THE ME-POD AND I

 

TEXAS SUSET

   Saturday, 8:30 AM.  Weatherford, Texas.  The sky is blue, temperature 30 degrees F.  It promises to be a beautiful day.  We are winding down our Christmas stay with all our kids and grandkids and their spouses.  We have had a fine time together and now all the visitors are going home.  Yesterday, in a bit of a pique, I penned the following, which I pass on without further comment.
   Pads, pods, E-books, nooks,computers.  Everyone has their noses stuck in them and their eyes glued to them, even during Christmas.  Under the tree, on the couch, at the dinner table.  Phones announce themselves with irritating frequency (they no longer ring, they offer snippets of symphonies, they honk, and lately they "quack" in recognition of the Duck Dynasty affair).  Each is twittering and tweeting everyone in the world while ignoring the person sitting next to them.  Want to ask someone to pass the gravy?  Try a tweet.
  Everyone from six to sixty is playing games on a computer, pad or smart phone. Most of these apologias for entertainment constantly emit irritating, meaningless noises.  And I thought TV was a conversation killer!
   Speaking of which, I remember when family and friends would  talk to each other while actually looking at one another, a thing which evidently is now socially taboo.  After dinner over a lingering cup of coffee, or later in the living room over a beer.  Talk about social issues, politics, current events, even, believe it or not, religion.  To talk...to smile, to laugh, perhaps to argue or shed a tear in remembrance of a loved one.
   Now we hesitate to communicate with each other directly, face to face, for fear we may offend each other's sensibilities by saying what we think, what we believe, or by what means and devices we lead our lives.  Each of us is afraid to let others see who and what we really are, for fear they may disapprove and stop tweeting us, and then our phones would no longer blatt and chime and quack and we might have to do or think something useful.  Or just be quiet.
   People no longer just possess pads and pods and such devices.  They live in them, are contained by them.  All sit in their Me-Pods, like snails and turtles in their shells, or like the octopus, emerging from its secret lair place only to feed.
   Anyway, I won't be twittering, tweeting or posting for a while.  I am retreating to my Me-pod.
 

QUACK, QUACK!

STILL RUNNIN'...

"OVER THE RIVER (CHANNEL) AND THROUGH THE SNOW...

"DUCK DYNASTY'S" PHIL ROBERTSON

JA, SVEN, YOU BETCHA!

Friday, 9;00 AM.  17 degrees F, wind WSW, calm at present.  the sky is mostly overcast with signs of clearing.  The humidity is 88% and the barometer is more or less steady at 30.10"  It snowed two inches last night and a few desultory flakes still fall.

  This will be the last post for a while as we are on our way to Texas for the holidays.  If I have the opportunity I will say "Howdy" from the Lone Star state.

   I have only watched "Duck Dynasty" a couple of times and thought it exceeding dumb.  But now that the Duck Commander, Phil Robertson, has been placed on "extended hiatus"  by A&E network for being so politically incorrect as to actually exercise his first amendment right to freedom of expression, I will probably become a fan.  But I will not watch A&E until it apologizes and reinstates him .  

   That may not happen, however, and my guess (and hope)is that the rest of the Robertson family will quit the program in support of their leader.  And A&E will loose a huge money-maker but the family will rake in royalties on the reruns forever.

  In the meantime, "Quack, Quack!"

BACK TO NORMAL, AND A STEAK DINNER

BACK TO NORMAL

Thursday, 9:30 AM.  Wind NE, variable speed.  It is overcast, the channel is fog bound and it is snowing lightly.  The humidity is 81% and the barometer is trending up, currently at 30.17"  We had a sunny day yesterday but we are back to what lately passes for normal in Bayfield.

   Did you hear about the 86 year old man who won a steak dinner and a night in a Nevada brothel in a contest run by Howard Stern, the controversial New York radio show host?  The old geezer choked to death on the steak and never made it  to the Bunny Ranch.  

   The capacity of the human being for stupidity never ceases to amaze me.  I wonder how Howard likes his steak done.

