NWA 8/8/14

A Northwoods Almanac for 8/8-21/14

Peeping Tom

            On 7/24, Edith Barakat was in her house on Blue Lake when she noticed a large shadow cast on her wall. She walked over to her window to see what could be the source, and standing on her deck railing looking in her window was a turkey. When she told us this story, Mary’s response was, “So, you had a ‘peeping Tom’?”

Turkeys – What Do They Eat in a Northwoods Winter?

Wild turkeys clearly belong in southern and central Wisconsin, but until the last decade, there was no evidence, nor any expectation, that turkeys could survive a northern winter. Thus, the fact that they’re doing so well up here remains a bit of a mystery. The “Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin” (2006) says, “Wild turkeys were formerly a common year-round resident in southeastern and central Wisconsin, southeast of a line from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay . . . [However] atlas data revealed an expanded distribution for this species since 1991. Their range now includes all of the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin.”

A.W. Schorger, eminent U.W. wildlife naturalist and historian, as well as author in 1966 of “The Wild Turkey: Its History and Domestication,” wrote that “the upper limit of its range may be defined by a line running southwest from Green Bay through Green Lake and Sauk Counties, thence due west along the Minnesota-Iowa boundary.”

Turkeys were actually extirpated from Wisconsin in the 1800s, the last one being shot, according to Schorger, in 1872 in Grant County. They were reintroduced into Wisconsin in 1976 from captured wild birds in Missouri.

How did they fare over this last difficult winter? The WDNR staff upland game specialist recently released some info stating in part: “It appears that documented mortality was localized, and that in general turkeys came through winter in better-than-expected shape in the north."

Ryan Brady, DNR research scientist in Ashland and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative Monitoring Coordinator, told me that the DNR conducts annual brood surveys in the summer/fall, so the jury is still out on their overall reproductive success. However, he has heard many anecdotal accounts that suggest at least near-average success.

Bruce Bacon, retired wildlife biologist for the DNR, said, “We thought winter really wacked them but?? There have been reports of quite a few large broods. Spring harvest was up which would indicate good numbers made it through winter. They are a lot tougher than I ever thought.”

As for what they eat in winter, Brady noted, “I don't think anyone has a good grasp of that but it's assumed buds, ag fields (manure), and bird feeders play a significant role during winter.”

Bacon said, “They eat whatever they want! In western and central Wisconsin, they did some stomach analysis of roadkills and found every seed imaginable, even thistle seeds. In some areas, turkeys bud in tree tops just like grouse. What gets them are ice storms and really deep fluffy snow which is hard to walk on. Heavy snow or crusty snow just allows them to reach higher. They do not dig down thru much snow. [They] will follow deer as they dig down.”

David Foster, an avid birder in our area, chimed in, “Audubon says in snowy areas they will root for hemlock buds, evergreen ferns, spore-covered fronds of sensitive ferns, club mosses, and burdock . . . turkeys will eat also salamanders, snails, ground beetles, and other insects when available.” 

A study of turkeys’ winter survival in Maine found that “During periods of deep and persistent snow, juvenile hens were the most susceptible to dying compared to adult hens. Adult hens store more fat and their slightly larger body size helped them survive. Adult males survived best, as they were larger than adult hens and store more fat reserves.”

The study also noted, “Food sources found on or near the ground, such as acorns and corn, had three times the energy available for turkeys compared to soft mast (dogwood, high-bush cranberry, etc.) and seep diets where insects and other invertebrates are found . . . Where you find south facing slopes with conifer stands nearby a food source such as standing corn, apple trees and other shrubs still holding fruit and/or spring seeps where seeds and other vegetation are still available, you have a good chance of finding turkeys.”

Another study showed that wild turkeys can go over 14 days without food and still survive.

So, they can handle winter better than everyone thought, which still begs the question that if this is so, why was their range historically limited to milder habitats? What has happened in the last decade that has no historical precedent? I would quickly offer climate change as the obvious answer, but our last two winters were quite long and cold, and thus like formerly “normal” northern winters. The difference may be that our temperatures “only” dipped to -31°, and historically we hit -40° with some regularity. Perhaps it was the truly extreme temperatures that were limiting.

