4/30/12 BEARS, BOYS, MARSH MARIGOLDS AND CHERRIES

CHERRY BLOSSOMS TOOK A HIT

MARSH  MARIGOLDS ARE BLOOMING IN WET PLACES

THE BOYS IN THE 'HOOD TAKE A RIDE...

...BUT SOMETIMES A GUY NEEDS A PUSH

Monday, 8:30 AM.  47 degrees F, wind WSW, calm.  The sky is overcast with high gray clouds, the humidity is high and the barometer predicts rain.  The roads were damp this morning.
    We have a camera shy bear.  He (or she) swatted it off the post where it was poised to take its photo... must have hit it from behind since there was no image in the camera.
    Yesterday we stopped at the Ferraro’s Apple Hill Orchards to see how their sweet cherry blossoms have fared the vicissitudes of spring.  The answer was, not too well.  A lot, certainly more than half, of the flower buds were killed back in the unseasonably warm weather of late winter.  Some escaped damage, and secondary buds will bloom, but it will be a light crop by all estimates.  The good news is that there are a lot of bees, including honey bees, this spring, which has not always been the case the last few  years, so pollination will be good and they won’t have to rent or buy bees. Also good news is that most of the apple blossoms were not damaged, although the danger of frost is not yet past.
    The marsh marigolds, Caltha palustris, are blooming beautifully now in wet roadsides and woods, turning damp ditches into ntaural water gardens of great beauty.
    Yesterday  I more-or-less violated my pledge of no political commentary on Sundays, so to compensate for my  transgression there will be none today.

4/29/12 A SNEAKY GOVERNMENT SPY IN EVEERY BARN

A NICE, BUT COOL DAY AHEAD

JUNEBERRIES ARE  BLOOMING ALONG ROADSIDES AND IN THE WOODS

AMELANCHIER LAEVIS

Sunday, 8:45 AM.  39 degrees F, up a few degrees from earlier.  Wind N, mostly calm.  The humidity is still high and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies, which are that at present.  It looks like it will be a pleasant, if cool, day.
    Buddy and I took a nice walk on the Old San Road just south of town.  There is no morning traffic and the roadsides are grassy and brushy, good cover for birds.  We heard grouse drumming but did not encounter any on the roadsides.  I still am not letting Buddy off a long lead and we are working seriously on obedience, particularly “here,” “heel,” “sit,” and “stay.”  He is very stubborn about sit, and does so only when he pleases, regardless of my remonstrations.  Most everything else is coming along fine.  The Juneberries are in full bloom in the woods and along the roadsides, and are very nice this year.
    Have you been following the ruckus about OSHA’s new rules concerning farm children doing chores? It has the potential of virtually ending the family  farm as we know it, and even preventing farm children from showing animals in the 4-H competitions that are such an iconic part of rural life.  Of course, the federal government has only the best interests of children at heart.  Baloney! This is driven by big labor trying to muscle its way into another aspect of agriculture.  It’s all about union jobs, and union dues!  Pennsylvania’s Senator Toomey has introduced legislation to protect the family farm from this latest attack by our leftist nanny state, so the threat will probably subside.  Don’t get me wrong; there are things children shouldn’t do around dangerous farm machinery or animals, but unless a government spy is put in every barn there is no way to police such things (oops, I may just have given someone another bad idea). One  also has to assume that parents have a few brains, and some concern for their offspring. Anyway, my intent is not to debate a moot issue, but rather to do some reminiscing. 
    I did not actually grow up on a farm, but like most kids of my era I had relatives who farmed and I spent plenty of time thereon, as did Joan, and we both have childhood memories of bringing the cows in from pasture to be milked, of helping with loading hay bales on wagons and thence to the barn loft, of carrying milk cans and learning to milk without getting kicked in the process.   
    And then there was the first coming of age event for many of us city kids; going to work on the truck farm.  The farm truck would come through the neighborhood early mornings during summer vacation to pick up anyone who wanted to work.  Whether you could go to work weeding rows or harvesting vegetables was determined quite simply; if  you could get on the truck by yourself you were hired ( I wouldn’t make it today).  So by eleven or twelve most kids could go to work on the truck farm if they wished.  It was all equal opportunity, girls as well as boys, and most of the girls were plenty tough.  My first day at the truck farm I came home with a couple of “firsts”: my first hard earned hard cash, all in nickels, dimes and quarters; and my first true black eye from a first serious fist fight.  Actually it wasn’t much of a fight, as I was too dumb to duck, and I wore that black eye as a badge of honor that was envied by my friends for over a week.
     Should there have been some OSHA rules to enforce back then?  I suppose so, but on balance things turned out O.K., and without any sneaky government spy in the pumpkin patch.