USA, THE ULTIMATE NIMBY NATION

THIS MORNING'S SUNRISE

CHEQUAMEGON ROAD AT DUSK

Wednesday, 9:00 AM,  7 degrees F, wind SSE, light.  The sky has a high overcast.  The humidity is 82% and the barometer is steady, at 29.86".  We had a fantastic sunrise, and it isn't snowing at present.
   Most folks will pay it little attention, even if they hear about it; the last American primary lead smelter, The Doe Run Company, of Herculaneum, Missouri, which has been in operation since 1892, is being shut down by the EPA, with the loss of 250 good jobs.  One of its products over the years has been lead for ammunition, which has led (no pun intended) some conspiracy theorists to see its demise as part of a plot to do away with lead bullets  That is evidently not the entire case, as most lead for bullets is obtained from recycling.
   There are numerous other industrial uses for newly mined and primary smelted lead, however, and that demand will henceforth be met by virgin lead mined and smelted in other countries (think China, Russia and other places where the EPA has no influence and where there will be few if any environmental or human health safeguards built into the process).
   Once again the USA is proving itself to by an international NIMBY(Not In My Back Yard), and the consequences will be that pollution, which  is better regulated and abated in our own country than anywhere else in the world, will be caused to be far worse somewhere else, thus actually increasing planetary pollution, and ensuring that sickness and death will be the lot of many people far less fortunate than ourselves.
   And, since justice is ultimately meted out to every one sooner or later, we will be the recipients, at some point, of the pollution from those very same plants as it is wafted to us on the prevailing west winds.
   We are outsourcing geniuses.  We have become for the most part an effete people, not willing to soil our hands or our environs, leaving such unsavory tasks to seemingly lesser mortals and their benighted countries. We have outsourced most of our manufacturing jobs, our engineering and our technology; we are racing to kill the coal industry, and the mining of iron, zinc, copper and other essential metals; now we are outsourcing even our pollution.  We are the ultimate NIMBY nation.

RIVER BIRCH, AND BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY TO A DOG

YOUNG RIVER BIRCH...

DECEMBER SUNRISE

...BEAUTIFUL EXFOLIATING BARK

DAWN THROUGH THE PINES

Tuesday, 9:15 AM.  24 degrees F, wind WSW, light at present.  The sky is overcast, the humidity is up to 87%, and the barometer is trending down, at 29.86".  It is now snowing lightly,  in addition to the  four or five inches we got yesterday.

   I have mentioned river birch, Betula nigra, a number of times in previous posts.  It is native to stream banks, lakesides, and other wetland areas throughout much of the eastern and southeastern US and the lower Midwest.  It is hardy and adaptable, and makes a good street tree.  It is resistant to bronze birch borer, a serious pest of the more popular paper birch,  Betula papyrifera.

  The young river birch pictured above is growing on the shore of Lake Superior at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore's Little Sand Bay facility.  It certainly was planted, since it is not native in this region.  As is evident, the exfoliating bark is every bit as attractive as that of paper birch, perhaps more so.  The papery bark has a pink to orange tinge that is quite unusual and beautiful.  Unfortunately, it is only the young bark that is so attractive, since as the tree matures the bark on the trunk and larger branches becomes much darker and less papery.  River Birch is a very useful tree, just don't expect it to retain its beautiful bark as it matures.
  Dogs understand a lot of words, but they are utterly clueless when it comes to the subtleties of context.  I said "O.K." to Buddy this morning regarding some minor thing  and he immediately bolted for the partially open door to the garage, obviously interpreting the offhand remark as permission to run at large, and probably do all sorts of other prohibited activities as well.  I could almost see the wheels turning in  his head;  "Boy oh Boy, he said 'O.K.'! now I can sleep on the couch, chew on the table leg, and open the refrigerator door and get a sausage any time I want!  He said 'O.K.' !" Not so fast, Buddy, not so fast.
   Be careful what you say to a dog.

ACROSS THE REZ ON BLUEBERRY ROAD

RED CLIFF: NORTH CHANNEL AND BASSWOOD ISLAND

ON BLUEBERRY ROAD...

...DITTO...

...DITTO...

