1/31/10 GOING DOWNHILL

YELLOW MOON IN A BLACK SKY
THICK ENOUGH TO CUT IT WITH A KNIFE

Sunday, 9:00 AM. 10 degrees, wind W, calm. Fog permeates the atmosphere, and a very light, granular, sugar-like snow is falling. Snow covers the channel ice as two ferries, one closely following the other, plow across it. The silver sun is trying with little success to shine through an atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife.
As lucky and I were walking this morning a younger guy in a red pickup truck stopped, rolled down the window, and said, “Pardon me, sir, but my dog would like to say hello to your dog.” His was a Springer about twice the size of Lucky, but otherwise identical. As I scratched his dog's ears,the young guy told me he was going ice fishing for trout with his best friend. He came from a family of thirteen children, and of necessity they ate venison all winter. His buddy came from a large family also, his father was a commercial fisherman and they ate nothing but fish all winter, so as kids the two friends would alternate inviting each other over for dinner so they each got a change in their monotonous menus. Today our Nanny State would declare such children deprived and put their families on some sort of an administrative watch list. Give me a break!
Joan and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate our wedding anniversary of several days ago, which we had both (lucky for me) forgotten. The moon came up golden orange in a black sky, so I detoured to the coal dock in Washburn to try to get a photo. As we sat in the dark car Joan asked me what I would do if the Border Patrol came up and demanded to know what we were doing there, and I said, “I would just tell them we were waiting for a drug drop from Canada.” She said I wouldn’t dare, and I said, “Try me.” Things sort of went down hill from there.

1/30/10 MOON DUST

A COLD, CLEAR DAWN
MOON DUST ON THE JACK PINE

Saturday, 9:00 AM. Temperature 5 degrees, up from –3 earlier. Wind W, calm. The sky is partly cloudy and the barometer predicts snow. The truck battery died, so there will be no working on the dog sled trail for me this morning.
Last night I watched in vain for the rise of an almost full moon, but it was obscured by clouds and fog. It’s probably just as well I didn’t see it, as it would almost certainly have depressed me even more.
I was first stunned, then mad as hell upon hearing that the President is junking our manned space program , while a similar amount of budget dollars are going towards creating some short “bullet train” routs. How prosaic! Trading a quicker trip to Disney’s Space Mountain for the real thing! And the fact that we may pay Russia $51M per American Astronaut to launch them into space makes us certifiably loony.
I remember the embarrassment of Sputnik and JFK's challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon within the decade. I remember well listening to a live radio report of John Glenn’s earth orbit while working high on a scaffold in Milwaukee, and all of us… laborers, masons, iron workers… all cheering his safe return to earth.
Joan, I and and our first child watched in awe the live pictures of Neil Armstrong emerging from the Eagle and announcing his “One small step for Man, one giant leap for Mankind,” and then planting Old Glory in the moon dust.
My heart still sinks when I think of the Challenger disaster, and the loss of its crew, so American in their diversity and bravery.
Our manned space program has spurred our science and technology as nothing before or since, has given us an unparalleled sense of discovery and optimism, and fueled the dreams of generations of our young people. Will we now say to our children and grandchildren, “If you were Chinese or Russian you could dream of being an Astronaut, but aren’t you lucky, you might grow up to be the engineer on a train to…DISNEY WORLD!”
Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge; will loonies in Washington sell ours for the possibility of a quicker commute from NYC to DC? Are they smoking moon dust, or something else?

1/29/10 STILL COLD, BUT STOPPED SNOWING

NO FOG, NO SNOW
SNOW COVERED JACK PINE

Friday, 8:30 AM. 3 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel is ice and snow covered, with the ferry track slashing diagonally across it. For days there has been an almost constant fog wth light snow falling, but the fog is gone and the snow has stopped. Everything is covered with fresh, crisp white snow. The sky is mottled dark blue and high clouds, and it is difficult to tell where one stops and the other begins. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. No meetings or other distractions today so I will get some office work and reading done, as tomorrow morning I will don snowshoes and go out on the dog sledding trails with a group of Chamber volunteers to trim the overhanging branches.

