School Lunch

I have fond memories of school lunch from my childhood.  Or 'Hot Lunch' as it was termed back then.  Which also happened to be a bit of a treat for a kid that toted a lunch pail to school almost every day.  Once and a while mom would relent and give me a quarter with which to purchase a hot school lunch.  My recollection is that the lasagna was excellent.  Same for the mock chicken legs served with mashed potatoes and gravy and whole kernel corn.  Prunes and sauerkraut not so much - although I have outgrown those biases with age.  Pizza day was a slam-dunk and you could always count on the bakery to be baked fresh daily by the lunch ladies.  The smell was torture for the classrooms close to the multi-purpose room.

In any event, I’ve been plowing my way thru Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown on Netflix recently and was absolutely tickled by his visit to an elementary school in Lyon, France. 

Schools in France serve real food so as to nurture an appreciation for good food and fine cooking in growing minds and bodies.  Food is a terrific way to win hearts and minds I suppose.  It’s an interesting cultural difference between here and there.  Another difference is they can do it for a lower cost per meal between here and there. 

Enjoy these clips….

 

 

Word of the Day

Leiomyoma

Also known as fibroids - a benign smooth muscle tumor that very rarely becomes cancer (0.1%).

Cuteness of the Day

Cuteness fix for a spell.

This photo was taken twenty days ago and retrieved a weekend ago.

Same location - same fawn?

And look at all of those spots......

Friday Music

Originally titled The Sounds of Silence - this song was composed by Paul Simon over a period of months between 1963 and 1964.  It was recorded by Simon and Art Garfunkel and released as a commercial flop in 1964.  As a consequence the duo broke-up with Simon returning to England and Garfunkel to university.  In the spring of 1965 the song began to attract air play leading song producer Tom Wilson to remix the track and re-release it in the fall of 1965.  By January 1, 1966 the song was Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.  The duo reunited and the rest is history.  

In 2004, it was ranked Number 157 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time - one of the Simon and Garfunkel's three tunes appearing on the list. I'm including it in my personal Top Ten.

Enjoy this beautiful acoustical version by the original artists...

The Truth Shall Set You Free

People loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light... lest his works should be exposed. 

-John 3:19-20

Brood Flocks

Lest anybody draw the erroneous conclusion that the resident turkey population is languishing I am taking the liberty of publishing some photos of various brood flocks making the rounds here at The Platz. 

The big takeaway is that the turkey population is flourishing.  Thriving!

The following photos were taken at several locations, three different time periods and judging from the size of the poults (first-born of 2018) these broods hatched at varying intervals and have been raised by different hens. 

Wisconsin wild turkeys mate from February thru April and hens lay between 10-12 eggs during a two week period. Continuous incubation begins when the last egg is laid. The hen will only leave for a short period to feed and may remain on the nest for several consecutive days and the eggs will be incubated for 26-28 days.  Predators of turkey eggs and poults include snakes, raccoons, skunk, fox, coyote and possum.  If a nest is destroyed or otherwise depredated a hen will make up to two additional attempts at renesting.

Following a successful hatch the day-old poults learn to respond to the hen’s putt or alarm call before leaving the nest and will respond by freezing or running to hide beneath the hen if she sounds the alarm.  Within hours poults learn to peck at food items by mimicking their mother’s behavior. 

By fall, the pecking order (pun intended) among the sibling group has been established and the young flocks are ready to enter the social hierarchy of the larger local population of turkeys.

From September 1 - there is this group - smaller in size suggesting a later hatch or renesting.

click on image for a closer look

 

From September 7 - there is this larger group of larger poults.  Perhaps a collection of several broods?  Amazingly, they loitered at this location for fifty minutes feasting on grasshoppers.

From September 13 - there is this group taking the easy route on the trail I cleared thru the thickest part of the woods.  Again, judging from the number of hens perhaps a collection of several broods.

Given the late spring blizzard that snowed-out most hunter's first season spring turkey draw it is refreshing to see the local population thriving as they are.

It's a welcoming sort of neighborhood around these parts.

