Keeping Score

Up today at the crack of sunrise and as the skies lightened I could see over my cuppa steaming joe that the mailbox at the end of the driveway was no longer standing.

There had been several inches of overnight snow and the ever-efficient highway crew was diligent in keeping the County Road out front safe and clear.

I could visualize the plow picking-up speed on the west bound down-hill run - likely just hitting its stride of 65 to 70 miles per hour by the time it reached the end of the drive.

The mail box stood no chance against the wall of snow shrapnel thrown aside.

There's no mail delivery on Sunday so I took my time and this afternoon set things right for the Monday morning delivery.

 

With more dents and split seams the box is slowly losing capacity to resist the elements.  Nevertheless, I tipped it back in position - slightly further from the road.

Back in business.

Snow Plow 5 - Mailbox 1

 

 

Book Review.

The title of this book is from a diary entry by John Colville about the peculiar beauty of watching bombs fall over London. 

Never was there such a contrast of natural splendor and human vileness. How do you think a tragedy like this could be considered beautiful? 

If you have an appreciation for narrative non-fiction this book is a moment by moment chronology of Winston Churchill and his family and close confidants during his first year as Prime Minister. The setting is the German Blitz in the skies over Britain. 

As a historic figure there are volumes of material to be read on Winston Churchill. I had previously known that Churchill was a quirky personality but this book both humanizes him and demonstrates that the man had nerves of steel. The world has seen few individuals that could lead a country through a dreadful year of death and destruction as the Nazis attempt to bring Britain to her knees in surrender. 

Today we know the outcome of these events - the conclusion of which was the defeat of the Axis Powers.  We already know how the story ends.  Nevertheless, Larson’s excellent use of personal diaries and public documents of the period beginning May of 1040 thru May of 1941 along with little-known factoids create a tension in the mind of the reader over the nerve-shattering impact of the Battle of Britain.   Frequently I had to put the book aside for a moment so I could look-up the bio of another character in the unfolding story – all of whom are real historical personalities. 

Admittedly, I am a fan of Erik Larson and if you enjoy history and a compelling read you will likely enjoy this slice of time.

Crowdsourcing

click on the image to enlarge and count the deer

A mechanism used to obtain data, ideas, services and content by means of contributions from a larger group of individuals.  Typically performed through an online community but apparently can be through a forest community.  

There's nothing here to attract this crowd of whitetails so it is obvious to be that they are crowdsourcing.   

How many?

 

Survivor

 

This surviving bubba showed-up on the trail camera recently.

Gonna keep our eye out for the sheds before too long.

The question of the day is this the same buck that appeared in this photo?

Friday Music

Written by Greg Lake as an acoustic tune on his first guitar at the age of twelve – it surfaced years later when the group Emerson, Lake and Palmer needed an additional song on their debut album.   

Yes, I am old enough to have purchased that vinyl album and most assuredly was drawn to use of a Moog Synthesizer to juice-up a tune that the rest of the band found uninspiring.  This is an inspiring acoustic iteration.  

The lyrics tell of a man of significant means who went to war and died.  

This is the first recorded version of the song Lucky Man… 

 

The Holy Grail

 

The quest for the Holy Grail of rustic loaves continues.

 

Today there was this - the version developed my America's Test Kitchen.

 

Looks great, smells delightful and I'll report-in on taste before too long. There is a half cup of Miller High Life and a T of white vinegar in the recipe. One minute of kneading.

 

My lobbying for an outdoor, wood-fired oven was successful. Stay tuned.....

 

Howling At The Moon

The first full moon of 2021 rises tonight. 

According to Native American tradition January's full moon is also known as a Wolf Moon.  Legend suggests that wolves howled more at this time of year due to winter hunger.  

Wolves have made their presence known around here on very rare occasion and what I know for sure is that with all the dang deer on the landscape if any have found their way across the ice to the peninsula they will not be hungry.  I fully expect that any howling I hear this evening will be from the resident coyotes.  Like their larger wolf brethren any vocalizations will be social in nature - locating pack members, reinforcing their familial bonds, defining territory and such.  

 

NASA image

Prior to European settlement the Lakota people know this as the Hard Moon, the Cree called this the Cold Moon and the Assiniboine fittingly refer to this as the Center Moon - the demarcation of mid-winter.

Watch for the moon to rise from the east at sunset tonight and tomorrow.  It will reach its highest point around midnight.  If you are an early riser you can locate the moon above the western horizon before sunrise. 

