December 13, 2014

Fog in the woods.

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Today, in Blue Mounds, we walked 7 miles on what is a mountain bike trail.

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32 comments:

David said...

seven miles--petty good trek. Did you see anyone else?

Ann Althouse said...

Not on the trail.

Ann Althouse said...

Incredible how often you can have an entire state park all to yourselves.

This place is 30 minutes from Madison. And it was 40°.

Meade said...

Too warm. People stayed in. Maybe turned on the AC.

Saint Croix said...

I burned myself out on the long empty road thread. I got nothing for the dead tree thread. I'm not even going to link to my book on the dead tree thread. The dead trees are mocking me. "You killed us for your words! Are you sure it was worth it?"

Madison is spooky beautiful in the winter.

Saint Croix said...

Some good lines from good books here. (Some bad stuff too, it's BuzzFeed, sue me).

Saint Croix said...

For comic book fans, or movie fans, this is awesome.

I read a comic book the other day and I was shocked at how bad it was. Damn it, I outgrew comic books.

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

Wow! Meade's Foot Calvary comes to mind.

Scott said...

Who turned the noun "gift" into a verb?

My siblings are being gifted tea pots and 2 lb boxes of Tetley black tea, along with instructions on how to make a proper pot. Don't mess with tea balls or strainers. Just throw 1/3 cup of tea into the pot, pour hot water on, wait five minutes, pour gently.

My partner is getting another Shure M44-7 turntable cartridge and a couple of spare styluses. I can't even guess what he is getting me. One of my project managers brought me a bottle of what looked like a nice red wine, but I don't drink, so I had to decline to accept it.

chickelit said...

traditionalguy said...
Wow! Meade's Foot Calvary comes to mind.

Don't tread on Meade...yet they gambled for his shoes.

madAsHell said...

My partner is getting another Shure M44-7 turntable cartridge and a couple of spare styluses.

I still have a turntable, but it just can't compete with a shuffled playlist on my phone.

Meade said...

Scott, you could have re-gifted that bottle of red wine to me. I don't drink wine so I would re-gift it myself, probably to someone who might then re-gift it and so on. It could have been the fruitcake of red wine.

Sdv1949 said...

We took a very similar walk in Wilderness Park, Lincoln, NE. No snow however.

Bobber Fleck said...

The woods remind me of the Night of the Living Dead. Do I see some of the Solidarity Singers walking zombie-like in the background?

Scott said...

Meade, I thought about that. But I have a deal with my Higher Power. I don't take alcohol into my hands, and He keeps me sober. (That applies to Holy Communion also -- I dip the wafer in the chalice, but I never take the chalice into my own hands.)

Scott said...

Wow, Lincoln Nebraska. I thought about trying to get a job at Kawasaki there. Maybe in the next lifetime. :)

Danno said...

I am surprised you still have some snow cover in the greater Madison area. We lost ours (in St. Paul) by noon today, except for where piles were created.

Laslo Spatula said...

Inchoate insomnia thought.

Sure, it's Sony, and most people's reaction of Hollywood getting hacked is 'pass the popcorn' but:

If North Korea hacked General Motors (or Boeing, etc), sending them into chaos and preventing workers from getting paid*, what would be the reaction of our Government? Of our citizens? How would this be different than war?

(*lost homes, kids unable to be fed etc.)

Would there be calls for response? Would military action be seen as an appropriate action? Why would this be different than NK simply bombing the companies: the lack of physical rubble, including deaths?

What if this had happened in the late fifties, directly after the Korean action (mental gymnastics to pretend the technical ability was available at that time)?

I am Laslo.

Ann Althouse said...

"I am surprised you still have some snow cover in the greater Madison area. We lost ours (in St. Paul) by noon today, except for where piles were created."

These photos were taken at a relatively high elevation. The highest point in Blue Mounds is 1,276 ft. Some parts of the place were snowless. Back in Madison, the snow is all melted.

FleetUSA said...

Healthy walk. Way to go.

George M. Spencer said...

Went to see "'Exodus" yesterday.

A bad movie that will doubtless spark the sale of eyeliner to men.

Only on returning home did I read this quote from Christian Bale, the star who played Moses:

""I think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life."

and

"Bale admitted that he was not knowledgeable about the Bible and had to do some significant research for the role. He not only read the Torah, which "took a bit of time," but also the Koran, and Moses: A Life by Jonathan Kirsch."

