Camels

My Lab, Girlfriend, has only one mortal enemy in the world.  Someone she would bristle-up and snarl at and issue a sharp bark.

Harley the Camel.

Harley the camel used to be a regular attendee of parades and festivals on the peninsula and whenever The Frau and I attended these events, along with Girlfriend, there was always the bristling and stalking and growling.

I chalked it-up to the fact the camels stink.  They really do.

In any event, Harley the Camel passed-way recently so Girlfriend can rest easy about the stink of a camel at any public event that she is in attendance.

But wait.

I was bicycling and smelled and familiar funky smell.

Camel.

A corral with a bunch of double-humped camels.  Dromedaries.

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Oh boy....

What a Difference a Few Years Can Make

In January of 1981 the short term federal funds rate was 19-20%

Fast forward three decades...

The current short term federal funds rate is 0-0.25%

More Wildflowers

Joe-Pye Weed - Eupatorium maculatum.

A member of the aster family this is a tall native typically found along creek banks a wet areas.

Early this spring I sprayed the reed canary grass here and lo and behold the natives have sprung -forth.  They just needed a chance.

Raid!

While out scouting the other day I came across a couple of nest boxes that had been upended and raided by the local raccoon tribe.  Nothing sets me-off more than those beady-eyed bandits predating my nest boxes. 

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Just to show how low these flea-infested, low lives will go - a raccoon took a dump right on top of The Frau's box of hose end parts in her potting shed.  All the more reason to never leave home without a pistolero.  Who knows what opportunity might present itself to eliminate a varmint.

Grrrr!

Last weekend a rabbit (eyeing-up my garden) got a fatal dose of lead poisoning.  Nailed it with my trusty Browning Buckmark .22 target pistol.  

One shot, one kill. 

Thirty paces.  

Not bad...

Velvet Racks

Along with the fawns we're seeing some nice bucks sporting their growing antlers...

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Fawns

We all went for a walk yesterday and I just had a feeling we'd have some babies on the camera.

First fawns...

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Stovewood Construction

My neighbors John and JoAnn operate the County H Tree Farm.  As part of the Christmas tree operation they built a beautiful gift shop in the stovewood style of construction. 

Stovewood construction is characterized by uniformly-cut lengths of wood stacked in a bed of lime mortar perpendicular to the leading edge of the wall.  It looks like stacked wood for  your wood stove.  Thus the name. 

Anyway, if you visit John and JoAnn before Christmas you can cut your own tree and warm yourself in the gift shop alongside the antique pot belly stove.  It's all very cool.

I was out riding my bicycle the weekend before last and came across a barn located only feet from the edge of the road.  Some of the cedar shakes had fallen-away revealing the original stovewood construction.

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Imagine a barn constructed of these cedar logs.

No wonder it's still standing.

Learn more about stovewood construction here.

Door County Monsoon

Until last Monday we had zero precipitation for the month of June.

Nada, zip, zilch, zero.  Not a drop.

Nevertheless, my raised garden bed does a superb job of holding moisture - sort of like a bath tub filled with dirt.  It performing exactly like I expected it to.

Except for what happens with a heavy rain.

Monday the heavens opened and we got two inches of rainfall in one day.

Kayaks

True to form I have spent countless hours on the water. 

Walleye fishing on Green Bay.

Walleye and other fishing on the Eagle River Chain.

A business conference in that fever swamp they call Hollywood Florida.

Boats in the water everywhere and not a kayak to be seen.

Except on the top of a car.

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My Girls

At the end of the day  of chores there is nothing better than a refreshing shower and clean shorts and a t-shirt.

I take that back.

After the shower and change - to sit on the porch with a cold PBR and a bowl of salted in the shell peanuts.

My girls will do anything for a peanut including sitting and waiting.

That's if you can stand the puddles of Lab drool on the porch. 

Blech...

Trail Camera June 15

Early morning velvet buck - quite possibly the same one captured on the other camera a couple of days ago.




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Trail Camera June 14

Four days ago a cedar wax wing perched on the sapling above just to the left of center.

And an artsy photo of a doe in the VERY early morning fog.




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Mennonite Has a Birthday

Everyone had a perfectly fine weekend at The Platz.

There was food, beer, wine, conversation, sleep, food, bicycling, more food, beer, wine, hot showers (very nice), more beer AND wine, even more food followed by really, really good sleep.  Then more food.

To top it all off Mennonite had a belated birthday celebration.  

The Frau - coordinating with Mennonite's Frau - and an entire cadre of bicyclists that were eager to participate in a friendly prank. On the signal of a whistle the entire crowd serenaded the Pennsylvania farm boy with an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. 

Complete with black handkerchiefs....

Trail Camera June 12

A doe (above) middle of the day and a velvet buck at the end of the day.

Nice, healthy, looking animals.

