Trail-Clearing

Big Blue is running like a champ and the trails are beginning to dry-out sufficiently to commence brushing them-out.  

It's still plenty wet in some locations - and thanks to on-demand 4WD I haven't gotten stuck (yet).

As near as I can figure following several forays afield I'm at 70%. Some locations remain to risky wet.

I case you're scratching your head about leaving the bucket on - 'tis easier to heft downed trees out of the way instead of cutting them-up with a chainsaw. 

 

 

Cuteness

 A weekly dose of fawn cuteness to brighten your day, week or life.....

What To Do With Garden Tomatoes

Dining-upon garden produce regular-like. Including tomatoes!

 

With the addition of the Forno this year I planted Italian herbs and plum tomatoes. Fresh-sliced plum tomatoes from the garden on a New York thin crust pie are delectable. Add some fresh basil when served and it’s the bomb. 

 

 

With the current surplus I canned six pints of plum and a couple of quarts of ordinary tomatoes today.And there is more in the pipeline too.

 

I have a vision of venison bolognese in my future…..

 

Edible Wildness

Meet Allium cernuum, also called nodding onion or lady's leek. This is a perennial native plant in the genus Allium. It grows in dry woods, rock outcroppings, and prairies. It is characterized by a pink or white flower cluster that droops or nods.

This is an edible plant – the underground bulbs are excellent boiled, pickled or added to salads or used as a seasoning. In the springtime the tender leaves (before the flower stalks appear) can be cooked as greens or added raw to a salad.

This plant also happens to be deer-resistant - but is delicious served with venison.

Prayerful Predator

Meet Mantis religiosa – the Praying mantis or European mantis. Named for prominent front legs that fold together suggesting prayer – this is a fascinating member of the insect world. This specimen was just over a couple of inches in length sporting bright green coloration.

The life stages of this large insect include egg, nymph, and adult. Egg masses overwinter attached to twigs, hose bibs, deer stand ladders or anything else above the snowline. They hatch in late spring and the nymphs are dispersed by the wind or eat one another. Depending-upon the species, survivors grow larger as they molt 5-10 times before reaching the adult stage. After the final molt, the wings on most species appear, while some remain wingless. One generation matures by late summer or early autumn.

Praying mantises possess stereo vision (they see in 3D) and thanks to the placement of their eyes, they also have a wide field of vision. They’re also the only insect capable of turning their head from side to side without moving the rest of the body. This is an advantage when hunting - allowing for minimal movement when stalking prey.

This critter is a carnivore and dines-upon live food. As a gardener I suppose this presents an opportunity for helpful pest control but as prey generalists they also eat beneficial insects like bees and butterflies. Besides, their propensity for cannibalism keeps their numbers few and far between.

The adult female praying mantis has a reputation for biting-off the head of the male eating him after or during mating. This coital cannibalism doesn’t happen all the time although research suggests that females who engage in this behavior produce more eggs than those who do not.  

In many cultures a mantid is a symbol of stillness. And as a consequence it is associated with meditation and calming of the mind.

Friday Music

Composed and sung by Lou Reed and performed by The Velvet Underground this song was included on  the group's 1969 album release - The Velvet Underground.  

The interweb suggests that despite the name this song was all about someone whose eyes were hazel.  Reed noted in his book Between Thought and Expression the song is said to have been inspired by Shelley Albin - his first love.  Who at the time was married to another man.

Pale Blue Eyes....... 

The Garden Chronicles

Up early this morning to beat the heat and tidy-up the garden. 

Three days ago I picked cukes and made a giant batch of cucumber salad for Lions Club. Today there was this.  I swear they materialize overnight. 

 

I suspect I’ll be canning tomatoes soon and the broccoli is the gift that keeps on giving. 

