Mystery in the Woods

Deer hunting approaches.  And while the main focus this year will be on our land a ways to the south, the area around our cabin is still public hunting, and I have a tag for it.  So I wander here and there looking for signs of deer, interesting trees, and...what the heck?

It's a well.

And some kind of cellar hole?

And a long stone wall with a flat area on one side.

Something is going on here.  Now it helps to know the local history.  This area was lightly inhabited by Ojibway folks for centuries, but they never built anything like this.  Lumbering came in circa 1870's, but initially it was confined to stands of prime timber near rivers.  This area did not get much attention until around 1890, when railroads were not too far distant.

Once the timber companies clear cut the land it was nearly worthless.  Just stumps with plenty of erosion happening.  Nearly worthless is not the same as totally worthless, so the land was sold off cheaply to anyone who wanted to try farming it. * 

Very few succeeded.  I've run across other remnants in my travels, but nothing quite this elaborate.  So, anything else knowable???

Here is Google Earth of the area.  The blue circle is roughly the location of the structures.  The X is what I suspect is the oldest habitation on the lake, at least my take on the circa 1905 whiskey and soda bottles that turn up there when the water levels are low is any guide.  "Supposedly" there was a log structure there from way back, that later became a lodge for a small mom and pop resort.  Few traces remain.

Period maps of this area are scarce, so the best I can do is this roughly 1906 image.

The odd thing here is that the east west road in the upper image - "Pioneer Road" - no less, does not appear to be present.  Look at where the road right at the number 34 lines up on the west side of the lake.  I assume there was some sort of track that went to the H.H. Fleming place.  I also assume that H.H. liked his whiskey.  Pioneer Road must have been created later.

So it looks as if my dog and I were wandering about - on public land it should be noted - where Peter Larson once tried to farm the miserable cut over land.  The long stone wall I'm seeing might well be a frontage onto the east west road that was then just south of his presumed dwelling.  It's too big for any barn he'd be likely to need.

So what happened?  That's going to be hard to know.  Larson is a common name.  And the story of little hardscrabble farms failing in the Great Depression is even more common.

________

* An old timer told me once that "back in the day" you just had to go to the county extension office and you could sign for as much World War One surplus free dynamite as you wanted!  And you'd want a lot to clear the stumps out that kind of land.

Greenland is not for Sale

It was a surprise to hear from him.  But it always is.  My mail, like everyone's these days, is mostly junk.  But there it was, an actual letter.  It was covered with odd stamps and had as the return address:  Badger Trowelsworthy, Arsuk Greenland.

The old scoundrel makes the occasional appearance here on Detritus of Empire.  A while back he may have even been incautious enough to have a photo taken...

I quote the peculiar missive with the usual caveats....Lord Trowelsworthy lives a life that sounds like poorly written fiction.  The things he clearly fibs about might actually be to make it sound more plausible.

As usual it was assembled from cut up books and magazines.  I've never actually seen a sample of his hand writing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Tim

Hope you remain hearty and hale in that rustic backwater called Wisconsin.  I really should drop in some time, but there is the pesky matter of the Statue of Limitations.  Congrats on the addition of a third grand child.  I've no doubt this one will be as endearing and Promising as the first two.  You've rejected this offer many a time, but as always, if there is ever a need to do something on their behalf - a bribe here, the threat of a broken knee cap there - say the word and it's done.  

As you know, my current residence is in Greenland.  By Jupiter I've not seen the place get so much press in ages.  Hard to believe that Don really wants to buy it.  But fear not.  I've told him its not for sale.

I own it and I'm keeping it.

I suppose this will come as a surprise to you.  How after all does one buy a country?  I mean without (too much) assistance from various organizations known only by their LETTERS?

Greenland is a small place.  I've been coming here since the 1920's.  So the tally of my children, grand children and great grand children is a not inconsequential percentage of the electorate.  Oh, not enough to get a majority in the Inasitsart but still a powerful political force.  But perhaps you've heard of the Voldugur Graelingur Party? (TW note: I had to look it up, it translates to The Mighty Badgers).  They had great success introducing a bill entitled - in translation - "Sod off, Orange Boy" that established a sovereign wealth fund to buy, well, everything.  It's true that the stuff in the footnotes about the entire transaction being financed by a crypto currency called BadgerCoin has been controversial......  And that's part of why I'm writing.  You will almost certainly be getting visits from unhappy and unimaginative officials who wonder why your name is on a whole batch of contracts and legal briefs.  Sorry, I'll make it up to you.

