Scenes from the Kinnickinnic

Why tree stumps are good.

2007-10-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Shortly after we moved in, I started drilling a couple of holes in some old tree stumps in hopes to speed the rotting process, and thusly, the removal process. A neighbor commented on a chemical I could dump in the holes to further speed that process along. Now I wish I hadn't even drilled the holes. Look at this beautiful polypore that is taking up residence. Both stumps have them, and there are three other species growing on or between the stumps. What a great summer for fungi!

Our Alley

2007-10-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

No setback laws existed back in the early 1900s, but they do now. Any work you might want to do can only be repair work on these old buildings. New ones would have to go in at least fifteen feet from the alley, and, in our case, that would chew up most of our backyard. We had the inspector out, and he go a good chuckle out of the 1970s metal building attached to the 1907 wood garage behind, concrete floor in the old part (albeit heaving up and down) and dirt floor (with carpeting) in the front.

It's got the feeling of sub-par...

2007-10-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

...written all over it. Something about the late heat, coupled with the huge winds and rain we've had, lead me to believe the colors will be somewhat mediocre this year. We have our fall photo shoot scheduled with our daughter next week. Here's hoping we can find the color.

Friday Night Lights

2007-10-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Would the modern day UWRF football team be able to beat this group of toughs? Half the team looks like Jim Thorpe's brother and the other half looks like they just got done plowing. Of course the average weight then was probably 180 and today, about 260. Advantage: Now.

At least someone used it

2007-10-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Went out back to try to take a picture of the bugs swarming at the hummingbird feeder, but it was nearly impossible. I got stung twice by yellow jackets, and those stupid little Japanese beetles were biting me the entire time. Our hummingbird feeder was a flop this year. One early fall hanger-on came through for a couple of days, and that was it. Last year, after we moved in, we had dozens---rubies, emeralds, you name it we had it. This year, one little ruby and that was that. And, as to those Japanese beetles; I don't remember them when I was a kid. We had lady bugs, and they did not bite. Now you have to discriminate. Is it safe to let the little bugger crawl on you or not? I love lady bugs, but I hate them Japanese beetles.

Since we're on the subject of tombstones

2007-10-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

Another one to add to the great debate over whether or not stones in Cottage Grove and River Falls came from the same source. By highway, there's some distance between us, but going down the Kinni to the St. Croix and then up the pass through St. Croix Bluffs Park, we could darn near be sister cities. Going to head to the library today to do some digging. Doggone Slinger has got me all distracted now.

Bonus-Cliff Mine

2007-10-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the best places for true cemetery afficianados---the Cliff Mine Cemetery up in northern Michigan. No people around, a hike to get here, and, once done looking at the stones, rock piles to go hunt for native copper. Beautiful!

Only the Good Die Young

2007-10-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of graveyards. Besides the art of the stones, and the interest in the rocks that were used to make them, cemeteries are tremendously tranquil and a great telescope into the past. One of the saddest things about the olds stones is how many kids died young. We were at a cemetery in Utah, and there was a string of four stones, all kids from the same family who died within a year of five. It leads me to wonder the circumstances of their death. Disease? Starvation? Parents? Many sad tales at the graveyard.

The Trickle that Starts It All

2007-09-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Grey day here, so how about a picture of the headwaters of the Mississippi. So small you can walk across it.

Trickster

2007-09-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

Once when I was a kid, and we had just got back from a trip to the Smoky Mountains, my dad showed slides from the trip. In among the March images was this crazy picture of a black bear sticking his snout out from behind some flowers. I was dumbfounded. "Where was I when you took that picture?" "Weren't you scared?" "Did you get any other pictures of the bear?" It was only years later that I realized the image was fake, one of those slides you buy in a gift store. It was the flowers that gave it away. We were there in March and there was nothing blossoming. This picture has that feel about it. Here we are, temperatures and leaves dropping, and here's this flower. It seems so out of place. Our dahlias, too, are gorgeous right now, but summer is done. They should be dead.

