Chopper!

The girls and I were chilling on the porch having a beer when my spider sense started to tingle.   Yeah, I know I’m weird but I have the ability to sense or feel the vibrations of an approaching helicopter before the audible sound announces its arrival.  It is the only Super Hero Power I possess and of little use for anything except blogging about it.  It simply doesn't account for much.  Yet there was no mistaking the tingling - there was a chopper out to the southwest and it was incoming!   

I had enough foreboding warning to not only catch a screen grab of the Flight Radar track but I was able to photo the chopper (as it predictably) flew over the house. 

click on images for a closer look

 

When Eagle III air rescue makes a run to fetch someone further up the peninsula that happens to be in a really bad way the outward-bound flight path is almost always directly over our house.  I tell Jill we are a navigation point – she will tell you that it is all coincidence.  The return flight track will vary depending-upon returning a patient to Green Bay or Appleton.   In this instance the outbound action occurred just before 4 PM and the chopper returned (predictably over the house) in the direction of Green Bay just after 5 PM.  Hope things turn out OK.   

In case you are wondering about why anybody needs a chopper rescue around these parts it’s a not so very small matter of distance and the availability of medical services in rural America.  High level trauma and medical treatment is centralized in the major population centers such as Green Bay and the Fox Valley – a potentially multi-hour trip one-way by highway-bound ambulance if you suffered a serious farm machinery accident further up the peninsula. 

I sure hope that I never need to utilize the air ambulance service but it’s comforting to know that if you have a serious accident or medical event someone can guide that chopper into an adjacent field and airlift you to medical attention, fast! 

You can learn a whole lot more about Eagle III county rescue and air ambulance services here. 

Channeling Walter “Radar" O’Reilly……..

Edit to add:

Same date - 6:28 PM - Eagle III making another run - predictably directly overhead.

Pushing the Edge of the Retort Envelope

I was in the cellar puttering in the bunker last week  and came across two cardboard  cases of MREs.  A treasure trove of twenty-four individual Meals Ready to Eat – resting in their retort packaging and assembled into individually-packed reheatable meals with all of the accoutrements. 

I don't want any of my readers to think that I am some sort of survivalist or prepper personality.  I just like to "Be Prepared".  Boy Scout Motto after-all.  In any event I haven't experienced a food-deficient event in the passing dozen years since I left these cases in my bunker.  Truthfully, I have even more food when you add-up what is in the pantry four freezers and all of the shelf-stable home-canned garden goodness I've processed.  Less likely a prepper and more likely a disorganized accumulator. But I digress.

MRE packages don't have an expiration date stamped on them in the sense of a day, month, and year.  Instead they have a manufacture date.  As a consequence, unless the seal is broken on the packaging, MREs can last for about five years beyond their date of manufacture but they may lose taste and nutritional value after long periods of time. 

On each box I had scribbled in permanent marker:  Expires 2012-2014. Sure, I know that is ambiguous, nevertheless these meals are definitely past their factory expiration date - possibly by seven years.   Nevertheless, MREs can last for a long period of time and remain toothsome if stored under the proper conditions.  These have been stored in a cool, dry and very dark place.  They might not only be edible they may actually be wholesome and tasty.  That is not to imply that this is some sort of zombie food - but it has a long self-life under ideal circumstances. 

Freeze-dried food will last for 30+ years but this stuff is Ready-To-Eat.   I’ve researched on the internet people eating MREs much older than these – including rations going back to the Gulf Wars, Vietnam, Korea and WWII.  Once you get back to anything predating the 1980s food that is not freeze-dried and vacuum-sealed can become pretty sketchy.  But I’ve not read of anybody actually being poisoned by this stuff – at least on the internet.  

I opened the meal packaging and found this.... 

Closer Look?  Click on the Image

 

Chicken noodle stew with vegetables, applesauce, enriched orange-flavored drink (vitamin C added), nut raisin mix, oatmeal cookie, flameless ration heater and accessory pack. 

Nothing is bloated, swollen or leaking.  After thinking about it for a week I think I’m going to eat it.   

And see what happens.

Stay-tuned.....

 

It's Nice to be Nice to the Nice

Hard to discern from the signage if this points to an estate sale, rummage sale, farm auction, yard sale, sheriffs sale or whatever.  It does not advertise an excellent, superb, fine, outstanding, mediocre, large or small sale - only that it is a 'Nice Sale'.