Raising a toast to conserving wildlife habitat....

Fall Flowers

The flowers of Gentiana andrewii - Bottle-Gentian - emerge from August thru October.  Found in wetlands and shoreland habitat this plant's blooms are characterized by a compact cluster of large oval closed flowers at the top of an axis of unbranched leafy stem.

Also known as the closed gentian due to the closed flowers.  Nevertheless, bumblebees will force themselves into the flower by means of pushing-apart the petals. 

click on the image for a closer look at the bumble bee

 

If the interweb is to be believed there are about 60 gentian species in North America, with approximately 23 different kinds to be found in the eastern half of the country.  Everything I've read has suggested that the color of this flower should be blue.  Around here the color ranges from pure white, to rose to violet.

Go figure....

Pronghorn

click on image for a closer look at this fork horn buck

 

Pronghorn whitetail buck.

That is all.

Move along - nothing further to see here...

Fall Flowers

The New England Asters are blooming and are showing-off in all of their autumn glory.  The Stiff Goldenrod is warming-up and is soon to be in the on-deck circle.  Things are still happening here at the Butterfly Ranch.

click on images for a closer look

 

Photo above - Cabbage Butterfly upper with a couple of Alfalfa Butterflies below.

Monarch bellying-up to the nectar bar as it prepares to depart for a south of the border vacation.

Quote of the Day

China's now paying us billions of dollars in tariffs and hopefully we'll be able to work something out. 

-Donald Trump    

 
Translation:  Importers pay the tariffs and either eat the extra cost or pass it on to you and me.  China doesn't pay us squat.

The Dowager Retriever

Girlfriend is 89 years of age and still mixing it-up.  

We went out today with her niece (Blonde Dog) to place a hunting blind for next weekend's deer camp opener.  And fetched the SD cards from the five trail cameras patiently maintaining their silent vigil.

Check-out the smile.  This is a happy dog for sure....

Unintended Consequences

In one of life’s great ironies the businesses and homeowners that have to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence are going to find that their insurance companies are going to pay considerably more for lumber, steel, aluminum and other materials because of the Republican tax increases that are part and parcel of Republican protectionist trade policy.  Of course their renewal insurance rates will increase as a consequence of these Republican tax increases. 

Even more insulting is the lot of good people who do not have insurance and/or are least able to afford rebuilding,  They are blue collar, tend to live in lower-lying areas, and are less likely to have insurance.   

They are the Republican base.

Like I've said before - some days I feel like I have stepped thru the looking glass into another world. 

Friday Fish

Post-birthday dinner tonight. 

Pan fried yellow lake perch from Lafonds Fish Market - Kewaunee, WI. 
Homemade slaw and tater tots on the side. 

It’s what’s for dinner.

Cheers!

Friday Music

The first time I published a live cover of this song was in November of 2016 – with Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.  In January of 2017 I published the composer himself performing it live.  You cannot get too much of this tune so it’s about time I did it again.  

Written by country music artist Townes Van Zandt this is often considered his most enduring song - an oldie and a goodie.  First recorded in 1972 for the album – The Late Great Townes Van Zandt - this is a tale of a Mexican bandit called Pancho possibly betrayed by his left-hand man 'Lefty' to the Mexican Federales.  Was it Pancho Villa?  Van Zandt never ruled-out the notion. 

This cover is by Rosanne Cash……

Not So Cute

Yesterday I published a gushingly-cute photo of a spotted fawn gamboling within view of a patient trail camera.  In the interest of laying it on thick the cuteness was so treacly thick that it would even have made Walt Disney blush.

This is not cute.

This fawn was dining on my late season garden vegetables - so in my biggest, loudest, very big scary voice I ordered him out.  Vamoose!

This little one's mama has taught him a great disservice - namely garden raids are accompanied by a stiff penalty.

Capital crime around these parts...

Cuteness of the Day

Here you go.

Fawn on a romp.

Your cuteness fix for awhile...

