Old Ghosts and a New Species

Sometimes I get tips, suggestions on where I might catch a new fish species.  Of course the easiest way to do this is to launch a boat and range far and wide, but I'm trying to place a geocache near each new species catch site, so we are mostly talking bank fishing here.

I had a hot tip on a species called "Mooneye".  I've been after this one for years.

On the way down to the site I passed a really old cemetery.  Said to be haunted.

Old stones.  Felled by time, but still trying to preserve memories.

And then on with the fishing.  On about the second cast up came this guy!

Yes he does have weird eyes, but this is a Sauger.  And is a new species for me.  So of course I had to work it up for a Strange Fish geocache.  This cache container is not fish shaped - this would be a tough one to do - but does contain a handy guide to help folks tell the difference between Sauger and their close cousin the Walleye.

Strange Fish #13 - Sauger

State Championship 2025

Compressing a 32 team robotics competition into one day is no small feat.  The organizers did an excellent job.  

Stepping into the event as it was powering up I immediately got the feel of robot season.  I guess it is not buried too deep in my awareness.

Team 5826 got off to a strong start, with our first match being a resounding victory.  We were, albeit briefly, ranked number one in the state.  Ah, but this was an elite level competition.  When your robot works perfectly you might win, depending on who you are paired against.  When your robot has glitches, you won't.  As the event wore on our robot started to show its age/complexity.

We did end up playing in the elimination rounds.  As alliance selection works in a serpentine fashion there is actually some mild benefit to being ranked below mid range.  We were picked by the number two seeded alliance.

But after a brief playoff run we were out.

Lots was learned.  Essentially we have gone from a fun but unserious program to one that has climbed about halfway to the top.  We can see the highest limit of what can be done....but the slope above us is steep.  

This was also a chance to say farewell to some really outstanding seniors.  The post Covid rebuild of team 5826 has brought us our greatest successes, and these kids deserve the credit.  Where we go from here; how the team gets "built" for the third time......?  Well, these questions can wait a week or so.  Its not just the robot that is tired.

Silly side note.  A pit area near us had a cute lil' robot dog.  I'm thinking Hank would have gone insane seeing this in person....

FIRST Robotics 2025 - Off to State!

Next year FIRST in our state is switching formats.  Instead of very large "regional" competitions there will be slightly smaller District comps.  More of 'em, and as they are all in-state, with less travel costs and bother.  Then the top teams on a District basis get invited to a State tournament which could qualify you for Worlds.

It's mostly a good thing.  Although when I'm chin deep in organizing a local event next year I'll feel otherwise.

In any event, to get ready for the new system there is an official State Tournament this year.  I guess you could put an asterisk next to it as there is no Worlds qual involved.  But braggin' rights....

5826 did make the cut of the top 32 teams in the state.  Interestingly, and pleasingly, it was the two Awards we won that put us over the top.  Judges Award and Gracious Professionalism.  On top of a solid second tournament it was sufficient.

So, its off to State for us.  For the first time, and one hopes, far from the last.

Supposedly there will be a live stream HERE on Saturday.

Jacob Marley's Dog

 

How to explain that picture?

Well I had a spot I wanted to fish.  It was known for a species I've been trying to add to my list for years.  But I had the dog with and would have to tie him up.  There was a busy road nearby.  In fact there was a bridge with a highway worker on it.  We had a nice chat.  

I tied Hank to a tree, affording him shade and a nice view of the river.  I was maybe 20 feet from the end of the rope.   Attending to my angling I was bothered by his plaintive yipping, but after a few minutes it stopped.  Good.

Then the kid working on the bridge said: "Sir, your dog is up here."

Sigh.  Well, the rope was old and I figured he just snapped it.  Re-tied.  He somehow did it again.  I really wanted to fish this spot and it was too sunny to put him in the car for long.  Double tied rope.  He broke free again.  I had some fresh paracord with me.  It also failed.

I left the dangling shreds attached.  I think he looks a bit like Jacob Marley's ghost, who wandered Eternity - or at least Dicken's Christmas Carol - with chains hanging off him.