1/28/10 A TRIP THROUGH THE GIANT ICE CUBES

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?
CAPTAIN MARCY AT THE WHEEL
WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE!
PACK ICE
DOCKING CAN BE TRICKY
LOTS OF CUSTOMERS ON THE ISLAND
LOAD 'EM UP!
THE LITTLE NICHEVO RIDES OUR COATTAILS

Thursday, 8:30 AM. –4 degrees, wind NW, light with stronger gusts and blowing snow. It has been snowing lightly and the sky is overcast but the barometer predicts clearing skies.
Yesterday morning I hitched a ferry ride with neighbor and captain Sherman to see how the channel was freezing up. We left Bayfield at 9:15 with only myself, Sherman, co-captain Marcy and three other passengers. A packet of medicine was being specially carried and I remarked it was sort of like the Iditerod on water. The ferry track across the ice was obvious at first but it froze over fast, and the ship was obviously breaking ice, which looked like giant broken panes of plate glass, but the Madeline Island is a powerful boat and it went through with relative ease. The wheelhouse was a little cramped with three people in it but nice and warm, which was welcome at –3 degrees and windy outside. Being a ferryboat captain requires much outside work loading and unloading vehicles and one has to be dressed for it and be an outdoors person to boot. Maneuvering the big boat takes lots of training and obtaining a captain’s license is not easy. If you can drive one of these things you will never have trouble parallel parking your pickup truck. Docking can be especially tricky. In the wheelhouse, which is reached by a steep slippery stairway, there is the large ship’s wheel, a host of engine gages, a radar, a GPS and a compass, all good tools but the actual piloting is pretty visual, especially through the ice channel. It was bitterly cold and blustery at the La Pointe dock, and a full line of cars and trucks was waiting and were quickly loaded up, and we were soon heading back, crunching through the solidifying ice. The Nichevo, the littlest ferry boat (that sounds like a good title for a children's book), followed in our wake with a truck and trailer that couldn’t be accommodated on the Madeline Island's deck. It does not have engines powerful enough to plow through the freezing channel and had to stay pretty close behind us. We were back at Port Bayfield before 10:30, for a round trip of a little more than an hour including loading and unloading. It is about a 6 mile round trip.
The ferry is scheduled to run through Sunday. The Madeline can break six inches of ice, but when that depth is reached the wind sleds take over until the ice is twelve inches thick, at which time the ice road is opened. Thanks, Sherm and Marcy, for an interesting and fun ride through the giant ice cubes!

1/27/10 BACK TO WINTER

A FOGGY MORN
A COLD DAY AT THE BEACH
AN AMARYLLIS LIGHTS THINGS UP

Wednesday, 8:15 AM. 3 degrees, wind W, gusty. The sky is overcast, the channel is covered with fog, we got 1” of snow last night and the barometer predicts more.
Yesterday afternoon Lucky and I went to the beach, and we can report that it was not balmy at all. We were glad to get back to the truck, as it was about 5 degrees and windy. But the clouds on the eastern horizon were prety. We have an Amaryllis that is literally lighting up the dinning room.

1/26/10 BOON OR BOONDOGGLE?

