Goodbye to Winter Blahs

My vacation began with deer proofing the gardens. Leaving cultivated plantings unattended for weeks during a Wisconsin winter is an invitation to dinner and spring time disaster.

As I liberally sprayed desirables with Liquid Fence I followed new deer tracks that were not in place during my recent Sunday tracking. I found the rounded branch tips of Tiger Eye Sumac cruelly munched and healed-in pots of Devils Walking Stick nibbled atop their single thorny trunks. Working upwind, I carried a 2 gallon pressure sprayer over deep snow drifts, more than once slipping to my knees on the rocks beneath. I remember the Yellow Ribbon Arborvitae, dwarf Yew and Twisty Baby locust all being last years nibbling trends. Deer seem to be as wishy-washy about diet as those watching reality chefs on cable. One year cupcakes, next year black mushrooms.

Late fall I had spread what felt like an endless piled pallet of Milorganite over all the gardens. Milorganite is a by-product of the Milwaukee sewage treatment plant and I recommend the nasty smelling gray pellets for spring and fall fertilizing and, of course, deer proofing. I would not use it in a vegetable garden. It would help keep out rabbits but the trace mineral content is high. If you are as much of a gardening dork as I am you may find this video about Milorganite interesting. Otherwise, you may find it gross.

This is the last gallery task before Susan and I leave for our winter travel. This year we have chosen the southwest as a respite. After hauling our motorcycles to Las Cruces, NM we will ride 900 miles to Raw Hyde Adventures in Castaic, CA for a short week of dual-sport training. Not dual sport like running 1o miles, swimming across a river then aiming a bow at a distant target. Rather, how to confidently ride our SUV type motorcycles on all terrains, i.e. pavement, sand, gravel, rocks. We finish with a few nights camping in Death Valley before heading back to …we don't know. The southern ends of Arizona and New Mexico probably. The weather has been misbehaving in the north. I want to buy a t-shirt in Roswell, take pictures of red boulders and ride endless miles. The day-to-day planning is part of this vacations adventure. We are packing to spend a month on our bikes ending our trip with a few days in Santa Fe before heading home mid-February.



Pat is sending us off with treat boxes for our time in the truck (I get the Dots) and our bikes will be packed to their pipes. We anticipate a temperature range of 30-72 degrees (just another June day in Algoma) and we factored in windchill. Both Susan and I are able to plug in heated suits creating an extensively longer season of riding (I rode December 22 at 28 degrees for over 100 miles).

The first couple weeks of our trip will be spent with our buddy, Charlie Mineau, a fellow BMW GS rider from Green Bay. We plan on blogging from the road to share photos and stories. The 10 day forecast says rain from NM to CA. No matter, I am starting out for White Sands National Monument Monday morning with a smile on my face!