Friday Food Fun

Nick Offerman shows how easy it is to provide kids with healthy, farm-fresh snacks like pizza, taquitos, and fish sticks harvested straight off the vine. 

 Remember kids - if it comes from a plant it is healthy....

Don't Pay Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved to calm the bond markets yesterday after a recent selloff made mortgages and other consumer loans more expensive.

Bessent's move to increase repurchases of long-term government notes and bonds (increasing demand for them) is largely symbolic but could still help bring those costs down.

Wall Street is skeptical the relief will stick, given that the Treasury Department's purchases are quite tiny compared with the roughly $30 trillion market for government debt.

The reason any of this matters is that the bond market impacts how much it costs everyone — the government, consumers, and companies — to borrow money.  The bond market is getting squeezed from multiple directions.  It sure looks like we’re in for a spell of rising interest rates.  

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s unilateral war in the Middle East and de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz is feeding inflation all the while destabilizing global security and the world’s economy.  So much winning.

Yet we have gilded statuary, a ballroom, an airborne Qatari palace, reflecting pool and a triumphal arch.

Squirrel!

You Can Trust Your Car....

...to the man that wears the star. 

Used to promote the sale of their Fire Chief gasoline brand Texaco introduced this nifty firefighter helmet in the 1960s.  It was available exclusively through Texaco filling stations for $3.98 with a fill-up.  It became an iconic promotional item that any boy would want to have.  My little brother had one.

Naturally, it boasted the technology of the era with a transistor loudspeaker and a handset microphone powered by a 9v battery.  Same as your transistor radio. 

Next time I see my brother I'll endeavor to remember to ask if he still has his helmet.  Even if it's no longer working it might be worth $20+ on eBay.  An excellent condition, working model might fetch $75-$100 from a collector.  While a pristine model in the original box might command a price north of $400.

Who knew.... 

Graduating Class

Around here most whitetail deer fawns can be born from April through July, with late May thru early June the peak. Consequently, the local class of fawns have grown considerably as you can see in the first photo taken August 9.

 

 

They're getting bigger by the week.

 

A month ago the fawn in the second photo showed-up; a spindly newborn. 

  

 

This happens when a doe that wasn't bred during the main rut in November comes back into estrus in December.  Furthermore, it is not unusual that a fawn born in the spring of 2025 reaches sufficient weight to enter their first estrus later in the season. The bottom line is that a whitetail doe can be bred late as long as her biological timing is receptive to a buck. They're promiscuous animals.  

 

 

In any event, mama and this little runt have been showing-up regularly on the trail cameras.

 

 

 

​In the last run of the trail camera trapline I can tell you that with newborn fawns and turkey poults on the landscape; this year's graduating class is a big one for sure.

 

Further evidence that if you build wildlife habitat they will come...

Talk'n Turkey

Last week Doggo and I ran the trail camera trapline to so what's up in our summer woods. Wouldn't you know it, they've finally and at long last made an appearance.

We've had solitary hens...

We've had solemn long bearded gobbler bachelors processions....

We've had roving gangs of juvenile delinquent jakes...

And now there was this.  Whew!

Brood flocks of hens corralling their clutches of poults.  As a die-hard turkey hunter it is always encouraging to be witness to a successful graduating class....

Kermis

Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) that became incorporated in French and English. Its origins are originally associated with the mass said on the anniversary of the founding of a church (or the parish) and in honor of the Patron Saint.  Such religious celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries, in Central Europe and also in Northern France, and were accompanied by feasting, dancing, drinking and sports. 

The Dutch-American Village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has celebrated Kermis annually since 1981 with a street festival. The Wallonian settlements in Door and Kewaunee Counties have celebrated Kermis with traditional Belgian dishes and events for as long as anyone can remember.  

Traditionally, Kermis around here stretched over several calendar weeks as each small settlement - Namur, Brussels, Rosiere, Little Sturgeon, Forestville, Lincoln, Duvall and Casco celebrated the harvest and the life-giving bounty of food. 

The 2026 Belgian Kermiss Festival took place Sunday at the Belgian Heritage Center in Namur.  This historic harvest festival dates all the way back to 1858.  This event serves as the center's largest annual fundraiser; plus it's a terrific way to get your Booyah fix. 

 

The historic church, school and convent serve as the repository preserving the history and culture of the largest Walloon Belgian settlement in the United States.

 

 

Anyway, there were demonstrations featuring old school mechanized farm machinery powered by early gasoline engines. Cool stuff. 

 

 

 

But this caught my attention. 

 

Driven by the power takeoff on a modern Deere tractor this is technically a diesel-powered ice cream maker. 

