Blowing the Horn About Siren

Siren, Wisconsin was half wiped out by a bad ass tornado back in 2001. On my birthday, and even more particularly, the first day I began professional work as an Archaeologist. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good or bad coincidence.

I've been working in Siren on and off since 2006. I'm pretty fond of this project, the sites, the roads, the middle-of-nowhere bar-n-grills... However, I'm not getting to "live-up" Siren as fully as I'd like to. Siren's a long drive from Madison, and we've yet to spend a whole week here. On top of that, I got nailed with the flu. Fuck the Swine Flu, what was with that media hype? This flu hit a lot of people hard, and I gotta say, it was NO FUN.

So, this is an entry using a post-flu, partially post-Memorial Day memory.

Any trip to Northwestern Wisconsin warrants a trip to the Norske Nook for PIE, yeah, OLE!! That's "Oh-lee" not "Oh-lay" for you non-Scandinavian heritage folks). We're fond of the Osseo location. Just stop in. I-94, Exit 88, follow the signs. Eat pie. It's award-winning gooooooood. I have to remember to get the Root Beer Float pie next time I see it on the menu, nothing has topped that yet! Here's some White Chocolate Strawberry pie for you to drool over.



There's a place in Siren called Yah Butz that we've had our eyes on for the past few field seasons, but the darn place never seemed to be open. The shop reads 'BBQ and ice cream', has to be good, right? Well, turns out they're open Thursday-Sunday (don't quote me on that). We finally made it in, only there's no cooked food! They sell "take and heat" ribs and their homemade BBQ sauce, amongst some other things including delicious, delicious ice cream. You can sample the sauce. I bought some, only I don't usually grill on my own, so who's up for grilling with some Big Butz?


By the way, what IS that thing?

When in Siren, we usually stay at the Lodge at Crooked Lake. It's very lodgey. Big rooms, lots of taxidermy, some nice common areas to hang out in, a bonfire pit and BBQ, and a great view of the marsh from the north-facing rooms. The rooms have fun names. The first week, I was in "Lumberjack". Last week, it was "Bear Paw". There's also "Dancing Wolf", "Ruffed Grouse"... you get the picture.

Tuesday was Chelsea's first day back for the field season. Our crew may now possibly be at full capacity for the field season. After dinner and having enough of the desserts, we girls took a walk on the Gandy Dancer State Trail that hooks up behind the hotel. We didn't get too far because of mosquitoes, twilight, and the front desk clerk's warning of bears, but it was cool. The beavers love this trail. Check it out, they're trying to impale bikers who fly over the handles...






There was a CD on the beaver lodge. I wonder what album it was?

And finally, this his how we rock it. With a game of LIFE, missing half the pieces.

Herman Rusch Deserves His Own Post, Part 2

Before leaving Buffalo County, we stopped by a Weird Wisconsin destination, the Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden, just off of Hwy 35 near Cochrane. Herman Rusch, in his idle retirement, rented and then bought this property and began to create large sculptures out of concrete and other random materials. I had seen some of his stuff at a folk art exhibit at the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan a couple of years ago (stop by if you're in the area, it's pretty spectacular!). It was cool to finally get to Prairie Moon.
















Not to be a bore, but I've typed a lot tonight! Tuesday night was spent in Menomonie, WI, after a long and winding drive through the country highways and rolling hills of western Wisconsin. Not a bad place, but nothing exciting. Wednesday brought us to Siren, WI, in Burnett County. There are a few adventures to be had up in this part of the Northwoods, but I'll be back here next week. Until then...

Oh, I just noticed that my weekly tallies have fallen by the wayside. Maybe I'll have more energy and more to tally next week? This week was just one big whirlwind!

Whirlwind tours of Western Wisconsin: 1

The First Two Days of an Incredibly Eventful Week, Part 1

I'm discovering fairly quickly that my ability to detach myself from work, after work hours, decreases the likelihood that I will spend an evening writing about my field adventures and reliving the work day! But I've got a lot to write about this week, so suck it up, Reetzie!!

Monday was eventful, to say the least. I was all mentally set for a sojourn in the Northwoods in Eagle River, Vilas County. I was FINALLY going to explore a bit of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the land of expansive woods and Finnish heritage -- YOOP! Well, that didn't happen, the construction schedule changed, and a last minute scramble sent me hopping around Western Wisconsin to some old stomping grounds.

