IN FOR A ROUGH TIME

THE FLAG STANDS FOR FREEDOM, OR IT STANDS FOR NOTHING

 Saturday, 8:00 AM.  40 degrees f at the ferry dock, 42 on the back porch.  Wind variable, calm with light gusts.  The humidity is 88%, the barometer 30.67" and fairly steady.  There is a chance of rain showers by Monday, but today is beautiful and a great melting day.
   Whose speech is free, and whose speech is curtailed, or suppressed?  The protesters (I wonder how many were paid to be there) at last night's Trump rally in Chicago had free speech, Mr. Trump and his potential audience did not.  We either have freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to listen, or we do not.  If it is selective it is denied to all.
   Our First Amendment rights have been curtailed in many ways by the present administration; through intimidation, ridicule, and selective use of the legal system, the IRS and other branches of government.  Is it any wonder, then, that supporters of the administration and their street thugs should perceive themselves to have the right to deny others their right to speak, and be listened to?
   We are harvesting the bitter fruits of an administration that has sewn hatred, bigotry, ridicule, and the suppression of the constitutional rights of its opposition for years.  People are fed up.
   We are in for a rough time.

SO SUE ME!

CALVING GLACIER (Google photo)

CHANGING BAYFIELD WEATHER ON FRIDAY

Friday, 8:30 AM.  31 degrees F at the ferry dock, 29 on the back porch.  Wind SSW, calm with occasional light gusts.  The sky is hazy but clearing.  The humidity is 92% and the barometer is more or less steady, at 30.06".  It should be a nice day.
   There is a lot of early spring animal and bird activity now; the pilleated woodpeckers are drumming loudly on trees, the mourning doves are cooing, squirrels are everywhere, and a pair of ruffed grouse have been visiting the back porch, eating seeds fallen from the bird feeder.  I have been watching for bear sign, as they are certainly awakening with the mild weather, but we may not see any around unless neighbors are foolish enough to leave their garbage out (or pies to cool on the windowsill). 
   Breaking News: Climate Change deniers beware!  If you do not agree with the view of the Obama Administration that human activity is responsible for drastic climate change, the Attorney General may bring civil suit against you under the RICO (organized crime) laws.  How's that for an outright assault on the First Amendment?
   Sure, the climate is changing.  If it hadn't changed dramatically in recent geological history, I would be sitting under a mile of ice right now.  Climate changes; that's what it does.  And it wasn't human activity that produced the dramatic climate change of the post glacial period  (and, the "experts" were preaching as recently as twenty-five years ago that the glaciers were returning ).
   I believe the current global warming trend, if it is indeed anything more than a routine upward curve in a long  climatic cycle, is caused primarily by increased solar activity, along with volcanic activity and changes in ocean currents.  And, that the "scientific consensus" for global warming is nothing more than an outrageous left wing attempt to justify an enormous and crippling transfer of wealth from the West, primarily the United States, to poorer countries and other political systems.
   There!  I cite no scientific authority, I have used my own observations and knowledge to reach my conclusions, so sue me!  Sue me for having my own beliefs! Sue me for not being politically correct!  Sue me, you neo-fascists, sue me!

"LET THEM EAT CAKE"

MAYBE BY AUGUST

1789 (2016) BE CAREFUL, MITT!

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  32 degrees F at the ferry dock, 30 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm to very light.  The sky is overcast and hazy, and there are patches of fog here and there.  The humidity is 96%, the barometer rising somewhat, now at 30.17".  We were surprised by about 1" of un-predicted snow that fell during the night, creating some slippery conditions yet again.

   The "No Lifeguard On Duty" sign at the beach in Ashland is evidently left in place as an ironic statement.  Maybe by August.

   I see that the Republican "Establishment," or "Party Bosses," whatever or whomever they are, have assembled to determine how to stop Donald Trump and his "movement."  As they discuss the impertinent demands of the people for their just ration of daily bread, I wonder who (perhaps Mitt Romney) will be stupid enough to utter, "Let them eat cake!"

RED OSIER DOGWOOD: A DRAMATIC PRECURSOR TO SPRING

RED OSIER DOGWOOD

Wednesday, 9:30 AM.  35 degrees F at the ferry dock, 34 on the back porch.  Wind NE, gusty and bitter.  The sky is overcast and foggy, the sun nowhere to be seen.  The humidity is 95%, the barometer 29.91" and rising, with no precipitation predicted until Sunday or Monday.

   Late winter, with snow still as a background, is the best time to appreciate the red twigs of the red osier dogwood, Cornus stolonifera (synonym C. serecia) in the Dogwood Family.  It also has significant panicles of white, compound flowers, and very decorative white to bluish berries.  As its species name implies, it is a spreading shrub, and might be hard to contain in the small landscape, but there are cultivars available that do not spread by stolons.  It is native throughout Wisconsin, its habitat being soggy locations such as the borders of wetlands and swamps and roadside ditches, although it will grow in drier situations.

   I may be wrong, but I think the twig colors are enhanced by the awakening processes of early spring.  In any case, red twigs against white snow are a dramatic precursor to spring.

