Arbor Day

At the one-room country school I attended, we celebrated Arbor Day each year--usually in late April. On that special day we all brought garden rakes from home and spent the day raking the schoolyard. Our schoolyard was one acre, which doesn't sound like much until you have to rake every square foot of it.

We also had lots of oak trees in our schoolyard, so there was lots to rake. We usually finished sometime in early afternoon. We piled the leaves, burned them, and roasted wieners and marshmallows. Great fun. A day outside and a break from study.

The first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska. Julius Sterling Morton, a newspaperman, thought Nebraska's landscape would be improved with more planting of trees. So Arbor Day is associated with tree planting, although I don't recall we ever planted trees in our schoolyard as a part of the celebration. After all, we had plenty of trees.

Today, Arbor Day is officially celebrated on the last Friday of April--and it's a national event.

Anyone have a memory of Arbor Day when you were a kid?


The Old Timer recalls the words of Aldo Leopold: "Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only a shovel."

Sunrise at the Pond

In the dim light of dawn I unfold my portable stool,pour a cup of coffee from my Thermos and fish the binoculars out of my pocket. I'm sitting near my pond this early spring morning not knowing what I'll see. Soon I catch movement to my left. A pair of shadowy gray sandhill cranes move slowly though the tall dead grass, their camouflage near perfect. And then a flock of geese flies over in a long jagged V, so low I can hear the swishing of their wings mixed with their honking.

A few minutes later I hear a wild turkey gobble to the north, and moments after I hear him I see the big bird lumbering toward the pond. The big tom is not alone, two others trail behind him and behind them I spot two hens. A five-some out on an early morning walk.

It's turkey mating season. All three gobblers stop a hundred yards or so from me (they don't see me) and go into full display--fanning their big tails like we sometimes see in the Thanksgiving paintings of turkeys. A sight to behold. Except the two hens seemed not impressed at all. They search for something to eat in the wet soil around the pond, while their boy friends? strut their stuff with no reaction.

One of the cranes lets loose with its call and the sound disrupts the gobblers who seem compelled to answer the crane with loud "Gobble, Gobble, Gobbles."

I am so caught up with my watching and listening, I have no time to drink coffee.


The Old Timer Says: "Remember, Tuesday is Earth Day (April 22). This is the only earth we have, we gotta take care of it."

Upcoming Events

April 23, 6:00 p.m. RINGLINGVILLE USA, Beloit Historical Society, Beloit, WI.
e-mail pkeer@beloithistoricalsociety.com for further information.

April 24, 7:00 p.m. Black Earth Public Library. The Lighter Side of Country Living.

April 29, 11:30 a.m Governor Dodge Convention Center, Platteville, WI. (University of Wisconsin-Platteville). Luncheon. The Lighter Side of Country Living. Call 888-281.9472 for further information.

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is what my mother called it. The first warm days of April she took down the dining room curtains and washed them. Took the quilts off the beds and hung them on the clothes line back of the house and beat the dickens out of them (and the winter collection of dust as well). And most important of all, she convinced Pa to take down the stove pipes for the dining room stove and move the dirty, dusty Round Oak wood burner out to the woodshed where it would remain until November.

No matter what the weather, when Ma began spring cleaning, we knew it was spring.


The Old Timer, in this month of taxpaying, remembers Ben Franklin's famous words: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."


Upcoming Events:

April 15, 11:00 a.m. LIGHTER SIDE OF COUNTRY LIVING, Clear Lake Community Center, Clear Lake,WI

April 17, 7:00 P.M. LIGHTER SIDE OF COUNTRY LIVING, Jackson Historical Society, Jackson, WI

April 18,6:30 pm. IN A PICKLE, Rusk County Free Film Festival, Miner Theater, Ladysmith, WI

April 19, 11:30 a.m. IN A PICKLE, Literary Bash, Mead Wildlife Area, Milladore, WI

April 23, 6:00 p.m. RINGLINGVILLE USA, Beloit Historical Society, Beloit, WI.
e-mail pkeer@beloithistoricalsociety.com for further information.

