Molly Bee's Attic

I discovered earlier this summer that finches aren't the only thing that like my thistle seeds. Even though there is a plethora of seeds on the ground, this little daredevil shimmies up the iron pole, tightropes across the shepherd's hook, rappels down the rope and eats them directly from the source!  He's a tiny White-Footed Wood Mouse and I see him most nights when I take Moose out before bed. We chat a bit and then I leave him to it. As long as he stays outside, we don't have any issues.  Since he normally comes out after dark and I have closed the blinds way beforehand, Cooper has no idea that inches from his window seat hangs a potentially tasty hors d'oeuvre.  That all changed the other night when I walked down to Gus's diner in the daylight to meet a friend for supper and didn't get home until well after dark. I came home to this! Come here, little guy. I just want to be your friend.  So close and yet so far...I can't even st

I can't believe how excited I still get over finding fossils out here. This whole area was submerged in the Cambrian Sea about 550 million years ago, so the ground is mostly a limestone base fulled with corals, trilobites, crinoids and shells. The beaches are full of fossils, as are rocks in quarries and even the landscaping rocks around businesses. I've been here 30 years and you would think I had found a finorkin' T-Rex every time I spot one. It's the little things I guess! I found some beauties (to me) in Algoma. Chain Coral Chain Coral I don't know but the black bits looks like the outline of a small crayfish.  Honeycomb Honeycomb or Petosky. I'm not sure really. The holes are much bigger and darker than the other honeycomb pieces I found.  Here is the other side of it. I'm leaning towards Petosky. Thought this was a lightning stone but it's just a rock with some kind of concretion. Still cool! Crinoid fossil. C

It's been a crazy autumn around here. I've loved it, but am eagerly anticipating a little bit of a slowdown after the holidays! At least I've got my Christmas shopping done. If I don't get it done by Halloween, I have failed. My dislike of being trapped in the Madison crowds and getting folded, spindled and mutilated at every turn, prevents me from enjoying 'holiday' shopping in the traditional sense.  Thankfully the stores have their Christmas stuff out in August now so I can get a jump on it! Work has been nuts, but I was able to get a couple of days to go up to Door County to see Northern Sky's production of 'Muskie Love'. Friend, Doug Mancheski, was in it. Someone told me that since I love 'Guys on Ice' so much, that I needed to see 'Lumberjacks in Love' (which I did two summers ago) and 'Muskie Love'. The perfect trilogy! 'Muskie Love's basic bones structure kind of lies in  Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About