Lets get together soon.  Ideally in some happy place without extradition treaties but in a pinch just drop by our humble abode in Arsuk.  My current wife - and by Hera, I don't believe you've met this one - cooks up a mean Seal Tartar.

Until then;

Deny All

Your friend, mentor and fan,

Trowelsworthy

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You can believe as much of that as you care to.  In the interests of full disclosure I must mention that the letter smelled vaguely of sun screen, and that when I pieced together the cut out magazine bits (because I have learned a few things over our long acquaintance) it seems as if some of them came from the menu of a beach front sea food shack in Barbados.

With a bit of searching I found this image of it in the background.

Kingman Reef

Interesting times politically.  Some people are happy, some unhappy.  But there is certainly change in the air.  One thing that happens with every new administration is that political appointees are expected to tender their resignations.  Which are almost always accepted.  Ah, but what about other government employees, the theoretically non partisan ones?  It can be a lot more work to move them out.  It's simply hard to fire people in Washington D.C.

So, many of them just keep their jobs.  But if the new administration really does not like you or your work, they can always reassign you somewhere else.  Alaska gets mentioned.  As does Iowa.  I've been to both places and they are just fine.  Well, not Alaska in the winter I guess.

But if you want to send a pesky bureaucrat off to the farthest reaches of American territory, off somewhere so remote that you won't hear from them again, I suggest Kingman Reef.

Never heard of it?  Well, its the smallest piece of real estate under the US flag.  It has much nicer weather than Alaska, and sandy beaches that would be the envy of Iowans.

It is about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa.  So my Off the Map tag is apt.

Even for an out of the way spot it did not get noticed for a long time.  An American sea captain discovered it in 1798.  I assume this was related to whaling, back in the Moby Dick era its about the only reason people were out that far into the South Pacific.  Another captain named Kingman got around to actually describing it in 1853.  He named it after himself.

Now, I've mentioned the Guano Act a few times before.  Big thick layers of seabird droppings were a serious commodity in the 19th century.  Great stuff for fertilizer.  Also for high explosives.  So its no surprise that the United States Guano Company claimed Kingman Reef in 1856.  The fact that there was no actual guano there was considered a technicality.

Not much happened after that.  Occasionally a ship would run aground.

Then in 1922 a certain Lorrin A. Thurston showed up and read a Proclamation declaring the Reef to be American territory.  He seems like a bit of a character.  In addition to various business ventures he was a "volcano enthusiast" and was deeply involved in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.  One assumes he brought along a flag to raise.

And that's about it.  It was very briefly used as a stop over for Pan Am clipper "flying boats" until a fatal crash.  Today it is a wild life preserve.  Nobody lives there or in fact, is allowed to visit.  

The entire island is 3 feet above water and a little over seven acres in size.  

It seems a pleasant enough place to relocate pesky bureaucrats whose job performance is deemed execrable.  They certainly can't cause much mischief there, and at last there would be a bit of guano being generated, although the United States Guano Company has long since gone bankrupt.

News from Arsuk

So I guess my 50th class reunion is happening tonight.  I'll be elsewhere doing family stuff.  I wonder if the organizers of the event bothered to read through the biography I sent them?  The one with a return address of Arsuk, Greenland.

It would be grand if they actually tried to contact me there.  I'm not sure how they'd do this....although I suppose there is some sort of minimal internet access when the Northern Lights don't screw up the satellites.  

On the off chance they do track me down by more conventional means - and I'd tip my cap - I have kept up on news from Arsuk.  There's more going on up there than you'd expect.

For instance, in 1965 several huts from a Soviet polar research station just floated into Arsuk on an ice floe.  While abandoned they were in good shape and have been incorporated into the town!

A few years back participants in something called the World Harmony Run visited Arsuk and jogged around the community.  That probably didn't take too long.  They were welcomed by the Mayor and all 170 residents, who then treated them to a feast.  I hope it went well.  The World Harmony organization was started by an Indian guru and spiritual teacher.  I'm not sure if such beliefs allow the consumption of seal and walrus.  Anyway, here's a participant posing with the Mayor.

Although Arsuk has an airport of sorts the best way to reach it would probably be by ferry.  When that is actually working....  News from 2008...