 

 

Red Storm Rising

Apologies to the late great Tom Clancy.  One of my beloved and favorite authors who penned the classic alternate history novel; Red Storm Rising.  Get a copy as it has it all; radical Islamists, communists, submarines, nukes, Russians swarming thru the Fulda Gap into eastern Europe and a cold war turned hot.  The first time I picked it up I couldn't put it down.   

Shortly after COVID and early into my retirement I was invited to join a private Face Book group that discussed, argued-about and otherwise carried-on adult-like exchanges covering current affairs.

Regrettably, it seems to have become dominated by one or two particular individuals who have become the masters of cut-and-paste posts.  By that I mean cut and paste social media meme's and other similar material.  On rare occasions some of it might be substantive; but most of it is click bait.  They seem intelligently clever-enough and capable of producing original content so I don't get the emphasis on cut and paste.  But that's none of my business;  C'est la vie.

Early-on in my experience on that particular site much of what one individual had to say had to do with Marxists.  Everyone had to be on guard and extra vigilant about Marxists.  Apparently they lurked everywhere and were out to somehow make mischief, meddle in our governance and otherwise topple American society as we knew it.  

I was extra vigilant to be mindful of their potential to live-up to their reputation as No-goodniks.  The dogs and I looked for them daily while on our walks.  I looked for them in town, at the library and at the grocery.  I searched everywhere for these Marxists; even in the woodpile.  And in the end never found one.  At a minimum you'd think the dogs woulda flushed at least one stinkn' Bolshevik.  I came up with nothing.  Sigh.  

Now it seems I have to be on high alert for Islamists.  Apparently, everyone has to be on guard and vigilant over the creeping spread of radical Islam and the looming imposition of Sharia Law.  Considering the level of hysteria you'd think if I drove to Green Bay to go to Fleet Farm I would pass a forest of minarets on the trip.  

Between you and me the Belgian community I live in is Christian; mostly in the Roman Catholic tradition of the Christian faith. There is one Lutheran church just down the road in neighboring Kolberg; where German immigrants settled.

Yet not a single solitary mosque.

See; the Supremacy Clause guarantees there will never be the imposition of Sharia Law.  Or Catholic Canon Law or Judaic Halakha Law for that matter.  Perhaps they haven't read the Constitution?  But I digress.

Naturally, for my social-media soaked acquaintances there has been the recent rise of Democratic Socialists; who they dismissively refer-to as Communists.  Democrats are thusly Commies.  

I happen to know a great deal about this subject because I am a child of the Cold War.  I  don't scare very easily and and certainly Socialists and Communists don't scare me a bit.  That's because my formative years included a steady diet of the Red Baiting and Red Scare tactics.  So, on top of the clutching of pearls over radical Islam I gotta feeling that between now and the midterms we're gonna hear more and more about communism than normal; most of which will be child's play compared to old school, cold war-style, red-baiting.

For what it's worth, Bernie Sanders and candidate for governor Francesca Hong got nothing on this. And she lost the primary.....    

Quote of the Day

“No, no, no, not nearly long enough.”

- President Trump

Report From the Oriole Ranch

Adult male orioles are incredibly early migrators which would explain why I haven’t spotted one in more than three weeks. 

They’ve left the females and fledglings behind for a few weeks to finish growing and fueling up. 

Anyway,  earlier this week I spotted a couple of females (or fledglings) eyeing-up an empty feeder. The feeders are empty on account of yellow jackets and other hornets. Besides, with wild berries ripening and insect populations peaking visitors to the feeders have slowed. 

I asked someone who knows more about this than me and I’m told that here in Northeast Wisconsin, the local breeding Baltimore Orioles are officially concluding their season right now, and the birds I am seeing are likely preparing to leave this week.

I think they're gone!

 

Best practice is to leave only small amounts of jelly out to avoid spoilage and keep the birdbaths clean and fresh. 

I should expect some Canadian oriole stragglers passing but to expect warblers and other Neotropical migrants for a while. 

 

We're leaving the welcome mat out for a while.

 

Selected photos were taken over the last seven days. 

 

Click on image for a closer look 

 

Where's my grape jelly?

 

Adult and fledgling

A trio!  Which one is the adult?

Fledgling doing the "fledgling dance" for mom

House finch and oriole

 

Friday Music

Seems I cannot get enough of this song. 

Badfinger was a British rock band that recorded and released four consecutive hits between 1970 to 1972 - Come and Get It (written and produced by Paul McCartney), No Matter What, Day After Day (produced by George Harrison), and Baby Blue (written by Pete Ham and produced by Todd Rundgren).    

As the tale goes it is said that Ham wrote the song about a woman named Dixie Armstrong, whom he had dated during Badfinger's final US tour.  It was the group's last Top 20 single, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.  Forty years later the song reemerged to new fame and recognition when it was featured in the series finale of AMC's Breaking Bad - a reference to the distinctive blue methamphetamine produced by Walter White.  

