Deer....

 The youngest hunter in the family gets his second deer!

Those not in the hunting community might wonder how this is possible.  Well, without explaining the byzantine rules in detail, you can basically always get a permit to take a buck, as seen above.  There is an over supply of these harem collecting guys, especially during gun season when The Party is Over regards next year's fawns.  I guess it makes sense from a "don't have babies during the short rations season", but there's only about two weeks where bucks and does have much interest in each other.  As mentioned in my bow hunting reports, this is the brief spell of time where they act with the decorum and sense of college students on spring break.

Also, the DNR keeps a close eye on deer numbers, and issues greater or lesser numbers of "antlerless" permits - does and this year's punk teens - with an eye to reducing winter starvation, car-deer interactions and crop loss.  The deer seen above was taken on an "Ag-Tag", but honestly the DNR wants new hunters badly and youth hunters get a whole bunch of extra opportunities.

Writing on Thanksgiving morning there are still a few days of gun season left.  Oh, and you can still hunt with a bow until the end of the year.  And, there is a short second chance gun season for any unfilled anterless tags.  But if you are keeping score at home here's the tally since we started a family hunt in 2020.

2020 3 Hunters 3 deer

2021 5 Hunters, 3 deer

2022 4 Hunters 5 deer (see above regards multiple opportunities)

2023 4 Hunters 1 deer.  This was a bad year after a punishing winter

2024 (so far) 6 Hunters, 3 deer.

We have gained hunters over the years despite one early regular having a new baby and staying close to home the last two seasons.  This year we have all three of our boys hunting, plus a grandson and one of the daughter in laws.

Our overall "success rate" is 15/22 or 68%.  This compares favorably to the state wide 50% rate.  To be fair some hunters, both in our group and in the larger community, are more serious than others.  Last year our dtr in law had a perfect shot at a doe with two cute fawns.  The deer knew she was a sitting duck, so she just looked up and made cute/guilt inducing eyes....so of course she and her brood were allowed to pass in safety.

I'll update the numbers if necessary when final reports from our "satellite locations" drift in.   

But there will be venison in at least most of our freezers for the long winter ahead.

There's something you don't see every day.....

My deer hunting trips to my son's Homestead had me sitting in a tree stand for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening.  So what to do in between?  Well, the occasional side trip is called for.  And on occasion you just run across odd things.  Such as:

As the old saying went: "Now there's something you don't see every day..."  Especially when you get closer and find out that it is on the National Registry of Historic Places!

This is the Silverdome Ballroom.   If you are curious about its history and construction HERE is a brief summary.  If you want a whole bunch more, here's the info from the National Registery.

If you are just casually interested....it was built during the Great Depression by a family that had earlier built a sort of "supper club" on the site that was actually a speakeasy.  It is btw still there and is called, logically, The Speakeasy Saloon.  The name Silverdome comes from the unusual use of aluminum elements to support the dome.  The Keller brothers who did the construction paid a $1000 royalty to the German patent holders for this process.  This is remarkable because A) that was a lot of money during the Depression and B) one suspects the German engineers got good at this stuff by building zeppelins.

Over the years the Silverdome has done pretty well.  It is in fact a going concern.  There are some odd businesses next door to it that also caught my eye....

This seems to have been a carpentry shop of some sort, the sign indicating a Mill Works.  But it is now a CBD joint and a barber shop!  I guess the slightly illegal business doings that started with the speakeasy (seen in the distance in this picture) are ongoing.  As I have not much hair and even less interest in quasi legal marijuana I did not stop in.

The Silverdome has seen quite a few known acts over its long years.  Duke Ellington, Johnny Cash, The Bellamy Brothers, Buffalo Springfield and Cheap Trick.  Also, and nearer to my heart, Whoopee John.  Or if you want to be formal, Whoopee John Wilfahrt.

Whoopee John was from New Ulm Minnesota, so it should not surprise any of you that his musical genre was Polka.  He toured extensively and was still a moderately well known name when I was a young lad.  

When I was a bit older, but arguably no wiser, I'd occasionally turn up to help dispatch a keg of beer at our friend Markie's house.  One of his housemates was a young man whose name I either never knew or can't recall.  Everyone just called him Wilfahrt.  Over a red plastic cup of some sort of affordable to the impoverished brew he told me he was a descendent of Whoopee and that the band's tour bus had on the back:

WHOOPEE JOHN WILFAHRT

           AND HIS BAND WILL PLAY 

 

Opening Weekend 2024

Slow start to opening weekend of deer hunting.  The family takes a while to collect itself from various locations, and there is a general shortage of tags for our immediate around the cabin area.  Two hunters out at first light.  Some deer seen, none brought home.