The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry Sarfaq Ittuk was beset by ice off the southwest coast of Greenland on 23rd March with 37 passengers and 22 crewmembers aboard. The 73m long ferry finally freed herself from an ice flow on 27th March and continued to Arsuk, arriving the next day. She then continued to Paamiut and Nuuk. Due to the location and the wind direction, it was not possible for other ships to sail to the Sarfaq Ittuk’s assistance. The risk of such an attempt would likely result in two ships stuck in the ice rather than just one. Although inconvenienced and without internet or phone service, passengers on board were never in any danger and seemed to take the weather delay in their stride. Throughout the ordeal, Arctic Umiaq Line kept in contact with the crew and communicated the status of the vessel directly with passenger’s families back home. The company also provided regular updates to Facebook, showing pictures of passengers and crew playing games, reading and watching movies. The 238 passenger/22 crew capacity and 2,118gt Sarfaq Ittuk was built in 1992 and underwent a renovation and extension in the winter of 1999-2000.

The occasional stranding by ice notwithstanding, the  ferry to Arsuk sounds like fun.  This account of a traveler had all sorts of interesting details.  Anybody getting into passport trouble in Greenland and considering buying illegal seal pelt garments sounds like a kindred spirit.

Well, as Garrison Keillor would put it "That's the news from Arsuk".  In my mostly true bio I failed to mention that I actually appeared on the Prairie Home Companion program once.....

The attentive may have noticed that my "50 year" biography has some overlap with the Life and Times of Badger Trowelsworthy.   If my classmates try to track me down in Arsuk under my real name they'll get polite, if slightly confused responses.  As I've mentioned before, should you go there and ask after Badger Trowelsworthy you will be curtly ordered to leave immediately and never come back.

Rattlesnake Canyon

The current expedition includes tweens, teens and a desert environment.  So of course there needed to be a side trip to a kitchy entertainment complex.  Welcome to Rattlesnake Canyon.  No actual rattlesnakes included.

The Old Prospector theme is not entirely inapt, there were historic mines in nearby hills.  Now?  Mini golf, ice cream, rides, that sort of thing.

And Bumper Boats.  Assorted younger members of the extended family were waved over by a beloved and trusted Aunt...

That'll teach 'em!

And also....

With most of the rides I was more interested in examining the mechanical parts.  Wonder how many psi on those hydraulics?  What gear ratio does it take to run that helicopter ride?  And so forth.

There was also an arcade.  I've not been in such a place for years.  No doubt inspired by the just released Alien movie I found this.  Not sure what happens when it's Game Over Man.

A nearby pinball machine has a bit of a history lesson in it:

And a bit more detail including more creepy aliens.

I wonder how many people playing this even recognize the band named Foo Fighters.  And of that small number, how many know that the term actually goes back to the final days of World War Two where pilots reporting strange lights and aircraft dubbed them F****** Foo Fighters! 

Some of these of course were the various German jet and rocket powered fighters that were secretly developed late in the war.  From the Foo Fighters arose the mythos of UFOs.

Marvelously, the squadron most associated with the story of WWII Foo Fighters was deactivated post war, then reactivated as a classified unit operating out of Groom Lake, testing and later operating the top secret F-117 Stealth Fighter!

 

Off the Map Again

 Traveling.  First stop, alas, was putting Hank into the kennel, aka Dog Jail.

Various transportation modes then ensued.  And with feet back on the ground....

Capybaras.  World's largest rodents.  Hank would not be happy about these abominations of nature.

It is prudent to read labels with care.

How far off the map am I this time?

Getting off of that LA Freeway

The journey of the Homesteaders has had interesting stops along the way.  Including an interlude in LA.  Now the trail leads to a new beginning that is literally along a "dirt road back street".  It calls to mind the classic song written by Guy Clark and performed by various artists starting with the one and only Jerry Jeff Walker.  

Here's the place.  As seen from the dirt road.

By the way, the song lyrics vary depending on who sings it - and probably how late in the evening it was sung! - but more or less:

Pack up all your dishes.

Make note of all good wishes.

Say goodbye to the landlord for me.

That son of a bitch has always bored me.

Throw out them LA papers

And that moldy box of vanilla wafers.

Adios to all this concrete.