Multiple Loons Intruding on Territorial Lakes

            Numerous people reported to me earlier gatherings of adult loons on their lakes than what they have historically seen. Loon gatherings are common in mid-August once loon pairs have successfully reared their chicks and their territorial defenses have diminished. But back in mid-July there had to have been other explanations. I looked at Walter Piper’s “loon project blog” (http://loonproject.org/recent-events/) to see what his much more expert thoughts might be. Walter currently has 96 loon territories under observation, and has been studying loons in our area for 22 years. Here is what he wrote about a lake he was studying where five adult loons were intruding upon a mated pair: “We do know that many intruders visit in order to learn whether or not a territory has chicks; if they detect chicks, they are more likely to intrude in the following year and attempt to evict the breeding pair member of their sex . . . We also know, from a recent analysis, that loons practice natal-site matching; that is, they attempt to settle as a breeder on a lake that is similar in physical size and in pH to the lake they were reared on. So undoubtedly some intruders must be learning about lakes where they intrude so that they can settle on one similar to their natal lake.

“But there must be more motivation for intruders to visit lakes defended by breeding pairs. Among the 5 intruders, for example, were: a banded 9 year-old loon not known to be settled on a territory yet (i.e. a probable “floater”), an unbanded loon whose status is wholly unknown, and three banded loons known to be members of breeding pairs from neighboring territories. While the first two birds could plausibly be shopping for territories through chick detection or natal-site matching, the neighbors are unlikely to be doing so.

“What, in fact, could neighbors stand to gain from intruding next door? Several hypotheses are possible here. Neighbors might gain by becoming familiar with other loons with which they might become mated in the future, if they both lose their current breeding positions and must settle elsewhere in the general area. Neighbors might also be trying to learn about the territory, which they might occupy in later years, providing one of the current pair members dies. Another possibility is that neighbors have no particular interest in the territory where they intrude but, rather, are intruding in order to draw attention away from their own territory (since loons on the water tend to attract flying loons to land and investigate). That is, intruders might be attempting to “decoy” loons away from their own territory so that others do not learn about it and attempt to settle there. Finally, neighbors might simply visit to forage in someone else’s territory, depleting the food supply there instead of at home.”

Walter also noted in an earlier blog entry that his total number of chicks banded this year is almost exactly half of last year’s total due to the enormous stress placed upon the incubating adults by black flies. Importantly, he gave the big picture: “As my work has shown me over the past two decades, breeding success is a roller-coaster. In fact, if you combine last year’s bumper crop of chicks with the withered output of this year, the message is that loons are producing enough chicks to sustain the population.”

           

Purple Finch Chicks

We have a bounty of purple finch chicks visiting our feeders this summer. Last week, we had 24 young we could count at one time vying for the feeders. This is certainly unusual for us – neither Mary nor I can remember ever having so many around.

Their presence has led me to wonder about where they nest, when they fledge, etc., and here is the quick summary of what I’ve learned: The nest is usually placed out on a branch of a conifer tree (342 out of 435 nests, or 79%), in one study. They average

four eggs in a clutch, and the young fledge in 13 to 16 days after hatching. The young can only fly weakly and remain in the vicinity of the nest site during the first week after fledging. We’ve certainly noticed this, as well as their begging the adults to feed them.

Both parents feed fledglings, but it’s unclear for how long.

Surveys from 1966–1994 show a decline of 50% in the breeding population in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada. Our bumper crop of chicks is hopefully indicative of a good hatching year throughout their range.

Haze in the Air

            We’ve had some pretty sunsets the last week or so, due mostly to smoke from the Northwest Territories in Canada, where millions of acres have burned. Go to Weather Underground (www.wunderground), pull down “Severe Weather,” then click on “Wildfires” to see a map of how much smoke is currently covering the Midwest.

Celestial Events

August 10 marks the full moon. This is the closest and largest full Moon of the year, an annual event that has come to be known as a "supermoon" in the media. The truth is that it is only slightly larger and brighter than normal, and most people are not really able to tell the difference.

The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks this year on the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. The waning gibbous moon will block out some of the meteors this year, but the Perseids are so bright and numerous that it should still be a good show. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

NWA 7/25/14

A Northwoods Almanac for 7/25 – 8/ /2014  

Fall Migration Already!

