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Friday, September 30, 2011

9/30/11 STREETS OF GOLD

STREETS OF GOLD

GREEN AND GOLD WHITE PINE

FIRST STREET LANDSCAPE JOB

CEDAR WAXWING GORGING ON MOUNTAIN ASH BERRIES


Friday, 8:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind W and calm at ground level, northerly and brisk at cloud level. The sky is overcast ,with patches of blue, and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
    White pines (and other pines) are shedding their three-year old needles, which turn golden yellow and drop.  I usually get calls asking what is the matter with pine trees at this time of year;  nothing, it is perfectly natural.  In the process the pines,  dressed green-and-gold, look like Green Bay Packer Backers.  Yesterday’s high winds blew needles into windrows of gold in the city’s streets.
    The landscape job on North 1st St.,  almost completed, was rained out yesterday  afternoon but will be finished today.
    The cedar waxwings are still flocking by the dozens to the mountain ash tree on the south side of the house, gorging themselves to bursting.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

9/29/11 MISCELLANY

OREGON GRAPEHOLLY

THE HERB GARDEN

NEW STEPS AND RAILING

PLANTS ARRIVING FOR 1ST ST. JOB

GREAT BLUE HERON ON SIOUX RIVER
Thursday, 8:00 AM.  57 degrees, wind NW, very strong, with gusts that must be 40 MPH or more.  The sky is mostly clear except for patches of silvery-gray clouds flying high and fast.  The barometer predicts rain.  It is no day to be on the lake, and I imagine the Apostle Islands tours will be canceled.
    I am fully involved with a landscaping job today so this will be a short, miscellaneous blog.
    The Oregon grape holly, Mahonia aquifolium, in the barberry family (Berberridaceae) growing in the herb garden is full of its grape-like but totally inedible berries. This is a great ornamental plant that I really like, and it is completely hardy here along the lake.  It is evergreen, and looks like a holly.  I saw it growing in its native habitat in the Cascade Mountains yeas ago.
    The herb garden looks nice now, much improved with the new steps and railing down to the back yard that I constructed last week.
    The plants arrived for our landscape job on First Street yesterday from Northwoods Nursery and we will finish the current portion of the project today.
    As I was returning from Ashland yesterday I saw this great blue heron out of the corner of my  eye. It was sitting on a branch maybe a hundred and fifty feet or so downriver from the Hwy. 13 bridge. 

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

9/3/28/11 GOOD NEW THINGS TO TALK ABOUT

'CANADA RED SELECT' CHOKE CHERRY...

...THE CHERRIES

BAYFIELD WINE AND SPIRITS

APOSTLE ISLANDS BOOK SELLERS
Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  55 degrees, wind E, calm.  The sky has been alternately cloudy or clear, depending on wind direction; cloudy if from the east, clear if from the west, and it has been changing back and forth quite quickly.  The barometer predicts rain.  It  will be an unpredictable day.
    I don’t normally think of the common choke cherry, Prunus virginiana, as an ornamental plant, even though it is a very desirable wildlife shrub or small tree, blooming nicely in the spring and bearing small, tart cherries. That is because cherries and plums, members of the genus Prunus, are inherently short lived and prone to pest and disease problems.  But there are some newer horticultural selections on the market that are more decorative and have better landscape qualities than the species, such as this ‘Canada Red Select’ choke cherry, with purple summer foliage and dark maroon, edible (although small) cherries.  Nice as it appears, I still wouldn’t give it a prominent place in the landscape.   
    The Bayfield Chamber of Commerce held its monthly “after hours” get together at two new neighboring stores on Ritenhouse Avenue; Bayfield Wine and Spirits and Bayfield Booksellers.  Both are doing well in their first year of business, and are fine additions to the Bayfield retail community.  We missed several after hours events this summer because we were indisposed, and it was good to get back into “circulation.”  At these get togethers, I usually represent our landscape business, and Joan our lodging business.
    We are receiving a load of plants today for a planting job in town tomorrow, so it will be a busy couple of days. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