A Droll Bug Indeed

Meet Diapheromera femorata one of the coolest insects around these parts.  This is a bug that literally looks like a twig or a stick that can walk.   Consequently, it is commonly referred-to as a walking stick bug.  This insect is equipped with possibly the most efficient of natural camouflages on earth.   It and the - equally inconspicuous - leaf insect comprise the Phasmatodea order; of which there are approximately 3,000 species worldwide.   

The name Phasmatodea comes from the Greek term phasma, which means phantom or ghost – a direct reference to this camouflage.   A nocturnal feeder this camouflage keeps the walking stick hidden from predators during daylight hours.  Yet it isn’t their only line of defense. Different species also have thorny spines, or they’ll shed and sacrifice a leg if grabbed by a predator.  Some can even secrete a noxious and putrid-smelling fluid. 
click on the image for a closer look

Walking sticks are herbivores that enjoy dining on the leaves of deciduous trees   With the exception of the southernmost states - where stick bugs are more prevalent - their populations are relatively low in the United States so damage to trees and plants is limited.  

This stick bug on my window screen is 3 ½ inches in length so based-upon its size I have reason to believe that this is a Northern Walking Stick.  You can learn much more about this cool insect by clicking on this link to the UW-Milwaukee Field Station.

Fawn Development

This photo was taken a couple of weeks age and this fawn has put on enough size to be almost as tall as mom.  It has only a few spots remaining from the natural camouflage it was born-with.  If I had to hazard a guess - by the time  you are reading this that fawn will be spotless.

The deer are already beginning their transition from their ruddy red summer coats to the dull, gray-brown coats of fall and winter.

Brood Flock

The local brood flock is still hanging around the location of this trail camera.  And the young'uns are getting bigger all the time.

I wonder where they roost?

Snapshot Wisconsin

Hubba, hubba.  Check this out.

Got chosen, made the cut and was picked to participate in Snapshot Wisconsin. 

Snapshot Wisconsin is a partnership with Wisconsin DNR to monitor wildlife year-round utilizing a statewide network of trail cameras. Data collected by this project will support decisions about wildlife management.  It is also an opportunity for individuals, families, and students to get involved as citizen scientists in monitoring the state’s valuable natural resources.

You can learn more about this program by visiting their FB page here or their blog here.

Friday Music

Composed by Graham Nash when he was a member of the Hollies it first appeared as a studio recording on the 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album Déjà Vu.  The recording also features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar.   The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year. It has long been a favorite of mine and continue to have fond memories of the summer this song became popularized. 

This is a fine cover of the tune by Playing for Change.  Teach Your Children - enjoy… 

Ascension

No photo shopping or editing required for this trail camera photo.  It came with the surreal, heavenly ascension effect built-in.  Perfectly timed with the sunrise and the entrance of a whitetail from stage right.  I almost expected St. Hubert to show-up in the next burst photo.  Sometimes a Moultrie camera finds a gem.  And sometimes nature reminds us of the spiritual side of things.

By the way - St. Hubert is the Patron Saint of Hunters....

The Raven

From the trail camera the dark and dreary bird of yore...

 

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore."

- Edgar Allan Poe

How to Make Tomato Pie

What to do when you have  a tomato avalanche?  Make pie!  And here's a simple recipe using ingredients you probably already having laying-about in your kitchen and freezer.

Start with a frozen pie crust and prick it all over with a fork.  Line the top of the crust with foil - pressing it down and crimping it around the edges.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Reduce the oven to 350, remove the foil and bake and additional 10 minutes until golden brown.  Set aside to cool completely.

click on images to enlarge

 

Take a big pile of cherry tomatoes - red and yellow impart a pleasing result to both the eye and palate - and cut them in halves or quarters depending upon size.  Set aside to drain in a bowl lined with paper towels.  Swap-out the towels periodically until a large portion of the clear juices have been absorbed.

In another bowl whisk-together 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with oregano, basil, fresh cracked pepper and sea salt.  Stir-in the tomatoes and set aside.

Slice some pitted kalamata Greek olives  - maybe a half to 2/3 cup give or take.  Set aside.

