A Walk in the Village

Everyday I'm home I try take a walk of about 2.7 miles in the village.  It is the same route everyday, and I usually do the walk about the same time every morning so I may see some of the same people out and about.  They are mainly dog walkers.  On odd days I walk left out of the house and on even days head right out of the house. Walking this route takes me near the elementary school, high school and middle school, and one of the major village parks, not to mention walking near the weedy Yahara River and more weedy and algae encrusted Upper Mud Lake.  I see people, and events that are common place and others that are somewhat, let me say, unusual.  This blog is about a walk in the village and two situations of which I recently came across, one being almost as rare as seeing a lepus americanus in Wisconsin.

Larson House, McFarland

The first event I will describe was the day following my encounter that will be the second event I will describe.   On this walk I came across an older couple with backpacks slowly hiking the bike path. As  I was about to over take them (while  moving into the street to social distance), I asked what hike they were training for.  They will be doing another segment of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in the fall.  They have been doing segments over the past several years, and usually spend about two to three  weeks out east, and walk two to three days and take a day off.  The most they accomplished in one trip was 118 miles. I found this interesting because I had just completed reading Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods and the prior night watched the movie of the same name (and based on the book) staring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  We had about a ten or fifteen minute conversation regarding the AT and their adventures.  They prefer to walk in the spring, and this year were scheduled to do so, but Covid delayed their adventure.  Water is more abundant in the spring time.  In spring, you can carry less water, and hence less weight. They noted one fall where they were told there was no water for over 20 miles. After I got home, I was noting this to my wife.  I asked her when we will begin training for the AT, there was not a positive response.

Weed Cutting on the Yahara River

The rare event, in my mind was not my encounter with the backpackers, but what occurred the day before.  While on that daily morning walk, the day before encountering the backpackers, I came across a lone young boy, perhaps eight or so years of age, on a bike at about 8:30 am.  He was sitting on his bike at a street corner, and as I walked up the hill on the other side of the street, he said to me that he was lost.  I walked over to the side of the street he was on and asked where he lived, and he told me the name of the street.  I asked where he was going and he said my grandma's house and I asked where that was and he said the same street name on which he lived. The street on which he lived and where he headed is a cul-de-sac so it is not like it was long street. Well, I knew the general subdivision of the street he mentioned, but was not sure of what particular street in the subdivision it was.  The subdivision is almost all cul-de-sacs, and I really don't recall what cul-de-sac is where. Lacking a smartphone, I did the next best thing and called my wife, who from years of garage sale buying knows pretty much every street in the village. Good thing I had my phone because it is rare for me to have it with me on my walk.  As I hung up I was thinking of the best way for the boy to get home, and to me that was providing a route with the fewest turns.  He mentioned that if he got to the elementary school he would know where to go from there.  I gave him a route with the fewest turns, although perhaps longer than other routes.  The route would direct him to a street along the side of the school, and I provided direction to that ubiquitous cul-de-sac.  I trusted he knew right from left, but in case he did not, I also gave him landmarks.  The first turn was only a block away and could be seen from our vantage point and the second turn would take him on the opposite side of the street from the school.  Two more turns and he would be on his street.   As I continued my walk, and about 20 minutes later, I saw a lady with her young children who I know live in the same subdivision and asked if she had seen the boy, she had not. We figured being on a bike he made it home before she set out for her walk.

Red Dot Marks Location of Sighting of Rare Species in McFarland, WI
a lone in puer cursoriam
Source:  Google maps

What struck me as odd, beyond his answer to where he lived and where he was going,  was he was alone out fairly early in the morning (and without a bike helmet).  So I came across an oddity for the village: a  lone free-range young child in the village of McFarland on his bike and not in or near his subdivision. A particularly rare species in this suburban village.  To me it is so rare, that I have given this a name: in puer cursoriam. This geographic and demographic situation is not a common sight in the village, at least to my eyes, and is so rare that it strikes you as unusual.  This is a community that even buses some elementary school grade children who live a block or less from their school.  There is not a great deal of a lone child movement by biking or walking outside of their neighborhood without an adult. Nationally, and in particular, suburbs, have become overly protective of children that you wonder what type of independence they will build, and how this will affect future decision making.  I guess you could say it is helicopter parenting to the extreme. Is it any wonder why kids are said to be overweight? The lost boy was about 1.5 miles from the street that contained his destination.  Pre-Covid, the suburban residential streets would be quite empty during the day.  There have been times when I hardly saw any one out, but with Covid more people tend to be out walking there dogs, or getting exercise.  Many lone young children are in or near their neighborhood, not over a mile away.

