Grouse Hollow Journal for March 7, 2013

Grouse Hollow Journal for March 7, 2013 by Greg Koelker

“If you seek creative ideas go walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” 
― Raymond I. Myers

It is Sunday afternoon. The warm rays and perfect blue sky make it impossible to stay inside for long. Ellen and Scout and I just got back in from a walk in the coulee; we maybe covered two miles. Scout was dogging it; she and Ellen had already taken a mile and a half snowshoe trip up the a logging road to the ridge top, across the top and down the Grouse Hollow path. Scout covers at least three times as far without snowshoes checking out every set of tracks and or spot where some animal or other has passed or stopped.

Ellen and I talked about the day, we discussed supper -marinated and grilled pork chops, asparagus, rolls, potatoes, and salad - we noticed changes in the woods – more downed trees and brush to clear; we speculated on the forecast snow storm that is reportedly going to dump a pile of white stuff on us in the next couple of days; we talked of our kids and discussed summer plans for Canada and Colorado. I asked her if she had any other place or any activity she really wanted to do this summer and she said, “Northern Wisconsin.” Great minds think alike; I want to pull the boat up and explore some new lakes. Fortune has smiled on us as our friend, Curt Christensen bought a home in Minocqua recently, so we have a base from which to explore. Curt tells us he has some great restaurants to try; oh yeah. We talked a bit about some changes to the house we need and/or would like to do; we need to update the insulation in our attic and we want to update our bedroom walls, floors, closet and furniture. We also talked about fixing up the downstairs bathroom. We didn't talk about money. Everyone should go for a walk every day if they can.

Anyway, Vince Ruetten, Ellen, and I went ice fishing on Saturday afternoon. Vinny had a hot tip that they were catching perch below the Lansing Dike somewhere. We drove down there and didn't like the lay of the land, or ice. There were no cars near the spot and no one had gone out across the slough to get to the back waters as far as we could tell, so we opted to move on. We stopped on the dike where a man was walking out across a stretch of ice. He said he had been there and caught only 1 fish since 7:30 AM. A warden pulled up and he reported that he had been at Cold Springs and it didn't appear as if anyone was catching fish there. He said that these were the kinds of days, warm and sunny, that made him love his job the most because he was able to get out and walk. I get that officer, but after recently reading Under A Poacher's Moon by Steve Dewald, you can have your job. Too much stress and danger.

We decided to try Green Lake in Blackhawk Park. At the parking lot, people were coming out in droves. One trio said that three men had never worked so hard for no fish. We ended up at back Stoddard Bay. There were trucks and cars on the ice all over the place; the only think missing was the polk sound track from Grumpy Old Men; we opted to hike. Vince said that his wife would kill him if he put their Durango through the ice.

Ellen pulled the sled loaded with our gear ahead of we slower mortals. I put out some tip ups and Vinny moved from hole to hole with his Marcum flasher – to no avail. Ellen caught two small perch and I got one smaller. Vince sacrificed bait a couple of times before we called it a day.

Back at the ranch, our neighbors Gregg and Cindy Sikora were coming back in from a snowshoe trip up on our ridge. They were kidless for the night, so we asked them in and caught up on the family news and coulee gossip over cocktails and chips. They still have a lot to learn to love the empty nest idea.

Until next time, get out - “Walking in the morning takes you to beautiful places where light and shade make love.” ― Prof. Mohamed Shareef.  Well put, Mo; I love when Scout takes me on our morning walks, especially now that it is almost light out. Oh, if you are interested in spending some time in northern Wisconsin this summer, you might check out: http://wisconsinstateparks.reserveamerica.com/ for possible camping sites.  Oh, yeah get ready to change your clocks this weekend.  Enjoy.