Back Patio Chat…

…with neighbor Patrick, retired attorney from California. Moved to Whitewater a few years ago. Got elected as City Attorney. Serves on the Urban Forestry Commission (which I have recently been appointed to), provides pro bono legal advice to the startup Co-op. Etcetera.

It’s his opinion that the midwest is really the best place to live, and Wisconsin is probably the best place in the midwest. And even poor Whitewater has its charms, especially for someone who likes being involved.

Fun to have a highly educated, sophisticated, articulate friend, especially one who likes bike riding and is skilled in the art of conversation.

Samara Snow

All the silver maples in town let their seeds fly in today’s big wind. Countless numbers.

I don’t know of any wildlife that really appreciates this offering. I find them crunchy, mealy, and green tasting, a bit like raw soybeans. Perhaps a stew of maple samaras and 17 year cicadas would be just the thing.

Garden Planted…

…on the assumption that frost is in the past, and rain will come. Happy to say that a little rain is falling even now, and we can hope that there’s more on the way, more than just enough to settle the dust.

Beets are the main crop. Then some winter squash, a few tomatoes, basil, and cilantro. And because we are here and not elsewhere, cucumbers and pole beans in small quantities. Oddly, I was unable to find cherry tomato plants, which goes to show the hazard of not starting your own from seed.

Meanwhile, the garage renovation continues. Long hours by Mimi behind the paintbrush.

What? Sunday Already?

Action packed weekend on both fronts. Nies family fully moved to new house while the girls joined the Janowiecs at Flambeau for quite a bit of everything.

Rowing across the big lake

Rowing across the big lake

To find an eagle overlooking things

To find an eagle overlooking things

But then moving to a different perch

But then moving to a different perch

Lots of big bass

Lots of big bass

And lots of tie-dye

And lots of tie-dye

Beautiful Day…

In the neighborhood.

Warming up, but still very dry. Planted two little bare root Shrubby St. John’s Wort (Hypericum prolificum) twigs—native shrub, bee magnet, and good to look at. Deer resistant. With luck we will have, in a few years, beautiful big bushes occupying the few sparse places at the edge of the yard.

The Boat Fits…

…in the readjusted garage.

So little rain that the creek is running low and clear.

Plenty of room when you get rid of a lot of junk, especially when you have a narrow boat.

Lunch with Tom and Mary, indoors, at Paddy Coughlin’s in Fort. Small crowd, well spaced out, and, we can assume, all well vaccinated like us.

Finally, internet service has been restored. After observing the tech, I’ve realized I could have done the repair myself, though more slowly and without the fancy connectors. And, I’ll be ready for the next time I go nuts with the cutting pliers.

Pretty Chilly, Mostly Cloudy

And yet the garden flower bed extension got finished, and the garage paint job neared completion.

Operating with the best intentions but in thoughtless mode, yesterday, attempting to be helpful and to get the garage more presentable and paintable, I took a side-cutter to the tangle of wire that had accumulated there over the past decade or more. Thanks to inviolable law of stupidity, two of the wires I cut provided our internet service. Realization, of course, came a nanosecond after the snip.
My attempts at repair faltered when I hit some specialized ATT connectors, so a technician was scheduled, surprisingly for this afternoon. No sign of such a person, as of the present, however. So we continue to limp along using a cellular hotspot.

Trim and Pictures

Trim bushes and take a few photos, at the new house, on what was not really a work day. Nonetheless, the bushes got chopped, and James caught a grub, also known as a “grump,” but during lunch, in a moment of inattention, Paxton ate it, much to the chagrin of the hunter.

Sod Busting…

…and garage painting.

This is going to be a mini annual flower garden, which is a new idea for those of us who have a tradition of not being here much in the summer.

And, the garage is being transformed.

But also, time out to attend the Urban Forestry Commission’s dedication of a new purple martin house.

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So Much Fun…

…I didn’t remember to photograph any of it.

Walked with Ben and James from Victoria Lane to Fowler Park and then around the east side of Fowler Lake to the Roots bistro. We observed robins eating worms, crabapple blossoms, tulips and daffodils, a garbage truck, a big transport truck loaded with sewer pipes, a fork lift, lily pads, and a guy trying to fish up-wind, of which there was plenty, and plenty chilly too. Luckily, we got a lift back home and didn’t have to plow home with the wind on the nose.

GroCo Day

Whitewater Grocery Company, that is.

Four year anniversary of the beginning of an attempt to form a co-op grocery store here in Whitewater. As owner #73 out of the current number of 743 I had become frustrated by the slow pace of progress. According to co-op guidelines, 780 members are needed before anything much can really happen.

I therefore, about a year ago, decided to stick my oar in, to try to goose the process—my philosophy being, of course, that a membership drive should actually have some drive to it, and that people like engaging in things rather than just picking up a brochure or a wooden spoon. I therefore developed a number of quizzes that passers-by can interact with. At today’s event (disappointingly small) my Goofy Food Quiz got a lot of laughs—and one new member.