Lumberjacks (and Jills)

Timber Sports.  Now there's a phrase you probably have never heard.  It's basically modern people competing in lumberjack activities.  To some extent using modern tools like chain saws.  And there are Lumber Jills as well as Lumber Jacks.

Hayward Wisconsin, near where our up north cabin is, has quite the center of Timber Sportsdom.  In fact they have the Lumberjack World Championship competition there.  Really talented people chopping, sawing, log rolling, climbing poles, that sort of thing.  

There is also a regular "show" for entertaining tourists.  Not quite World Champs level stuff but with lots of banter, and still many amazing things to be seen.  We had some out of town visitors with us recently and they went to see the show.

Afterwards I got them to split a season's worth of kindling.  Happily with no mishaps.

Tree Shaped Tombstone - Between Luck and Frederick (Wisconsin)

Like the example the other day from McKinley Wisconsin, this tree shaped tombstone was encountered on a little road trip.  Baseball tournament destination.  Prior to setting out I usually go to Google Maps and scan for small town cemeteries.  Sometimes you see interesting things, sometimes not.  A few are not even "on the map".  This little place - St. Peter's Cemetery - did not look like much, but I pulled in anyway.  And found another "one off" tree.  It is also another late one, and has an unusual inscription.  Perhaps related in some way to the one in McKinley?

Some purists might not count these "rugged cross" variants, but I rather like them.  The horizontal elements often have interesting features.  Like this "dying dove".

And another cryptic inscription.  This time Google helped out.  It seems to be Norwegian and say "Dedicated to your Memory".  

Lolling About

It's summer time.  And my dog alternates manic energy and exhausted sloth.  In the latter state he is often "lolling around".  For some reason I've always associated this particular phrase with dogs.  And with dog's tongues.  Turns out I was mostly right...

Like many of the best descriptive words it has obscure origins.  Possible Middle Dutch in the form of "lollen" meaing to doze or mumble.  By the mid 1300's it had changed a bit and now meant to lounge idly or to hang loosely.  You can see how, by the early 1600's, it picked up the connotation of a tongue hanging out.  And a century later being a generic term for lazy inaction.

Lollypop turns up in the late 1700's.  Although they originally did not seem to have a stick, it was certainly something you would pop into your mouth.  Lollygag is a later word, well into the 19th century.  It implies a more deceptive inaction rather than just being worn out.  Lolly, as above, plus gag, meaning a joke.

Lounging about is by the way much different from lolling about.  At least by the complexity of its etymology it seems like much more work

Tree Shaped Tombstone - McKinley Wisconsin

Oh, my.  The tree shaped tombstone in this photo is really the less impressive part...

Welcome to McKinley Wisconsin.  It's just a wide spot in the road really.  But it has a cemetery.  And next to it a church.

As you can see, the church has taken a big hit.  A lightning strike in the summer of 2025 started a fire.

At this point the building had been repurposed into a home, and the family was just barely able to escape unharmed.

Almost a year later there do not appear to be ongoing repair efforts.  

Now, on to that tombstone.  It is unusual in several respects.  For one thing, it is the only one in the cemetery.  My rule of thumb is that when you see one you will almost always see another.  Not here.  And it has some other unusual features.  It is a really, really late example.

As is common, its a husband and wife.  He died in 1918.  She in 1937.  Monuments of this sort were becoming uncommon as the 1920's approached.  Perhaps they were the kind of people who really planned ahead and bought this earlier?

Something else odd here, and this one really bothers me.  The inscription at the bottom is in some language that I can't make out.  I've run what I can see through Google Translate and come up empty.  Of course my policy is that I never scrub at such things, I keep my hands off.  But what is this?   (Note, based on another example from a few miles away I'm thinking it is Norwegian)

June Wild Life

Seen on a morning walk.  Pretty lame camo, bro.

Seen hiding in the side yard bushes.  I guess this is the time of year when fledglings get ornery and hop out of the nest a few days before they are actually able to, you know, fly.  Momma bird seen in the days that followed.  Checking several days later, no adolescent punk bird.  No sad pile of feathers.  So probably OK.

Seen on a "butterfly weed" next to the compost bin.  Tubby little guy, with a slightly smaller sidekick 'piller.

Hunting Land Update

Good thing I got my working sessions up north in before I went overseas.  Now that we are well into the hot weather season it would be much less fun.

Some things have not worked out.  I've written on several occasions on The Bean Project, whereby I'd take pounds of surplus Navy, Black and Pinto beans and turn them into huge feed lots for the plumpification of next year's venison harvest.

The results were underwhelming.  I planted hundreds of them in shallow scrapes and just tossed handfuls off into open areas.  Most just vanished.  Although in one area where we had turned the soil over well last year they are fighting it out with the thistles....

Also, I had plans to put in a rudimentary "facility".  Well, an outhouse if you must know.  As mostly guy users there is no problem with stepping outside and watering the nearest tree, but on infrequent occasions more dedicated facilities could be useful.  Staying over night in the one humble structure already on the site could make those evening and sunrise hunts much easier.

Alas, there are pesky rules and regulations on such matters.  Specifications.  Soil inspections.  Fees to pay.  A permit.  Sigh.

Such are the puny efforts of man.  Or at least of this man.  But nature continues on without much notice of said efforts.  It was a mild winter and game populations seem to be robust.  A couple of recent trail cam pictures....

Awww....

And, oh my....

A New Species Caught!

We'll get back to this guy in a minute....

It was a warm early summer day.  Fathers and sons fishing.  Specifically, bank fishing for odd fish.  I wore my Wisconsin's Least Glamorous Fish T shirt for the occasion, and sure enough the first one up was a Freshwater Drum, featured on same.

I'd only every caught one of these before.  I quadrupled my tally in a couple of hours.  In fact that was all we were catching until we moved to another spot.  Then a Golden Redhorse showed up.  I asked this youngster to try and imitate the dopy horse like face of the fish.  He's just too darn cute to pull it off.

My goal for the day was to catch a Mooneye.  It's an odd one, a fish that mostly lives in the top few inches of water.  They spend all day making little ripples on the surface to taunt me.  Eventually I did reel one in.  Here's my attempt at a Mooneye Face.  I know, not much different from my usual look.

A very lazy day.  Kids ran around and looked at rocks, dug holes in the sand, basically were just kids being kids.  Dads watched the bank poles.  The can by the way contained soda.  The area does seem popular with folks who "party fish" in the night time hours, if old campfires and the occasional beer can can be taken in evidence.

I believe my life time list of freshwater species stands at 41.  And I have some extra time and nightcrawlers this week, so might go out in search of another particularly tough one.....the Northern Hogsucker!

Mostly for my own records, here's my freshwater fish list.  Yes, the salmon can be fresh or salt water.  

Northern Pike, Musky, Walleye, Sauger, Large and Smallmouth bass, Black crappie, Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Green Sunfish, White Sucker, Common Carp, Black and Yellow Bullheads, Golden, Shorthead and Silver Redhorse.  Pink, Sockeye, King and Silver Salmon.  Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Smallmouth Buffalo, Lake Sturgeon, Channel Catfish, Creek Chub, Horney Head Chub, Common Shiner, Freshwater Drum, Round Goby.  Brook, Rainbow and Brown Trout.  Dolly Varden, Mooneye, Log Perch.  Dogfish (aka Bowfin), Lake Trout, Short Nosed Gar, Silver Carp,   (41)  I've also caught a few minnows and some sort of sculpin that I don't have enough evidence to identify.

My salt water list is shorter, and obviously harder to add onto.  I think its around 9.