Graham Nash is a British/American artist best known for his contributions to the Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash. He was inducted in the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the later in 1997 and as a member of the Hollies in 2010.
His music has been featured here from time to time and a little over a year ago we had the pleasure of seeing him perform here on the peninsula.
The song, linked above, is performed here later in life as a nice acoustic set.
Bus Stop....
The full moon you will observe in the heavens tonight is called the Cold Full Moon.
It is characterized by the arc of its trajectory across the sky which
allows it to appear above the horizon for a longer period of time.
Because of its close association with the
winter solstice - and the shortest of daylight hours - the Mohican people called this
the Long Nights Moon. Ancient European pagans also associated this with the solstice calling it The Moon Before Yule.
Bonus is the December full moon is also a Super Moon. Our moon has a wobbly egg-shaped orbit meaning that it is nearer sometimes (called perigee) and further sometimes (called apogee). Perigee and apogee generally occur in every month; and when perigee coincides with a full moon the moon's appearance is both brighter and larger.
2025 has eight supermoons! Including tonight's makes three in a row for October, November and December. Early in January 2026 is another making four in a row..
Fingers crossed for clear, cold viewing
tonight.
Following the action at Lexington and Concord in April the colonies were preparing for war. British reinforcements were arriving in Boston and both the nascent Continental Army and the Minutemen bolstered their numbers with volunteer patriots.
While the British occupied Boston they were surrounded by rebellious colonists who happened to hold the high ground. Whoever controlled the hills encircling Boston could also control the harbor. It was a matter of time before the opposing forces came to blows.
Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne of His Majesty's Army famously declared - What! Ten thousand peasants keep five thousand of the King's troops shut up! Well, let us get in and we'll soon find some elbow room!
General Thomas Gage was the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the colonies. While he did not lead the forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 he was the commander who gave the orders for a costly frontal assault on patriot positions on Breed's Hill.
Gage's Council of War, including William Howe, Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne, drafted the initial plans. Their army would land on Dorchester Neck south of Boston and sweep around the capital in a broad arc. Nevertheless, colonial spies learned of Gage's plans and set-about to thwart them. On June 16, several thousand militiamen converged at Charlestown and overnight constructed crude fortifications of earth and timbers atop Breed's Hill; which unlike Bunker Hill was not as high yet closer to Boston. Fast Fact: This last minute change persists to modern times contributing to confusion over the battle's name.
The British generals debated their options with General Henry Clinton advocating for a flanking maneuver that would land troops to the rear of American forces thereby preventing any American retreat. However, Gage and the other commanders overruled Clinton and settled-upon General Howe's recommendation for a direct, frontal assault on the well-defended American positions.
Gage ordered the attack in which Major General Howe would lead 2,400 British soldiers in three successive assaults up the hill.
As dawn broke on the 17th of June the appearance of the American earthworks surprised the British forces. Gage was of the opinion that the Yankee rabble was no match for Britain's Finest. Consequently, Gage's forces took their time packing for a three day campaign to take Charlestown and sweep through the countryside. The redcoats sweated in the hot sun shouldering heavy packs with blankets, rations and kit. By mid afternoon the colonial militia has been reinforced and firmly ensconced behind their fortifications.
In close order formation the British troops advanced through the tall grass and up the hill. Further and further they marched. Why did the militia not fire they wondered? Were they gutless cowards? Had they retreated? Suddenly and without warning the command came to FIRE!
The British were decimated as row upon row were mowed-down. Some British units suffered losses of 75 to 90 percent. Casualties were greatest among the officers who were singled-out as targets.
Regrouping and forcing their men forward at the tip of a sword a second assault was mounted a half hour later with similar results. An hour later, with fresh reinforcements and artillery support the third assault chased the rebels from the hill. They had run out of gun powder and skedaddled.