            It seems like summer just got here, but on July 20, Callie and I were hiking on Powell Marsh when we were surprised to see and hear three greater yellowlegs, a shorebird that nests in central Canada and southern Alaska.

We shouldn’t have been surprised. Male shorebirds fail mightily any checklist for family values, as do the adult females for that matter, leaving their young to fend for themselves soon after they fledge.

Greater yellowlegs are easily identifiable by their bright yellow legs, upright stance, and their distinctive three-noted call. The call is so loud that its common names include telltale, tattler, and yelper. Arthur Cleveland Bent, in his 1927 book Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, said that many a yellowlegs was shot “by an angry gunner as a reward for its exasperating loquacity.”

Greater yellowlegs are one of the first shorebirds to arrive on their northern breeding grounds in the very late spring. Those that failed to breed successfully leave their breeding grounds as early as late June, followed by the breeding females and then the males. The juveniles depart last and have to find their own way.

Migratory shorebirds include nearly 40 species of plovers, sandpipers, phalaropes and their relatives, and require specialized wetland habitats such as mudflats, shallow water, and exposed sandbars. Few shorebirds nest in Wisconsin. The majority only make brief pit stops here as they migrate thousands of miles south for the winter.

Roadside “Weeds”

Late July is blooming time for a host of upland flowers that require full sun. Many roadside “weeds” are flowering now, including species like evening primrose, common milkweed, fireweed, daisy, daisy fleabane, cow vetch, common St. Johnswort, white and yellow sweet bush clover, hoary alyssum, heal-all, yarrow, Queen Anne’s lace, goatsbeard, forget-me-nots, common mullein, and spreading dogbane.

As for the term “weed,” UW aquatic botanist Susan Knight taught me years ago that “a weed was a plant without a press agent.” Weeds often are also victims of circumstance, growing in the wrong place at the wrong time – a tomato plant in the rose garden gets pulled as does the rose in the vegetable garden.

Many “weed” species are specialists at growing on disturbed land, in effect being the pioneers of those places and healing them from the abuse they suffered. And most do good work, quickly rooting, holding soil together, and making the way possible for other species to come.

However, over the past 150 years, many of these plants that have taken up residence in Wisconsin are non-natives. Some were brought intentionally, but most were unintended guests that now are here to stay. Of these, most grow in limited numbers and cause little ecological harm. But a growing number of weeds have proven to be especially troublesome, and invasive, by rapidly colonizing natural habitats – woods, prairies, wetlands, and waters – and crowding out native plants.

One plant that has the misnomer of “weed” in its name – fireweed – is a native species that does important work as a healer of poor soils and fire-blackened areas. I point it out in particular because it grows along roadsides and in ditches, and is often mistaken for purple loosestrife, a truly invasive wetland species that needs to be removed wherever and whenever it appears. Count the flower petals to easily note the difference – fireweed has four petals, purple loosestrife has six. Praise the fireweed and pull the loosestrife.

Dragons and Damsels

            The mosquito legions seem to be declining, perhaps due in part to the many hatches of dragonflies that have ensued this summer. We are blessed with dozens of a yellow-gold dragonflies in our yard that I have photographed but am having trouble identifying. I believe it is one of these three: the juvenile white-faced meadowhawk, ruby meadowhawk, or cherry-faced meadowhawk, all of which as adults are bright red, but which as juveniles are yellow. Whatever their ID, they are a very welcome presence in our yard. The river below our house has been in flood since snowmelt, so our floodplains remain inundated, and the mosquitoes have rejoiced. We, in turn, have rejoiced as the dragonflies appeared and began eating those mosquitoes.

            We also have our usual cadre of ebony jewelwing damselflies and river jewelwing damselflies, both of which also eat mosquitoes. These lovely and delicate insects are closely related to dragonflies, but differ in their resting posture – they hold their wings up over their backs while dragonflies hold their wings straight out like fighter planes. They also have separate eyes (most dragonfly have eyes that contact one another), and fly rather weakly, quite unlike the zooming dragonflies that fly with the speed and maneuverability of hummingbirds.

Tadpoles

            Many tadpoles are now teeming in many lakes and rivers. One tadpole that is easy to identify is the American toad – they’re the only frog species whose tadpoles school in large, inky masses. Toad tadpoles typically metamorphose in mid-to-late July and leave the water to forage in uplands for a variety of invertebrates like beetles, slugs, caterpillars, and the like, so catch them while you can.