 

Anecdotally there seems to be more than the usual number of aggrieved individuals on social media.  It must suck big time to rise every damn day and be burdened by grievances that you have to crow them on Face Book for all the interweb to suffer-thru. My sole grievance worth any valuable bandwidth is the resident whitetails have eaten all my delicious lettuce. 

 

All four rows!  Same for the green beans.

Nevertheless, there is justice for this affront to my delicate sensibilities.

Nocturnal garden theft is a capital offense.

 

Vive le jardin magnifique!

 

 

 

Jimmy L

Recently I was walking along the dockyard while attending the Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Festival and a volunteer docent from the Maritime Museum commented-on my t-shirt.  Seems he was originally from Muscle Shoals Alabama  and we engaged in small talk about all of the music artists that found their way thru Fame Studios and the role that the session musicians - The Swampers - played in their recording success.   As we prepared to continue on our separate way he pointed to  this harbor tug tied-up in its berth and shared some maritime history that I was previously unaware-of.   

This large tug was built in 1939 by Defoe Shipbuilding as the WYTM-92 Naugatuck for the U.S. Coast Guard.

USCGC Naugatuck (WYT-92)

The Naugatuck spent 40 years with the Coast Guard as an ice-breaking harbor tug and was decommissioned in 1979. The following year, she was acquired by the Calumet Marine Towing Company and renamed Timmy B. 

In 1994, the Timmy B. was purchased by Selvick Marine Towing and renamed Jimmy L. Selvick Marine Towing became Sarter Marine Towing in 2019. 

This boat was the first USCG Cutter on the scene the day following the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Who knew?

 

Eighty-two years of continuous service is an impressive accomplishment.

 

Sure is a wealth of maritime history here in Sturgeon Bay and northeast Wisconsin 

Timberdoodle

From the Wisconsin DNR trail camera there was this recently......

Scolopax minor – The American Woodcock – colloquially known as the timberdoodle.   Superbly camouflaged this chunky bird - unlike its shore-dwelling relatives - spends much of its life on the forest floor probing with its long bill for insects and earthworms.  

Dinner

Blonde Dog and I are living the bachelor life for a spell. 

Following a day of chores and rain there was this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NY strip and garden sides. 

Swamp Gas rising too…..

 

 

 

Night Skies

From Sunday evening just around midnight there was this in the clear southern sky.

From left to right - Moon, Jupiter and Saturn…..

 

Mama and the Twins

For quite a few years there has been a game camera positioned mid-way on a quarter mile trail in the forest.  It faces east and the trail is groomed with a brush cutter once a year.  Because the camera has been located there for as long as it has the local wildlife don't give it much attention.  It has faded into the landscape in a manner of speaking.  And because the trail is cleared periodically it is frequented by just about any critter living here.  Several years ago the camera was switched to video mode to capture 15 second, silent, video vignettes for your viewing pleasure.

There is a doe and here twins frequenting this location and I thought it blog-worthy to post some footage of their comings and goings.

 

Public Service Post of the Day

To all of my friends who are clutching their pearls, losing sleep, growing ulcers and generally getting their undies in a knot over some imaginary perceived resurgence of rampant, runaway and ginormous wave of inflation there is this...

I topped-off the tank on the family mini van this afternoon and paid $2.899 a gallon at the Shell Station on the way home.  

That falls about mid-way in the range of gasoline prices under the rule of the Former Guy during peak travel season the summers of 2018 and 2019 before the economy cratered under his watch a year ago.

Spare me your confirmation bias and suck it-up buttercup.

Ship Tour

USCGC MOBILE BAY (WTGB-103)

The 140-foot Bay class Cutters are state of that art icebreakers used primarily for domestic ice breaking duties. They are named after American Bays and nine of them are presently in service stationed mainly in the northeast United States and the Great Lakes. 

