5/08/12 SOMETHING IS VERY ROTTEN IN WISCONSIN

AS MURKY AS A WISCONSIN ELECTION

Tuesday, 7:30 AM.  40 degrees F, wind W, calm.  The sky is overcast and lake fog has crept up the bluff almost to the house.  The barometer predicts rain.  The morning is as murky as today 's Wisconsin primary election.
    Surprise, surprise!  For anyone who, like myself, thought that the statewide primary to select a candidate to run against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in a recall election next month was only a Democrat concern.  Not so.  Twenty-three year old Arthur Kohl-Riggs, a self-described “Progressive Republican” is on the ballot against the governor, and if he receives more votes than Walker (quite possible, as many Republicans and Independents may not be aware of this issue) he will knock Walker out of the race.
    How did this farce occur?  Beats me, folks, the first I heard of this challenge to Walker was yesterday, in an add in the local Ashland Daily Press, urging Walker supporters to vote today. I have heard nothing on the radio or TV about this issue, and nothing, not surprisingly, on Wisconsin Public Radio. Candidate Kohl-Riggs is an obvious plant by the left wing, and the media is obviously in on the ruset.  Was the Election Board complicit in a cover up?  Where was the Government Accountability Board?
    There is something very rotten going on in Wisconsin, folks, and if you are a Wisconsin supporter of the embattled governor, you had better get to the polls today or you may very well be cheated out of your right to vote to retain him in office next month.

5/07/12 IRONY

ANOTHER FOGGY, QUIET MORNING

MADELINE ISLAND INFORMATION STATION...

NICELY LANDSCAPED

Monday, 8:30 AM.  46 degrees F, wind N, calm.  It is foggy and damp, the humidity 85%.  The barometer is down.  It is a very quiet morning except for the intermittent sounding of the fog horn on the breakwater.
    Yesterday was also very quiet, the most exciting aspect being watching the Brewers loose an eleventh inning squeaker against the Giants.  Not that exciting, actually, as the Brewers again did not play particularly well, with many of their best players on the Disabled List.  And, they really miss Prince Fielder’s bat, and prowess at first base.
    The Madeline Island Information Station at the Bayfield ferry dock is very nicely landscaped, at this time a pleasant mixture of  native and non-native shrubs and non-native spring bulbs.  Madeline Island also has a great daffodil display, but although I should take a boat ride over and photograph it I have not done so, as the fare for the round trip has become quite expensive.
    Have you heard  that the female defense attorney for one of the 9/11 terrorists appeared in court  at Gitmo in a hijab, and asked other women in attendance to do so as well, out of respect for the defendants religion, who would be guilty of committing a sin if they cast their eyes upon them?  I hope the request was done with a strong sense of irony at the fact that seeing a woman’s face is considered a sin, but killing 3,000 innocent and unsuspecting civilians is not.  

