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Saturday, January 31, 2015

WINTER CAN INDEED BE BEAUTIFUL

SKY AND ICE
Saturday, 9:00 AM.  23 degrees F, wind N, calm with occasional gusts.  The sky has a moderately high overcast and some scattered lower clouds and a few errant snowflakes are drifting downward.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is trending up, and stands now at 30.27". It is again a very quiet morning.
   It looks like the weather is turning colder but without significant snow.  There is still ample snow on the ground but we have much, much less than last year at this time.  That is very good for the deer herd, which suffered huge loses the last several years from severe cold and deep snow, which caused them to yard up in heavy cover and made them vulnerable to coyotes and wolves.  Malnutrition and starvation also reduced deer numbers, and led to the birth and survival of far fewer fawns.
   Buddy needed to stretch his legs yesterday afternoon, so we stopped at the Sioux River beach.  The swirling clouds and pressure-ridged ice mimicked each other on a frozen canvas.  Winter can indeed be beautiful.

Friday, January 30, 2015

NEWSFLASH, BAYFIELD: UNFAMILIAR LUMINOUS OBJECT SIGHTED IN SKY

THE CLOUDS ARE BACKLIT BY A PERSISTENT SUN THIS MORNING

Friday, 9:00 AM.  10 degrees F at the ferry dock, 15 on the back porch.  Wind SSW, gusty at times.  The sky is a mix of high overcast and high clouds that the sun is trying valiantly to shine through.  The humidity is 79% and the the barometer is 30.58" and trending down.The sun has been noticeably absent from the morning skies, and feeble as it may be, it is a welcome presence this morning. We have had some sunny late afternoons.
   The difference of 5 degrees F from downtown to our back porch on the bluff is due to the wind sweeping up from Ashland across twenty miles of ice directly to the ferry dock.  We are somewhat sheltered from it up on the bluff and do not get its direct effect.  But, we are usually colder than downtown when the wind is from the west.
   In any case, seeing that unfamiliar luminous object in the morning sky is worthy of a newsflash.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

JANUARY THAW

CLEARING SKIES, SLIPPERY ROADS


THE LOWER SIOUX RIVER IS COMPLETELY OPEN
Thursday,  10:00 AM.  28 degrees F, wind NW, gusty.  The sky is partly overcast with scattered clouds but is clearing.  The humidity is 75% and the barometer is 30.12" and rising.  It looks like it may be a pretty nice day.
   We are definitely experiencing our usual January thaw.  The lower Sioux River is free of ice to its mouth on the lake, as are the rest of the streams emptying into Chequamegon Bay.  This is a more complete thaw than we had the two previous winters, but this is pretty normal.  We have plenty of winter left ahead of us and it probably won't be long until all is frozen up again.
   There is a lot of snowmobile and other traffic on the ice and I have not heard of any mishaps so far this winter, which is of itself rather unusual.  Perhaps everyone is being more careful during the obviously warm and melting conditions.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

STUDIES IN BLACK AND WHITE.

BLACK AND WHITE MORNING


BLACK AND WHITE DOG
Wednesday, 8:45 AM.  24 degrees F, wind WSW, calm with occasional gusts.  The sky is lightly overcast, with scattered low clouds.  The humidity is 89% and the barometer, now at 30.1", is trending down.  We may get some snow tonight.
   We took  Buddy  down Old San Road yesterday, where there are virtually no cars during the winter and he could run to his heart's content while I got in an easy walk on a couple of inches of untracked new snow.   He is a study in black and white in the winter landscape.
   The wood shed finally became empty of the oak I had sawn and split last summer, and I had a face cord  of firewood delivered by D & M logging, a nice mix of well seasoned maple, oak and birch.  We went out to dinner last evening to celebrate our wedding anniversary and had a lively fire in the fireplace after.  We went to our favorite winter restaurant, the Steak Pit in Washburn, which is always flawless.  My tenderloin fillet was perfect, and Joan's rib-eye also very good.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

