Tuesday, December 3, 2013

News From Down the Lane

I took a walk down the lane this morning, all the way to the county road and back.  It snowed overnight, like it does most nights in winter.  We'll get more snow this afternoon, and more still overnight.  My plan to leave for home tomorrow afternoon is growing less certain.


It's quiet.  Most of the noisy birds have left for winter, and the ones that remain are busily going about their work without talking.  The family of eagles that was nesting atop a red pine near the edge of our property has left, probably headed west to the Mississippi River where the water stays open most of the winter making fishing easier.  Squirrels are still digging up pine cones and nuts and scurrying away with them.  Deer tracks, coyote tracks and rabbit tracks are all along the edge of the road and leading into the woods.

Walking down the lane is the way we get neighborhood news.  Anyone who is walking or driving stops for a chat. News is exchanged, jokes are told.

Chet plows my driveway.  He's done so every year for the last 20 years.  He seems to be AWOL today so I knocked on his door.  His wife doesn't know where he has gone, and they don't have cell phones.  "Tell him I've got the twenty I owe him" I say.  I don't owe him any money, but the promise of $20 will bring him around.

Ray stopped his truck and rolled down the window.  Deer season wasn't very good this year.  The wolves have thinned the deer herd.  The wolf pack that lives a half-mile north of here seems to have moved on, maybe because they need an area with more deer.  The ice isn't thick enough to go ice fishing, but when it's thicker the perch fishing should be pretty decent, at least that's what the DNR says.  The DNR doesn't know anything, though.  They should all be fired.  There's a mountain lion in the area, a couple of guys saw it and called the DNR.  The Ranger saw the foot prints, but said they aren't enough proof because somebody could have made them.  Well, I gotta go, wife's making soup for lunch.

Bob was walking his little dog.  "A bichon", he said telling me that he got it from a dog rescue organization.  "Not a good hunting dog, Bob" I offered with a smile.  "No, ha.  I'm done deer hunting now, mostly I fish.  Don't have to climb a tree and wait for the fish to walk past.  Plus, some days I just anchor the boat out in the lake, turn on the baseball game and nap."  Bob's wife died five years ago and his daughter moved to the Twin Cities.  Daughter wants him to move there so he can be closer to her and her husband.  "I'm not moving, I told her.  It's still close enough to drive over for a visit.  Besides, I've lived in my home for 30 years, since I got out of the Air Force, and I don't want to move."  His new wood pellet furnace works great.  Two pallets of pellets were just delivered for this winter.  Glad the power company is coming through next year to bury all the lines.  Our electricity goes out every time it storms or snows.

Further on, Walter and Cheryl stopped their car for a few minutes.  "The Klisseg's 18 year old boy died.  Blasto.  He caught it in the woods logging with his father. By the time it was diagnosed, he was near death."  Nice family, they supply my firewood.  They lost an older son in a car accident a few years ago.  I can't imaging what they are going through.  Mr. Klisseg has a college education but wanted to work in the woods.  He's a logger, as was his father, and as are his brothers, uncles, cousins and one sister.  He knows more about the Civil War than anyone I've met.  Cheryl reminded me that everyone in Washington is an idiot who should be fired, at the very least.  "None of those people who make the laws ever set foot up here.  They have no idea what their damn laws do to us."

George was at the mailboxes.  Said that he had had been taking his transit and surveyor's rod up and down the lane last summer and made some drawings for how it should be sloped, filled and re-graded this coming summer.  Thinks it'll cost about $500 for each property.  Did I want to go in?  Sure, thanks for doing this.  The lane took quite a beating last year and it needs work.  Asked me to "pray for Ted and Sarah; they've been having trouble in their marriage.  And pray for Mrs. Johnson, too."  That's north woods gossip.  Elsewhere it would have been "Didja hear that Sarah caught Ted with Mrs. Johnson?  Looks like they're getting divorced."   It's bad to gossip, but never bad to ask for prayers for someone.

Chet pulled up as I made it home.  "I hear you've got that twenty for me" he says.  "Sure do, Chet.  And can you push the snow out of the drive on your way out?"   "Will do, Mike" he says.

That's the news from down the lane.

37 comments:

Icepick said...

Me, I'm wearing shorts and happy that it isn't quite going to be warm enough to run the AC. Woo hoo!

Michael Haz said...

Spoiler!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nice post Hazman... can I tweet it?

Calypso Facto said...

Beautiful post, Haz. Sounds something like, and looks A LOT like, my place up nort'.

Michael Haz said...

Sure, Lem.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous.

