A Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Year

At the close of the year it is not at all unusual for some of us to be grumpy about the current state of affairs.  Stock market volatility, the Fed’s attempts to restrain the return of inflation, Donald Trump’s ham-fisted trade tariffs contributing to a slowing of the global economic condition combined with all of the uncertainty of a Whitehouse careening from crisis to crisis like a drunken carnival ride operator.  

Friends, things are not as dire as you think.  Indulge me the opportunity to lend historical perspective.    

Our current lot in life is not nearly as dreadful considering our forebears who had to live thru the year 536 — the year that may possibly be the absolute worst in human history.  How bad was it?  Sometime early in 536 a haze settled across Europe, the Middle East and Asia blotting-out the sun. 

The pall darkened the skies for a year and a half.        

  
The temperature dropped 35-36 degrees Fahrenheit, famine followed widespread crop failures and to top it off there was an outbreak of bubonic plague that decimated the population.  This was a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad year.    

Tree ring analysis provides evidence of a massive cooling event in either late 535 or early 536 – followed by another drop recorded in 542 - a double-whammy of cold temperatures.  A study of ice core samples from a European glacier uncovered microscopic shards of volcanic glass which were traced to volcanic rocks in Iceland.  Researchers believe that this is evidence of a massive volcanic eruption that loosed a gigantic plume of ash into the atmosphere in 536.  The ash shrouded the Northern Hemisphere for more than a year.  A follow-up eruption in 539 or 540 - linked to North America - explains the double-whammy temperature drop recorded in the tree rings.      

Long story short - the volcanic events, plague outbreak and biggest drop in temperature in more than two thousand years resulted in three decades of global economic stagnation.  Curiously, additional study of the ice samples revealed a spike in airborne lead particles in the year 575.  Lead ore was used the smelting of silver and its presence in the ice is evidence that the precious metal was once again in demand for making new coins as the European economy started to recover.     

You might think that you have a lot to complain about in 2018, but at least you're not fighting off the plague while shivering under the gloom and darkness of a cloud of volcanic ash.  There are a couple of lessons to be learned by this.  Be thankful you weren't around in 536 and beware of global cooling events.  They do happen.     

Learn more about this time in history here.

Burying Your Beer

The HopfenHöhle Beer Cooler is an outdoor hidden beer fridge that chills your beverage naturally.  This is possible due to lower temperatures in the ground which chill your beer to drinking temperature. Best of all: It works without any electricity!  All you have to do is: Dig a hole (best to rent or use an auger), insert the cladding tube and fill-in your favorite kind of beer. 15 bottles fit into the solid bottle-holder no matter which kind of beer - as long as it comes with crown caps. The tube is constructed of a weather-resistant bottom and lid, so neither water nor critters find their way into your HopfenHöhle Beer Cooler. Depending on soil and season your beer cools to 44-50 degrees F (excluding winter).  All you have to do is locate a shady spot for your HopfenHöhle Beer Cooler.      

Two models are available:  HopfenHöhle and HopfenHöhle LIFT. Both come with a weather resistant plastic tube, a solid bottle-holder with an easy click-in system and UV-resistant lid. You even don’t have to look for a bottle opener as it is already included - for free!

HopfenHöhle - the manual version: The bottle-holder has to be pulled up manually – by means of a strong handle made from stainless steel.  All you have to do is pull the holder out of the tube and provide your pals with a cold beer. The second version: HopfenHöhle LIFT even helps you with that as two-thirds of the bottle-holder move up smoothly due to a gas damper. Turn the handle to unlatch the bottle-holder and your cold beers rise from the ground just like Lazarus.  That’s it! 

Raising a toast to German ingenuity....
 

Your Mileage May Vary

Some of you readers may know that this fall Jill and I purchased a mini van.  A Honda Odyssey to be exact.  A 2015 with only 18,000 miles on the odometer - a steal as it came off lease.  The owners manual was still in the manufacturer's wrapping and it even has a wee bit of new car smell.

In any event it was with no small amount of trepidation that I entered-into this purchase.  Having sold my mistress to a younger man this past summer and preparing to sell the GMC sport utility on Craig's List it seemed that I was trading Detroit muscle and style for cup holders.  This was cause for some small amount of cognitive dissonance and angst in the image department.  Jill loved the van from the very start.

