Saturday, January 18, 2014

News From Down The Lane


Today was a perfect winter day, in fact the best winter day we can remember having in quite a few years.  There is a beautiful, deep accumulation of powdery snow, the skies were a cloudless bright blue from sunrise to sunset, and the temperature hovered in the middle teens.  Simply perfect.

I walked down the lane to the County Highway, cold snow squeaking under my boots with each step.  It was so still in the woods that I could hear my own heart beating.  The only other noise was the resolutely rapid tat tat tat tat tat of a pileated woodpecker working on a red pine, looking for lunch.

The snow has been quite heavy this year here in the Lake Superior snow belt.  The man who plows our drive had trouble pushing the snow with his straight plow and had friend with a v-plow come over to break open a path.  The snow piles at the end of the drive seem to be ten feet high, and winter is not half over.

Chet is our plow guy; we inherited him when we bought this place some twenty-odd years ago. He plowed the drive for the previous owner, and the owner before that who first built the place.  We don't know how old Chet is - we think somewhere in his early 80s - but when we ask we get a laughing answer from him with a joke.  It's usually something like "How old am I?  Old enough that I have a autographed photo of Jesus!"  Or maybe "Old enough that the Jesuits baptized me here when they stopped for lunch in 1622."  The answer is always followed by a long laugh that ends up in a smoker's cough.

We also inherited a plumber, an electrician, and a septic tank guy.  The electrician retired and moved to Florida a few years ago.  The plumber's son now runs the business, and the septic tank guy is still with us.  They are all hard workers and as honest as can be.  We learned long ago to always pay cash up front for all work, be polite, and never, ever cop a big city attitude.  They trust us; we trust them.  They know where the keys are hidden, and when there is work to be done and we are not here, there is no concern about them letting themselves in.  Cash, a firm handshake, and looking the other guy in the eye when a promise is made still work up here.

I bumped into old Don while I was walking.  He's the kind of man who has always been old; he just looks older every year.  He doesn't look well.  Last summer we were taken aback by his ashen color; it's worse now.  He looks like he's circling the drain. 

Don has always been big, always had a big, sloppy cigar in his mouth.  He doesn't light the cigar anymore, but still chews on it.  Don was walking his mutt, although "walking" isn't quite accurate.  The dog was walking on the end or a leash; Don was in his car with the window down holding on to the other end of the leash and slowly driving down the lane.  He said he's fine, how's the weather, how are you feeling, damn taxes, and how's your wife?

Everyone asks about my wife, especially the old guys.  She's very memorable, especially because of an  incident a few months after we bought the place.  She was reading a book and sunning herself in a boat parked at our small dock.  She fell asleep.  Some of the older neighborhood guys walked over to say hello, and when they startled her she sat up and began a conversation with them.  About a minute later she realized that her top, loosened for tanning, hadn't sat up when she did. Oops!  Laughter all around.  The old guys seem to forget my name sometimes, but they never fail to remember hers.

Here's  happy photo from in town.

 
 
The local volunteer firemen built an ice castle near the main street, along a busy snowmobile trail.  There are some 3,000 blocks of ice in the castle.  The blocks were cut out of a local lake and trucked to the site where they were hand assembled into this castle.  Doggone hard work.  There are lights in the castle, and at night it has a lovely blue-green color.
 
The castle is part of  huge annual event this week: The World Championship Snowmobile Derby.  The Derby is the Indianapolis 500 of snowmobile racing and the village is packed full of racers, visitors, manufacturers, reporters and thousands upon thousands of spectators.
 
But that's a story for another day.
 
Best wishes from deep inside the snow belt!

37 comments:

edutcher said...

I'll still take a day that's warmer.

Guess I'm getting old.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Ice Cream Castles...

JAL said...

Thanks Haz.

And very nice writing.

Unknown said...

What a nice looking day. The colors on those pictures are great!

deborah said...

Haz, the guy walking his dog is hilarious. Those ice castles are neat.

chickelit said...

Snowmobiles were the way to get around rural Wisconsin when I was growing up, providing shortcuts to everywhere across farm fields (with permission, of course). My uncles were into them, but my dad never was. It wasn't unusual to see a cluster of machines parked in front of a bar like so many motorcycles. They had headlights too for night use and alcohol rules were sporadically enforced. You can image the behavior they enabled.

A valid complaint against them is their noise in all that peace and quiet. Electric snowmobiles solves that problem nicely.

chickelit said...

About a minute later she realized that her top, loosened for tanning, hadn't sat up when she did. Oops! Laughter all around. The old guys seem to forget my name sometimes, but they never fail to remember hers.

Your wife sounds so at ease surrounded by woods.

Michael Haz said...

Snowmobiles are everywhere this weekend because of the big race. Everywhere. All the bars, restaurants and motels are filled. Snowmobiles are lined up at the gas stations, the ATMs and the grocery store parking lots.

blake said...

I've never even seen a snowmobile, 'cept in the movies.

Normally we can drive to the snow if we want to see it, but not this winter. No rain, no snow.

It's earthquake weather.

chickelit said...

@blake: Look closely at Haz's second photo and you will see "brown snow." I bet you're never seen that, even in the movies. Wisconsin snow comes in other colors and shades besides white. I remember the grey type that used form in urban settings.

Michael Haz said...

Some parts of Madison have rainbow colored snow.

chickelit said...

Lots of yellow snow in dog parks.

blake said...

I thought the brown was just dirt. I've seen dirty snow.

AllenS said...