Gonna get me some dirt road back street

Chorus

If I can just get off of this LA freeway

Without getting killed or caught

I'd be down that road in a cloud of smoke

For some land that I ain't bought bought bought

Here's to you old skinny Dennis

Only one I think I will miss

I can hear that old bass singing

Sweet and low like a gift you're bringin'

Play it for me just one more time now

Got to give it all we can now

I beleive everything your saying

Just keep on, keep on playing

Chorus

And you put the pink card in the mailbox

Leave the key in the old front door lock

They will find it likely as not

I'm sure there's somethin' we have forgot

Oh Susanna, don't you cry, babe

Love's a gift that's surely handmade

We've got something to believe in

Dontcha' think it's time we're leavin'

Chorus

Magna Dig 2024 - In Retrospect

You should think of archaeology not as a story of how things were, but of how things change.  Today's sheep meadow was once a fort under siege, or a peaceful market, or a lonely ruin that the superstitious locals avoided after the Romans had marched away.

And not all change runs on a long time scale.

I've been excavating along Hadrian's Wall for 16 years now.  In that time I've seen the general area transform from a scruffy farming community recovering from the Mad Cow debacle to a fairly upscale "destination".  The charming, seedy backpacker's hostel that was once our diggers HQ is now a posh gastropub with its own brewery and stargazing observatory.  Rather than a cheerful greeting when we'd saunter in dusty and thirsty, more recent forays have had us eyed with a bit of suspicion and asked if we have a reservation for dinner.  Oh well.

This year there was a significant twist for me, one that made decisions harder.  The Trust that runs the digs at Vindolanda opened up a second site about seven miles away.  Vindolanda and Magna site digs were going on at the same time, but offset by a week.

I was offered a guaranteed spot at Magna through the "Veteran's draw", a random out of the hat chance to avoid the perils and pressures of lighting fast mouse work when the general lot of excavation slots goes live.  What a change.....16 years ago I only found out about Vindolanda in December and was able to book a slot in January.  Now, if you don't have quick reflexes and a viable internet connection you are out of luck about 30 seconds after the spots go live on a morning in early November.  

So....a guaranteed spot at Magna, albeit without many of my usual digging mates, versus the whims and foibles of the internet.  I gave Magna a try.

It is in many ways a more modern archaeological dig.  Lots more environmental sampling.  It's only in recent years that it became possible to figure out what pollen was blowing around in the air; what grains they were grinding for food, where a set of human remains originated according to isotopes in bone and tooth.  This is good stuff, although of course it lacks the immediacy of finding an object or a structure last seen 1800 years ago.  And the 3D modeling of everything is a remarkable new ability.

But it was a different experience, and after years at Vindolanda you can't avoid making comparisons.

At Vindolanda there is a strong sense of both the distant and recent past.  You are standing among walls and floors built by the Romans and exposed by volunteer excavators.  There....that's where the skeleton of the young girl tragically murdered was found.  There....that's where the enigmatic name RIACUS was carved in the sub Roman era.  There....that's where we found that broken crowbar.  There....that's where the graphically insulting SECUNDINUS inscription came up.

Between the distant and recent memories, and the constant stream of visitors who want to talk, Vindolanda is a busy place.

Magna, at least the section we were on, feels lonely.  

Current trenches are outside the fort proper, up in an area beyond the defensive ditches.  But inside the scope of the nearby Hadrianic wall.  What were people doing there before The Wall?  While it was in place?  After the Romans left?   It's early days, but the relative lack of features and finds indicates this was a quiet area.  Adding to that we have no standing walls around us and only a few intrepid visitors walk through the sheep droppings to lean over the fence.

Finds, Features, Weather, Company, general vibes....all these contribute to whether an excavation is fun.  That's not the same as opining on whether it provides useful archaeological information, as of course even negative results are results.

And so the 2024 excavation season is, for me, over.  In times past you could sign up for multiple two week sessions.  Generally this was impractical for me as an international traveler, now you simply can't have more than one session.

And for 2025?  Well, I'll be watching the progress on both excavations and conferring with my digging pals.  We shall see....

In the meantime a few pictures of Magna.  They prefer we not speculate too freely, and anything really interesting is verboten to discuss, but a few images of the site to convey the gestalt of it.  Oh, and things found in the preliminary excavations  LAST YEAR can now be discussed.  