Fingers-crossed for cold, clear, winter night skies.

Edit to add:

 

 

Recipe of the Day

The other day I was fishing-around for something to make for dinner and came across a pack of three frozen boneless chicken breasts in the garage freezer.  That - combined with a pack of fresh mushrooms nearing the end of their useful life  - was the basis of this meal.

Everything was on-site and waiting for a ringleader to make it come together as a meal.

I might suggest that for any of you readers that have pheasants in your freezer this will work too.  The inspiration comes from a Northern-Italian cooking class that the First Mate and I (and spouses) took many years ago.

Instructions here.....

Chicken Marsala

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts boneless-skinless 5-6 oz each

• ½ cup flour

• salt & pepper to taste

• olive oil

• 2 tablespoons butter - give or take
  

• ¼ teaspoon thyme

• 1 small onion diced

• 8 ounces fresh mushrooms

• 1 ½ tablespoons flour

• ½ cup Marsala wine

• ¾ cup chicken broth

• 2 tablespoons parsley or chives for garnish

Instructions

• Pound chicken to ¼" thick (you can cut them in half if they're very large). Season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.

• Preheat olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Cook chicken in batches, 3-4 minutes per side or until cooked through. Remove chicken and place on a plate. Leave all the brown bits in the pan.

• In the same pan, deglaze with Marsala wine, add butter, thyme and shallot. Cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until juices are released, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour 1 1/2 tablespoons flour and cook 1 minute more.

• Add Marsala wine and broth and simmer about 3 minutes, until thickened and bubbly.

• Place chicken back into the pan and simmer 2-3 minutes or until hot.

• Serve over spaetzle tossed with brown butter and garnish with lemon.

  
  
   

 

Survivor

 

 

This bubba showed-up on the trail camera recently.

Gonna keep our eye out for the sheds before too long.

This is what we call a survivor.....

Nothing More American Than a Good Lawsuit

Dominion Voting System sues Giuliani over election claims.

The consequences avalanche has started and will pick up speed as all who defamed our country's basic tenets of democracy - including state and federal elected officials – as their wallets are held to account for lying in their official capacity to the American people. 

Dominion has indicated that it plans to file more lawsuits. The suit against Mr. Giuliani says he acted with other prominent conservatives and news networks, including Mike Lindell, Lou Dobbs, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax and One America News Network.

$1.3 Billion sounds like a good start.

There is nothing more American than a lawsuit.

 

Airborne Electromagnetic Survey

Just before noon on Friday I was sitting at my desk when I sensed an approaching helicopter.  No big deal I thought - It is likely the air ambulance from Green Bay coming over the house on their usual flight path.

Nay nay, this was different. 

As the sound grew closer it became clear this was not the same chopper.  This aircraft was slower, louder and flying way too low.  

Rushing out of the house this scary sight greeted me.

The aircraft came directly over the house dragging a ginormous contraption swinging dangerously from cables.  

Shouting into the prop wash I yelled - What the hell! 

Was this construction equipment being moved and was the pilot losing control of the load?  

Was it the return of the nefarious and mysterious black helicopters? 

Nope.  This chopper was white. 

For a moment I thought that the 'thing' swinging wildly from the cables was going to crash into the roof.

Jill and I jumped on the Brussels Facebook page and sure enough the community was abuzz about the apparition.

Seems the US Geological Survey people were flying a half-mile grid pattern over the peninsula with technology designed to look beneath the surface and into the bedrock as part of a groundwater study.  

I copied this from the Wisconsin DATCP homepage as background.

What is the survey?

The survey will use airborne electromagnetic (AEM) technology to update depth to bedrock maps for areas in northeastern Wisconsin. The data will provide a depth to Silurian/Karst bedrock contours that update existing map information. The use of a helicopter-towed AEM sensor (looks like a large hoop hanging from a cable) for this type of evaluation is new and provides accurate science-based data about below ground properties that are otherwise difficult to assess over large areas. This project is in response to public feedback on groundwater quality, limited data on depth to bedrock, and to further define aquifer properties in relation to surface activities.

When and where will it happen?

Flights are expected to start in early January 2021 and exact dates will be weather dependent. At this time, surveying will take place in the following counties: Brown, Calumet, Door, Fond du Lac, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan.

Why is measuring the depth to bedrock important for water quality?

