A Yugo like you've never seen before...

Lots of new snow as winter slowly moves towards spring here.  This was the last weekend for Ice Drag Racing... something I don't usually have much of an interest in, but it was a beautiful morning so I set out for small road trip - mostly to enjoy the frosted trees and beautiful forests that I live in.  Life is good.

Well, I stopped in to watch the Merrill Ice Drags.  This group has been racing their dragsters on the frozen ice of the Wisconsin River for 50 years! 

Racers unload their cars and start setting them up for the 1/8 mile drag....  Here you see the studded tires being put on.

This was somebodies family cruiser once upon a time.

What a gorgeous day!

Oh boy... an AMC Javelin!  This was Detroit Muscle in it's hey day.

I remember walking past one of these every morning on my way to school...

A little breezy and around 15F, perfect for drag racing on ice!

The only "rail" that showed up was one of the fastest machines on the ice.

This Mustang was also crazy fast.  There's a trick to ice racing though.  Putting down all of your power on the launch will cost you time.  Spinning tires full of wood screws can dig deep ruts into the ice, and that looks awesome, but it doesn't get you down range as fast as it is possible.

Th Yugo...

It did not leave the factory this way!

An Oldsmobile headed for an 80 mph 1/8 mile run

One of the fastest runs today was this Corvette

The front clip had some cold weather fit-up problems... so just leave it off!

Typical tire mods.  The front tires usually have two or three rows of much smaller studs.  Racers actually balance these wheels!

The last ice races of the year means that the ice will soon melt and spring will return.

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

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Lunch break

I've missed so many opportunities for some really great wildlife photos... so after this last lost opportunity, I resolved to toss the Nikon and the big lens into the back pack and share.

This eagle was checking out an early deer kill in a field I pass by every day.

One of those majestic creatures, that those of us who live among them, never tire of  observing.

Spinning away from me...

Heading to the tree line

 The deer kill was just bones, so no meal there - and it's been a tough winter with several weeks below zero F, so food is important this winter.  I've seen so many eagles this winter that I decided to start carrying the Nikon again...

A Hazel cameo...

Her toy landed near a vent - everybody knows that's where the monster that lives below makes horrible noises!  We know that monster as the furnace, but Hazel is convinced it's a scary monster.  So she tries to convince me to help her out here.  Watch her eyes... back and forth from her toy to me...

Finally she works up the bravery... YAY! 

I hope the MOV files play back ok.  I converted them to mp4's but they rotated 180 and rather than messing around with that I just posted them... 

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The Stormy Kromer

I was born and raised into the third generation of immigrant families from Italy and Austria that left their homes out of desperation and executed a plan to learn the language and work harder than their peers, put aside personal rewards and aim whatever they could scrape together to support  their children.  Only in America do you see such a history of mapping to the common good to guide the next generation to a better future.  Thanks Clement, Julia and Mike and his Julia too!

One of the things I have always appreciated are the risk takers... Small companies that leverage  everything they have on an idea they believe in.

The Stormy Kromer seems to be one of these adventures.  JRO once upon a time even sported one of these caps.  Me too, and still do! Could be useful apparel in the coming grand minimum!






Tah under the hat... priceless

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I learned a new word today...

Balter

Yup, balter...

LOL, always on the lookout for the unusual... and there it was!  Hanging on a cork board... an invitation to the balter ball!  Whoa, b a l t e r  yup, sounds like a good time!

Hey hey... I didn't get to see the super once every 152 year moon at the digitally correct moment of greatness, but I did get to see it from 32,000 ft a few hours ahead of the celestial confluence...

Super, red white and blue moon.  I remember just a few years ago when Sky and Telescope used to say it's all just an atmospheric aberration.  Experts.

 AND this just in...   Groundhog Day 2018: Punxsutawney Phil predicts longer winter

 Somehow the rodent spotted his shadow!





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