Coarsely-grate some cheese.  I used Mexican cheese because that was what I had.  Crumbled goat cheese would be excellent too.  Consider the choice of cheese a personal taste.  Figure on a cup.  Set aside.

Return your olive and spice-infused tomatoes to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain just a bit.

Add your tomatoes to the pie crust and bake uncovered for 14-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Remove and top with the olives followed by the cheese.  Sprinkle some basil over the top and bake for an additional 10 minutes at 400 or until the cheese melts and begins to brown.  Note:  crumbled goat cheese and other cheeses will behave differently.

Remove from the oven and allow to set for about 10 additional minutes and serve.

Jill and I ate the whole dang thing in one sitting.  This was a nice blend of flavors including the tang of the tomatoes, earthiness of the EVO, saltiness of the olives and dairy cheese.

Already thinking of variations to include fresh spinach, baby mozzarella, flat bread, pizza crust and more.

Cheers!

Noteable Quotable

With a booming economy, full employment, a soaring stock market, and record asset values, we should be shrinking the deficit, not growing it.

-Mitt Romney

Deer Population Issues

Consider this post to be evidence of both a blessing and a curse.

If you are a deer hunter this might just be a blessing. 

click on images to enlarge

 

Yup, a doe with five fawns in tail.  For sure this deer did not give birth to quintuplets - and I figure the other moms are close.  We are witnessing an explosion of deer numbers - fawns in particular - as a consequence of excellent forage, good cover and moderate winters.  If you are a deer hunter and the goal is to see a lot of deer this is a blessing.

This trail camera photo was taken at the same location close to the same date - August 23rd.  

The curse is that this is one of the latest-bred fawns I've seen in awhile - clearly after the first of the year.  Mom may very likely be a member of the 2017 fawn cohort.  Like I said - excellent forage, good cover and moderate winters. 

My point is too many deer stress the carrying capacity of the local habitat and the survivability of that fawn has an exceedingly low probability of success.  All of this is a consequence of Governor Walker's One Size - Fits All deer management policy.  Namely manage the resource for high numbers.  It doesn't matter much at all the crop damage that farmers suffer, or lack of natural regeneration in the forest understory, or that early spring brings privation, hunger and death by starvation to yearling deer.  What takes priority is that every hunter should see a deer behind every tree.  Yeah, I know that is a snarky exaggeration but I think you get my drift. 

Perhaps someday the management of big game species like whitetail deer will be taken from the legislature and returned to scientists and biologists.

Not holding my breath....

Contemporary Republican Trade Policy

US agribusiness has worked particularly hard over many years to cultivate overseas export markets.  That’s what farmers do – they plant, nurture, cultivate and reap the harvest.  They make money if they're good at it.  That is how capitalism works.  As a consequence, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, China and others have gleefully purchased soybeans, corn, pork, cheese and more from US producers.  Not so much anymore. 

After the Republican administration raised taxes on imported steel and aluminum our major trading partners responded in-kind with taxes of their own on American-produced agricultural products.    The fallout is that prices of these commodities have dropped like a dead duck shot from the sky and long established US export markets are now placed in great peril.  Hard-working agribusiness in the United States is taking it in the shorts.  And the entire obscenity has been inflicted-upon US farmers and ranchers by Republicans.

Yes, you read that correctly.  A Republican administration did this. 

Sure, the Republicans have characterized this as unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations.  I call BS - a steaming pile of Orwellian doublespeak.  There is no getting around the fact that this was all a Republican idea from the start. The result is that most everything from apple exports, soybeans, pork, cheese, orange juice, sorghum and even whiskey have been impacted.  In only a few short months President Trump and the Republicans have made sizeable gains in their efforts to fray and possibly break trade relationships assiduously-fostered over many years.  The end game to all of this economic genius is that markets previously supplied by US producers may seek suppliers from Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and elsewhere. 

Astonishingly, the answer to this stake in the heart of free trade is that Republican government has decided to use depression era Roosevelt administration legislation to make billions upon billions upon billions of dollars in welfare payments to farmers to assuage their economic loss. 

