Ringing-in the New Year

I was moping around the Platz today performing chores and recovering from all the other after affects of chores at the city house that The Frau and I are preparing to put up for sale.

I despise moving - nevertheless I place a high value on downsizing.

I was feeling a bit better but since only the Blonde Lab and I were here it was a wee bit lonely.

My pal Sid called while we were out tromping in the deep snow today.

And he invited me over for dinner tonight at High Cliff with Lawyer and his Frau and Sid's Bruder und Frau.

Nice time - and great eats.  I think the venison loin beat-out the beef tenderloin.

It's always a good thing when you have good friends looking after you. 

Another Treasure

Bayonet.  

Circa late 1800s.

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Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Co. Solingen.  

Company is still in business - website here.  Learn more about the history thru Wikipedia.

Treasure Hunting Continued

Emptied-out a large plastic tote filled with stuff sacks, briefcases and duffels  - most of them sporting logo advertising.  They're going to Goodwill for someone to use to tote their books or groceries as I'm not making any use of them.

But in the bottom of the tote I found a couple of treasures.

Two official BSA (Boy Scouts of America) backpacks.  The smaller of the two (my first) is a Haversack Pack.  The larger of the two is called a Cruiser Pack.  The Cruiser sports an aluminum pack frame and larger carrying capacity for backpack camping trips.

They both are well-worn from plenty of outdoor use and have genuine brass fittings on their canvas.  The Cruiser has old-school leather straps (oiled-them up to keep them pliable).

Unbelievable what vintage scouting gear is selling-for on eBay.    

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Treasure Hunting

Been cleaning out stuff at the city house in anticipation of moving this spring.  There's nothing like hauling things to Goodwill, Habitat Restore and the dump over the holidays to keep you in the Christmas spirit.

Over the weekend I tackled the camping gear and stumbled across a couple of gems.

In the bottom of a box of camp cookware I discovered my original-issue Boy Scout mess kit and utensils.  

I also found this handy tool.  

Still in its maker's original packaging - a P38 can opener.

And a half a package of Glad Ziploc bags - Édition en langue française.  

A relic from a two week camping road trip in Canada. 

Earth Rise

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This NASA high resolution image was taken by the the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

 This image was composed from a series of images taken Oct. 12, when LRO was about 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the moon's farside crater Compton. Capturing an image of the Earth and moon with LRO's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument is a complicated task. First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC's Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!

You can learn more about it here.
 

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

The staff here at The Platz would like to wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays

In keeping with the deer hunting holiday spirit...

Polluted Wells

This is certainly depressing news.

Of course cows outnumber people in in Kewaunee County and our neighbors to the south boast the highest number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

With all of that manure is anybody surprised?

This is the crap (pun intended) of which nightmares are made-of...

 

Deer Camp - The Rifles

Hardly all of the guns but a couple that some intrepid hunters took pictures of while pondering their deer stands.

Browning A-bolt.  Chambered for 7mm Remington Mag. 

Sakko bolt action.  Chambered for 270 Winchester.

View thru the scope on that Finnish rifle.

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Deer Camp - The Dogs

If you start with this...

You will wind-up with this... 

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Deer Camp - The Jägermeister

Tradition calls for a toast to St. Hubert - the patron saint of hunters - upon the completion of an ethical and clean kill.

Last weekend the two hunters that dropped the three whitetails raised a toast.  

The guy on the left had to toss-back a doubler since he killed two deer.

Here are sixteen weird facts that you probably didn't know about this imported liquor.

Deer Camp - The Grilling

I don't know about your deer camp but our deer camp prides itself on the fine dining.  After-all a deer camp travels on it's stomach.

If you are going to grill your venison steaks what you need to do is gently anoint them in extra virgin olive oil and a dusting of Penzeys English Prime Rib Rub.  Let your steaks rest on a platter at room temperature.

Go light your Weber grill and wait until you have an exceedingly glowing hot fire.

When the coals are ready sear your steaks over the coals and turn them only once.  Plate them when they are rare to medium rare and allow them to rest.

Serve with crashed garden potatoes, an Asian chopped salad, fresh French bread and butter, a selection of two red wines and friends.

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Cheers!

Deer Camp - The Dogs

No deer camp is complete without dogs.

Dogs that greet you.  Dogs that play with you.  Dogs that bother you.  And dogs that snooze with you in front of the fire.

And - of course - the dogs that worship you.  Especially if you have grilled venison shnibbles...

 

Deer Camp - The Food

Typical deer camp breakfast.

Pancakes with Door County maple syrup from Mike and Jamie Henschel and breakfast sausages from Marchants.  Strong black coffee and OJ too.

Yum. 