5/6/12 BORROWED MUSCLE, PASQUE FLOWERS AND WILD PLUMS

THANKS, GUARDIANS

PASQUE FLOW3ER

WILD PLUM

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  44 degrees F, wind NNW, brisk at times.  It has been raining off and on, the sky is overcast and the barometer predicts more.
      Buddy and I took a nice walk in the rain on Old San Road earlier.  I had him on a twenty-foot lead, which gives him ample opportunity to explore.  He responds quite well to “here” now and pretty soon I will trust him off lead in familiar territory but with the electronic collar on in case he gets the notion to take off.  He pointed a grouse in the brush on the side of the road this morning, a beautiful classic point.  And there was a sort of mental telepathy from dog to  man that went something like this: “Hey, Boss, this ain’t no robin.”
    I drove around much of the day yesterday with the Bayfield Arbor Day tree in the bed of the pickup, as it was much too heavy for me to unload by myself, especially while still on light duty, and there were no work crews in sight to prevail upon, it being the weekend.  At last a mental light went on; I simply stopped at the Coast Guard station and asked the Officer of the Day to lend me a few strong backs to perform a civic duty, and viola, problem solved. 
    There is a very large clone of wild plum, Prunus Americana, blooming beautifully just south of town and visible from Hwy. 13.  The species often forms large, virtually impenetrable thickets that are very colorful in bloom.  This one will be loaded with wild plums in six weeks or so.  Wild plums seem to be seldom harvested, but when fully ripe they are as sweet and as good as any species or variety of plum, and are good to eat out of hand, or as jam or jelly, or to make into plum wine or brandy (see my blogs of  5/10/10 and 9/26/11 ).  Watch out if you go harvesting wild plums, however, as you might have to compete with the bears, who dearly love them and will tear the bushes literally apart to get them.
    Pasque flowers (Anemone patens, in the buttercup family) are blooming, and are quite attractive in flower and later in seed.  They are native to prairies and poor  soil sites, but I have seldom seen them in he wild.  They are a popular early spring garden garden flower.
    The coming week will be a busy one, with preparations for the Bayfield in Bloom kickoff on Friday, the layout of city trees for planting and their delivery, and several planting jobs to begin.
  

5/05/12 A GOOD GETAWAY

CREEPING PHLOX...

OLD CEMETERY ON US HWY 2

IMMATURE BALD EAGLE

TRILLIUMS NEAR ANTIGO

MOONLIGHT AND OAK TREES

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  51 degrees F, wind N, light.  The sky  is mostly clear and the barometer predicts about the same.  The weather was quite warm during both days as we traveled, but cooled off about thirty degrees as soon as we got near the Big Lake, and it was good to have a fire in the fireplace last evening.
    Our brief getaway was very nice, quite welcome and productive.  We headed SE several hundred miles on Thursday morning to Langlade, Wisconsin on the Wolf River, and got to friend Tommy’s lake cottage in time to cook a good dinner on his grill and then spent the evening talking and listening to tree frogs and loons, the latter almost driving Buddy nuts.  Anyway we had a good visit, Buddy had some good walks, and after breakfast Friday morning we drove to Northwoods Nursery in Rhinelander and picked up the Bayfield Arbor Day tree which we will plant next Friday as part of the Bayfield in Bloom kickoff.  Now I have to figure out how to unload the tree from the pickup truck.
    A sign seen in Antigo, Wisconsin: “God will deliver you from evil.  Frank’s Trucking will deliver everything else.”
    Speaking of signs, we saw only one Recall Walker (Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker) sign on the trip, and manY, many We Stand With Scott Walker signs.
    It was quite warm, shirtsleeve weather really, once away from the Big Lake.  On the way we stopped at an old cemetery on Hwy 2 just a few miles west of Hurley, Wisconsin. It was  one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, the ancient headstones surrounded by masses of creeping pink and white phlox.  Shortly thereafter we saw an immature bald eagle along Hwy 51.  It was accompanied by an adult, which flew off as we approached. The woods near Antigo were resplendent with white trilliums.We saw no turkeys on the trip, which is quite unusual.  I believe they are mating or perhaps nesting. Last night the almost-full moon was spectacular as it shone through the tall oak trees.
    We are way behind on tree planting and garden work, so we have lots to do today.