4/28/12 CHERRIES; AND, SEND THEM BACK DOWN TO THE MINORS

ORNAMENTAL CHERRIES ARE BLOOMING

PAPER BIRCH CATKINS ARE LENGTHENING

A BRAVE BUMPER STICKER IN WISCONSIN

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  37 degrees, wind N, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is mostly overcast, the humidity is high and the barometer predicts rain, which we could definitely use.
    Ornamental cherries are blooming, and orchard cherries  are almost in bloom.  Wild cherries should bloom with the next few warm days, but they are not about to be fooled. Paper birch catkins are lengthening.
    The bear facts: Neighbor Jake, a block north from us on Tenth St., reports that the momma bear with four cubs was in the dumpster next door to his place at noon on Thursday.  She is missing a front leg, from the elbow down…hasn’t seemed to slow her down much.
    Wonder why your gasoline prices are so high?  It just might have something to do with the  way the EPA treats the oil and natural gas companies.  EPA District Six administrative head Al Armendariz (who appears to be all of about 25) let slip his attitude towards the oil and natural gas industry the other day, saying that they should be crucified, Roman style: “Find the first five guys in a village, crucify them…and then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few  years.”  He later apologized, but I predict he will not be in his job much longer.  It appears to me that, like the President who hired him, he should be sent back down to the Minors.

4/27/12 NO POLITICS, JUST DAFFODILS

Friday, 8:15 AM.  38 degrees F, up from 33 degrees earlier.  The sky is mostly clear with some haze and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.  It is a beautiful spring day, but cool.
    Neighbor Corey, one block up the street on Old Military, says he happened to wake around 4:30 AM yesterday, just as it was getting light, looked out the window and saw a mama bear with four little cubs in his backyard.  So we now have a big old boar and a sow with little ones in the neighborhood.
    No political commentary today, just a celebration of Bayfield’s daffodils.  We  (The Chamber and I) have been planting about 5,000 bulbs a year for the past nine years.  It has become quite a sight, come and enjoy them in person!

...D...

...A...

...F...

...F...

...O...

...D

...I...

...L..

4/26/12 BUT I WON'T HOLD MY BREATH

AN ALMOST BITTER MORNING

YEP, I'M A POINTER!

Thursday, 8:15 AM.  35 degrees F, wind NW, light to moderate.  The sky is mostly overcast with dark gray clouds but they are breaking up and the barometer is high.  It is an almost bitter morning, and since I neglected to wear gloves my fingers were stiff with cold by the time Buddy and I got back from our walk.
    Bayfield’s daffodil display will be at its peak this weekend and I will spend some time this morning photographing them.
    The dangerous budgetary nonsense that has become the hallmark of the federal government goes on unabated.  We have now, as everyone knows, existed three years without a federal budget.  No business, no state, no family could do so and survive.  It is the constitutional responsibility of the administration to work with congress to propose a budget for the various departments and agencies of the government and approve one by a date certain each and every year.  The House, which has a Republican majority, has proposed serious budgets on time.  The Senate, with a Democratic majority, has proposed nothing, and President Obama  has not put forward a plan, ever, and has said he will propose no budget before the November election.  All this is unprecedented dereliction of duty, and although I will cast the blame for the budget crisis on the Democrats as the majority party, I have a simple, straightforward, and non-partisan solution to the problem.
    No pay for anyone in the federal government, with the exception of the military, if a budget is not passed on time.  Not congress, not administration, not justice.  Not the President, not a janitor.  Threatening to close parks and other services in a budget impasse does nothing but punish the taxpayers, while the culprits snicker.  Shut off all funding  and use the  money to pay down the national debt. 
    I realize that the only way to accomplish my plan is through  a constitutional amendment, but I think it is time for some brave and patriotic congressman or candidate to propose it.  But I won’t hold my breath.
 

