Althouse: At the Trout Lily Café...

April 25, 2011

At the Trout Lily Café...

... look hard and find something new.

80 comments:

Original Mike said...: I've had Trout Lilys in two locations for up to 10 years, but they've never flowered.

Oh, well. I like the leaves.; 4/25/11, 3:10 PM
Drew said...: The first time I found a trout lily, I was disappointed that it was so tiny. I expected something much, much larger.; 4/25/11, 3:10 PM
MadisonMan said...: Things change so quickly this time of year on a warm sunny day in the garden. It's a delight to go out and see what's new.

Today I'm hoping that my onions have jumped up. And I'm hoping the rabbits have not found all the lupines emerging.; 4/25/11, 3:10 PM
deborah said...: Ah-ha! Did Meade plant those?; 4/25/11, 3:11 PM
Original Mike said...: The only good rabbit, ...; 4/25/11, 3:17 PM
peacelovewoodstock said...: A trout lily colony can be hundreds of years old .. this one's ancestors may have been blooming around the time that Alexander Pope published "The Rape of the Lock".; 4/25/11, 3:26 PM
Fred4Pres said...: You love those trout lillies. It is a seasonal thing at Althouse.

I strangely enough love skunk cabbage. From a distance. Maybe it is the smell that triggers memories of spring, but I love it (to a point).; 4/25/11, 3:57 PM
Anonymous said...: I was looking so closely at the trout lilies that I almost missed the camouflaged elephant.; 4/25/11, 4:07 PM
Unknown said...: After a winter of improperly utilized snow and protest fatigue, glad to see you are finding surcease with Mother Nature.; 4/25/11, 4:11 PM
Mark said...: For the record, I am 100% certain President Obama was born in Hawaii and meets all the eligibility requirements to be President. Still, with the fuss being made by Trump regarding the particulars of Obama's birth records, this is amusing in a dark, ironic way.; 4/25/11, 4:19 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: We've been getting a little rain.; 4/25/11, 4:22 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Wow, remind me to avoid your town when you get a lot of rain!; 4/25/11, 4:40 PM
Anonymous said...: A snake.; 4/25/11, 4:42 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I've lived in this house for almost ten years and in this area for over two decades, and I've never seen anything like this. I didn't know that our area could flood. I now know that anywhere can flash flood. News to me.; 4/25/11, 4:47 PM
Almost Ali said...: Apparently it's harder to get a passport than it is to be president. In fact, being president confers certain immunities which place all challenges beyond question. Although such immunities seem to be granted on a case-by-case basis, by an authority roughly equivalent to Skull & Bones.; 4/25/11, 4:47 PM
Paddy O said...: Something new?

My book How Long? The Trek Through the Wilderness is officially released today.

Kindle version to come soon.; 4/25/11, 5:09 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Congratulations, Paddy O!

I'll be sure to order the Kindle version when it is available.; 4/25/11, 5:11 PM
Phil 314 said...: I posted this earlier but I'll give it another try:

Fast Trains for Garage.

This quote caught my eye:

Next to me on the decrepit, but packed, vehicle was a 17-year-old girl migrating to Beijing to search for work. She had never heard of the high-speed train, but when informed it cost $9, as opposed to $5.40 for the bus, expressed no regret at missing it.

I was in DC a month ago but flew into BWI. The slow train is about $5 the "fast one" is about $40 bucks. Why would I take the fast train?; 4/25/11, 5:22 PM
KCFleming said...: Congrats, Paddy O.
I'd like to read it.; 4/25/11, 5:24 PM
garage mahal said...: Fast Trains for Garage.

I thought it was a pretty weak opinion piece honestly. Strawmen and anecdotal evidence.; 4/25/11, 5:39 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I've lived in this house for almost ten years and in this area for over two decades, and I've never seen anything like this

@Freeman: The river below our house, which is normally a very placid flow and almost a long narrow lake in the summer time, is raging higher than I have seen it in 15 years. It is over the banks and instead of flowing in its normal ox bow shape it is rushing straight across the peninsula.