High Bridge-South Fork

2007-09-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is the walking bridge at Glen Park, over the South Fork, right before it enters the Kinni. Beautiful park, bridge, and waterfalls, here. Tomorrow, a picture of a great turn-of-the-century plate with an image of this same area.

Grey Day

2007-09-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Light was horrible, and I know there are people who devote their whole life to catblogging, so here's Crombus, the gentle cat of the house.

Green

2007-09-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Nice collection of greens from an area Scientific Natural Area.

Won't be long now

2007-09-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous fall day today, but there was wind moving the early dead off of trees. Time for us northerners to stock up on furnace filters, ice melt, and Hershey bars (for roadside emergency kits (to be eaten when there are no sweets in the house (leaving an unsuspecting spouse to perish of starvation in a ditch during some sort of superstorm))). Our days are numbered, and the squirrels know it. They are working extra hard, building up stores of walnuts and fat.

Looks are deceiving

2007-09-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

It sure looks like a nice fall day for golf, doesn't it? Yeah, sure, if you like hurricane winds. Had one shot, fifty yards right of the pin, land pin high after the wind worked it's magic. But, like they say, "A bad day golfing is better than a good day working." True'dat!

Power!

2007-09-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

The power plant near Glen Park where the Kinni meets the South Fork.

The St. Croix

2007-09-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

So, the Kinnickinnic flows to the St. Croix. This is the St. Croix right below where the Kinni flows into it. Ten miles below this, the St. Croix connects up with the mighty Mississippi. Lots of water recreation takes place on this stretch of water, and then, suddenly, to the north, it becomes a jagged nightmare of rocks and shallows. Just before that area, there are some really neat pontoon port-a-potties. No need to pee in the water or drag the boat ashore, just pull up, climb off, and away you go.

Another St. Croix River

2007-09-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

This one, the Willow River flows into the St. Croix north of here near the town of Hudson. It is another gorgeous river with a state park on it. Unlike the Kinnickinnic, which has the Kinnickinnic State Park on it, you can camp at Willow River. The hike to the water fall is worth it, but for purity of experience, the trail on the north side of the river is the best.

Circa 1910

2007-09-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

This puts the age of our house in perspective. This postcard image dates to three years after our house was built. The wide streets, so that horses could turn around with a cart behind, provided the space for the cool center island that runs the length of Main. Accidental aesthetics are the best.

Bonus Shot

2007-09-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

What the heck. There's nothing wrong with two in one day. I like the waters flowing over some water vegetation here. Kinnickinnic northeast of town in the middle of a short stretch of knuckle-busting shallow water. My hands still hurt from this kayak trip.

Four Hours Away

2007-09-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

I tend to bad mouth the upper Midwest. Not because it is a bad place, but rather because there are no bits of greatness to it, no Grand Canyon, no ocean, no jaw-dropping beauty. I like to use the "Four Hour Rule" as my basis for griping. Take San Francisco. A four hour radius gets you to the Sierra Nevadas, Oregon, LA, Yosemite, etc. Four hours from us, gets you to the Wisconsin Dells and South Dakota. Whooooo-hoooo! The Boundary Waters sits right at the upper limit of the "Four Hour Rule," and while it is not the most incredible thing you will ever see, it has to be near the most peaceful. You will never get quiet like you get in the BWCA. When I took this picture, my daughter and I were alone at the edge of the lake. A slight ruffle alerted us to a deer, about two hundred yards away, standing in the water. It was so quiet we could hear the deer from two football fields away simply standing in the water. Incredible!

Crystal Cave

2007-09-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Just down the road in Spring Valley is the largest show cave in Wisconsin. What you see here is pretty much what you get. Great soda straws and a neat history, but not a lot of huge color, crystallization, or variety of minerals. There are some fossils, and the terrain outside the cave is truly beautiful. Worth a visit if you end up in the area.

