My Favorite Vet

No. I am not talking about the veterinarian that treats Girlfriend.

I'm talking about my pop who passed-away oh so close to Memorial Day this year.

This is a solemn occassion where we remember those who have given the last full measure of devotion.

Well - pop.

You not only survived the Big One - you lived long enough to make the first original YouTube post here at the Platz.

Here's to you dad...

Garden Update

Been fretting lately about possibly being behind on spring planting.

A quick check of the diary and prior years revealed that I'm pretty much on schedule with getting the garden in.

Peas, radishes and spinach are up.

Planted Kennebec, Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold potatoes a couple of weeks ago and they're peeking through already.

Planted onion sets - copra, Texas super sweet, yellow and candy hybrid. For some reason the candy hybrid did not thrive and has become the first casualty.

Stonehead and red cabbages are doing great. Same for the broccoli, Brussels sprouts and a really cool psychedelic kale.

I've also planted beets, collard greens, carrots, green beans, bush pickles, acorn squash, scallop squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, pie pumpkins and decorative corn.

Today I'll plant the tomato and green pepper plants. We've been hardening them-off for a couple of weeks. After discovering how easy it is to make your own delicious tomato juice I've decided to double the tomato production this year.

Lettuce planted in the kitchen garden last year came back. Not all of it - but enough to get by with for awhile.

The spargel is just about winding-down. What a treat it has been to be eating fresh-picked asparagus for the last month. Heaven.

Various lettuces, more green beans and Chinese cabbage are on-deck.

After last year's raccoon fiasco there will be no risking of sweet corn. I'll purchase my corn from Pierre down the road.

Edit - Twenty-two tomato plants! Twenty in the big garden and a couple of cherry tomato plants (yellow and red) in the kitchen garden.

Racing in the Rain

Do you ever wonder what your dog is thinking?

Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain will introduce you to Enzo - philosopher, possessor of a near-human soul, watcher of television, racing aficionado and a dog.

If you like dogs, racing and stories of love, anguish and redemption - you'll love this one.

I'm going to read it again.

Morning Routine

Fed the dog, checked the email and RSS feeds, filled the bird feeders, picked spargel, played tennis ball with Girlfriend, wrote a couple of blog posts and started on a second cuppa steaming black joe.

Don't you like a routine?

Having a Bad Day?

With the weather warming and signs of spring cropping-up - like boating and buoy placement it is useful to know that just about the time you think you are having a bad day - you learn someone else is having a worse one.

Safe boating this weekend folks!

Congress Burns the Midnight Oil

Congressmen Submit Emergency 3 AM Bill Demanding IHOP Stay Open All Night

Real Money

Did Dirksen ever say, " A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money"? (or anything very close to that?)

Perhaps not. Based on an exhaustive search of the paper and audio records of The Dirksen Congressional Center, staffers there have found no evidence that Dirksen ever uttered the phrase popularly attributed to him.

Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that in the first 220 years of recorded financial records of the USA (i.e., 1789-2008), the nation had cumulative deficits of $5.3 trillion (i.e., outlays in excess of receipts).

The combined deficits in the 3 years of 2009-10-11 (i.e., the actual deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009 plus the government’s projected deficits in 2010 and 2011) are estimated to reach $4.2 trillion.

(source: White House).

Time Flies

One hundred years ago the best time ever made between Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay on a highway was accomplished on a Sunday when Harry Dana covered the run of about fifty miles in two hours and a quarter with a Buick auto.

With good roads, the time would have undoubtedly have been shortened by half an hour.

Source: The Door County Advocate

Today an experienced driver employed by The Platz can make that trip in about 45 minutes.

White Gull Inn Wins Breakfast Challenge

I've been busy lately and completely forgot to share with you the news that the peninsula's very own White Gull Inn has taken the honors of winning Good Morning America's Best Breakfast Challenge.

Thank you for voting early and often.

Big Bucks

In April 2009, the Secret Service, a government agency set up in 1865 to suppress currency counterfeiting, seized $8.4 million in $100 bills in Peru.

To confound forgers the Treasury unveiled a redesigned $100 bill last month, the largest denominated note it currently issues, and the note most frequently counterfeited outside U.S. borders. The new note has additional security features such as a 3D security ribbon designed to make it easier to identify and harder to copy.

But the notes most often removed from circulation by authorities are those with a face value of $20. These notes have the advantage of being frequently exchanged and have a high enough value to cover the costs of counterfeiting.

The amount of counterfeit cash in circulation remains small. The £20 ($29) notes removed from circulation by the Bank of England in 2008 (whose highest-denominated note is £50) amounted to just 0.05% of circulation or 514 fakes for every million genuine notes.

View a chart that details the amount of counterfeit cash in circulation by denomination.

Source: The Economist

Christmas Comes Early to the Platz

New gloves!

I feel like a first grader that just got a box of brand new Crayolas.

Gloves make it a couple of years under the best of circumstances.

One More Sign

In keeping with this week’s sign theme I stumbled across this sign posted on a blog originating from the Fatherland.

What the heck is the translation?

Signs of Spring

One of the other signs of spring is spring buoy placement.

