Art's Bayfield Almanac

2/16/12BODINS FISHERIES, AND SECRET NEGOTIATIONS

2012-02-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

A LITTLE FISH TRUCK

A BIG FISH TRUCK

FISH PROCESSING LINE

WHERE'S THE SMOKED FISH?

BODINS WHARF

FRESH FISH ALL YEAR 'ROUND

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 36 degrees, wind SW, moderate. The sky is clear except for a few puffy white clouds scudding across with the westerly winds. There is some haze in the east over the Islands. It is a very nice morning.
Yesterday evening was the monthly Chamber of Commerce After Hours get-together, which was held at Bodins Fisheries on the lakefront. Bodins is a fourth generation fishing business. They have their own fleet of boats and are also processors for independent fishermen. They process salmon, lake trout, whitefish and herring, sell retail at their plant, also wholesale to stores and restaurants throughout a wide area. There are fresh fish year-round except during the worst of the ice conditions. Commercial fishing is still a big business here. It went through rough times in the later part of the Twentieth Century when the parasitic lamp ray devastated the lake trout populations, but the lamp ray is under good control and the commercial and sport fisheries are healthy once again. Bayfield is a maritime community and depends upon fishing, sailing and the lake for much of its economy and most of its charm, and Bodins plays a large role in that scenario.
Commentary: I see the Administration is holding "secret" talks with the Taliban. Can't be very secret if it is in the news. This is like the lake trout negotiating with the lamp rays, and will be about as successful.

2/15/12 BUDDY, PUSSY WILLOW FLOWERS AND THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

2012-02-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 28 degrees, wind SW, calm. The sky is overcast and it was somewhat foggy earlier, but the barometer is trending up.
Buddy is leaning nicely to respond to his name, and to sit, stay, come, go home…and most important command of all, no. We are pleased with his general deportment and pretty soon we will see how he does on the beach or down a woodland road off a lead.

BUDDY, STAY!

FOGGY MORNING

PUSSY WILLOW LOWERS FULL OF POLLEN

The pussy willow branches I brought into the house a week or so ago matured and began to drop, so out they went. They were pretty while they lasted. The photo shows the yellow stamens full of pollen.
Comment: I cannot believe the President’s proposed budget; a1.3 T dollar deficit, on top of 5 T in deficits over his first three years in office. That these destructive deficits are being sold as necessary to keep the economy from returning to recession or worse is a most dangerous game..,I believe it is a shameful ploy to entrap as many Americans as possible into dependency upon a leftist federal government. If we don’t change our ways we won’t have to worry about foreign competition or enemies destroying us, we will have done it to ourselves.

2/14/12 BAYFIELD ICE AND DC HAIRCUTS

2012-02-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

FRIDAY

MONDAY

Happy Valentines Day! 28 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The sky is overcast and it looks and feels like snow, but the barometer is trending up.
        I guess the winter is getting rather long in the tooth when a main topic of conversation is talking about how ice freezes and melts, but it is rather interesting. The bay off the Onion River was completely free of ice last Friday, and yesterday it was frozen over again. It took me some years to figure out what most Bayfield residents already knew; every winter there are periods when much of the ice in the west channel through the Apostle Islands becomes a huge detached floating mass, and blows back and forth across open water with the wind. A northeast wind will blow the ice sheet southwest toward Washburn, and a southwest wind will blow it back towards Bayfield. Under the right conditions an ice sheet several miles square will move perhaps eight or ten miles one directions or another overnight, or perhaps within a few hours. One might look out the window in the morning and see the channel frozen over, and look out at noon and it is completely clear. It didn’t just melt, it migrated. I think I have got this right, but I would appreciate comments on the subject from my Bayfield readers.
        Did you know that you and I are subsidizing the haircuts of our US Senators? Yup, there is a Senate barbershop, with federally employed barbers, to cut congressional hair. $27 for a basic haircut and $105 including wash, blow dry and highlights. Barbers receive union wages, federally paid vacations and retirement benefits. I wouldn’t mind all this silliness if the hair salon didn’t run a deficit of $300,000 a year. It's time to pony up, Senator Claghorn! You should get a bill for this and past deficits according to the haircuts you have received.

        The next time you see your Senator on TV, look closely at his oh-so-perfectly coiffed hair, and realize that your tax dollars helped pay for it. If these bozos actually lived in their districts instead of in Washington, DC, they would be mingling with their constituents at the corner barber shop instead of cavorting with the Capitol lobbyists.

2/13/12 TELLING LIES AND SHOOTING GUNS

2012-02-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

CLEAR AND FRIGID SATURDAY MORNING

LOTS OF PRETTY COUNTRY

TOM'S CABIN

VENISON IN THE PAN AND ON THE HOOF

FRIENDS

GOING TO CHURCH SUNDAY MORNING (SORT OF)