Yes, you also read that correctly.  The first wave of welfare payments started with applications beginning last Tuesday with a down payment of $12 billion in welfare payments that Republicans will make to producers who have suffered financial loss at the hands of their tax increase.   Don’t take my word for it - I received the email heralding the arrival of the gravy train. 

And because China is the largest foreign purchaser of US Treasuries - in a flash of economic brilliance - the Republican government is going to borrow from China to pay farmers not to sell soybeans to China.  Why would anyone in their right mind sell soybeans to China when you could instead embrace this novel Republican approach thereby setting a new standard for fiscal virtuosity.  In the meantime, orders from China — the number one foreign purchaser of US soybeans — have plunged faster than driving a tractor over a cliff.  Just in case you haven't yet had your fill of this theater of the absurd here is what we know:  

Republicans now believe in central planning
Republicans no longer believe in free markets  
Republicans have cast-off their free trade pedigree 
Republicans instead embrace the picking of winners and losers  
Republicans sold the seed corn to borrow for handouts to their winners
Republicans are no longer the party of Reagan and certainly not your dad's GOP

All of this winning is absolutely exhausting.  Dontcha think?

The Monarch Conundrum

In the Big City there has been the annual staging of the monarch butterfly migration.  The butterflies are on the move for parts south. It is pretty cool and since the city apartment Jill and I keep is immediately adjacent to a roost site a couple of times a year we get to observe the migration action up-close and personal.  If you haven't witnessed it before - it is quite cool. 

There is a very active monarch restoration network working hard in an urban environment to restore habitat and support the migration.  Photos, video and more information about the Friends of the Monarch Trail here. 

Anyone reading this blog also knows that, Jill and I maintain a reasonably large pollinator habitat here at The Platz.  It has been a terrific year for butterflies of all types including the monarchs.  Yet to my eyes there hasn’t been much sign of departures on a migration.   As a matter of fact the comings and goings of the monarch butterflies seemed pretty normal with numbers what we have become accustomed-to over the past few months. 

click on images for a closer look

 

The photos in this post were taken last Sunday and Monday and include at least three stages of monarch development.   

Since none of these insects seemed to be in a rush to beat it out of Dodge I was puzzled by this conundrum.  Was it a consequence of northern latitude? A milder clime on the peninsula?  What gives?  

Talking to some of the people in the Big City I was lead to believe that the monarchs were on their city roosts, departing for parts south and there wasn’t an explanation for anything I observed at latitude halfway between the equator and the pole. 

Pre-emergent - you can see the butterfly within
 
Thursday morning I was chatting with a guy setting-up a tripod and camera to photograph the city monarchs and he didn’t believe a word I was sharing with him.  All the monarchs were in Wauwatosa – wasn’t it obvious to me?  As far as he was concerned I might as well have lived at the North Pole.  I was either nuts or making stuff-up.   

Rescued from the composter and it pupated before my very eyes

 

So were the monarchs observed here on the peninsula too late to the migration dance? What was the backstory?   Curious, I fired-off an email on the subject to the Department of Etymology at UW Madison.  I received a reply yesterday afternoon and learned that the migration is both complicated and nowhere near over.   From the experts was this: 

Hi Tom,    

Thanks for your inquiry about monarch life history. This is a complicated time to sort out generations, life stages, and behaviors because so many things are overlapping. Monarchs that emerge as adults after about the third week in August will migrate, and not reproduce.

However, there are still reproductive monarchs around that emerged earlier, some from the local area and some from farther north. My guess is that you're seeing the immature stages (eggs, larvae and pupae) that are the offspring of the last reproductive monarchs of the season, and that the adults in your garden are a combination of migrants and these late reproducers.   

This weird overlap goes on for about a month; you should stop seeing the immature monarchs in a week or so, but will keep seeing migrants for a month or so (especially since it sounds like you have great habitat for them).  Thanks for all that you're doing to support monarchs and the other species that use their habitat. 

Just emerged and drying-out

 

So, there you have it.  There is overlap and it is complicated.  Raising a toast to science and a few more weeks of monarchs to be enjoyed...