Bridge

Fantail

Propulsion is by means of two Fairbanks Morse diesel engines with Westinghouse DC generators and one Westinghouse DC motor. This diesel-electric set-up can power the ship through fresh water ice up to 20 inches thick and break ice up to 3 feet thick by means of ramming. It can also ram thru pressure ridges of up to eight feet in thickness. WTGBs use a low pressure air hull lubrication or bubbler system that forces air and water between the hull and ice. This system improves ice-breaking capabilities by reducing resistance against the hull thereby decreasing horsepower requirements. 

Helmsman's Station on the Bridge

Collision, Chemical and General Alarms

Crewed by 27 officers and enlisted personnel the Mobile Bay conducts ice-breaking duties beginning in December through April in the northern Great Lakes. Its Area Of Responsibility (AOR) includes Green Bay, the Straits of Mackinac, and the St. Mary's River. The ship travels as far south as Milwaukee and Chicago in the course of its duties.

The Cutters Mobile Bay and the Bristol Bay are accompanied seasonally with a 120 foot barge for purposes of maintenance of Aids To Navigation (buoys) in the shipping channels. Additional missions include Maritime Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Environmental Pollution Response, and Homeland Security. 

Buoy Tender Barge

Aids to Navigation

There is an enormous wealth of maritime history in Sturgeon Bay and northeast Wisconsin.

*Impress your friends with this maritime trivia tidbit:  The homeport of USCGC Sturgeon Bay (WTGB-109) is Bayonne, NJ.

 

August Full Moon

The Full Moon appearing this month is named after North America's largest fish - the sturgeon. Other names for this Full Moon include Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon, Barley Moon and Fruit Moon. 

The Full Moon in August is called the Sturgeon Moon as a consequence of the great number of sturgeon that were once found in the lakes and rivers in North America.  It’s likely that with the arrival of European settlement the name was taken from native-American usage.  While there are fewer of this spectacular fish today the name remains.

Fingers-crossed for good viewing conditions tomorrow - Sunday evening.........

iPhone photo taken 8.15.19

 

Friday Music

This song was composed by Bob Dylan and released in early 1965. It has been covered by multiple artists including the Byrds, Melanie, Judy Collins and more. 

The version recorded by the Byrds was also released in early 1965 and their first single. It rapidly rose to the pole position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

It also happens to reside on my personal Top 100 song list. 

The Byrds, Crosby and Bob covering a cover of his own song.

Mr. Tambourine Man…..

Public Service Post of the Day

Subject: Econ 101

 

Seems there's no shortage of chatter about inflation on social media platforms nowadays. People are clutching their pearls (and without evidence) suggesting the current guy flipped a switch to bring rampant and runaway inflation back. 

 

It is difficult for me to figure out how you accomplish that in seven short months and what the political gain there is by doing so - but I digress.  I'm going to add my .02 to the chatter.

 

Allow me to explain what we are witnessing.

 

The near-collapse and rapid bounce-back of several corona virus-affected sectors, such as travel, led to what economists call a “base effect”: when the year-over-year price increases are sharp, but only because they’re coming back up from a low point caused by an economic shock. 

 

Think: V-Shaped Recovery

 

When people stopped traveling altogether (like they did a year ago) prices fell sharply for things like gasoline, used vehicles, airfares, and auto rentals. As a consequence, any increase now — even a return to normal pre-covid prices — has an outsize impact on the appearance of inflation year-over-year. 

 

This is the main problem of using only short-term year over year comparisons. The categories that dropped dramatically when covid hit may have returned to levels from pre-covid but show up as large increases which paints a false picture and supports those who infer inflation is out of control. 

 

It feeds their confirmation bias.

 

The Labor Department estimates costs have risen 5 percent over the past year. Recent increases don’t come even close to what I remember in the 1970s. Back then prices rose an average of 7 percent every year for more than a decade. That stretch of inflation was driven by energy, with sudden plunges in oil imports raising fuel prices and inflation expectations.

Price increases were also more broadly spread across the economy in the 70s. Inflation for food, housing, transportation and medical care were all above 5 percent. 