Buffalo County was first on the agenda. This is one of my favorite places in Wisconsin, so I was happy to head that way. En route, we stopped at Ginny's Cupboard in Sparta for lunch. I'll rarely miss an opportunity to stop at Ginny's when I'm going through the area or at home visiting friends and family. Milkshakes = phenomenal; coffee = supreme; cheddar potatoe soup = the best!! Ginny's has also become a crew favorite over the past three years when we've been in the area. Sparta, represent!

In Buffalo County, we spent the afternoon doing our research and tried to catch some of the shops in the town of Alma before they closed. We weren't too successful, with it being 5pm on a Monday and all, but the weather was gorgeous, and it was great to walk around accompanied by the scents of lilacs, fresh cut grass, and charcoal grills. Alma was definitely a cool place to explore... scenic, historic, Mississippi, bluffs, and streets that are actually stairways. I imagine the residents of Alma get plenty of exercise...










There weren't any rooms at the hotels in Alma, so we ventured back to Fountain City for a stay at the Hawk's View cottages. I'd stayed in one of the lodges in 2006 and have been waiting for an excuse to get back ever since. They didn't disappoint! After checking in and having dinner and a caramelly pint of Fountain City Irish Valley Spring Bock at the Monarch Public House, we headed up the zig zagging Fountain City streets to the cottage parking area. Our cottage was Cooper's Hawk, which required a 117-stair climb up the bluff to the highest cottage. That definitely got the heart pumping, but it was well worth it! Bluff top trees, birds, sun, porches, sky lights, and a bottle of wine from their vineyard. I conquered the stairs twice more, for exploring, and then the sunset and a sauna.












A Finnish-style wood sauna, ahhhhhhh. It made me miss Finland. Why don't all Americans have saunas? It should be a required part of culture in the northern states; it just seems fitting.

I nearly blew this off tonight, but decided that this blog shouldn't fall to the wayside like my Twitter account. It's been a while since I logged onto that, I wonder who Steve Buscemi is pissing off now??

Waushara County is still offering some of the best -- and worst -- aspects of living on the road and doing archaeology. There are still places to discover. Milty Wilty is open! Stay posted for photos (I barely have the energy to nonsensically babble, let alone upload photos). Milty Wilty, "since 1947" is a classic Midwest drive-in diner. YUM. I continue to be floored by how cheap the food is in this area of Wisconsin. Homemade frozen custard shake, a burger and fries for $5. Such good food... I'm drooling thinking about it, and it's been a couple days since we ate there. Go there. Not only do they have good food, they have creepy and fascinating things to look at. And there's a jumping castle!




Susan and I returned to Billy B's tonight for a beer to take the edge off our poison ivy woes. I didn't get it as bad as last year, therefore no steroids, and no 'roid rage! But getting some poison ivy is bad enough. Losing immunity to poison ivy makes archaeology so much less enjoyable. I envy those with immunity. Wish I could steal their idol.

Enough of this tangent, we went to Billy B's. The patrons were quirky again, but that's to be expected. I was telling Wheels about working in this morning's rain and getting soaked, and an ODB across the bar chimes in, "Did you melt? Because sugar melts..." Seriously! How does one respond to something like that, besides smiling and saying, "Yeah, man..." Some severe storms rolled in, and the patrons brainstormed going down to the basement for shelter. For some reason, the ODB declared that there would be ping pong tables down there. So Susan and I should go play ping pong with him... and drink booze. He was still talking about it when we walked out of the bar.

Wheels must have decided that we had enough of his $2.50 bottles of Spotted Cow, so he tapped a Coors Light for Susan and I, on the house. What a nice fella! We sat there, sipping our free brew while Wheels got inspired to tell us some stories about road tripping back in '66-67. He and some friends used to drive cars for people, cross-country, when they needed them delivered for moves, etc. That would never happen today. "Hey, strange college kid, here's my Cadillac and credit card, have this car in California in 2 weeks!" No way. Apparently, it was pretty common and a good 'in-between' job. He and his friends would drive cars from Chicago to the Florida or California beaches... sweet rides, lemons, some of every kind. They would live it up on the beaches before returning home, and he reminisced about inspiring a bunch of straight-edged, hard working kids in Hermosa Beach to see the light and party, wine and beach volleyball style. I really can't do his stories justice. Stop in at Billy B's and have a chat with Wheels sometime.


