Why I Oughta...

We were out walking around Elizabeth Lake in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin a couple of weekends back and we came across this setup near Sunset Park.  It is out near the waterline and is kind of set back from the park.  But, because it is shiny, metallic and has that big solar panel and the antenna, it sticks out.  We walked up to it and the sticker on the front told us what it is.  See below: It is a Crest-Stage Gaging Station operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS).  The sticker goes on to read: This station is part of a national network for obtaining water-resources information.  The high-water mark recorded by this gage and the discharge of the stream related to it are use for flood forecasting, reservoir operations, design of bridges and culverts, interstate and intrastate water-rights claims and many other projects. It ends with:  for information contact: (nobody). So, I went digging.  And turns out, the USGS runs a nice little dashb...

The sky was full of pinks and purples as we stood on the pier and took in the magic of the twilight sky.  This is what I'll call a midway point in the series - is it a series?  - that started with sunrise at Sunset Park (terribly named) back in June of 2020 .  Like a lot of lakes, Elizabeth Lake is dealing with Eurasian Watermilfoil - an invasive plant that takes over.  We had it up in Coloma on Paw Paw Lake , too.   It is a common 'hitchhiker' that is brought from lake to lake hung up on props and trailers.  The weeds on Elizabeth Lake have been something this year - maybe that's due to the water temperatures? Or, maybe that's just how things are these days. 

That photo was taken in the area of what is known as Sunset Beach Park on Elizabeth Lake in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.  I was out for an early-morning walk and the sky was painted purple and pink.  The Park is located on the West side of Elizabeth Lake (or...as I call it:  Elizabeth Lake) and has great views of the....ummmm....sunrise.  The location of the park is mentioned in this article about new playground equipment :  Sunset Beach Park is located on the Lake Elizabeth shore, at Sunset Drive east of Lakeshore Way. Here's an overhead look of the park (the red spot is the playground equipment) from Google Maps: It is located at the end of Sunset Drive.  You might be able to tell from that small photo of Google Maps that the lake is, ummm, EAST of Sunset Drive.  And to the EAST of Sunset Beach.  Here's a zoomed out view that shows you the orientation.  Note the red arrow point up for North.  The yellow circle is the positio...

Thanks to the fine folks who are tuning the Night Sight feature on Google's Pixel devices , I was able to capture this night sky reigning high above this mighty Wisconsin Oak Tree.  You can see some of the stars brightly lit up behind the large and wandering limbs of this old Oak Tree.  I'm certain that I could have gotten an even better photo, but it was cold at night, and I was wearing my house shoes.  So, that meant that I had to get to the edge of the porch and just *aim high*. 

This mighty Oak tree came down in what is being billed as a "Microburst" storm up in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin last month.  We arrived the day *after* the storm.  Or...I suppose, the day *of* the storm since it hit at like 12:30 am.  The folks at the Kenosha News covered the aftermath and concurred with a meteorologist who billed the event a microburst . From their piece : A small area of Twin Lakes was hit by high winds that took down trees and left many residents without power early Thursday.  ...Aidan Kuroski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, said that a “microburst” storm with straight line winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph hit the area at about 12:30 a.m. “It was a very concentrated area,” Kuroski said. “Basically from Elkhorn and Walworth County down to Twin Lakes.”  Kuroski said the storm developed so quickly the National Weather Service did not have time to issue a storm warning. The storm produced some damage around...

Had this Beach Blonde Golden Lager from the folks at Crystal Lake Brewing when we stopped into the Brat Haus in Richmond on a recent visit to Twin Lakes.  Like a lot of places these days, they have a pretty extensive beer menu with a mix of national and local choices and - much to my dismay - a heavy (as it seems always these days) focus on hoppy-IPAs.  This lager was a natural choice for me - something local, light and crisp.  Beer Advocate gives it a 81 which puts it below the normal range of the beers that Dr. Jeff has us try during his beer education sessions .  Speaking of which...we should do one of those again now that school is getting back in season and we'll be in more on the weekends as the weather cools down.  Ah...Fall is coming! 

And, is "spring fed".  Based on this flyer that the Twin Lakes Sailing Club tossed on the dock.  They used fruit snacks to weigh it down - which was kinda cute. Paw Paw Lake in Coloma, Michigan is 4,300 acres.  7x the size. I'd been trying to figure out how they compared and now, thanks to the Twin Lakes Sailing Club's brochure....I have my answer. Also, fun fact, it is technically "Elizabeth Lake".  And according to Wikipedia , Elizabeth Lake was named for Elizabeth Barrett Browning, an English poet.  Who, I'm guessing never visited the lake.