I don't remember ever having this much rain in our area with relentless high winds. Plus it is a warm rain, almost tropical in feeling and is rapidly melting the snow pack, so we are in for more flooding in the lower elevations.

Ah, well. At least we aren't burning hp like Texas.; 4/25/11, 5:40 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Burning up. Not hp (horsepower) LOL; 4/25/11, 5:42 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Ah-ha! Did Meade plant those?"

No. We saw them in Governor Nelson State Park yesterday. At home, Meade is planting alium, ajuga, grape hyacinth, vinca, garlic, iris, and various grasses.; 4/25/11, 6:05 PM
Paige Nelson said...: Have the protesters all finally gone home? Migrated to turn up the heat in a different state?

Ya know, as trying as it was, bet it was easier for Gov. Walker to work through the noise of the protesters than it was for Gov. Palin to have the constant harassment of the ultimately nearly-all-thrown-out lawsuits.

Just sayin'; 4/25/11, 6:13 PM
Phil 314 said...: Urban Institute report on Employer-Sponsored Insurance Under Health Reform"

Not doom and gloom but two key points (that might get one a little gloomy)

Overall ESI coverage under the ACA would not differ significantly from what coverage would be without reform...average employer contribution per person covered by ESI would decrease by 7.9 percent for small firms, 1.1 percent for medium firms, and 3.1 percent for large firms

and

As long as underlying health costs grow faster than inflation, there will be pressure on some firms to stop offering ESI. This should not be confused with the specific provisions in the ACA and can ultimately be addressed only by effective cost control measures.

Since I'm not convinced ACA or government in general can control rising health care cost (and in fact by putting more dollars in the pot will raise costs), I believe ACA will be a catalyst to a progressive shift from employee-based health care to governmentally-funded health care.; 4/25/11, 6:58 PM
MadisonMan said...: Wow, Freeman. Stay safe. I see that much is through now. Here's to it staying south for the next couple days.; 4/25/11, 7:41 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Find something new.

Do I have to show it? Okay, something new.; 4/25/11, 7:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: For what it's worth, I know a man who keeps my personal computers repaired, as a longtime friend. He also keeps the NORAD computers going. He has told me things about evolving air defense strategy that I cannot repeat. He literally has the highest security clearance possible for a man to have. And he mentioned recently that the DHS has been building RR spur tracks into many desolate areas where fenced and barbed wired camps with surrounding guard towers are being built. Obviously these camps are being prepared for civil insurrection captives. That's all folks. (This source also has the highest honesty rating possible for me to give a man).; 4/25/11, 7:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Ha!

Nice photoshop Chip.; 4/25/11, 7:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Looks like Ron Paul is officially running for president.

Good for the republicans and the whole country even if he doesn't win. Plus he is entertaining.

Wv: trial; 4/25/11, 8:02 PM
DADvocate said...: For some reason the "something new" reminds me of the story where the king tells his wizard to bring him something no one has ever seen. In a short while the wizard appears with an egg. Just as the king is about to explode in rage, the egg hatches and a baby chick appears. The king smiles at his wizard's wisdom.; 4/25/11, 8:07 PM
Anonymous said...: I see it-

It's mink droppings from a red tailed hawk....

right next to the oak leaf-

bio-gardening=2 carbon credits.

nice work.; 4/25/11, 8:07 PM
Mark said...: Garage, if the cost of debt service on China's high-speed rail is $27.7B, and a typical ticket price is $9, then before they begin to cover operational costs, they have to sell a little more than three billion tickets a year.

According to Wikipedia (which refers to a Chinese source, so take it with appropriate salt-dosage) in 2010 the ridership was 290 million, about a tenth of what is needed just to service debt.; 4/25/11, 8:27 PM
Shanna said...: Freeman, we've been getting the torandos with the rain. Fun, fun, fun!; 4/25/11, 8:27 PM
Rialby said...: Why hasn't some enterprising reporter asked the following questions to Mr. Obama and the rest of the wealthy Left:

You like to point out that the Federal government more effectively uses funds than other bodies (private agencies).
1) Why take any deductions on your taxes (Mr. Obama)?
2) Why donate any money to charity, why not donate it directly to the Federal government?
3) Why not pay to the level that you expect other wealthy Americans to pay to NOW? Pick your proposed highest marginal tax rate, apply it directly your earnings (without deductions) and make a show of how much you pay?; 4/25/11, 8:30 PM
Shanna said...: Tornados! Stupid typo.