Nevertheless, the Odyssey has grown on me.  Spacious and smooth-riding with a terrific view of the traffic around me - I have grown to like it.  There is ample space in the back for a couple of full-size crates to haul the Labs, a low step for the elderly dog to enter and exit, and all sorts of extra space for hauling.  Removing the dog crates there is seating for seven adults.  My descent into practicality is complete.

The other day we returned from a whirlwind road trip to visit the grandkids, daughter, son-in-law and extended southern in-laws on the gulf coast.  The van was our chariot.  The trip from Milwaukee to Mobile Alabama is something on the order of 1020 miles and takes 14 and a quarter hours if you do it in one excruciating pull.  We take a couple of days with a layover in Nashville. 

Note this - before we departed I tanked-up with gas in Manitowoc, fiddled-around Wauwatosa for a couple of days running errands before leaving for the coast.  We did not have to refuel until well-south of Indianapolis.  And even then we still had about a quarter tank to go.  On the highway the Honda is a gas miser. 




Averaging 30+ MPG for the entire trip a full tank of gas allows for about 650 miles of range per fill.  The way I figure it two tanks of gas to make the trip and there's still quite a bit left to spare.

click on images for a closer look

I embrace the mini van.

Friday Music

Lodi California was a small town located in the Central Valley not too far from John Fogerty’s then hometown of Berkley.   Recorded in 1969, it was released by Creedence Clear Water Revival’s album Green River. 

The song has been covered by a pile of artists including Buck Owens, Tom Jones, Emmylou Harris, Amy Ray, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Shawn Colvin and Bo Diddley.   

Lodi – enjoy….

Bosom Bridges

General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge – Interstate 65 – Creola, Alabama.      

click on images for a closer look

 

This bridge is a crossing for a parallel concrete and steel viaduct of concrete span carrying four lanes of Interstate 65 across the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta northeast of the U.S. city of Mobile, Alabama.      

Built from 1978 to 1980, it spans a distance of 6.08 miles (10 km) over the delta, making it, along with the Jubilee Parkway across Mobile Bay to its south, among the longest bridges in the nation.  It was named in honor of Walter K. Wilson, a Chief of Engineers with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and long-term resident of Mobile.  He was credited with being one of the first people recognizing the need to construct a high-level bridge on Interstate 65 over the Mobile River that would not impede waterway development.   The state of Alabama named the bridge in his honor after completion of construction in 1978.       

The bridge has red warning lights atop the parallel support arches which, when combined with the shape of the supporting arches when approached from certain directions, have caused the bridge to gain the nickname "The Dolly Parton Bridge".    -Wikipedia

Deer in the Headlights

Not really - as there are no headlights.  Only deer at twelve feet, with a Moultrie trail camera about a foot above the ground and flash-less, infrared illumination.

click on images to enlarge

 

A handful of shots from a lengthier series of a nervous doe.

Don't let anybody tell you that after the spectacular gun hunt there are no remaining deer here.

Amazing.

Absolutely amazing.....

Nativity Story

The Bible story of the virgin birth is at the center of much of the holiday cheer this time of year. The book of Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus decreed a census should be taken. Mary gave birth after arriving in Bethlehem and placed baby Jesus in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.       

Some people think Mary and Joseph were mistreated by a greedy innkeeper, who only cared about profits and decided the couple was not worth his normal accommodations. This version of the story (narrative) has been repeated many times in plays, skits, and sermons. It fits an anti-capitalist mentality that paints business owners as greedy, or even evil.         

It persists even though the Bible records no complaints and there was apparently no charge for the stable. It may be the stable was the only place available. Bethlehem was over-crowded with people forced to return to their ancestral home for a census – ordered by the Romans – for the purpose of levying taxes. If there was a problem, it was due to unintended consequences of government policy. In this narrative, the government caused the problem.          

The innkeeper was generous to a fault – a hero even. He was over-booked, but he charitably offered his stable, a facility he built with unknowing foresight. The innkeeper was willing and able to offer this facility even as government officials, who ordered and administered the census, slept in their own beds with little care for the well-being of those who had to travel regardless of their difficult life circumstances.         

If you must find "evil" in either of these narratives, remember that evil is ultimately perpetrated by individuals, not the institutions in which they operate. And this is why it's important to favor economic and political systems that limit the use and abuse of power over others. In the story of baby Jesus, a government law that requires innkeepers to always have extra rooms, or to take in anyone who asks, would "fix" the problem.         