Technically, this was a British victory but at great cost. Losses to the redcoats amounted to 1,054 dead or wounded - nearly half of those who fought. Colonial losses were 441 of a much larger force. Privately, General Gage admitted that: The loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear. Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene of the Rhode Island Militia summed it up: I wish I could sell them another hill at the same price.
In the aftermath General Howe ordered Charlestown to be burned. Gage was recalled to England and Howe was made commander of all British forces in America.
The beloved Colonial Major General Joseph Warren was killed by a musket ball through the head. The British stripped his body of clothing, mutilated his face with bayonets, urinated on and otherwise defiled his corpse as Warren was viewed as a principal instigator of the rebellion. He was buried in a shallow mass grave on the hill with other patriots. Months later, and after the British had fled Boston, the colonists exhumed their dead for identification and repatriation to their kin. Warren was identified by his dental work fashioned by patriot, silversmith and erstwhile dentist, Paul Revere. This was likely one of the earliest examples of forensic dental identification in America.
Martial law and the government of a well regulated city are so entirely different, that it has always been considered as improper to quarter troops in populous cities, as frequent disputes must necessarily arise between the citizen and the soldier, even if no previous animosities subsist.
- Joseph Warren
Today the monument is a proper urban park and bears little resemblance to the hilly pasture of 1775. Preservationists originally hoped to save all of the battlefield but much of the land was sold to finance the cost of the monument's obelisk. In 1825 the cornerstone was laid by Lafayette on the 50th anniversary of the conflict and orator Daniel Webster spoke. Webster returned more than 17 years later in 1843 to speak at the dedication following completion of the monument. St. Francis de Sales Church stands atop the true Bunker Hill.
The Trump administration engages in a policy of extrajudicial killings of purported narco terrorists in the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Pacific. The legal justification goes like this: The US is engaged in an "armed conflict" with the specific drug cartels, designating them as "unlawful combatants" and "foreign terrorist organizations" (FTOs). Consequently, the President can order them rubbed-out. Judge, jury and executioner sans trial and process.
I sorta get this - presidents have rubbed-out bad dudes by means of drone strikes all day long; nevertheless, we've not been attacked by or exist in a state of war with the country of Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader who has been serving as the president of Venezuela since 2013. He's a dictator, cartel leader and all-around bad dude who, unlike former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, hasn't been worthy of a Trump presidential pardon. A singularly vexing conundrum for which not a single MAGA adherent can offer me a rational explanation. There's something more at play here. Millions upon tens of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of untraceable Trump Meme Coins to launder a deal? I can't quite put my finger on it. But I digress. Back to the narco terrorist boat strikes.
Set-aside the high tech standoff nature of the strikes for a moment and consider this: How would Americans respond if our law enforcement on the high seas simply interdicted and boarded the boats, summarily executed everyone aboard, and then sank the evidence including the boat, bodies and the cargo?
The horrors of this policy haven't changed - only the methodology - raising serious concerns about the legality of this stratagem.
Now it is reported that the military "double-tapped" survivors of an initial strike on a boat on September 2nd. That's right; if factually true, someone ordered the killing of a couple of shipwrecked survivors.
That would very likely be criminal under the UCMJ.
Nevertheless, according to Karoline Leavitt survivors clinging to floating wreckage constitute an imminent threat to the US. But let's face it, her body language is a terrible look, dontcha think?
Gonna be interesting how this plays-out.
And nobody's talking about Jeffrey Epstein trafficking young girls for billionaire perverts....
We're going to shove the drugs up the nose of the gringos, and they're not even going to realize it.
- Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández
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| Wikipedia |
The cynic in me wonders if perhaps pardons are for sale.
While out of town earlier this month to chase pheasants in South Dakota I couldn't help but notice all the corn in eastern South Dakota and all across Minnesota. Mile upon mile of standing corn, silage bags stuffed with hundreds of yards of corn and so much corn that the elevators have nowhere to go with it resulting in monstrous corn mountains and sometimes covered with a blue tarp.
