Good old-fashioned…

…March winds. Cold and eye-watering up wind, delightful down, jarring from the side—when riding.

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats...

…otherwise known as CRISPR. An ancient way for bacteria to fend off and immunize themselves against viruses—and now the basis of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system that has given us the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

All of which is the basis of the new book I’m reading, The Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson. A bit of a mix of People Magazine and Scientific American. The pure science is fascinating. The competition to commercialize and the patent wars, not so much. The bio-ethics or gene editing and designer babies stuff mind bending.

I think the last few chapters could be the best part—where RNA meets Covid 19. We’ll soon find out.

Chicken Saga…

…part 3. The chickens are fine! No bumble foot! Just poopy foot. And after a clean-up and a good soak in chlorhexadene all is well.

Addendum: Don't Count Your Chickens Until...

…you check them out. Apparently today’s chickens have bumble-foot, a bacterial infection, and need to be returned to the vendor. Moral: ???

Chicken Express

Last night’s blog included a photo of the baby chick tub at the local True Value, where I went to grab a bag of potting soil for my 30 shagbark hickory seeds. Little did I expect that anyone would find the photo to be of interest.

However, Abby, the chicken expert, noticed it, and immediately asked me to go buy some. Apparently covid has disrupted the baby chicken supply, and chicks are hard to come by. Her standing order has been pushed back into late April.
So at 8 a.m. this morning I was at the hardware store shopping for birds. I bought four of them. I think I bought two buff orpingtons, one ameraucana, and one silver-laced polish—though the last one was supposed to be a silver wyandotte, or something like that.
Next step was to keep them alive and deliver them to the chicken farm in Cedarburg.

Note: the birds were alive and chirping when delivered.

Puddles…

…and a powerful March wind.

Whitewater Lake

True Value Hardware. I didn’t buy any.

And 30 shagbark hickory seeds planted in peat pots. The nuts were locally gathered, chilled in the garage over winter, and passed the ‘float test.’ (They all sank.) I am therefore, optimistic we will have seedlings to spare of these great native trees.

Warm..

…and damp, and and now, a little much needed rain.

Morning at Imagination Station…

…with the Nies kids, then a picnic lunch at Fowler Park.

And then, there was ice cream!

Spring Peepers…

…on the second day of spring. Even though we are quite dry in these parts.

The prairie could use a burn, but too dry and windy for such a thing today.

And, speaking of basketball, my bracket is totally busted. The Big Ten has bombed out.

Happy Birthday Mimi

Daylong gathering and then evening party at the Janowiec’s in Cedarburg.

Keep On Truckin’

Afternoon of hauling stuff from O’wock Nies abode to storage unit.

Photo taken yesterday at Roger’s barn

Because…a rolling stone…

March Winds…

…in fact, rather extreme March winds, dropping branches here and there.

Blowing in the wind

Meanwhile, iceboats to the barn for their long summer’s nap.

Moving Iceboats…

…toward their summer home on a chilly, rainy day.

Photo above by a fellow named Baumgarten and sent by Murray and Elaine.
NCAA tournament brackets filled out.

Home Again…

…to snow on the driveway. On the up side, we missed the snowfall, and it will be gone tomorrow.

Hellebore does not mind a little setback, either.

Big Bertha…

…as the giant white pine is affectionately known. And then, 3 big red pines proving that some trees enjoy close company.

Sal and Glenn off this morning after world famous waffles, and with vivid memory of last night’s Sequence match in which one gender failed miserably.

Riddled With Bullets

At the Little Bohemia Lodge, where the Dillinger gang met the FBI, in Manitowish Waters.

And this evening a couple of pizzas from the Flame restaurant around the flame here in the cabin.

Conversation…

…something fun after a year of its lack. Sally and Glenn here in Flambeau for a few days.

Up North…

…among the big trees at the Janowiec cabin. Cool, calm, and quiet. Pax and I had a long walk in the woods.

And, what do you do as dusk descends across hill and hollow? Watch basketball. Go Illini.

A Year Later

First time in a year!

Breakfast at Natalie’s Park View Restaurant.

Rain In The Forecast…

… but none hitting the ground. A wash down would be welcome—but still a pleasant early spring day.