I had intended to go on my first bike ride of the season in the morning but found that I had a flat tire. Later in the day, with chores done, the fine folks at Slow Roll Cycles remedied that and I was able to hit the road come the afternoon.
The neighborhood garden and environs were looking nice.
One of the Leopold benches was adorned with seasonally appropriate art.
Down in the reservoir were a couple of swingin' bachelor mallards.
Starkweather Park was also looking mighty fine. A bit early to see any deer, methinks.
It's a great place for watching the plentiful red-winged black birds.
I hadn't been down the Marsh Path in a while and found that the tent city underneath the overpass was gone.
I wandered along the creek.
There were some very nice views of the Voit Farm property from atop a little hill.
On the way home, I encountered a couple more birds.
(Let your reading be carried astern to the prelude.)
As Tennyson observed, nature is red in tooth and claw. I was reminded of this on a bike ride when I spied a cat chasing a mouse in the middle of the street ahead of me.
The cat did eventually get its prey.
I love to paddle forbidden creeks, and land on arborous coasts.
More recently I had some encounters with nature that were decidedly less bloody. I took a Monday off from work and biked a couple blocks to my local boat rental joint on the shores of Lake Monona and rented a kayak. Despite having lived in the Four Lakes area for decades and just a couple blocks from a creek for several years, I’d never used one before so I figured it would prove to be a fun and interesting adventure. My goal was to paddle up Starkweather Creek and it was the perfect day to do so with the sun shining and the temperature only in the mid-70s.
I put in on the lake and paddled the short distance to the mouth of the creek. At first I was a bit wobbly but, after tacking the small wake of a boat successfully, I felt steady and more confident. There were a couple fellow paddlers out on the creek and an occasional fisherman on the shore, but it was just me and Mother Nature most of the time. I was happy to find that the weed and algae levels were rather low with only 1 fairly short section being choked with vegetation.
Well, that’s not quite true. While there may have been no other people around, I was surrounded by life. The first non-human animals I noticed were all of the ducks.
Close to my bow, strange forms in the water darted hither and thither before me; while thick to the rear flew the inscrutable seagulls.
There’s an especially high concentration of them near the intersection of Starkweather Drive and Dawes Street. I suspect they congregate there because that section of shore has a lot of shade trees on it and there’s a house near the intersection that has several bird feeders out front where I’ve witnessed many a duck gorging itself at the seed smorgasbord as disconsolate birds looked on.
It’s a real mallard gauntlet. They’re on both sides relaxing and preening, they are swimming in front of you and behind, they fly over you – just everywhere.
While no creek critters are exactly enamored of humans, they are definitely more tolerant of us when we are out on the water instead of approaching from the shore. Thusly I was able to get some decent pictures of the ducks including these portraits.
Next I noticed all of the painted turtles sunning themselves on rocks and branches. They’re small and tend to blend into their surroundings well so I only noticed one here and there at first. But, when I looked harder, I discovered that they were all around me.
Consider the subtleness of the creek; how its most painted creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure.
When my kayak approached a group of them, most of the turtles would either leap forwards or drop backwards into the safety of the water. But there was always a brave soul or 2 that would stick around and check out the intruder.
I like this next photo because you can see how the one on the right retracted its front legs.
Before long I was at the spot where the west branch of the creek splits off and heads towards the airport but I kept my course on the east branch. I thought that I’d read that you couldn’t paddle beyond Highway 30 to the north and either had to turn back or portage your kayak. I needn’t have worried as a fallen tree blocked my progress before I got close to the highway so I turned around.
Not knowing how long I’d been out or how burned my legs were getting, I headed down the west branch.
Drifting past more turtles and taking pictures, I noticed a bird in the cattails and took a snap.
I had no idea it had turned out so well until I got home. Consulting my trusty Birds of Wisconsin book at later, I discovered that it was a female red-winged blackbird.
Just ahead on the shore in some poor soul’s backyard a gaggle of Canada geese were lounging, preening, and no doubt popping all over the place, as is their wont.
I paddled another half a mile or so before turning back. With the sun pounding on me, I was getting a bit red. Cruising under the bridges was a nice break from having the sun beating down upon me. Despite the sunburn, I was still having a blast as it was just so pretty out on the water.