Snowmobiles, at least new ones, hardly make any noise. I see them drive by my place in the ditch or on the road, and if I didn't see them, I wouldn't notice that they went by. Nice story, Haz.

Michael Haz said...

Blake:

Brown snow is part of the meteorological diversity program embraced by many northern states.

Michael Haz said...

Allen:

The old snowmobiles were loud and smokey. We saw a group out riding some restored vintage sleds and it looked like a rolling forest fire. The noise was startling.

The new one are still two strokers, and the engines are a technological tour de force.

Unknown said...

Lovely description.
I hope your wife was wearing sunscreen. ;)

Aridog said...

Curiosity Question: How much do the newest quiet snowmobiles cost? Just a range. Last time I checked the good really quiet touring types were 4 cycles and cost in the 5 figures.

I grew sick of them, the engine hassles, the noise, the fumes, some time ago and sold mine...a simple enough Ski Do Formula 500. Photo is a stock photo, mine are all packed away somewhere in the basement.

ricpic said...

So the big question is: when these old die, will there be new olds popping up to replace them?..or is this THE END?!

Third Coast said...

Snowmobiles are a plague upon the earth. I used to live and my brother still lives up the road from you in a remote area northwest of Marquette MI. Back in the day when I was into x-country skiing, snowmobilers invariably discovered whatever trails we had made in the woods and promptly obliterated them as well as the no trespassing signs they had to pass to get there. However, they were usually thoughtful enough to leave behind beer cans that we picked up and turned in for money.
By the way, nice cabin Haz. Is that just a shed in back of the cabin or is it a sauna?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I love it. We are wishing to have your winter here.

It has been freakishly warm in the day and scarily dry, here in California. We still get the below freezing temperatures at night so in the shady areas the ground is frozen down to about 8 inches because there is no snow cover. In our area we would still/should have snow on the ground or in late winter be experiencing winter storms that build up snow in the higher elevations ( higher than us we are 3600 ft) and drench us with rain. Instead.......nothing.

It was in the low 60 degrees yesterday. I sat on the deck reading a book in the sun while making a raspberry clafouti. Enjoying a glass of wine and watching the cat lounging about and bathing himself. Below the honking, screaming geese were still standing on the ice in the frozen bend of the river. Weird!

I am very afraid of what is going to happen due to the water tables not being replenished and lack of snow run off this summer. So while I enjoy the warm afternoons, I envy you the cold snowy ground cover.

Also. Good advice on how to treat your plumber, handyman in the country :-)

Michael Haz said...

Curiosity Question: How much do the newest quiet snowmobiles cost?

Low five figures for a nice one. Less for something with older technology.

So the big question is: when these old die, will there be new olds popping up to replace them?..

On our side of the lake, when the olds die their homes are bought by people who use them recreationally. And the few who retire and move here permanently seem to stay for eight or ten years, and when their health begins to fail, they move closer to where their families live.

By the way, nice cabin Haz. Is that just a shed in back of the cabin or is it a sauna?

Thanks. It's a very small place on large land, so there's privacy. The small building was a pigeon coop when we bought it, and I remodeled it into a sauna building.

Michael Haz said...

DBQ: What's your fire hazard situation?

blake said...

In California, there's a 100% chance of fire, followed by flooding and earthquake.

Michael Haz said...

So...the locust pestilence is under control? Good.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Fire hazard. Extremely high!! Not as bad as So Cal where they have the drying Santa Anna winds. I am assuming that camping in the National and State forests in our area might be severely restricted if not actually eliminated and certain NO campfires will be allowed. Everything is tinder dry.

Water is going to be the largest issue and bone of contention. People in the North are already fed up with having our use of water restricted and the water being shuttled on down to LA so people can water their lawns and fill their swimming pools. The idiocy of water control in the State has already created a new Dust Bowl in the central valley. It is hearbreaking to drive through that area and see the devastation of mature orchards that have died from lack of water. Dead trees torn up and laying on the ground. People's dreams and hopes of generations ground into dust because some bait fish are more important.

Water wars are one of the main reasons that northern Ca wants to secede.

chickelit said...

So...the locust pestilence is under control? Good.

No reason to bring up Hollywood.

chickelit said...

DBQ: What's your fire hazard situation?

Worse than Peshtigo.

Third Coast said...

Nice fire reference Chick. 1,100,000 acres burned in WI and MI. I didn't realize that the great Chicago Fire occurred the same night Peshtigo burned.

Third Coast said...

Overshadowed by the Peshtigo fire and the Chicago fire, a major wildfire swept across lower Michigan at the same time. This fire received little publicity, although two hundred people lost their lives and 1,200,000 acres were burned.
Three conflagrations at the same time burned almost three million acres and killed almost 2,000 people. Amazing.

AllenS said...

I don't think that snowmobiling is the renegade activity it was long ago. There are snowmobile clubs all over Wisconsin that maintain trails with signs to keep riding on them a safe activity. You can travel everywhere in WI on them. You never see any litter. They even make snowmobiles for younger children.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Worse than Peshtigo

That was very interesting. I had never heard of this incident.
Nature....damn you scary.

blake said...

The locusts are in Sacramento, and far from under control.

Trooper York said...

Did you see the little girl who lives down the lane?

Trooper York said...

She has a cup of tea for you.

Michael Haz said...

She travels with me.

Aridog said...

Whoa Haz...the prices have indeed gone up YIKES! That'd be a choice I'd make if I still ventured north. Just "shopping" gave me the itch, damnit.