Last Summer, I was up at the Lake Geneva Walmart buying our fishing license when I noticed a guy who looked familiar in a trench coat inspecting a kayak along with a youngish other man.  I looked them over and couldn't right away figure out who it was.  Then it clicked.  It was Chicago Alderman Ed Burked and his ( infamous) security detail .  Of course, that got me wondering what the Alderman was doing up there and a few searches on Google lead me to this story about how he came to acquire a place called Honey Bear Farm.   On a recent run, Natalie came across this sign you see above:  Honey Bear Bay.  Kinda neat.  We had talked about my run-in with the Alderman and the name of the farm must have stuck because when she came back from the run, she showed me this photo. As for the story, it is just *too* Chicago politics to believe.    From the Chicago Tribune : A subsidiary of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. sold an inter...

We were up in Twin Lakes recently and as we pulled out of the driveway, we saw these guys.  No...not the geese in the background.  I'm talking about the bright red birds.  They were small, finch-like with black wings.  But super vibrant red body and head. I haven't come across birds like this before, so off to the Field Guide I went.  And found this:  the Scarlet Tanager.  From the book: "Migrants (late April - May, Late August - early October) are fairly common and can be found nearly anywhere.)   Checks out. 

Back in late January, I posted a photo from the Lakeview Room* out on Lake Elizabeth showing the colorful sunrise one morning .  Here's another one from the same room showing the view that we woke up to on a recent weekend morning.  The lake was still frozen and covered in snow and if you look closely, you can see one of the ice fishing shantys in the middle right of the photo out in the distance.  *Room name pending

I keep my phone on the nightstand and use it as my alarm clock.  Because of that, it was handy one morning that we were up in Wisconsin, so Nat grabbed it and snapped this photo of the sunrise view (#nofilter) from the Lakeview Bedroom (Name Pending).  I say 'pending' because there's just one room that seems to have a name up there:  the Pine Needle Room.  That was named, I think, by Vic.  But, it has stuck!  That's the room that the Babe normally sleeps in, but this - the Lakeview Bedroom (Name Pending) is the room where Nat and I sleep when we're up there.  The windows face straight east, so we get great morning views full of colors that you can kind of see in the photos of the early morning fox visitor I posted a few weeks back .   And that really is a #NoFilter photo.  For realz.

There I was minding my own business early one morning recently reading on my phone when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement out on the back porch.  I looked up and saw this guy's head peeking out from behind a post.  Those pointy ears and his bright coat told me he wasn't a coyote.  He was there for just an instance.  Then off he went down the stairs.   I shot up and made my way to the window to see where he was heading.  After some frollicking in the snow, he made his way into the neighbor's yard and disappeared.   Nat tells me that she's come across a similar fox last fall up there - so he's a known neighborhood member.  Turns out... they don't attack dogs .  So they have that going for themselves...

This seems like a relatively important development for our family:  a Starbucks is set to open in the outlot of the Lake Geneva Walmart.  Most mornings when we're up in Twin Lakes, I head out to either Bodi's bakeshop to pick up some donuts or to McDonald's for a couple of Big Breakfasts.  Then, I usually take a trip to the Walmart to pick up rations for the day.  Having a Starbucks there - and one with a drive thru - will be really nice and make a quick addition to the routine.  And, gives me another reason to make that 15 minute trip besides buying knock-off American Girl Dollie stuff for the girls along with the turkey and cheese stuff for Dallas' turkey and cheeses.

Up in Twin Lakes, there is a row of fir trees in the side/rear yard close to the property line.  Well...at least I *think* they're fir trees.  I'm no conifer expert, so they might be spruce trees?  Chime in here if you know for sure.  Anyway...they were there when we arrived and they provide a good amount of screening.  And I never thought about them too much until I was recently walking by them as I dragged a tube from the garage to the pier and notice something pretty incredible about them:  They have purple cones.   They're pretty tightly wound up cones, but they're definitely purple.  A little bit of searching says that they might be Picea purpurea or they might be Korean Fir - Abies koreana .  Either way, they're pretty great to look at up there right now.  I'll keep an eye on the cones to see if they turn from purple to brown as they dry out and drop.