5/03/12 RHODODENDRONS, ELDERBERRIES AND THE NEW TAMANY HALL

EVERYTHING IS COMING INTO BLOOM NOW

RED BERRIED ELDERBERRY FLOWERS

...SAMBUCUS PUBENS

PJM RHODENDRON STARTING TO BLOOM IN THE FRONT YARD

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  51 degrees F, wind NW, quite windy at times.  It rained hard for a bit before dawn but it is clearing now and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
    Yesterday was a true spring day, sunny, balmy, the temperatures reaching into the low eighties.  Late afternoon we put the top down on the convertible and took a drive, and we ate dinner on the porch.  Everything will be blooming soon; the PJM rhododendrons in the front yard are beginning to bloom this morning, as is the red-berried elderberry, Sambucus pubens, a more northern species than the more common S. canadensis.                    
    The situation of the Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng remains murky; did he actually seek asylum in the US embassy in Bejing, and if so, why did he leave again? What was he promised, what was he led to believe? Was his wife and family threatened by the Chinese government, or not?  Did Hillary and the Obama administration “throw him under the bus,” as they have done to so many of their supporters and allies when their presence became awkward?  Was it whispered to the Chinese, "I'll have more flexibilliy
after the election in November?"
    We may never know whether this brave man was double-crossed or not, but knowing the history of the people he is dealing with, one tends to harbor dark suspicions.  But, “Politics ain’t bean bag,” as Boss Tweed once said and Mr. Chen is finding out.  And, the Obama administration is the new Tammany Hall.
    We are going south to Langlade, WI to visit friend Tommy at his cottage, and will pick up plants at Northwoods Nursery in Rhinelander on the way back, so there won’t be a blog for a couple of days.

5/02/12 CHERRIES, PEARS AND OUR AMERICAN KLEPTOCRACY

LONG ISLAND IN THE MIST

CHOKECHERRY BLOSOMS

WOODLAND CHOKECHERRY

PUSSYTOES

A CLOUD OF PEAR BLOSSOMS

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  57 degrees, wind W, calm.  The sky is overcast with heavy dark rain clouds, the humidity is high and the barometer predicts rain.  The robins were singing arias about worms this morning.
    The native cherries are blooming.  The one pictured is chokecherry, Prunus virginiana.  It bears its flowers and fruit in heads at the end of a stem.  The fruit is bitter and inedible except when dead ripe, and the leaves and bark are bitter tasting as well.  It is extremely hardy, and widespread throughout North America..  It has smooth, gray bark, which separates it from most of the other cherries, which mostly have shiny, dotted bark on young trees and branches.  The edible pears, Pyrus communis, are blooming, the white flowers in clusters.  Pussytoes, members of the species Antennaria, are blooming now in lawns and along roadsides.
    The embarrassing failures of the Obama administration are seemingly endless; one of the top administrators of ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration, James Woolsey, has just pleaded guilty to embezzling, along with his son and other ICE employees, over a half million dollars in travel funds.  The scam was so transparent and amateurish that it leads one to believe that it had to be overlooked by others in authority, and is perhaps a widespread practice throughout the government.  Keep in mind that this is the largest federal investigative agency after the FBI, and Woolsey is a former Acting Director. 
    Add this crooked, almost inane high level scheme to the stew pot of larceny that is the U.S. government under President Obama, and this administration is well on its way to surpassing that paragon of American corruption, the Grant administration. I fear America has become a kleptocracy.

MAY DAY, MAGNOLIAS, CHERRIES; AND IS ERIC HOLDER NEXT?

SAUCER MAGNOLIA

ORNAMENTAL PEAR (A LITTLE PAST FULL BLOOM}

ORNAMENTAL CHERRY

I KNOW THERE'S A GROUSE IN THERE SOMEWHERE!

LOOKS LIKE RAIN

Tuesday. 8:00 AM.  49 degrees F, wind E, light.  The sky is becoming very overcast, and a lot of haze is moving in from the lake.  The humidity is 83% and the barometer predicts rain, which it looks like we may get.  It's May Day; wonder what the loonies will do to celebrate?
    There are a few saucer magnolias around Bayfield, this one at the Mayor’s  place, Cooper Hill House Bed and Breakfast.  Although they usually bloom without too much damage, the variety itself is not vigorous enough here to provide a lot of interest.  Ornamental and edible pears are blooming now, as is this magnificent ornamental cherry (sorry, I don’t know which one) out on Myers-Olsen road.
    Buddy pointed a grouse on the side of Old San Road, and held it, statue-steady, for several minutes.  We are working very judiciously with the electronic collar and making some definite progress.
    As I predicted, Al Armendariz, the Dallas regional EPA head who terrorized the oil and gas companies, is out.  He resigned.  Given an offer he couldn’t refuse, I am certain.  Who will be next to fall on their sword for the President?  Looks to me like Eric Holder.  Can’t wait.