They're also moving during all daylight hours.





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Trail Camera June 11

Five days ago.

Velvet buck moving through in the AM.

Probably a two year old.

Eagle River Walleye

This is my buddy Sid and one of his Eagle River walleye.

Not as big as some from Green Bay but a nice fish nonetheless.  The fishing this year was exceedingly difficult.  We timed our trip to coincide precisely with the mayfly hatch.  Crap!

Velvet Antlers

The local buck population is beginning to sport their antlers.  They're in velvet now and I haven't seen any of last year's monsters - but you never know.

Watch them grow...

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Just a Sniff

Just last week I published a post of a deer giving this branch the sniff.

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They're still doing it.

I figure I should start being more careful about brushing it aside with my stinky, sweaty hand.  Or possibly putting something else on it to catch the attention of the local whitetails.

In any event did you notice the mange on that deer above?  Look at the base of his neck and above his forelegs.

There is either some serious shedding going-on, a bad case of mange or maybe some scarring from an accident?

Food Plot

Remember that food plot I planted several weeks ago?

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There's stuff growing in it.  Which isn't all bad considering it's meatball farming.  We sure could use some rain though.

For any of my hunting compadres who might be reading - on Saturday I filled the big sprayer on the ATV and nuked the large food plot in the north forty.  I figure I'll mow the dead stuff and someone else can disc it into the ground in a couple of months.

Thinking about planting it into rape, turnip and a couple of clover varieties.  The brassicas will come up and remain hardy into the fall with their natural frost tolerance.  The clover will put on some serious growth in the spring and summer of 2013 and be virtually maintenance free.

All the critters like clover.

Trail Cam Update

I tweaked the trail camera setup yesterday.  While still in the same general vicinity I relocated each camera so as to hopefully get some closer shots of the deer moving on a couple of their known trails.

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I also took the opportunity to clean the lenses of both and replace the batteries in the western-most camera.  Fresh batteries on June 10th, 2012.  Now I can finally determine how long the batteries actually last under steady use.

Should probably expect to see some fawns before too long.

Entrepreneurship

It is refreshing to know that the spirit of Wisconsin entrepreneurship isn't dead.

It is alive and well.

Evidence of which can be found in this fella peddling ice cream from a pontoon boat on a lake in northern Wisconsin...

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Yellow Cubs

I was away fishing recently and came across this guy's perfect set-up.

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A pair of float planes.

Piper Cubs to be exact.

These are four cylinder engines on these aircraft which I believe would make them a Model J-3 Cub.  They were built between 1937 and 1947.

Learn more here.

The Garden Chronicles

We're back and the blogging resumes.

Took this picture last week so as to periodically measure progress in the main garden.

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Tomatoes and peppers are in and everything is doing well.

The bunnies have eaten some of my kale plants and almost all of my Swiss chard.

Still have to plant lima beans and pumpkins.

A Short Hiatus

There was a disturbance in The Force last evening and the blog went down.  Sort of what you might expect when a solar flare goes-off and there is a mass ejection of charged particles.  While no major power grids failed - the blog was singed.

The blog is going to have some for routine maintenance and will likely be back online by early next week at the latest.

Thank you, in-advance, for your patience.

Sincerely,

The Technical Staff

The Fartiste

Any of you who have spent any length of time around a group of guys know what I am talking about.

They like to fart when the fairer sex isn't present.

One of my pals calls himself a Fartiste.  Which is a synonym for Flatulist and Farteur.

He claims that his sphincter is his palette and the atmosphere his canvas.

Scent Control

The reason that this regularly visiting buck is giving this branch a very careful sniff is probably because I push it aside with my left hand whenever I approach the camera from this direction.

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Either I break myself of this habit and do a better job of scent control or maybe continue the habit since he certainly isn't spooked by my scent.

A mature buck would avoid the place entirely with the stink of people around.

Or maybe I should put some peanut butter or deer pee on the end of the stick and see what happens...

Changing the Wardrobe

Nice example of the transition from winter wardrobe to summer wardrobe.

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The gray winter coat on this whitetail is transitioning to the rich, reddish coat of summer.

For the present it just looks shabby.

Milkweed

There is a bumper crop of this stuff growing all over the place.

Common milkweed - Asclepias syriaca - a perennial native that is the chosen forage of Monarch butterfly larvae.

There are a couple thousand species of this plant found throughout the world and thirteen of them to be found in Wisconsin.

The sap of this plant contains cardiac glycosides.  If consumed you will manifest an elevated heart rate, hot flashes and generalized weakness.  The Monarch caterpillars eats this stuff without consequence.

It does make the butterfly a toxic feast to predators.

Interesting defense mechanism.

My Girls

It's a treat to be able to get out and ramble all over the place now that everyone has put their orthopaedic woes behind them.

Everyone is running on all eight cylinders.