9/27/11 BRIDGE OVER NORTH BRANCH OF PIKES CREEK REPLACED

RED MAPLES ALONG HWY. 13

DANGEROUS OLD BRIDGE REPLACED

GRASS SEED PLANTED  AND COVERED

MARSHY HEADWATERS OF THE NORTH BRANCH OF PIKE'S CREEK

NEW FISHING/SPAWNING  HOLE
Tuesday, 7:30 AM.  58 degrees, wind SW, calm.  The sky is overcast and it is raining, and the barometer predicts more.  It looks like an inside day.
    The replacement of the ancient, dangerous bridge over the North Branch of Pikes Creek with a large culvert has been completed, and it looks to me like a fine job. The narrow bridge crossing has been widened for safety.  The upstream marsh was not affected by the construction and the downstream waters were protected as much as possible with silt barriers.  The banks have been seeded and covered with straw matting.  It  looks like a nice fishing and spawning hole has been created downstream from the culvert.
    These headwaters of the creek are important spawning areas for  brook trout and migratory rainbow trout, and it appears to me that these resources were improved as well as protected.  My congratulations to the Town of Russell, the Bayfield County Road Engineer and all others involved in this project. 
    Compton Road is gravel and I hope it will not be paved, as that would only increase its use as a shortcut around the city of Bayfield to Rt. 13 west through orchards and  berry farms.
    Guardrails have still not been installed on the Raspberry River project on Old Hwy K, and it remains a very dangerous situation, in my opinion.  If it is not done before winter, there will almost certainly be a bad accident.

Monday, September 26, 2011

9/26/11 A VISIT TO THE DEER STAND

UNDER AN AZURE BLUE SKY

BEAR PRINT

DEER PRINTS

LADIES TRESSES ORCHIDS

BIGLEAF ASTERS
Monday, 8:00 AM.  51.5 degrees, wind NE, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear and azure blue, the barometer predicts rain, but the humidity is low so it is not likely to do so soon.
    I took a walk down to my deer stand yesterday, to see what some additional logging has done to the area. I thought the habitat damage not too great, and it will actually improve as young growth is regenerated in another growing season or two.  There were not a great many deer tracks, in fact more bear and coyote tracks (I didn’t see any canine tracks big enough to be wolf) than deer, but I will console myself by the fact that the rut has not yet started, as there was not a rub or a scrape evident, and there should be a lot more deer sign when it does start.  The logging left my deer stand unscathed but maybe a little naked, and it really looks too low off the ground now, but I am not about to raise it any higher and tempt fate.
    I have heard reports of a good grouse population, but I saw none in a fairly long walk through pretty good habitat.  I didn’t take Lucky because I was afraid he wouldn’t make it back on his own, and bird hunting without a dog is no fun at all for me and not very productive.  I am sorry now that I do not have another dog in training, but I really have been reluctant to upset old Lucky, who has been a faithful partner, with an obvious rival. I probably should just take him hunting until he drops on the trail one day; to quote my mother, “Let me die with my boots on.” To once again quote the Old Man in Robert Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy: "Two things got no place on this earth, an old dog and an old man.  Neither serves any useful function, and both generally smell bad." Of course the Old Man was in his cups the day he said that, and in general felt better about things the next day.
    I came across a large patch of ladies tresses orchids (Spiranthes cernua), the bees were busy working the goldenrods, and the cutting of trees has encouraged the blooming of huge clones of bigleaf aster (Aster macrophylla).