But these laws would also have unintended consequences. Fewer investors would back hotels because the cost of the regulations would reduce returns on investment. A hotel big enough to handle the rare census would be way too big in normal times. Even a bed and breakfast would face the potential of being sued. There would be fewer hotel rooms, prices would rise, and innkeepers would once again be called greedy. And if history is our guide, government would chastise them for price-gouging and then try to regulate prices.

This does not mean free markets are perfect or create utopia; they aren't and they don't. But businesses can't force you to buy a service or product. You have a choice – even if it's not exactly what you want. And good business people try to make you happy in creative and industrious ways.         

Government doesn't always care. In fact, if you happen to live in North Korea or Cuba, and are not happy about the way things are going, you can't leave. And just in case you try, armed guards will help you think things through.         

This is why the Framers of the US Constitution made sure there were "checks and balances" in our system of government. These checks and balances don't always lead to good outcomes; we can think of many times when some wanted to ignore these safeguards. But, over time, the checks and balances help prevent the kinds of despotism we've seen develop elsewhere.         

Neither free market capitalism, nor the checks and balances of the Constitution are the equivalent of having a true Savior. But they should give us all hope that the future will be brighter than many seem to think.

Credit - First Trust Advisors

Merry Christmas

click on the fireplug for a closer look

 

The staff here at The Platz would like to extend their best wishes for a blessed Christmas holiday and may you find another new chew toy in your stocking...

Ode to a Fir Tree

Originally a traditional German folk song this tune had little if anything to do with Christmas - or describe a decorated Christmas tree.  The original lyrics had everything to do with a fir tree’s evergreen quality as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness.  You see, a Tannenbaum is a fir tree.  

The folk song eventually became associated with the celebration of Christmas when Ernst Anschütz added two additional verses of his own to the traditional verse in 1824.  The custom of the Christmas tree developed in the course of the 19th century and with Anschütz’s changes the song came to be seen as a Christmas carol early in the 20^th century.

Merry Christmas..... 

Christmas is for the Birds

Even the resident songbirds have gotten into the Christmas spirit...

Cold Full Moon

DNR.WI.Gov

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, gave a luster of midday to objects below.  When what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer.

-- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Clement Clarke Moore          

 

If you have clear skies this evening you won’t want to miss it - the last full moon of this year is tonight.  According to the Old Farmer's Almanac this is also known as a Cold Full Moon.  Native Americans know this as the Big Spirit Moon.  The ancient Celts called it a wolf moon.

 

Because this moon appears immediately following the winter solstice it is sometimes referred to as the Full Long Nights Moon.  If you live in the northern hemisphere - in December the full moon makes its highest arc across the sky.  This is because it is diametrically opposite to the sun which is at it's lowest arc.

 

Read more about this astronomical phenomenon here.

Winter Solstice

Today the sun is exactly over the Tropic of Capricorn – it is the winter solstice.  4:23 PM to be precise.    

For those of us living in the northern hemisphere the winter solstice is characterized by the longest night of the year - which also means that more light will follow in the days and weeks that follow.    

Because the sun is at its lowest in the sky – today is the one day you will want to go out and see your shadow.  Your noontime shadow on the solstice is the longest it will be all year.  And just because you see your shadow doesn't necessarily mean six more weeks of winter.

The word solstice comes from the Latin - solstitium - which translates to: point at which the sun stands still. It was the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who advanced the notion that the earth revolved around the sun.  Until then it was accepted fact that all of the celestial bodies revolved around the earth.  Nick Copernicus really rattled the religious and scientific worlds with this fact.  This took real balls because it was branded as fake news of that time.  They might have locked him up. 

Raising a toast to a true Renaissance Man.  

Cheers!

 

Friday Music

We interrupt your holiday for some irreverent holiday caroling.....

The Cost Of Christmas Has Increased

Your 2018 Christmas tree might leave your wallet a bit thinner than usual.   That's because a national shortage of trees has caused a spike in the price of your Tannenbaum. 

The shortage mostly stems from the Great Recession in 2008 – a time when consumers curtailed their spending as a consequence of the financial crisis and tree growers responded by planting fewer trees to sell.    This is perfectly logical - to me at least.  Since a tree can take up to 10 years to mature - replenishing the trees in the pipeline can easily take a decade. 

Complicating things further are two additional factors.  Wildfires and hurricanes have resulted in inventory losses for growers and the number of Christmas tree farmers has been steadily declining.  According to ABC News, the number of licensed growers in the state of Oregon (the nation’s #1 producer of Christmas trees) has fallen from 699 in 2010 to 392 in 2017. 