Monday, 8:00 AM. 16 degrees F, up from 11 an hour ago. Wind WSW, very light. The sky is clear but the barometer predicts snow. The channel has been freezing over at night and melting or blowing out again during the day. The barometer predicts snow.
        Our trip to Langlade, Wisconsin to visit old friends Tom and Tim Moran, and Tom’s son Duffy was a short but very good visit filled with nostalgia, good conversation, good food and wildlife viewing.
Tom had invited us for a weekend of "telling lies and shooting guns," and we did plenty of the former but not much of the latter.
        Langlade is on the Wolf River, one of Wisconsin’s most wild and scenic, and Tom’s place is on a small lake in the Chequamagon-Nicolet National Forest. The drive there is about 200 miles, mostly through forest, farmland and small towns, all very pretty country.
        Saturday was cold and bright the entire trip, and Saturday night was frigid. There was a good deal of snow along the way and at our destination, despite the mild winter, and ice fishing and snowmobile activity were evident everywhere.
        We saw eagles on Highway 51 both directions, and a number of deer at Tom’s place along with a few turkeys. The mild winter should be a boost to all our wildlife populations.
        Tim brought a generous amount of venison, which we feasted on Saturday night, and we all went to breakfast Sunday morning in a charming converted church in White Lake, where the food was good, plentiful and inexpensive. It was so very good to rekindle old acquaintanceships, and the weekend emphasized to me, who probably all to often mentions alcoholic beverages in this blog, that such are not at all necessary to have a good time and enjoy the company of friends.
        Buddy had, I think, the time of his life, as everyone doted on him and fed him treats until he was satiated. He slept all the way home. I have to say he was an enthusiastic member of the group, and comported himself extremely well, probably more so because there were a lot of very fine guns to look at and heft and he got excited every time one was picked up. I shall be obliged to make him into a good gun dog, since he obviously has it in him. The greater challenge will be to keep my old joints moving and my old eyes sharp enough to do so.
        Poor Joan had to content herself with several days of all male companionship, and as always she was very adept at that since, unless extremely provoked, she keeps her opinions of us guys to herself.
        I am very interested in the lawsuit being brought in federal court against the State of Nebraska and a number of brewing companies by the Ogallala Sioux Indians of the Pine Ridge Reservation, but I need some time to think about the case and the social issues it represents. We drive through the Pine Ridge Rez when returning to Wisconsin from Denver, and are also familiar with the conry from living in Nebraska, so more on that later in the week.

2/13/12 ON THIN ICE

2012-02-11T06:38:00.000-08:00

THE SIGN SAYS IT ALL

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 5 degrees, up from 2 degrees F an hour ago. Wind W, fierce. The sky is mostly clear except for billowing snow clouds on the eastern horizon. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
      Yesterday evening was clear and cold, 10 degrees F. at 10:00 PM. The channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island was completely free of ice yesterday, which was blown out by strong winds in the last several days.
        A coating of ice is back across the channel this morning and the ferry is plowing through it again. The channel ice conditions have been so poor that few have ventured to cross it even with snowmobiles, and I haven’t heard of any being lost, which usually happens by now. I don’t think there have been any fatalities on the ice on all of Chequamegon Bay, but the winter isn't over yet.
        Commentary: the President has proposed a compromise on the issue of Catholic institutions being forced to provide health care for employees that includes birth control and an abortion pill. He claims that the insurance companies will pay for the coverage. First, I have never heard of any insurance company willingly giving any product or service away. The insurance companies are in business to make a profit, and will certainly pass those costs on to their other customers, i.e., you and me. And it will be a vastly inflated price, you can be sure of that; what was once very affordable even without insurance will become outrageously expensive, with or without it, and will hit the uninsured the hardest. Then the government will be obliged to provide free contraception and more to virtually everyone, another big government hand out.
        Secondly, and most important, the President apparently fails to recognize that this is a matter of conscience, and a constitutional issue under the First Amendment. Regardless of whether the Catholic institutions involved have to pay for it or not, they are still being forced to provide services their faith sees as a mortal sin.
        I am not Catholic and have no personal issue with birth control. I do, however, feel very strongly about the issue of abortion, and frankly do not want my tax dollars to pay for what I see as tantamount to infanticide. I suspect there are a lot of non-Catholics in America who feel the same way.
       The snowmobilers of Chequamegon Bay are not the only ones on thin ice. The president is out there with them.
        No blogs for a couple of days as we are going to Langlade, Wisconsin to visit with old friends. It is about four hours SE but still in the north woods. We will report on weather and outdoor news there and back.

2/11/12 'OL MAN WINTER, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES

2012-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

THE JACK PINE IN WINTER

OL' MAN WINTER STILL HANGIN' ROUND OUR DOOR

TUNISIAN TAGINE

DINNER FOR TWO

Friday, 9:00 AM. 10 degrees F, wind NE, moderate to very blustery. We had blizzard conditions all night and got about 6” of snow. The sky is still overcast and it is snowing lightly so it probably isn’t over yet, but the barometer predicts sunny weather. Ol' Man Winter is still hangin’ ‘round our door.
        As most of my readers kno, food is a favorite topic of mine. Joan received a new cooking utensil for Christmas which is proving both an aesthetic and culinary blessing: it is a tagine, a handmade Tunisian ceramic roasting pot that is perfect for cooking meals for one or two persons. Originally she was intrigued by its artistic qualities, but it cooks wonderful, simple roasted meals. Last night we had a Cornish game hen surrounded by mixed vegetables. Cooked in wine, the fowl was perfectly done, tender and tasty, after two hours in the oven at 350 degrees F. Salt, pepper and paprika were the only seasonings, along with a cut up lime stuffed inside the bird.
        Commentary, and for me the last straw on the government’s economic stimulus effort: the purchase of a “green” hybrid engine for the Mayor of Los Angeles’ official yacht, at a cost to US taxpayers of a half-million dollars. California is on the verge of bankruptcy because of its profligate spending, and the rest of us were sucked into paying for one of their more outrageous expenditures.
        P.S. There was evidently nothing wrong with the original diesel engine.

2/10/12 THE CHINA SYNDROME

2012-02-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

OPEN WATER OFF THE ONION RIVER

MOUTH OF THE ONION RIVR

SUMAC IN THE SUN

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 25 degrees F, wind SW, very light. There are a few high white clouds in a blue sky, but the barometer is trending down, predicting snow, although that seems unlikely to me.
        Last evening was beautiful; clear skies, almost full moon, gentle breeze and moderate temperatures, great for walking Buddy.
        Yesterday afternoon we stopped to take a look at the mouth of the Onion River, the smaller stream at the north end of the beach (the Sioux River is toward the south end). Its feeble flow into the bay speaks volumes about the lack of snow melt in its watershed, and the possibility of drought this spring. Unless we get significant spring rain the lake level will be down considerably. Lack of ice also increases evaporation from the lake, although I have my doubts as to its significance.
        Commentary: As the controversy over the Health and Human Services ruling on Catholic institutions providing birth control and abortion continues, including the support of the ruling by the President, I leave you with this thought.
        If our government has the power to force Catholic employers to provide contraceptives and abortion pills for their employees, does not that government also have the power to force those same employees to use those products against their will?
        One has to look no further than Communist China and its one child policy and forced abortions for an answer. I'd call the administration's policy The China Syndrome.