Sunday, September 25, 2011

9/25/11 FALL FRUITS, AND A FEW NUTS

FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL

RED TWIG DOGWOOD

HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY

CATALPA

RUGOSA ROSE HIPS

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind NNE, calm.  The sky has been overcast but it is rapidly clearing, the sunlight dappling the wet grass as it filters its way through the pine branches.  The barometer still predicts rain, but I am hoping for some sunshine.
    Along with color, fall brings its characteristic fruits.  We all think apples and pears, certainly. Here are some other fall fruits, not necessarily edible, which you may not have thought about: The False Solomon’s Seal, Smilacina racemosa, berries are dead ripe, the bears at least eat them, and I assume other animals and birds as well; highbush cranberries, Viburnum Americanum, are ripe, too tart to eat but good for jams and jellies and winter bird survival; red-twig dogwood, Cornus stolonifera, berries, good wild life food; Catalpa beans, Catalpa bignonioides, the long pods hanging from the trees, I assume animals eat them; rose hips; and of course the mountain ash berries which the birds love.  There are also  wild plums ripening, great fruit if the bears don’t get them first, and many, many different crabapples.
    The Bad River Ojibwe tribal leaders met recently with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to voice their opposition to taconite iron mining in the Bad River watershed.  They fear possible pollution which could affect the tribe’s Lake Superior wild rice beds and other aspects of their traditional way of life.
    As those of you who are regular readers know, I have a great deal of respect for the Indian concept of preservation of resources for future generations, and it is a concept we all should adhere to. Unfortunately, it can play right into the hands of the extreme environmentalists who actually believe it is morally wrong to mine materials from Mother Earth under any circumstances (don’t laugh, we read the nutty bumper stickers and take them seriously). 
    If such attitudes were to prevail, we would all soon be back in the stone age.  We cannot deny ten thousand years of human history and progress.  Modern life, and all human history,  is fraught with challenges, and mistakes have obviously been made by humans in the development of civilization.  But the alternative to change and progress is stagnation and reversion to a state of nature where only the strongest few survive, and even they are doomed to short, brutish lives of pain, disease and drudgery.
    The tribes here have considerable political and cultural  influence, and their treaty rights are well recognized by the state and federal courts.  However, as many or more Indians live off the reservations as on, and ultimately all have as great an interest in the economic future of the region as any other group, and I for one hope they don’t choose the path of anti-development obstructionism that so many others have gone down.  Ultimately the resources of the earth will be developed and used, if not now then in the future, and if not by us then by some more practical and technologically advanced conquerer; like it or not, that is the way of the world.  If we can’t do mining and other resource development responsibly, nobody can, or will.
    None of us know enough at this point to say whether the proposed mine should go forward, as the engineering, scientific and cultural information to make a decision is incomplete.  But it is irresponsible to simply shut our minds to the concept and oppose it on one unproven principle or another.
  

Saturday, September 24, 2011

9/24/11 A SLIVER OF SLIVOVITZ

LIQUID FIRE

HERE''S A SLIVOVITZ TOAST TO ALL...

Saturday,  8:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind W, light.  The sky is still overcast but the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather.  Some sunshine would be nice.  The geese were flying again this morning, very high, obscured by the clouds, their incessant chatter muffled.  Can they see where they are going, or are they following the magnetic lines of the earth? A mystery, surely.
    The first day of fall opened with a another bit of mystery at Chateau Ode; the doorbell rang and when I went to open the door nobody was there, no car in the driveway, nothing. Even though the stores are full of pumpkins, goblins and ghosts, trick or treating is a long way off. Looking down, I saw a brown paper bag nestled against the door jam.  What could it be?
    It was… totally unexpected best wishes from a”loyal, faithful Bayfield Almanac reader…” anxious to keep me healthy and out of the hospital, with…Slivovitz, about which I wrote some time ago as a wonderful memory of Milwaukee and my Aunt Emmy, who as a proud Checkoslovak/American passed around the plum brandy at Christmas. To quote the note that accompanied the bottle, “It is entirely possible that a mere daily sliver of Slivovitz is an appropriate antidote and we are reasonably sure that your aunt …would have a nod of approval for this plum of a medication.”
    As I sipped the 80 proof  liquid fire I could again see Aunt Emmy, a smiling, tiny wisp of a woman with silver gray hair tightly  knotted in a bun, dressed in her lace fringed frock, bringing traditional Check and German dishes to the crowded holiday table. And passing the bottle of Slivovitz.
    So here’s a toast to her, and to all the good people of my Milwaukee melting pot past: Checks, Slovaks, Poles, Irish, Italians, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Greeks, Africans, Native Americans, Jews and many other ethnicities who lived together in relative harmony and enriched each others lives; and most especially to Einar, who must have gone to great trouble to procure the rather rare, imported libation. 
    The Slivovitz must be fine medicine, as a sliver of it did  make me feel very good indeed.  But Einar, from you I would have expected maybe Aquavit?