HOW TO SAVE FOOTBALL FROM ITSELF


A BALL IS ROUND.  THIS IS NOT A BALL
Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  28 degrees F at the ferry dock, 25 on the back porch.  The wind is variable and calm to light.  The sky is covered by a low overcast.  The humidity is 85% and the barometer is steady, at 30.21".  It is a very quiet morning; almost everyone is sleeping in or has departed for sunnier climes.
  The game of football is in grave trouble due to the current crises known as "Deflate Gate," caused by the evidently nefarious deflating of numerous game footballs by the Boston Patriots team to gain advantage during a championship game (and who knows how many other football games).  I seldom comment on the sport because I have insufficient knowledge of it and don't really much care for the game as it has always struck me as one of rather uncertain rectitude.
   You see, a football is not a ball.  It is not spherical.  Its shape can only be defined in terms that a professor of geometry might be able to describe, but only through sufficient complicated equations.
   A ball is round and therefore bounces in ways predetermined by physics.  The so-called 'football" follows no known laws of the universe when it bounces, defying even the mathematics of an Einstein.  For that matter, the "football"has very little to do with feet, except those running around the field with it.  I just saw football great Tony Dorset state on TV that deflating a football has little to do with the outcome of a game because the football isn't really that important to its outcome, which he attributed to running, blocking, strategy, etc.
   My very Lutheran mother would have known what to say about all this; she would have stated in no uncertain terms: "Football is evil because it is living a lie, playing with an object that claims to be a ball but which obviously is not."
   Definitions of words matter in this world we live in, as is seen in the courts of law all the time.  I can see the lawyers arguing this case of national importance before the Supreme Court of the United States, pro and con, ad infinitum and ad nauseum, the party of the first part, the party of the second part, the party down the block. Who has standing, who has to sit down.  Whereas, wherefore, whatever. And in closing argument, the lawyer for the defense says: "Your Honors,  Exhibit A, the so-called "football,"is an object of which it  makes no difference whether it is inflated or not because it is not a ball at all but is rather an absurd contradiction in terms.  I rest my case."  Obviously this issue is not going to be settled in the legal arena.
   So let's look at it from a purely physical point of view.  We have already discussed the football's more than dubious bouncability.  But what of its other characteristics as a game piece?  It is difficult and awkward to throw, specifically because it is not a ball.  And it is extremely difficult to catch for exactly the same reason.  And it is almost impossible to keep in one's possession due to its absurd shape. Just consider how often this ungainly object is "fumbled,' to use the football term for being dropped, because it cannot be held onto.  This certainly does not add to the progress of the game toward a just and reasonable end.
  This discussion leads to the obvious conclusion that the game must be changed to reflect true and traditional American virtues, such as, but not limited to: honesty, sportsmanship, fair play, apple pie and  Chevrolet.
  The "football," itself, that object of dubious nomenclature, must be replaced by a real, incorruptible, perfectly predictable, round ball.
   I have considered soccer balls, basketballs and volley balls, but they are corruptible as well, since they too are inflated with air and could be compromised.  My solution, a perfectly obvious and truly practical one, is to replace the onerous "football" with the All-American baseball.  Think what a fine solution this is, and indeed how it would improve the game of football.
   A baseball can be thrown much farther and with far greater accuracy.
   A baseball can be put in one's pocket, virtually eliminating the nefarious fumble.
   A baseball cannot be deflated, since it contains no air.
   A batted ball would be much more effective for kickoff, punting, point after and field goal, and there would obviously be little incentive to "rough the kicker."
   And the baseball itself has never, to my knowledge, been used in any illegal or unsportsmanlike fashion, much to its credit and to that of the noblest of all American games, that which is its namesake, baseball.
   But what would the game be called,  if a baseball replaced the football?  No need to change the name, since the "football" is not a  ball anyway, it is a nonentity, a fatuous, meaningless word, and may as well be retained for the sake of tradition.
 

Monday, January 26, 2015

IN REALITY: TRAVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK

MORE OF THE SAME

WIND SLED STAND-IN
Monday, 8:45 AM.  18 degrees F, wind SSW, light.  The sky has a low overcast, it is foggy and snowing quite steadily now.  The humidity is 90% and the barometer has fallen to 29.71" and remains steady.  We will get a bit of snow from the current conditions, but nothing like the crippling storm of the eastern seaboard.
   The latest Ice Road news is that the wind sled, after a week of running, has quit.  The road is still not officially open and is declared unsafe, but there is a van available that will skirt the pressure ridge and bad ice to take passengers back and forth between Bayfield and Madeline Island.  Everyone else seems to be doing the same so I guess in reality it is "travel at your own risk."