IS THIS TRIP REALLY NECESSARY?
HEY, PAPPY, IS THET THAR A "REVNOOER"?
NORTH WOODS SNOW SCENE
Tuesday, 9:00 AM. 11 degrees, up from 8 earlier. Wind W, calm. The channel is frozen and I have not seen the ferry. We have gotten about six inches of snow in the last 36 ours, but the barometer predicts sunny skies.
Yesterday afternoon, while returning from a meeting in Washburn, I stopped to take a photo of the snow scene on Hwy. 13 and McCulloch Road. Just then a Border Patrol SUV came driving through the snowstorm from the west out of the boondocks, and as I snapped this photo I half expected it to stop and its occupants pop out and inquire as to what I was doing and why I had taken their picture. A Border Patrol office has been established in Ashland with several agents, and it is due to expand. Being the skeptic that I am, I cannot help wondering whether we really have significant numbers of illegal immigrants and terrorists skating across the frozen lake and skiing down the snowy forest trails, or that we have a drug smuggling problem big enough to warrant a federal patrol presence. In any case, I haven’t heard much justification for this expense, or what one might even consider, intrusion. I have to admit I I have a low tollerance for government snooping, whether in the form of the motorcycle cop hiding behind a billboard or the game warden spying on the lone fisherman waiting for him to put a badly hooked, slightly undersized trout in his creel. And when the spooks are from Washington I become even more leery. Are we going to become like the Appalachia of comic strip fame, with a “Revenooer” hiding behind every oak tree?
So, is this intrusion into our backwoods a boon or a boondoggle? What is their jurisdiction, and what are their enforcement powers? What is their relation to local law enforcement? Or are these just bored guys driving around the back roads because they have nothing else to do? Not to be unfriendly, but I think this federal presence bears scrutiny on a number of counts

1/25/10 THE TREES BE DAMNED

HATE THAT TREE
A BIT OF A WINTRY MESS

Monday, 8:30 AM. 28 degrees, wind WNW, moderate with stronger gusts. The channel is frozen over, the sky is overcast and we got 3” of icy snow yesterday and last night, but the city plow pushed the mess out of the end of the driveway, a welcome gesture. The barometer predicts more.
We have a Tree Board meeting this afternoon, the focus of which will be developing a new policy for the selection and planting of city street trees. We have gotten so much heat from homeowners about planting street trees which they imagine might someday, somehow affect their view of the water (we have been very careful about planting only small ornamental trees where a tree might impact a view) all to no avail. So we have decided to take another tack, planting trees for people who actually want them, on a first come, first served basis. The cry of “I don’t want any trees on my street, none!” is difficult to deal with, and more than one tree has been surreptitiously destroyed by such unreasonable folks, and all the environmental and esthetic benefits of street trees be damned.

1/24/10 GO FIGURE!

OPEN WATER ON THE SIOUX
GUESS I WON'T WASH THE CAR
JUST HANGING AROUND, ENJOYING THE WEATHER

Sunday, 9:00 AM. 34 degrees, wind NE, light. The sky is overcast, it rained all night and rained as we walked this morning on roads sometimes wet, sometimes icy. It has just begun to snow quite heavily. We are on the backend of an enormous, slow moving low and I am glad not to have to go anywhere today. I guess I won't wash the car.
The Sioux River has open water above and below Hwy. 13 now, and is running pretty fast with snow melt from its watershed. Neighbor Sherman tells me that the ferry will indeed continue running beyond Tuesday.
I hadn’t seen a robin in weeks, and thought they had either finally flown south or lay dead under the snow, but there was one in the mountain ash tree this morning eating berries. Is he late, early, or just hanging around enjoying the weather? Go figure!

1/23/10 THE JANUARY THAW CONTINUES

A DARK MORNING WITH SOME FREEZING RAIN

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 33 degrees, wind SW, light but increasing. The channel is frozen over except for the ferry trail, broken open again this morning. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts precipitation. It is over a month since the winter solstice, but it is still a late sunrise. The January thaw continues.
The walk this morning verged on the slippery, but we didn’t get enough rain last night to really make it hazardous, although it probably was so further to the west and south.
On our walk I talked with another old duffer who has a weekend house on 9th St., and he said that on opening day of the gun deer season he saw one deer and five bears. He also hunts with a crossbow during bow season, and did not get a deer this year. He thinks we have a predator problem. The extended January warm spell without additional snow should help the deer survive the winter and hopefully reproduce well in the spring. The snow depth in the deer yards (heavy cover where the deer congregate in the winter) certainly has decreased, saving the deer considerable energy, and the extended warmer weather will also reduce nutritional stress and increase survivability. Maybe the DNR will wriggle off the hook.