Friday, September 23, 2011

9/23/11 A LITTLE EXCITEMENT ON THE FIRST DAY OF FALL

TOWN BEAR
MOUNTAIN MAPLE

SUGAR MAPLE

Friday, 8:00 AM.  38.5 degrees, wind WSW, calm.  The sky is mostly overcast but the barometer predicts sunshine and the it will probably clear up by noon. Geese are flying high, heading south.
    We had a little excitement on our morning walk.  Roxy, the neighbor’s black lab, was with us and scented a bear in the woods on 9th St., got on its trail and flushed it out on the corner at  Wilson St.  I could hear it just off the road and did manage to keep up with it and get a photo as it ran out.  It was either a very large cub or a small yearling, probably a hundred and twenty pounds or so.  Anyway, mama was not with it, which was probably a good thing.  Lucky doesn't see or hear well enough anymore to have sensed it.
    Although it occurs right on schedule every year, I am still always more than a little amazed at the way vegetation begins to turn to fall coloration and then dormancy right on cue, just before or even on the very first day of fall.
    Red maples started to color perhaps a week or so ago, maple and birch virtually  yesterday or today. each species in the temperate flora following its own slightly different time table.
     Fall leaf coloration is a complex process, dependent upon rainfall, temperature and other contributing factors, but the primary determinant is shortening day length, which makes sense, since it is the most, virtually the only one of many factors which is absolutely consistent every year.   When the sun crosses the equator at the fall equinox in its apparent journey south, deciduous plants in the earth’s northern temperate zone “know,” through their genetic evolutionary development, that the cold and drought of winter is  imminent.  Of course it is actually the earth tipping on its axis as it orbits the sun that actually, rather than apparently, determines day length.   
    We are fortunate that we have gotten some moisture recently, and that should prolong the retention of fall leaf color, and if we get a period of night temperatures approaching but above freezing the colors will intensify.  But day length is the boss.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

9/22/11 ALL RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

BIGLEAF ASTER

MOUNTAIN MAPLE

AMERICAN CHESTNUT

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind NE, calm.  The sky is overcast, and it is drizzling lightly but the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.  We have gotten about a half inch of rain in the last twenty-four hours.
    I spied the first flowering of the bigleaf aster, Aster macrophylla, in the woods on 9th St. this morning.  Soon the woods will be full of the flowers, the large basal leaves covering the forest floor.
    The bright orange leaves of the mountain maple, Acer spicatum, literally glow like a lantern now in the same woods.  This is a native maple shrub or small tree that is interesting in every season, and should be grown and used much more than it is.
    The spiny fruits of the American chestnut, Castanea dentata, on 9th and Mannpenny are growing larger each day, all right on schedule.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

9/21/11 HOW DID WE EVER GET ALONG WITHOUT IT?

BLUE LOBELIA (LOBELIA SIPHYLITICA)

SNEEZEWEED (HELENIUM AUTUMNALE)
Wednesday, 7:30 AM.  51 degrees, wind WSW, calm at ground level but some low clouds scudding along.  The sky is completely overcast and it is raining enough that we got wet on our morning walk and the barometer predicts rain.  It will be a rainy day.
    We came across several interesting prairie plants while goose hunting.  The blue flowered plant is the blue lobelia, Lobelia siphylitica, in the bellflower (Campanulaceae) family. It was growing with Indian grass and big bluestem grass.  The individual flowers are rather small but the flower spike is quite long.  It is a native plant of wet sands and prairies.  Native American medicine used the plant for colds, rheumatism and siphylis.  It has similar uses in homeopathic medicine, and has been known for its medicinal qualities since the early Seventeenth Century in Europe.  It is strongly poisonous in large doses.
    The yellow flower is sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale, in the sunflower (Compositae) family.  It is a very attractive fall flower, native to wet and wet-mesic prairies and meadows throughout much of the US.
    The little Ashipun River where we goose hunted is drying up, as are 240 acres of associated wetland, thanks to the Wisconsin DNR, which refuses to give permission to the townsip to fix the Eighteenth Century millpond dam at the nearby village of Monteray  It appears the bureaucracy does not like dams and millponds, even if they are part of local history, and regardless of the economic and  ecological consequences of removal.  An entire small community has developed around the millpond over a century and a half, and its heritage and current viability  are threatened by removal of the dam as well.
    Farmers cannot so much as level out a depression in a cornfield that collects water in the spring, since that makes it a “wetland,” and yet in this instance a large wetland is being destroyed without much consideration at all. It seems to me the government’s advice on wetlands and rivers and dams is all rather capricious.  How did we ever get along without it?