Sunday, January 25, 2015

WHERE THERE IS NO VISION THE PEOPLE PERISH




SUNDAY...THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD WEATHER
Sunday, 9:00 AM.  19 degrees F, wind NE, light to moderate with stronger gusts.  The sky is again overcast, it is foggy and there are continuing snow flurries.  The humidity is 86% and the barometer is more or less steady, currently at 30.09".  The roads are slick again.  It looks like what has become the same old, same old weather.
   Last Sunday's post was pretty downbeat, decrying the withering of Christianity in the Western world. So I will present a 1909 quote from the English poet, author and Christian philosopher G. K. Chesterton, who witnessed similar witherings in his lifetime:
   "I have very little doubt myself that, somehow or other, an inspiring and compelling creed will return to our country, because religion is really a need, like fires in winter: where there is no vision the people perish, and perish of cold.  The nation that has no gods at all not only dies, but what is more, is bored to death."
   And my continuing thanks to Almanac reader Douglas Petersen for introducing me to the works of Chesterton.
 

Saturday, January 24, 2015

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED


.THE CHANNEL ICE, LIKE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS, LOOKS PRETTY ROTTEN...


"WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS TROUBLESOME OVERINFLATED FOOTBALL?"

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  35 degrees F at the ferry dock, 32 on the back porch.  Wind SW, very light with occasional light gusts.  The sky has a low overcast, the humidity is 84% and the barometer is more or less steady at 29.65".  The roads were slippery again this morning, but the driveway ice is melting nicely after a liberal application salt yesterday.    
  "There will be a price..." a White House source snarled, when commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu's upcoming visit to the US Congress.  So, a piqued Administration indicates there will be a Chicago, mob-style response to a perceived slight.  Reminds me of the Obama statement of a few years ago, "If they bring a knife, we'll bring a gun."  Why am I not surprised at all this gangsta' talk?  
   Then again, there is Deflate Gate, the alleged tampering of game footballs by the New England Patriots.  "Who, me? "I'm just the coach. I didn't know footballs got air in 'em."'
   Thugs in politics, cheaters in sports.  
   To quote Captain Renault in the classic movie Casablanca, "I'm shocked, shocked..."

Friday, January 23, 2015

LOTS OF OPEN WATER AT DULUTH

OPEN WATER BEYOND DULUTH HARBOR
Friday, 9:30 AM.  34 degrees F at the ferry dock, 30 on the back porch.  The sky is again overcast but the sun is trying its best.  The wind is S, calm with moderate gusts.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is bumping along the bottom of a trough, now at 29.84".  The roads are covered with a thin layer of ice, either from snow melt or we may have had some freezing drizzle.  In any case it is very slippery,  I fell once before calling our walk quits, and there will be a lot of fender benders this morning.
   I had an appointment in Duluth yesterday afternoon (it turned sunny yesterday, at last) and there is open water as far as the eye can see outside the harbor.  I saw no evidence of boat movent but there are a half dozen or more lakers tied up for winter maintenance.  I think the Soo Locks at the east end of the big lake are closed but that is not definitive.
   Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are predicted to be back to it their historic average levels by midsummer after being down as much as two feet over past years.  All this open water is in direct contrast to last winter's thick ice which was three feet thick in many places.
   I don't think there will be ice enough for the Ice Caves to be open, and unless we get colder weather and some new snow the sled dog races coming up in two weeks could be in jeopardy.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