A HOME IN THE DEEP WOODS

HOUSE, TRAIER AND SCHOOL BUS SHELTER ON RASPBERRY ROAD

A PROSPEROUS OFF-REZ HOME FLIES THE OJIBWA TRIBAL FLAG

Monday,  8:30 AM.  5 degrees F, wind WSW, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is again overcast, but at least there is no fog.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is trending down at 30.13".  The days are getting shorter and shorter, the sun now rising and setting very far in the south.  But soon it will be the equinox, and things will start to turn around again in the endless cycle of the seasons.
   Yesterday afternoon Joan and I felt really housebound in the snow and cold, so we went for a little ride.  We headed north on Hwy. 13 to Red Cliff, and when we got to the casino Joan said "Let's go through the Rez on Blueberry Road, we haven't done that in a long time." So, despite the snow covered and slick road conditions we turned onto Blueberry .
  Blueberry Road goes through the heart of the reservation, from Red Cliff almost to little Sand Bay, about ten miles in length. The landscape is essentially wilderness and is very beautiful, especially in the winter.  There was considerable lake fog, which added to the sense of being in the outback.  All things considered, I was glad we were driving the four-wheel drive truck.
   Most of the houses on the reservation are clustered in and around the village of Red Cliff, but there are some scattered residences along Blueberry Road, mostly just outside of the village and again towards the junction of Blueberry and Little Sand Bay Road. Blueberry Road cuts across the tip of the Bayfield Peninsula and there are a number of roads leading from it to the lake, but most were not plowed, and some are considered off-limits to non-tribal people because they lead to places which are sacred to the Ojibwas and we respect their beliefs and traditions.
   The Red Cliff Reservation is quite small by most Indian reservation standards, but driving through its environs, especially in tough winter conditions, can't help but give the visitor a sense of the character of the Ojibwa people who have called it home for the last four or five hundred years.  They have hunkered down and stayed here, in good times and bad, through half-a-thousand brutal winters, as attuned to the genius of the place as the wolves and the deer and the bear and the eagles, and aren't about to go away.
 
 

LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE AN OLD-FASHIONED WINTER

BUDDY SMELLS SOMETHING UNDER THE SNOW...

...GONNA DIG IT OUT!

BREAKING ICE

ICE IS BEGINNING TO FORM ON THE CHANNEL

FERRY ARRIVING AT THE DOCK

Sunday,  9:00 AM.  1 degrees F, up from below zero earlier.  Wind WNW, light to moderate with occasional strong gusts.  The sky was overcast but it is clearing.  The silver sun is struggling to rise through heavy fog over the channel and the islands.  The humidity is down to 79%, and the barometer is also trending down, to 30.09".  I shoveled another three or more inches of snow from drives, walks and decks this morning.  As usual, I wore a pair of cotton gloves, and the wind chill numbed my fingers.
   Ice is beginning to form in earnest on the channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island. It's pretty early in the winter for that to happen.  I could hear the ferry breaking ice as I took photos from the bluff overlooking the ferry landing. It looks like it's going to be an old-fashioned winter.

MORE ON IDENTIFYING ASH TREES IN WINTER

LARGE OLD WHITE ASH

ASH SEEDS (SAMARAS)...

