CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT

ASPENS ON HWY.2

MIXED FOREST ON HWY. 51 SOUTH OF LAKE SUPERIOR

TAMARACKS TURNING YELLOW AND BRONZE, HWY. 51 NEAR MERRILL

BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY IN THE PARK, MINOCQUA, WIS.

CORN FIELDS, SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

Sunday, 11:30 AM.  52 degrees F at the ferry dock, 50 on the back porch.  Wind SW, light with slightly stronger gusts.  the sky is still cloudy after rain last night.  The barometer is more or less steady, at 29.9".  The temperature has dropped sharply and will continue to fall during a rainy week ahead.  Time to bring in the plants.
  Our trip to Milwaukee was very successful, but exhausting as we drove home last night in the fog and rain.  We slept late, but a second and even third cup of coffee is a necessity this morning.  I'm saving my money for when automatic driving cars are available,
   We stayed Saturday night with old friend Bill Peebles in Oconomowoc, and spent a lot of time reminiscing about a lifetime of hunting and nature observation.  Bill has kept a meticulous record of every hunt since he shot sparrows behind the barn as a child; dogs, game bagged, shot size, gun used, companions, complete with photos.  It is an amazing record, and tells more about the environment than many, many a scientific tome.
  On Saturday we were fortunate enough to see niece Emily's seven month old baby at Joan's sister Marlene's home, then we attended the memorial celebration for Arnie Luhm at his son's home.  Lots of relatives attended, almost a family reunion, as Arnie was a wonderful guy.  Then the grueling trip home, made more palatable by listening to the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees.  Houston will go on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Go Houston!
   The  fall color is mostly gone from the southern part of the state, although the oaks are more red and lasting longer than further north.  Large patches of sumac and dogwood shrubs are still colorful south as well.  The fall color is still good in the northern half of the state, the demarcation being roughly around Wausau.  Tamaracks are still gold and bronze north, but largely leafless south.
   Corn is king in southern Wisconsin and fields have been left standing to dry naturally.  A lot of corn is turned to ethanol these days (ethanol plants dot the countryside), and it is expensive to dry it for refining when using natural gas.  Years ago most of it would have been cut green for silage, now not so much.
    Economics changes the landscape; forestry and farming practices change our view of the natural world, and even where man does not intervene directly, that lack of intervention leads to fires, changes in water table and plant diseases.
   To paraphrase the ancient Greeks...change is the only constant.