Here's the wall of the fort proper.  Excavations in the fort are scheduled for two years from now.  England sure looks green in May.  Especially when it rains a lot.

The only real remains of the fort still above ground are this single turret excavated years ago.

A down range view of the excavation area from this year's trenches and last years.  The lumpy bit at the far end was a "Mile Castle", one of the outposts built into Hadrian's Wall.  The stones from this and from the wall have all been swiped to build various medieval and modern structures around the area.

Mysterious stuff in the ground.  Read next year's excavation report.

As we say at our end of session drinks.  "Tools down, glasses up".  Until next year.  Hopefully.

Off the (Ancient) Map

I will shortly be off to excavate again.  But this time not at my usual location - Vindolanda - but another site a few miles away.  Magna. 

Vindolanda predates Hadrian's Wall but was certainly part of the overall defense system even though it was almost a mile south of the Wall.

Magna was much closer to the actual Wall, only a hundred yards or so away.

So in theory there'd be a lot more known about it.  And shortly there will be, thanks to excavations.  But for the moment we are not even really sure what its name was in Roman times.  Magna and Magnis seem to be contenders.  Sure would be nice to have a nice Roman map to refer to.  And in a limited way we do.

This nifty bit of ancient metalwork is The Amiens Skillet.  Or Patera if you think skillet is too silly sounding.  It is one of a very small grouping of what can only be called ancient Wall souvenirs.  They actually list the forts along the Wall, and were perhaps keepsakes that discharged soldiers or departing visitors would take with them.  This lettering on this one lists the following forts: 

                           "MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODVNVM CAMBOG...S BANNA ESICA"

But there's a problem.  Between the forts - giving them their modern names now - of Birdoswold and Great Chesters there should be another one.  Magna.  It is omitted.

And then there is this similar artifact called The Rudge Cup.  This photo was taken by my fellow excavator - whose talents extend to photography and tour guiding - Pete Savin.

Again it lists a series of forts, five in this case, with Banna/Birdoswald being the last in the series.  Magna was the next in line.  Some speculate that the geometric shapes below the text represent aspects of Wall fortifications but you can get a good argument going over that sort of thing.

So why was Magna left off?  These two artifacts, and a third similar one, seem to focus on the western end of the Wall.  Perhaps the workshop that made all three was somewhere in the Carlisle area.  And there was only so much room for readable text, so five or six locations is the most you could fit in there.  Was Magna left off because it was a hundred yards or so south of the actual Wall?  Or because it predated the Wall's construction and so was not part of the commemorative aspect of these souvenirs?   

Well, what else do we have?  There is the frustrating, enigmatic Antonine Itinerary.  This is a list of Roman places and the mileage between them.  It is spotty, and Magna is not one of the places that earns a mention despite it being at a T intersection of two important roads.*

Magna does get a mention in an even dodgier source, the Ravenna Cosmography.  This is a post Roman mash up from a variety of sources including the Antonine Itinerary.  It's a hodge podge of place names all the way from India to Ireland!

And finally, another post Roman document - albeit an imperfect medieval a copy of a Roman original - the Notitia Dignatatum.  This is not so much a map as a list of offices and appointments in the Empire.  And lo and behold we find this entry:

        Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum, Magnis

It is unfortunate that the Notitia is such an odd duck.  It is a very late guide to the Roman empire and has entries that appear to be decades out of date.  The Romans had probably left Britannia entirely by the time this compilation was assembled under the Emperor Theodosius, last man to rule an intact Empire.  It may have been for the benefit of his two dullard sons who divided things up after his death and pretty much ran them into the ground.  A fanciful bit of obsolete fiction would probably have been right up their alley for reading material.

Well, only one thing for it.  I'll have to dig up a nice inscription stone....or maybe another of those fancy enameled Cups!

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* Weirdly the "north of the wall" outpost fort at High Rochester is documented in both the Itinerary and the Cosmography.  It was once on an important road that went somewhere.  Now it is one of the loneliest places in the UK.

Random Wanderings in Florida

It feels a little weird to take an "escape winter" trip to Florida in early March, as we've barely had a winter to escape from!  And it is a journey with no defined agenda.  Relax.  Try not to get sunburned.  Do some things we've enjoyed before, maybe a few new ones.  Don't expect a theme.  Well, there will be another Strange Fishing theme but other than that it will just be whatever happens.