I came across a garage sale up in Twin Lakes earlier this summer that I was drawn in via a vintage bicycle (that turned out to be a reproduction and was too expensive for me!) and ended up buying this silly coffee mug for $0.25.  It has this husband/wife and a pig on it and just spoke to me for some reason.  It has a comic strip kind of quality to it, but I can't quite place it. Not Frank and Ernest .  Not quite Beetle Bailey .  Kind of like a hillbilly Blondie ? The same mug is on eBay for $19.99 , which seems nuts, right? Oh, did I tell you?  This got a MAJOR eye roll from Nat.   I made the mistake of leaving it in the front seat after I picked it up and she came across it before I could put it away. It has some crazing going on and I have to think it will survive the dishwasher if it still looks like this after 40 or 50 years, so I stuck it in the cupboard in Twin Lakes and I'll use it when I can. One of the big reasons why I bought it? ...

On a recent visit to Twin Lakes , we spent some time with friends at their place up on Lake Elizabeth.  They have a few water toys that the kids got to try out including one of those massive water trampolines .  What was most interesting was that the kids figured out how to use raft and paddle that they boarded from the dock to navigate out to the trampoline - all the while staying mostly dry and out of the lake.  I talked with the Babe that night and she said that having the ability to pilot her own 'boat' out on the lake was a lot of fun. It was only about 20 feet from the dock to the trampoline, but that whole time, she was the captain and first mate.  She was on her own.  And, she expressed that she liked it!  So...while we're not in the spot to score a trampoline, we happen to be in possession of an old raft.  My Dad gave it to me as he was closing down Coloma and for the past year, it sat up in the garage in Twin Lakes.  Until now. I d...

Right on the Stateline is a town called Richmond, Illinois.  To get to Twin Lakes, you drive through Richmond.  There's a McDonalds.  An Ace Hardware.  And a couple of flea markets .  But there's also a Dog n Suds.  And we, of course, had to give it a try.   I had a boss back in the day that appreciated a Dog n Suds and we stopped when we came across one. This one in Richmond is trying to stay true to the original.   From their site : Richmond Dog n Suds was opened in 1963 by a local family and has always been a small family owned business. The restaurant was sold in the fall of 2005 to another Richmond family, with a strong commitment to food quality, friendly service, and the determination to retain the nostalgic atmosphere which made this Drive In such a success.  After 2005, they refurbished the interior and exterior of the business paying close attention to architectural standards used in 1963. They also added many new events. L...

There's a whole world of cheese spreads (cold pack or Club Cheese or Crock Cheese) that I've been introduced to with our trips to Twin Lakes in Wisconsin.  The breadth of the offerings in the Club Cheese category at the grocery store is simply amazing in Wisconsin.  I feel like I just woke up.  The latest is this stuff from Shullsburg Creamery.   Shullsburg makes tons of cheeses , but they also have a strong entry in the Club Cheese category. Called "The Brewster House Old Fashioned Spreadable Cheese", this isn't topping the King of Clubs from Mars .  Nope.  But this is different.  More like cream cheese than anything else.  It is smoother, easier to spread that Merkt's or King of Clubs.  But is super tasty.   Won't hold up to all of the applications, but works really well on things like pretzels.  With King of Clubs or Merkt's, when you take it out of the fridge and try to spread it, you end up breaking your various chips and ...

We've been able to spend a little bit of time this summer up in Twin Lakes on Lake Elizabeth with the kids and little Lizzie.  I've posted a few times about Lizzie.  First, when we got her .  Then, earlier this spring when we marked her 7 month mark .    She was born on July 21st of last year , so we're coming up on her 11 month mark and there are still some new experiences - including her first trip into the lake.  Our dear Maisy - who Lizzie isn't a pimple on - spent some time up in Paw Paw Lake in Michigan.  We bought her a dog life jacket and that's the one that Lizzie is wearing in the photo above.  Maisy was a good swimmer, but one of the funniest things was seeing her swim in the lake only to haul her out by the handle on her back, on top of the jacket, only to see her little legs keep swimming even though she was out of the water.  Turns out, that's a Cavalier thing!  Lizzie does the same thing. The girls love this big 'yog...

We're now all set up with fishing rod and a little tackle box up.  We went off to Walmart and came home with a few little poles (for the two younger kids) and an intermediate one for the Babe and I even bought my own rod.  When we were picking out the equipment the lady at Walmart was very helpful and encouraged me to get a license.  After answering a handful of questions, she printed out this barcode license that says that we are supposed to carry this with us when we fish.  We didn't buy any stamps because, well, we're just beginners and we're catching a lot of little things and tossing them back. The Babe has had the most luck of the bunch.  She throws her line in - usually with a wax worm on the hook - and most sessions, she pulls out a fish.  A lot of panfish (bluegills) and a few bass (not sure if they're large-mouth or small-mouth...again....we're beginners!) so far.  The King of the Ball Tossers is currently using a casting practice weight...