Four miles is too much of a detour and I had errands to run.....

Plumbing

Credit to my pal - Six Deuce.

Out with the old ....

In with the new....

Better living thru efficient circulation of your effluent thru your POWTS......

Friday Music

There’s plenty of fun stuff to take-in on the peninsula during the busy months of summer including summer concerts at various locations. 

Karla Bonoff is a singer, songwriter and composer known principally for her writing of hit songs for others - including Wynonna Judd, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt.  Last Sunday we met-up with some friends for dinner at Glacier Ledge to be followed by a concert by this performer at the Peg Egan Sunset Performing Arts Center in Egg Harbor. 

The threat of rain chased everyone indoors to Calvary Methodist Church.  We snared front row seats in the choir loft .  Good thing as limited seating meant many were turned away.  (Free concert).  Sound and acoustics were rather nice.

From another venue- here's a sample of what we heard.  Actually the last number of a two hour performance.....

Tweet of the Absurd

I feel sorry for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell – and on those days Donald Trump performs an unscheduled brain-dump of his manifest ignorance of all things economic I feel particularly sympathetic.  It is obvious to me that Trump is beginning to become fidgety and a wee bit nervous about his one-size-fits-all policy of trade tariffs.  And as a consequence he has been listening to the whisperings of others about the economy possibly beginning to slow this year and into election year 2020.   Sadly, Mr. Trump is caving to the uninformed chatter of the media (mainstream and otherwise) because he is uninformed and weak of economic will.  He watches too much cable television.
 

In predictably Trump form and style he is cowardly laying the ground work for someone to blame for his ham-fisted tax and trade policies if things go south.  Never one to accept personal responsibility for anything - Donald Trump is lining-up a fall guy.    
 

To my readers I would suggest that the Fed has done exactly what a central bank is expected to do in times of strong growth and high employment – raise interest rates to create room to act in a future slowdown.  I haven’t been retired long enough to forget this simple lesson. 

Duh.   
 

Moreover, I think that as most pusillanimous people do Mr. Trump is premature in his evasions.  Is the economy at the precipice of a recession?  I think not.  With a federal funds rate at 2.375 and $1.4 trillion of excess reserves in the system a recession would be a low probability event and a rate cut hardly warranted.  At this point in time the economy is bullet-proof.  Of course, my information comes from reading, rereading and digesting information and data much longer than ten second sound-bites that are read to me.

Seriously, if you can borrow at less than 2.5% is that going to dissuade you from business investment? 

Duh. 

This is what ten second cable sound-bites has wrought.  And as a consequence, Donald Trump will change his tune whenever winds blow the other way.  And, of-course, his followers, believers, adherents, apologists and minions of any intelligence quotient will twist themselves into pretzels to rationalize his nonsense.  It has really become quite absurd.

It’s not your father’s Chamber of Commerce GOP any longer. 

All aboard the Trump Train….
 

Blondes Do Have More Fun

Sometimes you need the spontaneity of a motion-activated camera to capture the sheer joy on the face of a dog out for a run in the woods.

Her Highness is most-definitely having a good time....

What - More Blooms?

Meet Cornus Stolonifera – Red-osier Dogwood – also known as red-twig dogwood and kinnikinnik.  It grows everywhere around here as individual shrubs or thickets.  It typically has multiple stems and this time of year sports clusters of white flowers that will lead to fruit in late summer.     

click on images for a closer look

 

The common name for this shrub comes from the red twigs that resemble osier willows that are used in basketry.  The Latin name comes from the rooting of branch tips the reach to the ground to form new shoots or stolons.    

This shrub was important to Native Americans for its use as a tobacco substitute or kinnikinnik.  The inner bark of young stems was split and scraped into threads and toasted over a fire before being mixed with real tobacco.  Edible plant enthusiast H.D. Harrington wrote that Red-osier - is said to be aromatic and pungent, giving a narcotic effect approaching stupefaction.  He cautioned that it should be used in moderation.    

For as long as anyone can remember people have used this shrub for basketry, wicker, farm implements, and weaving shuttles.  The word - dogwood - comes from the Scandinavian term “dag” meaning skewer (for the hardened sticks used to roast meat). And while this shrub has nothing to do with our canine friends it is always worth remembering that you can always tell that it is a dogwood by its bark. ….

