Tippy Canoe

Checked-out another local watering hole tonight on the drive to The Platz.

Tippy Canoe - located in Euren, WI - roughly three miles south of the Door/Kewaunee line and just east of Casco.  Been a number of years since I've been here and it's under excellent, new ownership.

Awesome beer selection, great food, fast and friendly service.  Good value too.  Don't be surprised if you run into a Green Bay Packer team member here.

click on that amber bock to enlarge

By the way - those are homemade potato chips with that cheese burger.

Almost smacked a deer on the road just west of the house.  Time to sharpen-up my 'deer eye'.

Transitions

Some of the deer around here have begun to transition from their summer appearance to their fall/winter appearance.

Shedding their ruddy, roan summer coat for the dull gray of the colder months and the the velvet that has covered their antlers.

But not all.

click on images to enlarge

These pictures were all taken within three days of one another...

 

 

The Big Survey - Part 2

We live on a swamp.

Drilling down to some of the granular details about the history of The Platz as I mentioned yesterday the original survey notes are to be found online at the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands webpage. 

It is particularly useful to be the corner of the quarter section because the Government Land Office surveyors under the direction of Sylvester Sibley surveyed the west property line traveling north between Sections 15 (The Platz) and 16 immediately to the west.  The southern property line (now a county road) is between Sections 15 (The Platz) and 22 to the south - this was surveyed west (corrected).  

Original field notes are below - the notation about the "sluggish stream" refers to Silver Creek which is coincidentally in almost the same location.  Somewhere along the chain of ownership the creek has been "straightened" but it's still there.

click on images to enlarge

Field notes are particularly helpful to note what was growing on the landscape during pre-settlement times.  Pine, hemlock, butternut, ash.  "Lands poor" - much of it swamp.  The size of Witness Trees (emblazoned by the surveyor to mark their progress) is noted.

The Affidavit

And Miscellaneous Comments about the landscape and topography of the Township

 

I'm not surprised about the swamp reference.  The Platz is to be noted for having a high water table.  Post-settlement agricultural practices altered much of the landscape with straightening of stream courses, building ditches and laying drain tile.  It's wet for sure but not year-round.  Nevertheless, we live on a swamp.

The Big Survey - Part 1

I have had history on my mind lately.  Must have something to do with all of the money we've been throwing at the old barn to get it ready for the next 120 years of its life.  Too be fair it is the oldest and only remaining original building on the property - so it's deserving of the attention.

In any event one of the best sources of historical info have been the original survey notes that can be found online at the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands webpage. 

If you can believe it this property was surveyed by Sylvester Sibley in December of 1836. Imagine that.  No roads, no inns, no significant settlements - no nothing but wilderness.  Wisconsin was still a territory and it would be almost another dozen years until statehood in May of 1848.

But the Government Land Office knew that if they wanted to tame the wilderness and settle the landscape everything starts with a survey.  With good records and order imposed upon the wild landscape white settlement would follow.

The Platz is located precisely in the lower left hand corner of Section 15 - two 40 acre parcels arrayed south to north. 

Cover page from the original field notes..

Original sketch of the Township..

 Original plat map of the township...

click on images to enlarge

 

Does and Fawns

Who doesn't like to see does and their fawns?  All of that cuteness is just too much to stand.  That is - of course - until you realize that this is tomorrow's dinner on the hoof.  But I digress.

Nice picture of a doe in maternal protective mode.  It's easy to note that something has got the attention of mama - She's on high alert, probably snorted (getting the fawn to raise the alarm with that distinctive white tail) and she's begun to stamp her foot.

 click on image to enlarge

I've seen this sort of behavior while bow hunting - but this is the first example photographed.

Meal for an Owl

Photo taken by a trail camera with IR (infrared mode - no visible flash) of a bunny.  

click on image to enlarge

There were actually three photos.  A bunny, a blurry hopping bunny and this bunny.  It occurred to me that there is always the possibility of one of the cameras one day capturing a raptor pouncing on one of these members of the bottom of the food chain.

Bunny is a meal for an owl...

The Big Pour

Nothing like watching a big cement mixer dump a load.  Makes an old guy feel like a kid for a change.


Raising a toast to concrete flat work...