The Coasties are busy with the spring job of marking navigation routes, channels and hazards.

The 140-foot Bay-class Cutters are state of the art icebreakers used primarily for domestic ice breaking duties. They are named after American Bays and are stationed mainly in Northeast U.S. and Great Lakes. WTGBs use a low-pressure-air hull lubrication or bubbler system that forces air and water between the hull and ice. This system improves icebreaking capabilities by reducing resistance against the hull, reducing horsepower requirements.

The Cutter found in Sturgeon Bay is WTGB 103 - the Mobile Bay.

Learn more about the Mobile Bay here.

click on images to enlarge

Signs of Spring

Nice crop of blossoms on the apple trees.

But the weather has been so dang cold and rainy it will be a miracle if they get pollinated in time.

Might not get many apples - if at all - this year.

It's a good thing I put-up a giant batch of applesauce and pie filling last fall.

Signs of Spring

It is said that when the lilacs bloom the crappie bite is on.

The boat is ready, battery charged, the rods have new line and the jigs replenished.

Signs of Spring

The fishermen have been on the water ever since ice-out.

Now that the weather is warming-up the pleasure boaters are getting their vessels launched.

How do you like this one?

Signs of Spring

Common violets popping-up all over the place.

Seeking the Other Side

The call came early this morning.

Dad left this world and crossed over to the other side.

Finally.

While this was hardly unexpected - it's taking just a while to sink-in.

Some may suggest that there is no dignity in a slow decline leading to death. I would like to suggest that a life that left an indelible mark on this world in more ways than can be imagined is a life well-lived.

Dad will be sorely missed.

Sunday Morning

It has been a good weekend.

Braumeister has been hunting for his Thanksgiving bird and so far only spied a lone hen.

I've been focusing on my routine and getting the garden planted.

Of course this was following the mowing of the hayfield. The yard.

Cripes. The grass had gotten enormous. I hate mowing the lawn. I'd much rather work in the garden.

So far I've planted a bazillion onions and the peas, cabbages and beets. Radishes too.

Brau and I have been living pretty high on the hog this weekend.

We've dined upon my kassler rippchen (with homemade kraut), jaeger schnitzle with spaetzle and last night - kartoffel wurst mit bratkartoffeln.

Life is good.

Breakfast Club

Fish Creek's White Gull Inn is a finalist in Good Morning America's Best Breakfast Challenge.

Nationwide voting is today.

Go to this link today and look for “VOTE FOR THE BEST BREAKFAST“. The link will be up until (roughly) 7 pm (Central Time).

Swamp says to vote early and vote often.

Go and do it now!

Just Hanging

It's overcast, windy and a balmy 50 degrees. 2.25 inches of rain in the last five days or so - there is standing water everywhere.

Gotta wonder if I'll get the rest of the garden in this weekend.

Talkn' Turkey

Braumeister and I are hanging here at the Platz for a spell.

He's hunting turkey and Girlfriend and I have engaged in an orderly retreat from a rather stressful week.

It's a long story - although some of you know of what I speak.

Trust me when I tell you it is good to be here in the company of a good bud, the warming glow of a fire amid the dank and damp of the rain and bad news - yet the life-giving prospects of doing some spring planting.

It's all good..

Fun With Science

Having a Bad Day?

Just about the time you think you're having a bad day you find out someone else is having a worse one.

The Predator and the Piebald Deer

In the fall of 2008 I was bow hunting from my lucky stand high above the creek.

Why do you call it your lucky stand?

Well, I'm lucky I haven't fallen out of it. But it's mostly lucky because many deer have been taken from this stand. Last fall I shot two deer out of a group of eight from this stand. Now stop interrupting my story.

A small herd of deer ambled past me, north side of the creek, traveling east to west. I saw them coming and was at full draw as they stepped into my ambush.

Within a minute I shot two of those deer. I dropped them in their tracks - just like in the movie Predator.

I may not live long enough to repeat that feat - and it made for a helluva celebration.

One of the other things I remember from that experience is that one of the deer in the group had funny markings on her coat. For all the world it looked to me like a piebald deer. It was for that very reason I didn' t put the single sight pin of my Bowtech Diamond Liberty squarely behind her upper left shoulder.

Wouldn't you know it - her she is:














click on the picture to enlarge

If I had to guess she's probably about four or five years old by now. I'll have to keep my eye out for her.

That new trail camera takes nice pictures don't you think?

Enjoy this clip from the movie...

Duct Tape

My pal - Smokey Joe - sent me these pictures.

During a private fly-in fishing excursion in the Alaskan wilderness, a charter pilot and fishermen left a cooler and bait in the plane.

A bear smelled it.

This is what the bear did to the plane.

The pilot used his radio and had another pilot bring him two new tires, three cases of duct tape and a supply of sheet plastic.

He patched the plane together and flew it home!

Drill Baby Drill

On April 22, Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig 130 miles (209 km) southeast of New Orleans sank into 1,500m (5,000 feet) of water, following an explosion two days earlier.

Eleven of the 126 workers who were onboard remain unaccounted for. Around 1,000 barrels (42,000 U.S. gallons) of crude have been leaking from the submersed rig each day since it sank.