WE WIN SOME AND WE LOSE SOME

STUCK IN A HOLDING PATTERN


Thursday, 8:30 AM. 20 degrees F, wind WSW, calm with occasional gusts.  The sky has a low overcast, the humidity is 81% and the barometer has begun to trend down, currently at 30.4".  We are stuck in a holding pattern, one day like another.
   With both myself and Joan still not over the flu (guess that's what it is) we thought maybe we ought to ask our doctors about a prescription for the new anti-viral remedy Tamiflu.  Turns out I have had the bug too long for it to be useful but Joan got a prescription and we went to the Walgreens in Ashland to pick it up, along with running some other necessary errands.
   The pharmacy had no liquid Tamiflu left but did have capsules.  When we drove in to pick the prescription up the druggist announced the cost would be $50.  When asked what the insurance co-pay was, he said that was the co-pay, full price was $150.  Joan said no thanks, she would rather have a new pair of shoes.
   While in Ashland we stopped and filled up with gas, the price having come down to $1.99 a gallon.      
   We win some and we lose some.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

PARTING THE WATERS AND MELTING THE GLACIERS

LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE A WHILE
Wednesday, 10:00 AM. 25 degrees F, wind NNE, very light.  The sky is covered by a low overcast.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer is beginning to rise, now at 30.18".
   It looks like it will be a while before the Ice Road actually opens officially, if this large area of soft ice is any indication.  Right now a lot of traffic is going around it but things don't look very promising.
   We watched the State of the Union speech last evening and are convinced at last that Global Warming is indeed a threat, due mainly to the huge amount of hot air emanating from the nation's capitol.  Moses could part the waters, but President Obama can melt the glaciers.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A CENTURY LATER, STILL VULNERABLE

A VIRTUAL REPEAT OF YESTERDAY


Tuesday, 9:20 AM.  24 degrees F, wind NE, very light with light gusts.  The sky is overcast, the humidity 84%.  The barometer is steady, at 30.07".  The morning is a virtual repeat of yesterday.
   O.K., O.K., I give up!  I have had the flu for weeks and pretty much ignored it, but the last several days it came back with a vengeance and I slept all day yesterday.   I haven't had the flu like this in thirty years.  I guess it's nothing to fool around with, and it has been a real epidemic nation-wide. And, like many folks, I did get a flu shot.
   I remember  my parents talking about the flu pandemic after WWI, when each lost friends, and neighborhoods had black crepe hung on nearly every other door. At least twenty million people died world-wide in 1918-19, and some experts put the toll as high as 50 million.  Europe, greatly weakened by the depredations of war, suffered worst.   One doesn't think of such awful things happening these days, but a century later we still remain vulnerable to this  deadly,  quickly mutating virus.

Monday, January 19, 2015

A LEADEN MORNING

A LEADEN MORNING
Monday, Martin Luther King Day, 9:30 AM.  20 degrees F, wind E, light with occasional gusts. The sky is overcast, the humidity 80% and the barometer is trending down, currently at 30.26".  It is a leaden morning.
   The Ice Road is still not open, although there is plenty of illicit traffic.  A pressure ridge has developed that intercepts the road and there are lots of orange cones out there to be ignored.  It won't be long until somebody gets stuck, or worse.
   The word from Texas is that granddaughter Allison got best in class with her goat Mimosa at the Fort Worth Stock Show.  Try as I would, I could not upload a photo sent to my email from daughter-in-law Leslie's IPhone.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN?


EUROPEAN CHURCH ABANDONED TO BOOZE 

WILL WE ALSO ABANDON THE FAITH THAT GAVE US OUR STRENGTH AND OUR FREEDOM?

AND BOW TO A FOREIGN IDEOLOGY?

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  32 degrees F at the ferry dock, 29 on the back porch.  Wind SW, light with occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is cloudy with a high overcast and we have an inch or two of new snow on the ground but it is not snowing now.  The humidity is 88% and the barometer is rising, currently at 29.72".  It is a gloomy morning but it may improve.
   I do not talk politics on Sunday.  I am not violating my rule in the following brief discussion, because I am not discussing politics, but religion.  Both topics are minefields, but fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
   Let me construct a short scenario, prompted by last week's events in France.
   One culture revere's its origins and its history; the other sees its own as archaic and irrelevant.
   One culture maintains strong families; the other destroys its families through out of wedlock births, divorce, abortion, and homosexuality.
   One culture is strident and violent; the other is weak and passive.
   One population is armed; the other has disarmed itself.
   One culture is expanding demographically, through population increase and conquest; the other is declining rapidly, with a birth replacement rate below zero.
   Islam clings to its ideal of a caliphate, an expansionist religious-state, as it has for the past 1,500 years; Europe has largely abandoned Christianity, which is the author of its former strength and freedom.  Its churches and cathedrals have become lifeless museums, restaurants, nightclubs, skate parks.  America is not far behind.
   Which culture would you expect to survive and expand, and which would you expect would be defeated and disappear?
   Given no drastic change, who do you think will win?