Location of Sighting of in puer cursoriam

Although, as rare as this event is, this is not the only free range child that I saw in the village on that walk.  About 15 minutes after seeing him I saw two boys on bikes heading to the river to fish (this was evident due to the fact they were carrying fishing poles), the youngest perhaps a little older than the boy who was lost, and likely his older brother who was perhaps 11 or 12. I guessed it was an older brother by the directives he was issuing to the younger boy behind him, and the younger boys response (he did not appear to like the directives).  It was a rather startling to come across three, yes, three free-range children on my walk that day. yet, there was only the one case of a lone free range child. I did not see them the rest of the week, or this week, although I have seen the fisherboys before.

Two Free Range Boys, not as rare as a lone child,
 photo taken June 23, 2020, about a week after my
sighting of the rare species in puer cursoriam

Also on my walk this week some child exercise class is being held at a local park through which I walk.  They range from say kindergarten to perhaps grade five and are broken into two to four groups, depending upon what they are doing.  I think most must get dropped off, because I have not seen many bikes.  Maybe a couple bikes are parked.  The child gets dropped off to get exercise, is not unlike a person who takes an elevator to go down to the main floor and then goes to a gym to use a step machine for exercise.

Lewis Park looking at Lower Mud Lake

As a city planner I am well aware of the controversy of sidewalks as a safety enhancement for walking.  Every time we did a bike and pedestrian plan, sidewalks were the major issue.  I first approached the sidewalk issue in my first couple years of work in Fitchburg, and proposed a policy of placing sidewalks on collector and some other streets that connect parks. (The Capital Times had an article the day after I presented the sidewalk policy to the Plan Commission for discussion, with a head line that read "What's long grey and hard and coming to Fitchburg.")  It was one of the top five most contentious issues in that governmental unit, OK, perhaps the top two or three. It was amazing how people hated to have a sidewalk along their street.  Gradually, we went from no sidewalks to a sidewalk section in the drive for homes in new subdivisions, to at least make sidewalks easier to install, and then eventually in the early 1990's to requiring sidewalks in new subdivisions.  Many of the same people who did (or do) not want sidewalks along their street are among the many who complain about speeders on their street, but as past enforcement shows, the same persons who complain about speeders are ones who do their share of the speeding.  Layout and connectivity are important to an integrated transportation system and many suburban street layouts work against such a street pattern.

Bike Bridge connecting Pheasant Run with Creamery Rd in McFarland

Reasons for being outside vary.  The boys going fishing, the older couple training for the AT, and then there was the rarest of rare sightings in the village, a lone free-range child on his bike and well beyond his subdivision, and of course me taking in the sights of the village and walking as a means of exercise.   I suppose the boy on the bike being lost is why parents do not allow their children to free- range about, but then the children miss out on the key to geography:  A geographer is never lost, they are just exploring new territory.  The lost boy did not seem frightened, or scared, and I am sure I am not the only one who would have assisted the boy. Although, he perhaps is lucky we were in a time of Covid, because pre-Covid he may have been waiting a long time for someone to provide assistance, if I had not happened by. A walk in the village can produce the rarest of sights, and so it was last week.  Like my coming across an identifying a new endangered species: in puer cursoriam.

Unless otherwise noted, photos by author on 22 June 2020

A Not Too Distant Mirror

I think it was about forty years ago, while in college, that I read parts of historian Barbara Tuchman's work titled A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. It was probably for a research paper.  I cannot recall much of the detail of the book, but I do know that it covered various events of that century.  The 14th century, among other calamitous events saw: the Hundred Years War, a papal schism, and the great plague.  The mirror was a reference to the 20th century which, when the book was published in 1978, had seen various wars, including two world wars, the 1918 flu epidemic, the great depression, racial strife, equal rights, and other movements. Given that, I wonder what Barbara Tuchman would say today. We may be distant from the calamitous 14th century, but we are not too distant from those calamitous events of the 20th century.  We are less than 20% of the way through the 21st century, and it seems that we already have a century worth of calamitous events.

Tuchman's work, from what I recall, starts with a cooling period which followed what is often referred to as the  Medieval warm period.  Warmer weather, during the Medieval warm period, allowed for more marginal land to be tilled, which led to more crops to be grown and hence more population to be sustained.  Then came the cooling period, or climate change, which led to cold weather, floods and a resulting famine starting about 1314.  Depending upon account the famine would last from three to seven years.  By comparison, the 21st century has seen a changing climate, as much of the world the last ten years has been noticeably warmer, on average, than any of the prior three decades.  More significant rainfall and other weather factors affect populations.  Think of flooding in the Midwest and plain states just last year.  Similar flooding, but with colder temperatures occurred in the early part of the 14th century. 