This spill however, pales in comparison to large disasters, both accidental and man-made.

During the first Gulf war, the Iraqi army purposely destroyed tankers and oil terminals in Kuwait, releasing 500 million barrels of crude, in order to slow the U.S. Navy's imminent approach in the Arabian Gulf.

The environmental impacts caused by such spills vary greatly, with those close to the coast and pristine environments by far the most destructive. Hopefully the current oil slick will harden and sink to the ocean floor before it has a chance to make landfall in Louisiana over the next few days.

Learn more about the largest oil spills that have befallen the globe.

Source: The Economist

Snow

Had to make a late run to Sturgeon Bay last night to visit a doctor.

All is well.

Snowing at midnight.

The Day Job

Probably the only thing better than not having a day job is having a day job you can do on your own terms.

The weather here at The Platz has been for crap today. Rain, rain, rain. And more rain. Can you believe that the weather guessers are forecasting snow for tonight? Three to six inches!

Sheesh.

I got up early this morning and rekindled a fire in the woodburner from last night's embers. It's been going all day long and shall continue into and thru the night if I have anything to do about it.

Anyway, I put the coffee on, fed Girlfriend and commenced my Day Job.

Give me a laptop, a secure high-speed connection, a scanner/fax/copier and a Blackberry and I'm good to go. Take your job everywhere.

And you know - it's kind of nice to lounge around in your flannel pants and a ratty old t-shirt and work. I began my day with a roaring blaze taking the dank chill out of the air, a giant bowl of oatmeal (topped with fresh raspberries) and a steaming cuppa joe at my elbow. Dog at my feet and the first orioles of the season on the nectar feeder.

Can you believe that I actually get paid the big bucks to do this?

Sheesh.

Need a break from this grueling routine?

Take Girlfriend out for a walk in the rain. She's nuts about the rain. She will actually seek out the nearest puddle just so she can gleefully tear through it. I actually believe that she deliberately stamps harder in the water so as to make the splashes bigger.

We retrieved the memory card from the trail camera, installed a clean card and moved the cam to a new location. Then home for a shower and change back into those comfy, plaid flannel pants.

Me - not her.

As I tap-out this post, work is complete and I've punched-out.

Time to put the feet up in front of the fire and enjoy a glass of Friends Red with my Frau.

Roasted chicken with garden spargel tonight.

Life is good.

Big Tools

The day I found that mice had taken-up residence in the box that held my jack-stands I was performing maintenance on a piece of machinery.

Namely the Rhino brush cutter. Swapped-out the blades for a pair with freshly-ground edges, gear oil and grease.

No ordinary size ratchet and socket are used.

Just the big ones.

Mice

Had chores to do and I grabbed the box off the shelf in the machine shed that held my jack-stands.

Mice had been living in there over the winter and shredded the warranty papers at the bottom of the box.

I'm Going to be a Father

There have been a pair of geese in the big pond for three weeks now.

Same for a pair of mallard ducks.

There were a pair of cranes for an even longer period of time although we're only been able to spot one of them recently.

I have a feeling that little ones are on the way.

Wheelin' Sportsmen

photo - NWTF

For some hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts with disabilities, attempting to participate in an active outdoor lifestyle can be overwhelming.

The National Wild Turkey Federation, through its Wheelin' Sportsmen NWTF outreach program, has donated $26,750 in grants to six projects in the U.S. to help people with disabilities get involved in the outdoors.

Selfless volunteers with Wheelin' Sportsmen NWTF continue to dedicate their time and efforts hosting events and completing projects throughout North America.

We want folks with disabilities to know that Wheelin' Sportsmen NWTF is here to serve them and to help them enjoy the great outdoors, said Charley Burke, NWTF regional director for Wisconsin. The fishing pier on Lake Tomah will give many people access to a fishing opportunity they wouldn't have without Wheelin' Sportsmen NWTF.

Eagle III

The dog starts from her snooze and begins pacing.

Within an instant I can hear the distant turbo-thumping of a helicopter.

Girlfriend is just like Radar O'Reilly from the old M*A*S*H* television series. She can hear the approach of choppers before anybody else can.

The helicopter in the photo above is a recently new Eurocopter EC-135 T2+.

Powered by a pair of Turbomeca 2B1 Arrius engines it is cooking at somewheres around 150 to 170 MPH.

We are directly in the flight path of Eagle III when it's making an air ambulance run from Green Bay to somewhere further north on the peninsula.

While this is not a frequent occurrence - it is certainly regular. And always directly over the top of the house.

The chopper uses a Single Flight Control Display (SFCD), which presents primary flight and navigational data. I wonder if, along with the weather radar, it has the Platz programmed into its route information?

You can read more about it here.

The Inconvenient Man

From the LA Times...

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a Montecito-area property to their real estate holdings, reports the Montecito Journal.

The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

I guess Al isn't too concerrned about rising sea levels flooding his new giant carbon footprint, eh?

A Foray Into Taxidermy

Last year I attempted my first taxidermy project.

I finally got around to mounting the fan and beard last weekend.

I have to say - it turned-out rather nicely.

I have a second tail and beard in the freezer.