The tale of two towers

Subtitle: The invasion of the Asian lady beetles.

Warm weather, pretty leaves, hiking at state parks, tons o' lady bugs. That about covers it.

Didn't think you'd get off that easily, did you?

State park visit #1: Saturday at Pike Lake. Below is the view from the observation tower in July, followed by one taken Saturday. The leaves have turned. Ooo, pretty. But to get that view, one had to fight thousands of the aforementioned beetles. The bottom half of the tower was coated with them, as in crunch, crunch, ewwww. Apparently they don't bite, they actually grab you with a spur on their leg. Same effect. Ouch. But there weren't any at the top of the tower. Wimps.

The Pike Lake beach only was occupied by a few nice people, including a polite playmate for the child, who actually asked to please borrow the pail and shovel. No bugs. Sunshine, colorful leaves, relaxation.





























State park visit #2: Sunday at Lapham Peak. Apparently everyone in southeast Wisconsin forewent a day on the couch watching the NFL. Instead they said, "Hey, let's go to the state park down the road where we can park our car, walk 20 feet, and see pretty leaves." And they lined up down the highway to get in. Alas, the parking lot next to the observation tower was full and the rangers only let people who really couldn't walk more than 20 feet drive up there. Awwww.

So we parked in the overflow lot and took the less-traveled roller coaster trail around the park. I can't imagine cross-country skiing on that one. But you can.

The tower climb (once you got past the lady beetles again) was anticlimactic. The leaves once again were pretty. But being surrounded by not-well-supervised kids throwing footballs off the observation tower while listening to people blast music in the parking lot and let their dogs off leash kind of ruined the experience. Note to the football-throwing, foul-mouthed Cub Scouts: you aren't funny, and my five-year-old didn't need to hear all that while we're hiking.

Two days, two hikes, two towers, two experiences, two-thousand beetles. On our next hike we promise to skip "prime time" at the park.

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What can I say?

Not much right now, apparently. It's a quiet time of year. Baseball season is over (in my opinion), but I did get to witness my first-ever playoff game (a victory). At least we won a game, unlike another nearby team that went three and out.

The last time the Brew Crew played in the post-season I was collecting baseball cards and decorating my rainbow bedroom with now-retro logo pennants and Rollie Fingers posters.

The countdown to spring training will start soon, I suppose, since I won't get interested in winter sports until the Super Bowl. By then, pitchers and catchers will be about to report anyway.

The furnace is on, but the flowers are still blooming and the leaves are changing. The scenery is beautiful, the weather isn't bad, and all is fairly calm. No complaints.

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End of season clearance

After searching long and hard, I found a good thing about fall. Trust me, letting the furnace make its season debut tonight isn't it.

It's cheap plants! I decided that for 75-percent off on select bushes, I could afford to remove the diseased rose bush now living in filtered sunlight (trees grow... who knew?) and replace it with a hardier model in a new location.

Add to the cart two small, flowering bushes -- which promise to stay small and claim to enjoy filtered sunlight -- and some inexpensive perennials begging for a home, and you get three hours of gardening on a sunny, Sunday afternoon in fall.

Just a bit of advice: if you ever want to use your hamstrings again after such a gardening session, resist the urge to tackle the hill-training treadmill at the Y the next day. Bad move.

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Falling into winter

Welcome to fall and the dreaded autumnal equinox. At least when we hit the winter solstice, the days start getting longer. We have reached the point in the year when, well, allow me to illustrate:

Very soon summery scenes like this:




















Will start to look more like this:
















After that, it is only a matter of time before those of us silly enough to live in snow-land end up doing this:




















Which usually drives me to escape here, at least for a short break:




















The end.

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Brief respite

Summer is reappearing for a bit, giving a co-worker a gorgeous wedding day today.

Here's a peek at two of Wisconsin's fine state parks, which I visited during another beautiful week, this one during vacation last month.

Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island has a clean, sandy beach, plus a fun hiking trail where you can climb onto the rocks and enjoy Lake Superior, unobstructed.




















Copper Falls State Park has rivers, rocks, and falls. The nice down-and-up hiking trail and scenic views, plus neat CCC log buildings, make this hike acceptable, even without a beach.

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Baseball history

Last night I witnessed my third memorable moment in baseball history: a no-hitter. It made an odd night get even stranger, since the Cubs and Astros were playing in "neutral" territory.




















What were my two other memorable games? I saw Nolan Ryan get his 300th victory, and I was present for the infamous All-Star Game that ended in a tie.

I'm still waiting to see a triple play. But given that two of my three "events" had odd circumstances, I'm not holding my breath. Something else more bizarre will creep up on me no doubt.

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I want summer back

Or at least give me a more gradual transition to fall.

You can imagine that someone who blogs about beaches and warm weather can't be too happy come Labor Day in Wisconsin. The national holiday did fall on my birthday this year, so I had a special day off to reflect on our beautiful summer (the mosquitoes only lasted a few weeks) and enjoy the blooming hostas, which serve as my personal marker for "winter is coming."

I was hoping for a slower move through the closet: shorts to capris to pants, sleeveless to short sleeved to three-quarter sleeved. No such luck. Tuesday's high in the 90s, Wednesday's low in the 50s. Mean and cruel. First day of school for the child: shorts and sleeveless. Day two: jacket and pants.

At least we'll get some much-needed "steady and drenching" rain to accompany our strong northeast (non-summer) winds tomorrow: the remnants of Hurricane Gustav.

There, I got my annual "why is summer ending already" whine off my chest.

I'm better now.

At least until it snows.

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Breakfast with the bikes

No, I don't ride a Harley, nor have I ever touched one. But I heard plenty of them this weekend, thanks to living in close proximity to events for Harley's 105th anniversary. I also found some creative routes home from work to avoid traffic logjams.

I did get invited to dine with the riders on Saturday, leaving my car safely ensconced in the garage, where it stayed most of weekend. Our neighbors were kind enough to include us, probably to make up for all the bikes parked on our street. Here's what it looked like in one direction:

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Giving credit

After my post in which I was stressing about Target bags, I needed to write a follow-up. Today I visited a different Target, not one of the three within an arm's reach of my house.

Besides being pleasantly surprised about the good selection of natural and organic foods, I had a wonderful cashier, who made it her goal to fit everything I bought into my canvas bag. It helped that at this store, the registers are designed to put bagging operations between customer and cashier, so I could assist. She succeeded, and I went away happy.

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This is wrong

Given the title of my blog, this sign doesn't bring me joy.

One should never have to face this reality.





















P.S.: We went in the water anyway. Budget cuts, not pollution, made this the default "suggestion" for the summer. "Swim at your own risk" would have been more accurate.

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