Cake, Candles, Crying Dog

Just a few days until October, and summer lingers on.  A last warm weekend at the lake.

There's firewood to stack up, 'cause this won't last forever....

Probably the most pleasant dock out session in our long tenure.....water levels had dropped so our crew of capable next generation workers had warm water and not that much of it to contend with.  I always wait until dock out to snap a pic of the fall colors.

And of course other stuff going on.  A birthday party for instance.

It was all a bit over stimulating for my dog Hank.  Hank loves many things.  Kids, grilled meat, the smells of the lake.  He hates other things....lawn mowers for instance, and he decided that the ATV was a great big one.   He tried to be everywhere at once.  Cadging food, getting attention from kids, guarding us from the Lawn Mower.  He can easily be both happy and sad at once.....

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.

The Insufferable Insolence of Deer

I think I've shown you my fridge art before.  Birthday and Father's day messages from my adorbs grand children.  They seem to make much of my intermittent success at deer hunting.  A gigantic deer with rude emanations seems to amuse them.  Well, it amuses me too.

Life imitates art.  On the front lawn of our in town place deer are wandering in and, well, see for yourself.

Hmmff.  They grow bold.  Sure, they have hearing, vision and a sense of smell that can detect me a mile away.  Sure, they are fast, can jump high and are basically find safety by just stepping behind a tree.  Ah, but I am more determined than they are.  Very determined.  They shall pay for their insolence.

Swamp Wedding

Well, they went and did it.  Got married, as advertised, in a swamp.

Oh, not Shrek and Mrs. Shrek, my youngest son and his decidedly non ogre-ish lady.  You remember, the ones building a house from scratch at the end of a dead end road...

The dad did not begin in auspicious fashion.....

Rain, hail, zero visibility.  Admittedly this was six hours before the ceremony and a bit further north where we were picking up supplies.

But perhaps a decent metaphor for married life.  There will be storms but they will pass.  

Friends and family turned up.  Assorted games were pursued.  The earlier downpour just made it safer to have bonfires going most of the night.   

The groom looking dapper and barefoot.  House they built by hand in the background.

And of course the bride.  That dance floor is made of leftover plywood.

It's all just a little implausible.  An off grid house.  Music that goes from a phone, bluetoothed to a sound mixer, to a speaker set in the bed of an electric vehicle that powered the entire event, lights, cooking, etc.

People played "hammerschlag" until way after dark.  I'm not very good at this btw, despite being a designated non imbibing driver.

And of course, dancing.

A good time was evidently had until way past Oldster bed times.  On returning for breakfast the next morning.....

Some of the pumpkin decorations were considerably the worse for wear....so what happened?

Over by the keg of beer a hatchet and the sabre used earlier for opening champagne.  Yes, perhaps just as well I missed that part of the evening.  I'm told my athletic grandson is a particularly accurate hatchet thrower.  We took the tasty debris off to park near a bow hunting stand on the far end of the swamp.

Tree Shaped Tomb Stones at Our Lady of Lourdes

Still on that detour road north of Rice Lake Wisconsin!

I'd seen signs pointing to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on earlier jaunts, so I figured a short side trip was in order.  It is a very pretty pink stone building.

This is in a tiny little hamlet called Dobie, which grew out of an earlier French Canadian enclave. And as is common in this part of the state, there were a few "Tree Shaped Tombstones".

This is the "Stack of Logs" variant that seems to be common in the area.  The Christ on the cross addition on top is almost exclusive to Catholic settings.

Sometimes the crucifix is the only tree element in the design.  Here's two of them.  I assume they were ordered from the same catalog.

Because I already have enough strange interests I usually ignore any tombstones without bark and branches.  But here I ran across a couple that seem worthy of an off topic mention...

This one must date to that earlier French community.  The "Here Lies the Body of" in French is very unusual to this part of the world.  And what's with that logo in the circle?  It looks like tweezers and beans!

Veteran's graves always merit a moment of contemplation and respect.  This soldier of the Great War almost made it to the November 11th Armistice.  So close....

Every tombstone tells the story of a life.  In this case....

C.A.C. stands for Coastal Artillery Corps.  And while some of these guys were deployed to Europe to man the larger guns, Private Kearney died in Seattle.  Of influenza.

I guess we've mostly forgotten Covid-19 and the memories it stirred of the Spanish flu pandemic that landed a follow up punch to civilization just as the guns went silent.

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Nora Cemetery

Road construction took me past the oddly named Nora Cemetery outside of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  I've done a bit of sleuthing and so far can't figure out who Nora was!  Anyway...

A couple of nice "Tree and Book" tombstones.  They look as if spirits will show up and stand there giving a lecture.

As always, the tops of these are in wretched shape.  A design flaw, these were not made for Wisconsin winters.

Another Tree and Book.  In this case the main information was at least well done on the trunk.

Here's a more traditional "mid sized" tree shaped tombstone.

The logo on the front was a new one to me.  Courage, Hope, Remembrance.  Nice sentiments.

And in a style that seems to turn up fairly often in this part of the world, a "Stack of Logs" monument.

A nice little cemetery along a road I'd otherwise have no reason to take.  The only annoying thing, I mean other than road construction, was my dog Hank, who after a longish time in the car was taking a particular interest in trees, genuine or artistic reproductions.   Sigh.

Security Patch?

Cleaning out an old cupboard we recently found an artifact of the great Y2K bogey man.

It's a Y2K Band-Aid!   

Maybe this is what was used to "patch" all the software so that the world didn't end.