No wonder corn prices are hitting the skids; US farmers are simply too efficient for their own good.
And I guess the problem extends to here too. From WFRV in Green Bay there is this:
While they don't ordinarily coexist - peacefully anyway - along with the usual coyotes I have fox.
Day and night...
This evening’s dinner is brought to you courtesy of a half breast (all four pounds) of my spring turkey kill. We split a big yam and served it up with homemade dressing and gravy overall.
I don't harbor any large grievances. I have a few minor issues but they're basically trivial in the grand scheme of things.
I have a great deal to be thankful-for. My family, my friends, a comfortable retirement, a terrific community and the great outdoors. I am in reasonably good health (for an old man), I still have my marbles and a seemingly unlimited supply of firewood.Anybody who follows my musings on the blog or knows me personally also knows that I never served in the military. Nevertheless, that universal fact does not disqualify me from having an opinion on military matters that are of interest to me or in the news.
This business of following orders has risen to the level of discussion here a couple of times already. April 21, 2024 and, again on August 31, 2025.
This week, there was a kerfuffle over Democratic lawmakers reminding the military to refuse illegal orders. Between you and me I think they were trolling the president and, predictably, he rose to the bait.
All of this melodrama about sedition, treason and death by hanging is gonna bump-up against the First Amendment; you know, that business about freedom of speech. Besides, everyone knows that the video was only addressing (without defining) an obligation to defy illegal orders.
I am told that, generally speaking, orders are presumed to be lawful and that a service member who disobeys a potentially questionable order does so at their own peril. The final determination of an order's lawfulness is ultimately a question of law decided-upon by a military judge in a court-martial. That is a high bar.
A critical tenet of U.S. and international military law, established by principles like those from the Nuremberg Trials, is that "just following orders" is not a valid defense for committing crimes. Service members have an affirmative obligation to refuse orders that are "patently illegal" or "manifestly unlawful".
The US Navy has cancelled the majority of the Constellation-class frigate program; a decision announced by Navy Secretary John Phelan on November 25, 2025.
The first two ships, the future USS Constellation and USS Congress, which are under construction at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, will be completed. The remaining four ships that were under contract have been canceled.
Perfect timing for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
This year’s Deer Camp is the 30th Anniversary Edition. That’s not nearly as long as my neighbors multi-generational traditions but as a latecomer to big game hunting it’s fine by me.
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| Brandy from the land of my birth |
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| Bobby’s homemade smoked Hungarian sausage |
This was followed by venison chili dogs and Lawyer's gourmet venison bolognese.
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| My infamous homemade navy bean soup built upon a foundation of Marchant’s smoked pork hocks. |
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| Jägermeister. Ja! |
Raw beef and onions on marble rye and a half a dozen kinds of cheese, sourdough bread, French baguettes and washed it down with adult beverages from the peninsula stretching all the way to Europe.
The humble hard boiled egg
is the perfect deer stand snack you can fit in the pocket of your parka.
Thanks guys for another hunt in the record books…..
In the corner of the garage while tidying-up for winter was this.
The skeletal remains of a tree frog.
How do I know?
Dissection of frogs in biology classes.
The quarter laid next to it is for scale.
Medical examiner rules tree frog. Cause of death; lost and subsequently perished by natural causes.....
Yes; 30 years of chasing deer. Can you believe it? The Deer Camp is celebrating a Thirtieth Anniversary.
Even the bear is getting in the game.
Cleaning-up and getting things ready for winter The Missus fetched the cushions from the chairs on the porch and stored them in the garage.
Some mouse is going to be pissed about his stash of seeds and a mother lode of an acorn being swept-up in fall chores...
By the time you read this post we'll be afield and attempting to fill some deer tags. Here are some additional digital images of the local boy whitetails...
Yo!
Deer Camp Pals....
Been perusing some older digital photos in the collection and came
across this one. It was taken during a rain-sodden deer camp in
November of 2005.
