‘Musings’ Features

So, you’ve heard this story before. Photographer takes picture and everything seems fine until they get home and start actually looking at the shots.  Usually, that’s when they find a previously un-noticed ghost standing behind their aunt Mable. Well, after taking a few shots of the Merrimac Free Ferry this morning I found something on one of the stills… UFOS!  Apparently there was a UFO invasion going on in Merrimac this morning that could only be seen when photographed.  Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve probably noticed that the news is filling with predictions of the coming winter weather Apocalypse. That means of course that AccuWeather.com has released their annual winter predictions for 2011-2011.  AccuWeather.com is calling for the worst winter weather in the nation to hit Chicago with Minneapolis predicted to suffer this winter’s worst chill.  Well, here in the heart of Wisconsin we’re probably in for both!  Read the rest of this entry »

As the population in rural areas continue to decline, more land is becoming available for public use.  That’s a good thing for hikers, cyclists and other outdoor enthusiasts.  The sad part is that as the land opens up we are getting a grim view of how folks viewed the land they once owned.  Here in the Baraboo hills along the ice age trail, within Devil’s Lake State Park and elsewhere it’s easy to come across the remnants of past lives rusting away in otherwise pristine forests and valleys.  The photo above was taken on the Ice Age Trail just west of Hwy 113 south-east of Baraboo.  It’s hard to imagine that even now, some folks still feel no qualms about tossing everything they no longer use onto an old junk pile somewhere “out back” on their property.  Let’s face it, sooner or later.. someone WILL have to clean it all up. I imagine it’s a struggle for parks and environmental organizations who are pressed simply to maintain the trails to find ways to deal with our legacy of waste.  Do you carry it all out and pay for proper disposal?  Do you leave it as a message for future generations?   What are your thoughts?

Photo Gallery

We are building a new photo gallery featuring the remnants of past lives here in our local parks and natural areas.  To see more: Pop-Up Slideshow | Flickr Gallery

Have you ever wondered if there was any rhyme or reason to the media’s modern weather hyperbole?  Are words like battered, hit, pummeled, savaged or even snowmageddon measurable?  Can you sort out any real information in today’s meteorological  amplifications?  Well, we’ve been looking into that and here’s what we’ve discovered.

Winter weather exaggeration has become almost an art form.  Like so much of the modern news media these days, even meteorologists feel the need to blow things all out of proportion in the futile hope that they will somehow stand out above the din.  Of course it never works because, well, everyone’s doing it.  The bottom line for listeners, is that it’s becoming harder to translate all the hypertensive verbal acrobatics back into “news you can use”.  Or is it? Read the rest of this entry »

Commentary – Roadside adverting has always been around of course but judging by the condition of some of it out there, it seems as if even the business owners don’t  believe they work any more. Take this faded little sign on the corner of South Blvd., and Highway 123 for instance;  Is it shouting out, “quality” to you? Is it appetizing? Would this sign even catch your eye?  If you saw it when passing by on your way to Devil’s Lake State Park or when heading over to Wal-Mart, would you suddenly hit your breaks, turn the car around and go buy a hot dog?  I didn’t think so. And yet, you have to assume the business owner actually does want you to do just that. Read the rest of this entry »

The “Hole in the Wall”, later called the Grotto was one of the first saloons in Wisconsin Dells. The small, roadside saloon was established in a small shallow cave around 1866, shortly after the completion of the Mirror Lake Dam. Business continued in the tiny cave until closing for good in the mid-1960s. Today the graffiti filled nook is still every bit the watering hole, only now bored teens have to bring their own.

It's still possible to see where the stone was cut to accommodate the original saloon's facade.

Every community has these interesting little bits of history going to seed somewhere out the in the periphery of our modern world. Old train stations, stone trestles, mills, dams and steel bridges slowly fall back into the earth around us.  Some should just be taken down while others should be preserved, but the fact is most simply go ignored.  Hard to say what we could do with the old “Hole in the Wall”, but considering its location within the boundaries of a county park, maybe it could be just a little bit more than a place for fisherman and teens to get out of the rain.

Historic photo and verbiage posted at Timme's Mill County Park.

Learn More:

• Timme Mill County Park – Includes Map

More than 100 years ago the fledgling labor movement began the push to create a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.*” and while the Central Labor Union first celebrated Labor Day in 1882, it took the blood of American workers to force national legislative recognition of the holiday… Read the rest of this entry »

The story of  black bears in Sauk County just keeps getting stranger by the moment.  You may have read recently that a mother black bear and two cubs were spotted in Sauk County near the village of Leland. Of course this had nothing to do with our visit to Pine Hollow State Natural Area near Leland over the weekend, but it did heighten the surprise when we discovered a bear! (see above) One has to wonder why anyone would hang a 4 foot tall, stuffed, black bear next to a sandstone outcrop in a natural area almost no one visits!

The story got even stranger when I was telling  friend about our discovery of  the “Black Bear of Pine Hollow”, only to learn about a local news item I had totally missed.  It seems someone in the Baraboo area is missing their big black stuffed bear!  No kidding?  Well, anyone who’s traveled along County Highway A between Baraboo and Wisconsin Dells, may know of the big black bear that used to sit on the porch of a local farm house and was often dressed to suit an up-coming holiday.  Well, sadly it seems, some time ago the bear was stolen!  I’m sure you can hear the gears ticking away at this point…

Now I have to ask… Is this YOUR bear?