2/09/12 WHETHER OR NOT

2012-02-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

WINTER DAWN

RED MAPLE BUDS ARE SWELLING

PUPPIES

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 17 degrees F, wind SW, light but picking up. The sky is mostly clear and the barometer is up, predicting partly cloudy skies. The red maple flower buds are swelling, but we are experiencing colder temperatures again and it is still winter.
        The Coast Guard family on 7th St. has a new puppy, an Alaskan Husky with blue eyes that is as cute as a button. It pretty much has the run of its yard and often comes out to greet Buddy and me when we walk by. Buddy is evidently just about out of the puppy stage and wants to play with the little gal. Huskies are affectionate, fairly mild mannered dogs, and a lot of folks hereabouts have them as pets without ever a thought of them pulling a sled.
        Commentary: The Wall Street Journal had an op-ed a couple of days ago signed by sixteen prominent scientists which essentially debunked the idea of “global warming,” and the concept that there is a consensus among scientists that carbon dioxide is a major threat to the environment. The scientists were from MIT, Princeton, NASA, Cambridge, and Rockefeller University, among other prestigious institutions.
        The article went on to explain that government and nonprofit money for grants and contracts to universities and the “green” industry is the driving force behind the Global Warming issue, and now that the warming argument has been effectively neutered, the issue is being called “climate change,” which is blamed for every unforeseen or disastrous weather event that occurs . It also noted that there has been no evidence of Global Warming for the past decade, and although many parts of North America have experienced a mild winter, Europe has been in a record deep freeze. As always, when trying to understand complex issues, “follow the money.”
        I am happy to say that I have been debunking Global Warming extremism for the past twenty-five years, and will sign off with the old adage, “Whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot, we’ll have weather, whether or not.”

2E/07/12 LOTS OF DOGS; AND MADISON, WISCONSIN, WHERE THE JUNK MAIL GOES TO SPAWN

2012-02-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

ICE-CYCLE

WILLOW BRANCHES TURNING YELLOW

SMOOTH SAILING

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 18 degrees, wind W, very light .   The sky has some gray-pink snow clouds moving lazily east, but the barometer predicts fair weather.
        Here's the latest poop, if you will, on the Apostle Islands Dog Sled Races: there were 74 entrants, which adds up to roughly 500 dogs. As far as I know at this time there were no serious injuries to man or dog, and all had a fine time, including approximately 2,000 spectators.
        It looks more and more every day like an early spring. The young branches of many willow trees are turning bright yellow or orange, and the Madeline Island Ferry is operating in open water today. I am certain it will operate the rest of the winter, and that the ice road will never open. If it does open, I won’t be going across it in the pickup.
        Yesterday I saw a lone bicycle rider on the ice race track off Mazlowski Park in Ashland. I don’t know what that might signify. I wonder if he had studded snow tires.
        Commentary: for some time now I have wondered how various political organizations, news commentators, etc. got my email address to send their missives to. Seems that the State of Wisconsin has been selling email lists from the voter registration role, in bundles that can be analyzed for use by candidates for office, news media and other political vendors. All without notification or permission of the email address owner.
         It's like the junk mail goes to Madison to spawn.
        This blatant commercial activity is supposedly protected under the free speech clause of the First Amendment. What about my right to privacy, and to my email account, which I pay for, as my private property? I suspect this will eventually go to both state and U.S. supreme courts to be sorted out, but if anyone is going to profit from my email address being sold it ought to be me, and I certainly should be compensated for my in-box being flooded with unsolicited junk mail.
        The State of Wisconsin, which sells voter registration lists that contain email addresses for $12,500 each, and the nineteen other states that sell the private email addresses of their citizens are adding mightily to the general anti-government, anti-establishment tenor of the times, and they should be ashamed of their actions. I would like to see a few people fired over this intrusive, nefarious practice.

2/05/12 A DOGGONE GOOD TIME

2012-02-06T06:08:00.000-08:00

FROST COVERED HILLS SURROUND ECHO VALLEY

ALL THE WAY FROM ALASKA

MUSH!

CONTROLLED CHAOS AT THE STARTING GATES

COME FOR THE FUN

HARNESSING

PANDEMONIUM

GET THOSE TEAMS TO THE STARTING GATES

Monday, 8:00 AM. 30 degrees F., wind W, light but picking up. The sky is mostly clear with some haze over the channel and the islands. The barometer predicts precipitation.
        Yesterday’s visit to the starting point of the races was great. It is located in a gravel pit owned by the county, at the juncture of Hwy. 13 and Echo Valley Road, and has plenty of flat but well drained parking for the dog trucks and the many spectators’ vehicles. The starting gates lead directly onto the woodland trail. The dogs require a great deal of handling to get them to the gates from their trucks, and many volunteers are needed. It is a fun and very energetic experience for local volunteers and “voluntourists” alike. Handling the dogs requires good coordination and considerable strength. They have to be harnessed while yelping and squirming (they are all eager to race) and manhandled into place at the double gates, and then held steady until it is their turn to go. And when they go, one has to be nimble enough to get out of the way of the churning, barking team. When teams take off at the gate it is like watching a hot rod drag race. Dogs jump their traces in their excitement and get all mixed up. Occasionally one slips from its harness or chews through a lead and takes off down the trail and has to be found and brought back. More than one eight dog team started the race with only seven dogs.
        The whole undertaking is more fun than the proverbial barrel of monkeys. After about two hours the racers return (unless crashed or lost) to the starting point, which then becomes the finish line. Then the dogs have to be taken back to their trucks, unharnessed, staked out, watered and fed.

        Any and all are invited to volunteer, and the less fit can help park cars, give out information and be helpful in many other ways. To volunteer, contact the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce in early January and sign up for a doggone good time.

