I don't mind the rain

Look what it brought. Lupines!

Alliums, a giant onion.

White bleeding hearts. Janine from Gracious Gardens gave me this plant- it's now huge.

Yellow irises, one of my favorites. I liberated their rhizomes from the nearby neglected cemetery- the grave of a 12-year-old girl was covered with them like a sack of potatoes; the rhizomes were so choked together that the flowers weren't coming anymore, only swords. Now they bloom again in the cemetery too.

Differences between sea otters and river otters

Sometimes well-meaning folks send me pictures of Sea Otters. OK, it was only once, but I just wanted to clear up any misconceptions. Below are sea otters. Yes, sea otters do "hold hands" in the water- they hang out that way, in groups called rafts. A raft of otters!
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Sea otters are a completely different species than Northern River Otters.

They live in the ocean (as opposed to rivers and other fresh water). They are simply not as cute. Although, if I were by the ocean, it would be pretty cool to see them, I am just not as enamored. De gustibus non est disputandem, I guess.

Sea otters are almost completely water-dwelling creatures. They rarely, if ever, venture onto land, where they are clumsy- in fact, they even sleep in the water. Their hind flippers simply don't allow for much agility out of water. Sea otters float on their backs, mostly, and are one of the few species besides Homo Sapiens that use tools- they place mussels on their bellies, and use rocks to crack the shells open. River otters don't do this; instead, they swim in a more typical fashion (belly down) and are just about as comfortable romping on land as they are in the water.

For more information on sea otters, here is a fact sheet from the Vancouver Aquarium.

"Change."

This pin cost me 50 cents at a rummage we stopped at on our vacation. I'll have to figure out a way not to get stabbed when I wear it. It'll look nice next to my Nader/LaDuke pin, right?

Was change a theme of the 1976 Jimmy Carter presidential campaign? I don't really remember. If so, some things never do change, right? It was one of Obama's themes last year, too.

I do remember the 1980 election, though. I was six years old and I really wanted Carter to win. The day after election day was like Christmas. I ran downstairs to get the Sentinel and cried when I saw Reagan's name. Who was this Reagan guy? He didn't seem nice. He wasn't going to invite me over to play on the White House lawn with Amy on what I imagined was a lavish Presidential swing set. I still like Carter. He is a good man: a humanitarian, a peacekeeper, a writer, a proponent of alternative energy. I deeply respect him. Below is a photo from 2009. These are wind machines near Fond du Lac now, in 2009, when finally we are realizing that Carter had the right idea after all.

RIP Geo

I bought this 1990 Geo Prizm Hatchback from a man with few teeth in 1996 and named it The Egg, because it's a white hatch. When it was time to get new plates, they sent me this one. See? It's EGG spelled sdrawkcab.

I loved this car. This is about the best picture I had of it. When the doors wore out, I got newer doors. They were blue. The Egg looked a little like a saddle shoe after that.

We gave it to Brain's son when he went to college in Minnesota. It finally bit the ghost up there, and he sold it to the demolition derby people for $5. Brain and I are a little sad that we didn't get to see the final destructive crunch. RIP, Geo; you served me well.

Do art NO WAR

"Neutijo" sent me this picture. It is part of her 53215 photo series- things she sees in her daily life. The graffito in the bottom right corner is what she called my attention to- "Do art NO WAR." I've been pondering this for a few days now.

Note its juxtaposition with what appears to be a gang identifier. That's irony for you: a different kind of war; a war at home, so to speak. It's a concept I've actually been pondering for years (hobbies as a means to self-confidence and self-worth rather than troublemaking and gang affiliation).

On a lighter note, Riversplash is this weekend, but after last year's mayhem Brain and I will not be attending. Going to a summer festival is not worth going through a security checkpoint.

UWM and columbia

(whoops- realized I posted this backdated. Here it is as the correct date, 6/4.)
This article in the May 29, 2009 Journal-Sentinel discusses the possibility of UWM's expansion onto what will be in 2010 the former site of Columbia Hospital.

"Columbia St. Mary's Inc. has agreed to sell its buildings next to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a local developer, and university officials are eager to meet with him to discuss their interest in leasing space for student housing and other uses.

Milwaukee developer Doug Weas said Wednesday he's signed a contract to buy the buildings, which will become available for development in 2010 after the hospital complex closes. UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago said university officials plan to meet soon with Weas to discuss their interest in using some of space for student housing, student health care, child care and other purposes."

"The university has long eyed the Columbia complex, which covers more than two blocks just across N. Maryland Ave. and E. Hartford Ave. from UWM's campus..."

..."A year ago, more than 20 members of the Mariners Neighborhood Association picketed outside the UWM Union, where the UW System Board of Regents was meeting. Among other things, the neighbors wanted UWM to promise not to use the Columbia site for student housing." This seems a little sad to me.

"Mariners President Michael Rosen said then that students flood the neighborhoods every weekend, attending parties, urinating on lawns and knocking over trash cans."

Personally, I lived in that neighborhood for three years- two years across the street from the Sandburg Halls, on Newport, and one year across the street from the Student Union, on Kenwood Blvd, and I didn't see that kind of behavior. Sure, there was some occasional street noise, but never anything like "students flooding the neighborhoods" and creating a huge level of mayhem. It's by and large a commuter campus. Did the article interview any neighbors who enjoy a proximity to the campus and its benefits- being able to walk to free concerts and art movies, auditing classes, attending lectures... Brain and I go to some of these things. Some of the neighbors do too.

What about this: what if the drinking age were 18? What if there were on-campus bars? Students will drink. Students will go to parties. What if there were safer, more contained places for them to do so? What if?

Photography

I experimented a lot with my camera while we were on vacation this past weekend at Mauthe Lake. The branch seen below is on one of the trees in the photo above. I hope you enjoy these.

Summer recreation- swimming and baseball

The Aquatic Center in Lincoln Park is finished! This is what I saw last night when I was walking the dog, above. It was as if suddenly I was in Florida. Its grand opening is this Saturday, June 6, at 11am. For more information including hours and admission prices, click here.

Lincoln Park also offers an excellent chance of baseball every evening. The Henry Aaron Field is home to the UWM Panthers and also the MSOE baseball teams, and hosts high school baseball games also. Brain loves baseball. Not the best shot; it was hard to get an action shot with the dog in tow. This is just a warmup anyway.

With the game about to start, fans are showing up to cheer. The Henry Aaron Field is just such a cool place to watch a game. It's so intimate, even though it's a regulation-size field, because you can watch from up close.

...and we lived forever after, in a cottage by the sea

On Sunday Brain and I walked around Long Lake so that I could look at all the lakeside houses that I was coveting- the ostentatious mansions, the cottages with bleeding hearts and low stone walls, the beat-up old ones with outhouses just a bit too close to the water's edge. This sweet doomed angel, next to a cottage for sale, is about to be torn down to clear the view for a planned new house. (We enjoy our vacations thoroughly.)

You can see the campground from this spot. When we are camping, I always find cottages to think I want, but I realized that if I actually had one, I wouldn't be there; I would be back in Milwaukee, worrying about the place. Plus, I enjoy the allure of the new. That's the thing about camping: you can put your tent anywhere and explore all the crazy little places you never knew existed.

Back from the headwaters

Two goose families on Mauthe Lake.

Brain and I returned late last night from four days of camping by the headwaters of the Milwaukee River, in the Kettle Moraine. It was refreshing. We were blessed with fantastic weather. I slept better than I have in weeks. My camera is full of pictures of birds (though none of otters), and my imagination is full of possibilities.