More Blooms

It would seem that the blooming around here is non-stop.  Hardly a day goes by without something else to brighten the day, turn your eye or provide sustenance for the pollinators.

This week it has been Jill's iris - in shades of violet, blue and yellow-white.

Not only are these a feast for the eyes but the bumble bees are going nuts over them.



Just click on an image if you fancy a closer look

The Garden Chronicles

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update on the garden and the first thing I have to report is that the last two weeks continued with rain and colder than normal temperatures.  I've burned more firewood stoking the woodstove than calories working in the garden.  Nevertheless, Jill says that the coming week should have nice, hot temperatures on tap.  And with some rain tonight that spells good news for the red and golden beets, carrots, green beans and spinach that I had to replant as a consequence of suboptimal germination. 

That's not to imply that the garden is a failure - think of it as the same challenge it always is.  Some things fail miserably, something perform spectacularly and most everything muddles-along as expected.  Each year brings a new experiment and another surprise.  So, here are some photos from yesterday.  Drumroll please....

Broccoli look real good.  No, it hasn't been incarcerated - it is  caged to keep the bunnies from munching on it.

Click on any image for a closer look 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






Four pepper plants - three kinds of peppers - fruit is already beginning to form.  They'll be staked-up before too long.

Blue Lake #274 - bush-style green snap beans.  A favorite of this family including the Labs.  About half of the first planting germinated so the empty spots were replanted.  A follow-up row will go in in a couple of weeks.

I planted two hills of Kakai hull-less seed pumpkins.  Last year three to four successive plantings failed and I finally got two plants and half-dozen gourds. 

Check this out.  This year both hills had 90% plus germination.  I actually have to thin the plants. 

Wow!

From right to left - English peas followed by radishes in the first row.  Second row to the left are German butterball spuds.  Third row to the left are Stuttgarter yellow onions.  Yum!

Four kinds of lettuce are coming in rather nicely.

Four short rows of sweet corn are up and growing.  We'll see about the marauding raccoons.

Fourteen tomato plants are in and waiting their trellises. 

The whole shebang

And Jill and I split the first cherry tomato of 2019.  It was stunningly delicious.

Vive le jardin magnifique!

Grilling

My pal Christine, and former WauwatosaNOW blogger, posted something on FB earlier today that had to do about the best burger bun and how she preferred a hard roll for a grilled burger.  To whit I would agree with her observation.  Presuming, of-course, that said hard roll should not be so chewy that the diner should have to hold it in a death grip and tear-into it to take a bite.  Alas, many of the television cooking gurus seem to suggest the use of a potato roll for a burger - which is much too bland for this griller's tastes.  The discussion eventually led to a childhood German bakery long closed and where to find their hard roll recipe.  Long story short, the recipe lives-on in the interweb but there is no German baker to make them en-mass.  Bottom line is a good hard roll is hard to come by.

Nevertheless, the local family grocer in Brussels bakes their own Kaiser rolls daily and during the tourist season if you strike early you can snare a half-dozen from their bakery.  While technically not a hard roll by my definition they do sport a nicely-baked crust, are soft enough to hold a charcoal toasting and hold together under the challenge of a third-pound burger and its toppings.  Moreover, you can purchase a ground chuck burger from behind the glass case in any number you choose and a friendly local butcher will wrap them carefully in white butcher paper.  Old school style.

Behold the result - a Marchant's burger and bun.  Homemade dill pickle, ketchup, mustard, sautéed garden onion and American cheese for good measure.

Thanks for the inspiration, Chris...

Flyover

Jill was out back gardening the other day and something caught her eye.

Flying low and straight for her she initially thought it was an unmanned aerial vehicle - a drone.  And it was heading straight for her - and fast!

She had the presence of mind to grab her phone when she positively identified one of the resident bald eagles performing a flyover.

click on the image for a closer look

Very cool...

Quitting Time

 

Classic Wisconsin lager with superb drinkability. 

 

Capital Brewery - Middleton, WI.   

 

Truth in labeling - ‘Not Bad’    

 

Fresh-picked garden radishes, ice-cold with cracked sea salt.       

 

Blonde Lab optional.

Friday Music

French composer, pianist and conductor Joseph Maurice Ravel is regarded as France's greatest composer.  He was a master of orchestration and took great pains to tediously study each instrument to determine its potential before using it to maximum effect. 