1/22/10 PUTTIN' ON THE HAT AT LAST

ANOTHER COLORFUL DAWN
THE RIGHT TO DEFEND WHAT IS YOURS
THE HAT
THE WINDOW STICKER

Friday, 8:00 AM. 27 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is mostly frozen over, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts snow. The ferry is breaking ice again this morning, the effort echoing up the hillsides. The official word is that the last day of operation will be this coming Tuesday, and then the wind sleds will take over. The end of January is about average for the cessation of ferry operations, last year’s early freeze up being something of an anomaly.
Well, I finally did it. Better late than never. Joined the NRA (National Rifle Association). I have put the sticker on the truck window and the hat on my head. I have owned guns off and on since I was sixteen years old. Bought, sold and traded them. Pistols, rifles, shotguns. Went years without owning them, never thought much about it one way or the other. So, why join a gun rights organization now? A couple of simple reasons.
A few years ago I went to a big box store to buy a single shot 20 gage shotgun for grouse hunting. Now this is a mere pop gun, not much good for anything else and not able to be easily concealed. It took three hours and pages of red tape to make this simple purchase and I thought, what the hell is going on here, why is the government impeding this simple sale, and I a veritable model citizen? Why must I have my background investigated as though I were a criminal, foreign terrorist or a psycho? Well, I forgot about that first overt assault on my constitutional rights.
But, the last few election cycles, with innuendos regarding folks like myself “clinging to guns and religion,” and constant politically correct tisk-tisking about the depravity, violence and sheer stupidity of the common man, have led me to believe that there is a real, left wing, elitist-led assault on our Second Amendment rights. I don’t want to own a grenade launcher or an M1 tank, but I believe strongly that I have the right to defend my home, family, and in the final analysis my liberty, with deadly force if necessary. The first things to be confiscated in a totalitarian society are the guns of the people. And the most salient defense against the dictator is the common citizen, armed. Of course it is not usually the state that first directly infringes on these rights, but the fringe groups that support it; the brown shirts, the thugs, the "party." Once the goons have intimidated them, the people are easy pickings for the machinery of the state. That's when the gun records are looked up, and the firearms confiscated one at a time, with a knock on the door in the wee hours of the morning. Then, when the people are disarmed, comes the midnight "putsch," the takeover of the government and the final death of freedom.
So, I joined the best organization I know of to help protect my right to keep and bear arms. There are a lot of folks in town who are not going to like the window sticker or the hat, but on the other hand there are quite a few, maybe the usually silent majority, who are going to give me a thumbs up, and wonder what took me so long. Remember, the Second Amendment guarantees the other Nine.

1/21/10 DON'T DIS MY TRUCK!

IT'S A FINE WINTER DAY
DON'T GO KICKIN' MY TRUCK AROUND!

Thursday, 8:30 AM. 24 degrees, up from 20. Wind WNW, very light. The channel is mostly iced over. The sky is a cloudless, cobalt blue, but the barometer predicts snow.
This is not a political statement, just a defense of a favorite American mode of transportation. I love my pickup truck. I couldn’t operate my two small businesses without it. I would have a smelly trip to the recycle center/garbage dump without it. I couldn’t travel the forest back roads or hunt without it. I wouldn’t get very far in the winter without its four-wheel drive.
Plus, it is virtually indestructible, it rides well, and it offers a commanding view of the road . It is American made. It runs and runs and runs (162,000 miles and going strong). I admit it doesn’t get great gas mileage, but it is paid for. I was insulted when the Cash for Clunkers program tried to seduce me into junking it and go $25,000 into needless debt.
So, to all the elitist, Harvard educated pols and profs out there, I say, DON’T DIS MY TRUCK.

