Glacial Drumlin

Perfect day for a ride. On the Glacial Drumlin Trail. This time from Sullivan to Jefferson, just over 10 miles. Sue was kind enough to drop me off at the start point and pick me up at the end point. And while I was riding, she and Pax walked, hung out in a park, and read books.

IMG_6080.jpeg
IMG_6081.jpeg

Mostly a tunnel of trees, an arching canopy, sometimes low enough to give a thwack on the helmet or require a quick duck of the head. Old RR right of way, sometimes elevated, sometimes sunken like the Natchez trace. All gravel or compacted dirt. A feeling of wild, although never very far from a highway. Just over 10 miles, with an average speed of 14 mph, and a fun factor of 9.8. A covid adventure par excellence.

Clogged Eavestroughs…

…causing overflow. In between storms, gelatinous globs of late season pear leaves mixed with recent, though mushy, maple samaras were removed, and then the gutters ran clear. After the first storm, conditions remained tropical, but late in the afternoon a lovely cold front blew through, and now—windows wide open, and a little light rain being swirled around by a vigorous north-west wind.

Adjustments.jpeg

How To Tomato…

…as well as, how to beet, chard and radish.

Adjustments.jpeg
IMG_6019.jpeg

Also, how to hosta (although there’s not much how to when it comes to hosta). (They just make for nice photos. )

The best way to do it, at least around here at this time of year, is between 6 and 7 a.m. before the sun overtops the wall of trees to the east. It’s quite nice. Still pleasantly cool. Not too many, bugs (surprisingly). Gentle breezes. Lingering birdsong.
Enjoyable to shuffle along on either side of a row of beets, reaching down now and then, to pull a galinsoga, purslane, or bindweed. And done daily, it’s not at all a chore.
First, of course, a few drips from the coffee cup by way of offering and thanksgiving for all the growing things (weeds, too, I suppose). Then the joy of whisking away, with the collinear hoe, those things with the temerity to grow in the wrong place. Then the satisfaction of deftly wielding the watering wand, giving the roots a drink but not spritzing the leaves too much.
We are experiencing a dry period here in SE Wisconsin right now, but in spite of that, growth is rampant. And, rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Time to go pull a few radishes for tonight’s salad.

Gazpacho…

…chilling in the new fridge.

IMG_6030.jpeg

Unfortunately, while the recipe calls for an Italian frying pepper or or some other long, green pepper, I used two small, short green peppers, and now this lovely, chilled soup may be too hot to handle. We’ll find out tomorrow.

As for the weather, much better—light NE breeze (maybe even lake effect) so cooler and less humid. Windows open, air off.

And for garnish…

IMG_6026.jpeg

Early Morning Gardening…

…to avoid midday sun and heat.

IMG_6029.jpeg

An hour every morning and the garden comes under control (after several weeks of neglect). Looks like the possibility of a good beet harvest. Also: first radishes ready, tomatoes in and enjoying the growing weather, two varieties of winter squash set to see daylight in a day or two.

It’s been many years since the Whitewater yard and garden have had this much attention, and attention is a good thing, every so often.

Still Feeling Polemical

Garden work shortly after sunrise (to beat the heat), and other projects, but still unable to focus on much beyond the state of the nation.

Adjustments.jpeg

It’s not just the U.S. military occupying the streets of Washington, D.C., but also a number of heavily armed and equipped “officers” with no visible identification. According to the Washington Post all insignia and nameplates are absent or have been removed, with members of this force unwilling to identify their branch of service or chain of command.

What we have here is an incognito, unaccountable black-ops force “dominating” the streets of D.C. —controlling and threatening legitimate protesters.

Insistent investigation by a number of news organizations eventually identified this stealth force as coming from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, under the direction of William Barr.

This is absolutely terrifying—possibly the American equivalent of the Nazi SS or the Soviet KGB—in our nation’s capital. 

Clearly, the Trump administration has strong totalitarian tendencies. I don’t think it far fetched to imagine that another four-year Trump/Barr term could see unidentified black-ops forces breaking into American homes and “disappearing” dissidents.

This line of reasoning brings me to a very strange place—something of an alignment with organizations like the Posse Comitatus, Sovereign Citizen movement, and other ultra right-wing militias that fear the federal government.

But of course, that’s absolutely wrong. The most likely scenario in a totalitarian takeover is that these paramilitary organizations become enlisted in the effort; after all, they share the same fundamentalist, anti-democratic, authoritarian, white supremacist motivations. Just like the SS.

No, the best way for me to deal with my fear of a police state is to work to make sure that Trump (and his gang of thugs) is removed from office.

Picnic & Ride

Meeting with Bri at Dousman (alongside the Glacial Drumlin Trail) for a JJ Sandwich and chat (one half hour), and then some trail biking (one half hour). Business power lunch?

IMG_6014.jpeg
The grand prairie hickory

The grand prairie hickory

Stats on ride part: Duration-29 minutes, Distance-7.5 miles, Average speed-15 mph, Top speed-25.5 mph.
And it was hot—over 90.

Later, Pax and I went for a hot walk in the prairie.

Forest Bathing

It’s a real thing; you can pay money to have someone guide you through a bath.

But, no guide necessary here—just follow the path…the big loop path…down the drive, by the TotoTom pier, past the big, raised bed garden (under construction), alongside the chicken coop, and then along TotoTom Lake to the point, where you turn to ascend the ridge, keeping Interlachen Lake on your right, eventually wending your way back toward the cabin where you follow the flagstone path around to the flight of stairs leading back down to the boathouse. And, the whole way, all along the route, enjoy the company of trees—many trees, a variety of trees, magnificent trees. Red oak, red pine, white pine, birch, hemlock, locust, alder—and some of these trees have been here for ages. Big Bertha, a towering white pine, challenges two people to reach around her trunk and is perhaps 150 of more years old.

Oak

Oak

Fern

Fern

and Paxton wandering among the trunks

and Paxton wandering among the trunks