            Bullfrog tadpoles, on the other hand, don’t metamorphose until July and August of their second year, overwintering as tadpoles. The young frogs then take 2 to 3 years to mature, at which point they can then begin breeding.

Green frogs lay their eggs in June and require 70 to 85 days to metamorphose. If the eggs are laid after July 10, however, the tadpoles will overwinter and then transform the following June.

Leopard frogs lay their eggs in mid-to-late May (the female may deposit up to 6,000 eggs!), and they metamorphose in 70 to 100 days. So, they should be leaving the water soon. Richard Vogt, author of Natural History of Amphibians and Reptiles of Wisconsin, writes, “If in late July the grass seems to pop like popcorn as you walk along a marshy pond, the hundreds of small frogs you stir up are usually young leopard frogs.”

Bike Trails!

            The dedication of the Heart of Vilas County Bike Trail System is on Saturday, 7/26, celebrating the completion of the segment from Manitowish Waters to Boulder Junction. Combined with the trails leading from Boulder to Sayner and St. Germain, the total paved trail is now 45 miles in length, and quite scenic. Mary, Callie, and I have been riding the new Manitowish Waters segment and thoroughly enjoying it as it weaves through the woods paralleling Cty. K.

What I really love about these trails are the number of people using them. From very young to very old, and from very fit to perhaps not so fit, folks are out there biking. They’re also walking, pushing baby carriages, roller blading, even pushing wheelchairs. These trails allow folks to safely and comfortably be in the woods without some of the concerns for traffic, ticks, and as many mosquitoes.

            We also recently rode a portion of the new WinMan mountain bike trails near Winchester, ranging from easy to quite challenging. The trails go up and down along the Winegar Moraine, so they offer some topography that we often don’t see.

            And in June, we rode a portion of the Wilderness Lake Trails system from Land O’ Lakes. We were particularly impressed with a newly opened 3.2-mile beautifully forested segment from Thousand Island Lake Rd. to E. Forest Lake Rd. Wow, was it pretty!

            Kudos to everyone who has worked so hard to make these trails happen – they are great assets to our communities. Get out and enjoy!

Sightings – Scarlet Tanagers, Bobwhites, White Fawns, Herons

Audrae Kulas sent me this note: “For the last couple years, we’ve had a male Scarlet Tanager visit, but only for a day. This year on July 13th one came again. Later in the day, we saw two. We’ve had one each day since. Most unusual for us off Cty. B on High Lake Rd. I saw it fly down and pick a daisy petal, fly to a piece of driftwood and eat it. Today he appeared to pick an insect from the driftwood and eat that. It’s the highlight of our day!”

Peter Esche sent me a gorgeous photograph of a northern bobwhite on 7/12. He noted, “We have had a visitor to our lake community here in Presque Isle this year - a Northern Bobwhite. I have no idea how he got here but I imagine he might have escaped from someone who uses them to train hunting dogs. It’s amazing how one single quail can make so much noise. Our neighbors often see him in their yard (they are a quarter mile away), and he likes to call from logs and benches and large rocks in our garden.

            Scott Ewers on Island Lake in Manitowish Waters forwarded me a photo of a brown doe with a white fawn. Given that the gene for albinism is recessive, it’s not uncommon for a brown deer to have a white fawn, as long as the doe mated with a buck which also had the recessive albinism gene.

Jim Swartout sent me photos of a great blue heron eating a red squirrel. He wrote, “My office in our house is on the ground level under a wrap-around deck with five bird feeders on it. Due to the dropped seeds, there is an abundance of chipmunks and squirrels. I now have a great blue heron, which is actively hunting these guys. Yesterday I saw him with a chipmunk, and this morning I saw him chase down and stab a red squirrel. I got the attached pics as he struggled to flip it up and to swallow it head-first, which he accomplished.”  

The La Crosse area experienced a massive mayfly hatch on 7/21 which can be seen on radar on this link: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/arx/mayfly/July202014.gif

Celestial Events

The Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower occurs on 7/29-30. This is a minor shower with an ill-defined peak. The shower can be seen several days before and after this date. At best, a peak rate of 20 meteors per hour can be seen. The absence
of moonlight interference will be a plus – best observing is always in the hours after midnight. The downside is that a new moon coinciding with the peak of the Delta Aquarids means it’s pretty much a full moon that accompanies the peak nights of the 2014 Perseid shower on 8/10-13.