1/20/10 GOOD WORK BY THE CITY CREW

A NICE DAY
A GREAT JOB

Wednesday, 8:45 AM. 21 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is partly open, partly skimmed over again with ice. The sky is mostly blue, and the barometer predicts the same. It is a nice day.
The January thaw has given the city crew the opportunity to clear business district streets and sidewalks, and most street intersections, of accumulated snow. The high banks along side streets have been winged back with the big plow, and icy streets have all been sanded. The city has done a great job so far this winter. Thanks, Guys!

1/19/10 A SOMBER DAY

THE CHANNEL IS MOSTLY OPEN WATER NOW

Tuesday, 9:00 AM. 24.5 degrees, wind W, dead calm. The channel is mostly open water now, and the barometer predicts snow, but I think not today.
The damp, gray day relentlessly leads to somber thoughts regarding the Haitian drama we have watched unfold, for even as we are cheered by dramatic rescues and the arrival of initial aid, we all realize the magnitude of the rebuilding process of a city and society destroyed by both man and nature. The rubble may just as well be bulldozed into the bay for a new airport and all the infrastructure built from scratch. Modern architecture and building codes will need to be applied and enforced. Rebuilding will take years, temporary housing for millions will need to be constructed, and all of this in a country utterly devoid of its own resources and with a population immersed in a culture of dependency, crime and corruption. And yet the effort will not be successful if the Haitian people themselves do not fully participate. We must accept this challenge, as the UN is incapable of doing it and we are the only major culture on the planet that actually believes it is its brother’s keeper. And even if were not predisposed to do so, if we do not accept the task Miami will become the new Haiti. Somber thoughts on a somber day.

1/18/10 IT WAS A FINE WINTER SUNDAY

INTERESTING CLOUDS THIS MORNING
THE JOLLY TRAIL WAS BUSY
A PICTURESQUE PIKES CREEK POOL
MT. ASHWABAY PARKING LOT
LOTS OF KIDS AND FAMILIES ON THE SLOPES

Monday, Martin Luther King Day, 8:30 AM. 30 degrees, wind WSW, moderate with stronger gusts. The channel has significant stretches of open water. The sky is overcast with some interesting cloud formations and the barometer predicts mostly cloudy skies. It was a windy walk this morning, as dignified dissertations emanated from the big pine trees along the route.
Yesterday was warm and sunny again, and folks were out in droves skiing. The Jolly Trailhead on Star Route west of town had ten cars in the lot, the Mount Ashwabay parking lot was packed, and its ski hills were filled with families. The late Jay Jolly, local skier and environmentalist, donated 75 acres to Bayfield County in 2005. It provides access to the Ashwabay recreation area trails from Star Route. It was a wonderful gift. Snowshoes are allowed but dogs must be on leash, so I probably will never use the trails n winter, but that’s O.K., as I have plenty of places where I can snowshoe and also let the dog run.
The north branch of Pike’s Creek is running full now, and is very picturesque. I caught (and released) a 21” rainbow in the above pool several springs ago. No one was fishing off the Sioux River, and the ice is probably quite iffy now.

1/17/10 CHARIOTS AND SNOWSHOES

CHARIOTS OF FIRE
THE SUGAR SHACK'S WAITIN'
NO FIRE AT THE COOK TENT
THANKS, JIM!

Sunday, 8:15 AM. 27 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The channel has alternating bands of ice and open water. The sky is mostly cloudy. The barometer predicts snow. It was a spectacular dawn, the horizon a cacophony of colors, capped by red-pink clouds, a veritable phalanx of heavenly “chariots of fire.”
Yesterday afternoon being warm and sunny, Lucky and I went out to the Larsen place to start breaking a trail to the sugar shack, in anticipation of the sugaring season. When we got there we found that their neighbor Jim had already made trails with his snowmobile, so we had a nice outing without straining old muscles and joints. There were lots of rabbit, squirrel and raven tracks, and a few coyote tracks, but only one identifiable deer track.
Lucky has never really gotten the hang of snowshoeing, so he pretty much stayed on the trail, except when he just had to investigate a fresh track, at which time he would tumble head first into the deep snow, flounder about, and finally extricate himself in a most undignified manner.
Let's all do what we can for Haiti, and Pat Robertson's mother should wash his mouth out with soap.