Wabi Sabi

2007-09-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

There is little to recommend the back side of most main streets. No exception to the rule on the east side of our Main. The west has the river and some effort to spruce up the waterfront. Don't get me wrong. It ain't no San Antonio; but, an effort is at least being made. The east side, though, is just plain ugly. The history has been vanquished, and what remains is little more than junk from the age when no one cared what downtowns looked like. Good luck finding the beauty in this picture (and don't just blame it on my camera (or me)).

Thrift Store

2007-09-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

The G.T. Smith Building from 1916 now houses Treasures from the Heart, a great thrift store that benefits the local hospice program.

The Early 20s Lull

2007-09-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hit the wall early, and have to resort to a picture of a beat-up and worthless front yard planter for today's photo. Damn that work and all the other things that suck up valuable time!

Looking down the Kinni

2007-09-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Kinnickinnic as it flows south from town to the St. Croix.

Ingram Center

2007-09-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Across the Maple Street Bridge is the Ingram Center a location of varied civic organizations and the community gardens. This odd arch sits at its rear. I'm new enough to town that I don't know the history of this yet. Are the shells local? Was this once the community hospital? Why did this merit preservation when so many other historical artifacts have gone by the wayside? Why is my camera set on super dark mode?

Nearing the End

2007-09-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last week, temperatures in the nineties. This week, butting up against freezing. To those who have never lived in a climate like this, it is hard to understand. We don't get the ridiculously dramatic, like hurricanes or Sierra Nevada snowfalls, but we get big winds in the form of tornadoes and we get temperatures that go from -40 to 100 degrees. We have about two months now where we won't need air and (hopefully) we won't need the furnace either. It is the nicest time of year. Bugs are dead or dying, and we get to see the colors change. It's always fun to watch the squirrels hard at work, too.

What about roller skates?

2007-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

or skateboards? or those funny shoes with wheels in them? or unicycles? or tricycles, for that matter?

South Fork at Glen Park

2007-09-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

A series of small falls as the South Fork enters the main body of the Kinnickinnic at Glen Park.

Maple, Sycamore, or ?

2007-09-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

Gotta get out my tree books here. My daughter grabbed this leaf and immediately identified it as maple. I don't necessarily disagree, but it has an odd feel to it. It has a maple's red, but the look is black maple or something else entirely.

Walking Bridge

2007-09-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

Great walking bridge downtown. Water is shallow, and it is always fun to see what the town thugs have tossed over the side. No bodies or anything, but we have seen a bike, a fishing rod, and a big chunk of concrete. New York's got nothing on us for excitement.

How to turn a penny into $15

2007-09-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

The meters on Main Street our cheap. A penny gets you 12 minutes, and a dime two hours. But, beware, they watch these cheap meters, and, as I can attest, you can get tickets. We've been here a year, and I already have two. One for too long in a coffee shop with only a nickel in the meter, and the other for too long in the hardware store on a penny.

Disappearing

2007-09-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

The Big River is another small river flowing to the Mississippi. It's origins lie in a series of pothole pasture lakes south of town, and it meanders for fifteen miles or so before it goes under the Highway 35 bridge. This antique bridge sits just north of that. It is one of those old bridges that should be forced to stay forever, but will probably be gone within a decade. Don't tell anybody, but the Big River is top-of-the-line fossil hunting grounds. Just let it be our secret.

Bonus Shot

2007-09-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

My eight-year-old daughter was making some griping noises about not being featured on the Kinnickinnic Daily Photo Blog. Here she is with her winnings from a crane machine in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. She owned that machine, feeding in ten quarters, losing only twice. One time, she picked two animals at once. It might be her number one talent. When she loses, it usually means the machine is rigged with weak claws.

Music in the Park

2007-09-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

We are a small college town, population 12,000 or so, with a great community sense. Friday nights are "Music in the Park" nights, and last night was the last night for the season. Temperatures are feeling fall-like, leaves are starting to change, birds are coming through on their way south. My favorite time of year by far. Good sleeping weather and the last respite before winter (and winter sucks).

