…where the Crawfish meets the Rock. Skating pond, beautiful timber frame warming house, ski trails—all built and maintained by volunteers.
Sue is making chop suey for dinner. Haven’t had that, if memory serves, since I can remember. On rice, with chow mein noodles. This ought to be good.
…back in the day...
Somehow, this photo ended up on the dresser in my bedroom and has remained there for well over a decade. I look at it every night, but can’t begin to figure out who is who. I know the boat is the famed Arrow, and the lake is Crystal Lake.
In other news, the Wombat is back! Sue and I got her out of Roger’s barn this afternoon, after an idleness of what, three years? With the weather pattern we are now experiencing—deep cold and little precipitation—I’m betting there will be lots of thick ice in lots of places, at least until the first of April. I’m imagining more than a few days with a fair breeze, bright sun, and the thermometer over the freezing mark. That could be fun.
Neighbor Bill had his TV go out this morning. And Bill gets up early.
So, early this morning we got a call (he has Sue’s number) asking if I might be able to look at a malfunctioning TV.
I walked over in my slippers, and, through a process of elimination, determined that the old semi-flat screen was more than semi defunct. I suggested buying a new one, and volunteered to help set it up.
Not long after I had shuffled home, we (Sue) got another call saying that a new TV had been acquired and wondering if I might I be available to set it up.
In case anyone is tempted to do something like this, I would advise looking behind an old TV console before you begin. Besides dust bunnies, you will find a rat’s nest of wires and cables.
But, in this case, in spite of the tangle, and in spite of password problems, and in spite the need to re-scan channels and make the remote universal, Bill got to the point where he could actually watch a football game. And, it only took two hours.
The rest of the day was tame by comparison.
on Pewaukee Lake. Very windy, very cold, with very hard ice, which means very fast.
Actually, too fast for me. Though I had Nite 165, I sat out the races. (Tony otherwise engaged.) I’m no longer strong enough, flexible enough, and crazy enough for this sort of thing. One probably shouldn’t be racing if if one has difficulty getting into and out of the boat.
Still—hard to beat just being outside, on the ice, experiencing winter at its finest.
Basement almost completely reassembled, and actually looking better than before the flood, in my opinion.
And then later in the afternoon, I removed all 50 temporary white tape tree tags in the area of the Arboretum where we had set up for a pair of University students to do a GIS tree ID project. I removed all the staples, too, although some of them were reluctant to come loose. It only seemed respectful, especially if some of these are mother trees. I’m withholding comment on the value of the student work.
…to Antler Circle, where the dreaded virus has, in spite of a prolonged defense, breached the ramparts. Nothing serious, thanks to vaccination and youth, but still an annoyance.
Mimi cooked up a storm, and Becca finally got her birthday present.
Carpet guys here until after six. What a tough job. Imperative to appreciate people who are willing to do that kind of brutal work.
(“There but for the grace of God go I.”)
Above, seed dispersal. Left to its own devices redbud would form thickets and groves.
Too cold to do much outside, and carpet installers getting in the way of doing much inside.
Made progress on Suzanne Simard’s book Finding The Mother Tree, a personalized account of her research on what goes on underground in the forest. She discovered that an amazing amount does go on, thanks to mycorrhizal networks connecting trees of many species into what has come to be known as the the “wood-wide-web." Mycorrhiza are various species of fungi that intertwine and sometime interpenetrate the roots of plants helping them obtain minerals and other nutrients. Simard discovered that without the fungus trees have little hope of surviving. She also found out that trees don’t just compete with each other for light and water but actually cooperate, sending nutrients and and medicines back and forth. The forest, she found, is a highly interconnected place, and as a result, can prosper. Clearcuts are bad.
Nice ice on Pewaukee Lake.
Six or more inches, but just too windy. Extremely windy. And very cold; thermometer dropping towards single digits. It was hard to walk away without launching, but the coming weekend looks promising.