1/16/10 A TRIP TO THE BEACH WITH BIG SISTER WATCHING

A MAUVE MORNING
SNOWMOBILE TRACKS; THEY GO OUT, DO THEY COME BACK?
ONE LONE FISHERMAN ON THE BA Y
PLENT Y OF CROSS COUNTRY SKI TRACKS

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 25.5 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel has some open water, the sky is partly cloudy with a towering cloud of mauve colored lake smoke on the far eastern horizon. The barometer predicts snow. There was no one else out and about this morning.
Yesterday afternoon, as I was working around the house, I felt a pair of eyes staring relentlessly at me. It was Lucky, and his telepathic message was obvious: “Let’s go to the beach.” I needed a break anyway, so we went. It was 32 degrees and sunny so I only put on a sweat shirt, no jacket. But even though it was warm, it was windy and damp, so we moved about pretty lively-like. There was only one fisherman out on the bay ice, but there were plenty of tracks on the beach snow, both snowmobile and cross-country ski (as well as boots). The bay ice looked pretty rough for either but the tracks ventured out, and I assumed back. The lady game warden who drove up in her pickup with a snow machine in the back wasn’t venturing out, though. I talked to her for a few minutes but didn’t get much information about fish or anything else. I think I interrupted her observations of the lone fisherman, but I don’t think he was catching anything anyway. Big Brother wasn't watching, but I think Big Sister was. The mouth of the Sioux River is still open.

1/15/10 AMERICAN CHESTNUT PROPAGATION

A GORGEOUS DAWN
AMERICAN CHESTNUT
TOUGH TO HANDLE
THE NUT
NUTS STRATIFIED IN DAMP PEAT
NO, JOAN, I'M NOT KEEPING WORMS IN THE REFRIGERATOR AGAIN

Friday, 7:15 AM. 12 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The channel looks frozen, the sky is mostly clear and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. The lack of cloud cover allowed it to get relatively cold last night.
Since late fall I have had American chestnut (Castanea dentata) fruit clusters stored in a wicker basket, waiting for the husks to open and the nuts to fall out. Some have, and most of the husks cracked open, so I decided it was time to extricate them all and stratify them in the refrigerator for spring planting. It was a lot tougher job than I anticipated. The husks are spiny, covered with little needles that I found would penetrate even heavy leather gloves, and the little nuts often had to be pried out, even though the husks were split open. I finally harvested about forty, and mixed them with damp peat and put them in the refrigerator. The term “stratify,” in plant production terms, simply means storing seeds in a damp, sterile medium in a cold environment so they will sprout properly in the spring. Most seeds of temperate climate plants actually need to go through the cold period of winter to germinate. However, many nut trees, including American chestnuts, germinate in late fall under leaf litter on the forest floor, but it is difficult to harvest them in this manner, so for production purposes most nut species are collected in the fall and stratified. I will keep an eye on them and when they sprout I will plant them in potting soil in peat pots. Hopefully keeping them cold will delay germination so they don't grow too fast too early. American chestnuts are seldom grown commercially because of the nearly ubiquitous chestnut blight, which almost wiped out the species early in the last century. The trees in and around Bayfield are either geographically isolated from the disease or have a degree of immunity, I don’t know which, but they are beautiful specimens and are worth propagating. Howard Larson, formerly of Bayfield and now of Ashland, has had considerable success propagating them. For more information, contact the American Chestnut Foundation.