Of course, the 14th century is best known for its greatest calamity the bubonic plague, better known as the Black Death.  Perhaps the 21st century will be defined by Covid-19.  The plague was spread primarily by rats to warriors and sailors, and who with the rats, carried it to ports and persons.  It then spread over all of Europe.  Covid began with a bat, and spread person to person and possibly by touching objects that may have been infected.  Think door handles and counters.  What is interesting is that much of the population of Europe was significantly affected by the plague. Estimates range from 30-50% of Europeans died of the plague. And to think it started when some Russians, the Tartars, decided to use the dead bodies of their comrades as projectiles against a Genoese army.  As these sailors returned to Italy and the plague sread to Italy and then to all of Europe.  Famine and the plague are very Malthusian-identified methods of population control.  According to Malthus, varied checks, of war, pestilence, floods and there after affects, such as starvation are a check to population growth. The 1918 flu epidemic had a much smaller death rate than the plague, but was still estimated at 3 to 5% of the population.  The Covid death rate is thought to be about .5 to 1%. 

Today, advances in agriculture and medicine have led to fewer impacts of drought, and disease than what was possible in the early 20th, much less in the 14th century.  In the 14th century doctors wore long beaks stuffed with herbs and essential oils, today health workers wear N95 masks, when available. However, our advances in a  global world come at a cost, think of the pests, that overrun North America as a result of globalization.  They destroy trees, plants and shrubs and some carry virulent diseases.  Then we also have the use of insecticides to battle bugs, and combined with the mono-culture of crops we see a significant decrease in pollinators. In medicine researchers see the mutation of bacteria into super bugs more resistant to the use of antibiotics.  The superbugs have come about due to the overuse of antibiotics.  Our ability to offset famine and disease comes at a cost.  Speaking of famine, East Africa has been suffering from a locust infestation that has ruined vegetation and crops, leading to a potentially devastating food situation.  Here in the U.S., at the same time, a big concern was the lack of beef in the meat aisle.  Covid closed a number of meat processing plants. Transfer of disease or pests has been with the world since the start of travel.

Of course, we have war.  For almost nineteen years the United States has been at war with Islamic fundamentalists who bombed the Twin towers, the Pentagon, and an aircraft taken down in the fields of Pennsylvania.  Filled with hubris yet again, the US spread the war to Iraq.  While, the 14th century had the 100 years war, the war on terror seems as if it will never end.  I have to think that 100 years in the 14th century is probably equal to about 10 years present time.  Activity and communications in the world move so much faster.  The twentieth century had a seemingly no-end to conflict.  The four year Great War was followed, less than a quarter century later, by an even larger world conflict. Five years after the end of WWII we had the police action of Korea followed later by the action in Vietnam.  Both of the latter arose in large part, according some historians, from the policies of FDR who desired to see American might replace British colonialism as the "peace" keeper of the world.  Of course, American hubris following WWII made the US think they were militarily invincible.  The Japanese thought the same in WWII, as the US did after.  However, Peter Bernstein (The Power of Gold) writes that unlike the 14th century, except for the two world wars, the major world powers were at peace during the 20th century.  He says the 14th century showed no such relief. As Bernstein writes, "The fourteenth century stands unmatched in history for its unrelenting sequence of famine, pestilence, social chaos, and warfare."  A terrible contrast to the advancements of the 12 and 13th centuries.  Bernstein may be correct, but the cold war produced a seemingly too large supply of nuclear weaponry.

The calamitous 14th century also saw revolts, one being the 1381 English peasant revolt.  In the US we now have protests and riots related to police use of force on persons of color, showing that the racial riots and civil rights programs of the 1960's did not fully effect change, and inherent bigotry is difficult to overcome.

Economically, while the 20th century had the Great Depression, the 21st century, so far, has had the Great Recession, and now the coming possible Covid recession.  However, an oddity occurred during the 14th century, particularly during the plague, when so many persons died, the wealth standard of the survivors increased.  Gold was the main standard at the time, as it has been throughout much of history, and as the population decreased the amount of gold saw an increase per-capita. Wealth then as today was not equally distributed.  Further, as today, who holds the money has the power.

The church had its papal schism in the 14th century, or two popes, (starting in 1378 and lasting into the 15th century), not to mention when a pope was imprisoned in the early part of the century.  This fact is almost lost to history, but this had marked effects on the Christian population of the middle ages.  The twentieth century saw church reform with Vatican II, but the 21st century saw a pope begin a reform of the reform, which led to more confusion for the decreasing numbers of faithful.  The pope who liked to look back to an earlier time resigned and promised to retreat into a life of prayer and contemplation, but he has had a tendency to come out with a statement or writings at critical junctures of decisions for the current pope.  Concerned with relativism, the reform adverse institution increasingly has allowed itself to become more and more irrelevant.