4/25/12 JUNEBERRIES AND SIGN WARS

AMELANCHIER LAEVIS

AMELANCHIER CANADENSIS

THIS SIGN SAYS IT ALL

CREEPING PHLOX...PHLOX STOLONIFERA

RECLAIM WISCONSIN...FROM THE UNION BOSSES!

Wednesday, 7:40 AM.  46 degrees F, wind N, calm.  The sky is mostly overcast except on the far eastern horizon.  The humidity is high and the barometer predicts rain for the third consecutive day.  A few anticipatory drops fell as we walked this morning
    The Juneberies (Amelanchier species) are really beginning to bloom in earnest now, A, Canadensis has silver-wooly young leaves and is usually shrubby; A. laevis has smooth, red-purple young leaves and tends to be more tree-like  The blossoms of both species are quite similar.  The ranges of these two species overlap so both are present in northern Wisconsin.  There are a number of other less common Juneberry species throughout  North America which I am not familiar with.
    Creeping Phlox, Phlox stolonifera, is blooming in sunny  spots in gardens and rock walls.
    The recall election for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is getting closer, and the sign wars are heating up.  Hwy. 13 between Ashland and Bayfield has sprouted many signs, some home made and others professional.  The anti-Walker signs went up first, the pro-Walker signs are more recent but are becoming quite numerous.  On the whole this is a very liberal area (lots of reasons I won’t go into now) so it is surprising to see the extent of the resistance movement.  I have put a “We Stand With Walker” sticker on the truck but haven’t put up a yard sign as  yet. I’m waiting to see what the neighbors do.

4/24/12 "AS THE TWIG IS BENT..."

CAN YOU CANOE?

TREE BOARD, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: GRANDON HARRIS, JANE EDWARDS, MARTHA LARSON, BETH COZZI, GENE BREVOLD, ART ODE, HOWARD PAAP

Tuesday, 7:45 AM.  50 degrees F, wind WNW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear with some haze.  The humidity is 85% and the barometer still predicts rain but for now it is a gorgeous day, and I’ll gladly take the rain if I can get it.
     The City of Bayfield Tree Board had its first full scale meeting in several months, all members present and accounted for.  Besides helping to set City street and park tree policy and priorities, our main function is pruning young trees so that they have a strong and healthy start in life (Remember the Biblical admonition, “as the twig is bent, so grows the tree”).The later is all pleasant outdoor work in good company, and that is what makes being a member so enjoyable.
    Yesterday,s was a fine afternoon to take Buddy for a training run on the beach, where we saw this canoe a few hundred yards off the Sioux River.  A really experienced canoeist can try this on a really calm day, but a canoe is too unsteady to be trusted under most conditions anywhere on the Big Lake, and except in shallow water near shore during the summer months, hypothermia is a real threat if one is in the water for more than a few minutes.
    The White House spokesman said the other day regarding the Secret Service scandal: “An internal investigation [of the White House advance staff] does not seem necessary.”  To which I reply, that is usually when it is necessary.

4/23/12 "FORWARD" AND BACKWARD

FIRST JUNEBERRY BLOOMS

A STAR MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM THAT ESCAPED THE FROST