2/05/12 DOG SLED RACES, INDIAN HOSPITALITY, AND "THE FIRST GOING"

2012-02-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

RACE DAY DAWN

SIX DOGS, SIXTY MILES

GOOD DOGS!

EIGHT DOGS, EIGHTY MILES

INDIAN HOSPITALITY

OOPS!

Sunday, 8:30 AM. 29 degrees F, up from the low to mid-twenties earlier. Wind W, calm. the sky is mostly blue and the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. It will be a bit cooler for the dogs today. Mike at the Seagull Bay Motel says the mushers staying there had a good race, it was a little warm but still O.K. for the dogs, and the trail was very fast.
        Yesterday was, despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, a great opening day for the dog sled races. We watched the race from our usual vantage point at the juncture of Star Route and Butternut Road, just east of The Settlement, a tiny historic community of mostly Indian folks. We got there about 10:15 AM and the racers started coming through shortly afterward. It seemed to me they were making very good time (they race against the clock) and there were many very professional looking rigs and beautiful teams, evidence of many participants who would have been in the important Duluth Bear Grease race if it had not been canceled for lack of snow. There was even a team that appeared to be from Alaska, perhaps on some sort of a promotional tour as I can’t imagine anyone coming the distance just to be in our little event.
        The small crowd at this vantage point was as enthusiastic as usual, and as usual the Settlement folks put on a good campfire lunch totally free to everyone, which is in the Indian tradition of sharing, and I am sure a number of local businesses helped with donated food and drink. The trail runs parallel to the road for a stretch, so many watched from their cars. We heard of a few mishaps out in the woods, and one rig tipped over as it rounded a curve and crossed the road. I imagine things got a little slick on the trail in the warm temperatures and sunshine, but it was a great day for the spectators.
        The traditional shouts of encouragement and instruction to the dogs filled the air at the crossing; “On by,” “Hi on,” “Gee,” “Haw,” “Good dogs.” And of course, “Mush.” We watched for about an hour. The six dog teams run thirty miles each of the two days for a total of sixty miles, the eight dog teams run forty miles each day for a total of eighty miles. They are amazingly fast as they charge through the woods and fields. There are some novice and children’s events which are shorter. Tomorrow morning I will go out to the starting point on Hwy. 13 and report on the activities there. I find it too difficult to try to be at both locations on the same day.
        Commentary: I am amazed that the President, with evidently little consideration of the potential for conflict, has in essence thrown down the gauntlet to the Catholic Church.
        The Administration’s Health and Human Services agency has ruled that Catholic institutions such as charities, schools, hospitals, etc. must provide employee health care which includes contraceptives and abortions, both of which the church opposes on highest and ancient principle.
        As far as I can see, the only ones clamoring for this change of policy, and what will by all accounts be a primal battle, were some left-wing ideologs in the Democratic party. Joan says he just lost the November election. My take on this is that although many Catholics (who comprise twenty-seven percent of the electorate) may not agree with their church on every issue, they will not tolerate the President or his Administration telling the church what to do, which I think is a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.
        President Obama may think he is The Second Coming, but he is much more likely to be The First Going.

2/04/12 DOG SLED RACES; AND, HE MIGHT BELIEVE IT, BUT I SURE DON'T

2012-02-04T06:32:00.000-08:00

16 DOGS IS A LOT OF...

SHOVEL WORK...

...AND FEEDING

THE DOGS WEREN'T INVITED

BLOG READERS AND CONSTANT VOLUNTEERS SUSAN AND KEVIN

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 34 degrees, wind S, light but picking up. The sky is cloudless but the barometer is down, predicting precipitation.
    Today is the first day of the dog sled races, and we will go to watch for a while where the trail crosses Star Route at Butternut Road. We missed last year’s race as we were in Texas. There should be enough snow in the back country for at least today's races, but the weather is pretty warm for the dogs, which would prefer it below zero. Yesterday evening Buddy and I checked out the teams as they arrived in their truck/kennels at the Seagull Bay Motel and the Bayfield Inn. Last night was also the Meet the Mushers annual spaghetti dinner, which was well attended by musher’s and public alike (the dogs didn’t come to dinner).
        Commentary: The President defended his desire for higher taxes on the “wealthy”(eventually that will mean everyone who isn't "poor") at a prayer breakfast yesterday by quoting the Bible, viz., “To whom much has been given, much will be required (of).” Now, that ain’t exactly the way I heard it, but its close enough to the King James version I grew up with that I can accept the quotation.    That doesn’t mean I accept his interpretation. The way I learned to interpret that Bible passage ,way back when, it means that the fortunate should share their good fortune with the less fortunate, as a matter of conscience. And I don’t think Jesus was talking about Cesar (or Obama) confiscating anyone’s earthly goods.
        I’m no more of a Biblical scholar than the President, but about the broadest interpretation I would be able to give the quotation is that it mandates a tithe to the church to enable it to distribute charity to the poor, and in many respects I wouldn’t trust organized religion to do much better in that regard with my money than the federal government.
        I’m way short of a tithe for charity this year any way I look at it, but I try, and that’s up to me to settle with my Maker, not with the President. Unless, of course, his hubris has really extended to believing he is God Almighty, or at least Jesus Christ. Might as well include the Holy Spiritt. He might believe he is the Holy Trinity, but I sure don’t.