Boléro is a one-movement piece originally commissioned and composed as a ballet for the Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein.  Its debut was in 1928 at the Paris Opera and is considered Ravel's greatest composition.  I happen to appreciate the Spanish and Arabic influence found in the composition.

Nicely performed by the Spanish orchestra Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia.  Bonus is Dvořák's: Danza eslava n° 8 - a Slavic dance number – at the twenty minute mark. 

Enjoy….
 

Summer Solstice

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice here in the northern hemisphere which means that on Friday we receive more sunlight than any other day of the year.  Naturally, you would conclude that this date would have the earliest sunrise and latest sunset, no?  

Don't jump to conclusions.  Even though the solstice has the greatest amount of daylight - the earliest sunrise occurs before the solstice and the latest sunset falls afterward.  The occurrence of those events is dependent upon how far you are from the equator – a function of the tilt of the Earth on its axis.  

Here is an interesting factoid – I went to the US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department and looked-up the Sunrise and Sunset times for The Platz before, during and after the solstice. 

June 17 Sunrise 5:04 Am Sunset 8:37 PM

June 18 Sunrise 5:04 AM Sunset 8:38 PM

June 19 Sunrise 5:04 AM Sunset 8:38 PM

June 20 Sunrise 5:04 AM Sunset 8:38 PM

June 21 Sunrise 5:05 AM Sunset 8:39 PM

June 22 Sunrise 5:05 AM Sunset 8:39 PM

June 23 Sunrise 5:05 AM Sunset 8:39 PM

June 24 Sunrise 5:05 AM Sunset 8:39 PM

June 25 Sunrise 5:06 AM Sunset 8:39 PM

Notice that the three dates following the solstice have the same sunrise and sunset times.  And that the three  dates preceding the solstice have the same amount of daylight.  The implication is that the solstice lasts a week. 

 

What's the explanation?  Does it have something to do with our location being almost equidistant from the North Pole and Equator?  Or is it a consequence of rounding the precise times?  I think it is the latter rather than the former.

 

Nonetheless, any difference is the amount of daylight will not be discernable to this old guy’s eyes.

Dispatch From The Snapshot Wisconsin Camera

From the Wisconsin DNR Snapshot Wisconsin game camera there is this series of three burst trail camera photos of a doe and her fawn.  And a teachable moment along with basic study of the best survival mechanisms honed to perfection by the whitetail deer.  Principal among them are the whitetail’s sense of sight, hearing, and smell to avoid potential predators. 

Regardless of the size of those big brown eyes - eyesight is the sense that deer least depend-upon.  The keen deer eye is better at detecting movement than a concealed threat.  Take it from a hunter who knows when to freeze and sit tight. 

click on images for a closer look

 

The most reliable sense a deer possesses is smell. They have a nose that can distinguish danger from hundreds of yards away.  And if you look carefully at the photos you will note that mama has opened her mouth and exposed all of her olfactory powers to the detection of a potential threat.   

Lastly, never underestimate a deer's strong ability to hear.  If you further examine the photos you will note that even though mama is motionless - as her fawn advances - her ears swivel like radar antennae from front, to side to aft.  

Amazing senses has the whitetail deer.

Photos - June 16, 2019

Sunset

View north.  

Cloud mountain and poofs over Green Bay.

Almost missed it....

Woodland Redhead

This handsome mammal has been showing-up regularly on the trail cameras so the habitat around here must be sufficiently stocked with food and cover since just one of these critters has a home range of up  to fifty acres. 

click on image for a closer look

 

Meet Sciurus niger - the Eastern Fox Squirrel - the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America.  

At first blush you might guess this to be a Red Squirrel.  Fox squirrels are the larger of the two and have rusty brown fur with a pale yellow to orange belly.  Lacking in this photo is the Red Squirrel's distinctive bright white belly and more pronounced white rings around the eyes.  The rusty coloring and large bushy tail are reminiscent of a fox - implying this is a Fox Squirrel. 

The bright orange pelt of this animal and it's loud, scolding call make it an easier visual and audible identification.  Unlike the Eastern Gray Squirrel this species has a wider home range and spends more time on the ground foraging.  They return with their food to a preferred dining location.  If you happen-upon a debris midden of corn cobs and split nutshells you will have found ‘that spot’. 

