ASPEN IN BLOOM, AND RARE ANIMALS

ASPEN IN BLOOM

Tuesday,  9:00 AM.  50 degrees on the porch, much colder near the lake.  The wind is NE, calm to light.  The sky is mostly clear but quite hazy.  The barometer is sightly down at 29.45 in., and the humidity is 93%.  We may get thunder storms later today and possibly snow tomorrow.
   The quaking aspen, Populous tremuloides, are blooming now, I just noticed them on our walk this morning.  The daffodils should bloom in a day or two if they don't get snowed on.
   President Obama has had, to me, a rather amazing several days of appearances, starting with a  private address to the taxpayer funded abortion provider Planed Parenthood ...., and ending  as host of the annual White House Press Dinner.  Quite a range of activity; from supporting a despicable industry with the full moral (or immoral) weight of the most powerful political office on earth, to  Comedian in Chief.  I didn't think his one-liners were very humorous, although he of course was "cool" as usual.  It pains me greatly that while new spring life blooms all around us our government funds the wanton destruction of new human life.
    If what is being done with public money to nearly full-term human babies were being done in a veterinarian's office to puppies, the outrage would be immeasurable and PETA would force it to close.  

It is the rare animal that kills its own offspring... and we  claim to be the more advanced species.

C'OME ON, GLOBAL WARMING

ICE STILL ON CHEQUAMEGON BAY

ALDER CATKINS IN BLOOM

WHATEVER

Monday, 8:00 AM.  46 dergees F downtown, 50 on the back porch.  the sky is mostly clear but hazy, the wind is variable and calm.  The barometer is 29.98 in., and the humidity is 80%.  It was a fine morning for a walk.
   Yesterday we were pleased to have a surprise visit from our daughter-in-law Leslie and five-year-old granddaughter Allison Eleanor all the way from Texas.  They will be here all week, brightening our lives.
   Yesterday we saw the native alders, Alnus rugosa, locally called "tag alder," in full flower, shedding pollen to the wind, along Fish Hatchery Road.  Meanwhile, the lower Chequamegon Bay is still frozen over, and is on target to be the latest ice-out on record.  And at the intersection of Hwy. J and Valley Road someone has posted a sign in the snow that reads,  "Save Our Climate."
  To which I will simply reply, "Come on, Global Warming!"

A TEXAS COWGIRL RIDES A WOODEN HORSE

POST MORTEM OF AN OLD WHITE PINE

SAW CUT AT 20' OF TRUNK LENGTH

TRUNK BROKEN OFF AT ROOT FLARE

DRY ROTTED WOOD

LARGE, BROKEN DRY-ROTTED PORTION OF HEARTWOOD

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind WSW, light with occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is cloudless but hazy, the barometer is down at 29.98 in. and the humidity is 80%.  It is a nice spring morning, the snow is melting fast and we may get some rain.  At this point the ground seems to be absorbing the snow melt and there is as yet no flooding of nearby streams.  The lower Chequamegon Bay at Ashland is still iced in and it is predicted to be a record late ice-out (since records were kept in 1900 or so).  It may be several weeks until the ice is off the Bay.
   I have calculated, as best as I can at this point, the age of the big white pine that went down a couple of weeks ago on 9th and Manypenny.  It is 36 inches in diameter at breast height (about 4' off the ground, where I would normally count annual growth rings rings) but the only saw cut at this time is at 20' trunk height, where I counted 86 distinct rings.  Adding roughly twenty additional years for the remaining twenty feet of trunk length, I estimate the age of the tree as something more than 106 years.
The house on the corner was built around the turn of the twentieth Century, so the tree was probably planted around then.  When the tree blew down I estimated its height at eighty feet.
   The tree grew rapidly during the first thirty or forty years of its life and then began to slow down, and there was very little growth in the latter years of its life.  There were early years when  its diameter increased as much as a half an inch. Of course growing conditions affect annual ring size as much or more than the age of the tree, and years with better or worse moisture and temperature conditions are quite obvious.  With a really good saw cut and lots of patience one can identify years of drought or other environmental stress by counting back from the outermost ring.  Conifer growth rings are easier to count than most hardwood trees as the water conducting cells that become the woody tissue are all large  empty cells called vessels.
   In a natural environment a white pine might live for hundreds of years, but in an urban setting many things can happen to shorten its life span.  Road, sewer and water line construction, root compaction, lack of water infiltration due to road and other hard surfaces, reflected heat, trunk damage due to being hit with lawn mowers and other equipment, improper power line pruning...all take their toll.
   I took a better look at the base of the tree where it snapped off at ground level, and although I didn't detect any soft rot, most of the base of the tree at the root flare was very punky, a dry rot that I could actually break apart with my fingers.  I dont know if there is a really good way to detect that kind of condition, except to do core borings of the heartwood, which can cause its own problems.  There is a device that has recently been developed that can determine the density of wood in a living tree that should give some indication of its soundness, but I have had no experience with it. 
   Ancient trees are an environmental and historical treasure, but they can be very dangerous to life and property, and need to be monitored closely and sometimes need, reluctantly, to be taken down.

