Tonight’s WPCA-FM story broadcast was The Eye Of The Beholder, a tale of three artists, Edna, a silver artist, Leslie, a painter, and Jasper Howe, an artist good enough to teach how to paint water and snow but whose big sales at outdoor art shows are “found object” pieces: little objects glued onto slick black canvases. Leslie and Edna, whose booths are adjacent to each other, can’t figure out the appeal of Howe’s odd canvases, especially to wealthy people. The solution is up to Leslie’s small town policeman husband, Josh. Again, I appreciate WPCA’s monthly broadcast of my stories, which they’ve done for several years now.
Tonight boasts our first possible freeze, with temperatures down around the usual lows appropriate for this time of year after weeks of above average and near-record high temperatures. Per usual, the leaves of my many trees have taken the word “Fall” literally, and I have raked and shredded the yard three times so far. There are many leaves yet to fall. The pontoon and dock removed is scheduled for nine days away. With the exception of last year, our usual removal activity has been done with snow/sleet falling and hand-numbing temperatures. We’ll see how this year goes. Tim Eck shares my dock now. He and his brother and I put in the dock in the Spring but it’s best if I help the professionals do the removal job. Once the dock is out, Lance will pilot my boat to the north landing and take care of it for the Winter.
For almost two months my rider mower was on the fritz. It just stopped enroute to mowing the beach. I managed to tow it back uphill, which was fun when there was no one to steer the thing as I hauled it behind the car. Neighbor Paul Hubacher helped me find out there was a spark and we replaced the fuel pump when the machine still would not start. Paul cleaned out the carburetor but when we primed the carburetor, it would run for several seconds and then quit.The advice of several backyard mechanics was to replace the carburetor, which I did. Same result from priming. I gave up and got the trailer from Jeff’s Small Engine in Milltown and winched the tractor onto the trailer. The result? A solenoid that didn’t work, even on the new carburetor. “I just bypassed it,” said the mechanic. I didn’t have the brains at the time to ask what the solenoid did if it could simply be bypassed. Anyhow, I have the tractor back and it is running very well and tons of leaves are being shredded to help improve the lousy soil in my yard.
This coming Sunday I take the service at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. Shawn Gudmanson is our musician that day and it’s a privilege to have him with us. He has been honored greatly lately, both locally and internationally and as Wisconsin’s Teacher of the Year. Shawn is a longtime choral music teacher at St.Croix Falls High School. You can catch Wolf Creek’s services on You Tube. Call up “Wolf Creek United Methodist Church services”.
We’ve been able to take the boat out several times these past few weeks and the Fall changing of the tree colors around the lakeshore has offered its usual beauty. It’s too bad that change does not last longer. Fall is my favorite season anyway.
Finally, my reading at the Frederic Public Library went well, although the turnout was small. The weather was nice so people found things to do that they couldn’t do outside because of the near-constant rain. The Inter County Leader’s Sarah Beth Rodomsky wrote a nice review of the reading and I appreciate that very much. Praise from a fellow writer means a lot.