I saw the opening maw of hell,
With endless pains and sorrows there;
Which none but the fish there can tell—
Oh, it plunging to despair.
As my kayak slowly drifted around a corner just short of where the west branch meets the east, I was startled to see a great blue heron having lunch. I took one photo and tried to take more but the camera refused. I silently cursed the device as I pushed the button to no avail. A second later I realized that in my haste to get a photograph, I had accidentally switched the camera from take a picture mode to view your pictures mode. Oops!
I moved to set it back but the bird was off like a prom dress around the corner and out of sight. The photo I took was out of focus but you can still see it and its lunch well enough.
The rest of my paddle back to the beach was uneventful. The fishermen I’d seen on the shore were gone, although the bridge that connects the 2 sections of Olbrich Botanical Gardens had several people on it looking down at the water.
I found it to be a bit windier out on the lake than it was earlier and I had to paddle harder to keep from being blown far away from shore. Beaching the kayak, I moved to get out and discovered that I still very much had sea legs. So it took a little extra effort to get them out and stand up without falling over.
Despite my poor legs getting quite a bit more sun than they could handle, I had an absolute blast and look forward to doing another paddle. Perhaps I’ll try to make it out to the airport next time.
********
My latest venture to the movies was with a group of friends to see the 1982 version of The Thing, directed by John Carpenter. It was back in theaters for its 40th anniversary.
While I have seen it many times over the years, I think this was my first on the big screen. When it’s hot out, I try to watch movies & TV shows and read books that take place in colder temps so The Thing’s Antarctic setting really hit the spot on a balmy night. It is a total creepfest and I love every minute of it. You may recall in a previous diary entry that I had read the source material for the film, the novella Frozen Hell earlier this year.
In the opening, an alien spacecraft is seen careering towards Earth. We then cut to some frantic Norwegians in a helicopter chasing a dog across the snowy wastes. They attempt to shoot it but the hound evades their bullets. We eventually learn that the Norwegian researchers found the crashed U.F.O. and had recovered one of its occupants from the ice. Unfortunately for them, the alien wasn't dead, it merely slumbered.
When it awoke, the creature exercised its skill of being able to assume the form of other beings. The dog was actually infected by the alien, hence the attempt to kill it. That having failed, the alien begins to infect the denizens of the American research station.
No matter how many times I’ve seen the movie, the scene where the de facto leader, MacReady, tests his compatriots' blood to determine who is human and who is an alien simulacrum always scares the living crap out of me.
If too long goes by between viewings, I forget who the alien is which makes it all the more scary.
We need more movies that take place in the winter/in cold, godforsaken climes at the theaters in the summer.
********
Bonus photo this time is of the front porch of a house near our favorite ice cream parlor. That poster of Greta Garbo has been there for a while now. No clue who put it there, it’s just been a fixture on that block for as long as I can remember.
A few years
back when my mother-in-law died, I was clearing out her house and came across a box of letters. They were used by my Frau's
grandfather, Clarence, to write his book, Remembering John W. Cookson: A
Wisconsin Anti-fascist in the Spanish Civil War, 1937-1938.
You see,
Clarence was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and fought against the
fascists in Spain from 1937-38. Cookson was his best friend and the pair battled Franco together over there. If my memory of hearing Clarence talk a family event from many years ago is accurate, then Cookson died in Clarence's arms. For his
part, Clarence was injured during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938 and that ended
his fighting career – with a gun, that is.
The letters
were mainly ones written by Cookson to his family from Spain. Here's a bit of one.
Sorry about the quality. I'd take a new photo but I donated the letters to the
Wisconsin Historical Society before getting a better picture.
Cookson
wrote this missive dated June 4, 1938 to his father from Barcelona. In it he argues
with his dad over the threat posed by Hitler.
You say
" of course Chamberlain's plan will avert a European war & that is
what England is afraid of".
…
But I'm
afraid that unless Chamberlain is ousted there may be a world war.
There is something rather harrowing about this exchange when you know how history played out. I feel a vicarious sense of fatalism reading it knowing that Germany invades Poland the following year and the enormous human toll to come.
