Wisconsin's Holy Land

I've been meaning to post this for several weeks.
And now that I'm going to be having surgery next week, followed by a period of recuperation, I'd better post it today!

Just east of Lake Winnebago is an area that was colonized by German immigrant farmers, beginning in the 1840s. They established close-knit farming communities centered on their Roman Catholic churches. This area came to be known as Wisconsin's "holy land."

The St. Lawrence boys school also dates from that period.

In addition to Mount Calvary, other names include St. Anna, St. Cloud, St. Joe, St. Peter, and so on.

Johnsburg's history is especially well-documented - I'll enlarge the photos of the historical signs in front of the church -

Scattered through the holy land are tall angels lifting their long arms in praise -

And farmers have to farm and cattle have to do what cattle do. . .

. . . so, given that this farm is in the holy land, is this holy ______ ?  Whatever - it's certainly liquid gold!

Liz and I certainly will wander this area again and again, so we'll bring you more reports.

On this trip a few weeks ago we ended up in St. Anna at its famous - notorious - steak place. Several boys - members of a visiting German youth orchestra - had suggested that they would enjoy a big American steak. So in St. Anna they got their wish!

They managed these porterhouses very well. There were no requests for doggy bags!

Spring in Wisconsin

If you live in Wisconsin, you know that the title of this post is a cruel joke - there really has been no real spring in Wisconsin so far (April 14), at least in terms of temperatures. Our daily highs are still generally only in the 30s, or an occasional low 40.

But the snow is gone. And this is where it went:

This is Sheboygan Falls, a few miles upriver from Sheboygan. The Sheboygan river is pretty dramatic this spring:

lots of snow melt, plus lots of rainy days.

The rivers of our county - the Pigeon, the Mullet, the Onion, and the Sheboygan - have spread out from their banks in many places, but so far there's no serious flooding of homes or businesses, as far as I know. (River Park in Sheboygan Falls, above, is under water. The footbridge probably would not keep your feet dry. I don't know how the muskrat in the corner of the picture is feeling. Water would not be a problem, but I think they like dry homes to go to. And I wonder about any spring litters they might have had.)

Our immediate neighborhood proudly boasts some of the biggest storm drains in the city:

there are several drain covers like this, just in our block, and more in a few adjacent blocks. The reason is that back in the mid-1990s there were a couple days of heavy rains, and the water gathered in our neighborhood, which is slightly lower than the surrounding blocks. The rainwater rose to the level of our front porch and caved in the back portion of our basement wall, with similar damage all around us. And our neighbors to the east, downstream, suffered even more destruction. As a result a new and much bigger storm sewer system was constructed. We understand that the drain pipes under our street are six feet in diameter, and the conduit to the east, as more water is gathered and it dumps into the lake, is twelve feet across. (I may have the numbers wrong, but the sewers are BIG.)

We assume, perhaps in ignorance, that such a flood will not touch us again. Pride goeth. . .

Back to spring in Wisconsin 2013 - the tulips are doing their best.

But it is a struggle for them. Normally they soak up some nice afternoon sun, but this spring, what sun??

Well, so what? It's very good to be alive.