The project is a result of the technical standard to support implementation of Wis. Admin. Code NR 151.075 - Silurian bedrock performance standards​. The technical standard identifies science-based methods for measuring depth to bedrock and serves as a resource for landowners who mechanically apply manure to cropland. Under NR 151.075, you cannot apply manure mechanically to cropland where the depth to Silurian bedrock is two feet or less and other restrictions apply for depths 20-feet or less. Because Silurian is a type of bedrock that allows materials to pass through it more easily, this rule and technical standard work together to help prevent potential pathogens (disease causing organism) from reaching groundwater.

How does this help you?

This survey supports public health efforts to help protect groundwater from potential pathogens and promote water quality. The results of the survey will:

• Reduce the financial burden on private landowners to verify existing maps
• Create a better understanding of aquifer properties
• Address groundwater quality
• Decrease mechanical manure applications in very shallow depth to bedrock areas

This project uses the strength of local, state, and federal resources to help many citizens in the northeastern part of the state.

Between me and you I am reassured to learn that on the second day of the Biden Administration scary government helicopters where not looking for the secret microchips embedded in the shoulders of the citizenry.  

Whew! 

More here.....

Game Day

The House of Lambeau

Our House

 

Spot the Station

While slaving in the kitchen I had to quick duck outside to take this pic.

Time: Sat Jan 23 5:10 PM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 60°, Appears: 60° above E, Disappears: 12° above ENE

 

 

There it is directly in the center of the photo.

 

The ISS!

 

In case you missed it - look at how light it is immediately after 5 PM.....

 

Irish Packer Backer

 

Traveling around the world you're never far from the cultural influence of professional sports - especially the Green Bay Packers.

October of 2019 found us traveling in western Ireland and there was this in the city of Galway.

The backstory of the street performance artist was that he snared the Packer hat on a visit to Milwaukee to perform at Irish Fest.  

The reach of the Pack is global......

Friday Music

This alternative country-rock group hails from the Heartland and is recently remembered as apersonal favorite.  

A folksy musical genre You like Son Volt.

Live Free.....  

Feel the Bern

In keeping with the the interweb explosion of the Bernie Sanders meme from yesterday's inaugural here is my contribution to everyone piling-on......

 

A Taste of Home

 

There is a saying that no matter where you are on the planet you're never far from a Packer bar where you can wet your whistle with a refreshing adult beverage and watch the game with like-minded individuals - even if you don't speak the local language.

From our first trip to France in 2012 we made a point to visit this joint...

Located at 184 Rue Saint-Jacques in the Latin Quarter of Paris - is the WOS (Wide Open Spaces) Bar.  

We've paid a call with each of the next two following trips and even made plans to watch the Super Bowl there if the Pack made it that far on our last trip in 2017.

Alas, like many other watering holes across all over the world they closed in October.  Another victim of the pandemic.  Regrettably, their Facebook page remains up but informs the visitor that the establishment is permanently closed. 

Tweet of the Absurd

As a follow-up to the regularly-scheduled morning post readers might also wish to know that yesterday - Kevin Quealy - of the New York Times published The Complete List of Trump's Twitter Insults (2015-2021).  It is - in my view - a monumental exercise in curating data.

Congratulations to Kathleen A Flynn, Josh Katz, Jasmine C. Lee, Jeremy B. Merrill, Toni Monkovic, and Rumsey Taylor who performed additional design, development and research.  It does indeed take a village.

Follow the hyperlink highlighted above to peruse the collection.  The insults are already sorted by category - but readers can also sort chronologically and alphabetically.

Truthfully, this blogger has never seen a larger compilation of invective from a single individual in a lifetime.

Amazing.

Quote of the Day

Out, out brief candle.
Life is but a moving shadow
A poor player who
Struts and frets his hour
Upon the stage
And is heard no more.
It is a tale told by an idiot
Full of sound and fury
Signifying... nothing.

--William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1606

 

Get Over It

I wish to preface my remarks with the admonition that I am no fan of suppressing First Amendment liberties.  Having spent four decades in the financial services industry where such rights are limited by regulation and company policy this is serious stuff.  I chaffed under the restrictions.  

Nevertheless, following the suspension of Donald Trump's various online accounts there has been no small amount of feigned Facebook outrage and righteous indignation.  Much of it a litany of predictable backlash from predictable sycophants - including cut and paste content that truthfully is a waste of valuable bandwidth.  

Some of it was thoughtful and persuasive.  The 'thinkers' can be taken seriously.  

And as a consequence, I 'think' it is useful to revisit the backstory - including the doctrine of what a common carrier is – and isn’t. 