Having gotten a deer earlier I stayed behind.  When it got light enough I did take Hank out for a walk.  As he is a small brown creature who likes to carry big branches around he had to be decked out for the occasion.

I heard exactly one gunshot in our 45 minute walk.  He might have heard a few more distant ones because he was pulling like crazy to get back to the safety of the cabin by the end of the walk.  He fears the Great Thunder Dogs.....

We started the Family Deer Camp four years ago.  In the first year it was just three of us gathering in a dreary Covid limited time.  One of our party in fact shot a deer but was too fatigued by a recent bout to drag it out unassisted.  But we went 3-3 with enough time and effort, all within walking distance of home base.

Fast forward.  No longer just guys eating junk food, the gathering is now our defacto Thanksgiving with all the kids, their wives, their dogs.  We eat better.  But the area around the cabin yielded zero deer.  In fact I was the only one who even tried to hunt in walking distance.  A tough winter two years ago clobbered the herd, so "antlerless" tags were cut way back.  But that does not seem to have deterred others, and areas we had all to ourselves until recently now have multiple hunters working them.  Hey, public land, so its fine.  But less productive and not conducive to doing the occasional drive to move deer along.

The two deer bagged thus far were:  my grandson getting one on a friend's property an hour south of here during Youth Hunt weekend, and my bow hunting success far to the south.  No deer hanging in the garage.

When I went out for a few hours on Saturday evening I encountered pleasant weather but saw nothing larger than a squirrel.*

Oh well.  Lots of good family time which is tastier than venison.  And as the weekend concludes various branches of the tribe head out to other places, in some of which there are still deer and permits.......

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* peculiar highlight of the weekend:  Somehow a flying squirrel made it inside and drowned in a toilet.  Zombie Toilet Squirrel.  Nobody had that on their bingo card.  Now Family Lore....

Shifting Gears

I've been doing this since 2011.  Almost 2500 posts.  Sometimes they are abundant.  When I'm off on fun travels they almost write themselves.  Other times the ready to go inventory is minimal.  

Off the cuff writing is like riding a bike (something I actually seldom do).  There is a sort of "muscle memory" to each activity.  I'm very glad I was the only guy in typing class back in High School.  I can sit at the keyboard - which is much handier than the old IBM Selectric - stare into the middle distance and think.  The fingers just produce a sort of live stream.

Writing is also like riding a bike in that it is hard to stop.  If you don't keep up a certain momentum you'll wobble and tip over.  Is it reasonable to post three times a week, with more on special occasions?  Of course not.  But I think if I reduced frequency it would be the first wobble, the first sign that Detritus of Empire would become, well, detritus.  Blogging was just past its peak of popularity when I started.  Most who were active then ran out of things to say.  

Well that would be a major change, and I think its not time for that yet.  But the seasons do come and go.  

Looking back on the most frequent topics over the years, I see some that will keep rolling, others not so much.

Archaeology at 390 posts leads the way.  I figure to have a few more digs in me.  Americana is second at 309.  Lots to think about there. FIRST Robotics (210) will keep going too, although I'm in more of an emeritus role.  That should actually give me time to better chronical the mad journey.  Generations (198) is a big topic but I'm mindful of the privacy of family members, so I've never done more than the surface of that great story.  

But some categories are just in eclipse.  Sure I did 138 posts on the arcane subject Forgotten Brewery Caves, but there are few opportunities to expand on that one without considerable travel.  And even then, I won't visit or publicize sites that might lead to an arrest report or worse.

Well it is change of seasons time.  Robot School is done, the main FIRST build and competition season is still a ways off.  Deer hunting is less of an event this year, the shortage of local tags has the more serious members of the tribe looking elsewhere and scoring earlier.  Other fun stuff is over the horizon, but in the cold months ahead I will be thinking of warm, green England.

And perhaps there will be some new adventures.  No idea what just yet.  See you along the way.

 

View from the past

 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.  The early days.

Early photos of my town are not abundant.  Above is what I think is the earliest one that shows anything of real interest.  It is in the archives of the State Historical Society and is thought to be circa 1870.  This is a time period I've written a fair bit about, so I thought it might be interesting to try and identify places that I've "visited".  

Of course we need to first establish the actual perspective.  I don't feel like waiting for snow, but at least in November 2024 the leaves are mostly gone. 

Okay, its not perfect.  I'm off to the right and about 30 feet lower in elevation than the original perspective.  Hey, they tore out a big chunk of hill to make the street I'm standing in, and if I went off to the left I'd have to explain to the property owners why I'm standing on their deck!  For a more recent perspective the 1874 "Birds Eye" view of Chippewa Falls makes a good reference, although many things changed from circa 1870 to four years later.  I'll mark the spot from where the picture would have been taken....

