Stunning!
Well we finally did it. A couple of weeks back it finally cooled off enough at night that we had a bonfire on the river’s edge. We had a LOT of twigs, branches, and scrap wood that needed to be burned so we decided that the time was right for our first real fire.
One thing you learn pretty quickly here in the country is that September and October mean one thing in small towns: Fall Festival. It appears that this is the time of year when all of the clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Knights of Columbus, fire fighters, etc. have a pancake breakfast, a chicken grill-out or some other type of fundraiser. It’s pretty awesome. For less than $10 you can get a great meal and support a good cause.
We’ve only made it to a few so far but one took the cake for best ever.
Miles Cat
So the weather has started to change. It actually started to get cooler here at the house a few weeks ago. The days would still get in the high 70’s or even the low 80’s but the nights would fall. Sometimes as low as the 50’s.
This change in the weather has actually been a wonderful change. It’s given us partial relief from the mosquitoes as well as given us the chance to get the fire pit going, etc… It also has meant that the critters outside are starting to look for shelter.
Native Americans originally settled the land where our house sits. The HoChunk Indian Nation was the primary tribe. Our neighbor Frank grew up here and farmed the land with his family. Some years ago he sold the farmland behind our road to the HoChunk and retired.
Our understanding is that this was the culmination of many years of friendship between Frank and the HoChunk. As time went on Frank became involved with them and others and a curiosity grew regarding the effigy mounds that are located around the area.
The local paper
I love reading the newspaper. Whether it’s at night before bed or in the morning over breakfast. I like to get the lowdown on what’s going on in the world. And that’s to say nothing of the therapeutic quality of the comics. Even if they don’t really make you laugh.
Morning Fog over the River
Last week Melissa and I decided that Monday would be our day off. We knew I had to work all weekend to get a client’s restaurant open and that would mean a couple of overnighters.
The day dawned early and foggy – something that happens almost every morning. A dense fog usually sits on the river until the sun gets sufficiently high in the sky to burn it off. It’s beautiful to watch in the morning with a cup of coffee. You can hear the cranes and other birds in the background and smell the dew.
The bank to the river is gone! That means TONS of mosquitoes!
Everywhere we go people here are always talking about two things: How high the river is and how bad the mosquitoes are this year. Of course I have no reference point on either of these two topics so I usually just smile and nod my head in agreement.
One thing I can tell you, however, is that the mosquitoes are absolutely horrible! Granted, I haven’t had to deal with them since I was kid growing up in Evanston, but it got so bad up here at one point that you literally had to run to the car and jump in before more than a half dozen would get you. Any dawdling and you were toast. When the mosquitoes were at the worst I think I got 5 or 6 bites one day just getting into the car.
Did I mention that the car was only about 10 feet from the house?