Apparently the weather channel was filming from North Little Rock this afternoon.; 4/25/11, 8:34 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: That's okay, DBQ. I bet they're burning HP too.

Freeman, we've been getting the torandos with the rain. Fun, fun, fun!

Yikes. Hope all goes well. A friend from Little Rock just said that he's been getting too familiar with his basement lately.; 4/25/11, 8:38 PM
Shanna said...: Seriously! It's been a crazy couple weeks. We had straight line winds last thursday that knocked out a boatload of trees in my neighborhood and I had no power for like 3 days. It's the only time I've heard the "freight train" type wind, even though it wasn't a tornado. Scary.

Looks like we have the all clear in LR, hopefully it won't hit you guys. That flooding looks bad enough.; 4/25/11, 8:40 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: Yo Althouse!

I know sports outside of the Badgers is not normally a topic on which you spend much time-- but thoughts on this court ruling?; 4/25/11, 8:55 PM
Anonymous said...: "Garage, if the cost of debt service on China's high-speed rail is $27.7B, and a typical ticket price is $9, then before they begin to cover operational costs, they have to sell a little more than three billion tickets a year."

Those are just weak anecdotes and factual straw men.

The purpose of high-speed rail isn't to go fast, or even to be a railroad at all.

The purpose of high-speed rail is to ensure Democrat union goons of lots of fresh automatic monthly forced payments courtesy of you, the taxpayer.

And it's going to happen whether you like it or not, and you're going to pay, at the barrel of a gun. If you don't pay, they'll take your shit and maybe even put you in jail.

You don't have to like it, but Garage is smiling because he knows you can't stop it.; 4/25/11, 8:58 PM
DADvocate said...: Here, in the greater Cincinnati area, it's been raining forever. The wettest April on record with 3-5 more inches of rain expected by Wednesday evening. The Ohio River been at or above flood stage for most of the month. Flash flooding on all tributaries.

Fortunately, although there have been a few small tornadoes and heavy winds, there have been no deaths locally.

It's been too wet to do any significant gardening or mowing. I'm letting my grass grow and then bail it to sell to the horse farmers.; 4/25/11, 8:58 PM
vbspurs said...: Paddy, you got another Kindle order, alongside Freeman's, right here. Please let us know. And congrats! :); 4/25/11, 9:01 PM
vbspurs said...: alium, ajuga, grape hyacinth, vinca, garlic, iris, and various grasses.

Times like this I really notice what a city girl I am. Vinca? Ajuga? Alium? Not a clue.; 4/25/11, 9:04 PM
vbspurs said...: "The Devil's Double" coming out late July, is the story of the body double of Uday Hussein, one of the demonic boy spawns of Saddam Hussein.

I was going to post asking what it must be like to be a famous person's full-time double, although it is rumoured that Presidents of the US have had decoys in the past.

I wonder if Obama has one, though.; 4/25/11, 9:09 PM
Titus said...: trout lily, kind of sounds like a slang term for a lesbian.; 4/25/11, 9:22 PM
vbspurs said...: Trout lillies, fish tacos. Yes, I see that.; 4/25/11, 9:23 PM
Titus said...: I saw a Madison PBS program on Gaylord Nelson.

I now want to see those islands up by Superior and also am thankful my parents did not name me Gaylord.

skunk cabbage to me a lesbian name as well.; 4/25/11, 9:25 PM
vbspurs said...: I wonder if the good professor will post tomorrow about the unravelling situation in Syria, and the lack of a similar response from the Obama Administration than it had towards Libya. It's IDENTICAL, if not far far worse.

Even in Libya, foreign journalists were allowed in (to Tim Heatherington's bad fortune). But Bashir Assad is far too canny/evil for that.