SUNDAY'S S SUNSET

IT'S A  NICE MORNING, FOR NOW

Monday, 8:00 AM.  38 degrees F, up from 33 degrees an hour ago.  Wind S, calm.  The channel waters are like glass.  The sky is clear with some haze, the humidity is high, and the barometer predicts rain.  But for now it is a beautiful morning.
    The Juneberries (called shadbush out East) are just bursting into bloom, and the one pictured is the first I have seen.  There are several species of Juneberries native to northern Wisconsin, some are treelike and some more shrubby.  This one is Amelanchier laevis . A. laevis is somewhat more showy in bloom and more often sold in the nursery trade.  Their native ranges overlap to a considerable degree, and both species bear small, cherry-like, edible blue-black fruits that the birds love.
    I don’t want to leave readers of yesterday’s blog with a totally negative opinion of Wisconsin’s labor history, since along with, and probably to a degree because of, the state’s ongoing labor turmoil, there were a number of beneficial outcomes, such as the first workmen’s compensation law in the United States, passed in 1911, and the first unemployment compensation law in the United States, passed in 1932.  These and other “firsts” have given credence to the state motto, “Forward”. 
    Unfortunately, much of the industrial and economic policy of the state has been “Backward” for a long, long time.

4/22/12 THEY WOULDN'T, AND THEY DON'T

HARD TO SAY ...

HERB GARDEN COMING TO LIFE,,,

...HYACINTHS ARE B LOOMING

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  37 degrees F, wind N, light.  The sky is overcast, the humidity high and the barometer trending down.  Hard to say what kind of a day it will be.
    I am sure you are anxious to know how I thwarted the evil conspiracy of the Tech Cartel to force me to purchase a new computer in order to continue writing my blog.  First, I searched around on the new Blogger Chrome interface and found ways to make aspects of it work despite the deficiencies of my old Mac OS X 10.3.9 system.  But the options I found were limiting .,.. I wasn’t able to upload photos, etc.  However, I poked around at it long enough that I found a chink in their armor, a weak link in their chain…a portal to the old blogger interface!  Did they really intend myself and other technically challenged old geezers with ancient computers to be able to keep computing?  I doubt that, since it was well  hidden and I stumbled upon it by accident.  It was probably a legal responsibility they tried to avoid as well as they could.  In any case I outwitted them once more, and on I blog, with my trusty old eMac!  So, please do not give me away, but rather let me stand as a beacon of hope to all who challenge the evil rulers of cyberspace!  Old farts of the computing world arise, you have nothing to lose but your technological chains!
    A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel detailed the dismal job creation statistics for the State of Wisconsin, which is vying for last place in the nation in that category.  Many  reasons, or excuses, were given, all plausible to a degree.  The Democrat Party/Big Labor campaign to recall Wisconsin Governor Scot Walker, was mentioned as one of the possible causes. I should certainly think so, as that raucous undertaking is just the tip of the anti-business, pro-socialist iceberg in Wisconsin.  First off, it is not just the recall movement, although that is bad enough.  What is really in play is the labor movement attempting to actually cripple the state government with sit-ins and takeovers and disruptions of governance in Madison.  The flight to Illinois last summer by Democratic Senators was meant to stop any and all legislation by denying the Senate a quorum to do  business.
    The “occupation” of the Capitol building by  union members, socialists and their allies disrupted normal business for the better part of a year and it still goes on sporadically.  And all the while they proudly point out that “only” $200,000 damage was done to the beautiful and historic building during the "occupation."
    The crux of the issue is union outrage that public employee unions have lost most of their bargaining rights under the Republican governor and legislature.  Wisconsin was the first state to grant such “rights,” which are in addition to its very liberal Civil Service laws and benefits, and the unions correctly sense that if they can loose these redundant and wasteful “rights”  in Wisconsin they can loose them anywhere.  So they hire protesters from the streets of Chicago and elsewhere and bus them to Madison to occupy the Capitol and to harass the governor wherever he goes, even at his home in Milwaukee or when traveling out of state.
    Wisconsin has been a hotbed of radical union activity, including violent strikes and anarchy, for more than a century.  Union work rules and harassment essentially forced much of traditional heavy industry, and most of the iconic breweries, from Milwaukee and other large Wisconsin cities years ago.  Historically, Milwaukee had a strong Socialist Party,  and even  Socialist mayors, the last being Frank Zeidler, who held office until 1960.
    Given our past left wing history and present turmoil, why would any major corporation wish to expand or return its operations here, or any industrial entrepreneur wishing to create a new venture, do it in Wisconsin?  They wouldn’t, and they don’t

TESTING, TESTING

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  35 degrees F, wind N, calm.  the sky is mostly overcast, the humidity is high, and the barometer predicts rain.  Sounds gloomy but it is really a pretty nice morning.
   I was freaked out by Blogger telling me that my operating system would not support the new Google Chrome program and I would need an upgrade and that might not be possible.  David at the Chamber of Commerce was very helpful, telling me what a new computer might cost with all the programs, and where I could get the best deal.  He has been telling me that for several y ears, and one of times he will be right. Thanks, Dave.  Anyway we shall see if I am working around the problem, Be patient, I am a Senior Citizen.

