.