Ten Degrees and Getting Colder

 

Cold Sunrise

 

That's just the name of the song written by Gordon Lightfoot.  It was actually -13 F when I got up this morning (wind chill -24).  Tucson may have pulled back into the lead!  There's a lot of weighing pros and cons of Colorado vs Arizona by the wood stove.  Not much else to report.

I did enjoy a few games of pool and a beer with my brother this week.  We don't get together very often, so it's good to try to keep the lines of communication open, especially with my mother celebrating her 86th birthday next month.  He lives in Milwaukee and just started semi-retirement.  Our opposing politics and lifestyles keep things very casual and surface-level.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.   It's important to find common ground.  He and his wife have started going to concerts and recently saw the Steve Miller Band.  Music is one of our common interests.

 

 

 

In the Wintertime

I was a big Steve Miller Band fan when I was in high school.  Songs like "The Joker" were popular at that time.  He was born in Milwaukee and attended the University of Wisconsin. He had another song, "Winter Time," that always sent a chill down my spine.

"In the winter time
When all the leaves are brown
And the wind blows so chill
And the birds have all flown for the summer
I'm callin', hear me callin', hear me callin'."

I had mixed feelings about winter as a kid living in the city.   We spent time outside, but not really in nature.  Winter in the city is different.  Entertainment often involved snowball fights.  Some of the bolder kids learned to loft snowballs towards passing cars or even at streetlights.  

One time, when I was in the eighth grade and on my way to school, a driver erroneously believed that we had thrown a snowball at his car.  He came careening around the corner, pulling across the center line to the curb, where I was standing with friends.  He rolled down the window and pointed a gun at us.  His girlfriend urged him to put the gun away, and he did, driving away.  We never said a word to anybody about that. 

In the country, winter is dead quiet.  I'll take Callie outside just before bedtime and listen to the sound of nothing.  If we're lucky, we hear an owl hooting or coyotes yipping in the distance.  

 In the prairie above the Lodi Marsh, the natural world opens up.  There are no distractions.

This is the last week of winter break.  Allie will be heading back to Milwaukee to begin her job hunt.  I've enjoyed her company and appreciate her willingness to care-give for Justin, while he's been home.

I turned 59 this past week.  We celebrated with a minced lamb dinner at my favorite new Middle Eastern restaurant in Sun Prairie.  When you're growing up, you never imagine yourself as 59 years old.  It kind of sneaks up on you.  

They say that you are as young as you feel.  Most days, I feel pretty young.  Callie helps.

New Year: Optimization

My wife Julia turned 59 in December.  In some ways, she's in better shape now than she was in her 20's.  This year she has resolved to enter six races to celebrate her 60th year.

Julia has been listening to a podcast series about preparing for retirement.  One of the exercises is to pick a word theme for each year.  Julia has picked "transition."  I spent about two seconds on the idea and picked optimization, which is defined as "the action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource."  In retrospect, I may have been hasty; my word seems harder.  

This morning, we hiked up Gibraltar Rock to celebrate the new year.  There is an organized hike this afternoon.  There will be hot chocolate and cookies.  Several hundred people (and many dogs) are likely to attend, so we beat the rush.  We saw only three other hikers and no dogs.  That's a good start for optimization. 

Christmas in Lodi, Wisconsin

After several weeks of weirdly warm temperatures, including a 50 degree Christmas, winter has returned, delivering a fresh coat of white.  Today, we saw a winter wonderland. 

Goodbye 2019.  Hello 2020.

Keep on, Keepin’ On

The beginning of the year hasn’t exactly started with a bang, but we are taking a couple of steps forward with every step back.

For a quick family update, my father-in-law Gene is out of ICU and in a normal hospital room.  For the most part, he has reached the point where his vitals are all in a normal range.  Gene is working on building up strength, eating enough calories to get the feeding tube removed, and moving into a rehab facility as soon as that happens.

As for my son Justin, he lost all of his caregivers from the first semester and has signed up for an agency to manage his caregivers second semester.  It will always be a battle to have enough caregivers for him.  This agency seems confident about meeting his needs.  Time will tell.  As happens to a lot of first-year college students, Justin fell off the tracks a little bit with regard to schoolwork and doing the things his doctors have told him to do to keep himself alive longer (Example:  Using his bipap machine at night).  Justin seems confident that the second semester will be better.  We all hope for that.  Actions always speak louder than words.

My daughter Allie has been Justin’s caregiver during semester break, earning some extra money.  They don’t always get along, but she shows up for work and gets the job done.  Allie is saving up to buy Julia’s car in the spring, so that she will have a vehicle for her summer internship in Milwaukee.

Amidst the chaos, I’ve made time to hike almost every day with my dog Callie.  She pretty much demands it, not relaxing until she’s had at least several miles of hiking and another half-hour of running up and down our hill fetching a ball.  After that, she’s quite sweet and calm.  And I’m ready for a nap.

Fern Glenn Segment (Ice Age Trail):
A short distance away from the popular Gibraltar Rock segment, Fern Glenn may be the least-traveled of the segments near Lodi.

