The kitten called Trouble just might get in trouble if it keeps climbing up higher in the tree as one of its siblings had a not so graceful exit from the same tree the other day.
Trouble in Trouble
Picture of the Day for January 21, 2015
You might hear the saying ‘the good old days’ referring to a better time in the past, often a simpler and less hectic period. On a snowy morning with the temperature below freezing, I rather not have the ‘good old day’ washing machine as it would not be fun washing clothes on the porch were the water is freezing. Washing machines like this one were common around 1900, and I didn’t find the manufacturer of this wash tub stand and wringer bench as there were many small companies making them at the time.
Old Washing Wringer Bench
Picture of the Day for January 20, 2015
With more snow predicted, the winter time rate might be fairly cheap on the birdhouse cottage, but it might take some shoveling to find the door.
Birdhouse Cottage
Picture of the Day for January 19, 2015
With the temperature just above freezing yesterday, it felt warm but it will be many months before the corn is knee high by the 4th of July, especially since it is snowing this morning.
Summertime Cornfield
Picture of the Day for January 18, 2015
As the free fishing weekend continues for non-die hard fishers, the true Wisconsinite already would have a license as hunting, fishing and watching football are all part of life. And it shows when the ice fishing shack is painted in the Packer colors and today they will be cheering their team on in the playoff game.
Packer Ice Fishing Shack
Picture of the Day for January 17, 2015
This weekend is Wisconsin’s Winter Free Fishing so you can fish anywhere in Wisconsin without a license or trout stamp. This includes all inland waters and Wisconsin’s side of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. And this year, the weather will actually be fairly nice with temperatures around the freezing mark.
But I never been much of an ice fishing person as sitting around a hole on a hunk of ice waiting for a fish to swim by your line doesn’t overly thrill me. Half the fun of fishing is seeing if you can throw your line in the spot you want (without getting snagged in the tree behind you or the stump in the water), but I also like see other critters swimming about or spotting wildflowers along the path to the fishing spot and where I can sit on a warm sunny bank so I think I will wait until the free summer fishing weekend in June instead.
Fishing Weekend
Picture of the Day for January 16, 2015
During the winter, about the only things you see around here flying in the air are birds, stray oak leaves and snowflakes (not counting leaping squirrels or kittens) and definitely not any butterflies. So any sightings of butterflies and wildflowers will have to wait for several more months. This butterfly may be a Red-spotted Purple which are found in Wisconsin.
Waiting for the Butterflies Return
Picture of the Day for January 15, 2015
Having the sun out and temperatures above 20, it feels like a heat wave even if it is below freezing yet and you feel like kicking up your heels like these goats. They won’t be able to find green grass to chew on this time of year though. And the birdhouse probably is setting empty as the summer residents haven’t returned.
Playful Goats
Picture of the Day for January 14, 2015
On the side of the Wisconsin’s Rustic Road #4, there is a cave into the limestone cliff which had been converted into a garage in 1938. Time has deposited soil in front of the opening and the rusty hinge marks are all that is left from the doors, but I imagine it could tell some stories. I wonder if an old Model A was ever parked in it or if a house once stood nearby but maybe it was just one very large root cellar or cheese cooler. In time, the front might be completely covered over but for now maybe a bear takes a nap in the cave.
A Hillside Structure
Picture of the Day for January 13, 2015
“Farming wasn’t going too well for three families…we could hold up a mirror and watch ourselves starve to death.” A statement from Florence Hokenson on why her husband and his two brothers started fishing for a living in the late 1920’s when at first the fishing only supplemented their diet but after several unsuccessful years of dairy farming they purchased pond nets and eventually pursued fishing full-time which they did for more than thirty years on Lake Superior.
The Herring Shed was a busy place during herring season where the wives, children, and hired hands awaited the arrival of the Hokenson brothers boat called the Twilite, loaded with fish in gill nets. The fish were untangled from the net, rinsed in the wooden tank, gutted and beheaded, rinsed again in the other tank, drip-dried on the rack, salted, and stacked in a barrel.
The Herring Shed