TESTING, TESTING

Saturday.  this is a test, after experiencing problems with Google Chrome.

4/19/12 IMAGINARY BEARS, AND THE CHARM OF BASEBALL

OVERCAST BUT SHOULD CLEAR LATER

AMERICA'S GRAIN AND COAL POWER THE WORLD

Thursday, 7:45 AM.   35 degrees F, wind NW,  calm with light gusts.  the sky is overcast again and the humidity is 90%, but the barometer is high so it should clear up later in the day.
    Yesterday’s trip to Duluth was negotiated in a torrential downpour, a hard drive for Joan,  but good for stream and lake levels. It was a relief to have the four-wheel drive, as Hwy 2 had lots of tire-gabbing puddles. The return trip was less problematic and I was cleared to drive it. 
    My pacemaker seems to be doing exactly what it is designed to do and I am pretty sure I made the right decision.  Last night was moonless and starless, inky black when I took the dog out for the last time.  I kept seeing bears in the blackness but they were only in my imagination and Buddy said there weren’t any real ones around.
    The Brewers won a three to two squeaker against the Dodgers last night, Niger Morgan ignoring the third base coach and charging home on a sacrifice fly ball by Ryan Braun.  It was a thrilling 9h inning win.  The only problem was that it was a bad call by the home plate umpire, and according to the replay camera, Niger should have been out.  Had he been called out he would have been a bum instead of a hero.  To me that’s the charm of baseball; its elements of luck, courage and human error mirror the game of life.  All that’s been said many times before and much better than I can say it, but that’s my call, and that’s part of the ball game too.

4/18/12 WASHINGTON, DC, WHERE DREAMS GO TO DIE

A DARK, DAMP, QUIET MORNING

Wednesday,  7:45 AM, 42 degrees F, wind N, calm.  The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts rain.  It is a dark,  damp,  quiet morning, the last of the snow surviving under bushes and on the north sides of buildings.  Even so, it feels a little more like spring again. 
   I say a large deer cross the road on Manypenny and Eleventh Street this morning.  I lake to see deer but ot in town where they destroy our gardens.
    Today will be spent mostly traveling back and forth to Duluth for a follow-up doctor’s appointment. Hopefully there will be some interesting things to observe and report on along the way.
    What a sad sight to see the space shuttle Discovery make its last trip, and that to Washington, DC, where it seems dreams go to die.  We are an immature, thoughtless nation, whose lack of historical perspective and self-control is evident in our willingly and seemingly without regret giving up our dominance in space…and with it that in science and engineering…to the likes of the Chinese and the Russians.  We claim we can no longer afford to be the leader in space science and exploration, while our government wastes millions upon millions on outrageous coffee breaks, vacation trips and call girl parties. 
    So the shuttle goes to the Smithsonian, where the space program will be symbolically entombed, as a museum artifact.  Too bad a few of the politicians who watched Discovery’s Washington flyover yesterday from the Capitol steps can’t be stuffed and put on display along with it.

