In fact seventeen below zero, which feels feels a little cold.
Apart from a walk around the block, I avoided the great outdoors, dinking around here and there on odds and ends and bits of this and that, while Sue helped out with basement remediation in Cedarburg. Seems to be a plague of basement remediation going around these days.
…apart from grocery shopping.
The Snowman
Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Had 4-wheel drive engaged on my way to this evening’s Urban Forestry Commission meeting. The streets have not been swept totally clean since last night’s snow, and the low temps are keeping the snow cover firmly, and squeakily, in place. It was even colder when I came out of the meting than it was when I went in—some meetings, enjoyable as they may be, can run unnecessarily long.
Earlier in the day the bedroom bookshelf project came to completion. Thanks to the remediation company for the material.
…and enough to require shoveling, or snow blowing. As is traditional in this neighborhood, nearly all the nearby neighbors out before nine, moving snow and hobnobbing.
Refilled long before anyone got hungry.
In other news, my pin vise arrived in the mail (on Sunday!?) But glad to get it nonetheless, since I can now drill the required one thirty-second inch holes in the mast, boom, and bowsprit of the Skipjack model, and can thus continue fabricating this lovely soft water craft.
…perhaps? Out on Rice Lake (Whitewater Lake) where we walked this afternoon.
Warmer, but it still feels cold.
Noon rally at the clock for an end to gerrymandering. Similar gatherings all around the state. Nice turnout (more than in the photo) and nice short speeches. Cold and windy.
Even colder and windier when later in the afternoon we met Bri at Pewaukee to remove the iceboats from the ice. The area around the ramp still mostly open water, in spite of the low temps, so we had to carry the boats off and then finagle the trailer around a narrow ice shelf all the while working to keep it from sliding sideways into the deep. A bit of work, but otherwise a piece of (ice cream) cake.
…because single digits outside are not very appealing. It’s so cold outside, in fact, that compost won’t.
Good day to turn from model building to bookshelf manufacturing. The remediation folks left behind several beautiful pine boards, and since I have several unsightly book piles in the bedroom, the project seemed to suggest itself. The case has to fit over a vent, hence the holes. Of course, I blew it on the blind dadoes. The top shelf still needs its edges routed.
…seed catalogs. Hmmmn…what to grow this year?
And…a couple of mysteries today: The upper section of Katy’s clarinet seems to have been replaced by an imposter. Who done it? And…in spite of very cold temperatures a big puddle of water was discovered in front the the ramp on Pewaukee, making the planned removal of the boats problematic. (Yesterday’s big south wind and warmer temps caused a big downward heave right at the ramp, and that, of course, filled with liquid.
Bri and I surveilled it this aft, and, knowing that every problem wants to be solved, and that the the boats are safe, decided to let Mother Nature take care of it. It’s cold and getting colder, and the ramp will almost certainly repair itself.
Boat and trailer de-bird-pooped, cleaned up, checked over; tool bag updated; trailer tires topped up. Now snuggled into Vi’s side yard (very kind of Vi to accommodate). I’m hoping for a chance to show off this ancient, classic beauty as she swoops across perfect ice on a perfect wind on a perfectly warm and perfectly sunny day.
Otherwise, made a little more progress on the skipjack model. I continue to plug away, and, so far, although many mistakes, no catastrophic, project-ending failures.
…where the Crawfish meets the Rock. Skating pond, beautiful timber frame warming house, ski trails—all built and maintained by volunteers.
Sue is making chop suey for dinner. Haven’t had that, if memory serves, since I can remember. On rice, with chow mein noodles. This ought to be good.
…back in the day...
Somehow, this photo ended up on the dresser in my bedroom and has remained there for well over a decade. I look at it every night, but can’t begin to figure out who is who. I know the boat is the famed Arrow, and the lake is Crystal Lake.
In other news, the Wombat is back! Sue and I got her out of Roger’s barn this afternoon, after an idleness of what, three years? With the weather pattern we are now experiencing—deep cold and little precipitation—I’m betting there will be lots of thick ice in lots of places, at least until the first of April. I’m imagining more than a few days with a fair breeze, bright sun, and the thermometer over the freezing mark. That could be fun.
Neighbor Bill had his TV go out this morning. And Bill gets up early.
So, early this morning we got a call (he has Sue’s number) asking if I might be able to look at a malfunctioning TV.
I walked over in my slippers, and, through a process of elimination, determined that the old semi-flat screen was more than semi defunct. I suggested buying a new one, and volunteered to help set it up.
Not long after I had shuffled home, we (Sue) got another call saying that a new TV had been acquired and wondering if I might I be available to set it up.
In case anyone is tempted to do something like this, I would advise looking behind an old TV console before you begin. Besides dust bunnies, you will find a rat’s nest of wires and cables.
But, in this case, in spite of the tangle, and in spite of password problems, and in spite the need to re-scan channels and make the remote universal, Bill got to the point where he could actually watch a football game. And, it only took two hours.
The rest of the day was tame by comparison.
on Pewaukee Lake. Very windy, very cold, with very hard ice, which means very fast.
Actually, too fast for me. Though I had Nite 165, I sat out the races. (Tony otherwise engaged.) I’m no longer strong enough, flexible enough, and crazy enough for this sort of thing. One probably shouldn’t be racing if if one has difficulty getting into and out of the boat.
Still—hard to beat just being outside, on the ice, experiencing winter at its finest.
Basement almost completely reassembled, and actually looking better than before the flood, in my opinion.
And then later in the afternoon, I removed all 50 temporary white tape tree tags in the area of the Arboretum where we had set up for a pair of University students to do a GIS tree ID project. I removed all the staples, too, although some of them were reluctant to come loose. It only seemed respectful, especially if some of these are mother trees. I’m withholding comment on the value of the student work.
…to Antler Circle, where the dreaded virus has, in spite of a prolonged defense, breached the ramparts. Nothing serious, thanks to vaccination and youth, but still an annoyance.
Mimi cooked up a storm, and Becca finally got her birthday present.
Carpet guys here until after six. What a tough job. Imperative to appreciate people who are willing to do that kind of brutal work.
(“There but for the grace of God go I.”)
Above, seed dispersal. Left to its own devices redbud would form thickets and groves.
Too cold to do much outside, and carpet installers getting in the way of doing much inside.
Made progress on Suzanne Simard’s book Finding The Mother Tree, a personalized account of her research on what goes on underground in the forest. She discovered that an amazing amount does go on, thanks to mycorrhizal networks connecting trees of many species into what has come to be known as the the “wood-wide-web." Mycorrhiza are various species of fungi that intertwine and sometime interpenetrate the roots of plants helping them obtain minerals and other nutrients. Simard discovered that without the fungus trees have little hope of surviving. She also found out that trees don’t just compete with each other for light and water but actually cooperate, sending nutrients and and medicines back and forth. The forest, she found, is a highly interconnected place, and as a result, can prosper. Clearcuts are bad.
Nice ice on Pewaukee Lake.
Six or more inches, but just too windy. Extremely windy. And very cold; thermometer dropping towards single digits. It was hard to walk away without launching, but the coming weekend looks promising.
Feeder needing two refills per diem. Definitely not tuppence a day. Busy place. Lots of squirrels, too, though this year none are trying to climb the pole.
And, speaking of food, last night’s dinner: jalapeno, cheddar, cornmeal, buttermilk waffles. Pretty tasty.
High of 10.
Above, the gas-fired peaker plant north east of Town. Lots of CO2 and lots of steam. On the upside, the plant practices cogeneration, and supplies heat to the university.
In other news, ice is thickening on all the local lakes, and sailing looks likely this weekend.