This is on the "East Hill" looking straight down Spring Street.  And how do I know this?  Well, there are three places where streets cross Duncan Creek.  River Street, Spring Street and Central Street in order.  It can't be River Street as the photo would then be centered on the river front.  And we know that there was a bridge on Central Street going back to 1858.  But Spring Street?  Why that bridge was only constructed in 1872!  

The above info helps date the vintage photo.  It is known that Chippewa Falls had a major fire in 1869, as a result of which most subsequent downtown construction was in brick or stone.  So let's say it is 1870 or 1871.  What else can we glimpse in the photo?

Well, less than I'd like.  The Schmidmeyer brewery was at the far end of Spring Street but that's out of sight.  Guess telephoto lenses had not been invented.  And the mysterious Union Brewery should be at the indicated arrow if this was say, 1871 or so.  Is there a roof peeking out behind those trees?

I wish I could point out some of the other places I've written about in my local history rambles.  But some are obscured by the larger buildings - most of those are hotels - others are frustratingly off the the left or right by, in some cases, only a few hundred yards.

The Virtues and Vices of Dogs

You don't gain the status of Man's Best Friend without having a lot going for you as a species.  Dogs have almost all the best human virtues - loyalty, kindness, bravery, a sense of humor - with few of our vices.  Just about the only thing they have against them is a total lack of moderation.  When they see something to eat they wolf it down.  If there is something smelly on the ground, they'll roll around in it as long as you'll let them.

This deficiency does encourage in them a minor degree of deceit.  But you can't actually call them Scamsters because they are so ludicrously bad at it!

Hank is always looking for food.  Sometimes my wife and I are in and out of the house at about "Chow-O-Clock" and he will always try to persuade the person just coming in the house that he needs a bowl full.  So I have a note that I leave on the table.  It says: I fed the Dog.  But it has also started to acquire a bit of "marginalia", little captions and cartoons appearing on the fringes.  Nice try, Hank.

Recently at a grand kid bed time we came up with some additional ones.  Hank seemed to be listening intently.  My personal favorite:

"Yes he fed me, but it was just broccoli, that does not count and I barfed it up in the corner. "

Up in the Air. Also, straight down.

Tree stands going up.  The younger hunter on the right has already gotten the family "on the board" with a nice deer during the special youth hunt weekend.  He may be the best shot in the crew, as one might expect from a kid who can make a soccer ball, baseball or hockey puck go where ever he directs it.

That stand is for the gun season that starts 8 days from now.  After my misadventures with getting deer tags I had to switch tactics this year.  I've been down on The Homestead with a crossbow.  It is a different sort of hunting.  It takes time and patience.  You see deer that you can't reach, given the roughly 40 yard range of my bow.  Well, 30 given my skill level.  And....when a deer unexpectedly steps out from behind a bush and walks directly UNDER your tree stand, well, that's an impossible shot, leaning over the railing and twisting up and over.  I think the grand kids will have some new works of taunting art for the fridge over that one.

Eventually a deer did turn up in the right spot, and I will have venison for the year ahead.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Morbid Puns in Neilsville Wisconsin?

I had some time to kill the other day.  Hey, this happens when you hunt from sunrise to 10 am, then again from 3 to sunset.  So I drove over to Neilsville, Wisconsin.  There were a few things I wanted to look into.  A couple of former brewery sites, and, while I was in town, a big cemetery.  Seems like the place you'd find a bit crop of Tree Shaped Tombstones.

But actually, no.  The few specimens represented were of one of the boring subtypes, basically just a log with a name on it.  But wait a minute.  That name.  Manes.*

You'd have to be a fan of both tombstones and Roman stuff to make this connection.

Roman tombstones often have the notation DM.  It is short hand for Dis Manibis.  Or in translation "To the Manes".  

The Manes were the spirits of the dead.  Or more correctly, one sort of spirits.  Lares were the good spirits.  They were assumed to already be on your side.  Lemures ** were the evil spirits.  You did not invoke them.  Manes were the the sort of generic spirits of the dead and definitely worth trying to appease.  So, a dedication to the Manes was customary.

Did this 19th century citizen of Neilsville know this fact?  Did he recognize the irony?  I'm thinking yes.  People paid much more attention to the classics in the pre-Tik Tok age.

But perhaps this was a coincidence, a one off. Surely there could not be another tombstone six rows over with a bit of  pun in the inscription?

Or maybe there could be.  Stone representing Wood.

