A BEAR, ICE CREAM, AND WILD PARSNIPS

WILD PARSNIP, ABOUT 5' TALL

COMPOUND LEAVES...

DOUBLY COMPOUND YELLOW FLOWERS MEAN, DON'T TOUCH!

WILD RICE RESTAURANT''S FANCIFUL MENAGERIE..,

...BUDDY DOESN'T POINT THEM!

,  SUNSET OVER SAND ISLAND, SUNDAY EVENING

Monday, 8:00 AM.  70 degrees F, wind WNW, calm.  the sky is about 60% covered with stationary black rain clouds and the humidity is 78%.  It looks and feels like we shall get a shower, although the barometer is way up.
    Buddy and I have been walking a lot on Old San road, just south of town, because it has virtually  no daytime traffic and has a lot of wildlife habitat, including the occasional grouse to point, along the edges.  The five-star Wild Rice Restaurant is at the end of the road, and their entrance roof sports a menagerie of fanciful animals.  Buddy has not pointed any of them as yet.
    A new bear story, told to me by a first-hand witness: yesterday afternoon a large black bear walked through downtown Bayfield, near the candy and ice cream shop.  It attracted quite a retinue of followers; tourists eating ice cream cones.  It finally gained a police escort and was encouraged to "Get out of Dodge." One wonders who is smarter, the people or the bear.  I'd say the bear.
    Wild parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, in the parsley family (Umbelliferae) is very similar to the cultivated parsnip in appearance, but is highly toxic; if it contacts skin which is then exposed to sunlight, it can cause severe burns.  There are a number of edible plants in the parsley family, as well as many which are very poisonous.  It is best to leave plants in this family, which is pretty easily recognized by their doubly compound flower heads, alone.  As far as the wild parsnip is concerned, its flower heads give it away, as there are only a few other, rather obscure,  members of the parsley family that have yellow flowers (I suppose it could perhaps be confused with Tansy, which also has umbels of yellow flowers, but it  is in the sunflower family).  I’ll have to see if I can get these wild parsnips, which are on a vacant lot in Bayfield, mowed.
    Political commentary: most pundits of the right remain mystified by Chief Justice Roberts contrarian decision on Obamacare, although some are crediting him with Solomon-like wisdom.  Perhaps he is too clever,  by half.