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

9/20/11 AN AVIAN TREASURE TROVE

CEDAR WAXWING EATING MOUNTAIN ASH BERRIES

Tuesday, 7:00 AM.  48 degrees, wind WSW, calm.  The sky is overcast with high, thin gray clouds.  The barometer predicts rain but the humidity is only 39% so it will be quite a while until it does.
    The mountain ash tree on the south side of the house is so loaded with its clusters of orange-red berries that its branches are in serious danger of breaking.  I am not overly worried however, as the birds are rapidly devouring the rather mealy, soft, bland tasting fruit, and at the present rate the branches will soon be devoid of both birds and berries.
    Robins were the first to discover the avian treasure trove, and now flocks of cedar wax wings and even fall warblers have invaded, so many birds enveloped in the foliage that the whole tree shakes from their fluttering and jumping from branch to branch.
    There are several species of native mountain ash, and the European mountain ash is planted and escaped, so it is sometimes difficult to tell which is which.  For landscaping purposes I try to use the showy mountain ash, Sorbus dedcora, which is native to North America.  It has a sturdier frame and dark red berries and is somewhat more decorative than the others.  Mountain ash (in the apple family) are not true ash trees, which are in the olive family.  Both have pinnate (feather-like) compound leaves, and thus the confusion.

Monday, September 19, 2011

9/19/11 WE SO OFTEN FAIL TO COUNT OUR BLESSINGS

DAWN ON OPENING DAY

TURKEYS EVERYWHERE

DECOYS

BILL AND ZODIAC

ART AND ZODY
Monday, 8:30 AM.  55 degrees, wind SSW, calm.  The sky is cloudless and the humidity 45%. We got almost a half inch of rain while we were gone, and the barometer predicts more; perhaps tonight.  We did not see too many signs of fall color on our trip except for sumac turning, and a few red maples.
    The goose hunting trip was a success on all counts.  Good visit with old friends Bill and Allene and their children and grandchildren, and three successful morning hunts; three geese on opening day and one each of the two following days.  We had a few more opportunities that were missed (Bill seldom does, I often do).  The mornings were cloudy and damp but with little actual rain.  We would have lost two  of the geese as cripples except for Bill’s dog Zodiac, a Chesapeake bitch with a great nose.  The geese we shot were all migratory geese, weighing between 6.5 and 9 pounds.  The local geese, much larger and called “giants,” were evidently not flying.  The migratory geese, not yet educated, decoyed nicely. 
    We saw many flocks of turkeys, particularly on Hwy. 70 between Fifefield and Minocqua, a forty mile stretch where we saw probably a hundred birds picking gravel along the roadside.  We also saw eagles and deer, and there were hundreds of sandhill cranes constantly moving about while we goose hunted. They are protected but still very wary and I couldn’t get a decent photo of them.
    We sometimes forget that our conservation efforts have paid off in many, many major ways over the years and are too quick to be critical of everything.  A half century ago we would have been overjoyed to shoot a couple of geese, and we would never have seen a turkey or a sandhill crane or an eagle, let alone a wolf.  In fifty years turkeys have established nesting populations throughout the state, and bald eagles have become almost common.  Back then geese were the accepted symbols of wildness (remember the old song, “Wild Goose, Brother Goose?).  Now we shoo them from the golf courses with dogs. We so often fail to count our blessings.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

9/15/11 WOODSMOKE, GOOSE MUSIC AND OLD FRIENDS

HEADIN' SOUTH

Thursday, 7:00 AM.  37.5 degrees, wind WSW, moderate.  The sky is clear except for a bank of high cumulus clouds in the east.  The barometer is down a bit and the humidity is still low.
    We again received a smattering of raindrops from a threatening sky yesterday around 6:00 PM, but not enough to do any good.  I do hope northern Minnesota got something out of the system to help combat the forest fires, which have been out of control for a month and have burned 60,00 acres. So, that was indeed woodsmoke from the forest fires that I smelled last night!
    There won’t be a blog for a few days as we are heading to Oconomowoc (about seven hours south)  to do some goose hunting at the Peebles farm.  Bill and Alleen are friends of half a century and more, and we look forward to seeing them.  Shooting a few geese is just an excuse to visit…our old friends are far more important to us now than the hunt!  Northern geese have been flying for the past several days, passing overhead in large flocks, heading south, taking advantage of the northerly winds, and now anxious to move to a warmer clime. It is good to hear goose music once again.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

