Name That Stick Contest

We have a winner! Hell, the name of my stick has been hanging in the air just waiting to be spoken. For at least ten years of my life, trudging across snow covered fields with our guns at the ready, getting lost on narrow gravel backroads or bad neighborhoods on our first forays into the Urban Jungle, Margadant in his best Chingachgook impression, urged me forward into poor decisions with, "Um, come Pathfinder ... etc." I suspect, although James has always been a literary man and a woodsman of sorts, it probably came from a Jonathan Winters record rather than James Fenimore Cooper. Nevertheless, Pathfinder has a nice, vaguely sarcastic ring to it.

Lawyers, Guns and Money

Gentleman (and Ladies),

We have situation where one of our frequent commenters is about to be thrown out of a third rate banana republic. A couple of us have been exchanging news, bad advice and copies of letters to embassies, etc for a couple of months now and it has finally come to a head. At the end of this month he has to be out. Period. The issue is that he has a family there. His young son has dual citizenship, but his wife does not. (I have  just been advised that his son also needs a Banana Republic passport to leave.) If I were a religious man I would be praying for him. I am not, so Warren Zevon is all I have to offer.

Albert Lea Audubon Park

For local hikers, go to the south end of Madison, turn left on Oregon for one block to the dead end ... and find the hidden park. :-)  And be alone for awhile.

Sign with MY STICK, a reclaimed shovel handle which spent 30 years as a curtain rod in our basement before being reborn a third time. It just feels right in my hand. It was just waiting for all those years.

No bikes!

Lorna with HER  store-bought sticks.

Accidental art.

Stump.

Very dry. Normally this is a marsh.

Wild asparagus.

Walnuts. You could fill a large pickup box with black
walnuts this year.

Markers. Somebody's pets? Or unfortunate pioneers?

Teak (!) chair at the rest stop.

Yard art. Bird feeders, chairs and benches - places to sit and think and  rest your feet.