A SUNNY SUNDAY IN JANUARY

A house in the area of Yahara River.













Fishing tents, families, sandwiches. A bay near the capital.

I was taking pictures of bridges in the area, and this bush with berries was to my right.














This footbridge leads into a park area, I think it is fairly old.

Mallard Duck on the waterway. Breaking up the reflections.

NEAR LAKE WISCONSIN

Country back road, some roads still gravel. Pines, Corn Fields, Soybeans,
Streams, Roads.
Like one long rollercoaster.











A lot of deer in the area, Public hunting grounds, farm land, developments also. From the bluffs, a number of homes look out over Lake Wisconsin.

Wild turkey. Brother Dave said notice the Tom
dragging his beard. They really root for food under the snow layer.

Barn with a steeple, very good shape.

Old tractor, left to rust. Notice the above ground gas tank behind the tractor.












Trout Stream near Poynette. Although we have had nearly a week of below zero weather, it stays open.

SCENES OF MADISON ON A COLD SUNDAY

The Monona Terrace, on the edge of Lake Monona. Designed by Frank Loyd Wright.
The terrace actually extends out into the lake quite a ways. They drove a large number of pylons into the bay to support the structure.

Here is a broader view of the Madison Shoreline of lake Monona. The capital lies between two lakes, this is the Isthmus. A lot of student housing, government buildings, churches on the Isthmus.

This woman is walking her dog along the lake. Actually, she is skiing and walking dog. I think it would be hard to do both at the same time. The dog looks to be a Lab, Pam and Beth, my sisters, have two. A good dog around kids.











A birch tree on one of our properties.

Electric Utility Plant, high stacks scrub the exhaust from boxcars of coal being burned. MG&E is very prompt with service if something goes wrong. I, as Property Manager, have called them a number of times. Always good service.










Machinery Row. These old buildings along shore of Lake Monona, were rescued and renovated. Here is one shop selling high-end bikes. Bike path goes right by here.

You can also work indoors! Here is a painting of a Cockatiel I did.














Will be 10 below Zero tomorrow. Construction seldom halts, however. A building skeleton is put up and the building is then wrapped in plastic skin. Work continues within at a busy pace.







This is closeup of above. The crew is unloading plywood 4x8 sheets. Notice how they have to dress to work in the weather.

Empty coal cars, heading north. Power companies generate electricity with coal. Quite a bit used. Prior to the Sixties, lot of boilers were coal-fired for heating. Now, natural gas and LP are used. You will find a lot of LP tanks out in country. A lot of the Madison taxicabs run on LP.

Big Rig missed the turn, plowed over median strip. Misjudged how slippery the streets were. He had someone shovel him out.

This car missed a curve also, you can track his slide. When you see some of these accidents, you know conditions are bad and better drive carefully. New snow covers glare icy areas.

FARMING IN WISCONSIN

This farm off one of the winding roads, near Black Earth. Its in the 30s, couple inches of snow yesterday. This small town has Wisconsin's largest shoe and boot store.

This is about as tall as the hills get around here,

areas where glaciers went through.

Blue Mounds

Black Earth

Mazomainee

Mount Horeb

All names of different small towns in the area.

Church in Ashton, small town. Has modern gas station tho. What a grand old church, found in such a tiny community!












Farm backed up against some hills, cluster of buildings. Place looks in pretty good shape, some newer buildings also. Cows get milked morn and eve, 365 days a year. Hard to get away for even a day. But you would be suprised how these farmers help each other out.











This is how they bale hay alot. These bales are
actually huge, 4 ft in height. Often farmers will wrap this in plastic for the winter. You can see the land if not very flat here. Dairy farms in the area. Farmers will do crops, like this hay, for their cattle. Sometimes they will turn cattle out into a corn field that has been harvested. The cattle will pick up any loose corn.

Bridge across Wisconsin River. We are on the edge of Sauk City.













Another farm, pretty flat area here and lots of cornfields.

Field Irrigation, grain storage to left.

All Farm Scenes this page are less than half hour from my home in Middleton. There are many, many farms just like these. Scattered west of Madison.

Comments are Appreciated.

PACKER SUNDAY AT PAM'S

Beth is my younger sister

Pam is my older sister

Phil is Beth's Husband

Phil is grilling out, for Packer Sunday.

Pam's House, my truck parked out front.
Her house is next door to Beth's! So they are neighbors.
Pam and I are watching the Packers play
Seattle, In the playoffs and it really snowed in Green Bay today.











The yard behind Pam's house, There is a pretty big yard back here and they keep it mowed.

These are Beth's Horses, both of them quite small and full grown.












This is the smallest, both have pretty long manes for the winter.

MID JANUARY IN WISCONSIN

Ice fishing on a bay in Lake Mendota, you can see the open water of the lake.

Its a Cool, Friday Afternoon.










Train from time past. This was passenger travel,
Milwaukee Railroad.

Below is a link to a story of early settler to Wisconsin.


http://www.slahs.org/genealogy/families/weaver/melinda3.htm

Skater, downtown Madison. He is carrying his shoes, guess the Warming house wasnt open.

We have warming houses, where you can rent skates, get hot chocolate, and get warm.

Ice conditions: Not good, it has snowed and ice surface is slush.

Deforest Tower, this tower is not tall at all.
More height is more water pressure. However, if you are already on a hill...then you dont need as tall a tower. So the theory is: find the highest spot in town and build a tower. Towers save money. How? You do not need as big a pump, to keep up with peak demand. Which is Before and After work. The pump works all night long filling the resevoir.





Brother Dave, at his place. We got back from town.

Road going out of Dave and Lynn's place,
in January. Couple inches of snow night before, to the right is a farm where they raise Emu.












Dave's backyard, with a variety of trees and plants.

A JANUARY THAW IN WISCONSIN

This is a beautiful Watertower in Verona,
Nice lettering and overall shape. Verona actually built another, east end of town.












Argentine Malbec. These are a unique grape, 10 bucks. 2004
"Smoother than a Cab, Jammy."

Buffalo. North American native, praries in this area used to be full of herds of buffalo, food for the Indians.

40 years ago, my mother sketched this
bridge. Creek out of Wingra Lake. My
Grandfather, Clarence Joyner, used to fish
here. We had the same birthday.











Penninsula at Wingra Beach. To the right is
the swimming area. People used to use
beaches a lot in summer. They still do some, but now bacteria counts are checked and beaches closed occasionally. Bummer.

NEW YEARS IN WISCONSIN

An old train Watering Depot in Middleton.














Family Sledding on News Year Day.