9/14/11 A HEAVY KNOCK ON THE DOOR AT 4:00 AM

LEMON TREE, VERY PRETTY

AND, THE LEMON FLOWER IS SWEET

BUT THE FRUIT IS...IMPOSSIBLE TO EAT

Wednesday, 8;00 AM.  46 degrees, wind WSW, light to moderate.  The sky is blue with a few fluffy white clouds scooting along.  The barometer is high and the humidity low.  We had a few drops of rain from a threatening sky yesterday evening, but nothing more.  They are battling some fires in the northern Minnesota forests now, and I smelled a faint odor of wood smoke when I stepped out on the porch for a bit last night, but perhaps in the chill a neighbor had started up a wood stove.
    Have you heard the one about the lemon tree and the Gibson guitar?  I am sorry to say it is not really a joke.  The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel relates the story of a Waukesha, WI, woman who bought a mail order lemon tree three years ago.  Recently she began receiving inquiries from the Dept. of Agriculture as to its disposition, as the mail order nursery had failed to inspect it for diseases.  She thought it rather silly since it is an indoor plant in Wisconsin and there is no citrus industry here.  The feds were relentless, threatening fines and worse if she didn’t bring it to an agency office.  The end game is that a federal agent drove all the way up from Illinois to confiscate the plant, leaving with it in a hazardous waste container bag.  Overkill, perhaps?
    The Gibson Guitar story you have probably heard by now, as it involved heavily armed federal agents descending upon the staid old company and confiscating guitars because they had fret boards made of an Indian wood (not an endangered species) that is supposed to be exported from India only in finished form, according to Indian law.  This action threatens to put forty guitar workers who make the frets out of work.  Worse, if I were the Gibson owner, I would be looking into making my guitars in India, and moving another old American firm off shore because of our obstreperous government. Why was Gibson targeted?  Perhaps because the owner is a Republican contributor? This is not overkill or silliness.  This action by  the government borders on insanity.  Heads must roll on this one.
    Now I have a question: if I were to sing “Lemon tree, very pretty,” on my Gibson guitar to my potted Meyer lemon, would I soon hear a heavy knock on the door at 4:00 AM?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

9/13/11 RASPBERRY RIVER BRIDGE ALMOST COMPLETED

A BEAUTIFULLY SOFT, FEMININE  DAWN

CONSTRUCTION ON THE RASPBERRY RIVER

NEW CULVERT GOING IN

ROADBED RAISED, BUT STILL STEEP

WAITING FOR THE GUARDRAILS TO BE INSTALLED
Tuesday, 7:30 AM.  58.5 degrees, wind WSW, light with moderate gusts.  The humidity is only 35% and the barometer is up, so no rain is in my forecast. The dawn was particularly soft and beautiful this morning, very feminine.

    The radio was abuzz with severe thunderstorm warnings yesterday around six PM, but all we got was a large drop or two.  We need rain badly but not in the form of a violent storm.
    I am happy to see that the bridge (actually huge culvert) over the Raspberry River on Old Hwy. K is open after many weeks of reconstruction.  A new culvert was installed and a massive amount of additional fill brought in to make the ravine less deep at that location but the road remains very  steep.  Environmentally, the rock rip rap along the stream bed looks sufficient and the water will pool more above and below the culvert, slowing runoff (this is a large and often rather volatile water shed leading into Lake Superior).  The project is not yet completed although the road is open.  The biggest potential problem I see is that raising the roadbed perhaps thirty feet at the bottom of the ravine creates a deadly drop off, particularly in winter when the road can be treacherous.  A good system of guardrails is in order, and I hope to see them installed soon.  We are avoiding using this stretch of road in the dark until then.
    The bridge is still out on nearby Compton Road, but all the routes secondary to Hwy. 13 west of Red Cliff should be open soon.