On Saturday Ma Nature’s tempest tantrum finally simmered down. Except for a couple restless nights with the wind roaring and rattling the house and maybe half-a-ton of pine cones and limbs to pick up in the yard, we came through relatively unscathed. While there is snow and ice hanging on in shady places, the wind actually dried things out quite a bit. The weather has turned so cold that Scout and I drove through Goose Island Park to see if there might be enough ice in the back water for a fishing trip. There was ice, but not ice for walking on by me - yet. We’ll keep checking. There is snow in the forecast. I sure hope this qualifies as coming-in-like-a-lion weather after being spoiled by the weather in February.
This last week has been full with appointments and substitute teaching and meetings and food and fun. On Monday, I had my annual physical. Doc told me it is better to be healthy and heavy than unhealthy and heavy. Oh well, I am good for another 12,000 miles - I hope.
On Wednesday evening, Ellen rode along with me up to Alma for the Wisconsin Conservation Congress District 5 meeting. We drove to Nelson first and had some great food at J and J’s BBQ. Ellen ordered a pulled pork sandwich and I had a third of a rack of seriously smoked ribs and a quarter of a chicken with fries and barbequed beans. I needed about twenty napkins to get my elbows unstuck from the table top. Good stuff at a fun place.
At the meeting elected officials from Buffalo, Dunn, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Pepin, Pierce, Trempealeau, and Vernon counties that comprise District 5 come together to learn about and comment on the questions up for voting at the upcoming county hearings on April 10. Our Vernon County group is Dave West, Jason Leis, Al Smith, Tim Morgan and yours truly. We heard about a lot including all 82 questions in the upcoming hearing handout, but the following questions and info stood out for me: possibly raising the musky size limit statewide, changing panfish limits and even size limits, DNR staffing updates, a southern Wisconsin deer study, elk restoration project, the DNR alignment process, state budget process related to the department, the loss of the Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, filling warden positions, Go Wild, new game tags, Vernon County has a new fish manager as Kirk Olson will replace Jordan Weeks who is the new Mississippi River Manager, raising the trout stamp from $10 to $15, proposed spring hearing voting on line, CDACs, and more. We got home around midnight.
On Thursday, Ellen and I and our friend Curt Christensen went to the Annual De Soto FFA Banquet. We had a great dinner of delicious beef tips, chicken, and mashed potatoes and all the fixin’s catered by Borgen’s of Westby. Then there were speeches and awards. Curt and I have been helping FFA supervisor Ron Von Glahn with the Jag Lake FFA retreat since the mid-90’s and we were awarded honorary FFA degrees for our service. We rewarded 160 plus people with a karaoke sing along. Yeah, enough said.
Friday night we all met met with the Von Glahns, Gronnings, and Curt for fish at Rocky’s in Stoddard. The place was hopping, the Badgers were winning on the TV, the adult beverages were excellent, and the fish was better. Anyway, it felt good to sleep in a bit on Saturday.
I have told stories about NASA, the North American Squirrel Association. NASA provides outdoor opportunities to the disabled and elderly. The other night at Rocky’s Rick Elsen invited me to join his table at the annual NASA banquet on April 26 in La Crosse. You can learn more about this worthwhile fundraising event online at: http://www.nasasquirrel.org/
We are seeing lots of deer browsing in the fields in early evening and after dark. We are still seeing some bucks with antlers too, including a dandy in a valley to the north of us. I took the truck for a test drive of the fog lights Saturday night. I saw four deer including a good buck just down the road. Take a ride in the country at dusk if you like seeing deer right now.
Speaking of being out at dusk, I like Daylight Savings Time. Why can’t we just leave the clocks like they are today (Sunday) all year long? Some claim Daylight Savings Time is good for the economy because we spend more money when it is daylight later in the summer, but according to JP Morgan, the research does not bear this out because returning to Standard Time in the fall negates any economic gain from the summer daylight hours. Some say that school children will have to get on the bus in the dark. When the school buses turn around in our driveway in the morning to pick up the neighbor kids, it is dark-thirty most of the school year - just sayin’. Also, I submit that maybe we’d save a great deal of electricity during the holidays because the decorations would go on later (by sun time) and could be on for an hour less each night. Recently, there was an ill-conceived move afoot to do away with Daylight Savings Time by a couple of Wisconsin legislators. Fortunately, time ran out on the idea due to a lot of pressure on social media; however, I’d be on board to go the do away with Standard Time. I say, Daylight Savings Time now, Daylight Savings Time this fall, and Daylight Savings Time all year long, if for no other reason than to give fishermen and bow hunters an extra hour of daylight after work in the fall.
Until next time, get out - Ellen said that she was greeted by a robin’s spring song when she walked outside this morning on her way to church. Our newly arrived regiment of robins must be wondering what they were thinking when they decided to head north so early. They definitely didn’t check the weather forecast and they are definitely not rockin’ - maybe shivering. Oh well, we made it past the Ides of March, so daffodils and swallows can’t be far behind. Enjoy.
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