A SCENIC BYWAY DESIGNATION,AND A BUCK THAT DIDN'T EVEN STOP TO CATCH ITS BREATH

HWY 13 DESIGNATED  A SCENIC BYWAY

HWY 13 AND THE APOSTLE ISLANDS

Saturday,  9:00 AM.  42 degrees F, wind calm, the channel like glass.  The sky is clear but hazy, the barometer stands at 30.14 in.,  and the humidity is 82%.  It promises to be spring weather again (I am no longer saying "springlike") as sty snow continues it rapid retreat.
   Wisconsin officials have named a fourth scenic byway: Bayfield Peninsula's Highway 13.

The Wisconsin Lake Superior Byway follows the southern shoreline of Lake Superior for 70 miles starting at U.S. Highway 2 and state Highway 13 in Bayfield County. It continues around the peninsula and ends at county Highway H in Douglas County.

The views include boreal forests, sandy beaches, Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

The newly formed Wisconsin Lake Superior Byway Council will now be able to compete for federal grants. The route will also be marked with official signs.

The other three scenic byways are state Highway 35 between Prescott and Kohler, state Highway 60 between Lodi and Prairie du Chien and the state Highways 42 and 57, which circle the northern Door County peninsula.     

   The designation was made last fall, but the scenic byway signs have just gone up.  The designation took well over a decade to accomplish, mainly because all the small communities along the route had to agree to certain billboard and sign restrictions.  Keeping the effort ongoing all those years and finally accomplishing the  goal was the work of a group of very dedicated and persistent community leaders.  Hwy. 13 is a very beautiful byway indeed, and the designation will help to insure that it remains so.
 
   Yesterday I opined that "Obamaspeak"was a purposeful methodology used to confuse and conquer the pubic.  Add to that the weaseling out of virtually all decision making by almost everybody in authority in the present administration. The most recent case in point is the State Department and Hillary Clinton's denying that her signature on various documents relating to the Bengazzi disaster meant that she had any knowledge of what she was signing, and therefore she bore no responsibility for the content of the documents.  That is not only absurd, it repudiates a thousand years of common law regarding the sanctity of contracts, in effect denying the legitimacy of signatures on common contracts and other legally binding agreements.  It denies that there is  such a thing as a lie, or even a mistake.

  Try telling a court of law that your signature on a mortgage or a credit card application or a bank check does not bind you, because you always sign such documents without reading the fine print.  The Administration, from the President on down, does not believe that it can be held liable for anything it says or does.
   Harry Truman famously said, "The buck stops here."  Today it doesn't even pause to catch its breath.

CELEBRATING ARBOR DAY, AND LISTENING TO "OBAMASPEAK"

"PLANT TREES" (BUT NOT TODAY)