A common carrier is a public or private company that transports goods and people for a fee (airlines, railroads come to mind) or provides services to people for a fee (utilities and telecommunication companies come to mind).   What they have in common is that they must provide service to anyone willing to pay the freight (the fee). The only exception is grounds for refusal (no shirt, no shoes, no service comes to mind). 

Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. do not charge a fee for service. They are for-profit companies that gather data about their users in order to sell advertising.  In Twitter’s case this also includes a stylized Town Square of the Internet.  The bottom line is that they are internet platforms that mine your data should you choose to participate.  As a consequence they are self-regulated.

Between you and me if you are troubled by this gathering of data it is a small matter to engage a technology solution to counter it by cloaking your internet presence and deflecting the probing.  But I digress. 

These platforms do provide some quasi-public functions.  And while it is true that private companies who deliver public services are generally regulated, or obligated to provide universal service under common-carrier law (wired and wireless communications companies come to mind) - internet platforms have none of those commitments.  What they have are Terms of Service – which means they can more or less block, ban or suspend anyone whenever and for whatever reason they choose. 

That may sound arbitrary or capricious and these companies may have clumsy, lame and broken moderation systems; nevertheless, these Terms of Service function as law in the absence of any common carrier regulations. 

One of the things I like most about my Facebook account is the access I have to public and private groups for which I have an affinity.  This would include hunting and fishing, grilling, smoking, cooking, high school alumni, family, local and military history, astronomy, photography and going back to Germany all the communities I've lived since birth to the present.  One of my faves is a group dedicated to Gary Larson cartoons.  

These groups exist solely at the behest of Facebook - and must comply with Facebook's Terms of Service.  If they do not comply Facebook can shut them down.  

I can participate in these groups as a follower and/or contributor to their content if inclined.  And the moderators can boot me off the group if I do not comply with the Group Terms of Service.  Translation: if I post something off-topic, is divisive, outrageous or otherwise not compliant with the rules I will be exiled.

As the owner of this blog I have to comply with Google's Terms of Service.  If I behave badly Google can shut me down.  And if a reader posts something on my blog that in my opinion is divisive, outrageous or otherwise not compliant with my own arbitrary and capricious terms of service I can delete the content and even block the reader. 

That's the nice thing about not being a common carrier - on the interweb sometimes life is unfair (the wild west comes to mind).

Get over it. 

Follow this link to an alternative opinion piece over at the Wall Street Journal. 

Must Watch

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement before the Senate today that the violent mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol nearly two weeks earlier was “provoked” by President Donald Trump and others in power. 

“The mob was fed lies," McConnell said, adding that they “tried to use fear and violence” to stop a joint session of Congress to count Electoral College votes to confirm Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. 

McConnell vowed that there would be a “safe and successful” inauguration, and that Congress would move forward to address the challenges facing the nation in the coming weeks. 

A Senate trial on whether to convict Trump after the House impeached him for his role in the Jan. 6 attack is expected to begin in coming days. McConnell has not said how he plans to vote. 

Battle of the Bays

The staff here at The Platz is going to take-on a decidedly Green and Gold Packer theme in the run-up to game time next weekend.

I was hopeful that it would be the Saints going-up against The Pack as it is more appropriate to have 'saints' involved in a righteous football game instead of a low-life, cheater like Tom Brady and his collection of penalty-prone cheaters from Tampa Bay.

But I digress.

From the photo archives here at The Platz there is this gem featuring a rookie back-up quarterback taken at a practice on August, 2, 2007 - thirteen and a half years ago.

Who knew?

Daily Bread

 

Baked another rustic loaf yesterday afternoon.

If you cannot stand the heat - grab a beer.

Drink Wisconsinbly People.....

Green and Gold

Saturday brought the return of the green and gold lighting for the duration of the Green Bay Packer playoff season.

Go Pack!

Beep! Beep!

The tunnel looks just like a Road Runner tunnel.

While the classic Looney Tunes cartoon always featured the Road Runner outsmarting Wile E. Coyote, in this recent sighting of the Road Runner, Wile E. was nowhere to be found.

Beep!  Beep!

Alarm!

 Wonder what spooked these whitetails...

Southern Fare

I recall watching French-born chef Jacques Pépin demonstrate how to de-bone a fresh whole chicken. It occurred to me at the time that it would take a pile of chickens for me to master that skill. 

In any event I found this store-bought 3+ pound de-boned and stuffed package of Mississippi deliciousness in one of the bunker freezers. 