You can find
out more about Clarence and his remarkable career as a peace and social justice
activist here.
********
While it
took a couple visits, the experts have finally attached the base and quarter
round and so our 3-month kitchen floor replacement odyssey has, for all intents and purposes, finally come to
an end.
The cats are
dropping food and puking on the new floor just as they did on the old one so
things are back to normal. Next I need to remove the old microwave and the Frau needs to paint walls. By and large, though, I can now concentrate on the next major home improvement project: hardwood
floors that need to be sanded and re-stained out in the living room. Oh, and a new deck as well.
********
Earlier in the summer I discovered the Madison
Parks events website and, while it took me a few weeks, I finally attended an event. This one involved
Starkweather Creek near my home. I arrived on a lovely Saturday morning and was
greeted by a couple folks and a little dog too. They were going to demonstrate their
monthly testing routine which measured the creek's rate of flow, temperature,
and other fluvial attributes.
The
gentleman was pleased at how clear the water was before noting that the creek
is contaminated with PFAS, carcinogenic chemicals that don't naturally break
down. With more than a note of disgust, he explained how fire fighting exercises were
done in decades past upstream at the airport. In the infinite wisdom of airport management, firefighters would lay down some jet fuel on a spot near the creek and then practice their
snuffing skills using a foam laden with PFAS which made its way into the water. Uff da!
With the
measurements having been taken, we took a look at the critters in the creek to
see if any of the less hardy ones could be found in an attempt to try to gauge the effects of the PFAS
and other pollutants. We found a couple bugs that are fairly sensitive to pollution so the creek doesn't appear to be in dire straits. There were lots of mayfly and dragonfly larvae and, I must admit, I
had no idea that you'd find oodles of insect larvae in the water. I figured
that flying creatures grew up on land. There were also lots of crawfish and
snails.
I had fun
and learned quite a bit about the creek which runs just a couple blocks from my
house. The guy also convinced me that I should kayak the creek. Water craft can be
rented on the shore of Lake Monona, not far from home so that is now on my to-do list.
On my return bike
ride, I ran across an old car which looked like it was straight out of a François
Truffaut film.
I looked it
up and it appears to be Citroën 2CV, the French equivalent of a Volkswagen
Beetle – cheap, no frills transportation for the common man.
********
Back in the
spring, the Frau's father was talking up his plans to plant a Three Sisters
garden. Various Native American tribes used to plant corn, beans, and squash
closely together as the arrangement was beneficial to all involved. This method
helps attract pollinators, keep away pests, and allows the plants to help one another
grow.
And on a
recent visit to the father-in-law's, we got a glimpse of the garden.
It looks
like we may be having a very traditional Thanksgiving this year.
It seems likes it has been a couple weeks since we've had a day here in Madison with more than a few minutes of unadulterated sunlight. It's bad enough being cooped up inside in a bid to flatten the curve and avoid Covid-19 but the constant cloudiness has seemed as oppressive at the stay-at-home order, at times. Still, this spring seems like the most normal one we've had in years. My local weatherperson can probably prove me wrong, but it feels to me like spring here in southern Wisconsin the past few years has been a period of highs just above freezing abruptly ceding to 60°+ temperatures overnight. Instead we've had some lovely days in the 40s this spring, with lows dipping just below freezing. No wonder I've seen people collecting maple sap around town.
The last day we had extended sunlight I took a neighborhood stroll. It wasn't long before I noticed that my neighbors have more log cairns in their yard for growing mushrooms. I presume there will soon be shiitake shrooms bursting from the spore holes on them.
My destination was Starkweather Park. I had previous done some wandering around the west side of the park but now I would do the east and north bits. So I headed east on Milwaukee Strasse. The little strip of the park that abuts the street looked so forlorn with the leafless trees and bushes. Plus there was garbage – empty drink containers, mostly – scattered about. The old Swiss Colony warehouse was waiting impatiently to have tenants once again. Plans for it to become an Amazon distribution center are moving forward to the dismay of many who were hoping for that area to become housing and commercial. But the land is still zoned industrial or whatever classification you need for a warehouse.