Staying in a beachy area I suspect we'll not see many examples of true Florida Man.  I did spot this nifty service vehicle in the grocery store parking lot and thought the cartoonish version of "Boomer" looked a bit F.M.

That is Boomer by the way.  We had a nice chat.  Like many in the local service industries he is a transplant.  A Michigan Man specifically.

Same store, an outdoor kiosk with all manner of beach supplies.

Of course the alligator floaty raft catches the eye.  At first glance it appeared to have a phenomenal number of safety precautions.  But on closer inspection....

It is really just the same basic instructions in about 18 different languages.  The image in upper left pretty much says it all.  Well my goodness, I'd not have ended up floated dead in the water if you'd thought to include RISIKO FOR DRUKNING.  What, it was there?  Well I thought it was saying I should get drunk, which I of course did.....

I did make it to the beach after that.  I kept my feet on dry land at all times.  There are gangs there.  Bird gangs.

Each species has its own "turf" and its own comfort level when humans draw near.  The little birds skittered away.  The Cool Birds, well, they know they are Cool..

Hangin' out, tryin' to look Cool.  More Florida stuff for a few days to come.

Change of Seasons

Last week it was in the upper 90's with hot, dry winds.  But the trees know that summer won't last much longer....

I've mostly stuck to my three times a week postings.  This is number 2220 spread out over 12 and a half years.  That's actually about 3.4 per week, as archaeology jaunts with daily posts boost the count a bit.

Summer turning to fall is a transition in lots of ways.  Posting might be trending more towards robotics as that enterprise is growing in interesting ways.  I'll have one of my UK friends over for a visit next month and I'll be trying to show her the Real America beyond the view of the BBC and popular media.  Hopefully I can still stay clear of political stuff but we'll soon be within a year of what looks to be an extremely weird Presidential election.

In any event, see you here and there on a regular basis.  I might skip a post now and then, having seen that 3.4 a week stat!

FIRST Robotics 2023 - Tournament 2.0!

In recent years Team 5826 has been a "one event" team.  It has mostly been a question of money, the transportation, lodging, registration costs of that second event have been just out of reach.  But most teams, programs really, that enjoy success do two events.  A few over achievers do three.  There are some things you only learn by doing and only learn well by doing repeatedly.

So for this season we've drawn down our reserves to Ramen Noodle levels and decided to do two events.

Our first tournament was a considerable success.  With a few more breaks, or to be honest with about 5% more focus during build season, we'd be heading to Worlds.  Playing again a month later will be a different experience.  Our robot will be better.  But so also will everyone else's.  

My status as Robot Overlord generally gives me a fairly good glimpse of the future.  I can usually tell you what a given group of students with a specific project and a known amount of resources can accomplish.  But when I got back from my most atypical Florida vacation - having missed a number of working sessions - they were doing new things.  Weird things.  "When did you program the robot to track down and grab that game piece autonomously?"  "Oh, we've been working on that a while."  They insist that several clever ideas were things they mentioned in passing several weeks ago.

I dunno, maybe they did.  We were in serious crisis rebuild mode about ten days before our first event and I might have missed a few ridiculous sounding pie in the sky concepts....

So we'll be packing up and heading off early tomorrow.  Everything seems to be ready.  And how will we do?

I'm like a Mariner in ancient times, realizing that he's sailed off the edge of the map entirely.  I don't know what happens next.

Florida Man - Shark Tooth

An atypical late winter escape for us.  Off to Florida with assorted family and friends.  Here's the end of the day...

People just go to the beach to watch the sun go down.  I could get used to that.

But a good part of the day was spent doing this:

The place we are at is apparently the fossil shark tooth capitol of the world.  Why there are so many of these in the sand I cannot say.  But if you sift and sort enough broken up shells, you find them.

I figured I would be really good at this.  When I am on an archeology dig I have an excellent "eye" and often spot things missed by others.  So why did I struggle with these?

I had to think on this a bit.  I guess its because much of the business of spotting artifacts is being able to tell the difference between natural and man made objects.  Certain shapes, colors, textures just don't occur naturally and you learn these quickly.  In shark tooth hunting you are just trying to pick one sort of natural world object out of big piles of other objects.  So if archaeology is sometimes looking for the needle in the haystack, this sort of work is looking through a haystack for a slightly different piece of hay!