Spirit and Nature

            “Like all treasures of the mind, perception can be split into infinitely small fractions without losing its quality. The weeds in a city lot convey the same lesson as the redwoods.” Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac

           

NWA 6/13/14

A Northwoods Almanac for 6/13 – 26, 2014   

White Pelicans!

On 5/25, Elizabeth Stone on Trout Lake saw six white pelicans on Trout Lake.

And on 6/1, Chuck Schlindwein observed 17 white pelicans on Buckskin Lake south of Lac du Flambeau.

            The sighting of white pelicans still draws great surprise from most Wisconsin residents, but white pelicans have been nesting in Wisconsin since 1994, when two pairs were found nesting on Cat Island in the bay of Green Bay. The nests failed, but in 1995, nine pairs nested, with 35 birds present throughout the summer. After that, it was “Katie bar the door.” The year 2013 marked the twentieth consecutive year white pelicans nested on Cat Island, and 1,065 nests were documented on 5/24.

            In 2003, some breeding pelicans from Cat Island spilled over onto nearby Lone Tree Island, and in 2013, 1,088 nesting pairs were documented, more than on Cat Island!

            The pelicans didn’t nest only in Green Bay. They spread south into Horicon Marsh where the first breeding pelicans were documented in 1999. They also began breeding on several dredge spoil islands on Lake Butte des Morts in 2005, on Pancake Island in Lake Puckaway in 2007, on two islands on Lake Winnebago in 2007, and on an island in Beaver Dam Lake in 2011.

            All told in 2013, 4,123 nesting pairs of white pelicans were documented at eight colony sites in Wisconsin.

            What makes this all the more interesting is that no conclusive evidence exists that white pelicans ever nested in the state historically.

            So, where did they come from? And why? These western breeding birds (Minnesota supports some 22,000 breeding pairs) began an eastern expansion two decades ago apparently due to agricultural reclamation of their breeding marshes and water diversion projects, as well as periodic predation events. Also, major colony abandonment occurred for unknown reasons in 2005 at the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota, the largest breeding colony in North America (over 35,000 pelicans in 2000!), with thousands of pelicans leaving to nest elsewhere.

            Whatever the reasons for their eastern movement, the bottom line is that white pelicans are still steadily increasing in Wisconsin, with colonies expected to expand onto the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River and onto Lake Superior.

            So, for now, our area remains a minor stopover site for white pelicans on their migratory journeys. But soon I expect we’ll be seeing many more of these magnificent birds whose 9-foot wingspans rival those of the California condor.

Other Sightings

5/26: Eastern gray tree frogs began calling in Manitowish.

5/27: Thousands of cottongrass plants flowered in Powell Marsh, making it appear as if it had snowed.

5/27: Cedar waxwings arrived in Manitowish and immediately began eating the flower petals on our plum trees. Waxwings usually are the last of the migrants to arrive in any given spring.

5/28: American elm trees dropped their seeds, an event Mary and I had never taken notice of before. We were sitting on our deck (pre-mosquito hatch!) and a rain of these seeds was coming down from our two elm trees. 

5/29/14: Sharon Drawz saw a moose crossing Hwy. 51, about two miles south of Manitowish.

5/31: Lilacs bloomed in Manitowish.

Yellow Scum!

Nope, this isn’t about your cowardly evil neighbor, but rather this: That yellow film currently so prevalent on the surface of puddles and ponds is the male pollen from pine trees. Pines produce prodigious clouds of pollen that are borne on the wind and often collect wherever there is calm water. The pollen grains are a mere four one-hundred-thousandths of an inch in length, requiring a scanning electron microscope for study. They’re worth studying, too, because they’re virtually indestructible and form “microfossils,” which persist for literally millions of years at the bottom of lakes and ponds. Thus, a pollen specialist (a “palynologist”) can identify the species of trees that once lived in a region by studying their lake sediments, and by doing so, then tease out how regional climates varied over centuries and millennia.