However, the land owner was quoted as saying that "a low-cost housing development" was going to be built adjacent to the warehouse. This got the Urban League of Greater Madison to bite. Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We will just have to wait and see if those 145 jobs materialize. I'd bet a lot of those are given to robots. But housing there isn't a bad idea as it's very close to the East Transfer Point meaning public transit is a hop, skip, and a jump away for people of more limited means.
Speaking of which, it was rather odd in a Twilight Zone kind of way to see the transfer point completely deserted.
The retention pond by Corporate Drive was full of melted snow. There was a smoking area tucked into a shady area next to the pond.
Once I was on the Marsh View path, the marsh that is Starkweather Park was to my left.
To my right I saw my first robin of the season. Unfortunately, it was hanging out in a sea of parking.
What a waste. On the bright side, there was a brace of sandhill cranes wandering the grass between the expanses of concrete.
Starkweather Park is mostly marshland and the main attraction is birdwatching. There are benches dotted along the path to accommodate practitioners of what is surely one of the more sedentary hobbies around. I did not have my binoculars with me but I still caught site of some of our flying friends, including my first sighting of a red-winged black bird.
As you get to the north side of the park, the path veers away from the marsh and continues underneath Highway 30. After crossing Starkweather Creek and some railroad tracks, it's but a short stretch until you hit Commercial Avenue.
Starkweather Creek forms much of the western border of the Eastmorland neighborhood. Indeed, the creek at one time formed part of the eastern city limits. Most shoreline north of Milwaukee Street looks to be private property. Shoreline south of it appears to be mostly city-owned.
I’ll be honest and say that whenever I hear or see the name of the creek, I almost always think of the Starkweather Moore Expedition.
Ahem.
On a recent walk along the eastern shore of the creek I thought about a particular Kansas song upon seeing evidence of Castor Canadensis - “Release the Beavers”, which you can hear live this autumn when the band comes to town. (You are welcome, the marketing division of the Overture Center.)
My Frau and I also saw various and sundry wildlife scenes which the phone on my camera and I were simply not able to capture sufficiently. For instance, we caught a turtle sunning itself on a rock on the far shore; and ducks seems to enjoy the intersection of Starkweather Drive and Leon Street. Mainly, though, wildlife made its presence known by their sounds – birds and frogs, mostly. It is very quiet on the creek’s shoreline with Olbrich Park separating you from Atwood Avenue to the south and the abandoned Garver Feed Mill on the opposite shore.
Starkweather Drive ends at Dawes Street and becomes a bicycle path leading into (O.B.) Sherry Park.
Leon Park, also known as Lansing Park, was renamed O. B. Sherry Park in 1974 in honor of Orven B. Sherry, a Madison real estate dealer, who donated land for the park’s expansion that eliminated Willow Street and the eastern portion of Thorp Street. Wayne Street was reduced to a remnant that is now so short there is only room for one house on one side of the street.
You can see the original street layout of the area in this map from 1943.
And here is the lone remaining remnant of Wayne Street. All 20 feet or so of it:
Notice on the map that Harding Street was much lengthier back then. Not only did it go south to Atwood Avenue, but also east. The southern portion became Walter Street and I presume the latter section was 86d when the schools were built. Also note that Sargent Street was Grand View Street back then.
The blurb above makes it sound like there has been a park at the current site of Sherry Park. I wonder if any homes were demolished on Thorp, Willow, and Wayne Streets. Oh, and Starkweather Drive too. It occurs to me that getting rid of Thorp Street explains that island of grass at the intersection of Leon and Milwaukee. There’s the sidewalk along Milwaukee but another one closer to the house at 1 Leon. Thorp must have gone through the trees that now form the park’s northern border.
Here is the park:
There are some old trees in the park which must surely pre-date the removal of the streets such as this quadro-trunk. Or is it a tri-trunk?
The bike path goes across the creek and over to Ivy Street. Swallows love to chase each other underneath the bridge. Here I am looking north with Milwaukee Street in the distance.
And here’s the view south with the western branch of the creek heading off to the right.
Down by the intersection of Hargrove Street and Starkweather Drive, there are a couple paths into the woods which lead to the railroad tracks. There are 3 bridges in short succession which would send a Jungian into spasms of interpretive overload.
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