In Marley's case it was a mark of his sins.  Greed and Selfishness.

Dogs don't exactly have sins.  But virtues taken too far can become negatives.  Marley started out with commendable thrift and prudence, but took things too far, out over the dark edge.

Hank has the virtues of dogs.  He is unshakably loyal and friendly.  He wants to run free and sniff things.  I understand.  But it can be a pain in the rear.

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Addendum.  On the return swing of this trip up north I had a new dog containment system.  This time a plastic coated cable thing.  While attempting to fish a different spot I gave him a bit of side eye and caught him trying to chew it.  So I don't think his previous escapism was pure Hank Power.

Sir Edmund Hillary's Dog

 The property we bought for fun and hunting came with several nice and very new deer hunting stands.  That is about 15 feet up a ladder that looks to be at about a 60 degree angle.

Hank loves to visit, its the only place we let him run free off leash.  He rolls in stuff, waters other stuff, barks at mysterious noises.  He regarded the tree stand with suspicion.  When I went up to have a look around, he stood at the bottom and barked like mad.

When he stopped barking I got suspicious.  When I turned around....sure enough, he had found a way to scale that ladder.  He was very pleased with himself.  When I started to go down the ladder his expression changed.  Yes, this was yet another situation he'd gotten himself into with no exit strategy!

The Roman Province of Caput Caseum (Wisconsin)

I'm just about ready to ditch Facebook, for reasons I'll get to in a bit.  But I'll actually miss some of the silly interactions with actual (endearingly silly) people.  As opposed to interactions with Slop AI content generated by uninteresting people.

One such discussion had a fellow claiming, and I guess he was serious, that carvings in a local brewery cave were perhaps ancient in origin.  Aztec maybe, but I bet I could have talked him, her, or it, into Roman.  The entity used as its argument "Hey, you were not around then, so all you have is what people have told you!".  Nonsense, but refreshing.  Even charming.

So I feel very confident in identifying this pottery shard as Samian.  It popped up when I turned over our community garden patch.  Somehow the Romans MUST have crossed the Atlantic, lashed the slaves enough to row a galley all the way up the Mississippi and the Chippewa Rivers, took a turn up Duncan Creek, then had a picnic before presumably expiring from exhaustion and implausibility.

Hey, you were not around back then.  So you can't prove I'm wrong!

For my sane archaeology friends I must confess, the illusion only works when you look at this side of it.

Vindolanda Dig - Follow up

For those who followed my adventures at Vindolanda, here's what the last two weeks have revealed:

Of note, the video starts on the site of the mysterious Post Roman "thing".  It's hard to say, but it rather looks now like one building, and without obvious connection to the mysterious curved wall off of the front of the barracks.  Just what was going on there in the post Roman times?  Mention of a coin and its possible help in dating things seems a bit premature.  If it is a typical late Roman coin they stuck around for quite a while. 

Of course I'm going from available information, and don't want to speculate too much.  Perhaps future updates will show more.....

The late blacksmith shop I finished Period III in is not mentioned.  This could either mean they've seen enough and want to preserve/conserve things.....or that the ground is still rock hard despite some rain and it just can't be further explored yet.

Stay tuned....

Trail Cam Photos

We seem to have a fairly diverse critter population up on the new Land.

A tom turkey guarding a little patch of food stuff we scratched out to make the spot more enticing for photo ops.  The deer seems intimidated.

A cute little owl!  You only see one of his glowing eyes because he's looking over his shoulder.  Owls are very good at that.  As this is a little patch of clover we started it's likely he just scored a mouse.

It's well into spring now, so you can start to tell the bucks from the does.

Last time we were up Hank was running around like a Wild Dog.  He stopped to roll around in what I tentatively identified as coyote droppings.  Next day this was on the trail cam...

We've also had a black bear wander through, but it did not show well on camera.

You'll note that all these pictures are from just one spot, and at that, one of the most open and frequently trafficked by humans.  Who knows what is lurking deeper in the forest?