 

This time around, experts say the current spate of inflation is driven by a combination of pent-up demand and supply chain bottlenecks, both exacerbated by the pandemic.

 

If you care to run around with your hair on fire to make a political point, that's fine. It's not happening in economic circles. 

 

Don’t take my word for it – ask your trusted financial advisor.

 

And, you're welcome.

 

Triplets?

There was this photo from a recent round-up of trail camera photos - three fawns and one doe (in the background).

Is there another doe that escaped the steady surveillance of the camera?

Or have we the rare set of triplets?  Female deer can give birth to one to three fawns.  Two is very common.  I am told there is a 14% chance of triplets.

No matter how you slice it there sure are a large number of whitetails on the landscape....

 

Pause For Celebration

One week has passed without a daily thunderstorm accompanied by flooding and straight-line winds.  Nevertheless, it is soggy as all get-out around here.  With standing water everywhere the trail maintenance continues to be deferred.

Celebrating with a cool, fifteen second, silent, video vignette from a trail camera.....

Life on the Porch

This is a Pale Lager direct from the motherland.  It has sweet malt aromas with some floral hop scents. It is a medium bodied brew that goes well with porch-setting at the close of the work day. 

Since it’s bottled in metric it’s 11.2 FL OZ

Guinness Brewing, St. James Gate, Dublin 

 4.5% ABV

Pro Tip: $14.95 for a 12 pack at Tadych’s Econofoods , Sturgeon Bay

Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Festival

One of the highlights of the Door County Classic and Wooden Boat Festival is the Sikaflex Challenge.

Lilly Pad

On Saturday participants build their own boats using nothing but thin plywood, a few pieces of lumber, zip ties and the marine construction sealant known as Sikaflex.  Construction time is limited to four hours.

Hawaiian War Canoe

 

Mayday

There are no plans - construction is ad-hoc.  Costumes and themes are encouraged.

Mayday

Accompanied with the requisite fanfare and hilarity - the sea trials of the Sikaflex craft are held on Sunday afternoon.  

Some of the vessels break-apart immediately upon launching.

Lilly Pad

Others break-apart slowly before making the first turn on the racecourse.

Hawaiian War Canoe

A few sink spectacularly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remarkably, most of these craft are truly seaworthy - Some more than others.  One or more are competent and maneuverable vessels.

 I have to find someone to partner with me in 2022.

The Sikaflex Challenge is a hoot!

 

Notable Quotable

There's more than enough blame to go around.  All four presidential administrations (Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden) and the Congresses of 2001-2021 own a share. 

Generals and admirals — and I include myself — senior diplomats, and top intelligence leaders got it wrong over and over from start to finish.

Finally, the American people got it wrong. Our government, elected and appointed, works for us.  We wanted a response to 9/11.  We got that.  Then we lost interest.  The Taliban did not.

 — Retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, Troop Commander - Afghanistan

Weekend Update

Fun day yesterday

Started with the Classic and Wooden Boat Show (and Sikaflex Challenge) in Sturgeon Bay. 

 

And capped with refreshing Trappist-Style Belgian adult beverages at the Belgian Heritage Center Kermis in Namur. 

 

Incidentally, nothing makes homemade ice cream like a Deere.

 

More updates to follow....

 

Herbal Pollinator

Wild bergamot - Monarda fistulosa - AKA Horsemint or Bee Balm.  These lavender flowers attract many insects and are terrific in native pollinator habitat. 

It also plays an important role in folk medicine, history and cooking.  It was used to make an infusion by the Oswego Indians (Oswego tea) and was adopted by early European settlers following the Boston tea party in 1773.  The common name - bergamot – is associated with its citrus flavor that is very similar to the bergamot orange used to flavor Earl Grey tea.  

It is a terrific addition to oil used to cook fish and shellfish and has medicinal properties useful in the treatment of colds, reducing fever, soothing sore throats, headaches, insomnia and menstrual cramps.   The plant contains thymol which imparts antibacterial and antiseptic properties useful in the treatment of infections. 

