At Least We've Seen The Last of January...

…and today, at this latitude, we have a full ten hours of daylight.

Extremely important election coming up on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

The upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court  election  will  determine the future of Wisconsin in several ways: 
• gerrymandering, and the right to have our votes count, 
• women’s health and reproductive freedom, 
• others.

The election on February 21 is a non-partisan primary, with four candidates running. Two are reasonable people (Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell) and two are MAGA fundamentalists. We voters can vote for only one candidate, with the two highest vote-getters facing off in the general election in April.

The current election maps as they are drawn by the Wisconsin Republican legislature, and approved by Republican dominated court, are extreme, virtually guaranteeing minority rule. If we had a constitution like Michigan’s we could do what they did and pass a referendum establishing a skilled, non-partisan commission to draw election maps. But the only way to fair maps in Wisconsin is through the state Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court will also determine the fate of women’s health in Wisconsin, which now is governed by an 1849 criminal abortion statute.

It seems to me that reasonable people who care about democracy and freedom would want to vote for either Janet or Everett, but I worry that by doing so we will split the vote and allow the MAGA candidates to win. I also worry that the Republicans who will be spending many millions on attack ads will do to Everett what they did to Mandela.

I am therefore going to vote for Janet, and I am encouraging everyone else to do the same.

Big Hole

Amazing what some bubbles can do.

Photo by Bri

The air hose lies on the bottom of the lake…winter, spring, summer, and fall. But, about this time of year, when the weather is cold and the ice is thick, the Lake Association, in a desire to provide oxygen to the fish, wants to turn on the compressor, far away, on shore. First an area larger than a football field has to be roped off and marked—which we did. Then the air is turned on and bubbles start rising from the lakebed up about 20 feet to the ice above. I find it incredible that, over one night, when the temp is below zero, a few bubbles can penetrate 13 inches of ice and create a pond.

Back in Whitewater now, where Sue has done a magnificent job of clearing nearly a foot of snow from the drive and walks. Big change from clean streets bare grass a few days ago.

Here’s the action from two nights ago. (Finally got the video to work.)

Save The Fish…

… on Pickerel Lake. Time to hook up the aerator so that even with a thick ice cover the finny folk will have oxygen. That means roping off a big patch of lake so that snowmobilers don’t go swimming. That means augering holes in the ice, inserting posts, and stretching line. This evening, just as darkness was descending, we got in the four corner posts which define the area. Only 60 more to go tomorrow.

Busy Birds…

….consuming about two feeder refills a day. This photo doesn’t show the frenzy.

They like it here because we try to buy food with ingredients birds like, which is not cracked corn. Nobody likes corn except the bird seed suppliers, and they like it because it’s cheap.

Light snow all day, but that didn’t stop us from breakfast at Natalie’s. In other news, today I graduated from physical therapy—almost as good as new.

From Snow to Slick

A coating of ice along with a dusting of snow back in Whitewater. Driveway and sidewalk treacherous.

Now a few photos from the past few days.

The view from a table in the Backwater Bar, where we stopped for a burger on the way home from the ski races. Seen here is a bend in the Wisconsin River, which, btw, is 420 miles long, from the UP-Wisconsin border to the Mississippi by Prairie du Chien.

A view of the marsh alongside Squirrel Lake.

A rather scenic driveway.