BEER BATTERED COD, COW PARSNIPS AND TRIAL BY TELEVISION

VALHALLA VALLEY PUB AND GRUB

SIOUX RIVER ABOVE BIG ROCK

COW PRSNIP

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  71 degrees on the porch, 68 degrees F on the lakeshore. The wind is calm. The sky has a few errant clouds and there is the usual haze in the east.  The barometer is steady at 29.99" and the humidity is 85%. We had thunder, lightening and a trace of rain about 4:00 AM. It looks like a pleasant repeat of yesterday.

   We went to Friday night fish fry at the Valhalla Pub and Grub last night, which is on Hwy. C between Washburn and Cornucopia.  We get tired of white fish, even though it is probably the best of fresh water fish, so we both had the cod.  It was fresh and the portions ample and the price reasonable at $11.99, but we both prefer the traditional beer batter, and this was I think corn bread or something.  The home fried potatoes with onions smothered in cheese were all a biker could ask for.  They had a good crowd, mixed locals and tourists, and the ambience is north woodsy and the service very good.  But I'm still looking for Milwaukee style beer-battered cod.

   On the way home we took the back roads past Big Rock Park and the upper Sioux River.  There was nobody in the beautiful campground.  Either the mosquitoes or the economy is really bad.  We almost hit a deer, which encouraged me to stop and take a photo of the cow parsnips, Hereacleum maximum,  in the parsley family, which are filling up all the ditches this wet year.  They are very tall and have enormous leaves and flower heads and are quite beautiful.  However, although they are not poisonous, many plants in the family Umbelliferae are,  and I would leave all of them alone.

   The whole nation is supposedly awaiting the jury verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, with riots feared if he is not convicted.  How about riots if he is convicted?  Where are we going with all this nonsense?  We have a justice system, the best in the history of civilization.  If the prosecution, defense, jury and judge do their usual good work, justice will be served, and if not there is a system of appeal, all the way to the Supreme Court.  I for one am sick and tired of trial by television