Where we live

2007-09-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

A great mixture of houses from the 1900s to the 1930s. Our house sits next to a house with seven foot doors, where once lived a 6'8" woman, who tilted her house diagonally so that none of her windows peered into ours. Great neighborhood!

Nip and Tuck

2007-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

School starts in three days, and THEY said the bridge would be completed by the time school started. It is going down to the wire.

Happy, but I still want a new camera.

2007-08-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I am not happy with my digital camera. Yes, it is convenient, and yes, I am happy to not be lugging my old EOS around; but, and it's a big but, I am never happy with the color that my Canon digital captures. Part of the problem is the convenience. I don't concentrate, and I don't spend the time on the shots that I used to. Trade-offs! It is so nice to have the camera close at hand to snap shots of things I never would have normally got, but the color sucks. Here's a shot of a Hemlock Varnish Shelf, Ganoderma tsugae (I believe), where the camera did a mind-numbingly good job. This was exactly the way it looked, and of the shots I took of fungi, this one perfectly captures the way the thing felt, too, leathery and soft, yet, very there-for-the-long-haul.

Mixed Emotions

2007-08-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

State fair time across the border in Minnesota (we get nothing but Minnesota news way out here in western Wisconsin, so technically it is our fair). Combining the culinary train wreck that is Spam with the gift of the gods, cheese curds, could be a top ten historical sin. Did not try them, out of protest more than anything. They were probably good, for it takes more than congealed pork fat to ruin manna (depending on your Biblical interpretation, meaning "best choice of foods" in this instance).

Academy Playground

2007-08-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

School building that houses the Renaissance Academy, a bunch of civic organizations, and the River Falls Public Montessori, a premier learning institution.

Upriver from Town

2007-08-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

It is impossible to get a good picture on the Kinni, especially with an eight-year-old navigator running the other paddle. When the good shots arise, the water is flowing too quickly; when the water is deep and calm, there's nothing but green. Don't get me wrong, green is nice. It is probably the color we midwesterners take for granted, because we got a ton of it. Crops are green, trees are green, and most of our planted plants are mostly green. It's the other colors we have a shortage of. Some gorgeous reds and oranges along the river today, but they were to be found exclusively by rapids. I do have some pictures, but they suck.

Like Midwesterners say...

2007-08-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

..."There are only two seasons-winter and road construction." Some sort of concrete artifact from the Maple and Main construction projects.

Masks

2007-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers are not actually flowers, but rather a collection of thousands of little flowers emanating from a common center. They truly are phototropic, with heads following the sun over the course of the day. Heads are bagged to prevent pollination, often times to test the effects of disease or insects. 90% of sunflowers grown are used for oil, the remaining 10% are confectionary (to be eaten).

Nearing Harvest Time

2007-08-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

South Fork

2007-08-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Walking the South Fork from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (hereafter: UWRF) campus to the Kinnickinnic is a perfect afternoon trip. Expect to climb over tree falls and expect bugs (but, really, not too bad). More importantly, expect little contact with humanity and lots of animal tracks. You probably won't see much for animals, save a few birds, but know that the depths next to you probably contain lots of little eyes watching you travel noisily by.

Kinnickinnic

2007-08-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

The river flows into the town of River Falls from the north as the Kinnickinnic and from the east as the South Fork. Once connected in town at Glen Park, the river flows to the St. Croix, then to the Mississippi, then to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not a rambunctious river, and whatever activity is to be found is generally man-made or the result of a fallen tree. It is walkable in most spots, and few activities more wonderful can be found then to spend a day making your way through town on the South Fork.

The cicadas blur...

2007-08-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the cicada rebirth of a year ago. We have seen the empty suits of the cicadas this year, but have yet to catch them in the process of crawling to a tree and shedding their walking clothes. It is one of the oddest things to see up close. You can't determine if there is mating or fighting going on.

Dog Day Cicada here in Wisconsin (genus Tibicen); supposedly we were to get the 17-year this year. Have yet to see them, here, though (perhaps we missed them).

Kinnickinnic

2007-08-23T11:30:00.000-07:00