This and That…
…followed by round one of basketball tournament (won), and then a bite at Mazatlan in Delafield.
Coffee Shops
Some are very nice.
I’ve developed an interest since Covid, when the shops were inaccessible. And, I’ve started a list of the best—places worth a visit.
At the top of the list is Tranquil Buzz, in Silver City, New Mexico. Closer to home, but also very good are: Cafe 43 in Mineral Point, 2894 On Main in East Troy, and Sharla’s in Milton (see below). Other recommendations are welcome.
In other news, working to adjust to the new cold-weather regime. Just walking around the big block requires some determination. Quite certain I would not, as some folks do, be dipping in ice water.
Icing Up
Ponds and smaller lakes have frozen, though geese are working to maintain their goose holes.
Leftovers…
…and a big pot of turkey soup on the hob.
Photo by Bri. Sandwich fabricated by him at his place.
Temperature well below freezing all day.
Total Thanksgiving
Ping pong, dominoes, shwoop, and a fabulous full course dinner.
T’Giving Prep
Making progress.
Ice On The Puddles…
…cranes in the sky, bike in the shop (for its annual reset and restoration). Winter must be creeping slowly down from the north-country.
Dank and Dim…
…and chilly with a very little, very light rain.
T’giving prep, a little music, and escapist reading.
Drawn To The Water…
…on a fine day for a walk, on the remarkable circum-lacustrine Lake Geneva path. We also sat for a while just listening to waves along the shore. Therapy.
Bright morning giving way to a cloudy and cool evening with east wind and dropping glass, which we know presages bad weather, though none is in the forecast.
Prairie Sunset…
…and rabbit remains.
Two refills on the bird feeder, which seems a lot given the relatively mild conditions—pleasant enough for a very chilly late afternoon bike ride.
Earlier, I sent a comment on the proposed Whitewater Solar Farm to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin:
I’ve wanted solar on my home for quite a few years, but the site and orientation are not ideal. The next best thing, it seems to me, is community solar, or some kind of public/private partnership, and I’ve been advocating for that nearly as long. But, since neither home or community solar seems likely, it looks like I’ll have to settle for the private corporate variety.
The climate crisis is terrifyingly real to anyone who really pays attention, and we humans face a desperate need to stop warming the planet. Solar power is one proven and effective way to cut back on human caused heat pollution.
Therefore, while the proposed Whitewater solar farm is not my ideal choice, I support it. I would just like to be reassured that the project will not extract value from the community for the benefit of a few and leave us residents and taxpayers with the negative externalities/costs.
Concerns I have include:
using American-made equipment, not Chinese,
making sure there is a sound, adequately funded end-of-project restoration and recycling plan (bond?)
making sure that inverter noise is inaudible at the nearest habitation,
using creative and sufficient landscaping and screening,
using a method of installation and operation that is beneficial to the land and the community.
This last point might include using the space between panels for things like berry farming (agro-voltaics), limited regenerative grazing, prairie establishment, and the like. The solar farm property could also be a welcoming place for the community with the possibility of a trail or two, a picnic space, and perhaps even a campsite.
I’ve seen the signs opposing the Whitewater solar installation, but in studying the issues I find that mostly they are just NIMBY. A carefully planned and executed solar farm can meet all concerns, and actually be of significant benefit to the community (and the planet).
Lots Of Birds…
…including downey, red-bellied, nuthatch, chickadee, house finch, cardinal, jay, and lots of Little Brown Jobs.
Feeder nearly emptied in half a day.
“Our politics, economics, advertising, and religions (New Age and Old) are awash in credulity. Those who have something to sell, those who wish to influence public opinion, those in power…have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism.
As I've tried to stress, at the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes-an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive, and the most ruthlessly skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. The collective enterprise of creative thinking and skeptical thinking, working together, keeps the field on track.”
—Carl Sagan
More at: Compendium
Snow Comes Down and…
…bird feeder goes up.
Almost instant response—the feeder thronged, with almost all the local over-wintering species, and after a little spillage, several squirrels. I think memory is involved here—all the wild ones hungry and remembering and waiting.
Snow Squalls
And it felt good to get out and walk in them, though bike riding had to be done on the stationary bike at the fitness center.
Guests headed home, after a good dose of world famous waffles.
Day Trip…
…to world cheese HQ in Monroe, then to a fine lunch at 43 in the old Royal Hotel in Mineral Point.
Grilling In The Rain
Friends are anodyne in the time of troubles.
What Trees…
…are these?
Above, quite a mix, but some leaves stand out and are a bit unusual.
Above, what species of tree towers above all this detritus?
Morning Walk…
…through a mostly deserted campus.
Dim and Damp
Steady light rain all night, and every little bit helps.
Faggots made last spring from redbud trimmings.
The last of it’s kind, a holdout. All its compatriots have gone to seed.
Thirteen Years
I got a reminder yesterday from my original blog site wishing me happy thirteenth. If nothing else, a daily blog does force one to pay attention.
Trouble is, remembering that far back is sometimes difficult. If what follows has been posted previously, my apologies.
Where kin are relations of kind, kith is relationship based on knowledge of place—the close landscape, "one's square mile,"as Griffiths writes, where each tree and neighbor and crow and fox andstone are known, not by map or guide but by heart. Kithship, then, is intimacy with the landscape in which one dwells and is entangled, a knowing of its waymarks, its fragrance, the habits of its wildlings.
Kithship crosses dimensions of knowing that bring us to intimate specificity: book learning, alert wandering, knowledge of species close to home and recognition of individuals within theses species, knowing who lives there and why, knowing who is flourishing and who is failing. Kithship enlivens and complexities kinship, and it is essential if the fullness of kinships’s wisdom is to be lived.
“Starlings, Infinity, and the Kith of Kinship”
Lyanda Fern Lynn Haupt
Kinship, Center for Humans and Nature
FURTHERMORE, I have now begun to convert my other website (the commercial one) into a repository or compendium of my stuff plus other stuff—other stuff I find valuable and interesting. It’s also supposed to be a harbor of refuge (or a secluded bower in a welcoming wood) during this odd and disturbing time. To get there, go here: Compendium