The calamitous 14th century followed two centuries of innovation and economic advancement.  The history of the middle ages is not dark, but produced advancements following the downfall of the Roman Empire.  Today, change moves much faster and this then leads to a theory I have that is built off of a psychologist and his talk about highs and lows in life.  The theory of the psychologist was the higher high a person experiences the lower his low, or depression.  In my theory something similar holds true for cultures and economies, the higher the highs, the greater the lows. Is it possible that the advances of the 12th and 13th helped produced the calamities of the 14th? That the industrial revolution led to the Great War, which in part led to WWII as Japan and Germany clambered for more natural resources? Is the digital revolution of today leaving too many behind? Coupled with the fact that time moves so much faster, change can come more rapidly. I guess that is something I need to further study.  Of course, the Industrial Revolution has led to acid rain, and the CO2 emissions is large factor in climate change.

In a sense what this post really shows is that no century is without its tumult and divisions, some centuries just have much more in terms of calamity, and in the 14th and today it all seems to begin with changes in weather.  We are far removed from the calamity of the 14th, but we are not as calamitous today as then, although we are only 20% through the 21st century.  We are all human, each with our own ideas, habits, and tendencies. Culturally, certain events have a tendency to cause long-lasting change, think of the 1960's, the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand, from which flowed alterations to the cultural and world landscape.  In some respects, as globalization has increased in the world, more conflict occurs, and interestingly tribalism and nationalism have advanced.  The advancement of tribalism, nationalism and individualism is what helps keep people or groups apart. Are these an inherent response to globalization?  While the world is in a series of calamitous events, we need to understand and respect the one common humanity and the earth on which we find ourselves.

Photos by author, May and June 2020

Infestation

Pests come from different sources and in different sizes and shapes.  The pest I wish to talk about today is an invasive specie that made its way from Asia to the United States.  The emerald ash borer (EAB) was first noticed in central Michigan in 2002 and likely came over as part of wood shipping crate by sea or air from northeast Asia, much of it being northeast China and part of Mongolia.  As a child I recall the street trees being taken down due to Dutch Elm disease, so we are in a situation that is now repeating itself, but with a different pest from a different part of the world.  With the EAB many cities, such as my current village, took trees down ahead of the anticipated infestation. The EAB was first noticed in Wisconsin, the southeastern part of the state, in August 2008.

Injection lines connected to the tree awaiting insecticide

Twelve years later, I have not seen an EAB, but have seen the holes and the damage they cause.  When I bought my house, the first tree I installed was a Autumn purple ash, a cultivar developed at the University of Wisconsin from the white ash.  For six years now I have been having the tree professionally treated, and treated at least twice before that myself.  At a certain size the professional service is required.  The tree is treated every two years.  It is not cheap, and the total cost of treating will likely soon pass the cost of removal of the tree, but the tree holds value beyond the cost of removal.  The house and yard would not look the same with it removed, and it would take years for a new tree to reach its relative size.  I am not sure if at some point the ash borer leaves because no more trees are around for it to infect, not unlike herd immunity of viruses.

Insecticide being pumped to tree

Ash is a good strong wood that is used to make baseball bats, and is native to the United States. It is unfortunate that a bug can come from beyond the ocean and infect the tree, costing forests, streets and parks the canopy that can be enjoyed and bring along the other many benefits trees provide. They have created elm trees resistant to the Dutch elm disease, and researchers are working on a disease resistant ash tree.   However, like people, trees can have a different genetic makeup and it appears that the genetics of some green ash trees resist the EAB.  At Penn State they are thinking those trees may hold the key to survival.  Whatever the case, if we think Covid has a high mortality rate, the mortality rate of ash trees near the epicenter of its arrival in Michigan is over 99%.

Line from source dividing to multiple lines to the tree

To avoid the death of my tree, since EAB is in Dane County, and some say in McFarland, it is now treated every two years. This year it was treated on Friday, May 29.  The caliper of my tree requires eight holes pounded near the base of the tree about 1/2" through the bark to the cambium layer.  A chemical is injected by a hookup of small hoses and valves.  A regular bicycle pump provides the pressure for the injection.  The amount used, like the holes is based on the diameter of the tree.  In my case, about 25 to 30% of the bottle is used. It takes about a half hour for the injection process.

Close up view

It is not cheap, but the issue is that trees provide a variety of benefits, and I have chosen to have the tree treated.  Globalization has brought many good things, but we also need to examine the invasive species and the cost to determine appropriate cost/benefits. Yet, now it is too late.  I have always liked ash trees and it is sad to now see them disappear from their native habitat.  Perhaps pest resistant trees will reestablish the woodlands with ash trees.