Friday,  8:30 AM. 42 degrees F, wind SSW, calm to light.  The sky is mostly clear but quite hazy, the barometer is trending down at 30.08 in. and the humidity is 78%.  It is a very quiet, spring-like morning, and it appears that this is the start of a warming trend.
   Today is National Arbor Day, the day most states celebrate trees, and school children plant them.  For rather obvious reasons, Bayfield usualy celebrates Arbor Day somewhat later, and for the past decade it has been part of our Bayfield in Boom kickoff, which this year will be on May 17th.
   Chuck Hagel, the Administration's Secretary of Defense, said yesterday that Syria had used chemical weapons on its own people.  Or perhaps did. Or probably did.  Or could have.  Or whatever.  But what he didn't say, in simple, understandable language, is that he didn't know for sure. He used language that was so incomprehensible that he could later clain that it said whatever he wanted it to say.  This is purposely using language to confuse and ultimately to conquer.  George Orwell's "1984" Big Brother would have approved.  He called such talk "Newspeak."  We can call Hagel's language "Obamaspeak," since it is about on par for the Administration's  communication.
   Here is what I heard him say on TV regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, which was supposedly a "red line" the President would not allow it to cross; "...we can assess, with some degree of varying assurances, that chemical weapons were used. " I defy anyone to tell me exactly what this means, except that it is perfect language for covering one's posterior no matter what happens.
   When I was a sophomore in college and taking an English composition course, the professor handed  back an assignment I had written with the comment, "Never, never write like a lawyer!"  it was good advice as far as clarity of communication was concerned, but my backside has been exposed numerous times since then because of my propensity to write and speak in simple declarative sentences.  I have also had to give up any aspirations of working in Washington.

BIRDS AND BEARS

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  35 degrees F, wind W, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is mostly clear with some haze.  The barometer is up at 30.09 in. and the humidity is 83%.  We had a brief flurry of stormy weather last night but only a few flakes remained in evidence this morning.  The sun is high and the snow is melting even if the temperatures are not much above freezing, being absorbed into the atmosphere without actually melting and running.  If it does melt all at once we will get significant flooding.
   There are lots of robins now, finding what they can to sustain themselves until the worms come up from the thawing earth.  The one pictured was rather reluctantly, I think, eating sumac  berries, a wildlife food of last resort (use the Blog search engine for more information on sumac).  Yesterday morning I heard the unmistakeable call of red winged blackbirds, which Peterson's describes as "a gurgling konk-laree," but I couldn't see them.  This morning Tina up on Tenth and Wilson told me they have been eating sunflower seeds at her feeder.
   I took our feeders down when we went on vacation and did not put them back up, thinking the bears would get them, but the first bear I have heard of was just seen a day or two ago up on the golf course.  Joan said she saw a

ROBIN ON SUMAC BUSH

SPRING MORNING

pair of tundra swans flying low and fast over the Bayfield harbor yesterday but I missed them.  I am glad I am not flying anywhere these days, as I would be infuriated by the artificial flight delays inflicted on the public by the FAA and the Administration, supposedly due to the "sequester," when the agency has a bigger budget than ever.

SIGNS OF SPRING (BUT NOT SO MUCH)

CROCUS STRUGGLING THROUGH THE SNOW

HUNGRY DEER

NATIVE PUSSY WILLOWS IN BLOOM

Wednesday, 9:00 AM.  32 degrees F downtown, a few degrees warmer at the house.  Wind SSE, light with stronger gusts.  the sky is partly cloudy with considerable haze.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is down at 28.99 in., suggesting we may get some more snow.
   The winter is hanging on relentlessly but spring is just as determined and will of course eventually win out, hopefully by Memorial Day, not Labor Day.  Crocus are blooming under the snow and struggling to emerge, some daffodils are in bud and, best of all, the native pussy willows (Salix pellitda?) are blooming in wet spots.  The deer are desperate for anything at all to graze, the one pictured was on Friendly Valley Road.  Its ribs were plainly visible and it didn't want to move even though we stopped quite near it.  Does and their fawns will have a rough time if the snow doesn't disappear soon.

