February 8, 2009

The prairie reverie.

There was a snowman the warm weather had made disproportionate:

Disproportional snowman

And evil trees:

An evil tree

This one attempted to claw out my eyeball:

Prairie

But these are all trivial details. In the end, it was mostly like this, which I consider essence of prairie...

Prairie

... because, as you can see, there were no bees and no clover.

37 comments:

chickelit said...

Just what are ideal snowman proportions, 24-36-48?

RLB_IV said...

I must admit that I loved Wisconsin
having lived there for three years.
Wonderful people... but I do not miss the snow nor the cold weather.

Ann Althouse said...

"Just what are ideal snowman proportions..."

As Titus said in a recent thread, one hates to see a huge ass on a man.

Trooper York said...

Jeeez, we can't even have fat and jolly snowmen.

Meade said...

I have a personal preference for huge asses on snowwomen though. I hope that's okay.

Meade said...

Trees don't belong on prairies and evil trees really should be slashed and burned. In my humble opinion.

Jason (the commenter) said...

All anyone looks at is the size of the carrot.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Trees don't belong on prairies and evil trees really should be slashed and burned.

Evil trees are beautiful! And nothing is as nice as a lone tree on a prairie. A nice big one you can sit under and hide from the hot sun.

Ann Althouse said...

We made a snowwoman one time of Madonna as Evita. With the arms up in the don't-cry-for-me position. Really hard to do, and when it melted, it went through some very funny positions. I have photos of the original and all the melting stages. Very funny. Would have to scan them to put them up.

Ann Althouse said...

"Trees don't belong on prairies and evil trees really should be slashed and burned. In my humble opinion."

The trees are really at the edge of the prairie, blocking the parking lot. This is all part of the arboretum in Madison. So basically, the trees aren't on the prairie.

chickelit said...

I have photos of the original and all the melting stages.

Did you save the broomstick for the Wizard?

rhhardin said...

The prairie provides indirection in water's making its way back from earth to cloud.

Dody Jane said...

I love the prairie - there is a great mini prairie with history and diagrams at one of the rest centers on 90-94. I stopped there this summer on the way home from Minocqua and we stayed an hour just to read everything. You can take the girl off the prairie, but you can't take the prairie out of the girl...

rhhardin said...

What were you doing at 13:01:13 this afternoon?

Eastern time.

Meanwhile the last of the ice on the daily bike route is melting.

This town tried melting the ice with gravel this year. It doesn't work. The ice stays there for weeks until a thaw.

SaysMeow said...

"There was a snowman the warm weather had made disproportionate"

That's the worst opening to a limerick EVER.

kjbe said...

Curtis Prairie - one of my favorite places to run (without the snow).

Anonymous said...

Welcome to a world where cars are the master race.

I took this picture a few hours ago in southern Pennsylvania.

I couldn't figure if they were both hit at once, maybe mother and child. Or if it was a coincidence that they were hit at different times in the same spot.

The one closest has decomposed significantly more than the one farther away.

I've seen deer in this area on this bike trail and I might have seen these two before.

Lot's of road kill in rural/semi-suburban America.

Meade said...

"mother and child"

Do you mean doe and fawn? You do realize that the species is in no way endangered, right?

from Wikipedia:

Automobile collisions with deer can impose a significant cost on the economy. In the U.S., about 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions occur each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those accidents cause about 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage annually

Meade said...

"Evil trees are beautiful! And nothing is as nice as a lone tree on a prairie. A nice big one you can sit under and hide from the hot sun."

Everything about that opinion is misguided.

traditionalguy said...

What's going on in Wisconsin? Has winter left already? If so the snomobilers are going to have to find another way to irritate people. Anyway, it's good news for ducks and golfers.

Jason (the commenter) said...

The full moon is out tonight. Saw it rise sitting on the seawall. If it's clear where you are, check it out.

chickelit said...

What's going on in Wisconsin? Has winter left already?

Don't worry. Another storm system is passing through California heading east. Look for some more snow in 3 to 4 days.

SaysMeow said...

I was wrong, it works perfectly:

1) There was a snówman the warm wéather had made dispropórtionate
2) Who sáid "Global wárming's extórtionate--
3) Nought léft but my áss
4) Amíd prairie gráss
5) For that dástard sun tó laugh at, ór shine at."

Laura(southernxyl) said...

We saw the moon, Jason, on our way back from Clearwater Beach, where I walked barefoot in the edge of the ocean.

I didn't get good pix, though, because the brightness of the day overwhelmed my inexpensive point-and-shoot.

I like that last prairie picture. It looks very quiet, as if you could possibly hear the tiny scratchings of invisibly small rodents looking for seeds and such.

Or maybe that's my tinnitis.

Anonymous said...

Meade said..."mother and child"

Do you mean doe and fawn?


I say mother and child regardless of the species.

You do realize that the species is in no way endangered, right?

People and dogs and cats aren't endangered species either. I saw them as individuals not as members of a species. I don't mean that in a wimpy liberal kind of way.

from Wikipedia: Automobile collisions with deer can impose a significant cost on the economy. In the U.S., about 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions occur each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those accidents cause about 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage annually.

150 human deaths.

I still felt bad for the deer, especially the younger less decomposed one.

They're almost like pets to me without the hassle. I see them in that area of the trail 12 miles from home all the time.

Meade said...

Okay. Sorry, jd. I didn't mean to be totally insensitive and mean... but I guess I just am. Here, here's my compassionate nature expressing itself: Watch out for deer ticks!

chuck b. said...

The evil trees deartuated the snowman, kind of.



(I just adopted the word deartuate [v., to dismember], so I have to use it.)

Deb said...

Lot's of road kill in rural/semi-suburban America.
Where I live it's possums and raccoons. The sight of the dead dear is very sad. Why don't I feel that way when I see racoon and possum carcasses scattered throughout my suburban gulag?

Ann Althouse said...

"The sight of the dead dear is very sad...."

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here....

Deb said...

Heh. I guess you are used to seeing dead deer. Maybe that's why the possums don't bother me. Seen one dead possum...

Deb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deb said...

Oh. DEER. Heh.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Deb, three weeks ago when we left the vet, crying because we'd had our 17.5-year-old cat put down, we passed a raccoon that had been run over in the drive. That was seriously a moment of cognitive dissonance - why were we crying over one animal's death and utterly indifferent to another one?

Meade said...

Ann Althouse said...

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here...."

Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
2 get through this thing called life

Electric word life
It means forever and that's a mighty long time
But I'm here 2 tell u
There's something else:

The afterworld

A world of never ending happiness
U can always see the sun, day or night

So when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
U know the one - Dr Everything'll Be Alright
Instead of asking him how much of your time is left
Ask him how much of your mind, baby

'Cuz in this life
Things are much harder than in the afterworld
In this life
You're on your own

Ann Althouse said...

Exactly what I was thinking, Meade.

BTW, I'd like a rock band called Roadkill Afterlife.

Doug Sundseth said...

The essence of prairie is not what is before your feet, but rather the horizon. The trees in the distance trammel the view in a way that is the very antithesis of prairie.

Overblown prose, but there you go.

As an aside, after living in Wyoming for some years, I felt something akin to claustrophobia when I drove to Wichita, KS one summer. The windbreaks on the far sides of the fields felt like walls closing in.

Even at the time I thought that was very odd.

Roger Sweeny said...

Dody Jane,

Where is that rest area? 90 and 94 are together for only a short stretch and the Wisconsin DOT site says nothing about rest areas with prairies there.

On the other hand, the website says that rest stops 61 & 62 on I-94 way up near the Minnesota border (Menomonie) have a "prairie demonstration plot."