President Obama's foreign policy is a potemkin village of untruths and inconsistencies.; 4/25/11, 9:27 PM
Trooper York said...: vbspurs said....
I was going to post asking what it must be like to be a famous person's full-time double, although it is rumored that Presidents of the US have had decoys in the past.

I wonder if Obama has one, though.

Well no one has seen Jaleel White since inauguration day. Just sayn’; 4/25/11, 9:38 PM
Almost Ali said...: ...where fenced and barbed wired camps with surrounding guard towers are being built.

Interesting.; 4/25/11, 9:53 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/11, 10:05 PM
Anonymous said...: This Telegraph UK piece on the British royal family is thought-provoking. Especially:

...The monarchy does not merely define us as a nation: it defines us as individuals. Our respect and affection for the Queen is rooted in our collective unconscious. There is something deep, instinctive and even primeval going on here, which goes right to the very core of our nature as social beings.

It is irrational. It is sentimental. It is absurd. At times it is completely dotty. And yet the monarchy works. This is because it humanises what can otherwise appear a distant and impersonal state. People who find if very hard to relate to an Act of Parliament, to a Brussels directive, a law lord or a permanent secretary (all essential parts of government) get the point of the Royal family...

Could some of America's bitter divisons be due to the fact that Americans don't have that "deep, instinctive and even primeval" connection to their country?

Maybe the Great Depression / WWII generation had that connection due to their shared experience during trying times. But... since then???

This bit is also good:

Only one group is left out: intellectuals. Whether of Left or Right, they have always despised the institution of monarchy. There is no way that it would ever fit in with their grand, abstract schemes for the transformation of society.

The British monarchy is anti-elitist? That's an interesting claim. Perhaps if Americans had a more effective way of emotionally connecting with their country, efforts by the intelligentsia to engineer our society would be less well-received.; 4/25/11, 10:07 PM
Unknown said...: DADvocate said...

Here, in the greater Cincinnati area, it's been raining forever. The wettest April on record with 3-5 more inches of rain expected by Wednesday evening. The Ohio River been at or above flood stage for most of the month. Flash flooding on all tributaries.

Not quite that bad here in the Akron area, but we've had quite a few goose drownders and it's getting a little soggy.

Julius said...

Could some of America's bitter divisons be due to the fact that Americans don't have that "deep, instinctive and even primeval" connection to their country?

Maybe the Great Depression / WWII generation had that connection due to their shared experience during trying times. But... since then???

No, it's because the Left, particularly those in the Establishment Media, have been doing their damnedest to break us into petty, bickering camps for the last century, but especially the last 40 years.

But Julie already knew that because he's part of it.; 4/25/11, 10:15 PM
Mark said...: Well, if we never again hear from traditionalguy, we'll know why.; 4/25/11, 10:16 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: Freeman--- you live in Chickendale?; 4/25/11, 10:25 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Yes, I do.; 4/25/11, 10:27 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: Imagine that. I drive through Springdale on the bypass every day.; 4/25/11, 10:30 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: This just made me laugh out loud. Relevant portions:

Guy begins a City Data forum thread with this, How would random intellectuals or quasi/pseudointellectuals adapt to Bentonville?

(Full disclosure: I grew up in Bentonville.)

Another guy answers, No, they wouldn't survive. The village folk would hear their dang 'ol confangled ideas and throw them into the giant wicker man, setting it ablaze as a sacrifice.

Heh.; 4/25/11, 10:33 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: If I guessed that you were commuting from somewhere south to go to work somewhere to the north, would I be right?; 4/25/11, 10:33 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: That's good stuff (especially to a Purple Dog). You're not part of the famous Hunts from this neck of the woods?; 4/25/11, 10:35 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: Yes. That 5 ton gorilla draws me in, every workday.; 4/25/11, 10:36 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: No, not part of that Hunt clan.; 4/25/11, 10:37 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/11, 10:39 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: So between the random flooding, the occasional 20" snowfalls and -20 degree mornings, and the ice storms that take the region out for a week, it's been an eventful two years!; 4/25/11, 10:40 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Yes, very. Have you always lived around here?