Hole upon completion of treatment

Pentecost and Faust

Most people have seen disruption to their normal lives since mid-March, when the world was turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.  To a large degree we all gravitate to a normality, whether it be in our eating, in our chores, in our daily exercise or in our work.  That normality was shattered in mid-spring and our hopes for a return to what we knew as normal may no longer occur. We may see a new normal.  Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, in-attendance church has been canceled, so my wife and I have been watching the Sunday liturgy at St John's Abbey in Minnesota. We enjoy their liturgies, the organ music, and above all the quality of their homilies.  That leads me to Pentocost Sunday, on the last day of May 2020. 

St John Abbey and University Church Window

As if the pandemic was not sufficiently upsetting to society then came along the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis and the resulting protests and riots which have spread to many cities in the nation. Three parts of the St John's mass struck me as we grapple with the outfall of these two incidents, one world and one now national.  

Great Hall 

First, was the First reading and the Responsorial Psalm which follows the first reading.  The first reading, Acts 2:1-11, is about the Holy Spirit coming down to the Apostles and in which they speak in other tongues.  Yet, the reading goes on to talk about a whole host of persons from different areas and countries with different customs and languages hearing in their own language what the Apostles speak, and it was not the language of Aramaic, or perhaps Hebrew in which the Apostles would normally speak.  What was striking to me was how the Holy Spirit was speaking to more than just those from Galilee or Jerusalem, but to a broader humanity.  That seems to be a message that we have forgotten, or perhaps laid to the side, that we are all one humanity regardless of race, sex, or affiliations. But, that was not the end of the driving home of this message.

Second, at the time of the Responsorial Psalm, three monks came forward. The refrain was sung in English, but each of the three verses were sung in a different language:  A monk sang a verse in Spanish, a monk from Africa sang in Swahili, and a monk from Vietnam sang in Vietnamese.  In a sense all four corners of the earth were covered by the singing of the Psalm, once again showing that we are all one under God.  I found this quite powerful, given recent events.  This made me think that perhaps there is no other institution on earth, as flawed the as Church may be, that has such a global reach.

Then came the homily.  The celebrant, Fr Michael Patella, OSB related the reading from Acts and the portion of John's Gospel to Mahler's Symphony #8.  He relates Acts as the Holy Spirit coming like an earth shake, and the words of Gospel as a gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit.  He then gets into the way the symphony describes the relationship of Faust and his bargain with the devil (and later his redemption by his lover Gretchen).  What Fr Patella had to say, is well beyond my capabilities.  He says that the pandemic shows cracks in "high relief the results of a world built on small Faustian bargains" from our streets to the highest office in the land.  He then relates that such fears have no place within the larger works of the Holy Spirit.  You can view the homily at this link, and it begins at about the 29:00 minute mark (Please note the recording, I believe, is up for one week, so it will expire next week Saturday).

Church Bell Banner

Yet, if the Holy Spirit is to either act like a earthquake or gentle nudge on each of us we have to be willing to discern what the Holy Spirit intended, and then look to act on that nudge or earth shake.  Small acts of kindness and realizing that we are more alike than different, may not help quell the violence at present, but it can also show the better "angles of our nature", such as those who come together to clean up following a night of violence.  It takes a change of hearts to change society and to change hearts requires us to listen and be aware. We have to realize that we are all together on one earth, just like those who sung verses to the Responsorial Psalm.  Personally, the mass was just what my soul required in this time of turmoil.  To that I am thankful to St John's.

Memorial Day

During this time of pandemic people have had to get used to reduced gatherings, and events.  This year Memorial Day, generally recognized as the beginning of summer, had a much different feel than years past.  While I have not regularly attended local McFarland events, the lack of events provided a different feel to the holiday this year. However, that did not mean the experience without a gathering was not meaningful.

McFarland Legion Memorial

Locally, the American Legion post sponsors a parade on the morning of Memorial Day, and while the large area parade would be in Monona, the local legion parade fits a small community just fine.  Although years ago I have to admit it was sort of lame.  When our children were younger we would watch the parade, and as they got a little older they were often in the parade, from Tiger Cubs, to Cub Scouts, to Boy Scouts or with the middle or high school band.  My wife and I bought this house on May 25, 1990, the Friday before Memorial Day, and my first recollection of the Memorial Day parade in town was moving her into the house and getting stuck at the blocked street while trying to get to the house.  We are about a block from the parade route, and lack of a street grid system meant that we had to wait while it passed the intersection or go miles out of the way.  I think I chose going around the route.  If I had known then, as I did later, how few units are the parade, I may well have stayed and watched for the street to reopen.It may have been quicker.  As an aside, I mentioned to my wife a few days ago, on May 26, that it was 30th anniversary of the first full day of owning the house, with a mortgage of course.  Well, my Land Girl thought it no big issue and has no sentimental attachment to that day. I thought it was a neat fact, she apparently did not.  But, that is quite frequent of facts I think are neat, but no one else seems to care.