...DITTO

WHITE ASH BARK

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  13 degrees F, wind SSE, light.  The sky is again overcast,  it is snowing very lightly and I scraped about 1" from drives and walkways this morning.  The humidity is 82%, the barometer steady at 30.35".
   We had to go to Ashland late yesterday afternoon, and the road conditions suddenly became very treacherous.  I negotiated the new roundabout at the intersection of Hwys. 13 and US2 carefully, and watched in the rearview mirror as the little vehicle behind me did two complete doughnuts coming out of the circle.  light, short-whelebased front wheel drive cars are prone to spinouts and ditch surfing up here, although one can get into trouble even with a larger four-wheel drive vehicle unless constantly alert.
   Rather than add photos to yesterday's post I will continue with winter identification of ash trees today.
The top photo above is of a white ash about fifty years old; note that it has beome much more open and less regular in shape as it has aged.
   The seeds (winged nutlets called samaras) of ash trees are quite distinctive, having one wing for aid in dispersal by the wind.   Ash species have separate male and female trees. Approximately half of the trees in the wild bear male flowers and the other half female flowers (horticultural selections of ash trees, such as 'Marshal's Seedless Ash 'are often male trees, to eliminate the seeds).   Seeds often persist on female trees well into the winter, which is another good identification clue.
   The bark of ash trees can also be quite distinctive, the above photo being of the bark of a white ash street tree, the diameter of which is about eight inches at breast height.  Note the evenly furrowed bark, which will become more deeply furrowed and darker in color as the tree ages.
   Have you seen the rapper video, imitating the President, which the Administration is using to entice young folks to sign up for Obamacare?  I thought the image of the presidency had reached its nadir when Bill Clinton put on sunglasses and played (sort of) the saxophone on Saturday Night Live, but this makes that embarrassing episode pale into insignificance.  It is like a modern parody of what went on in the Georgia statehouse during reconstruction, after the Civil War.  I am embarrassed for my country.  The rest of the world, being somewhat more sane and a bit more dignified than we are, must think us all buffoons.

IDENTIFYING ASH TREES IN WINTER

ASH TREES HAVE OPPOSITE BRANCHES

FORMAL SHAPE OF YOUNG WHITE ASH TREE

PENDULOUS BRANCHES OF GREEN ASH  TREE

DEFORMED, PERSISTENT MALE FLOWERS

Friday,  8:30 AM. 5 degrees F,  Wind N, calm at present (and my low-tech weather vane is frozen tight).  The sky is overcast and fog is developing.  The humidity is 80% and the barometer is trending down, now at 30.37".  When I could see the water earlier it appeared as though considerable ice was forming but it won't last.  Neighbor Sherman, a recently retired ferry boat captain, said yesterday it will take another month of cold weather to have any lasting ice on the channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island.  Above zero with no wind seems like a heat wave.
   Blog reader Tim Jet, of Tree Nursery Company in Tennessee, after reading the October 5, 2013   post "Ash Species Fall Leaf Color," commented  that I should give some hints for winter ash tree identification as well, since Emerald Ash Borer is such a prevalent problem.  So here goes.
   Ash trees have opposite branching rather than alternate, and that is the most prominent winter identification clue.  Maples and a few other trees (mainly horse chestnut, Ohio buckeye and flowering dogwood) also have opposite branching, but the ash branchlets are much thicker than maple branchlets.  Buckeye and horse chestnut branchlets are relatively shorter and stubbier than ash branchlets, and dogwoods don't become large trees.
   Of the most common ash trees, the winter profile of a young to middle-aged white ash tree is very formal, the branches sweeping up and outward.  The winter profile of a green ash tree is more irregular, and the branches are pendulous, sweeping downward.
   In ash species, the trees are male and female, the female flowers developing into a winged samara ( a hard, small nutlet) which look much like the winged samaras of maple trees except that the seed has only one wing, while the maple has two seeds joined together so they appear to have two wings.  The seeds often persist on the tree into winter (I will find an example and add a photo).  The male flowers of  ash species often are infested by a tiny mite which distorts the flowers and they are quite obvious in winter; where there are a lot of ash trees in a forest this can be quite a good distance identification characteristic, with often fifty-percent of the ash trees identifiable in this way.
   There are other winter identifying characteristics, such as trunk bark, and dormant branch leaf scars, the later I think too complicated for this discussion.
   Tree Nursery Company.com has a nice web site with color photos, and I encourage Almanac readers to look it up.

