Grouse Hollow Journal for the week of June 26, 2014

I took this shot of a huge bull moose that was feeding in a bay near the Mounds in Peephole bay one evening while we were fishing.

Ellen shot this  angry hen grouse that was protecting her chicks while El was out for a walk in the bush.

El got this shot of a sow bear along highway 502.  The cub ran for cover.

This is a bear track on the road near the camp that Ellen shot while on a walk.

Down the hatch!  This is a different view of Ellen's big walleye.

23" walleye

13.5" perch

18.5" small mouth

“How high's the water, Mama? Six feet high and rising.” The Mighty Mississip and Ma Nature are tag teaming, ushering in summer with all we need weather wise to remind us that they still hold all the cards. We have only had a couple inches of rain but lots of thunder and lightening in our coulee - almost every other day. I have to admit that I love a good thunderstorm. I sit out on the porch and watch the fairly limited horizon of Proksch Coulee for lightning bolts after each kaboom. I don't know what I like about them, but I usually find them fascinating, comforting maybe for some reason. I usually sleep right through a big thunderstorm. I remembering learning once that while one might not see the lightning, it is the electric charge that makes thunder. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, more than 80 percent of lightning stays inside the clouds where it usually can’t be seen.

El and I have seen some dandy thunderstorms - when we probably could have done without them. I remember one out west when we were on I-90 headed east. The clouds rolled and grew to towering heights, lightning flashed across the sky for miles and miles and thunder didn't just rumble, it exploded overhead and then it rained, hard. Two summers ago, I was fishing with Scout north of Stoddard. We had almost a limit of panfish in the livewell and I was talking to Randy Swenson on the phone with my back turned toward the west. I felt it before I saw it, a cool breeze on the edge of the front. I hung up, grabbed my huge umbrella, while my erstwhile waterdog scrambled to be under my seat. We headed out into big rain drops that got too big to bother with the umbrella flopping in the wind from moving and from the storm. We made it back to the landing in a direct downpour with bolts of lightning chasing us in. Afterwards, I got to thinking that maybe we should have just made a run for shore and got our metal lightning rod and selves off the water. The worst I have ever seen was in Canada on Cedar Lake. Ellen and I were fishing by Barb and Chuck in Portage Bay when we heard the thunder over the nearby hill. By the time we got our anchors up and rain gear on, it was raining. We motored around the point into a head wind that was kicking up three foot whitecaps. Knowing what I know now, we should have just stayed put, setting out the storm in the fairly protected bay. Anyway, after an exciting -okay, maybe wild or spine tingling might be better - boat ride, we all finally managed to get into a safe harbor on the point of an island and waited out the storm there. They all hollared at me when I dropped a jig in the water because there was still lightning around. Then there was the night we went out to eat with Jeff and Kathi Cermak and came back to blocked roads and downpours, accented with thunder and lightning. Our neighbor Tony Gerdman was out on a tractor in the dark moving downed tree limbs off the road by his house. Jeff wanted us to watch the Badgers on his new big screen that night but the storm blocked the signal. We went home and slept through the storm - at least I did. The next morning we had 8 inches of water in our basement, no power, and lots of traffic by our house. Later, we heard that we had nearly a foot of rain in a couple of hours and that a house had come down off the hillside in a mudslide along highway 35. Anyway, it gets hard to remember that here is really nothing anyone can do about this weather but stay inside or wear rain gear.
Anyway, by the time you read this, we will probably be back from our annual trip to Canada. Ontario and northern Minnesota have had some flooding issues on the roads we usually travel so we shall see. Gordie and Curt were in North Dakota this last week, fishing on Devil's Lake. Their first report wasn't exactly great. They caught a bunch of northerns and three walleyes and had high winds to deal with. No doubt we'll hear more later this week.Former physics teacher and my good buddy, Bob Bonine has had Lou Gherig's disease for going on two years.  It sucks.  He's Bob; he still likes his bloody marys and going out to eat at Rockies and Diggers and playing poker, but now he has to use a wheelchair to go any distance, and it is getting harder for him to talk because the wiring of his respiratory system is failing.  He still has his great sense of humor and gets on okay with the help of his better half, Roxanne.  Anyway, I would like to remind folks that dealing with this incurable and ultimately fatal condition takes a toll on people's lives. If you would like to help, the La Crosse Area ALS Support Group's Chicken Q and Silent Auction is to be held Sunday, June 29, 2014 at Veteran's Memorial Park in West Salem from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Tickets can be purchased by contacting RoxAnne Fox -foxrox54601@gmail.com or calling Connie Troyanek at 608-788-0670.  All earnings will be kept locally to help families who have a loved one diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).Until next time, get out - finally, I want to congratulate Coach Pete Swanson and the Viroqua Blackhawks Baseball team on their great run to the “big show” in high school baseball.  Great job guys.  Enjoy.