I know that I often overlook it and haven’t hiked Fern Glen in several years.  Heavily wooded with steep ups and downs, I don’t enjoy hiking this segment in the summer.  It can be hot, buggy and without many views.  In the spring and fall, the trail is often muddy and not much fun either.  In the winter, however, the trail shines.

A fresh snow had fallen the day before, and no one’s footsteps were visible.  I went back a couple of days later with daughter Allie and dog Callie.  There were a few footsteps besides my own, but we didn’t encounter a single person on the trail.  Sometimes, not seeing other people is exactly what I need.  I wasn’t exactly alone.  A couple of dozen Canada geese, late for their wintering spot, honked loudly overhead.  Squirrels scolded us for invading their domain.  Two whitetail deer crossed my path and quickly moved beyond.

Because the fresh snow lay on top of slippery ice. I wore my new Yaktrax Pros.  I lost my previous Yaktrax on a muddy trail in North Carolina.  These devices are relatively cheap and effective-at least on Wisconsin terrain. They aren’t meant for use in mud, rock or concrete and should be temporarily removed when crossing those surfaces.  It just takes a minute to slip them off, and it was my own fault for losing the first pair.

I’ll conclude with another excerpt from my Appalachian Trail thru-hike.

First Day Hike

The end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019 have presented some difficult challenges.  When life gets tough, go for a hike.  A number of state-owned properties held First Day Hikes on January 1st as a way to encourage Wisconsin residents to get outdoors during winter and to enjoy the natural beauty.  We went on one of those hikes last year at Gibraltar Rock.  Maybe a dozen people participated due to extreme cold weather.  This year’s hike featured five inches of fresh snow and temperatures in the balmy 20’s (warm compared to last year).  With our new dog Callie leading the way with snarls towards any potential stranger danger, we tried to arrive early to avoid crowds and succeeded on the first half of the loop.

On the way back, we passed at least 60 people and several dogs, so the narrow trail was a bit more crowded than I like.
I’m not one to complain though.  Our Ice Age Trail is a treasured resource.  As more people discover its beauty, more resources can be allocated towards its completion and management.  When we started the hike, there were three cars in the parking lot.  When we ended the hike, both parking lots was full, and dozens of cars were parked on the side of the  highway.  For people willing to brave the crowds (not me), a huge thermos of hot chocolate and sweet treats were available on top.  Instead, we rushed home for naps in front of the wood stove.                                                

Plans and Research

I will be sticking around south-central Wisconsin for the next six weeks. There is much to do with the process to get my son ready for independent living and college, along with a high school graduation party to plan.  In the meantime, I also have some planning, preparation and modifications on my Scamp trailer–the Brew Hut.  I won’t have time for much Scamping this summer, due to other travel plans, but I do have plans for an extended fall trip.

Modifications under consideration are upgrading the battery, replacing the carpet with vinyl plank flooring, upgrading the mattress, changing out the dinette table, deciding whether or not  to get a  generator and/or an inverter,  and a few other things.

We had another six inches plus of snow today.  Last year, we had a few days in the 70’s by this time of year.  What started out as a fairly mild winter has seemed to go on forever.  The wood stove is warming my old bones tonight,  but  I’m ready for a little “screened porch time” and warmer weather. The weatherman promises changes soon for the better.

Tonight, I made Moroccan slow cooker chicken for the family.  Julia celebrated the continuation of winter with a glass of Castle Rock Pinot Noir, while I sipped on a Deschutes Black Butte Porter.

 

 Justin is pretending not to mind all of the vegetables on his plate.

The Ice Age Trail: Slack Road to the Merrimac Ferry

 

Winter has returned to Wisconsin, but conditions were pretty good for late February.  There was enough soft melting snow on the trail to keep things from getting too slippery or muddy.  This trail segment is a few miles north of Lodi on Slack Road about 1/2 mile from the intersection of Slack and Hwy V.

The footpath has several ascents and descents following switchbacks that eventually lead to wonderful views of Lake Wisconsin, which is the part of the Wisconsin River between the dam in Portage and the dam in Prairie du Sac.

The current has partially broken up the lake.  The quiet bays are still full of ice today, despite the 70 degree weather last week.

Straight across the lake in the middle of the above photo, you can see Devil’s Head ski runs coming down the Baraboo Hills.

The trail comes off the bluffs back and forth along more switchbacks until reaching Hwy 113 below.  Here, the path runs between the road and the railroad tracks until emerging at the Merrimac Ferry boarding area and parking lot

The Merrimac Ferry is free for cars, bikers, and pedestrians. It’s a popular and scenic way to get to the Devil’s Lake State Park area, which is on the other side from me.  This rendition of the Ferry is called Colsac III, and has not started the 2017 season. If the weather continues the warming trend, the ferry will begin operating soon.

This trail is in and out without any loop.  The round trip is about 3 to 4 miles (guesstimate). On the way back, I stopped at my favorite bench for one last view.