Grouse Hollow Journal for June 4, 2015 by Greg Koelker

Grouse Hollow Journal for June 4, 2015 by Greg Koelker

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain, I've seen sunny days that I thought - no scratch that - make that hoped would never end . . . What a Sunday! Sunshine on my shoulders and cool fall like air and time with our mountain kids - it don't get no better! I just came in from lighting up the grill for some brats for supper. I was over at the Sikora's earlier and they were relaxing with friends by the campfire and thinking about grilling some burgers over some slow oak coals. Jake tells me he has filled my order for 20 dozen night crawlers too, so check that off our list for Canada.

Two of our mountain kids are here this weekend, number one son, Ben and his best friend Christine. (El made the comment this morning that, “I got Mark and Whitney for my birthday and she got Ben and Chris for her's!”) Christine is from Harbor Springs, Michigan and they drove there to see her family earlier in the week. They got some awesome pictures of a sunset along the Lake Michigan shore line on the way.

Anyway, they got here on Thursday evening in time for dinner and catching up. The five of us -Vernon County's most famous mutt leading the way of course - got out for a hike that turned into a mushroom hunt on Friday morning. While coming down the Grouse Hollow path, Ben spotted a tall brown topped morel down in some thick prickly ash and then the hunt was on to find more. We got enough to fill two frying pans after the mushrooms were soaked a bit in salt water to clean out the riff raff - ants mostly. We had those fabulous fungi fixed in butter, garlic, and olive oil on Friday evening with a couple of seasoned grilled t-bones and some baked chicken with lemon and garlic and a delicious cashew salad to celebrate Ellen's birthday - along with some unbelievable dark chocolate fudge like cake.

Shot of the Lake Michigan near Traverse City taken by Ben Koelker 

El and I shot our last wedding pictures on Saturday. (Okay, we say they are our last wedding pictures, but we shall see.) While we were gone, Ben and Chris drove to visit Grandma and the family in Cassville. My mom told me she was thrilled to meet Christine and have three of her grandkids - Ben and his cousins Kari and Krystal - at her house at one time. We got home from our job pushing 10 p.m. Saturday night, and Ben and Christine were just getting the kitchen cleaned up. Ben said they had wore Scout out with the tennis ball thrower before coming in to fix supper. We had a cold one and visited until early Sunday morning some time.

Mid-morning on Sunday, El and Christine fried up some leftover morels with scrambled eggs and Christine's delicious turkey breakfast sausage. Ellen and the kids and Scout went on another hike while I started writing this column. We took a tour of the Flying Horse Stables later and then some of Ben's friends came out for another feast.

I am disappointed in the state legislature for deciding to side with the governor about slashing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources budget, neu

tering the DNR science bureau and handcuffing the stewardship program. I don't care what one's politics are, we all appreciate and need clean water, clean air and wild places for wildlife and to hike, ski, snowmobile, hunt, fish, and just know these lands are not being developed into mines, strip malls, or cul de sacs. That said, what may be even more of a concern is that these so-called “budget” items should be out in the open and discussed in full view of the people, not tucked away in some document for sneaking into law.

Until next time, get out - Vince Ruetten and I took the Mississippi Queen out from the 7^th Street landing on Sunday before Memorial Day. The clouds were hanging low and filled with promise or drenching depending on your take of them. We tried a number of places behind Gundersen Medical Center and solved many of the problems of the world before we headed back in a steady rain. I found out that my rain gear had outlasted its usefulness too. Oh, I did catch one blue gill by accident after tangling my line up in a sunken tree; when I got it free, I found that a bluegil had managed to hook itself. We motored back to the landing under full sail in a steady rain and took the Queen out without incident. Afterwards, we had breakfast at the Radisson where Vinny's daughter Amanda waited on us. He even bought breakfast. Still, I hear fish stories of panfish dinners jumping into coolers. Jumping back to reality, it is 5 a.m. Monday morning. Ben and Christine just pulled out to get on the road for Colorado; they both have to work on Tuesdayh . We had a great visit, but it is never enough. I miss them already. Enjoy.