National and some Service Flags at the Memorial

Beyond the parade, there is also the Legion BBQ.  Located next to the High School, the Legion would host a chicken BBQ, which we have attended a few times in the past.  It is, or was, a big deal in town, but this year of course it was canceled.  After the parade, which ends at the High School, people would flock to the Legion for lunch.  The BBQ smell, would waft over the parade route, meaning it moved stomachs and moving stomachs it moved minds to get something to eat., and getting something to eat meant going to the source of the BBQ smell--the legion.

Casket flags beyond the service and main national flag

In 2005 the Legion installed a memorial to recognize local service members.  Andrew, our oldest son, created a landscape plan, received Legion approval and oversaw, and assisted, the boy scouts and other community members who helped install the landscaping as his Eagle Scout project.  He gathered donations to pay for the planting as well as sold items to assist with the fund raising. The landscape plan provided shrubs that have a red flower in the spring, about the time of Memorial Day, and also had Stella d' Oro day lilies with their gold flower to bloom on the fourth. I think improper pruning affected the bloom this year.  The nation's flag, flanked by the state and service flags sit in the center of, and slightly taller poles, than the waves of adjoining casket flags, which are in place to recognize those from the community who sacrificed for their country.

But, the Legion does more than a chicken dinner on Memorial Day, they also hold an event with a speaker to recognize and recall those who served and gave their life.  They also identify the boys and girls selected for Badger Boys and Girls State, for which both my sons were selected.  In 2011, at his Badger Boys State recognition on Memorial day, our youngest son Joe had the opportunity to meet Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Salvatore Giunta.  Joe's Eagle Scout project raised supplies to send to troops serving in Afghanistan.  The goal was to provide supplies to the unit of local resident Joshua Brennan, the 173rd Airborne.  Brennan, had been killed in action during an ambush by the Taliban in Kunar Province and the community wished to support his unit.  Giunta, a member of Brennan's unit, took fire himself in order to save other members of the unit, and for that he was awarded one of the Nation's highest honors.  Joe received donations of money and items, and organized his homeroom and Christ the King and McFarland Lutheran youth groups in gathering and assembling supplies, and mailing.  Community support was so large that many other units were able to benefit. 

Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Salvatore Giunta
Speaking at McFarland Legion 2011 Memorial Day Ceremony
Author photo, May 2011 

For all the years I have been in town there is one constant about Memorial Day, and that is the flying of a casket flag for members of the post and community who have sacrificed for the nation.  Seeing the large mass of flags flying on the hillside cannot help but think of the sacrifice of those the day serves, those who died in battle, but also by extension those who had or do give part of their life to serve the nation.  On Sunday, my wife and I stopped by to view the flags and Legion Memorial.

This year the sound at the local memorial among its multitude of flags was not the speech of some dignitary, the 21 gun salute, or the clapping and rancor of an appreciative crowd, but rather the gentle whoosh the wind and the flapping of the flags on an otherwise lonely hill side.  While I missed hearing the bands play in the parade and the smell of the BBQ, the casket flags and memorial stand testament to the true meaning of Memorial Day. The silence, but for the flapping of the flags, is a solemn reminder of the purpose of the day.  A speech was not required.

Unless noted otherwise photos by author on 5/24/2020

Football

The past two months has been a dream time for the NFL as no other sports have been played.  The NFL sets its schedule to take advantage of almost every month of the year, lest people forget about them and concentrate on say baseball or basketball.  Think about it, July is training camp, August is training camp and pre-season games, the seasonal games run Sept to the end of Dec, or early January.  Playoffs are in January, and the Super Bowl in February.  Free agency starts in March and the draft is held in late April.  Yet, they are not done.  May and June hold what is referred to as Organized Team Activities (OTA's is football lingo, which can be confused with online travel agency), and many areas have given the go ahead for that activity this year.  This year, due to COVID-19, the NFL pretty much owned the sports pages until recently when ESPN began its series on Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. At least there was something else than those dissecting the NFL free agency and the NFL draft.

Source:  Google images

Of course, the No Fun League, under Roger Godell, likes the idea of being in the sports pages at least once a month, and to dominate them during the season and playoffs. There is also the quote given by Allegheny County Corner Dr. Cyril Wecht to Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith) in the movie "Concussion" where Dr. Wecht says: "The NFL owns a day of the week, the same day the church used to own." You can see that clip here. Of course, the NFL owns more than Sunday's in the fall and winter. The NFL made the move to Monday nights decades ago, and in the past few years have expanded Thursday night games. The earned television revenue of the NFL is split equally between all 32 teams, and it is reported that each team received $255 Million of TV revenue as of February 2019 (compared to $99 million in 2010). All teams, but one are privately held, so little financial information is fully available, except for that one team. The one team owned by the "public" is the Green Bay Packers. The Packers, in 2018, earned $196 million in local revenue; local revenue is made up of ticket sales, concessions, corporate sponsors, and some merchandise sales. That $196 million represented 43% of their 2018 revenue of $455 million. (If the 2020 season sees no attendance, that means the Packers will likely lose about that much revenue this year.)

