Friday, September 7, 2018
Friday Music
Emmylou Harris released the album Luxury Liner in 1976. While
there were no number one hits to come from this album it was Emmylou’s second number
one country album on the Billboard charts.
You Never Can Tell - C'est la Vie,
a Chuck Berry cover, did rise to sixth place. And the album will forever be
remembered for featuring the very first cover of Townes Van Zandt's 1972 song -
Pancho and Lefty. Gonna get me some
Emmylou Harris and Tulsa Queen…..
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Cherry Camp
The
fruit orchards made Door County famous and generations of teenagers worked at
Horseshoe Bay Farms famous Cherry Camp. Over 100 kids from as far away as
Chicago arrived at the camp each summer to pick cherries for several weeks. They were housed in the original Horseshoe
Bay Golf Club Clubhouse (the dormitory) on the shore of Green Bay. Camp
counselors included Green Bay Packer football players (the Cowles family sat on
the Packers Board for many decades) and high school coaches from Green Bay.
The dormitory included a mess hall and a canteen – the store where you could buy soda pop, candy, and other treats. Bathrooms were available, but mostly the participants cleaned-up by soaping up and plunging into the Bay. Outside the dormitory were a basketball court, baseball field and swimming dock. Boxing and horseshoes were other recreational options.
E
ach day started with
reveille and calisthenics outside. After breakfast, trucks would transport the
kids up the bluff to the orchards. The participants had to pick 7.5 pails of
cherries per day to cover room and board. After that, the boys could stop or
work toward profit. Lunch was served at the orchard.
photo - Door County Historical Museum
Quitting time came at 4:00 PM. Kids swam, played baseball or basketball, explored Horseshoe Bay Cave or just leaned against a tree with a bottle of soda. After supper, camp awards were given to the high pickers and candy bars to those who picked well. Every evening the pledge of allegiance was recited as the flag was taken down and taps were played.
Learn more about Horseshoe Bay Farms here.
The dormitory included a mess hall and a canteen – the store where you could buy soda pop, candy, and other treats. Bathrooms were available, but mostly the participants cleaned-up by soaping up and plunging into the Bay. Outside the dormitory were a basketball court, baseball field and swimming dock. Boxing and horseshoes were other recreational options.
E
ach day started with
reveille and calisthenics outside. After breakfast, trucks would transport the
kids up the bluff to the orchards. The participants had to pick 7.5 pails of
cherries per day to cover room and board. After that, the boys could stop or
work toward profit. Lunch was served at the orchard. photo - Door County Historical Museum
Quitting time came at 4:00 PM. Kids swam, played baseball or basketball, explored Horseshoe Bay Cave or just leaned against a tree with a bottle of soda. After supper, camp awards were given to the high pickers and candy bars to those who picked well. Every evening the pledge of allegiance was recited as the flag was taken down and taps were played.
Learn more about Horseshoe Bay Farms here.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Puzzler
Scrutinize these trail camera photos taken recently and tell me how many turkeys you count.....
click on the photos for a closer look
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Kermis
The nearby town of Brussels celebrated Kermis this past weekend. And while I am not of Belgian origins I have learned this from the interweb:
Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) that became borrowed in English and French, originally denoting the mass said on the anniversary of the foundation of a church (or the parish) and in honor of the patron. Such celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries, in Central Europe and also in northern France, and were accompanied by feasting, dancing and sports of all kinds.
The Dutch-American Village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has celebrated Kermis annually since 1981. The Wallonian settlements in Door County, Wisconsin, also celebrate a Kermis with traditional Belgian dishes and events. Kermis is often associated with the harvest and the life-giving bounty of food.
We’re celebrating our own harvest festival too.
On balance it has been a terrific year for gardening. Pretty much nailed it!
Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) that became borrowed in English and French, originally denoting the mass said on the anniversary of the foundation of a church (or the parish) and in honor of the patron. Such celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries, in Central Europe and also in northern France, and were accompanied by feasting, dancing and sports of all kinds.
The Dutch-American Village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has celebrated Kermis annually since 1981. The Wallonian settlements in Door County, Wisconsin, also celebrate a Kermis with traditional Belgian dishes and events. Kermis is often associated with the harvest and the life-giving bounty of food.
We’re celebrating our own harvest festival too.
On balance it has been a terrific year for gardening. Pretty much nailed it!
Monday, September 3, 2018
Locust Love
Now that September has arrived love is in the air. And the grasshoppers are courting, mating
and laying eggs that will produce the next generation.
I’ve lived a good long time and heretofore have not witnessed the grasshopper courtship ritual up close and personal. Perhaps my situational awareness has improved with age or maybe I'm learning to pay closer attention to the natural world around me. I don’t want you to get creeped-out by this or think that I am some sort of weirdo voyeur as my observations and photo chronology were quite clinical and very scientific. A day ago I encountered a couple of grasshoppers in my garden doing you-know-what so I brought them to the countertop in the garage for a closer look.
With a bit of web-browsing and observation this is what I've learned.
Male grasshoppers croon the grasshopper love song to summon a female. They do this by means of rubbing their hind femur against a forewing or rubbing a forewing against a hind wing. Tympana - eardrum-like structures on their abdomens - allow both male and female grasshoppers to hear. These come-hither songs are species-specific.
In any event, after hooking-up, the smaller
male grasshopper will mount the female and the female curls her abdomen up to
reach the male’s reproductive organ - called an aedeagus. In a paroxysm of arthropodic ardor the male delivers a
package of sperm called a spermatophore.