Walking into Spring

I walk a mile each morning, except when the snow is too deep or the walkway too icy. This morning I walked into spring. Robin song everywhere, a mourning dove call in the distance, sandhill cranes talking to each other. The smell of spring steeped with promise and anticipation. And the last grainy snow piles in fast retreat with trickles of melt water oozing from their bottoms.

Naturalist Hal Borland wrote: "No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." How true it is.

The Old Timer says: "Appreciate the importance of waiting and the value of looking forward to something, as you enjoy what you are doing now."


Upcoming Events:

April 12, 8:30 p.m. IN A PICKLE, reading and signing, Borders West, Madison

April 15, 11:00 a.m. LIGHTER SIDE OF COUNTRY LIVING, Clear Lake Community Center, Clear Lake,WI

April 17, 7:00 P.M. LIGHTER SIDE OF COUNTRY LIVING, Jackson Historical Society, Jackson, WI

April 18,6:30 pm. IN A PICKLE, Rusk County Free Film Festival, Miner Theater, Ladysmith, WI

April 19, 11:30 a.m. IN A PICKLE, Literay Bash, Mead Wildlife Area, Milladore, WI

Crocuses and Aldo Leopold

I raked the wet and matted leaves from the flower bed yesterday and there they were. Tiny crocus flowers welcoming the sunlight and announcing spring. Fearless. Predictable. Comforting to see.

Aldo Leopold wrote: "One swallow does not make it summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring."

What are the signs of spring for you?

The Old Timer Says: "When you hear a flock of geese winging northward, look upward. See the grace and beauty, cooperation and respect. And recognize the faith these birds have in seasonal change."

Upcoming appearances:

Saturday, April 5, 1-3:00 p.m. Barnes & Noble, Appleton. Book signing: IN A PICKLE.

Tuesday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. Pinney Branch Library, Madison. Presentation and book signing: BREWERIES OF WISCONSIN

Saturday, April 12, 8:00 p.m. Borders West, Madison. Presentation and book signing: IN A PICKLE.

Robins and Snowstorms

Note from a blog reader. "Uncle Cliff (he is 92 years old) says it will snow three times on the robin after he comes back in the spring."

Uncle Cliff is probably right. Yesterday from 8-12 inches of snow fell on southern Wisconsin. Madison is but 1/2 inch away from 100 inches for the season. According to Uncle Cliff, we have two more to go. Hurry, hurry let it snow so May, June and the summer season can be snow free. And the robins can do what they do without inches of snow on their backs.


The Old Timer Says: "Enough, enough. Uncle, uncle. Or whatever will do the trick to turn off the snow machine."

Tomatoes and St. Patrick

Every year, on St. Patrick's Day, my mother started tomato seeds in little pots that she placed in a sunny kitchen window. She had spent her spare moments pouring over the several seed catalogs that began arriving in our country mailbox already in January. She never consulted with my dad, or with anyone else as far as I could tell. She studied. She decided. And she planted. I don't remember a year that we didn't have a bumper crop of tomatoes.

The Old Timer says: "Think green. It might hurry spring along."

Sandhill Cranes Are Back

I saw a pair of sandhill cranes today, standing in the middle of a small ice-covered pond. They were looking skyward and calling their prehistoric call. Every time I hear one it sends shivers down my back. What are they saying? I think I know.
"Spring oh spring where art thou. Why are we here before thee?" At least that's what I think they were saying.


The Old Timer Says: "I met a fellow the other day who talked nonstop and didn't say a thing."

Reminder:The hardcover edition of IN A PICKLE: A FAMILY FARM STORY is about sold out. Stop by your bookstore, or order on line--you can order directly from my website.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air. I can smell it. I can hear it. I heard a robin singing this morning--no worms yet for this early bird--but it's here, its feathers fluffed with the cold, its song clear and strong. And the striking red cardinals are whistling their hearts out, happy about the coming of spring.

