This is an up and down story, or better said, a wet and dry story. It involves the pond at our farm as well as the neighboring lakes and ponds such as Chain O’ Lake and Wagner’s Lake (Lake Wautoma it’s called today).
In 1966, our pond was nearly not a pond, but merely a wet marshy area. Then each year a little more water returned and the pond filled. I should point out that it’s a “water table pond,” which means it goes up and down as the water table fluctuates.
By the late 1980s and into the early 1990s our pond was a fine body of water, higher than we had ever known it to be. A place for canoeing and fishing, and even swimming. Same for the other lakes and pond in the area.
By the early 2000s the water began disappearing, a little more each year until last year, our once about three to four acre pond was about the size of a football field. Most of the pond had once more become a marsh.
But starting last fall and continuing throughout the summer and into this fall, the pond is once more filling with water. Each month it is a few more inches deep. The marsh is disappearing and the pond is on the rise. For the first time in several years, we have muskrat houses scattered about—I counted eight of them the other day. The deer and the turkeys are happy, as well as all the other wildlife that depend on our pond and enjoy its existence.
How large will the pond become on this current cycle? I have no idea, but different from lakes and ponds to our west such as Plainfield Lake and Twin Lakes near Almond, both of which are now dry, former lakes, our pond is coming back. At least it appears so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Everything appears to have its ups and downs.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 10:30-2:00. Speaking at 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Hunt Is On
The highest of the high Wisconsin celebrations begins at the break of dawn on Saturday. It is opening day of deer season, a day scratched on new calendars in January. A day when nothing, absolutely nothing takes precedence over trekking into the woods. The opening day of fishing season approaches, but really is no competition for the opening day of deer season. This one is the biggie.
To brag for a moment—this will be my 65th consecutive year of participating in the hunt—I didn’t even miss when I was in the army. I’m not much of a hunter anymore, these days my hunting companions ask if I remembered to put bullets in my rifle.
Of course deer season is much more than bagging a deer. It’s about families getting together, grandfathers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Swapping stories. In most families the deer hunting stories, told over and over again, have become the stuff of legends as a little embellishment each year adds to their flavor and fun.
For me, it is one more excuse for being outdoors, walking in the woods, enjoying the sights and smells of late autumn. I’ve been known to nap on warm afternoons in the woods; and I’m often caught reading a book—but I am out there. I am deer hunting—my way of course.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are no shortcuts to important places.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
To brag for a moment—this will be my 65th consecutive year of participating in the hunt—I didn’t even miss when I was in the army. I’m not much of a hunter anymore, these days my hunting companions ask if I remembered to put bullets in my rifle.
Of course deer season is much more than bagging a deer. It’s about families getting together, grandfathers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Swapping stories. In most families the deer hunting stories, told over and over again, have become the stuff of legends as a little embellishment each year adds to their flavor and fun.
For me, it is one more excuse for being outdoors, walking in the woods, enjoying the sights and smells of late autumn. I’ve been known to nap on warm afternoons in the woods; and I’m often caught reading a book—but I am out there. I am deer hunting—my way of course.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are no shortcuts to important places.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
November Snow
In Wisconsin we don’t count on the calendar to tell us when winter arrives, because if we did we’d have to wait until late December. November is our “beginning of winter” month. If we’re lucky, this happens toward the end of the month, around Thanksgiving time.
Not this year. Winter came roaring out of the north on November 9th, early and mostly unwelcomed. On that day I crawled out of bed, started the fire in the wood burning cook stove, and noticed a few flakes of snow flying on the wind. Only a dusting I hoped, because I had wood to cut and other outside chores to do. With breakfast finished, the snow continued, lots of it, big flakes, heavy flakes. I watched a parade of turkey gobblers walking a few yards from the cabin, one after the other, five of them stepping high in the ever deeper snow. Not too much bothered by the snow.
By mid-morning it was snowing so hard I couldn’t see the end of my driveway. The heavy snow gathered on the big spruce tree by the woodshed, its lower branches nearly touching the ground. I pulled on my boots and trudged to the woodshed for more wood. Three or four inches of heavy snow to waddle through and it continued falling.
A little after noon, the lights flickered a couple times and then clicked off. No power. I rounded up a flashlight, kept the wood stove going, and decided to enjoy the day. These early snowstorms can be dangerous and at minimum, inconvenient. But oh how beautiful the landscape had become as the drabness of fall had become pure white.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When it snows, the best thing to do is let it snow.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests).
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—Travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Not this year. Winter came roaring out of the north on November 9th, early and mostly unwelcomed. On that day I crawled out of bed, started the fire in the wood burning cook stove, and noticed a few flakes of snow flying on the wind. Only a dusting I hoped, because I had wood to cut and other outside chores to do. With breakfast finished, the snow continued, lots of it, big flakes, heavy flakes. I watched a parade of turkey gobblers walking a few yards from the cabin, one after the other, five of them stepping high in the ever deeper snow. Not too much bothered by the snow.
By mid-morning it was snowing so hard I couldn’t see the end of my driveway. The heavy snow gathered on the big spruce tree by the woodshed, its lower branches nearly touching the ground. I pulled on my boots and trudged to the woodshed for more wood. Three or four inches of heavy snow to waddle through and it continued falling.
A little after noon, the lights flickered a couple times and then clicked off. No power. I rounded up a flashlight, kept the wood stove going, and decided to enjoy the day. These early snowstorms can be dangerous and at minimum, inconvenient. But oh how beautiful the landscape had become as the drabness of fall had become pure white.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When it snows, the best thing to do is let it snow.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests).
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—Travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Dyersville
Ruth and I spent the past weekend in Dyersville, Iowa, at the National Farm Toy Collector’s convention, where I signed books and talked tractors for three days. Talked mostly about old tractors, Farmall H’s (which I grew up with) and Farmall M’s, John Deere A’s and B’s, and the lesser models-- Oliver and Allis Chambers (Ruth grew up with an Allis), Minneapolis-Moline and Massey-Harris, Case and Cockshutt.
Talked about the days in farming when tractors were small, as were the farms. Talked with a few old guys about driving horses and the transition from horses to tractors, not as easy as one might think.
Lots of grandparents toting grandkids. The grandkids excited to see all the farm toys to play with. And the kids’ parents remembering their childhoods because these farm toys were symbols of their early history on the farm, and triggers for stories.
Lots of stories at the toy show, coming from every direction, from all parts of the country from the north and south, and many from the Midwest, of course. Stories about growing up on a farm. Stories about first tractors. Stories about why the Farmall was better than the John Deere, or the other way around. Lots of friendly joshing about these matters that, at one time, were taken very seriously by farmers proud of their iron horses, as the early tractors were called.
Now it’s back to work, back to writing stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are never too many stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Talked about the days in farming when tractors were small, as were the farms. Talked with a few old guys about driving horses and the transition from horses to tractors, not as easy as one might think.
Lots of grandparents toting grandkids. The grandkids excited to see all the farm toys to play with. And the kids’ parents remembering their childhoods because these farm toys were symbols of their early history on the farm, and triggers for stories.
Lots of stories at the toy show, coming from every direction, from all parts of the country from the north and south, and many from the Midwest, of course. Stories about growing up on a farm. Stories about first tractors. Stories about why the Farmall was better than the John Deere, or the other way around. Lots of friendly joshing about these matters that, at one time, were taken very seriously by farmers proud of their iron horses, as the early tractors were called.
Now it’s back to work, back to writing stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are never too many stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
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