How stupid can someone be, not only to be so bereft of cultural and religious history but to jeopardize the success of his business undertaking by denouncing it ahead of time.

I recall reading that prior to the 1956 release of DeMille and Heston's "Ten Commandments" the two went to huge lengths to preview the movie to religious leaders to win their favor.

Times change.

(Incidentally, Signourney Weaver's supporting role consists of her saying, "Pass the papyrus," and Ben Kingsley gets about two lines. Pharaoh looks like a chubby sophomore who needs to get it together so he can make the JV softball team. His peeved pharaoh dad John Turturro resembled a man awaiting pizza delivery. On the other hand, the alligator plague was excellent, and a little white boy played the role of Yahweh.)

Ann Althouse said...

"Healthy walk. Way to go."

I saw the heavy fog and declared it to be a reason to go to Blue Mounds and walk (because I like to do photographs in the fog). Meade had no objections and we were soon out there. He chose the path, a bike path, and I followed, not realizing how long of a walk he'd chosen. I'd had in mind something under 2 miles. But there we were! And it was a rocky, up-and-down path, with ice, mud, and water.

If we hadn't been wearing our ice creepers, it would have been ridiculous. We also had our trekking poles.

Those are Amazon links, and I'm providing them (in this case) because this was really useful equipment (if you ever want to go hiking over rough late-fall terrain).

Ann Althouse said...

"How stupid can someone be, not only to be so bereft of cultural and religious history but to jeopardize the success of his business undertaking by denouncing it ahead of time."

He probably doesn't see that as a denouncement. He probably thinks he's making the Moses character interesting.

Ann Althouse said...

I looked up that "schizophrenic" quote to get a better context. Bale also said:

"I found Moses to be one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever studied... He’s so complex, because he goes through so many transitions in his life. He is at once liberator and lawgiver, somebody who has an acute sense of the unjust and the pursuit of righting wrongs, but he’s also incredibly passionate and strong-minded, even while he harbors incredible doubts and insecurities."

I think by "schizophrenic," he meant that he had radically different sides to his personality, not that he suffered from psychosis.

Meade said...

"The highest point in Blue Mounds is 1,276 ft."

I think that's for the town of Blue Mounds. We were hiking 500 feet above that, on a monadnock made of rock that was once the floor of an ancient warm water sea.

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry, the link for the ice creepers was bad.

Here it is: Kahtoola MICROspikes Traction System.

George M. Spencer said...

Point taken, Professor; that said, however, Bale did call Moses a "barbarian" which might lead one to conclude that he was less than enamored of his character and further that he holds in low esteem the cash-paying, moviegoing people who are Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

It is a bad movie.

I reread the story this morning during a particularly tedious sermon. It has wonderful fairy-tale overtones...Moses meeting seven daughters at a well and marrying one; the staff that transforms into a serpent; the possible stuttering; plagues; even Yvonne DeCarlo, I think.

chickelit said...

St. George said...
Point taken, Professor; that said, however, Bale did call Moses a "barbarian" which might lead one to conclude that he was less than enamored of his character and further that he holds in low esteem the cash-paying, moviegoing people who are Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

Clearly, the celebrity of Bale is more important than the success of any film he may star in. Those sorts of attitude get around and depress sales. "Moses" has already underperformed compared to "Noah." link

But some of that may have to do with Russell Crowe's draw.

MadisonMan said...

Poking around, I discover Blue Mounds is part of the Niagara Escarpment. So I learned something today.

chickelit said...

@MadisonMan: Do you have this? It's a classic.

Danno said...

Meade said ""The highest point in Blue Mounds is 1,276 ft."

I think that's for the town of Blue Mounds. We were hiking 500 feet above that, on a monadnock made of rock that was once the floor of an ancient warm water sea."

Very interesting. I had done some follow up to the geography of Blue Mounds after seeing the post and Ann's comment on the elevation. The link I was reading (located via Google) is http://www.wisconline.com/wisconsin/geoprovinces/westernupland.html and I was curious if this part of SW Wisconsin was part of the Driftless Area that is on display on so much of the I-94 raodside between Madison and the Twin Cities, particularly between Eau Claire and Black River Falls.