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*As a surname Manes probably has nothing to do with Latin at all.  If English or Scottish, it is probably a variant of Mains.

** Lemurs got their generic name - and from Linneaus himself no less - because they are nocturnal, creepy looking and make weird noises in the dark.  I think they've earned their association with evil spirits of the dead....

Hearth and Home - Fall 2024

 

For those who have been following the "Homesteaders" project.  Warmth and light.  Of course you can finish building your house, but you never finish building your home.

Killer Shrews and The Family Business

I enjoy really bad movies.  Oh, not modern ones that I'd have to pay to see, but the classics.  And among them is a gem called The Killer Shrews.  It is from 1959, pretty much the pinnacle of cheesy, black and white sci-fi schlock.  

It has several special charms.  Oh, not the plot.  It's the usual Science Goes Wrong stuff, specifically biological research that makes teeny little voracious shrews grow to giant size while their appetites grow accordingly.  The titular shrews, delightfully, were played by dogs with fake fangs, tails and mangy hides added!

Here you can see the deadly creatures as they gnaw futilely at the oil drums the humans are using to stage an escape attempt.  I bet they had all sorts of dog treats in these to attract their attention.  "Who's a Good Boy?"  Yes, Good Dogs and Good Sports.

I also like this film for a small but remarkable fact I just learned recently.  Now, in most such movies you had stock characters.  Here we see the Girl Scientist, the Dweeby Beta Male love interest of same, and the Macho Can Do guy who comes to save the day.  Oh, and in the middle of the scene we have The Science Guy.  His real life name?  Baruch Lumet.  Sound just a tad familiar?  Hmmmmm?

Well, Baruch did not have much of a film career.  In fact prior to The Killer Shrews he had but a single credit.  Twenty years earlier he had a small role in a film called "One Third of a Nation".  Also appearing in it was his son, Sidney.

Sidney Lumet.  One of the most acclaimed directors in history, he made such classics as 12 Angry Men, Fail Safe, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network.  Somehow despite being often nominated for an Oscar, he only won once and late in his career and as an Honorary Oscar.  

As for Lumet Senior, it seems as if Baruch was not all that interested in being in front of the camera.  He took on a few small parts, especially in the 1960's, but was primarily an acting coach and casting director.  I hope most of his students - Jayne Mansfield was one - went on to greater accomplishments than appearing with collies dressed up as voracious predators!

A Busy 24 hours

Well, lets see.

Monday, 7pm, first official meeting of the robotics team.  Various organizational stuff.  Should be a strong group this year.

Tuesday, 5am.  Got up to be ready at 6 for Vindolanda signup.  You have to be quick on the mouse to get a spot.  Success.

Tuesday morning.  Spent with a grand kid.  Doing play stuff.

Tuesday 4pm, Robot School.  Hitting the home stretch now.  This was the assignment board.  They did get it running and the paddle mechanism operating.  All wires now better secured.  We had a vote on the robot's name.  It shall be known as.....Jeff.  I don't know why.

Here is some frenzied end of session work to get it operating.  There are two sessions left, and plenty of shoring up and tweaking ahead.  But the basic mechanisms all work.

Oh, there's some kind of election going on as well.  Probably others will have things to say about that.

Capricious Thoughts

Sometimes I enjoy questions without answers.  They make you think.

Consider the word Caprice.  It means a sudden change of mind without apparent motive.  It turns up in French in the 16th century, apparently arising from an earlier Italian word, cappricio.  But where did that come from?

Some say it references goats (capro) and their tendency to frisk about in random fashion.  Or, perhaps it combines the words for head (capo) with riccio, a complicated word meaning curled or frizzled hair.  Having one's hair stand on end does not quite seem like caprice, but it is the sort of experience that might change your mind.

Seasons Change. Dogs? Never.

There's a Far Side cartoon I've always really liked:

Honestly, I think it sells "Bob" short.  Ever since wolves snuck up to the stone age campfires and started trying to be helpful, they've been playing the Long Con.  "Hey, take care of us and we'll protect you from danger".

Right.  What exactly do dogs bring to the table as compared to sturdy cave people who have spears and the use of fire?  Well, they can still bark their fool heads off in response to perceived threats....  Right, Hank?  The Enemy is inside the perimeter!!!!

Here's Hank's response to me making the dreaded Lawn Mower move.  Not run mind you, just move.

Well, he's sure giving it his best effort.  With the strange transitional weather we are now experiencing it won't be long before I'll be running the even bigger, noisier Red Machine.  I test started it right after I finished mowing/mulching.  Strangely Hank ignored it.  Guess a dog has to know his limits.