4/17/12 FIRE THE BASTARDS AND DESTROY THEIR HABITAT

ICE COVERING THE CHANNEL AGAIN...FOR A FEW MINUTES

Brrr...SAYS IT ALL

TAMARACKS LEAFING OUT

...ALSO FLOWERING CRABS

Tuesday, 8:15 AM.  28 degrees F, wind WNW, calm.  The sky is lightly overcast with high gray clouds interspersed with blue. There are 2”-3” inches of snow on the ground and there was ice and snow across the surface of the channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island earlier, but it had all disappeared by the next time I looked out the window.  The humidity is still high, and the barometer is trending down again.
    I don’t think this event will harm the daffodils, although they look pretty droopy.  Flowering crab trees are leafing out but I think the buds are safe.  I  think the cherry blossoms were still in pretty tight bud so hopefully they are O.K.
    The President still doesn’t get it.  Or, if he does get it, he chooses to ignore it;  the fact that many, if not most, Americans don’t really care if there is or is not a “Buffet Rule” that invokes an extra tax on the wealthy.  Sure, we make arguments about any tax increase during a recession or its recovery being a drag on the economy.  To which the President replies that it isn’t about the amount of tax collected, its about the principal of “fairness,” and “everyone doing their fair share.” The arguments on both sides of the question are essentially specious. 
    The real concern of most of us conservatives is about the size of the federal government, and any new tax just feeds the beast and allows it to grow even bigger.  And don’t try to sell us on the idea that a new tax will go only towards deficit reduction.  It never has and it never will; the spending just increases somewhere else.  The only way to cut the deficit is to cut the size and cost of the federal beast.  Treat it like the cancer it is and starve it into remission.
    We have gotten to the stage where even the various agencies have agencies, like the old adage, “Even fleas have fleas to bite ‘em; and so it is, ad infinitem.”  Case in point; the General Services Administration, that paragon of efficiency and credulity, is supposed to be the watchdog for the other agencies.  Since it can’t do its job, it should be eliminated. Maybe save a function or two and put it in a different agency or department, but eliminate the GSA.  Let's change its name to the Gone Soon Administration, right now!  I could go right down the alphabet and eliminate  many more.  Inefficiency, duplication, corruption…fire the bastards and destroy their habitat.
    Let’s replace the mantra “No new taxes,” with “shrink the federal government.” 

4/16/12 THE ROOF IS STILL ON, AND WHERE THE COMPAS NEEDLE POINTS

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

AT LEAST THE ROOF IS STILL ON

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

Monday, 8:00 AM.  27 degrees F, wind NNE, variable, from calm to very strong.  It is snowing and almost a blizzard, but  I don’t think most fruit tree buds will be damaged. Considerable rain fell yesterday before it turned to snow, and this moisture should ease the drought, but won’t be enough to bring lake and streams up to par.  Last night the weather was boisterous, to say the least, porch furniture being knocked over and tossed around, and rain or hail pelting the skylights.  At least the roof stayed on.  Buddy and I braved the blizzard for a while this morning but did not go very far as it was slippery.
    Been following the latest incidents of federal employees “misbehaving?”  You know, GSA wild partying in Las Vegas, Secret Service and some military personnel involved with prostitutes in Colombia?  Find it disturbing?  Can’t understand why it should be happening?  There’s a very simple and I believe very true reason.  Few in the Obama administration exhibit true leadership by example,  and many  have a disdain for the hard work of administration and supervision.   The Administration from the President on down has done nothing much but party from day one; vacation after vacation, and golf game and basketball game ad nauseum.  The peons, as they undoubtedly perceive themselves, feel entitled to the same behavior; although arguably on a lower scale of social acceptability.
    Who is going to take their job seriously when the President and his cohorts obviously do not take theirs seriously? The last three years have been nothing but a game of pass the buck.  Blame Bush.  If that doesn’t stick, blame Congress.  It not it, them some hapless sycophant or underling, or bad weather or bad luck.  Well, what goes around comes around, and each incident of malfeasance in the ranks points the compass needle at the leaders. 
    It’s probably too late now for the President to start looking presidential, staying at his desk and actually working (he obviously likes the job title and the perks but not the hard work).  If he did, he might gain some respect from his own employees and stave off a few of the embarrassments that you can be certain still lurk in the pipeline.

4/15/12 WHY DID THE TURKEY CROSS THE ROAD?

WILL T HEY OR WON'T THEY?