 

Exceedingly nice cover by Stephen Cummings and Isabella Manfredi with the RocKwiz Orkestra...

August Astronomy

The Perseid happens to be the most spectacular Meteor Shower of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. The Perseid presents a high rate of meteors every year and it occurs in August when you can go out for an evening under the stars and swat mosquitoes.  

Orbiting the sun every 130 years the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth is the Comet Swift-Tuttle.  The nucleus of the comet is about 26 kilometers wide.  1992 was the last time it passed nearby Earth during its orbit around the sun.  Swift-Tuttle will return after we’re all dead and gone in 2126.

Nevertheless, because Earth passes through the dust and debris it leaves behind every year - it creates the annual Perseid meteor shower – and we have regular reminders.  This year should be a good year.

 

click on the sun to enlarge

Watching the meteor shower is actually observing the pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter the atmosphere and burn up in a bright streak of light.  In outer space this debris is referred to as meteoroids.  When they enter and burn-up in Earth's atmosphere they're referred to as meteors.   If a piece makes it all the way down to Earth without burning up, it is called a meteorite.   Most of the meteors in the Perseids are about the size of a grain of sand but if you’re lucky a few might be the size of a pea or a marble.

The Perseids will be active from around August 11 thru the August 13.  Maximum activity is predicted to occur on the early morning of August 12, when rates in excess of 1 per minute may be seen from skies without any light pollution.

 

You can learn more about the Perseids here.

 

 

Want More Wildflowers In Your World?

Because we have delineated wetland habitat out back between the house and Silver Creek we have to obtain DNR permits to manage invasive species and conduct prescribed burns.  Because we're both unqualified to do this ourselves we utilize professionals at NES Ecological Services to perform necessary land management practices.  If you visit their website you would learn that among other things they are a natural resource consulting firm focusing on wetlands, native habitat restoration and wildlife.  They're a division of the civil engineering firm, Robert E. Lee and Associates, and work with everyone from municipalities, utilities commercial and non-profit businesses, state agencies and individuals throughout Wisconsin.  They are not a landscaper as most people understand the term.

Several years ago we hired them to begin the process of restoring more of our yard to pollinator habitat.  Native wild flowers to be exact.  And as a consequence we've converted about an additional acre of turf grass into permanent natural cover.  It is truthfully a pollinator paradise, great to look at; and best of all, no mowing.

Anyway, a couple of days ago the crew was in the neighborhood to spot-treat last fall's planting which was formerly our big vegetable garden.

My vegetables are now grown in raised beds and I'm done with gardening on my hands and knees.  The previous year's project - the ancestral (and buried) house foundation - is coming-along really nice.  The Missus tells me a woodchuck has taken-up residence somewhere in there.  That's fine; as long as it's not the septic mound or the barn foundation.

And (not pictured) is a location along the side of the road; presently nuked turf grass that will be tilled and seeded this fall.  Our expectation is that by the summer of 2028 it will be spectacular to anyone driving-by.  And if you don't like beautiful roadside wildflowers there might be something wrong with you.  You might even be one of those godless communists or jihadists some of my acquaintances are getting themselves all lathered-up over.  

So, stay-tuned for periodic progress reports and how you might consider a professional habitat specialist, instead of a traditional landscaper, for naturalizing your landscape.  I wish I'd done it sooner.

You can learn more about NES Ecological Services here.

Wildflower Walk

Doggo and I ran the trail camera trapline after chores. And with a gentle rain falling decided to take a walk along one of the newly-cleared trails. 

 

Seriously, who doesn’t like to take a walk in the rain with their girlfriend?

 

Anyway, I wanted to take some photos of my observations from atop the tractor yesterday of what was blooming in our prairie.  Prairie species are not indigenous to the peninsula as prior to European settlement the landscape was boreal forest.  Nevertheless, since much was cleared for farming planting deeply-rooted native grasses and forbs enhances the wildlife benefits.  

 

ID is included with each image and right-click for a closer look.

 

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)

 

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)

 

Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum)

 

Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum)  It's almost an 8-footer!

 

Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)  I planted these along the creek decades ago. Having reached maturity we’ve been getting acorns recently. 

Canada Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense)

Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) 

A forest of Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)

False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)  Doggo and I had to brave the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) to take this photo.  

 Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)  A wild edible

Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)  It’s as tall as me! 

 

The Garden Chronicles

The raised bed garden is working as expected. My expectations were low; to basically provide a steady supply of fresh produce for a couple of adults. They’re crowded yet the learning curve is short and it’s easy peasy to sow additional produce as you go. 

 

 

If I felt inclined to can pickles or something else there’s farm stands locally and a weekly market in Sturgeon Bay. There’s even a local neighbor who raises mushrooms and micro greens. 