BLACK KNOT OF PLUM

DISEASED CANADA RED CHERRY

BLACK KNOT OF PLUM

LAST SNOW PHOTO OF THE WINTER

Tuesday,  8:30 AM.  32 degrees F, wind calm.  the sky is overcast but clearing and there is still haze and snow in the air.  The barometer stands at 30.08 in. and the humidity is 91%.  We got about five inches of slush dumped on us this morning that was too wet for even a large snowblower, so I shoveled  one side of the drive and the rest can melt.  I am taking no more photos of snow until next winter, assuming we ever have a summer.
   The reversion to winter has made us all want to go somewhere warm and sunny, so we are considering a Caribbean cruise, but really can't afford it.  Perhaps we could all be employed on a cruise liner; buddy as security, and Joan and I most likely as ballast.
   Black knot of plum is a serious fungal disease of most species and varieties of  plums and cherries, including some that are  used as street trees, such as the Canada Red Cherry shown here,  located at Ten N. Third Street.
   An infected tree or shrub develops large, pulpy tissue on new twigs, which eventually develops into hard black "knots" which girdle branches and  kill or seriously compromise the plant.  Early detection and removal of the fungal growth by pruning is necessary for control, as well as spraying with the proper fungicide.  When pruning infected growth it is essential to prune well below the knot, and then sterilize the pruning tool in bleach or alcohol before making another cut.  The fungus is technically named Apiospourus morubus.
   The above tree is so badly infected it must be taken down, and it will be buried or burned to prevent the spread of the disease, which spreads by arial borne spores.  We no longer plant Canada Red Cherry because of its susceptibility to the disease.

PANNING FOR GOLD

A LITTLE "SIFTING AND WINNOWING"

Monday,  8:30 AM.  37 degrees F, wind WNW, light with gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy, with haze in the east.  The barometer is down, at 30.25 in. but that is still quite high.  The humidity is 78%.  There is a winter storm warning for Bayfield, predicting 7-11 inches of snow, starting at 7:00 PM today.  I gave in yesterday and had the remaining half of the driveway snow blown yesterday and will call for help again if the predicted storm hits.  The big tractor has a snowblower, as well as a drag on the rear, and does a quick, clean job.
   The University of Wisconsin system has been recognized as one of the great educational enterprises of the nation, if not the world.  Since 1949, one of its  stated basic tenets, actually a motto, has been the "sifting and winnowing" of human knowledge to find the truth; a fine goal.
   The University of Wisconsin, we have recently been told, has a current budget surplus of one billion dollars.  This at a time when tuition costs have been rising relentlessly, to the point where many deserving Wisconsin residents cannot afford to attend the institution.  Of course some of this money is held in trust for specific programs.  Nonetheless, this magnitude of surplus, which in plain language should be called a slush fund, is unwarranted, and is bound to lead to great abuse.  When the cookie jar is filled to the brim, it is easy to overlook a few missing cookies, as any child, and most embezzlers,  can attest to.
   And all this comes to light as a new President is being hired at an annual salary of

a half-million dollars, plus the perquisites of a prince. And how has this university and most others accumulated this treasure trove?  Mostly from students and their parents, who have been enticed into borrowing unconsciable  amounts of money through the federal student loan program to pay outrageous tuitions.  All the while, highly paid tenured professors indoctrinate impressionable young people with ultraliberal, big government philosophies so that the scam can be perpetuated.
   It is way beyond time to bring this juggernaut under control, as it looks like it has been "sifting and winnowing" a lot more than knowledge.  More like panning for gold.

TURKEY IN THE SNOW

LOOKING FOR THE LADIES

BUDDY IN THE SNOW

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  30 degrees F, wind SSW, calm to light.  The sky is darkly overcast but visibility is good.  The barometer is down some at 30.39 in., and the humidity is 67%.  We may get more snow.     Yesterday we saw this beautiful gobbler wading through the snow along Hwy. 13 west of Red Cliff.   He was all alone, probably looking for lady friends; it's about that time.
   Remember the old Virginia Reel, "Turkey in the Straw"?  How about, "Turkey in the Snow?"

WAITING FOR A CHINOOK

AFTER THE STORM, APRIL 20, 2013

WAITING FOR A CHINOOK (CHARLES M. RUSSELL)

WAITING FOR A CHINOOK  (ART ODE)

A NEAR MISS

Saturday,  9:00 AM.  23 degrees F, wind N, light to moderate.  The sky is clear and the sun is bright.  The barometer is up, at 30.24 in.  The humidity is down, at 59%.  The storm did some random tree damage, the large white pine branch just missing this house on 9th and Manypenny, the same address where a giant white pine went down a few days ago.  We did some scouting about yesterday afternoon and most of the local roads are passable, but I wouldn't venture into the barrens, even with a good four wheel drive.  We even saw a snowmobile stuck out on Hwy. K

   As I looked out the window yesterday afternoon at the relentlessly falling snowI was reminded of how glaciers start...one insignificant snowflake added to another, ad infinitum...and considered once again the age-old question; will the earth end in fire, or in ice?