Deer Camp - The Deer

Nice work if you can get it.

Six Deuce and a dandy doe he popped.  

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One of two he dropped.  All in the space of an hour of hunting.

Sewer Dweller

Photographic evidence of what was discovered living in the city sewer.

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The elusive turd hustler...

Deer Camp - The Friends

Remember the eleven deer I mentioned yesterday?

Raised the bar.

New Guy dropped another deer on Saturday and now the total is twelve.  It's really all very ridiculous.

Post-breakfast siesta from the other day.  Warm fire, snugly blonde Lab.  Life at deer camp is good. 

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Deer Camp - The Deer

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Two more deer down.

A total of eleven for this year's seer season.

A new camp record.

Me and My Girls

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Out for a run with the four-wheeler.  Me and my girls...

Guess the Critter

Three shot burst photos of this critter darting past the camera.

Who is it?

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More Deer

Some daylight deer appearances too...

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More Deer

Considering that we've killed nine deer so far this year plenty of them have been showing-up on the trail cameras.  Only one buck though.

A couple of does - same location - a couple of days apart....

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Counting Crows

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Two of them to be exact.

Haven't any idea what attracted them to this spot.

The Strangler

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Looks like I'm preparing to strangle the trail camera.

Actually just straightening it out and tightening the strap.

Eggcetera

Got this photo from a guy I know who is a funeral director...

Schlafenhund

Nothing more needs to be said.

La Lune

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Moonrise photo from a week ago as I returned to the house.

Apple iPhone and a little photoshop action.

Coyote Hunting

Cleaning-up the photos that are cluttering the phone and I came across a couple from January of 2014.

Coyote hunting out back.  

Should be sure to put this back on the calendar for this winter.

Opening Day

Swapped-out the SD cards on the trail cameras last yesterday.  They were last 'freshened' at the beginning of the week just before the gun deer opener on the 28th of November.

I was thinking there might be plenty of action captured before, during and after the hunt.  But no.  As a matter of fact three of the cameras recorded nothing and I suspect it is a file problem with the memory cards.  We'll see.

Here's a nice pic of a solo doe taken at 9:11 AM on opening day - the 28th.

 

Renewable Energy

File this under renewable energy resources.

One full cord on the porch - one more to store in the refurbished granary.

Stacked and loaded.

Bring-on the snow and cold.

Day Is Done

Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer hunt is finished.

Nice sunset tonight is frosting on the cake...

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Better Late Than Never

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Two cords of firewood delivered - a couple of months later than normal.  But better late than never.

Heating with firewood is cheaper than heating with propane.  Between the heat pump and the woodburner we're down to purchasing the minimum propane on a prepaid contract and our heating costs (combined electric, propane and wood) are the lowest they've ever been.  

The stacking continues....

Midnight Rambler

The deer have been visiting under cover of darkness.  How do I know this?  They are leaving tracks in my gardens.  Fresh tracks too.  And lots of them.

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Funny thing is that there's nothing in this garden for them to eat while the other larger garden still has come carrots, beets and overgrown broccoli.

Dinner Time

Ninety percent of this Thanksgiving dinner was harvested from The Platz.

Sister-In-Law's pairing of a fine Chardonnay with this awesome wild turkey feast was terrific planning.

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Feeling full...

Happy Thanksgiving

Flying Tiger

Yesterday I heard the call of the Great Horned Owl as dusk settled upon the forest.  The horned owl is common around here and it's call is quite distinctive.

It is coincidental that this morning when I let the Labs out before breakfast there was bunny fur scattered all about a section of the front yard.  It occurred to me that in the course of the evening Mr. Rabbit had fallen prey to Mr.Owl.

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The horned owl is particularly gutsy being one of the few birds of prey that will take porcupines and skunks.  Plucky bird the horned own is - which is why it is sometimes called the Flying Tiger. 

Aliens Come to Deer Camp

The frenzy of a long weekend with eight other guys has passed.  Seven deer found their way to the camp meat pole - three bucks (an eight, nine and ten pointer) and four does.  Yesterday we processed six of the deer and dropped one of the big does-off at Marchant's Foods for the local food pantry.  Today I went back to town and dropped sixty pounds of venison trimmings at the butcher for grinding and packaging.  Whew!

This afternoon I hunted by myself and upon climbing into my stand was surprised to find a collection of nine fist-sized rocks carefully arranged in the corner of the floor.

This is completely strange as none of the guys hunting here had any time for rock collecting.  Or carrying them around with them and then climbing into a stand to place them there.

The only explanation is that the aliens are sending me a cryptic message.

Perhaps they want nine pounds of ground venison conveniently packaged in one pound packs and frozen for intergalactic travel?

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