Of course, there is the expense side. In the same year, 2018, the Packers had expenses of $420 million, and of that amount $213 million went to players, and the remaining $208 million was for stadium upkeep, marketing, team, and administrative costs. The most expensive player on the Packer team is QB Aaron Rodgers, who was given a four year contract in 2018 worth $134 million. Signing bonus and other specifications in the contract make it difficult to say how much he makes year to year, but let us say it was quite significant. One study of the complexities of NFL player salaries, said that Aaron Rodgers is the highest paid player in the NFL and made almost $67 million for the 2019 season, which is over $146,000 for every minute of playing time. What does this say about national priorities?

Source:  Google images

The NFL player collective bargaining agreement is completed by veteran players so it gives veterans higher benefits than those on the four to five year rookie contract. This is why teams, with the possible exception of the Chicago Bears, select what they hope will be a starting QB in the NFL player draft. (The poor Bears, can never seem to get the QB situation right, as the Chicago Tribune reported on 4 Jan., nine of the QB's starting in the playoffs this past season the Bears had a chance to select, but did not.) The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl this year and that was accomplished with their QB Patrick Mahomes on his 2017 rookie contract and who was drafted tenth. Teams who passed on Mahomes included the Chicago Bears who are now thought to have essentially wasted draft picks and three years on Mitch Trubisky. The Bears could be the poster child of how not to select a QB. If you have a successful QB the QB is in line, as was Aaron Rodgers, for a large payday. Russell Wilson of Seattle has a contract valued at $140 million, and is estimated to make $53 million this year.

The benefit to a team with a good QB on a rookie contract is that there is significantly more salary cap space for other players. As free agency concludes teams may dump high cost players that have shown little on the field to make room for other players. The team salary cap for 2020 in the NFL is $198.2 million, which means that Russel Wilson's salary is about 25% of the Seattle Salary cap, and if the report on Aaron Rodgers is correct his percent was much more. What the NFL owners and general managers fail to realize is that the high priced QB's, are more a detriment than a help to a team, after all it is a team. Other than Tom Brady, who gave New England a discount, no high priced QB has won a recent Super Bowl in the past few years. High priced Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees (Saints), and others have come close. A second string QB, Nick Foles, won it for Philadelphia in 2017. But, unlike horse shoes, close does not count. I had thought Rodgers should have been traded in 2018 for a young QB or a journey man QB and strengthen other positions.

Rodgers and Love
Source:  Google images

Rodgers signed his new agreement in August 2018, and he was at the height of his game. While his game has declined somewhat in the recent years, some say it was injury and others how the Packers failed to provide proper play makers for him. Of course, to get more play makers you need to have salary cap room, and when one body sucks up a significant amount of you salary cap is it little wonder why not much remains? Rodgers has always worked best when slighted and Tom Oates and others think that the drafting of Jordan Love in the first round is the slight Rodgers needs to advance his game, apparently even if the team lacks a good second fiddle wide receiver, or perhaps a first fiddle wide receiver depending upon your feelings regarding Davante Adams. Drafting to slight a player seems counterproductive to me, but I have tried not to understand the thinking of the Packer organization that has wasted talent, and was even better at not selecting talent, think Justin Harrell.

In selecting a QB in the first round of the draft, Green Bay traded its first round pick and its fourth round pick to move up four spots to select QB Jordan Love of Utah. Perhaps doing his best imitation of Bear GM Ryan Pace, Packer GM Brian Gutekunst "had" to move up to pick Love, even though no team of the four ahead would likely have picked a QB. Gutekunst then says that Love "fell to the Packers". I am perplexed as to how he can say a player falls to you when you trade a fourth round pick to move up four spots? I am not against the Packers picking Jordan Love, as I am used to the Packers wasting first round draft choices. But to trade a fourth round pick makes little sense. Many teams, including the Packers, find or found value in those from the middle round picks. Of course, getting value out of mid round picks means you have to know personnel, but Gutekunst has yet to prove he knows personnel well. As one sportswriter noted, he has only drafted two players who have made good production for the team.

People are comparing the Love pick to when the Packers picked Aaron Rodgers in the later part of the first round when Brett Favre was still playing well. But for New Orlean's bounty gate which certainly affected Favre, Brett may well have played in the Super Bowl when he was with the Vikings. Given the salary cap issue, is it any wonder the Packers cannot find strength at other position needs? Of course, that means their leadership would have to know what they are doing. That is the million dollar question for the Packer GM. While Gutekunst says he will not draft a person in a round higher than how he has that person graded, and used that as his reason for not drafting a wide receiver, his second and third round choices had heads shaking as most had those players were graded for a lower round.