We are waiting for a majorly cold arctic blast to push out the balmy mild. The snow is welcome, but the frigid sub-zero temps - not so much.
People survive it all just fine, though, I always worry about the livestock and the horses. It must be miserable for them.

Today's high: 47. Tomorrow's high: 11.

Michael Haz said...

Calypso, which state?

bagoh20 said...

It looks enchanting, and I miss the snow. I can see it from here in the mountains maybe 90 minutes away. I may go soon just to get my toes cold and thaw out next to a fire. I love that.

bagoh20 said...

We have cold coming this week with highs in the 50's, which is freaking cold here. You need to have snow if you're gonna be cold. I mean, what's the point otherwise?

Unknown said...

Cold without snow is a major bummer. CO needs snow-- The high country especially. The ski resorts, which started out gang-busters in Oct, are down to the man-made stuff again.

Good news: Friday's high is 13.

Amartel said...

Lovely photo too.

Lydia said...

Lovely post.

"News from down the lane" would be a nice regular feature here.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So how is Sarah lookin' these days? It helps to have a picture in my head while keeping her in my prayers, now that she's about to be single...

Calypso Facto said...

Northwest Wisconsin, Haz. So no surprise?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

@ April

I hear ya. We have had almost zero precipitation so far this winter. The temps are supposed to drop tonight and tomorrow into the teens at night and highs in the high 20's low 30's. Still not quite as cold as usual though. Clear skies, means it is cold and dry. We would far rather see a nice blanket of snow. It insulates the roof :-) The saying is that it has to warm up to snow. We really need the moisture.

Not good for the people, absentee owners, who can never seem to remember that it get really cold here in the winter and somehow can't recall that water freezes at 32 degrees. DOH!!! Broken pipes all over. The worst is when they don't bother to drain the pumps and get broken frozen pumps broken clothes washers and dish washers.

Michael Haz said...

Calypso - Vilas Cnty.

AllenS said...

Beautiful post, my friend. I took my morning walk "out back" where I spread sunflower seeds and cracked corn underneath 3 red cedar trees.

Only saw one deer track, but 2 coyote tracks. Sunday, my neighbor, Josh, whom I let hunt my property with his very young son (first year hunter), said that he saw a fisher. He also gave me a bunch of bear sausages and bear ring balogne.

Life is good. Would be better if our football team was worth a shit. (Don't tell you know who.)

ricpic said...

"I don't like the country. The crickets make me nervous."

--The Marlon Brando character, Terry Malloy, in On The Waterfront.

Calypso Facto said...

Garage Mahal-land!

Have you read any of (Wisconsin native) Michael Perry's books, Haz? Well-crafted, witty stuff about good people and country living.

Unknown said...

ooo thanks for the reminder, DBQ -I gotta go unhook the hose out front.

Michael Haz said...

Calypso, I haven't read any Michael Perry, and will look for his books. My wife reads books by Victoria Huston, most of which are set in northern Wisconsin.

Have you been here? Very worth the drive.

Calypso Facto said...

I haven't, but I'll add it to the list! Thanks.

Trooper York said...

A snowy night in Brooklyn is nothing like that. As you walk down the snowy streets the most interesting thing you might see is a frosted Puerto Rican.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

the most interesting thing you might see is a frosted Puerto Rican

That sounds sort of exotic for Wisconsin.

Icepick said...

After bringing the missus home from work, I've opened up the windows. It after seven, dark, and 76 degrees.

chickelit said...

Reminds me of George Vukelich's "North Country Notebook."

TTBurnett said...

Great stuff, Michael.

john said...

"Truck, a Love Story" is a great book for those who love...um... trucks.

But who here doesn't love trucks?

john said...

February 1942. "Madison, Wis. Farm short course school at the University of Wisconsin. This class in rural society often practices square dances. Interest in rural culture and customs is stimulated at the school." You betcha! Medium format negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information.

rcocean said...

Snow is great, walking in a winter wonderland. Cold without snow with high winds - less great. Cold with slush/rain - the worst.

Unknown said...

Enjoyed reading this very much. Sounds like a wonderful place to be. Here in Rocky Mount, NC we don't get much snow or even very cold weather.
Thanks for a good story.

bagoh20 said...

Hi Deb, welcome.

Michael Haz said...

Hi Deb. Don't be a stranger!

Michael Haz said...

AllenS - there's something satisfying about walking the land.

Unless your collarbone is broken. Then you should sit out the season.

Darcy said...

Beautiful.

Sorta "And that's how we do it 'round here."

:)

AllenS said...

Michael, it's like the Giant Cheese Sculpture has collapsed.

AllenS said...

Lem, I'm sending you an email. Holiday spirit, kinda.