2/03/12 SPRING WILL BE EARLY (IF IT ISN'T LATE), AND CRANES ARE PART OF MY PSYCHE

2012-02-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

NATIVE PUSSY WILLOWS BUDS ARE BEGINNING TO OPEN

SANDHILL CRANE (WEB PHOTO)

Friday, 8:00 AM. 33 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts fair weather. The weather we have had this winter is very reminiscent of the winters where we lived in New York.
        Yesterday was again an unusually warm day, with temperatures reaching into the low forties Fahrenheit. A local groundhog would have had a tough time predicting winter as the cloud cover was quite changeable.
        Helping out the groundhog, Buddy and I went to the beach to look for signs of an early spring. We saw two anglers wading in the lake surf fishing, certainly a very early sign of something or other. However neither had caught anything, so I will not give their presence much predictive credence. Buddy himself is a predictor of sorts; he is copiously shedding his winter coat and I am bushing him daily. A more certain indicator of an early spring were opening buds of the native pussy willows (Salix discolor). They were just starting to open, and I cut some and Joan put them in a vase, where they look like they will open fully in a few days in the house. I guess the pussy willows are hedging their bets, not fully open but ready to go. In conclusion, Buddy and I predict spring will be early this year. If it isn’t late.
        A Wisconsin lawmaker has proposed a bill to have a hunting season for Sandhill cranes, a species iconic of wildness. Their flocks are evidently damaging crops in the southern part of the state, and a number of states now have a crane hunting season. While goose hunting in southern Wisconsin last fall we saw and heard almost as many cranes as geese, so I don’t believe they are endangered in any way. Normally I would say that it is logical that a species that becomes too numerous should be controlled by hunting, but I cannot be completely rational in the case of cranes.
        For one thing, in my youth cranes were a rare sight in Wisconsin, and were much lauded as a symbol of all that is wild. Aldo Leopold’s Marshland Elegy, an almost poetic paean to the Sandhill crane, was a centerpiece of my early conservation education. For another, Joan and I eagerly awaited the spring migration of Sandhill cranes the years we lived in Nebraska, and seldom missed an opportunity to watch them along the Platte River near Grand Island. Even now, twenty and more years later, we still detour to the Platte to see them as often as we can when we are traveling in the late winter. On a more practical note, cranes are so wary that they are extremely difficult to hunt, and it might very well not be worth the effort, although their flesh is called “the rib-eye of the sky.” On balance, I doubt I will ever shoot a Sandhill crane, they are much too much a part of my psyche.

2/02/12 WOODPECKERS, FISHERMEN AND PRESIDENTS PAST

2012-02-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

WOODPECKER WORKSITE

A SMALL BOAT INSTEAD OF AN ICE SHANTY

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 32 degrees, wind SW, calm. Thesky is overcast with snow clouds but the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. We received a surprise 2” of wet snow last night.
        As the unseasonably warm weather continues, we will see more anomalies, such as small fishing boats where ice fishermen should be. In fact at the beach yesterday we saw just that, and not far away ice fishermen on the ice. The lake has a split personality, it seems.
    There is a fairly large dead spruce tree along Hwy 13 near the Onion River that a pilliated wood pecker has almost cut in two with his excavations.
        Commentary: The President had announced earlier that combat forces would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Defense Secretary Panetta casually let slip yesterday that we would pull out by mid-2013. Talk about telegraphing one’s punches! What in the world is the matter with these people? Is that how casually they approach war, and the lives of soldiers and non-combatants? They have literally abandoned our casualties and our dead on the fields of battle, which are also littered with trillions of our dollars, They precipitously withdrew from Iraq to abandon it to chaos, and now they are setting up the Afghans for the return of the murderous Taliban. All the blood, tears and treasure of these wars are being wasted in the wink of an eye and the flip of a lip. We won’t be trusted among nations again for at least a generation.
        I don’t know what to call all of this, but I know what George Washington, Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt would have called it.

2/01/12 HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL, AND UNBRIDLED HUBRIS

2012-02-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Y UP!

CARS MIGHT HAVE TO DETOUR AROUND THE FISHERMEN

BOATS TO THE RIGHT, VEHICLES STRAIGHT AHEAD

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 32 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is overcast but the barometer is up, predicting sunny weather.
        The ferries to Madeline Island are still crunching through the ice cubes, following their trail back and forth across the channel all day. But, hope springing eternal in the human breast , crews have put out the Christmas tree markers for the ice road. The next step will be to plow the snow from the surface of the ice to encourage it to freeze to the 8” or better depth necessary for vehicular traffic (I wonder if the truck drivers draw straws for the honor). Yesterday’s 40 degree temperatures did not bode well for that eventuality.
        As was predicted, Mitt Romney won all the Florida delegates to the Republican convention. I personally find the negative campaigning very upsetting, as even the smallest personal foibles or slips of the tongue are blown all out of proportion, the old theory, pretty much proven, being that if enough mud is slung at an opponent some will stick. We all ought to take a solemn pledge to pay attention only to substantive issues (lots of luck with that!)
        I have been particularly incensed by Gingrich’s repeated calls to Santorum to get out of the race because he was taking conservative votes from Gingrich. Talk about unbridled hubris!

1/31/12 SPLAKE FOR DINNER, AND VOTING FOR THE CANDIDATE WHO DOES HIS OWN TAXES

2012-01-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

WINTER DAWN

SPLAKE; SPOTTED LIKE A LAKE TROUT...

...FLESH LIKE A SALMON

Tuesday, 8:30 AM. 30 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The sky is mostly overcast but clearing as a winter sun struggles through clouds. The barometer predicts snow.
        Neighbor Jon went fishing far out on the inter island ice yesterday, which he said was a bit iffy. He had a good day, and dropped off a beautiful 1lb. splake fillet, enough for a wonderful fresh fish dinner for two.
        Splake is a hybrid between lake trout and salmon, and is one of the most beautiful and flavorful of our game fish. Its skin is spotted like a lake trout and the flesh is red-pink like salmon. It will be broiled in lightly salted water and white wine, along with lemon and onion slices. Brought to a boil, the fish is done in a New York minute (it should not be over cooked). Serve it with boiled parsley buttered potatoes, broccoli, fresh French bread, and a decent bottle of white wine, and there is nothing finer.
       Tonight’s entertainment will be watching the Republican primary returns from Florida. I am fairly disgusted with the negative campaigning, and am glad not to have to hear it blatantly and constantly as the unfortunate folks in Florida do. I hope Rick Santorum can hang in there with a decent showing, as I am beginning to think he is the most sincere of all the remaining candidates. At this point in time I am about ready to vote for Santorum, the lone candidate who actually does his own taxes.