To show the bizarre nature of the Jordan Love pick you have to look at the dead cap hit the Packers would have to take if they release Rodgers. In 2020 the dead cap hit would be over $51 million, in 2021 it will be over $31.5 million and then even beyond that contract year in 2022 it is still a high $17.2 million. The thing is in 2018 they gave Rodgers a huge contract to be their QB for four or more years, and a contract that they still have to pay on after the last contract year of 2021. That means that Green Bay thought Jordan Love, who had only three fewer interceptions than TD's on a team coached by past UW coach Gary Anderson, was better than any potential QB who will play in college over the next two or three seasons. Further, unless you wish to waste money, which apparently Gutekunst feels is an easy commodity given the through thin and thick of Packer fans, that Love will not likely start, barring injury to Rodgers, for the Packers until 2022, or his third year contract of a rookie four years with a fifth year option.

Rodgers Salary 

How this will turn out? No one knows at this point, by not having given Rodgers any more weapons and not really having helped the inside of the defense, the Packers most likely will see the decline in wins, although perhaps not as bad as the Bears saw last year after having placed first in the NFC North the year before. Having finished first, the Packers will see an increase in their competition as they will play the three other first place NFC teams, and not just the usual one. With a coaching staff clueless as to how to handle a San Francisco rushing offense, and with a QB who sucks up so much of the salary cap leaving little cap space for quality players at other position groups, it does not look good for the Packers. Brian Gutekunst could well be the new poster child for how not to do a draft.

Mechanical Girl

Just when I thought I would be unable to come up with another nickname for my wife, she gives me the material.  There were two incidences within the course of two days in the past week that gave me the material for the mechanical girl.

One nice day this spring we decided to grill out, and the gas grill had not been used all year. Last year we had trouble getting the grill to light, particularly at the end of the season.  However, the first time, after several flicks of the igniter switch, we were fortunate that the grill light.  Fast forward a week, and we were going to grill again, but this time it would not light, so I started the charcoal grill.  A little delayed, but we had our hamburgers. This would turn to be one of the two incidents where the mechanic girl showed her acumen.  The other involved the wash machine.

The second incident with the wash machine began one Sunday evening. I was reading and my wife was upstairs enjoying a bath.  She comes down and goes directly to the basement. She comes upstairs after a few minutes later out of breath and says that she will need my help to take a panel off the washing machine.  I find it odd, wondering what is wrong with the washing machine and she says there is a drain mechanism that is supposed to be cleaned.  I am not sure what she was doing up in her bath, but it was not relaxing, which proves my point that the woman does not know what the word RELAX means.  Perhaps Aaron Rodgers needs to spell it out for her. Anyway, she says we can work on it Monday morning.

I go for my walk Monday and when I return home, find that she had gotten the off by knocking the panel.  I guess it is like kicking a car when it will not start.  She then cleaned whatever part needed to be cleaned.  She said a musty smell is common with front loading washers unless the drain is cleaned.  I guess it is supposed to be cleaned once a month,  but we have had it several years and never cleaned the drain mechanism.  I guess she looked up online about the odor and found this to be a possible cure.  She even looked up how to find the way to get the panel that encloses the drain mechanism off.  So, I did not need to assist with that chore.  She said there was not a lot of gunk, but it did stink.  I am glad she was not like Frank Barone who "fixed" Raymond and Debra's washer, only to leave a part out when he reassembled the unit.

Later in the week, after a load of laundry to assure she had it put together correctly, she put the panel on, but could not get the lower center screw in place, which is about a finger width above the floor.  I tried, but realized that the panel edge needed to pushed up to align with the hole in the frame, so I pushed the panel up while she put the screw in place

She then turned her attention to the gas grill.  She got the manual and looked at what could be done for the problem.  We then started to clean some of the items noted in the manual.  What a novel thought, to look at the manual for the grill.  It is not like I am adverse to looking at manuals, in fact the day before this, I looked at a manual for how to take a front loader off a garden tractor.  After cleaning the items suggested we tried the grill and it worked.  Of course it worked when we first tried it this year.  A fifty percent success rate is not very good, so we will have to see what occurs the next time we try to light the grill.  Hopefully, the cleaning was all that was needed, although not a lot came out when we cleaned, but perhaps it was sufficient to impede the flow or ignition of gas into the grill.

Whether it be finding information on the washer online, or looking at the paper copy of the manual for the gas grill, the mechanical girl finds the way to solve the issues that arise.  I guess being a mechanical girl was the logical next step following being a land girl.