THE BLACK HAWK MARINA GARDEN IN WINTER

NORTH GATE

OLD SAILBOAT, TREE HYDRANGEAS

WEST GATE

GARDEN FISHING TUGS

Thursday, 8:45 AM.  1 degrees F, up from below 0 earlier.  Wind WSW, light with a few gusts, the sky with a high overcast.   The humidity is trending up at at 82%%,  and the the barometer down, at 30.30".  We got a dusting of snow last night, which is normal until the bay freezes over (the steam rises off the water, condenses over Bayfield, and it snows).  It isn't usually a lot, but it sure adds up,

   I thought it would be interesting to try to capture another "garden in winter" , similar to "Martha's Fantastic Garden In Winter, "  (yesterday's blog).  The subject today is the Black Hawk Marina Garden, an unusual and quite beautiful Bayfield private garden open to the public.  I can't think of another boat-oriented garden anywhere.  Use the blog search engine to see it in all its summer glory.
   Larger and older gardens are usually better winter subjects, at least if properly designed with significant "bones" of major trees and shrubs.  A good winter garden needs conifers for contrast, and deciduous trees and shrubs with interesting branch and bark characteristics.  The best winter gardens will also have significant topographical and architectural features, and perhaps some borrowed views.

  The Black Hawk Marina Garden has some background trees and shrubs, but the more significant winter features are the two wooden gates, beautifully hand made by marina owner Ken Dobson, and of course the beached fishing tugs.  The garden paths are not kept open in winter, so one must enjoy it from the car window.

MARTHA'S FANTASTIC GARDEN IN WINTER

WEDNESDAY MORNING'S STRUGGLING SUN

PICTURESQUE BLACK WILLOW

PATHWAY, PLANTS AND GARDEN ORNAMENTS

...DITTO

BLACK WILLOW AND WEST ENTRANCE TO GARDEN

Wednesday, 9:00 AM.  -3 degrees F, wind WNW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear except for copious amounts of "lake smoke" obscuring the rising sun.  The humidity is down, to 78%, the barometer is up, to 30.48" and we got another 2" of snow last night.

   I thought it would be interesting to take some photos of Martha's Garden in winter (search "Martha's Fantastic Garden on the blog search engine).  It was interesting indeed but also very cold and snow bound.  I stepped out of the truck and was immediately stuck in snow above my knees.  Thus anchored, I took a few frozen photos and gave up.  Martha's garden is under several  feet of snow, the pathways barely discernible and most of the plants buried.  The old black willow on the west side of the garden does wear its wintry mantle with considerable dignity and style, but most everything else is a white-out.  Maybe I'll try again when we get a January thaw.
   I am becoming more and more mystified by the impropriety of the President's actions.  Nelson Mandela was a hero to his people and a role-model for the world, and the president had every reason to attend his memorial service in South Africa.  But he did not attend Margaret Thatcher's funeral, a great leader of the Free World and a staunch friend and ally of the United States.  He mandated lowering the US flag to half staff for Mandela, but not for Margaret Thatcher.  Who was the greater friend of the United States?  I am not much in favor of lowering the American flag for anyone or anything not American, but certainly it would have been more appropriate to so honor Margaret Thatcher and Great Britain.  He has recently snubbed Israel and its Prime Minister while secretly cozying up to Iran.  And he evidently did not just perfunctorily shake Raul Castro's hand at Mandela's memorial, he stopped and talked to a man who has been a mortal  enemy of the United States for over half a century (has the President not heard of the Cuban Missile crisis?).  I am truly perplexed.

BRRR...AND IT'S NOT EVEN CHRISTMAS!

ITS A GOOD THING BUDDY HAS SOME BLACK SPOTS;
"NO WEATHER FOR A SHORT-HAIRED DOG," HE SAYS

...AND ITS NOT EVEN CHRISTMAS!

HAUSER'S ORCHARD  HOLIDAY LIGHTS

Tuesday,  9:00 AM.  2 degrees F, up from -5 at dawn.  Wind SW, light to moderate.  The sky is clear but lake smoke still rises off the bay.  The humidity is 83% and the barometer is more or less steady, at 29.93".  We had a dusting of snow last night, and I now have things well cleaned up, ready for the next snow storm, probably towards the weekend.
   The winter weather grinds on, and it's not even Christmas!  When Buddy runs across the snow I would loose sight of him if he didn't have spots.
   Hauser's Orchard out on Hwy. J has gone to considerable trouble to brighten things up, and it's very effective,  if one has the gumption to venture out on the slick country roads after dark.

