Small Town Wisconsin

Spring has hit Wisconsin full-force. It's supposed to be 78 degrees on Wednesday. /boggle

There are several signs of spring for me:

1. Robins come back.
   
2. Red-winged blackbirds come back.
   
3. Sandhill cranes come back.
   
4. Lake Monona opens. (ie, the ice goes away)
   
5. Frostie Freeze opens.
   

The birds have been back since early last week. Lake Monona is mostly open. And Frostie Freeze opened this week.

I love Frostie Freeze. The Husband and I drive out there all the time. It's a little soft serve place, sort of 50's-style, loads of pink everywhere, and the cheapest desserts anywhere.

What I also love about Frostie Freeze is the feeling of community. I'm not even from Fort Atkinson, but when I'm standing in line outside in the sun (or at night in the bugs--oh, and the bugs are back too, darnit) it really feels like a community in a way I find to be rare anymore.

The town I live in is slightly bigger than Fort Atkinson, and granted I don't live quite near any gathering places for kids, but I do walk The Bulldog through a lot of parks and empty lots. And I don't see kids much. We saw a couple of boys throwing a football around in the old church lot last week, and I pointed it out to The Husband, because it was such a rare sight. The only places I see kids these days is in their own yards, or walking to and from school. Whereas in Fort Atkinson, nearly every time we go to Ken and Betty's Philly Cheesesteaks (yum!) I see the skateboarders, and the kids on bikes, and of course at Frostie Freeze all manner of kids. There are even annoying teenagers revving their engines past the soft-serve shop.

I think having a local all-ages watering hole like Frostie Freeze really helps foster that sense of small town togetherness. When you see each other more often, maybe people don't feel like they need to hide...er, I mean, protect...their kids as much. I'd like to see more roaming packs of preteens, more kids on bikes, more playing at the parks. And so, Danny Lecher, my hat is off to you.

100 Words About: Cold

I'm from Wisconsin. I'm used to cold, I deal with it for long stretches every year.

I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life, and I have to say this is one of the weirdest springs I can recall. (Caveat: my memory sucks.) Here we are, nearly to June, and I had to put the quilt back on the bed. The low yesterday was 37 degrees. The average low is 50 degrees.

It took forever this year to finally be done with snow, and frost is still a real possibility. The only upside to that is that the crops got planted so late that they probably suffered little damage from all the hail we've had.

The really weird part is that all the trees and the spring plants did their thing anyway, so the maples are nearly fully leafed, and the violets are done and the dandelions have gone to seed and the lilacs are out. You look out the window and it looks like it should be warm.

Please tell me we're not going to skip straight to hot and humid? The nice spring warm-but-not-muggy weather lasts such a short time normally, can we please not just skip it entirely? Pretty please?

Image: Suvro Datta / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

100 Words About: May Flowers

Gods know April was rainy enough to bring some awesome May flowers. Every year my yard gets closer to my goal of being nothing but violets and creeping charlie. The violets are just starting to wilt in some of my neighbors' yards, but my honeysuckle are starting to bloom, and while the dogwood has lost most of its petals, the chives are about to flower.

And the lilacs have started blooming. Bliss! I swear there's heroin in lilac blossoms.

The roses had been off to a good start, but the Husband cut them back and now one is taking awhile to put out new growth. The other is well on its way. My lavender plant has new shoots, and the woody nightshade is starting to put out leaves. I transplanted some along the fence, and I think some of the transplants will take. And the creeping bellflower is, well, creeping farther and farther into the rosebed, but I like the stuff. Like the honeysuckle, it just showed up one year, and I approve of that kind of initiative.

100 Words About: April Fools

It's April first, and Wisconsin played the best April Fool's Day prank.

It freaking snowed.

Great big huge puffy flakes for hours. It was really pretty.

Fortunately, it didn't stick. I guess Wisconsin isn't that cruel.

Spring in Wisconsin is such a see-saw. For weeks we wait with baited breath for the day when the snow finally melts, and I mean really melts, so that when you walk outside you don't have to wonder if the sidewalks are icy. And then we wait on tenter-hooks, wondering if we dare put away the snowblower yet, or the shovel, or our winter boots.

Once my heavy winter coat is hung upstairs in the storage closet, it's staying there until fall, by God. I spent several days shivering on the corner waiting for my carpool when I put it away a little too soon this year. (Note: my gloves have not yet been banished. I'm not that optimistic.)

Still, I love it here. Signs of spring are everywhere. The robins and the redwing blackbirds and the sandhill cranes are all back, and my chives have started to put up shoots, and Lake Monona is almost, almost open. A few more days and the ice will be a memory until next November or so. So I can laugh at my state's little prank.

Ha ha, Wisconsin. Good one.

Now make with the warmer weather already.

Ice, Ice, Go Away

Times are definitely interesting all over. Honestly, I'd prefer a little less excitement, but you can't always get what you want.

I don't think I've ever looked forward to spring so much in my life. The Bulldog needs longer walks, and I need the ice to go away!

Things are kinda stressful here in Madison these days, so my writing has been more sporadic than usual. Hopefully things calm down soon one way or another. Like so many other folks, I just want to know if I get to keep my day job.

Sporadic or not, the writing I've been doing has been good. Really good. I haven't felt this good about the old novel in many, many moon. I'm really hoping to have the new revision done by April, and then I think I want to finish up 1794 (again) and get that off my plate. Then it's back to Project Toadstool, poor thing, which has been shoved onto the back burner since January. And maybe a short story, 'cause it's been awhile.

Weather-wise I prefer March to come in like a lamb, because we're much more likely to have thunderstorms in late March than early March, and I love me some thunderstorms. Politically I hope and pray March is coming in like a lion, 'cause I don't know how much more of this I can take. Good thing I'm going to WhiskeyFest in April. Ahh, whiskey.

Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Spring is in the Air

Or at least it is this week. Next week it's supposed to get cold again.

(Of course, you know you're in Wisconsin when it's 42 degrees out and everyone has their windows rolled down.)

I don't know if I've ever looked forward to spring so much. Why? Because The Bulldog likes to jog. He jogs beautifully, whereas when walking he tends to pull, even after months of loose-leash training. Plus I've been wanting to work up to jogging eventually, and jogging on ice is such a precarious business.

(I don't understand people who bike on it. I mean, really, people.)

He's really put on weight since we got him--89 pounds versus 71 pounds. Nearly all of it's muscle, and we think we could put on another 4-5 pounds of muscle once the weather gets nicer.

I'm also hoping that once he's getting more exercise he'll stop being quite so jealous of my computer. If I'm in the kitchen doing dishes he's happy to hang out quietly and watch me, but when I'm staring at the computer screen and typing on the keyboard he seems to think I'm not actually doing anything, and therefore should be paying attention to him. And he doesn't believe me when I tell him, "No, buddy, this is work too."

100 Words About: Spring

It's nearly March, and as far as the forecast can see it's supposed to be mostly sunny and highs above freezing.

I love spring. I waffle between whether spring or fall is my favorite season. I love the smell of spring, the wet earth, the growing green things. The sounds of the birds returning. The moist air, which makes everything seem warmer than it actually is.

I can't wait for the ice to melt away and make walking the dog less hazardous. And for the mornings to be light enough that we might actually get our butts out of bed in time to do a morning walk before work.

What are your 100 words about spring?

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net