As for the tiny immature female pine cones, their scales are slightly separated and contain a small amount of fluid secreted by the plant. When pollen sifts down between the scales and comes to rest on the fluid, the pollen is then drawn into the cone until it comes into contact with the ovules at the bottom of each cone scale. And voila! The cone is fertilized, and the scales grow thicker until they press together and firmly close the cone. In the case of white pine, the cone eventually grows to eight inches long and opens a year and a half later in the fall, shedding its winged seeds. In jack pines, the cones can remain tightly closed for as many as 20 years or more with the seeds remaining viable, until a fire comes through and the heat induces the cones to open.

Babies

Nesting season is here, which often leads to encounters with baby birds and other wildlife. But unless clearly injured or orphaned, a baby wild animal's best chance for survival is with its parents. Wisconsin DNR offers a handy key to determining how to best help a baby bird at: http://1.usa.gov/TB0xK0. The agency also provides a rehabilitation directory and general species guidance at: http://1.usa.gov/1kL0KVg

Celestial Events

Jupiter continues to be visible in the evening night sky. Early in the month it sets about three hours after sunset, but by month’s end, it sets an hour after sunset. Look for the giant planet, shining at a brilliant - 2.0 magnitude, below Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of Gemini. Four of its larger moons should also be easily seen through high-powered binoculars and small telescopes – we use our 20x bird spotting scope.

Mars, shining at magnitude -1.2, is also visible in the evening sky in the constellation Virgo, along with Saturn, which can be found in the constellation Libra low in the southeast. Venus is also still visible low in the eastern sky, but at pre-dawn.  

The full moon occurs on 6/13. It was called the “Full Strawberry Moon” by nearly every Algonquin tribe because of the relatively short harvesting season for strawberries in mid-June. 

The Lyrids Meteor Shower occurs on 6/15, but will be pretty much washed out by the nearly full moon. 

Summer Solstice

June 21 marks the summer solstice and the first “official” day of the summer season.  The sun will reach its highest elevation in the northern hemisphere’s noontime sky, and at this point, it “pauses” before beginning its southward trip, lowering its noontime elevation each day until it reaches its lowest altitude in December at the Winter Solstice.  

The word “solstice” is derived from two Latin words “sol”(sun) and “stitium” (to stop), reflecting the pause in the northward movement at noon. Today generally marks the longest daylight period and shortest night here at the mid-latitudes. 

Many still incorrectly equate our warmer summertime temperatures with our distance from the sun. The truth is our seasonal temperature changes are caused by the earth's axial tilt, not our distance from the sun.  We are actually at our greatest distance from the sun in July, some 3 million miles more distant than in January.

Mosquitoes!

            They, which shall not be named, have reached Biblical proportions. But one of Mary’s friends said, “I don’t care. I’m just so happy to be up here. I’ll just wear a head net or bug dope until their numbers go down.”

Perhaps that’s the attitude we all need to take.              

No One Ever Washed a Rental Car

Harvard’s president, Lawrence Summers, once said, “In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.”

I’m taken by this statement, because it so clearly shows the need for ownership to help people act with conservation in mind. A person who owns something has a strong incentive to take care of it.

But what happens when there’s no ownership and you’re responsible only for some small aspect of the company you work for, or the property you’re camping on, or the two square feet of the right wing of a plane you helped build? The issue is that only whole planes fly, companies succeed best when everyone buys in, and public lands are treated with the most care when everyone assumes ownership.

The question then is how can people be encouraged to take care of things they don’t actually own? How does one come to a sense of ownership?

It’s worth noting, however, that ownership doesn’t automatically instill care. Sometimes ownership creates a “what’s mine is mine” and cavalier attitude that one can do whatever one wants and no one can say otherwise. Ownership can lead to the attitude that my little piece of the pie is more important the all others, whatever the impact on anyone or anything else.

We’ve got lots of important issues in the Northwoods that require all of us to assume ownership, but an ownership that assumes no privilege over any other owners. We can’t be renters who assume no responsibility, but we also can’t be owners that grab on to their piece and growl.

Whatever the cause, whatever the issue, we’re called upon to honor the whole, all of its parts, and all of its processes. Until then, we’re still just renting the car.

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call me at 715-476-2828, drop me an e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail me at 4245N Hwy. 47, Mercer, WI 54547.