TROUBLE IS, THEY MIGHT WIN

ICE AND OPEN WATER AT THE BEACH

NATIVE PUSSY WILLOW FLOWERS JUST BEGINNING TO EMERGE FROM THE BUDS

TAG ALDER CATKINS ARE STILL TIGHT; NOTE THE TINY ARACHNID

IT WAS COLD AND BLOWING A GALE

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  36 degrees F at the ferry dock, ditto on the back porch.  Wind variable, calm.  The sky has scattered high clouds and overcast, and some haze.  The barometer is rising, now at 29.86".  It looks like it will be a good ice melting day.
   Buddy hadn't had a run in days so we went to the beach late yesterday afternoon.  The thermometer said it was pretty warm, but it lied.  The wind blew so hard I could hardly stand up, although Buddy, with four legs and a much lower center of gravity, didn't have any trouble.
   I took the opportunity to check the native pussy willows (Salix dixcolor)  and found the flowers just emerging from the buds, so it will take a succession of warm sunny days before they really open.  The tag alder (Alnus incana AKA rugosa) male catkins are still small and stiff, but a tiny spider was active on one of the flower stalks, and as I examined it, the wind blew it away as it spun its silken strand.  35 degrees and a 40 mile an hour wind...not yet a balmy spring day at the beach.
   We watched the Democrat Town Hall hosted by Fox News yesterday and will make the suggestion that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump team up as Third Party candidates.  Bernie's sincere if whimsical personality would soften Donald's bombastic crudeness, and since neither one of them says anything very sensible,  they are quite compatible.  Trouble is, they might win.

THINKING SPRING

SPRING IN TEXAS

Monday, 9:00 AM.  40 degrees F at the ferry dock, 39 on the back porch.  Wind NE, gusty.  The sky is clear of clouds but hazy.  The humidity is 86% and the barometer mostly steady at 29.81".  Rain showers are predicted for tomorrow, which would be welcome to get rid of the remaining ice and mud on the roads.  It isn't spring yet, but today should get us thinking about it.

   We spent several quick days driving down to Milwaukee (where we encountered a brief snowstorm) and back for a niece's wedding shower.  It was a good family gathering for Joan but left me with nothing to do for most of Saturday.  Luckily, I was able to connect with old high school classmate and Almanac reader Ron Gillard, and we had a great time discussing old friends, events and teachers from over sixty years ago; who is gone and who is left and other topics important to us, if not to anyone else.  

    We met for lunch at an "Irish pub" in what used to be the tiny village of Hales Corners, just southwest of Milwaukee.  The entire area has changed so much that I had a hard time realizing it was the same place; and of course, it isn't.  You truly never can go home again, except in memory.  Anyway the afternoon passed quickly over corned beef sandwiches and beer, and amid the memories of long ago.  

   Ron brought his "younger brother" along, who is 75, which kind of puts a new meaning on the phrase.  We all felt fortunate to have survived the vicissitudes of life to this point, for as the Good Book says, "The days of our lives shall be seventy years, or if through strength, eighty." We'll shoot for a few more, anyway.

   Which brings up the passing of Nancy Reagan, a great president's great first lady, who said a few years back (I am paraphrasing slightly), "Since we only have one chance at life, we must do the most good with it that we can." And, she did.

   I looked mostly in vain for signs of spring on the long trip from far north to far south in the State of Wisconsin.  There is some yellowing of willow twigs and the paper birch branchlets are becoming a hazy purple, but little else.  Oh, yes!  The Wisconsin River was open water as it meandered back and forth multiple times on the I39/US51 route.

   But it is spring in Texas, as evidenced by the above photo of our granddaughter Allison and the blooming peach and plum trees.

PRUNING APPLE TREES. ON SNOWSHOES!

THE FERRY IS RUNNING IN OPEN WATER THESE DAYS

THE CARDINAL PAIR IS SHOWING UP AT THE FEEDER  REGULARLY

APPLE ORCHARDS ARE BEING PRUNED...

...NOTE THE SNOWSHOES

Friday, 8:00 AM.  22 degrees F at the ferry dock and on the back porch.  The wind is variable and calm, the humidity 78%.  The sky is virtually clear.  The barometer is high, at 30.14" but is beginning to fall.  Snow showers are still predicted for later in the day but it does't look like it at present.  We have had a week of mostly calm, innocuous weather, stuck somewhere between winter and early spring.
   First, I must apologize for the several days absence.   I lost access to my blog.  I don't know why I am having so much trouble of late, since I have had very few problems over what is now going on the ninth year of the Almanac; I think it may relate to tougher and tougher security and more and more difficult passwords.  In any case, many thanks to Jim from our Tree Board who fixed things for me more quickly than I could follow. The hand is indeed quicker than the eye.
   Second, last night's Republican debate in Detroit was not as bad a food fight as before, and it gave time at least for Gov. Kasich of Ohio to take the stage and in my estimation he is the adult in the room.  I will comment on Trump at another time, as I think I have some insight into his behavior.
   Third, back to Bayfield: the apple orchards are being pruned in earnest.  In sixteen years in Bayfield I have never before actually seen orchardists out pruning.  I have seen trees neatly pruned, with branches laying in neat piles beneath them, but never a human being.  I was on the verge of thinking that the work must be done by trolls and elves in the winter moonlight.  But the photos belie that theory; real people with lopping shears and hand shears were out the other day.  On snowshoes.