1/30/12 SUMACS IN WINTER, AND BELIEVING IN YOUR GROCERY BILL

2012-01-30T07:19:00.000-08:00

MALE SUMAC, SANS BERRIES

FEMALE SUMAC, WITH BERRIES

Monday, 8:30 AM. 20 degrees, wind SW, light. The sky is overcast with snow clouds, we received 3” of snow last night and the barometer predicts more of the same. We haven’t gotten a lot of snow at one time this winter, which is fine with me, but it has been pretty consistent of late and is beginning to build up.
        Most people who are familiar at all with the out-of-doors recognize the shrub we commonly call staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) when they see it, as distinctive as the persistent red fruits are in fall and winter. Most don’t know that there are a number of other sumacs that are less common, including the smooth sumac (R. glabra), very similar to the former but without the fuzzy hairs on branches, or the fragrant sumac (R. aromatica), an aromatic, spreading shrub of sand dunes and other dry habitats; or the poison sumac (R. vernix), a tall shrub of mostly inaccessible swamps. And few would easily recognize poison ivy (R. radicans) as a close elative.
        But, back to the staghorn sumac itself; most people who are casually familiar with it probably don’t know that only shrubs with female flowers bear the characteristic conical panicles of fuzzy flowers and fruits, and that the male shrubs, being devoid of the fruits in winter, are also present on the hillsides and woods edges. In the fall these male shrubs are just as obvious as the females since both have similar brilliant red to orange colored leaves. So, next fall, take a closer look at the sumacs in their brilliant coloration, and note which ones have fruits and which ones do not. Often whole stands of sumac will either have fruits or will be fruitless.
        Joan and I went to the grocery store yesterday and were again shocked by the savage inflation which is taking place on the shelves and in the freezers; canned mushrooms, for instance, have doubled in price in the last eighteen months, the same for turkey thighs. which used to be inexpensive protein. Bread prices have also skyrocketed. It isn’t just retirees that are affected, since most people are also now on “fixed incomes,” their salaries not rising comparatively with inflation. It is no wonder so many families are on food stamps. I cringe when I hear that the “fed” is going to print more dollars and dump them into the system, for when they do, we will have yet another round of inflation. Instead of dumping dollars into the financial system we should be dumping clueless or conniving politicians out of office. And probably do away with the Federal Reserve as well. The wealthy are not hurt by inflation, as they can buy hard assets with low interest loans and pay for them with increasingly inflated dollars. The poor are crushed by inflation, and the middle class eventually forced to sell their few assets in a declining market to survive, and are eventually reduced to poverty.
        We are well on our way to being a two-tiered society, rich and poor, the condition of every other economy throughout history. The most vile aspect of this scenario for Americans is that it is purposeful, foisted on us by our government (politicians and bureaucrats) who see inflation as an easy and stealthy way to pay off the national debt they have created, while increasing the dependence of the citizens on the state and thus ensuring their own perpetuation.    Don’t believe the government’s inflation statistics. Believe your grocery bill.

1/29/12 FROZEN IN, AND HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE...

2012-01-29T06:54:00.000-08:00

"AIN'T GOIN' NOWHERE...

...DITTO...

....US NEITHER

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 13 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is overcast but clearing. The barometer is up and predicts sunny weather. I have been checking with neighbors and I think my remaining thermometer runs about two degrees high, but until I get a new weather station one of these days, I will report what it reads.
        The Bayfield commercial fishing fleet (at least a few die hard fishermen) was still going out every day until recently, but now the ice is too thick to try to break through to open water. Some of the boats stay tied up and frozen in, but many are out of the water on stands, especially if they need painting or welding before spring.
        Buddy just plays and plays, usually all by himself, in the house or out (I am leaving him loose a little more, as long as he behaves himself and comes back when he is called, but he can take off like a shot and disappear in the blink of an eye).
        Did you see the photos of Arizona Governor Brewer shaking her finger at the President as they met after he deplaned from Air Force One? I would behave myself, if I were him, and remember, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

1/28/12 WINTER BEACH SCENES, GYPSY MOTHS, AND REMEMBERING THE EDSEL

2012-01-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

GPSY MOTH EGG MASS ON RED OAK

THREE SISTERS

BEACH GRASS

GIANT REED GRASS

Saturday, 9:00 AM. 28 degrees, wind W, calm at present. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts snow, which there is about 4" more of on the ground since yesterday morning.

        Yesterday turned out to be snowy and wintry by the end of the day, so Buddy and I took a run on the beach, and a few photos as well.
         We have some unwelcome news for Bayfieldians; the presence of more than a few Gypsy moth egg masses, primarily on oak trees, which are the favorite food of the larvae of this pest. Introduced into the eastern US in the 19th Century as a silk moth, the Gypsy moth has been making its way across the continent ever since, and has at last reached northern Wisconsin. The caterpillars can be very destructive, defoliating entire trees during the summer months. Usually the damage is mainly a nuisance, but very unsettling when the trees are bare in summer. Trees normally recover unless the defoliation occurs more than two consecutive years. Old oaks, our largest and oldest deciduous trees, are most susceptible to real damage. The egg masses are apparent in the winter as hard, flat, fuzzy, tan colored deposits, perhaps two and a half inches long and about an inch wide. The female moths deposit the egg masses in bark crevices, branch crotches, even under the edge of house siding, or on vehicles (one way the pests migrate). Gypsy moths are so called because they migrate from place to place and appear erratically here, there and everywhere, but seldom staying in one area very long. The caterpillars spin long silken strands which act like parachutes, the wind often blowing the larvae great distances to establish a new infestation.
        In my experience Gypsy moths are more pest than pestilence, and I hate to see broad scale aerial spraying to attempt to control them. However, if a community is heavily infested it may become so obnoxious that spraying individual trees may be necessary. There are other measures that can be taken, which are not as expensive or intrusive as spraying, which might be a topic for another blog. But at this point, the city needs to have some idea of how many egg masses might be out there, particularly on oaks.
        Aside: I’ve been thinking of what to say about the Chevy Volt, the government inspired/funded electric car that has a propensity to explode. I’ll make my comment in the form of a question: remember the Edsel?