Quitting Time

Worked a couple of gardens today.

This old field hand is pooped.

Time for a frosty Czech Pils on the porch with the girls.

Pilsner Urquell is a Czech lager brewed by the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Plzeň, Czech Republic. Pilsner Urquell was the world’s first pale lager - 1842.
Cheers!

Grilling

Last year the hot tub was disconnected and went away.  This year I determined that the concrete slab were it had previously been associated would best be repurposed as a patio and grilling platform.  Its placement on the north side of the screen porch with a commanding view of the late afternoon sun, cocktail ambiance and easy access to the house thru one door made it a suitable location for grilling. The problem was that all of my grilling accoutrements were stored in the garage.  Charcoal, utensils, lighter chimney, side board and more were all stored on a couple of shelves with the automobiles and were not particularly accessible for ease of access, hosting a party and efficient grilling.  What was the solution?  A deck box.  On sale at Fleet Farm. A Suncast 72 gal Wicker Deck Box. 

Apparently these plastic boxes are kept on a deck for storing chair and lounge cushions and other items useful for entertaining on a deck.  They're not load-bearing so you cannot pick them-up and move them when filled with heavy contents.  Nevertheless, I figured I perfect for storing all of my grilling apparatus and more.  It was basically critter-proof, weather resistant and could live outdoors within arms-length of any of the grills.

After using it for a month and all of the stuff it held (and more) my repurposing idea took hold and was reinforced.  The deck box made grilling much easier. 

Nevertheless, I began to think ahead to winter.  With the arrival of snow grilling does not take a vacation.  The deeper the snows the tougher the going.  And when the going gets tough - the tough get grilling. I figured if I could get that deck box above the surface of the concrete it could ride-out the snows.  If Jill and I moved it to the shelter of the covered porch during the worst of times - better yet.  Furthermore, raising it a foot and a half saved some bending and stooping.  The solution would be sublime.

So, the other day I fished-around in the scrap lumber stored in the barn for materials. 

Leftover deer stand parts are perfect.  Fetching power tools from the workshop, tape measure, square, pencil and assorted deck screws I pieced-together a stand for the deck box. 

Admittedly, it is over-engineered but what else is new around here.  Robust is best.  I figure it will outlast the cheap plastic deck box and can easily be surfaced as a table for a Smokey Joe grill.  Waste not = want not.

It holds everything I need with plenty of room for more. 

That evening I grilled baby reds and a whole chicken on the throne.

click on images to enlarge

Everything was convenient and worked smoothly. 

It was sublime.....

Fungus Among Us

The other day Jill brought this to my attention.       

Black spots on the leaves of a soft maple tree. 

I did a bit of interweb self-diagnosis and learned that there are a multiple number of causes of black spots forming on the leaves of any number of tree species.  And while most are caused by fungi they all had different names, were caused by different fungi and some were benign and a few were bad news.    

So I send a couple of photos along with a description to a retired forester pal of mine and he confirmed that as I suspected it was a consequence of the very wet spring we had. It is called Anthracnose.  (Nice word of the day). 

Anthracnose is a common fungal disease that affects shade trees and results in leaf spots, cupping or curling of leaves and early leaf drop.  As a general rule it is more common in cool, wet spring weather.  It is largely a cosmetic affliction and not a significant threat to the health of the tree.  Moreover, I don’t have to treat it as the tree is otherwise perfectly healthy.  

You can learn more about anthracnose here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Horticultural Extension.

Early Bloomers Aren't Stopping

click on the image for a closer look

Meet Anemone Canadensis – the Canada Anemone.  Sometimes called Meadow Anemone or Thimbleweed this is a native perennial found in wet meadows and prairies.  A member of the buttercup family we found a rather large expanse of it blooming along Silver Creek while out for a walk.  Colonies such as this are explained by its propagation by means of underground rhizomes.  It is differentiated from the Wood Anemone by the yellow center of the flower and wedge-shaped lobes of the leaves.   

Native nurseries sell root cuttings of this plant to gardeners looking for a sturdy, perennial groundcover.  Sales include the admonition that under the proper conditions this very adaptable plant can become quite aggressive – crowding-out other species.  What is found here wasn’t purchased or planted – it is naturally occurring.  And it sure is a welcome source of food for the early spring pollinators.