Feeder needing two refills per diem. Definitely not tuppence a day. Busy place. Lots of squirrels, too, though this year none are trying to climb the pole.
And, speaking of food, last night’s dinner: jalapeno, cheddar, cornmeal, buttermilk waffles. Pretty tasty.
High of 10.
Above, the gas-fired peaker plant north east of Town. Lots of CO2 and lots of steam. On the upside, the plant practices cogeneration, and supplies heat to the university.
In other news, ice is thickening on all the local lakes, and sailing looks likely this weekend.
…chilly all day, with a dusting of snow, and down below zero tonight. Just what’s needed to make basement work enjoyable. Or would tolerable be a better word? Anyway, almost done, now that perfection has been deemed improbable. Below, shots from a winterized yard.
While paint was drying I signed up for a “Great Courses” course on Ancient Civilizations of North America, and sat through the first two lectures. While lectures are not the learning style I find most effective, I have acquired some knowledge, and will not walk out of the classroom.
Not an August Rodin or a Henry Moore, but, nonetheless, a piece of fine, if utilitarian, sculpture, fit for a throne room.
In that room, BTW, the repainted walls have been repainted and the replaced molding has been replaced, and things are starting to look good, even better than in their antediluvian state.
Sometimes when you want things done right you have to do them yourself.
Furthermore, TP rolls remind me of Jonathan Swift’s Big-Endians and Little-Endians (in Gulliver’s Travels). Are you an Over-Roller or and Under-Roller?
And…just an update…the red velvet cake came close to the Katy exemplar……………but not quite.
Too busy redoing the basement to work on the model boat. A hard day’s work down there, with countless trips up and down the stairs. (We are putting all that in the “exercise” column.) And, progress is being made.
The model boat, meanwhile, while being ignored today, is coming along, and so far has suffered no major failures. Getting close to the painting and rigging stages. Beginning to think that the project might actually make it all the way to completion.
For dinner tonight, Tourtiere, and afterward, red velvet cake—fingers crossed that it will be a good as the one Katy made up north.
Now that the basement remediation has wrapped up, the two of us are down there fixing everything that was done wrong, or at least not up to our standards. We hope to have all the repairs to the repairs done this week, before the new carpet arrives. There’s nothing like a good project.
In other news, a very large hawk needed shooing from the garage today, which for everyone was a bit scary. We think it swooped in in pursuit of a bird but then got disoriented. Fortunately for it and us, it was, unlike a cardinal several years ago, smart enough to finally swoop out. Many birds won’t go down in order to fly up, to freedom.
Onions, cabbage, hard bread…staple of the serfs during the middle ages. However, when a cabbage about to go bad is turned into braised cabbage with onion, apple, and honey, it’s not a bad dish. And when excess onions become French onion soup topped with baguette slices and a layer of Gruyère, it’s hard to complain. Then, when you add a Vienna beef hot dog slathered in gourmet mustard to the mix, you might almost think you were royalty.
The blower made quick work of the 3 to 4 inches of snow deposited last night. Tonight, clear and cold.
…and I’m not talking about the snow. We celebrated New Years this evening with a bottle of Prosecco and tuna melts from Natalie’s.
We may be a day behind, but I’m quite sure we will catch up.
Meanwhile, the snow has finally arrived, though I doubt it will amount to much now that the big blower has been fired up and is ready for service.
Back home, driving the last half hour in not-quite-freezing drizzle.
Significant snow forecast for tomorrow, so rather than fight it, we are back, and the big snowblower is out of Vi’s garage and crammed into ours. But, will the machine start tomorrow? That is the question (or at least a question). Perhaps we will find out next year.
Great time up north with Abby, Katy, and Will.
…with the proper gear, in the midst of winter, it’s hard to come inside, though when inside, by a crackling fire, it’s hard to think about going out.
Deep snow and very cold at Lac du Flambeau. Ice thick on the lakes.
Which makes a cup of tea and a fire on the grate especially nice. .