1957 FORD EDSEL

1/27/12 A WEDDING ANNIVERSARY AND OTHER DEBATES

2012-01-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

DAWN OF A FINE WINTER DAY

Friday, 7:30 AM. 21 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The sky I blue and cloudless, the Penoke hills visible on the southeast horizon and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. It will be a fine winter day.
Happy anniversary Joan, and thanks for putting up with me all these forty-four years! We have a joke about our wedding that we have been tossing back and forth between us from the very first day. When we said our marriage vows, Joan had no trouble with any of the traditional pronouncements until she got to “for richer or….” Then she had great difficulty getting the “poorer” out. The best that she could do was to stutter a barely audible, “p.;p..p...p….poorer.” She must have had a premonition.
After watching the Republican presidential candidates debate again last night on CNN (we’re starting to know all their lines by heart) we have concluded that the candidate we want is an amalgam of the various traits and policies of the remaining four: the fire and mental quickness of Gingrich; the calm deliberativeness and executive experience of Romney; the constitutional certitude and devotion to individual liberty of Ron Paul; and the moral clarity and middle class values of Santorum. Don’t think we’ll find the ideal, but maybe each could learn from the others and one finally rise to the top.

1/26/12 A NEW HOT ROD, AND A MAN AND HIS DOG

2012-01-26T06:50:00.000-08:00

COCOONED

NEW HOT ROD


...BUCKLE THOSE SEAT BELS

...500 HORSEPOWER CHEVY CORVETTE ENGINE

Thursday, 8:30 AM. 33 degrees, wind SE, light. The sky is overcast, fog enshrouds the Island, and the barometer predicts precipitation.
        The sailboats at the City Marina are all stored out of the water, parked on stands. Most of them have been shrink-wrapped in plastic for the winter, and look like so many huge June-bug chrysalises.
        The Coast Guard, not to be outdone by local municipalities such as Ashland and LaPointe that have ice-rescue air boats, now has its own, and it is a beauty. A 27 ft. long, welded aluminum hull, enclosed cab, sixty-knot per hour beauty. It is American made and has a 500 horsepower Chevy Corvette V8 engine. They ought to be able to snatch a floundering ice fisherman from the jaws of an icy death before he even gets wet. And heaven help the terrorist trying to approach our shores across the ice by dog sled or snowmobile!   We will watch for this new piece of technology out on a training run, and are certain the young Coasties are falling all over each other trying to get licensed to pilot this new hot rod!
        Overheard in the Ode household: Art says, “This place sure gets dirty in the winter!” Joan says, “That’s because a man and his dog live here.” Art says, “But you would miss us if we were gone.” To which Joan replies, “Yes, but I’d have a clean house.”
A NEW HOT ROD, AND A MAN AND HIS DOG

1/25/12 HAMBURGER SOUP, AND IF WORDS WERE ROSES

2012-01-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

BARE BONES BLACK WALNUT

WINTER WOODLAND TRAIL

DULL WINTER MORNING

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 25 degrees, wind SW, calm. The sky is overcast and there is a dusting of slippery stuff on driveways and roads. It was a Yak Track morning. The sky is overcast but the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. It is a rather dull winter morning.
        Yesterday fulfilled its promise and was a glorious day, warm and sunny enough that I managed to scrape most of the accumulated ice from the driveway in the afternoon. While I worked at that I let Buddy run loose a bit, whistling for him every so often and giving him a treat when he returned. He did well enough and we quit while we were ahead.
        The good day was topped off by one of my favorite Bayfield winter meals, hamburger soup. That’s soup, not chili.
        It is good friend Ruth Johnson’s recipe. She and her husband Curt now live in a retirement community in Minnesota, and I know she will not mind us passing it on:
Hamburger soup
2 tsp. Butter                                      4 celery tops, chopped
1 medium chopped onion                   parsley to taste
1.5 lb. Ground beef                             1.5 tsp thyme
1 28 oz. Can diced tomatoes               10 peppercorns
2 cans beef consommé                        1 tbsp salt
2 soup cans water                               1.5 cupS barley
4 sliced carrots (into pennies)
Sauté onions in butter. Add ground beef, brown and drain. Add rest of ingredients and cook covered for one hour or more.
Delicious!
Commentary on the President’s State of the Union speech:
        If words were roses, we would be living in a rose garden. We are not.

1/24/12 LIFE'S SIMPLE REWARDS

2012-01-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

AN ARCTIC LANDSCAPE

INTO THE TEETH OF THE STORM ON THE DUNE

FOG AND BLOWING SNOW ON THE BACK DUNE

MEMORY OF A LONG AGO STORM

Tuesday, 8:45 AM. 24 degrees, wind WNW, light but picking up. The sky is mostly blue with a few high white clouds. I had 3"-4” of new snow to shovel. The barometer is way up and it will be a gorgeous winter day.
Yesterday’s weather was nasty. Not quite a blizzard, and not really cold, but windy, with icy, granular, blowing snow, the kind that stings your eyes and gets down the back of your upturned collar. Driving and walking were a bit hazardous, more so because things didn’t seem as bad as they actually were. Nonetheless, Buddy and I went to the beach, where the weather was really vile and the landscape pretty arctic, but not without an icy beauty.
And that’s the best one can say about storms and bad weather; there is an aesthetic element present that can’t be found on better days. I am always grateful when walking into the teeth of a storm that I can still do it and enjoy it, and am ever grateful for a fire in the fireplace and a warming drink in my hand afterwards. Life does have its simple rewards!

