BUDDY AT THE BEACH, AND HARRISON'S YELLOW ROSE

HEY, I'M DOIN' ALLRIGHT!

FOR A POINTER.  AFTER ALL, THAT'S MY TRADE!

HARRISON'S YELLOW ROSE...

"SHE'S THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS!"

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  72 degrees F, wind WSW, calm.  The sky is blue, the barometer is trending up and all is right with the world…at least at the beach!
    It being a perfect morning for a beach walk, buddy and I did so, and he went nearly nuts with unadulterated joy, bounding and racing up and down the sand, and dashing in and out of the water. I doubt he had ever befoe been in water above his knees, and I don’t think he knows how to swim except instinctively, which is good enough for a pointing dog.  He’ll take to it eventually, but perhaps not like a duck.
    The old fashioned Harrison’s yellow roses, the rose that traveled everywhere with the settlers and is the “Yellow Rose of Texas,” have been blooming around town for a week or more and now are in full bloom.  A proper introduction to summer, sweetly scented and floriferous, they will last a few weeks, but no more.

PINE POLLEN, LUPINES AND SPEND SOME TIME IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN, MR. PRESIDENT

YORK ISLAND... ALMOST LOST IN THE EVENING HAZE

LUPINES

THAR'S GOLD IN THEM THAR PUDDLES

 Saturday, 8:00AM.  63 degrees F, wind SW, calm.  The sky is a hazy blue.  The humidity is 80% and the barometer predicts rain; but I think not until late afternoon or evening, if then.
    As they promised, the white pines released their pollen in earnest yesterday, in great, billowing clouds.  The golden dust covers everything,  an extreme example of the luxuriance of nature.  A brief cloudburst left  puddles so filled with the yellow stuff that one might contemplate panning them for gold.
    The lupines are at their peak, the rather stolid blue spikes accentuated by shades of pink, and even white.  Their nativity is something of a mystery, but one cannot deny their beauty (search my previous  blogs for more information on their origin).
    Commentary:  the President said yesterday that “the private economy is doing just fine.”  He obviously hasn’t spent any time in northern Wisconsin.

TWO BUTTERCUPS AND A MOB CONSIGLIORI

PURPLE MEADOW RUE...

...FLOWER

PASQUE FLOWER SEED HEAD

A DARK, QUIET MORNING

 Friday, 7:15 AM.  65 degrees F, humidity 80%. Wind NE, calm. Dark, low rain clouds pervade the sky. The barometer predicts rain. It is very quiet except for the soft drum of raindrops on the skylights and the occasional growl of distant thunder somewhere out over the big lake.  Bayfield is sleeping in. Buddy and I stayed close to home on our morning walk but got wet nonetheless. 
    Two related and interesting native plants are in the front yard garden.  Purple meadow rue, Thalictrmum dasycarpum, is blooming.  Pasque flower, Anemone patens, is through blooming, and is now bearing seed.  Both are in the buttercup, AKA crowfoot family, the Ranunculaceae. The former is mostly a prairie and related habitat plant, the latter occupies wet meadows and stream banks.  The blooms and the seed heads of both plants are quite beautiful and showy.  Neither are very common in the wild but adapt well to garden cultivation.
    It looks to me like Attorney General Holder is bound  be thrown under the Administration bus before long; either that or be cited for contempt of Congress for lying while under oath. This guy missed his calling as a mob consigliore

6/07/12 WHITE PINE POLLEN AND OTHER IRRITANTS

OUR SIGN IS MISSING IN ACTION

MALE WHITE PINE CONES READY TO SHED THEIR POLLEN

HARBINGER OF THE  ENDLESS CAMPAIGN

Thursday, 7:45 AM.  57 degrees F, wind NE, very light.  The sky is mostly cloudy but somewhat hazy.  The barometer, trending down, predicts partly cloudy skies.  It is another nice day, and Buddy traversed our usual route this morning sans leash.
    The male cones of the white pines will soon shed their pollen in copious amounts.  When fully ripe even a gentle breeze (pine trees are wind pollinated) will  carry great clouds of golden dust and spread it over everything.  The event doesn’t last long but it is monumental, and sets me to sneezing violently.  
    Almost as great an irritant is the fact that someone stole our “We Stand With Scott Walker” sign, which disappeared last night. And this morning there is a fresh “Obama/Biden” sign on the lawn across the street. Hmm. I would have taken my sign down today anyway, so thanks for the help, except that it probably was deposited in the woods across the street.  We are in the age of the endless campaign, and it’s going to be a rough five months until the presidential election.

6/06/12 A WIN FOR WALKER, AND "FAITH, FAMILY AND FREEDOM"

PAGODA DOGWOOD

...IN FULL BLOOM

Wednesday, 8:30 AM.  59 degrees F, wind N, light with stronger gusts.  the sky is partly overcast, the barometer is trending down but I don’t think it will rain.  The lawn needs mowing, and Buddy needs a bath because he ran off and found a mud hole.
    Pagoda dogwoods, Cornus alternatfolia, are in full bloom along the woods edge on 9th Street, between Old Military and Wilson.  A handsome and unusual small tree when well grown and healthy, they can be problematical.  Search this blog for more information.
    Scott Walker and his Lieutenant Governor won the recall election handily, 53% to the challengers’ 46 %.  Three Republican senators also won recall elections.  2.5 million voters turned out for the historic election.  Only three governors had been recalled previously in all of US history, Walker the first to survive.  There remains one recall of a Republican senator still undetermined at this time as the vote is still too close to call.  If he loses the Republicans would loose control of the Senate by one vote.  But overall it is a resounding victory, as Scott Walker said last night, “for Faith, Family and Freedom.”  I think that a good motto for the November election.

6/05/12 A CRUCIAL ELECTION; AND FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL

PATCH OF FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL...

...IN FULL BLOOM

BEGONIAS AND CLEMATIS FLOWERS BRIGHTEN THE BREAKFAST TABLE

Tuesday, 800 AM.  54 degrees F, wind WNW, very light.  There are a few high white clouds, the humidity is 75% and even though the barometer is trending down,  it will be a nice day.
    The false Solomon’s seal, Smilacina racemosa (in the Lily family) are in full bloom now, sometimes in great patches along the roadsides and in the woods.  The several varieties of the true Solomon’s seal are in the same family, but in the genus Polygonatum. Their flowers are aligned along the underside of the stem rather than in a raceme at the end of the stem. The berries of the false are red when ripe, of the true, blue.
    Today is the much awaited recall election day in Wisconsin.  Republican Governor Scott Walker and his Lieutenant Governor are being challenged by Milwaukee Mayor Thomas Barrett and his running mate, after over 900,000 recall petition signatures were collected. 
    The election basically pits Republican economic reforms against big public unions and their supporters (Democrats and leftists).  Wisconsin is being considered a bell-weather state for the fall Presidential election, and out-of-state money has poured into the election in unprecedented amounts on both sides.  President Obama has, rather strangely, stayed out of the fray, evidently cautious of being too closely allied to a possible loosing cause.  In any case, this exhausting and expensive (eighteen months and $17M) process will be all over by this evening. The result will determine the direction of the state and perhaps the nation for many years.