When we had that ice storm, my husband saw a man in a store trying to explain to two stunned immigrants that, no, this was not normal and no, it would probably not happen again.

I wonder what those two immigrants are thinking today.; 4/25/11, 10:44 PM
vbspurs said...: The British monarchy is anti-elitist?

In every sense of the word, save that of birth. Unfortunately, elitism due to birth is one of the most difficult to understand for Americans.

The British Royal Family are characterised by pedestrian intelligence, a notion of family as the root of society, and a need to be seen as ordinary, rather than exceptional.

This is all anathema to intellectuals.

Cheers,
Victoria; 4/25/11, 10:44 PM
vbspurs said...: Well no one has seen Jaleel White since inauguration day. Just sayn’

Or Aunt Esther.; 4/25/11, 10:47 PM
vbspurs said...: Chickendale

LOL.; 4/25/11, 10:49 PM
Ralph L said...: Vinca? Ajuga? Alium?
Here I thought all respectable English females were gardeners.
Vinca minor is AKA periwinkle, an evergreen groundcover with periwinkle blue flowers just before the azaleas bloom. Vinca major, which someone planted in my flower beds 50 years ago, is large-leaved, ugly, and impossible to kill. I assume Meade is planting the minor.

Ajuga is AKA Bugle, another low-to-the-ground plant that sends up vertical stems covered in little purple or blue flowers.

Aliums send up spherical blooms from outer space.; 4/25/11, 11:37 PM
Titus said...: My parents and I drove to Lake of the Ozarks for a vacation when I was like 8.

It rained the entire time.

Is Lake of The Ozarks nice?; 4/25/11, 11:50 PM
Titus said...: For some reason I thought Lake of the Ozarks was in Arkansas instead of Missouri.

So coastal and elite of me.

Sorry.

When I moved to Boston and told them I was from Wisconsin they would ask me if it was near Idaho.

They also called me Ellie May, like from the Beverly Hillbillies. It took years for me to recover.; 4/25/11, 11:53 PM
Titus said...: Boston is called the "Hub of The World".

I used to feel it was when I was high on ecstasy and dancing with a really hot Puerto Rican who was shirtless and had amazing abs.; 4/25/11, 11:55 PM
Titus said...: Where do Arkansas peeps summer?

In Boston we summer on the Cape, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Berkshires, Coastal Maine, The Lakes and Mountain Region of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains of Vermont. All totally fab.

Do you guys miss the ocean?; 4/26/11, 12:06 AM
Ralph L said...: They also called me Ellie May
Shouldn't have worn those cutoffs with half your ass hanging out.

There's an ocean of water in every Southern summer--unfortunately, it's all in the air.; 4/26/11, 12:21 AM
Ralph L said...: I've gone skinny-dipping every summer for 15 years in a lake near Chapel Hill.; 4/26/11, 12:35 AM
Shanna said...: Where do Arkansas peeps summer?...Do you guys miss the ocean?

Don't suppose you've ever heard of the "redneck riviera", huh?; 4/26/11, 6:52 AM
Original Mike said...: The ajuga will get into your grass and you will never get it out. Destroy it now, before it's too late!; 4/26/11, 10:30 AM
vbspurs said...: When I moved to Boston and told them I was from Wisconsin they would ask me if it was near Idaho.

They also called me Ellie May, like from the Beverly Hillbillies. It took years for me to recover.

It really IS the original Titus. I remember him saying that, previously, very well.; 4/26/11, 11:19 AM
MamaM said...: I searched and searched the enlargement, and the something new I finally found was the nest series in the photostream prior to post time. This time I didn't spill the beans, but quietly enjoyed them and tiptoed away.; 4/26/11, 12:19 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Where do Arkansas peeps summer?

Ha ha. While there are a few people wealthy enough to "summer," they certainly wouldn't call it anything so pretentious around here.

Do you guys miss the ocean?

My father's family is out east. We visited there every year. A few weeks of ocean each year is enough for me.; 4/26/11, 12:31 PM