If someone in Wisconsin could replicate this they would become exceedingly wealthy. Possibly even millionaires.

 

 

Maybe. 

Of course you have to serve with organic garden broccoli.....

 

Friday Music

With roots that go back to 1962 this British R&B band rose to fame with the British Invasion and a folk rock hit single House of the Rising Sun.  However I’ve always been smitten by this 1967 hit that was written as a song of protest against the war in Vietnam.  It is noteworthy to also point out that San Francisco weather is notoriously famous for being both fickle and cold.    

 

Eric Burden and the Animals – San Franciscan Nights….

 

Good Eats

Free-range, hand-carved, peninsula venison (grilled rare) and organic heirloom German butterball taters from the garden.

 

The pommes frites were prepared in duck fat. Totally compliant with American Heart Association guidelines. 

 

Extra crispy.

Pun of the Day

We sing because we can.....

More Improvisational Genius

 

One of my neighbors dropped a baldy late in the gun season.  

His kids are all grown now and he has repurposed a bicycle bugger as an all-purpose gear, gun and deer hauler. 

Genius.  

Absolute genius.

Freak of Nature

From the trail camera round-up on Sunday - check this out...

Does this buck have three antlers?

Pogonip Redoux

The other morning brought more spectacular frozen fog.  

A product of overnight fog and freezing temperatures this rime ice is sometimes referred-to as radiation fog, valley fog or freezing fog.  It is also called pogonip – a Shoshone word for cloud.    

Ordinarily, fog materializes when there is cooler air coming in contact-with a warmer body of water or moist surface like a swamp or wetland. 

Freezing fog materializes when the air temperature is below freezing and the water droplets in the fog become super-cooled. These super-cooled water droplets stay in liquid state until they drift into contact with a surface they can freeze-to. Grass, twigs, trees, leaves and so-forth. 

From our walk we were quick to capture some images before the sun broke thru and burn it all away.....

Fallout

Donald Trump has not ordered the flags on federal buildings to fly at half-staff in honor of Brian Sicknick, the Capitol police officer who was murdered by Trump loyalists rioting at the capitol last Wednesday.  And - for the record - Trump hasn't called the family either.

Mike Pence and most members of both parties in Congress have had the graciousness to speak with his surviving family.

Why is it so difficult for the president to do the right thing?

 

My Kingdom for a Leader

There is this from June 16, 2015...

 

And there is the December Jobs Report...

As it turns-out, 2020 is the worse year for job losses since 1939.  Blacks, Hispanics, teenagers and high-school dropouts were the hardest hit - mostly in the leisure and hospitality industry.  The Trump recession has shed 9.37 million jobs - almost double the 5.05 million jobs lost in 2009 in the wreckage of the global financial crisis. 

Unless things magically improve this month - Donald Trump will be remembered as the only President since these stats have been measured to leave office having lost more jobs than existed when he was sworn-in.

The Greatest Commandment

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

— Mark 12:28-31

 

No Remorse

Capitol Police Officer, Brian D. Sicknick, died Thursday night from injuries after Trump supporters beat him with a fire extinguisher. He was the fourth member of the force to be killed in the line of duty since its founding two centuries ago. 

Donald Trump has more blood on his hands. 

I'll not hold my breath waiting for the apology.....

 

Friday Music

Originally recorded by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in 1998 this version was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded on Rounder Records in a 2007 collaboration by Plant and Alison Krauss for the album Raising Sand. 

Critically-acclaimed it won Record of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. 

Please Read the Letter….

 

Return of the Pogonip

Following a random, unplanned day of sunshine on Tuesday, yesterday we woke to this.

Trees and grass ‘painted’ as if by Jack Frost himself.  

A product of overnight fog and freezing temperatures this rime ice is sometimes referred-to as radiation fog, valley fog or freezing fog.  It is also called pogonip – a Shoshone word for cloud.    

Ordinarily, fog materializes when there is cooler air coming in contact-with a warmer body of water or moist surface like a swamp or wetland. 

Freezing fog materializes when the air temperature is below freezing and the water droplets in the fog become super-cooled. These super-cooled water droplets stay in liquid state until they drift into contact with a surface they can freeze-to. Grass, twigs, trees, leaves and so-forth. 

 

 

It’s really a rather striking effect and pleasing to the eye. It is also something to be reckoned-with as it can result in ice build-up on roads – especially bridges – which have no ground insulation. It can also build-up on power lines with the result pf power outages. 

Drive carefully on mornings like this.

There will most surely be ice on the roads too.....