…weird.

I’m 44 years old.  I figure I’ll get that out of the way right now, otherwise you’d never understand why I’d have become so attached to Stratego or so disappointed with what Hasbro has done to it.  Imagine all the excitement of taking your child to get a new board game that you knew by heart, only to get a game that was so unplayable that it was left on the counter as a memorial to a wasted ten spot.

For those of you following along at home, Stratego is a board game, introduced to the US in 1961 by Milton Bradley.  In the game you have a set of numbered pieces that move about the board, bombs that lie in wait and a flag.  The object of the game is simple, capture the enemy’s flag.  The rules are simple enough, (Low number takes high number, one type can remove a bomb while all others cannot, etc.,) that children in the 8 years and up range can play.  The simplicity of the rules make it a great addition to “Board Game” night.  Something many families do these days to keep everyone together and away from the television.

I hadn’t thought of Stratego in years,  (Most of the time as a child I had no one to play the game with so I simply used the red and blue pieces as cars and drove them around the board!) but the other day we happened upon a fancy high priced edition at a Barns & Noble in Madison.  I found myself explaining the game to my 8 year old and soon committing to getting a copy.  Ah, only not the expensive, fancy-pants version!

This is when the fun got started.  We decided we’d stop off at the local Wal-Mart on the way hope and see if they had a affordable copy.  I mean, Christmas just ended, how hard could it be?  This gave us a 45 minute drive back to Baraboo to build up expectations of a night of Stratego.  Parents always put in the pepperings of “IFs” as in “IF they have it”, but children of course are deaf to the word, “IF” until well after drinking age.   Needless to say a long chattering walk to the toy department revealed that they didn’t have it!  Oh, NO!

We thought we’d give the local toy store downtown a call.  “They’d have it.” We thought.  They always have the fun, interesting toys that big box stores won’t touch.  But alas, they were closed on Sunday.  We called the Wal-Mart in Wisconsin Dells. Nope.  Then we ran over to the Sears store, that used to be a K-Mart.. (another story, for another day) and walked through their empty hallways only to find…  they didn’t have it.  That was it, for one evening.. No Stratego today!

The following morning was again filled with an 8 year old voice asking about all the intricacies of Stratego.  How would this happen?  What happens when your Spy finds a Bomb?  Are you going to order it from Amazon today? Obviously Stratego was not going away. We’d talk about it again after school… (and work).

About the time we needed to pick our son up from school I did a quick surf over to Amazon and found a multitude of versions.  Still the $99 classic seemed a bit much, and we were not sure we wanted the “Lord of the Rings” magical edition.  In a last effort we ran over to Portage, a town 13 miles to the east of us.  We’ve found that the Portage K-Mart & Wal-mart stores often have things no one else does simply for lack of customers  it seems.  Once again our theory held true. The Portage Wal-Mart had Stragego!  Oh the joy of the heavens upon us! And only $10 to boot!  Soon we were driving home again deep into the mire of the 8 year old thought process; Are we going to play as soon as we get home? Is Dad going to play? How many flags are there? What happens when …” and on and on.

The new Hasbro Stratego is called the “Fire and Ice” edition and like most modern things is cheaply made, forcing parents to spend a half hour putting stickers on the plastic pieces instead of simply embossing them as they once did.  The number of pieces has been cut by 10, and the board shrunk.  The once easy rules have now been so complicated and muddled by the use of fantasy characters with new “special powers” that, by the time we had all the stickers on, we no longer had the patience for the rules.  The thought that I could save the evening by forgoing the dragons and Yetis, for the numbers was a big fail as well.  Even those had been re-arranged as not to function by the standard rules that had worked fine for almost 40 years.  In the end we left it to sit, unplayed.  A $10 donation to the needy Hasbro & Wal-Mart’s  executives.

The game we ended up buying on Ebay.

Now to be fair, change is often a good thing.  Being a techie, I love “new”.  I’ve even read a few reviews of the “fire & Ice” Stratego that call it a “Breath of Life” into an old game.  Maybe.  But if a game can no longer be easily explained or played right out of the box it’s on a road to mediocrity.  Forcing people to put stickers on 60 plastic pieces before they can even play the game is not going to do anything to keep the attention of today’s kids.  Board games are suffering already without the help of poor design and  confused instructions. For the moment there is still a small number of people and families who treasure these wonderful excuses to have a bit of fun, and think through a little friendly competition. Game makers need to recognize their audience.  If they are patient enough to play a board game, they are probably paying  close attention to product as well. It seems to me the cheaply made parts, and a “Velvet Elvis” fantasy theme  are only going to hasten this game’s demise.

In the end we went on Ebay and ordered a vintage 1961 version.  I mean, if we’re going to go through the trouble of ordering the classic, why not go all the way!?

More . . .

• Ed’s Stratego Site
• Fire & Ice Edition on Amazon
• Family Game Night by Amazing Moms
• Just for fun, Pat Benatar sings “Fire & Ice”