1/23/12 THE IRON RANGE...WHERE IMMIGRANTS DUG THEIR WAY TO FREEDOM

2012-01-23T06:55:00.000-08:00

MINING DISPLAY AT WI WELCOME CENTER IN HAYWARD

MELLEN MAIN STREET

HAYWARD MAIN STREET BARS

MONTREAL RESTORED MINERS COTTAGE

COULDN'T GET THERE...EVEN WITH 4-WHEEL DRIVE

NOT MUCH BUSINESS IN PENCE

...OR ELSEWHERE

MOSTLY CUT OVER

PENOKE RANGE, IRON COUNTRY

MELLEN SCHOOL 1910...THOSE WERE THE DAYS

LOGS WAITING FOR THE FREIGHT TRAIN IN MELLEN

MELLEN MAIN STREET

Monday, 8;30 AM. 27 degrees, wind W, light with moderate gusts. It is snowing lightly and we have about an inch of slippery, granular stuff on the ground. The sky is overcast, the Island is barely visible and this may go on for a while, as the barometer predicts.
        I have written several blogs regarding the proposed open pit iron mine in northern Wisconsin, which would eventuallly be roughly a mile wide and four miles long and operate for at least 35 years, bringing jobs and tax revenues to Iron and Ashland Counties and the region as a whole. I have presented some of the pro and con arguments and did a brief analysis of the proposed, controversial legislation concerning it. I thought it would be instructive to those readers who have an interest in the topic to give some verbal and photographic descriptions of the actual area involved.
        So, yesterday Joan, I and Buddy took a ride to and through the general geographic area involved, stopping first to fortify ourselves with some roast beef sandwiches from Arby’s in Ashland, which was a real hit with Buddy, who wanted ours as well as his. He didn’t get them.
        We took State Hwy. 13 south to the town of Mellen in Ashland county, which is about forty miles from Bayfield. We then took State Hy 77 east toward Hurley, another 23 miles. The proposed mine straddles the Ashland and Iron County line, approximately midway between Mellen and Hurley. The tiny community of Upson is closest to the west side of the proposed mine, and the equally diminutive village of Pence is on the east side. Several other little villages lie along Hwy. 77 before one gets to Hurley, on the Wisconsin border with Michigan.
        An aside: during the rough and tumble early days of logging and later mining, Hurley was known as one of “The three H’s”, viz. Hayward, Hurley, and Hell. It is also appropriate to note Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s comment regarding his grandfather’s emigration from Italy to the coal mines of Pennsylvania, which is just as appropriate to the Iron mines of Wisconsin; “He came here and literally dug his way to freedom.” Hurley has a large ethnic Italian population.

        Except for the community of Montreal (which is a restored mining village and National Historic Site) just outside of Hurley, these little settlements are very depressed, and rather reminiscent of Appalachia. One is struck by the fact that some of these communities, at least, were once prosperous, attested to by the few remaining grandiose buildings such as the 1910 Mellen public school. The countryside in this region is pretty enough but is not wilderness or even virgin forest, but has, according to my practiced eye at least, all been logged over, probably numerous times. There are a few farms but the soil is not conducive to agricultural prosperity. Mostly, it is empty except for the trees, the few villages, the highway, and a few railroad tracks, some active and some not.
        Anyway, I hope you find the photos interesting and instructive to the issue of renewed mining in the region.

1/22/12 A SERF IS A SERF

2012-01-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

LOOKS LIKE SNOW

Sunday, 9:00 AM. 20 degrees, wind SW, very light. When temperature and humidity are up after a cold spell we are bound to get snow, and the overcast sky sure looks like it. That’s good, as it will add to the snow base for the dog sled races on February 4th and 5th.
        The Ashland Daily Press announced yesterday that Wisconsin would be receiving an additional $28 million dollars in heating assistance money from the federal government, a particularly important fact for the impoverished northern counties of the state, most of which are extremely depressed. Nationwide, over 800 million dollars of such aid is being made available to the states. I cringed when I read the statistics.
        Don’t get me wrong, I sympathize with the rural (and urban) poor who are having a hard time heating their homes this winter, and do not wish to see anyone go cold, or hungry (think food stamps and extended unending unemployment insurance), or poorly clothed or housed (think public assistance of many kinds, including subsidized housing and grants for insulation and thermal glazed windows). But it has come to the point that there are government grants and subsidies to ameliorate just about any human condition and beyond ( i.e., paying almost anyone who can say “farmer” to erect fences, plastic greenhouses and you name it). I view it all with wonder, all the time, in these economically depressed northern counties of Wisconsin.
        But what really astounds me, and I must admit makes me feel less charitable towards the needy among us, is that by and large these same folks also vehemently oppose a mine that would bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the area; who oppose almost any effort to lift government restrictions or reduce taxes on businesses and their neighbors; who oppose almost any change; and support radical political elements that preach punitive taxation and class warfare.
        All of us lose our independence and ultimately our freedom when we become dependent upon government for our basic needs. Most of us are descendants of immigrants who fled conditions of serfdom in Europe or Asia or South America to exist as free people in a new nation devoid of the tyrannies of the old.
        A serf is a serf, whether indentured to the nobility, an oligarchy, the church or the state. Slavery is a terrible injustice, because an individual’s freedom has been taken away by force. Serfdom in a way is worse, because it is essentially a social contract, entered into on a quid pro quo basis; a measure of freedom given up for a measure of largess. The peasant is serf to the noble who protects him with castle and arms; or serf to the bishop who owns the land in the name of the church and promises heavenly rewards instead of earthly food; or serf to the dictator who promises the rewards of ethnic or religious superiority over others; or serf to the politician who promises food stamps and heating oil in exchange for a vote. It is all the same road, and and at the end of it there is neither freedom nor prosperity.
    Our society has determined that there should be a government role in providing an economic safety net for its citizens and that is fine as far as it goes. But when the “safety net” extends beyond the truly deserving needy and becomes the social contract, freedom and prosperity are doomed.
        The only bar to serfdom is the personal and economic freedom of the individual. And the primary role of democratic government is to be the guarantor of those freedoms, not the ensnarer of the unwary onto the dole.