Saturday, January 17, 2015

KEEP THE DOORS OPEN

KEEP THE DOORS OPEN
Saturday, 9:30 AM.  24 degrees F, wind SW, mostly calm with light gusts.  It is snowing, very fine flakes falling straight down, the sky is overcast and it is foggy enough to obscure Madeline Island. The roads were getting slippery by the time Buddy and I got back from our walk.  The humidity is 90% and the barometer is still trending down, currently at 29.49".   This is a day that could get nasty, or perhaps not.
    Yesterday evening I went downtown to order a pizza at Sgt. Pepperonis, and stopped by the ferry dock to see if I could get a movie of the five 0'clock wind sled arriving or leaving.  The wind sled was no where it sight, but I saw headlights coming from Madeline Island on the still-closed Ice Road and waited to see what it was.
   Sure enough, it was a midd-sized car full of people.   Maybe they missed the wind sled.  Maybe they were out of beer.
   I would suggest that they keep the doors open on the way back.

Friday, January 16, 2015

LIGHT, SHADOW AND TRACKS

A CONSTANTLY CHANGING SKY COVER THIS MORNING


MORNING SHADOWS...

...AND LAST NIGHT'S TRACKS
Friday,  9:45 AM.  13 degrees F, wind NNE, gusty at times.  The sky is constantly changing this morning, with different cloud formations coming and going.  It looks like we are in for some unsettled weather.  The humidity is 75% and the barometer is falling, currently at 30.26".
   We have had an inordinate amount of cloudy weather this winter, so when we do get a sunny morning the shadows cast by the rising sun can be very compelling, while  rabbit, squirrel and other animal tracks bespeak of the previous evening's animal activities.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR OLD CHRISTMAS TREE


CHRISTMAS TREES FROZEN INTO THE CHANNE ICEL...

MARK THE ICE ROAD TO MADELINE ISLAND
Thursday, 8:00 AM.  25 degrees F on the porch, wind SSW mostly calm with light to moderate gusts.  The sky is overcast, the humidity is 84%, and the barometer is still trending down, now at 29.84"
   Each winter, Bayfield's discarded Christmas trees are placed out along the Ice Road route to Madeline  Island, and they are now in place, marking the route, which is essential in fog or blizzard conditions. The Ice Road still is not open, as the ice must freeze hard and deep for car and truck traffic.  Snow must be plowed to promote freezing (hope the first plow driver wears a wet suit).

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

"LEOPOLD," CONTINUED

ALDO LEOPOLD AS A YOUNG FORESTRY SUPERVISOR IN THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST,
EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY



THE CENTRAL WISCONSIN "SHACK" WHERE LEOPOLD DID MUCH OF HIS WRITING...