This act of mating can take from 45 minutes to a day and a half. Yikes!
click on the image for a closer look
With her eggs fertilized, the female will then seek to lay them using the same ovipositor used during copulation. She will use specialized horns on her abdomen to dig an inch or two into the ground, extend her ovipositor into the hole and lay a pod containing dozens of eggs. The egg pod is shielded by a thick covering that the female secretes during this process which later hardens. In warmer and moderate climates the eggs will hatch in a matter of weeks while in Wisconsin they will overwinter and hatch in the spring.
Yes, even in the insect world, reproduction is complicated stuff. The next time you read-up on old testament plagues just remember that it all starts with this. And yes - the conjoined hoppers were returned to the garden and left alone to finish their business......
I’ve lived a good long time and heretofore have not witnessed the grasshopper courtship ritual up close and personal. Perhaps my situational awareness has improved with age or maybe I'm learning to pay closer attention to the natural world around me. I don’t want you to get creeped-out by this or think that I am some sort of weirdo voyeur as my observations and photo chronology were quite clinical and very scientific. A day ago I encountered a couple of grasshoppers in my garden doing you-know-what so I brought them to the countertop in the garage for a closer look.
With a bit of web-browsing and observation this is what I've learned.
Male grasshoppers croon the grasshopper love song to summon a female. They do this by means of rubbing their hind femur against a forewing or rubbing a forewing against a hind wing. Tympana - eardrum-like structures on their abdomens - allow both male and female grasshoppers to hear. These come-hither songs are species-specific.
This act of mating can take from 45 minutes to a day and a half. Yikes!
click on the image for a closer look
With her eggs fertilized, the female will then seek to lay them using the same ovipositor used during copulation. She will use specialized horns on her abdomen to dig an inch or two into the ground, extend her ovipositor into the hole and lay a pod containing dozens of eggs. The egg pod is shielded by a thick covering that the female secretes during this process which later hardens. In warmer and moderate climates the eggs will hatch in a matter of weeks while in Wisconsin they will overwinter and hatch in the spring.
Yes, even in the insect world, reproduction is complicated stuff. The next time you read-up on old testament plagues just remember that it all starts with this. And yes - the conjoined hoppers were returned to the garden and left alone to finish their business......
Sunday, September 2, 2018
The Siege of Crailsheim
Some of you readers might know I was born in Stuttgart and raised on a US Army
installation in Crailsheim, Germany - McKee Barracks to be exact. If you didn't already know that - you do now. The town of Crailsheim has been around a long time and noteworthy
of old, walled, German towns also has a colorful history.
During the internecine warfare of the years 1379 - 1380 Crailsheim was under siege at the hands of more powerful neighbors from the cities of Schwäbisch Hall, Rothenberg and Dinkelsbühl.
The armies that had laid siege to Crailsheim were attempting to cause the surrounded town to submit by means of starving the citizenry. After some time had passed they figured they were close to forcing the townsfolk to capitulate when the encircled residents of Crailsheim resorted to an ingenious plan.
The women collected all the remaining flour to bake rounded buttocks-shaped pastries. These were hurled from the town walls in the direction of siege forces. At the same time, the mayor’s wife courageously mounted the town’s ramparts and revealed and displayed her magnificent buttocks to the attackers.
She mooned the invading forces!
Faced with this display of brazen abundance the besiegers realized the hopelessness of their efforts and disconsolately departed.
As the story goes, the mayor's wife's buttocks resembled a hairy ape - Haariger
Affe - or ‘Horaff’ in the vernacular of the locals. As a consequence (and in recognition of the heroine's
bottom) yummy Horaff pastry buns in the form of a lady's buttocks are baked
on the anniversary of Crailsheim’s victory. Everyone - including the children - delight in them.
It is a legendary symbol of the
resistance.
It's a fun story.
And quite true…
During the internecine warfare of the years 1379 - 1380 Crailsheim was under siege at the hands of more powerful neighbors from the cities of Schwäbisch Hall, Rothenberg and Dinkelsbühl.
The armies that had laid siege to Crailsheim were attempting to cause the surrounded town to submit by means of starving the citizenry. After some time had passed they figured they were close to forcing the townsfolk to capitulate when the encircled residents of Crailsheim resorted to an ingenious plan.
The women collected all the remaining flour to bake rounded buttocks-shaped pastries. These were hurled from the town walls in the direction of siege forces. At the same time, the mayor’s wife courageously mounted the town’s ramparts and revealed and displayed her magnificent buttocks to the attackers.
She mooned the invading forces!
Faced with this display of brazen abundance the besiegers realized the hopelessness of their efforts and disconsolately departed.
It's a fun story.
And quite true…
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Good Eats
There is most definitely a whiff of autumn in the summer air but we're not letting go. No siree. Not anytime soon.
Tonight there is this:
Built-upon a grilled Sheboygan hard roll from City Bakery is a Miesfeld's burger dressed with homegrown, homemade, kosher dill slices, sautéed garden onion, a dab of ketchup and yellow mustard, garden tomato and romaine with an additional dab of mayo. Cheese too. Messy but delicious.
Tonight there is this:
Built-upon a grilled Sheboygan hard roll from City Bakery is a Miesfeld's burger dressed with homegrown, homemade, kosher dill slices, sautéed garden onion, a dab of ketchup and yellow mustard, garden tomato and romaine with an additional dab of mayo. Cheese too. Messy but delicious.
click on images for a better look
Raising a toast to summer....
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