   Right now we are all "waiting for a chinook," that warm wind whooshing down from the mountains that presages spring,  so poignantly represented by the famous Western artist, Charles M. Russell. 

A PLAGUE OF SNOW

WHITEOUT

PILED HIGHER AND DEEPER
 Friday, 8:30 AM.  26 degrees F, wind N, strong at times, calm at present.  The barometer stands at 29.44 in., the humidity is 88% and we have whiteout conditions.  I have shoveled 18" of snow thus far, and it is still snowing with more predicted. today and next week.

   The situation has now reached biblical proportions, a veritable plague of snow.
 

NORTHLAND ELEGY

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU LEARN 

INDOMITABLE ANCESTORS

A POTEMKIN VILLAGE

EMPTY STOREFRONTS

SHADES OF THE PAST

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  32 degrees F, wind N, moderate with stronger gusts.  I just squeegeed several inches of slush from the driveway and it has begun to snow heavily. There is a low overcast and poor visibility, and a winter storm advisory through Friday.  The barometer stands at 29.86 in. and the humidity is 95%.  I am tired of taking photos of winter weather in mid-April.  The deer were out everywhere along Hwy. 13 between Bayfield and Washburn yesterday in broad daylight, trying to find some forage.  They knew this was coming.
   Ashland is a nice town of around 8,000 people, but a century ago it had three times that many.  And back then it was a major port, exporting not only lumber and agricultural products, but vast quantities of iron ore from nearby mines in the Penoke range.  All that is gone, large ships seldom enter the fine harbor and the immense ore dock that has been the city's trademark is being dismantled.
   When we first came to the Northland, Ashland was rather seedy but functioning, and in the early 2000's began to look alive again, but the last few years it has lost its luster, and now the stores are fleeing Main Street, which has lost all its anchor stores.  In a stretch of nine blocks there are fourteen empty store fronts, and several nearly empty office buildings.  What has happened?
   Left wing commentators will blame Walmart (nope, it has been here for many years) and of course George Bush.  Right wingers will blame the Obama Recession, but that is not the direct cause either.  The root cause is environmental policies that cripple the city and the entire region, exemplified by the empty office squaters of the Penoke Hills Education Project.  People are fleeing the Northland because there are no jobs, and those who stay either can afford it without working, or are mostly small businesses that don't employ many workers at good wages, or people who are on the dole to one degree or another.
   The Penoke and associated Gogebic iron ranges are among the most significant iron ore deposits in the world, but environmental extremists have to this point blocked virtually all attempts to resume the mining operations that existed as recently as 1964, that provided most of the wealth and jobs of the entire region, and built Ashland and surrounding communities.  There is now a need again for the ore, and the workers, skilled and unskilled, to mine and process it, and the ships and sailors, railroads and engineers to transport it.
   Of course we all want to maintain the environmental benefits and beauty of the Northland, and there certainly are ample laws to regulate, and numerous federal, state and local agencies to monitor the mining process.
   But the opposition by the environmentalists is of such virulence and illogic that it has shut down every effort to utilize the resource and create jobs, through endless protests and lawsuits.  So, here we sit, literally in the midst of the earth's riches and bounty, jobless and penniless and taxed to death.
   Everyone who appreciates the beauty and munificence of the earth wants to be an environmentalist, but many, like myself, have given up on the term and have reverted to the old and revered name of conservationist, to separate ourselves from the extremists, who have taken environmentalism to the heights of a new religion.  Some actually worship the ancient earth-godess, Gaia.
   So the jobless college students, supported by their parents and encouraged by tenured professors who can afford to live here, squat in an abandoned store front on the main street of a city dying from lack of jobs and attempt to "educate" passersby in the new religion.
  All the while, the shades of the city's ancestors look down smiling from painted brick walls, supremely confident in a future that has slipped away.
   And their progeny worship the earth, a false goddess that the pioneers wisely knew as a cornucopia of prosperity if they worked hard enough and were smart enough to  claim its wealth.
   As for the acolytes of the new religion, they might as well paint themselves blue and dance naked in the moonlight, for that is what they have reverted to.
 