...THE UNIQUE BENCH THAT HE DESIGNED
Wednesday, 8;30 AM.  15 degrees F, wind SSW, mostly calm with light to moderate gusts.  The sky has a high overcast and it has begun to snow very lightly.  The humidity is 82%, and the barometer continues to fall, now at 30.26".
   Aldo Leopold is recognized as "the father of scientific game management," but his influence throughout the broad fields of conservation and ecology are legendary.  I was early on influenced personally and professionally by his life and writings.  His basic message was that Western man needed to develop a "conservation ethic," on a plane with human moral ethics, and that is indeed happening, much to his credit.
   Most readers will find his initially published works not only inspiring but also highly literary.  He is an outdoor writer par excellance, and worth reading for that alone, and most will wish to stop there.  I read "Leopold" to gain insight into his management and research styles, since this work publishes for the first time many of his administrative and scientific papers and arguments a well as a host of personal correspondence.  I found that he was not only an inspiring literary writer but a persuasive and highly logical technical writer; professional skills in scare supply in today's world of instant tweeting, twittering and posting sans deeper consideration.
   Aldo Leopold honed his writing skills from a very early age, corresponding with mother and father, siblings and friends in a most enjoyable prose.  He was a born writer.  He was also a very practical and persuasive professional, who seemingly always  attempted to accomplish the politically and socially possible as well as the professionally and scientifically correct.
   The technical and scientific world is so changed today from what it was at his untimely death in 1948 that one must wonder what he would think of it all now, particularly in the environmental arena.  Would he still be a beacon of scientific reason, or would he take sides in the issues of the day that are so charged with political correctness and opposing theories?  Would he still pursue the attainable, rather than the ultimate?  Would he be pleased with the influence he has had and the progress that has been made? Or, would he be forced to take sides in the uncompromising, winner-take-all environmental wars that rage today?
   I have been in Aldo Leopold's camp for over a half a century now, and if in retrospect I see any fault with his philosophies it is this:  The world and its physical environment is always changing, and whether we like it or not, we do not live in a static environment.  We cannot wish the land and what lives and grows on it back to the conditions of centuries past.  We must meet the challenges we face with real science, with the highest aesthetic response, and with the confidence that mankind can be not just the problem, but also the solution to  the environmental challenges of the 21st. Century.
   Thank you, Professor Leopold. May your wisdom and humanity continue to guide us to a better environmental and human future.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

"LEOPOLD", ANOTHER WINTER READ

A DAWN OF FIRE AND ICE



ALDO LEOPOLD..."FATHER OF SCIENTIFIC GAME MANAGEMENT"...

...WRITER, ADMINISTRATOR, EDUCATOR

Tuesday, 7:45 AM.  -4 degrees F, wind SW, mostly calm but with moderate gusts that create a windchill of -18.  The sky is seems clear.  The humidity is 81% and the barometer is trending down, currently at 30.77".
   "Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Other Writings on Eccology and Conservation," edited by Curt Meine and published by the Gould Family Foundation, was intended by me to be a read last winter, but at 935 pages I snipped at it off and on for many months and did just finish it.
   Most professional and very many lay conservationists and students of ecology have read "A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There," published in 1949 just after Leopoold's untimely death in 1948 at the age of 61.  "Sand County" quickly became a mainstay of not only Wisconsin conservation and ecology, but nationally and worldwide as well.
   A graduate of the Yale School of Forestry at a young age, he immediately went into the field in the American Southwest for the Forest Service.  His professional career was so varied in forestry and wildlife management that it is difficult to detail succinctly, but he also worked for various private conservation and game organizations and eventually became a Professor of Wild Life Management at the University of Wisconsin.
   Today's post is being interrupted by other events and I will continue my notes tomorrow.

Monday, January 12, 2015

ICE FISHING IS HEATING UP

ICE FISHING TENTS AND SNOWMOBILE LIGHT AT DUSK

WEATHER FRONT
Monday, 8:30 AM.  2 degrees F, wind N, mostly calm but with some gusts and blowing snow.  The sky is cloudy and there is fog over the channel.  The humidity is 80% and the barometer is rising, now at 30.75".  The morning is a repeat of yesterday, but colder.
   Yesterday afternoon, after the Packer/Cowboys football game (the Pack won a thriller) I took Buddy for a much needed run on the beach.  The temperature was a reasonable 14 degrees but it seemed much colder as a massive front  moved in from the northwest. There were ice fishing tents on the bay, and we watched the light of a snowmobile as it came in from somewhere out in the icy vastness.   Neighbors Tina and Jon went out to the north end of Basswood Island yesterday on their snowmobiles and caught some fish.  Ice fishing seems to be heating up (no pun intended).