The sound of spring I remember most is that of melt water trickling through a stone pile in a gully in the big field just north of our old farm house. On a snow melting day I'd mush my way out to the field, sometimes with my dad, sometimes alone, and just stand there, listening. It was a tinkling sound, like that of a breeze teasing a glass chandelier. Subtle but definite. A sure sign that spring was just around the corner, although we often couldn't yet see the corner.

The Old Timer says: "A long cold winter helps us appreciate so much more the other three seasons of the year."

March Lions and Lambs

On the first day of March, at the country school I attended, the teacher brought out a corner curled and somewhat faded poster showing a a lion with snowflakes swirling around its head and a lamb, jumping about in a field of flowers. "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" the words on the poster proclaimed.

Let's keep that hope in our minds as we look out at six feet high snowbanks, icicles longer than your arm, and slippery walkways waiting for an unknowing visitor.


The Old Timer says: "Listen for the quiet, you'll be astounded at what you hear."

Round Oak Heater

The old stove wasn't much to look at. Black with a silver belt around its middle. Cast iron. The words, "Round Oak" prominently displayed near its top. It stood on the floor near the south wall of the dining room in our old farm house. Along with the cook stove in the kitchen, it tried to heat the drafty place.

Starting in late October, with the help of a couple husky neighbors, we hauled the stove into the dining room from the woodshed where it had spent the warm months. With considerable, "a little this way, no a little that way," and some words not printable, we finally lined up the stove with the stove pipe hole in the floor above it.

Pa closed off the rest of the house, meaning we lived in the kitchen and dining room until the following March. We spent a lot of time huddled by that old heater, especially on below zero mornings. (Our upstairs bedroom was not heated. It depended on the the trickle of heat from the stove pipe that thrust through the room and into the chimney.)

One of the chores for my brothers and me was to keep a pile of chunk wood handy to shove into that hungry old monster. This meant lugging wood into the house from the woodpile out back.

We learned some never forgotten lessons, the most important being patience and right next to it faith. Patience that winter takes awhile, and faith that spring will once more return.

The Old Timer says: "Listen to the quiet on a night when the temperature hovers around zero, a cold moon hangs low on the horizon and not a creature is stirring."

Snow and More Snow

The snow keeps piling up. A new storm every three days it seems. And none of these wimpy "dustings." Three inches, four inches, ten inches, a foot. Serious snow.

When I was a kid on the farm, such fun we had during the snowy days of winter--skiing, sleding. And the not so fun part. Shoveling paths to the pump house, to the chicken house, to the granary, to the barn, to the straw stack, and how could I forget, to the outhouse that on these winter days was as cold as an ice house.


The Old Timer Says: "These snowy days are great days for reading a book."

Wind Chill

One of my father's favorite wintertime sayings was: "When the days lengthen, the cold strengthens." There's a bit of truth to it. The days start adding minutes in January, and the temperature often drops to its lowest during that month. Of course, following the theory, June 20 should be the coldest day of the year. I never asked Pa about that. Thought better of it.

Pa didn't believe in wind chill numbers. He said if it was cold and the wind was blowing, get out of the wind. Any ninny knows to do that.

The idea of "wind chill" traces back to Antarctic explorer, Paul A. Siple. He coined the phrase in 1939. It wasn't until the 1960's and 1970's that wind chill numbers became popular. In 2001, the National Weather Service recalculated wind chill numbers and came up with today's "Wind Chill Index." For instance, if it's really 0 degrees, and the wind is 25 mph, the wind chill index is -24 degrees.

The Old Timer Says: "Put your ear flaps down and your collar up when you head outside. And don't forget, on a cold and windy day, sitting by a crackling fire is about the most pleasant thing there is."

The Old Timer will be gone for a couple weeks. Back in mid-February.

First printing of IN A PICKLE: A FAMILY FARM STORY is about sold out. Don't miss out. Stop at your favorite bookstore, or visit my website and order a copy.