A SERIOUS DAFFODIL DISPLAY

NORWAY MAPLE FLOWERS

Sunday, 8:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind N, calm to light.  The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts rain, of which a few drops are falling presently. But the humidity is only 35% so I doubt there will be much  precipitation, unless the massive storms to the SW push further north.
    Daffodils are blooming in earnest now, and next weekend should be spectacular; the tamaracks are leafing out and the Norway maples are blooming.
    Yesterday being Saturday, we put recyclables and garbage bags in the truck (with help from Sam next door, since I am not supposed to lift anything) and headed for the recycle center on Hwy 13, west of Red Cliff.  Just before the Rez we saw two hen turkeys starting to walk across the road.  They rushed back into the woods as we approached, and Joan (I  am not supposed to drive, either...what a pain) turned around and we waited to see whether they would show themselves again.  After a few minutes we decided to give up, but just then a missile-like object hurtled across the road out of a tall pine tree.  It cleared utility wires and continued on at almost grouse-like speed.  I have seen turkeys fly before but only from the ground into a tree, or some other flight that took only a few beats of their giant wings. 
    To witness a grown turkey in full flight is to see an airborne anomaly.  A creature so whimsically put together just shouldn’t appear so swift and graceful when airborne.  I would guess this big gal was going forty miles per hour and picking up speed when she flew over he truck, and that from a dead stop sitting in a roadside white pine.  Which does not answer the imortal question: Why did the turkey cross the road?

4/14/12 MICRO-BREWERY MEMORIES

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  Wind SW, moderate with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear, with some haze over the lake.  The barometer predicts rain, which we had trace amounts of yesterday afternoon.  We need some rainy weather!
    The aspens are leafing out in earnest now, bright green young leaves contrasting with white-gray bark, waking up the woods.
    Yesterday we had errands to run in Ashland; pick up the lawnmower from Axel’s where it had received its annual tune-up and sharpening; go to the bank and drugstore, etc.  As is often the case, our trip encompassed lunch hour and we stopped at The South Shore Brewery and restaurant.  South Shore is a micro-brewery, serving a number of specialty brews and very good food.
    I am not that much of a beer drinker anymore but growing up in Milwaukee gave me a taste for the real thing, and small breweries bring back many Old Milwaukee memories.  In the years after the Second World War and on into the 1950’s there were many breweries in the Milwaukee area and throughout the small towns of Wisconsin. 
    In fact, before the ascent of the brand name mega-breweries like Miller, Pabst and Schlitz, virtually every community had its own home-town brew,  many were as distinctive as the offerings of micro-breweries today, and each produced a spring bock beer, and a holiday beer, and so on.  My father was a salesman by nature and profession, and was always “on the road,” going from one customer to another in his “territory.”  He was also a beer drinker, in the Germanic and Milwaukee tradition; he could discuss the niceties of individual brews the way a Frenchman might discuss varietal wines.  And in those days no one would have thought it unseemly if a salesman had beer on his breath after lunch (perhaps along with the sharp odor of raw beef and onions).
    Some of the home town brews were so distinctive that once introduced to them they were very memorable, not only in taste but in fragrance.  My mother, who never drank beer, claimed she could tell where my father had been on his daily perambulations by the fragrance of the beer on his breath when he arrived home.  These variations in the perfumes of the different brews were the result of the different mixes of ingredients, and most particularly of the fragrance of the yeasts used in brewing.  Yeast cultures were very distinctive and as I recall, closely guarded. Even as a young boy (and I can remember clearly now, sixty five or more years later) I could tell the taste and yeasty aroma of the Fox Head 400 beer, bottled in a little brewery in Waukesha, Wisconsin, twenty miles or so west of Milwaukee. 

LOTS OF BEER

C'''MON IN

PLEASANT ATMOSPHERE

NO MUSTACHE ON THE BARTENDER THESE DAYS

ASPENS WAKING UP T HE WOODS

    South Shore brews a number of beers, and even bottles some for regional consumption.  I particularly like their darker varieties, most of all their Rhoads Scholar Stout, which I think is just as good as Guinness. It is said, “history repeats itself,” and usually in a bad way.  But in the case of the micro-breweries, I think in a good way indeed.  But I don’t drink beer at lunch.  It makes me too sleepy to tour my “territory”