Sunday, January 11, 2015

"41", A FINE WINTER'S READ


A FINE READ, REGARDLESS OF ONE'S POLITICS

THE 41ST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A PITCHER ON THE YALE BASEBALL TEAM



ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, NOT A BAD MORNING
Sunday, 9:00 AM. 8 degrees F, wind SSW, calm with light to moderate gusts.  The sky has a high overcast which the sun is trying its best to penetrate.  The humidity is 74%, the barometer 30.32" and falling.  All things considered it is not an unpleasant morning, with everything very quiet.  I have been doing some winter reading, and will pass on a good read.
   George W. Bush had his good and bad points as President, and his supporters and detractors.  But he has published a fine book, a tribute to his father, George H. W. Bush, the 41st President.  "41, A Portrait of My Father" by George W. Bush, is essentially a love story; that of a son for his father.  One might say it is a tribute to fatherhood, as well as a biography of a President.
   It is also a very good history book, as the 41st President has had a long life, encompassing WWII, in which he served as a decorated dive bomber pilot in the Pacific, and there is a lot of insight into the Cold War and its demise, the Reagan presidency and his own presidency, and the First Gulf War.
   The elder Bush was the scion of a distinguished American family, but essentially made his own way in business and politics before he became first Vice President and then President.  He and his wife Barbara raised a normal American family in a West Texas environment, and their marriage is a tribute to them both.  They are also people of deep faith, which supported them through all the difficulties and tragedies of WWII, the loss of a child to leukemia, and the stresses of national politics and life in the fast lane.  Bush 41 also comes across as a genuinely humble man, with a good sense of humor, as well.
  There is not a great deal about George Bush the younger in the book, except as his life was influenced by his father.  I firmly believe, from reading the book, that perhaps except for necessary help with historical research, this book is truly written by the son, and as a genuine tribute to his father, it reflects well on him also.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

SHUCKS!

WIND SLED SERVICE BETWEEN BAYFIELD AND LA POINTE HAS BEGUN
Saturday, 9:00 AM.  -4 degrees F, wind SW with occasional moderate gusts.  The sky is clear, the sun bright.  The humidity is 79%, and the barometer more or less steady at.30.17".  It is a gorgeous winter morning.
   The windsled service to Madeline Island began yesterday, just one day after the ferry stopped running.  Usually there is an interlude of at least a few days as the ice thickens.
   Shucks!  No need to engineer an emergency beer run to La Pointe via dogsled.  No more dreams of an annual dog sled race similar to the Alaskan Iditerod to commemorate the event. No fame, no glory, no tourist dollars. Guess I'll go ice fishing.

Friday, January 9, 2015

ICE FISHING

ANOTHER FOGGY, BELOW ZERO MORNING


ICE FISHING TENT NEAR THE FERRY DOCK
Friday, 8:30 AM.  -3 degrees F on the back porch.  Wind WNW, gusty.  The sky is overcast, it is snowing lightly, fine crystalline flakes.  It is very foggy, with blowing and drifting snow.  We haven't ventured out yet but will have to bundle up and get Buddy out forthwith.
   The Bayfield to La Pointe ferries have stopped running until spring, and the ice fishermen are now quickly taking their place.  The ice fishing tent pictured above was up on Wednesday, the same day the ferry quit.
   I don't ice fish, as it has become too complex and expensive an activity for me.  Every  Big Lake ice fisherman today has a snowmobile or an ATV (or both), a motorized auger, an appropriate tent with heater, specialized clothing, and most inexplicable of all to me, an immersible TV camera to record the fish, if any, as they approach the hook, and a monitor to watch the action or lack thereof.  The tent has to be dark to watch the TV screen.  A sled is needed to haul all the stuff. Add it all up and the cost for equipment is many thousands of dollars, and the biggest allure for many seems to be to see how far out among the Islands they can go and still get back alive.  I guess I am a cheapskate, and just not that adventuresome.
   When I ice fished with my father as a youngster we had an ice chopping bar, some tip-ups and a couple of buckets to sit on that could also be used to put our lunch and the fish in, all carried on my sled that I pulled along behind us.  But that was long, long ago, and not on the Big Lake where there might be three feet of ice to chop.

       ICE FISHING

   When Ice Fishermen fish,
   Do they mostly catch ice?
   A trout or a salmon,
   Now that would be nice

   But the fish that I wish,
   The one that I'd take
   Is the lowly whitefish,
   The best in the Lake
                        Art Ode

Thursday, January 8, 2015

BAYFIELD TO THE RESCUE!