 

Best of all, nobody’s gonna recall my lettuce or spinach for causing diarrhea.  And by the time February rolls-around I might commit high crimes and misdemeanors for my daily fresh tomato fix.

  

 

Raising a toast to an additional 18 inches of elevation….

Bushwhacking

 

From July 18 you can see how overgrown the trails are.  The Mule is basically half visible above the grass and weeds and you cannot see the dog.

 

So, earlier last week I swapped-out the blades and checked the gear oil on the Rhino, fluids and fittings on the tractor and hitched everything-up.  I got the north trail cleaned-up afterwards and on Saturday finished the rest with the exception of clearing the campsite alongside the creek.  

 

  

3.5 miles of trails brushed, including a location for the last deer stand this old hunter’s gonna build. 

 

 

 

That Rhino brush hog predates the blue tractor and if I had to hazard a guess might have close to a thousand hours under its belt. 

 

 

I didn’t keep count but I’d bet I shifted a dozen dead ash off the trail using nothing but the bucket on the New Holland. Sure beats wagging a chainsaw around. 

 

 

Check-back tomorrow for a virtual walk along one of the newly-cleared trails to see what's blooming in the pollinator habitat.

 

Meanwhile, raising a toast to high pressure hydraulics….

Uncle Remus And Modern Analogue

One of the most famous of trickster stories in the Uncle Remus collection was written by Joel Chandler Harris and published in 1881, The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story.  

As the story goes, Br'er Fox constructs a sticky doll out of a lump of pine tar and turpentine and dresses it in some clothes.  Along comes Br'er Rabbit who politely addresses the figure but receives no response.  Offended by what he perceives as the tar baby's lack of manners Br'er Rabbit loses his temper and throws a punch resulting in his fist becoming hopelessly stuck in the tar.  Enraged, Br'er Rabbit strikes with his other paw, followed by kicking with both feet and ending with a head butt leaving him completely entangled in the grip of the Tar-Baby.

In a continuation of Harris' tale several stories later there is the ending; How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp For Mr. Fox.   

With his nemesis helplessly stuck, Br'er Fox speculates on how to dispose of Br'er Rabbit.  The powerless, yet cunning rabbit pleads; Do anything you want with me - roast me, hang me, skin me, drown me - but please, Br'er Fox, don't fling me in that briar patch.  The sadistically-inclined Br'er Fox gullibly believes that this will inflict the maximum pain on Br'er Rabbit so he tosses him directly into the briars.

Finding himself in the thorny thicket, the resourceful rabbit easily escapes and taunts the fox with; I was born and raised in the briar patch!  

The roots of this tale likely find their origins in the oral traditions and folklore of enslaved Africans that were collected by Harris during the reconstruction period following the war between the states. 

Br'er Rabbit is the personification of the West-African trickster; a metaphor of a physically weaker individual who relies-upon quick thinking and psychology to outwit the stronger aggressor.  The Tar-Baby is a euphemism for a sticky and complex problem that worsens the more someone struggles against it. 

My introduction to this tale dates to my early childhood and I really haven't thought much about it since.  

Until recently.

Even after six and a half decades and a fable dating back almost 150 years-ago,  I am mindful of a sticky situation half-way around the world complicated by the impulsive actions of one solitary man, seemingly out-witted by a weaker foe.

I sure hope he extricates himself from this to every American's mutual satisfaction as I want policy that improves your and my prosperity and general lot in life.  

Along with making the world a safer place.

Dairy Trivia

The advertisement pictured is a charming piece of 1950s northeast agricultural history.  Sneider's Dairy operated out of Menominee, Michigan immediately adjacent to Marinette, Wisconsin.  And directly across the bay to the north.  The four digit phone number (3533) is the clue that solved the riddle. 

Bashful Bessie was the dairy's answer to Borden's Elsie the Cow.  

Bessie's long eyelashes and the pun - It's In The Bag (udder) was a characteristic of the wholesome imagery of that era.  Same for the doctor recommendation.  With the introduction of rural electrification and expansion of pasteurization and homogenized milk the scientific achievement in food safety was worth crowing-about.

Growing-up we had a milkman who delivered a couple of times a week leaving glass bottles of milk in the box on our doorstep.  Sealtest Dairy if memory serves.

Can you pick me out in the photo?

The packaging in the advertising is a wax-coated paper carton used for grocery store distribution.

Sneider's was a staple in the Upper Peninsula and Northeast Wisconsin for decades.  With the passage of time they were absorbed by larger regional dairy co-ops; yet vintage memorabilia like this shows-up in antique shops and on the interweb from time-to-time and is an interesting walk down memory lane for anyone interested in mid-century marketing and local history.