Friday, May 08, 2009

Town Council and the Flower Moon





We spent Thursday morning at the Arboretum again. We were just getting over watching the tom turkey display (the picture is a bit fuzzy), when Evie turned her head and said, "There's the pileated again!" Sure enough, we saw another (the same?) female Pileated Woodpecker. We took lots of pictures and even a movie--you'll notice none are posted here--I think we both need to take a photography class!

Thursday night we went to a town council meeting in a small town near us. There was an agenda item up regarding writing an ordinance about keeping hens in the city. It was unbelievably contentious, people were mean! I can't get past the comparison with keeping dogs. If you are worried about smell, noise and nuisance--ban dogs, not chickens! I don't really want to ban dogs, but let's really think about that one. Have you ever had a chicken attack a child? Folks seems narrow-minded and uninformed, minds had been made up before the meeting. The issue died in council--no chickens. It was a fascinating evening, Evie's first experience with parliamentary procedure--totally worth going even though the outcome was not what we were hoping for. (We were there to tell our story and support a friend who lives in the town and wants to keep chickens--hers are currently in "foster care" here in Madison.)

Friday was errands, Evie and my dad hunted morels (none) but found tons of flowers and garlic mustard, Evie made me pesto our of the garlic mustard, we had it for dinner--yummy! After log-rolling we took a walk for the Full Flower moon with friends. It was cloudy so we didn't see the moon but a walk in the dark with friends is always fun.

I am really struggling with stomach pain during running, don't know if I pulled a muscel or what--don't know what will happen for the marathon.

Tomorrow Evie and I train to be stream monitors with UW Extension and the DNR--should be interesting!

3 comments:

tiff said...

ARE you kidding...no chickens? I don't get it...I agree with you chickens are less of a nuisance than dogs! Come live in Carbondale...you can have chickens in town...well a few anyways! So what will you do?

I suppose Evie had an experience of a lifetime at that meeting...and it is amazing how MEAN people can be...Rick has been to a few here & people are very passionate, but often close minded...sad, huh?

I love the idea of going for a moon flower walk...that would be fun! And that tom turkey, so cool!

denise said...

Oh, stream monitor sounds fun. We want to do more of that as the goys get bigger.

Lynch Family said...

Tiff: The chicken ordinance was being proposed in another town. Madison has had an ordinance for years allowing hens in the city--but we'll come visit Carbondale!