You can learn more about this phenomenon here…..

Owl Irruption

Photo - WI DNR

Keep a sharp eye out as Snowy Owls are being reported in the upper Midwest and great lakes states in what has been called unusual numbers for November and December.   Concentrations of them appear to be along the Lake Michigan coastline.      

This is a large bird (3 to 6 pounds) sporting bright white plumage, large yellow eyes and larger feathered talons.  Home territory to this bird is the treeless tundra above the Arctic Circle. And while small numbers may visit Wisconsin from time to time periodically large numbers will show-up in an event called an owl ‘irruption’.        

These owls hunt during daylight hours and will roost on almost anything. They like flat open land (it’s what they know), sometimes sitting on the ground, but more often on hay bales, fence posts, telephone posts, rock piles, muskrat houses, tree snags, silos, and other structures.  Snowy Owls will dine upon almost any live thing that moves - voles, mice, lemmings, waterfowl, rabbits, muskrats, weasels, and pigeons. Other bird species are taken as well.       

What is the cause of these irruptions?  It is hypothesized that a temporary abundance of lemmings allows the owls to successfully raise large families, and then these young owls disperse southward by the hundreds to avoid competition with older birds for winter territories.      

Because these birds are not accustomed to seeing humans they will appear fearless in your presence.  As a consequence approach them with caution and observe them at a distance.  Do not flush them.  Enjoy the rare sighting of this beautiful bird.      

You can receive email alerts whenever sightings of Snowy Owls (for the past week) are entered into eBird anywhere in the Lower 48.  Learn more about subscribing here.

 

Only In Wisconsin

From outside a veterinary clinic in Eagle River.



Only in Wisconsin....

On This Day

Today marks the death of violin maker Antonio Stradivari (1737), New Jersey is admitted to the union as the third state ( 1787), the British seized Fort Niagara in the War of 1812 (1813) and the 13th amendment was ratified - abolishing slavery.

Life At The North Pole

click on image for a closer look

 

In case you're wondering you can find Mr. and Mrs. Claus' 3-bedroom, 2-bath, log home on Zillow. Included are all of the updates which impact the Zestimate® home value.  

The cozy cabin, is a toy-lover’s paradise nestled on 25 idyllic acres. The property includes Santa’s main living quarters, a community of elf tiny homes, a state-of-the-art toy-making facility, garage with space for an all-weather sleigh and stables that board eight live-in reindeer, plus a bonus stall for red-nosed company. 

You can learn more about the Elf Village here.

Bière Brune d'hiver

N’Ice CHOUFFE – Limited Edition – brewed only once each winter by brasserie d’Achouffe in the heart of the Ardennes forest of Belgium. 

Bière Brune d'hiver.  

Joyeux Noël!

Grabbing the Nobble

This is rather funny - in a juvenile sort of way. 

Might also make a terrific squirrel deterrent.

Thanks BBC.....

Real Estate is Relative

According to Zillow the median home value in San Mateo California is $1,487,900 - overtaking San Francisco in 2018. 

San Mateo home values have gone up 14.7% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 7.3% within the next year.  That places the median list price per square foot in San Mateo at $913. The median price of a home currently listed for sale in San Mateo is $1,400,000 while the median price of a homes that is sold is $1,360,600.

The median rent price in San Mateo is $4,000, which is higher than the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward Metro median of $3,324. 

If you’re a simple Midwesterner like me these are numbers that boggle the mind.  Yet, here’s the proof.  It's the real deal.  Courtesy of a reader.  Not making it up...    

click on the listing for a closer look

 

That house in Sturgeon Bay would likely list for $100,000 - give or take.  It hardly has a yard and it doesn’t have a basement.

Location, location, location...

Friday Music

Nebraskans Zager and Evans were a US rock-pop duo of the late 1960s and early 1970s named after its two members, Denny Zager and Rick Evans.  They are best known for their 1969 hit single In the Year 2525, and the fact that they never had another national hit record.   

Composed by Evans - this song was prescient – warning of the dangers of technology and a future where the human race was destroyed by its own technological and medical innovations.  The last stanza of the song suggests mankind undergoes a continuing cycle of birth, death and rebirth. 

You can learn more here – otherwise this is a nicely done cover of the original….

Survivor

This dandy buck has made it thru both the bow and gun season. 

Unless a neighboring bow hunter kills this guy before the season closes, and presuming he doesn't get clobbered by a car or truck he could be a dandier (is their such a word?) buck by the fall of 2019. 

