Grouse Hollow Journal for July 27, 2017 by Greg Koelker

Grouse Hollow Journal for July 27, 2017 by Greg Koelker

Our friends, Tom and Jane Downs were visiting this last week.  After Sunday dinner at Rocky’s, we had a fire in the pit and enjoyed cocktails as the stars started to come out.  Unfortunately, the mosquitoes came out too.  On Monday, Tom and I went to a big boy toy store that if having a fire sale on stuff.  I bought a Carhart chore coat for $30 and a new fishing scale after losing my old one in Canada.  The girls went to the La Crosse Peace Garden to see the flowers.  Anyway, we had a great visit and made plans to visit them during the Iowa State Fair.  You can get lots to eat there and just about anything fried on a stick at the Fair.  Anything, including fried butter on a stick!  Boomshakalaka!

Last Wednesday, on the way home from Madison, traveling past Sugar Grove Road, I saw my first lightning slice the horizon just before Ellen called to warn me about nasty weather ahead.  I made a quick pit stop at Viroqua, and it wasn’t raining; however, Ma Nature was beginning to unload big drops when I got back in the car.  Between the thunder and lightning and heavy downpours while I crawled westward on Highway 56, I saw small rivers of muddy water in the ditches and crops getting smashed along with windswept trees.  No hail though.  I never felt I had to pull over, but it was close sometimes. My cell battery died; that was a bit troubling.  When I finally got to Highway 35, the rain was winding down and giving way to high winds and fast water in the ditches and creeks.  I saw some nasty bruise-colored clouds to the west and north.  In Stoddard, I had to drive up the middle of Main Street to stay out of deep water in the gutters on both sides of the street and avoid some tree limbs.  On Proksch Coulee Road, I was stopped by Becky Russell who was trying to clear the road of a a downed tree.  Her husband Terry, her son Dan, another couple, and April Wehling came along and all helped to move the mess.  I got around it with my car and went home to get the truck, chain saw, and tow rope.  El and I went right back but April had gotten their truck and pulled the limbs off the road.  Anyway, back at the ranch we used the saw and rope and truck to clear the road of a snapped off maple tree before retiring to our dark house.  With the internet out and no power, I couldn’t work on my article on AB 411, so we went to bed.  I woke up around 2:30 AM and found the lights on - hooray!   I wrote until 5:30 and sent my draft off and went back to dreamland.  

We had 5 inches in the rain gauge Thursday morning and half-a-dozen trees down including one big box elder down on Scout’s kennel.  Fortunately, Scout was in our house.  During the downpours, much of our gravel driveway decided to go sightseeing down the coulee.  Easy enough to take care of with the John Deere and a blade.  

The recent storms bring out the best in our dedicated lineman crews.  We lost power last evening and the lights were back on around 1 AM.  Thank you for working those long hours Vernon Electric.  You just don’t appreciate electricity until it is turned off.  

Of course, all the credit doesn’t stop there; up on our ridge, a limb and power line came down in the storm onto our neighbors Phil and Karel Leisso’s home, sparking up some smoke thus prompting a visit from the Stoddard-Bergen Volunteer fire department.  I know that our local and county and state police departments were busy with calls in the bad weather and no doubt telephone linemen too.  City, Town, and County road workers worked long hours getting roads cleared and blocking high water spots and iffy bridges and such.  Terry and Jim, our town road crew along with town chairman Jeff Cermak, deserve a ton of credit and many thanks for all they do all year long, but especially when they have to go out in extreme weather in the night to keep our roads safe like they did last week.  

Most of our roads were open this morning - our newspaper was even delivered and the mail came.  Anway, I saw a t-shirt online this morning with the slogan on it, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.  If you can read this at night, thank a lineman.”  As a former English teacher, I agree, and with an emphasis on thanking a lineman, and a whole lot of others.  Maybe we need another line that says if you can get home to read this, thank a - fill in the blank.

We saw on Facebook many pictures of flooding and wind damage.  El’s sister Barb sent her a picture of Burton, where the Grant River has gone rogue and washed out into the town and on Brother Bill’s fields and turning the Burton Tavern into Burton Tiki Bar - we saw a picture of someone driving a flat bottom behind the tavern towing a person in an innertube.  Down in Boice Creek where Barb and Chuck cross to get crops in and we cross to hunt deer, the crossing is now a five foot drop into the creek.

On Thursday, Ellen and I began working on the box elder tree on the kennel - mostly El.  She used the Fiskars limber to cut off and drag away limbs and pile firewood.  I mostly ran the chain saw and called for breaks.  I hate cutting ditch wood (box elder) as it is gnarly and snaps and twists and springs unpredictably under the saw and is worth near to nothing for firewood - although I guess it is prime for outdoor wood burners because of its tendency to smoulder.  Gus Picar came up with his saw and helped on Saturday and suggested we could pile some limbs on his PicFest bonfire pile.  Speaking of smouldering, that’s what I was after a couple hours of working out in the heat.   As of Sunday, we have the yard mostly cleared but still a lot to cut on our trails when it dries out.  

Until next time, get out - the reason I was in Madison last week Wednesday was for a hearing on Assembly Bill 411 in front of the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and Sporting Heritage.  After the politicians spoke, about 25 citizens testified on the bill  (5 supported AB411 while the rest were opposed) that would restrict conservation wardens from entering private land without a tip or complaint.  You can see the testimony online at Wisconsin Eye and/or read my article, co-written with Dean Bortz, in the newest issue of The Outdoor News.  Enjoy.