Saturday Music Tribute

She's probably singing duets with John Prine.

Gonna miss this sweet angel....

Great White

Meet Ardea alba – the Great Egret.  This rare visitor typically pays a call in May or August.  It showed-up a week ago and has already vamoosed as it continues its journey south for the winter.

An entirely white bird - they are a tall wading species with long black legs and a yellow-orange, dagger-like bill. These birds are found in both salt water and fresh water habitats and build their stick nest high in trees.  They live in colonies and prefer island-living so as to be safe from predators like raccoons.  This bird doesn’t nest here as I believe we are pushing the furthest extent of their breeding range.  Besides, we have no islands. 

I suppose this is a good location for a pit stop.  We've been content to glass the critter from a distance with the binoculars. Standing still for a period of time it would suddenly thrust its bill into the shallows.  One less frog in the mix so it seems. 

 

Friday Music

Originally titled Good Time Women this song was recorded in 1970 in the basement of a chateau in France.

Released in 1972 on the double album Exile on Main Street it was the album’s lead single peaking at number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Tumbling Dice…..

Deer Stand Recipe

2021 features the launch of what is likely to be a three year program of deer stand replacement.  Think of it as a miniature local infrastructure improvement program.  The present goal is the construction and deployment of two new Guard Tower deer stands each year.  

This is a consequence of several factors:

First, the pending loss of three stands that were previous constructed in ash trees that are sick and dying from infestation of Emerald Ash Borer. Plenty of deer have been taken from those stands and as hunting platforms they will be missed.  For sure they'll be utilized this fall and maybe for an additional season to follow. Inevitably, as the trees die these stands are doomed.

Second, the logging operation earlier this year significantly opened the forest canopy and created space and opportunity to deploy additional stands as the deer hunting dynamic and animal movement patterns are altered as well.  Nobody knows for sure precisely how movement patterns will change so this contains an embedded learning curve.  What we do know for sure is that the opportunity for whitetails to hunker-down and hide in the impenetrable cover has been significantly reduced. 

Finally, free-standing platform stands constructed of pressure-treated lumber are both safer and more comfortable than tree stands or cramped and rusting metal stands.  There is a high probability that the stands featured in this post will likely be occupied by yet-to-be-born deer hunters.

Here is an easy-to-follow recipe:

How To Build a Guard Tower Deer Stand

Step 1 - Assemble your materials:  Pressure Treated Lumber, 8 - 4X4X8 posts, 10 - 2X8X10 boards, 12 - 2X4X10 boards, 14 - 1X4X8 boards.  One large box each of 3" and 2.5" deck screws.  Assorted carriage bolts, washers and nuts.  (Pro-Tip - purchase hardware in bulk at Fleet Farm $2.69/lb).  Deck boards purchased periodically at Menards warped lumber sales.  The ladders were salvaged from two previously-abandoned tree stands.

Step 2 - Cut lumber to specified lengths and bore 1/2" holes for the carriage bolts.  The platforms were partially pre-assembled and since they are 5X5 foot square they will fit inside a standard pick-up box.  The balance of the deck boards will be added when assembled on-site.

Step 3 - Scout locations.  Consideration was given to clear shooting lanes, known (and unknown) deer movement patterns, bedding locations and safety.

Step 4 - Haul materials, cordless tools, etc. to pre-scouted positions and assemble in-situ.

Yield - Two Guard Tower deer stands with little - if any - scrap waste.  

BTW - if you measure the tolerances from top to bottom they might be 'off plumb' by about an eighth of an inch.

The deer stand in the background was constructed in 1995 from repurposed boards salvaged from the demolition of a deck three houses-ago.  The tree in which it was constructed is dying and is going to fall before too long.  Because the stand is no longer safe it is being retired and will be disassembled at a future date.

Out with the old - in with the new!