The perspective is looking west out of the second floor blue bedroom.
Except for low-light conditions there was no way a whitetail could sneak
across this stretch of territory without being vulnerable.
Twenty years later - not so much. It's some dandy permanent cover out there nowadays. A real forest...
In the Roman Catholic tradition of the Christian faith there is Saint Hubert. Hubertus or Hubert was the first bishop of Liège in 708 AD. A patron of metalworkers, mathematicians and opticians he is considered the patron saint of hunters, archers and hunting dogs.
Born into nobility in 656 Hubert was raised in the Catholic faith yet was not particularly devout. His interests were primarily mastery of those skills and weapons of the time that would benefit his interest in hunting and as a mounted soldier. Moreover, as a member of the privileged class seeking other worldly pleasures.
Hubert married a woman named Floribonne who tragically died after the birth of their son Floribert. Hubert was grief-stricken, confused and so angry with God that he turned from the faith that his wife had sought to rekindle to focus on secular pursuits.
His devotion was to the hunt and not to God.
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| Prague |
As a consequence, Hubert renounced all claim to titles and wealth, turning everything over to his younger brother including the custody of his son. Hubert became a student under Lambert of Maastricht and was eventually ordained a priest.
Hubert evangelized the Ardennes Forest region - inspiring Christians and converting pagans. His title became Apostle of the Ardennes. Following Lambert's death Hubert was appointed bishop of Maastricht and later first bishop of Liège.
Hubert died of natural causes in 727. His legacy of hunting ethics and fair chase continues to this day in the rigorous and extensive hunter education courses of many European countries.
And if you look carefully, on every bottle of Jägermeister you will find this...
A couple of days before deer camp a hunter's wife puts her foot down and
tells him he has to stay home and whittle down his honey-do list of
chores.
The fella's friends are upset and understandably disappointed that he
cannot join them at camp. Alas, they are powerless to do anything about
it. Two days later the crew has gathered at deer camp. A fire is
stoked in the wood burner. Blaze orange bibs and parkas are hung in the
fresh air on the porch. Even the boots toe the line. Firearms are
carefully stacked on the gun rack at the back door. Bunks are claimed
and everyone is enjoying a refreshing adult beverage and shooting the
bull in the testosterone-infused atmosphere.
Suddenly the dogs bark as the door from the garage opens and the heretofore grounded hunter materializes.
Dang dude! How did you manage to talk your wife into letting you go?
Sidling-up to the kitchen counter and opening a beer the hunter explains...
This morning I was sitting in my chair feeling poorly when my wife came up behind me.
She put her hands over my eyes and said - 'guess who?' I pulled her
hands away and was surprised to see she was wearing a flimsy negligee
from Victoria's Secret.
A collective gasp emanates from the group as the hunter continues.
Then she took my hand and pulled me over to our bedroom. The room had
candles and rose petals all over. On the bed she had handcuffs. There
were ropes too. She told me to tie and handcuff her to the bed.
Another collective gasp from the rapt audience.
You know I follow directions - so I did what she told me to do. Then she said - 'Do whatever you want.'
So, here I am.....
Fast Fact: This year is the thirtieth anniversary of our deer camp. Huzzah!
Co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of the Old Crow Medicine Show - Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973 and Secor added the verses 25 years after the fact. This version of the song was certified Platinum in 2013.
Great music knows no boundaries. CMT Crossroads shows the far-reaching roots of country music by pairing country artists with musicians from other genres. Each episode will feature a different set of stars playing together, swapping stories and sharing their common love of music.
A reprise from last week's selection; Kesha and Old Crow Medicine Show collaboration on a country classic - Wagon Wheel....
Godfrey C. Danchimah Jr. (born July 21, 1969), known as Godfrey, is an American comedian and actor who has appeared in multiple venues to numerous to list.
Enjoy this YouTube Short....
Since Wisconsin's annual gun deer season is nigh-upon us it seems fitting to post some images of the local boys...
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