Merry Christmas 2019

I was looking back at what I've posted about Christmas in the past.  A lot of drivel, like this is, but I did once write out what Christmas was for me when I was young.  It was 2011, and you can read it here, or not.  Either way, I hope everyone has a great holiday.

Winter Solstice Fire Pit

I was lucky enough to have another one last night.  Second annual?  We'll see...

Wish you were here.  Happy Holidays, everyone.

Starkweather PFAS

A few days ago I posted about the new signs down by Starkweather Creek, which raised a few questions about PFAS.  A day or two later I was catching up on my newspaper reading and came across a December 11 article I missed that had some recognizable pictures of the sign and creek near our house.

Don't squint, you can read the (rather lengthy) Cap Times article here.

Basically, a mile or two north of here is the airport with Truax Field, home to the Wisconsin Air National Guard.  Adjacent are also two former firefighting training sites and a former sewage treatment plant.  The Department of Natural Resources has been after the Guard and the county to clean up the sites due to the high presence of PFAS, which are mainly from the firefighting foam that has been used in training for decades.  You can take from the article what you want, but it is the latest thing to get people excited and just one of many contaminants that has infiltrated our soil and groundwater.  Don't get me wrong, I agree that these man-made 'forever chemicals' cannot be good for us and I'm glad we have people such as the Friends of Starkweather Creek pushing for cleanup and reform, but I do not think they should try to get the public to panic.  And this is not just a local problem, this is everywhere.

This sign is one of about 30 that have been placed on Starkweather Creek at the beginning of the month.  It seems designed to scare people out of the water at the same time the city is encouraging its use, having added the steps and canoe/kayak slide just recently.

We've filtered our drinking and cooking water for a long time now.  We, as a species, have been poisoning our planet - knowingly or unknowingly - for a lot longer.  Yes, clean it up.  No, perhaps don't eat the fish.  But certainly don't panic or let this change how you live and enjoy your surroundings.  That's what I think.

Funeral Road Trip

We attended the wake and funeral for my mom's husband earlier this week.  I have a lot of friends and relatives that read this via email so I don't really want to discuss this a whole lot as I don't feel comfortable, other than to say he will be missed.  We have many great memories of him and are better for him being in our lives.  My heart goes out to my mom, whose life has just changed greatly.  We're here, mom, for anything you need.  RIP Dan.

The road trip to Dubuque is rather dull, especially now when all is brown.  There is the highway, hills and fields, over and over until you come upon the Mississippi River.  My wife, knowing I'd like the opportunity to take pictures, took lots of pictures for me as we came upon the mighty river.  Unfortunately both trips were overcast and dreary, as you will see.  I previously posted pictures of the Mississippi  a couple years ago under these blue words, and below are a few more of the scenic river as we crossed to and from Dubuque, Iowa, a few days ago.

And on the way back we get a view of the Platteville M, a large M on the side of a hill outside the city.  The M is for the old Mining School at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville.  It is climbable to the top along a separate staircase, and is just whitewashed rocks.  In my youth and when I lived in the area it was a place to go park and drink with friends as it's just across the county line so no police usually came around.

More Mississippi pictures after the break!

Canoe Slide, Fall Fire, More

Here I go again, letting weeks pass with nary a word typed.  Yes, we've been a bit busy, and there are things happening that I'm not sure how to write about yet or even if I'm ready to write about yet.  But I do have some things to say today and the rest may wait for a while.

I was out for a walk the other day and I saw some new signs down by the Starkweather Creek canoe slide.  A warning about possible PFAS in the water - in 3 languages - and a small sign with instructions on how to use the canoe slide.  I still haven't seen the slide used, and I'm sure I won't until spring rolls around.  You can see the creek is iced over already.  We've not had a lot of snow since late October and early November, but we have had the cold temperatures with highs ranging from a bit above to a bit below the freezing mark, more below recently.  I'll put closeups of the signs after the break.

The last two Friday evenings it has been dry with temperatures right around freezing - good fire pit weather!  I had to start the fires about 4 in the afternoon as the sun goes down before half past these days.  And I noticed that rather than sitting I tend to stand around the fire when it's cold.  Closer to the rising heat, I guess.  Each fire may be the last for quite some time so I've been taking advantage.  One snowstorm and it will be months before it happens again.



We have a funeral to attend very soon.  My mom's husband passed away this week from cancer.  Quicker than expected, but probably for the best.  We're well, thank you, and my mom is holding up very good, but things will be very different for her.  Oh well, maybe more on this later.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2019

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend.  We enjoyed a very nice, homemade Thanksgiving meal with my wife's family at our house on Thursday.  My wife is a wonderful cook and she awed again for this feast.  It was good to see everyone, and especially the growing nephew.  The cats behaved, well, hid, which is good enough.  Basil gets scared and Hamish gets pissed when we have people over.  Not sure why, they were around people as kittens.

Weather-wise has been gray, gray and more gray, but I'll take the time away from work!  The rest of the weekend will be pretty easy, with football games this afternoon and tomorrow.  Otherwise, I've been doing what a holiday is for - resting.  I'll need it as overtime starts again on Monday.  It will last until the next holiday week and then for at least a time after that (sigh).  But better stop that before I get started on it...

I don't have a whole lot to say, but I do usually post for the holiday and I've not done that yet so wanted to check in.  Again, I hope you are enjoying the time off and are thankful for that which you should be thankful.  Cheers!

No Post November?