THE FERRY "BAYFIELD" FROZEN IN FOR THE WINTER...

...ALONG WITH FISHING TUGS
PROPOSED BAYFIELD TO LA POINTE DOG SLED RACE

WORKER FLOODING ICE ROAD APPROACH AT BAYFIELD


Thursday, 9:00 AM.  1 degree F on the back porch.  Wind SSW, calm with occasional moderate gusts.  The sky has a high overcast with a few lower, scattered clouds.  The humidity is 63% and the barometer is trending down, currently at 29.94".  Buddy and I walked our usual route this morning, the weather being  more reasonable, and I  over my bout with the flu.
   The ferry officially quit running yesterday.  I was alerted to that fact by Almanac reader and friend Doug Petersen, who lives in North Carolina.  He says he has been laid up by "the bug" and watching the internet a lot and noticed that the ferry was no longer appearing on the Bayfield Inn live web cam of the harbor.  What an era we live in!
   Doug suggests that the Islanders will have to get their beer by dogsled for a while.
   Therefore, in the spirit of the season just passed, I propose that Bayfieldians organize a dogsled rescue run to bring the Islanders their critical liquid needs, modeled on the famous Alaskan Iditerod dogsled mercy run of 1925, which delivered badly needed Diptheria sirum to Nome by dogsled.
   The annual Iditerod race is over six hundred miles long, as opposed to only about three from Bayfield to La Pointe over the ice, but the seriousness of the mission cannot be denied. And, an annual dogsled race to commemorate the mercy mission would likely draw thousands of cheering beer and dog lovers for many years to come. I would name it the Kegarod.  Sled dogs, hot dogs, beer.  Awesome.
   Bayfield to the rescue!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

FROZEN SUNSHINE AND BEER


FROZEN SUNSHINE
ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT 
Wednesday, 9:30 AM.  -9 degrees F, wind WNW, with moderately strong gusts.  Windchill -19 degrees.  The sky is overcast and foggy, the sun valiantly attempting to struggle through the gloom.  There is blowing snow but little new accumulation.  The humidity is 80% and the barometer stands at 30.85" but is beginning to fall.  We shortened our walk to a few blocks this morning since I neglected to put on my scarf or Buddy's jacket.  Our Texas stay has thinned our blood.  I have a lot of snow shoveling to do, but will wait 'till conditions improve a bit.
   With ferry service due to quit soon, Islanders are getting supplies across while they still can, propane and beer being important commodities to transport (but not necessarily in that order). Many will come across the channel on snowmobiles and ATVs before the ice road opens, but most will have to depend on the wind sleds, or simply tough it out until the ice freezes deep enough for vehicular traffic.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

DON'T LET HIM GIVE YOU A SMOOCH!

YES, YOU!!

FERRY LEAVING LA POINTE THIS MORNING...

...TEN MINUTES LATER
Tuesday, 10:00 AM.  1 degree F, wind SW, light with occasional gusts.  The sky is overcast, it is foggy and snow is falling lightly.  The barometer currently stands at 30.26" and has begun to fall.  We will be getting some snow today and tomorrow.
   The channel between La Pointe on Madeline Island and Bayfield is getting pretty well frozen over, the morning ferry having to break ice to cross.  I am told the ferry will probably stop running after this coming weekend.
   Travel is always edifying, and on our trip to Texas I garnered a bit of knowledge that only goat fanciers would be privy to.  I shall pass it on.
  Billy goats smell.  Really bad.  I was reminded of that fact yesterday as I washed the wool work gloves  I had worn while holding Birch, our daughter-in-law Leslie's prize LaMancha buck so she could give it some routine shots.  The gloves had resided in the truck bed on the way home because they smelled so awful.  It took a long soak in Tide and three washings and rinsings before they were free of the uniquely pungent odor.  My best description of the stench is that it is akin to rancid tallow, only much worse.
   Now that you know how bad a billy goat smells, I will tell you why.  He urinates on his beard to render himself more attractive to the girl goats, which must be desperate indeed.
   Don't let him give you a smooch.