ART AND JOAN ODE'S 2013 CHRISTMAS LETTER

Monday, 9:00 AM. Six degrees F downtown, 9 degrees on the back porch.  Wind W, light with moderate gusts.  The sky has a high overcast, which the sun may not penetrate today.  The humidity is 83% and the barometer is down to 29.93".  We got several inches of snow last night.
   Our annual Christmas letter is going in the mail today, and we thought it appropriate to post our Holiday greetings in the Almanac as well.

Christmas 2013

 Art and Joan Ode

Dear Friends:

   As yet another year comes to an end, we are grateful for its blessings of family, friends and good health.  It was a quick-time year, accelerated by visits to our children and grandchildren in Texas, Ohio and Colorado and their visits to woodsy Bayfield.

   We experienced unprecedented visits from friends and acquaintances, old and new, as well.  It was also a year of weddings; the children of family and friends starting out on the serious and exciting venture of creating their own families, and we wish them all the rewards of lives well led.

   Art continues to be active in his profession, which takes both of us to many interesting and beautiful places around Wisconsin.  Our dog Buddy always goes along for the ride (and maybe a good run in a new field or woods along the way).

   As the years fly by, the season becomes for us more a time for memories of Christmases past, as we conjure up images of Tannenbaums with handmade ornaments, surrounded by mysterious, beribboned packages; of traditional Christmas cakes and cookies baked by mothers and aunts; and especially of loved ones, many now departed, gathered ‘round the Holiday table.  Memories aside, we look forward to being with all of our children and grandchildren this  Christmas in Texas.

  Until we meet again, have a merry Christmas, a happy and healthy New Year, and may the whole world rejoice in the angels’ promise of “Peace on Earth, and Good Will Toward Men.”  

CHRISTMAS "LESSONS AND CAROLS" IN A TOUGH WINTER

THE WINTERS GET TOUGHER AS ONE GETS OLDER

CHRIST CHURCH...CLOSED FOR THE WINTER

Sunday,  9:30 AM.  -2 degrees F, up from -5 earlier. Wind WSW, light with stronger gusts. It is overcast again and "lake smoke" is rising from the bay. The humidity is 83% and the barometer is trending down but still high, at 30.54".  The Farmer's Almanac  predicts snowy conditions between Dec. 8th and 11th for Wisconsin and Michigan and it is probably right.
   Yesterday evening Christ Church celebrated traditional Christmas  Lessons and Carols.  It was a beautiful event with excellent music. The audience singing Silent Night while holding candles was very touching. It was the last service of 2013, and the church will open again in the summer of 2014.  I took photos but my camera malfunctioned so the above pictures will have to suffice.

A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE ON IN INFAMY, AND A JAPANESE TRUCK

JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR

"LAKE SMOKE" RISING

Saturday, 9:30 AM. -2 degrees F, wind SE, moderate with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear and bright, but great clouds of fog, or "lake smoke," are rising off Chequamegon Bay due to the contrast in air and water temperature.  The humidity is 85% and the barometer has risen to 30.68"  We got another couple of inches of lake effect snow last night.  The bright sunshine is very welcome indeed.
   Today is Pearl Harbor Day, the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  2,402 Americans were killed, 1,282 wounded, and  the Pacific fleet was severely damaged.  It resulted in war being declared against Japan, and America's subsequent entry into the European war on Dec. 11th. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pronounced it "A date which will live on in infamy."
  The ultimate outcome of the attack on Pearl Harbor is that Japan was crushed, and I now drive a Japanese truck.  Go figure.

BAYFIELD ON ICE

BAYFIELD ON ICE...

...DOESN'T BOTHER THE KIDS

Friday, 9:00 AM.  2 degrees F, up from 0 earlier.  The wind is calm and the weather vane frozen in place.  The sky is overcast but beginning to clear. The humidity is trending down, at 80%, and the barometer is way up, at 30.45". It was very foggy earlier but the sun is dissipating it.  The Farmer's Almanac didn't predict this latest storm.
   The President said some time ago that he was going to sign up for Obamacare. He hasn't done so.  Maybe he has not been able to log in.