Cold Weather , Wood Stoves & Families

I spent several days at my cabin in central Wisconsin this week. Every morning was below zero, one morning down to -15. I heat the place with a wood stove--something about wood stove heat that is relaxing as well as warming, even though on a cold morning my front side is toasty warm while my back end freezes as I stand in front of the wood burner.

I grew up in an uninsulated farm house heated with two wood stoves. We closed off most of the house in winter except for the kitchen and the dining room. I remember frigid cold mornings and cold evenings, too, when the wind came up and the house shuddered and we huddled close to the Round Oak heater in the dining room.

There was something special about the cold, beyond the inconvenience of a frozen watering tank, and an uncomfortable mile walk to our country school. Cold weather brought families together, literally.

The Old Timer says: "No matter what direction a north wind blows, it always blows cold."

Winter's Many Moods

Winter is a season of many moods. Strings of cloudy, dark, dreary days. And then a day with clear, bright sunshine on snow covered hills. Pleasant. Followed a day later by a raging storm with snow flying on the wind. And another day, after the storm, quiet, but cold, so cold. A week or so later above freezing temperatures, mushy snow, and dripping eaves. Many moods.


The Old Timer Says: "It's not gonna get done if you don't start doing it."

P.S. Have you read IN A PICKLE: A FAMILY FARM STORY yet? I'm told first printing is almost sold out.

Winter Reading

With short and cloudy days, and long, dark nights, it's a great time to do some winter reading. How about pulling off the shelf Aldo Leopold's A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC.

I first read the book back in the 1950s, and I still read sections from it every so often. For instance, we've just had a January thaw. Leopold writes, "Each year, after the midwinter blizzards, there comes a night of thaw when the tinkle of dripping water is heard in the land. It brings strange stirrings, not only to creatures abed for the night, but to some who have been asleep for the winter." How nicely said.


The Old Timer Says: "January is for slowing down and reflecting, for considering the year that has passed and anticipating the year that is beginning."

Ice Fishing

During the Christmas break at our country school, my dad, two brothers and I went ice fishing everyday, no matter what the weather. When we finished the morning chores, we packed the tip-ups, ice chisel, and minnows into the back of our 1936 Plymouth and we were off to the lake. Usually Mt. Morris Lake in Waushara County in those days.

After we cut holes in the ice and set up our tip-ups (used to hook a northern pike if we were lucky) we trudged off to shore and built a small fire where we sat staring through the smoke at our tip-up flags, and where we heard our Uncle's stories and the stories of others who ice fished with us. I have warm memories of those cold days. Oh, we also caught some fish.


The Old Timer says: Don't make too small a hole in the ice when ice fishing. Nothing is more embarrassing or perplexing than to hook a fish too large for the hole. Same with life. Be prepared for the big opportunities; they often come along when you least expect them.

New Year Thoughts

As we look forward to a new year, with all of its challenges and opportunities, I am reminded of something that Albert Einstein wrote: "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

The Old Timer says: "Don't forget how important it is to just sit awhile and think."

Christmas Memories

As we grow older, Christmas memories abound:

I remember Christmas morning, when I was a kid growing up on a farm, with a stack of presents under the tree that couldn't be opened until the morning milking was done. Of receiving new socks and mittens that grandmother had knitted, and a new pair of skates, the type that clamped onto the bottom of my shoes and were tightened with a key.

I remember walking a mile with my dad to a neighbor's with a small present and a freshly baked pie, because we knew that his wife had passed away and his children had grown and moved to the city, and he was there alone on Christmas day.

The Old Timer says: "Listen to the laughter of children, and remember when you were a kid."

The Rhythm of the Seasons

The long winter in the north is settling in allowing time for resting, rejuvenating. remembering, contemplating--but mostly enjoying. Winter is for slowing down.

But so many of us still hurry. We can't accept the rhythm of the seasons.

The Old Timer Says:"Why is it that patience is in such short supply these days?"