By then I will have been retired for a half-year and will have more free time to stalk a creature of such grandeur. 

Maybe the girls will find one or both of his antlers this winter when we go out in the snow antler hunting.  And maybe he'll show-up on the cameras between now and then and we'll watch his new headgear grow and develop.  Maybe we can observe him creating a scrape.  For now he's most certainly spreading his genes among the local ladies.

One buck whitetail - multiple recreational opportunities.

More Than a Century of Counting Birds

There is a first time for everything and this year we’re joining with close to 80,000 (give or take) experienced bird-watchers and amateur volunteers across the western hemisphere who are participating in the longest-running citizen science survey of all time.  It is the Audubon 119th Christmas Bird Count. 

Conducted between Friday, December 14, 2018 through Saturday, January 5, 2019 - the data collected in this count assists ornithologists assess the fluctuation, range and movement of bird populations across the continent.  This information allows them to better understand how bird species are faring and tailor locations for conservation efforts.   

click on the locator for a better look

 

“It’s never been easier to be a citizen scientist and it’s never been more important to be one,” said David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, in a news release. “Birds and the people who watch them are noticing changes. Using the data gathered by more than a century of Christmas Bird Counts, Audubon will keep protecting birds and the places they need. I’m incredibly proud of the volunteers that contribute to this tradition.” 

The 2017 count included 76,987 observers tallying over 59 million birds belonging to 2,673 species.  A troubling finding from the 2017 count was the continued decline of the northern bobwhite - the only native quail in the eastern United States.   

You can learn more at the Christmas Bird Count at Audubon's website.

Snapshot Wisconsin

The scientific name for the coyote is Canis latrans - translation: barking dog. 

A diurnal or crepuscular creature (namely active during daylight hours or at dawn and dusk) coyotes that reside in closer proximity to humans tend to be more nocturnal.  Unless they become habituated to our presence wild coyotes will make every attempt to steer clear of people. 

click on image for a closer look

This handsome animal was photographed by a DNR Snapshot Wisconsin trail camera at 5:45 AM on December 5^th.   Third upload of batch photos completed.

Sunset

At the close of last month I relocated one of the trail cameras from it's north-facing position perpendicular to a mowed trail to a location maybe 30 to 40 yards to the west.  It is on the north side of Silver Creek directly on a game trail meandering thru heavy brush.  I positioned the camera in such a fashion that it is about a foot from the ground, tilted-up a couple of degrees and pointed southwest to cover the trail head-on.  

It's working out rather nicely producing plenty of photos of bucks, does, fawns and recently a coyote.  There was even a photo of a deer with its ear shorn-off and hanging by a thread.  Yeesh!

At the time I was strapping the camera to the tree the thought crossed my mind that with the approach of the winter solstice it might just capture some interesting sunset photos with Old Sol settling deep on the southwest horizon.  Sure as shoot'n - on the late afternoons of the 7th, 8th and 9th of this month the skies cleared and the camera captured a series of sunset images on all three days.  The best of the batch are these taken on Saturday the 8th of December.  Time lapse format.....

click on the images to enlarge

Bedtime

I do not recall ever having a trail camera record a picture like this one.  

A whitetail bedding-down for a spell.   

click on the image for a better look

 

I find their beds all the time when scouting in the brush - a carefully matted-down depression in the taller grasses or a hollowed-bowl melted into the snow. 

Whitetail deer like to sleep in locations where they feel secure. Typically, where they have the wind at their back to smell danger and can see potential danger in front of them – a place that offers good cover.  A deer is quite vulnerable while they sleep if it were not for the sensitive sniffer and always swiveling ears.  Deer know what is happening around them at all times and if they smell or hear something out of place with the normal rhythms of their surroundings they will bolt and skedaddle.  In the wintertime deer prefer to bed amongst the thermal cover provided by dense stands of pines.  

Deer also prefer to bed near water and food sources.  Sometimes they sleep solo.  Sometimes they bed-down in groups.  Because they are creatures of habit if they find an optimal location it is not unusual for several return visits. 

Sleep is usually five to ten minutes in length - as in the case of the series of photos this camera captured.  Some trail camera surveillance supports the notion of up to twenty minutes of sleep.  The whitetail sleep cycle is not at all unlike that of the whitetail deer hunter – dozing-off for a few minutes and snapping to attention. 

Consider this too; bedded deer might not be dozing at all.  They might just be hanging out for a siesta to chewing their cud.