Hello everyone, and yes, I'm still alive.  My apologies for not posting anything in weeks.  It's been a pretty rough fall so far around here.  My last post was Halloween and it had snowed a couple times.  In the weeks since, we had a few more snows and even a week of bitter cold that is normally not seen until January.  Thankfully, I think it was the Wednesday after Halloween, I came home after a long day of work and cleaned the gutters and raked/mulched the leaves as it was supposed to snow that night again.  And it's a good thing I did as we've had standing snow and ice ever since up until a couple days ago.  If I hadn't gotten it done then I would have been doing it yesterday - and I did see others cleaning their gutters yesterday.  This past week it has finally gotten a bit more seasonable and the snow is almost all melted again, but the trees are bare, grass is dull and the days are pretty gray.

Last year my last fire pit was on the winter solstice, December 21.  Friday afternoon the conditions were well enough I had my first fire in a month and it very well may be the last of the year.  I already miss the quiet time sitting outside, staring into the fire.  But it's cold now and no longer ideal, yet if I get another chance I probably will.  Also, our grill is also out of gas but with the weather I've been in no hurry to fill it.

I've had a lot of thoughts lately about someone very close to the family that has been dealing with a terminal diagnosis.  I can't imagine the hardships they've been dealing with lately, but hopefully hospice care can help things become more manageable.  We will be making the short trip for a visit sometime soon in the coming weeks.  Until then, I hope they know we love them and are thinking of them.  Aside from grandparents I've not had anyone close to me die, so I guess I've been lucky so far, but that luck is running out.

Well, I don't mean to end on a downer but there's nothing else really happening around here.  We have the holiday season almost upon us, soooo, we got that going for us.  Yay.

Halloween 2019

We got 3 inches of snow a few days ago, then we got 5.1 inches on Halloween day.  While most walks had been cleared it was still below freezing with snow and leaves everywhere for the evening trick-or-treaters.  I wasn't really surprised that there were less this time, maybe two dozen or so, less than half of last year.  It just means we have waaaay too much candy left over.  Dammit, I like candy.  But I'm not used to eating a lot of it.  I may get a tummy ache!

This is the third year I've used the mummy in the corner window.  It was just a cheap decoration - two plastics sheets to tape in the windows - but I got a lot of compliments from the parents on it this year.  In fact, one said it was the most Halloweeny house on the street.  I think the effect from the corner windows is good, especially if you are walking toward it down the street.  I also got a cheap red strobe light that I put in the kitchen window, just for fun.  After dark it seemed like a nice effect, anyway.  Also cheap window decals went unused due to the cold glass.  I did have a new skull mask with a moving jaw, but I think I only answered the door in it a couple times and even then quickly removed it.  I guess I was apprehensive about scaring the younger ones.

All in all a nice, but slow, snowy and cold Halloween.  Almost felt more like Christmas out there.

Second Snow... and Meat!

Two days after the first snow we get the second - and this was a pretty big one.  Traffic was terrible all day until this afternoon when it stopped and cleared up a bit.  Here's a view of the freshly covered back yard from the warmth of inside.

Also this afternoon, thankfully after it was more clear, I went and picked up our fourth quarter cow.  It was a bigger cow than last year, we got about 132 pounds of meat at less than 5 bucks a pound, and that's for everything - steaks, roasts, ground and more.  Not too bad, and the meat is so much better than the local grocery store.  This will probably set us until early 2021!

That's all I can write for now, it's Halloween and the trick-or-treaters are starting to come around.  Boo!

First Snow of the Season, 2019

First snows according to this blog - October 10, 2009; December 4, 2010, November 9, 2011; December 9, 2012; October 23, 2013; 2014 not noted; November 20, 2015; December 4, 2016; November 18, 2017; October 20, 2018; and today, October 29, 2019.

The unmelted lumps of snow in the driveway are on leaves.

The first snow of the season is something I've noted here before, usually, see above, so I shouldn't have been surprised as it's not too early for it.  I did see on the news last night that they were expecting 1-2 inches, but they also said it would melt during the day.  Oh, it's melted some, but there's still more than I'd like to see out there this afternoon, and it's been sunny all day.

The picture above is from before 5:00 this morning as I headed out to work.  At the time it was 30ºF and there was least two inches and likely more of the wet, heavy stuff - and still snowing.  Here, right, is the same view as I got home early this afternoon.  Roads, driveways and walks were mostly melted even this morning as the ground is warmer, but snow still lingers on the grassy areas.

Yes, the back yard is still mostly covered in snow still as it has only risen to 36ºF this afternoon, but the front yard is a more dramatic picture with the snow, leaves and drooping arborvitae.  Not surprising since this is the north side of the house.  Every winter I try to knock the snow off the bushes as soon as possible, which I did right after this picture, or it really takes a toll and they have a hard time straightening up again in the spring.  I did remember this year to give them a good, long drink of water before putting the hose away a couple days ago.  I forgot last year and the two taller ones are still a bit ragged in their bottom halves from whatever happened to them over last winter.

At least we finished winterizing the yard and gardens on Sunday.  Still left to do is leaves and gutters, but there are still leaves to fall yet.  The back yard gets mostly the black walnut leaves from next door, which are done now, so I mow to mulch back there.  The leaves in front will eventually get raked into piles and vacuumed up and mulched for the flowerbeds.  I see many people here have already raked several times, and they always put them out for the city to pick up.  While I have mowed to mulch in back, I refuse to rake the front until the leaves are done falling.  And I'm not putting them out for the city - ever.  I never really saw the sense in that when they make good mulch, if not for flowerbeds then just mow them into the lawn.  Putting them out for the city to pick up seems wasteful and inefficient, to me anyway.

It seems like I've said much of this before, so sorry if I'm being repetitive.  What do you do outside to get ready for winter?