3/25/12 FISH, RATTLESNAKES, VOLCANOES AND OIL

BEACH BIRCH

DON'T FORGET YOUR SHOES

THE BIG HOT TUB

ANCIENT VOLCANOES...

...AND RATTLE SNAKES

Sunday, 9:30 AM.  35 degrees F, wind W mostly calm but with sudden gusts  at ground level, NNW in the upper atmosphere.  It is partly cloudy but a welcome change from the constant fog of last week.  Neighbors tell us we missed glorious weather the two weeks we were gone.  Well, that’s how it goes.
        I took Buddy for a run on the beach earlier, he is still on a long rope as I don’t trust him not to dash off after something and be out of my control.  One of these days we will give him another chance at freedom and responsibility, but not yet.  Fishermen are trying their luck waiting for the Coho salmon to run up the Sioux, and there is a lot of fishing at the hot pond at the Ashland power plant, I don’t know for what in particular.  I am still nursing a painful hip, the result of falling on the ice while shoveling the driveway during the last snow storm, so I don’t know if I will do any spring fishing or not.
        Reverting to an account of our recent trip to Texas and Colorado:  We headed NW on US 383 to US 83, across Texas and through Abilene and into the NE corner of New Mexico, a favorite landscape of ours, with mesas, canyons and fantastic ancient volcanoes.  The few rest areas all have warning signs for rattle snakes, so I kept a close watch on Buddy as we walked.  The drive on I 25 north to Denver was in pretty heavy traffic most of the way but the scenery in the southern reaches was beautiful.  We saw lots of antelope in New Mexico, and mule deer in Colorado (all too difficult to photograph from a moving vehicle, even when close to the road).
We only had time to stay two nights with Eva, Doug and grandchildren Nickolas and Katie but that was just as well, as it is a busy household, everyone preoccupied with school and work. There were very high winds in Denver along with some rain, but no tornadoes.  Much of the economic news in Colorado relates to the newly discovered oil and gas deposits in northern Colorado, Montana and the Dakotas.  It has to be having a great impact on the economies of all those states.  If I had the time I would cross North Dakota to see for myself. According to all reports jobs at $125,000 per year are not uncommon for skilled tradesmen, and even an unskilled laborer can make $25,000.  I have heard that the work week is 80 hrs, with every other week off, which makes it feasible for people to commute long distances to work in the oil fields, but housing, including motel rooms, is very scarce. The last leg of our journey was the return to Wisconsin; more about that tomorrow.