 

A CAPTAIN RETIRES, AND SIGHTS ALONG THE SIOUX

DEER ALONG THE RIVER LOOK PRETTY HEALTHY

SIOUX RIVER ABOVE THE BIG ROCK

CAPTAIN SHERMAN

THE CAPTAIN'S LICENSE

Wednesday,  8:00 AM.  33 degrees F, wind NE, moderate with stronger gusts.  The sky is mostly cloudy, with dark snow clouds on every horizon.  The barometer is high at 30.41 in., so I don't expect the bad weather to hit for a while.  The humidity is 91%; a lot of moisture is in the air.
   Yesterday evening we went to a retirement party for our friend and neighbor, Sherman Edwards.  It celebrated 33 years of service captaining Madeline Island ferry boats.  It was held at The Pier restaurant and hosted by the Madeline Island Ferry Service.  Being a ferry boat captain is a very responsible position, requiring specific training and the attainment of a Captain's license from the U S Coast Guard. Congratulations Sherman; but  how will I get a free boat ride now?
   Yesterday afternoon we needed to go to Washburn, and decided to check out the Sioux River.  I can report that folks are beginning to fish for Steelhead trout, even if they have to plow through snow up to their hips to get a line in the water. I will wait a couple of weeks.  The river is running pretty well but not nearly as high as it will when all the snowpack really begins to melt in earnest.   The deer were moving about,  the three we saw looked in a lot better shape than the one we saw two days ago out near Little Sand Bay.

BOSTON AND THE MULLAHS

THE ICE IS OUT AT THE BEACH

Tuesday, 8:30 AM.  39 degrees F, wind W, light with stronger gusts.  The barometer stands at 30.07 in., the humidity is 80% and the sky is mostly overcast.  A new storm is brewing in the W. but the barometer is not falling as yet. The ice is out at the beach, but is still there at Red Cliff and above.

   Please note reader Pat Weedon's comment on yesterday's blog and watch the Bayfield channel ice go out two days ago on U-tube,  through Pat's time lapse photography.
   Like you, I have been watching the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Boston on TV...over and over.  What do I make of it all?  it emphasizes to me that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, and we should cooperate with Israel to eliminate that threat immediately.  Whether Iran is directly behind the latest terrorist attack or not, the event illustrates again how vulnerable any open and free society is to such horrendous attacks, and the unstable and evil mullahs cannot be allowed to have the capability to attack us with nuclear weapons, give them to terrorists or blackmail us with threats of their use.  Iran's nuclear program is an existential threat to us and the entire free world.

A TOUGH WINTER, A NEW THEORY AND A LITTLE Q AND A

THE ICE IS OUT AT LITTLE SAND BAY

A TOUGH WINTER ON THE DEER HERD

Monday, 8:30 AM.  36 degrees F, wind ENE, calm at present.  The barometer is rising, and stands at 29.60.  The humidity is 97%.  We received several inches of the heaviest snow of the winter, heavy sticky stuff, very difficult to shovel.  It is a beautiful, warm morning and we should get a couple of nice days before we get more snow.  Tired of sitting around the house, we took a ride out to Little Sand Bay yesterday, and can report that there is no ice at all on that part of the South Shore.  Near the park entrance a deer literally staggered across the road, obviously famished because of the long winter and heavy snow.  If conditions don't improve soon (snow too deep to allow easy movement of browsing deer) it will be a poor season for fawns.
   Watching the ice on the channel float around and mysteriously disappear and reappear, I
herewith put forth a new theory and ask blog reader Pat Weeden, who photographs and studies such phenomenon, to comment.  I have a suspicion that the much of the ice on the channel periodically sinks and disappears, and then comes to the surface again.  What do think, Pat (Google Pat Weeden and view some of his interesting time lapse photos of ice break-up)?
   Some Questions and Answers:
1) Are the people of North Korea slaves to a maniacal  dictatorship?Yes.
2) Do the people of North Korea have a constitutional right to personally  keep and bear arms?No.
3) Are the people of the United States slaves to a maniacal dictatorship? Not as yet.
4) Do the people of the Unites States have the  constitutional right to keep and bear arms?Yes, as reaffirmed by the 2008 Supreme court decision in District of Columbia v Heller.
5) Will the people of the United States become slaves to a maniacal dictatorship if they lose their constitutional right to personally keep and bear arms?  Think about it and answer it yourself.