Ultimate Wisconsin - Through the Time Portal

Recently I reported on my discovery of a little tavern at a lonely crossroads in very rural Wisconsin.  It had the appearance of a place frozen in time.  I was not entirely sure it was a going concern but on consultation with an expert - one of my sons - I learned that it was.  "Oh sure, Vanderhyde's.  Amazing place.  You'd love it.  Mom would hate it."

On a recent drive north I went by and amazingly the neon Leinenkugel sign was glowing red.  Actually in my imagination the whole building was surrounded by a shimmering aura that suggested it was a Gateway into somewhere or somewhen Else.

It was just after 12 noon when I stopped by.  There were no other cars in the parking lot.  When I went in there was a woman there but it was hard to tell if she was a patron or the bartender.  She seemed chatty enough and eventually went behind the bar to get me a beer.  Alas if I was hoping for a line up of tasty drafts it was not to be.  The beer was in cans.  Most of it was Light Beer.

The décor?  Vintage, I don't think I saw anything from the 21st century.  Green Bay Packers stuff.  Mildly saucy calendars from years past on the wall.  Somewhat more outrageous posters oddly stapled to the ceiling.  It had the vibe of all taverns at mid day, quiet but with expectations of later revelry.

Taking pictures when you are the only patron is a little awkward but the bartender did fuss about doing a bit of cleaning here and there.  Lots of things needed dusting.  So I took a few.

Their sign also indicates groceries were for sale and technically that is true.  A few shelves.  Cans of beans and boxes of cereal spaced widely.  But what's that up above?

An selection of posters from a local brewery that went under in 1974.  Some of them have calendars from '72 on them indicating they were made special for Vanderhydes Twin Oaks Station.  I guess this was a combination grocery, tavern, gas station back then?

I've never seen anything like this from the Bruenig brewery.  They would be of considerable interest to collectors.

After a bit another guy appeared.  Once again he had a comfort level that made it hard to tell if he was a customer, an employee or the owner of the place.  He seems to have come in from a door that connects to the house in back.  Nice fella.  Beard like ZZ Top.  Had opinions on things.

I can't say I've never seen a place like this.  Because in fact I have.  It was in Northern Minnesota in the early 1970's.  It was called The Brimson Store and combined the functions of grocery, post office, tavern, community center.  But goodness that was almost a half century ago.

A place like Vanderhydes should not still exist in this day and age.  Long may it continue to anomalously do so. 

But seriously, does it exist inside a time space bubble defined by a shimmery red aura?  I just made that part up.  But when I went looking on the internet for better pictures of the place this, honestly, is what I found:

 

Decide for yourself.  Best way to do so is to drop in.  May you emerge safely back in your own time space continuum as I did.

Hops 'n Homeless in BC

Although we spent most of our Canadian time down in Okenagon Falls there was a day or so on either end spent in the larger city of Kelowna.  To my small town, Midwesterner eyes it was an unusual place.

Think of it as a sort of hipster Boom Town.  It has very little history beyond of course the indigenous peoples.  In 1905 there were 600 people living there.  Now it is over 220,000.  The economy was once based on fruit growing, as a nice local micro climate allows peaches, apples and so forth to do well.  Eventually somebody tried grapes and that went very well indeed.  I can't give an accurate count of how many wineries are spread out up and down the valley, but certainly dozens.  Now I've nothing against a wine based economy - France has down nicely with it for instance - but that much chic can have side effects.  Kelowna has 20 brew pubs.  Also, although of no interest to me beyond social observation, 20 cannabis shops.  Rugged Canadian farmers and loggers appear to have decamped for parts unknown as the lofts and condos rise up.

If you think of a sort of mountainous Seattle you'd not be far off.  And of course as in all such places you have the inevitable dichotomy.  Behold, electric bikes and scooters for hire are everywhere and bike paths lace themselves around the lakefront and on former rail lines.

You hire these things by downloading an app and touching your phone a few times.  That's one of the bike paths in the background.  Let's mosey a hundred yards, oh I mean meters, down it....

Here somebody on a two thousand dollar bike is cruising past one of the permanent homeless encampments.  A police car was just pulling in on stage left.

I'd be remiss if I did not mention Ogopogo.  According to First Nation legends this is a sort of Loch Ness critter that lives in the big lake.  In the lakeside park there is a statue of him.  No opportunity for silly photos should ever be wasted.