JANUARY IS GETTING AWFULLY LONG IN THE TOOTH

THERE'S DAFFODILS UNDER THERE SOMEWHERE

THE COAST GUARD'S NOISY RESCUE WIND SLED

A HUGE ICE SHEET FLOATS AROUND THE CHANNEL

Sunday, 7:30 AM.  24 degrees F, wind W, calm.  The sky is clear, the barometer stands at 30.05 in. and the humidity is 84 %.  It is a beautiful mid-January morning, as we await yet another snow storm, this time out of the SW.  But January is "getting awfully long in the tooth,"

AH, SPRINGTIME IN BAYFIELD!

ALL ABOARD FOR LAPOINTE

ENOUGH!

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  28 degrees F, wind WNW, calm at present.  The sky is overcast and the Island only a distant shadow on the horizon.  The barometer stands at 29.82 in., and the humidity is 93%, and it is snowing hard again.  We got another several inches of snow last night, bringing the total snowfall of the present storm to over a foot of slushy stuff.  Another storm of similar proportions is predicted for tomorrow, this one coming from the SW.  Ah, springtime in Bayfield!
   Yesterday we heard the intermittent and very loud roar of an engine all morning long, and couldn't figure out what it was, so I finally drove around town listening and came to the conclusion it must be the Coast Guard wind boat either on a mission or training (most likely).  I stopped the local squad car and the officer confirmed my suspicions.  There are now huge stretches of open water on the channel so we hope the fishermen and snowmobilers keep off the ice.  Three deaths in a winter out there are way too many.
   The current gun control debate in Congress is, I think, obscuring a related event which has begun to occur.  Stagg Arms, a smaller gun manufacturer, has announced it is leaving Connecticut, with most or many of its four-hundred skilled employees.  It will probably relocate to Texas.  The Connecticut River Valley has been the center of American small arms production since before the Revolution. Colt, Smith and Wesson and many other famous names have been there for a century and more.  They now feel unwelcome and over regulated in Connecticut.  Texas will be glad to have them and their thousands of employees.  And probably buy most of what they produce.

THE NOREASTER BRINGS DOWN A GIANT WHITE PINE

YESTERDAY'S VICIOUS NOREASTER...

...GIANT WHITE PINE TAKES OUT POWER LINES...

...EIGHTY FOOT TALL ...

...SNAPPED OFF AT GROUND LEVEL

Friday, 9:00 AM. a 28 degrees F, wind NE, strong and gusty.  It is snowing moderately hard and visibility is poor.  The barometer stands at 29.80 and the humidity is 85%.  The Noreaster continues.  We were scheduled to go to Bill and Allene's farm in Oconomowoc, WI in the southern part of the state to help burn their prairie, butit is not fit to travel, and in any case they have had lots of rain and flooding (use the blog search engine to read about past prairie burns). We have rescheduled the burn for next Saturday.
   Yesterday morning about 8:00 AM I was looking out the patio door watching the Noreaster, and just as our neighbor Kathleen was driving by on her way to work I heard a loud bang.  She pulled her car over and I assumed she had had a blowout, but she soon went on her way again.  I couldn't see anything amiss in the yard and environs, and thought maybe the high winds had sent someone's garbage can rumbling down the road.  A while later I heard sirens, and I as I went to get the mail decided to check out the neighborhood.  The cause of the big bang was a giant white pine on the corner of 9th and Manypenny that had been blown over by the gale force winds.
   I stopped and picked my way around the emergency equipment and downed wires and took the above photos.  This is a huge tree, probably planted when the nearby house was built, maybe ninety to one hundred years ago.  I looked pretty closely at the prop roots, which were sheared off just below ground level, and I didn't see any obvious signs of rot.  It looks as though the wind simply sheared off this immense tree.  I wasn't able at the time to measure the trunk at breast height, but it has to be at least seventy or eighty inches in diameter.  I have asked the city crew to try to make a clean saw cut at about that hight on the trunk so I can count the rings.  It is entirely possible that the tree was a native,  growing there before the house was built.  White pine wood is brittle, but even so it took unbelievable force to just snap it off at the roots.  This was a very heavily branched tree, full of needles, about eighty feet tall,  and it must have presented itself to the wind like a boat under full sail.