Oh, and another reason he's cool... because he knows that all the fiberglass statues around Wisconsin and the Midwest are made in Sparta. Damn right, they are. I need to go photograph this place more this summer. This guy has some great photos. This place is a must-see on any Wisconsin adventure. Home sweet home, Sparta!

And the Winner of the "First Unofficial Chicago Dog Eating Contest" is... NORM!

Do you ever have those moments, when your mind is thinking faster than your mouth and everything comes out all funny? That happens to me a lot. It is not uncommon for nonsensical babble to come spewing out of my mouth, frequently at the entertainment of those who know me and the confusion of those who don't. An example from today -- Warning, this may be a "You Shoulda Been There" moment.

Me: Norm, let's name that site Swooping Hawk.

Norm: Hrmmm, noooo. Swooping?

Me: Ok, Soaring Hawk?

Norm: No.

Me: Circling Hawk?

Norm: No.

Me: Stephen J. Swooping Hawk?

Norm: *eyebrows raised*

Susan: *hysterically laughing*

** insert another Susie & Betty giggle fest here**

Norm: I don't think you two should be allowed to eat those Chicago hot dogs anymore...

Finally, Plainfield, Wisconsin has a claim to fame besides Ed Gein! A couple weeks ago, we noticed that the marquee for the Plainfield Bowl and Bar said, "TUES CHI DOG $1" but we never made it that Tuesday. Assuming the sign meant "chili dogs", we schemed up a chili dog eating contest, because you can't go wrong for $1 each. So today, en route to eat our bag lunches at a truck stop picnic table, Susan and I simultaneously noticed the marquee, went "IT'S TUESDAY!" and slammed on the brakes, and turned the caravan around. Luckily, Norm was willing to go along for the ride, even though he claimed to have been looking forward to a truck stop lunch.

We were the only people in the joint. How can this be? More people need to know about this!! The waiter/bartender/cook looked just like a young Chris Farley. Another thumbs up. We soon find out that CHI dog is really a Chicago-style hot dog. $1 for a Vienna hot dog with the works: mustard, relish, onions, sport peppers, tomatoes, and a dill pickle spear on a poppy seed bun. This is not disappointing. Susan, Norm, and I each order two. And whatdayaknow, the fries are only a dollar too!!

Delicious. Everything is on the dog, including the pickle spear. I will definitely be eating this again. The bill for lunch, including 6 Chicago dogs, 2 orders of fries, and 2 cokes came to $11.44. I love Wisconsin.

My dawgs, sans onions

A happy Susie

Nearly lost the dog!

The hot dogs got the best of me, I couldn't finish my two. Susan left a mess of toppings on her plate, but Norm finished everything but the poppy seeds, making him *drum roll* the "First Unofficial Chicago Dog Eating Contest". A t-shirt is in the works.

Oh yeah, we found lots of Woodland pottery today too. Score for right-of-way archaeology!

'They Can't All Be Fun Weeks' or 'Frank Lloyd Wright Was a Vampire'

My brain is mush after this field week. Yep, it's not all fun and excitement. Sometimes it's nothing but brain-numbing confinement.

At least we were confined somewhere decent. In Green Bay again, the lead decided to forgo the Extended Stay for the much nicer, posh Comfort Suites. Can I just say, the beds are DIVINE!! I love my own pillows, but they just seem sub-par now. That combined with the free drink coupons for the hotel bar and made-to-order complimentary omelets in the mornings makes for one hell of a field-stay.

Would it be slander if I said why he chose not make us stay at the Extended Stay? Probably. Email me and I'll tell you.

This really isn't making for an exciting blog, but it's not supposed to be a rant tearing down all the aspects of my job that can be quite shitty.

I'm gonna have to dive into the back of my mind for an exciting story from field seasons past. Let's go back to Richland County **insert Wayne and Garth and their doodly-doo transporting sound effect here**

There's a great little bookstore in downtown Richland Center, which happens to be run by a distant relative of mine (as are many people in Richland County, on my Grandma Reetz's side). When he found out he goes, "Well, I guess we can't get married then." If you ever meet this guy, get him to pull you a fresh sampler of whatever microbrew he's got tapped, or a taste of wine. The book store has a healthy and well-rounded stock of libations. He's a great conversationalist, so get him talking. He knows a lot about the area's prehistory, geography, and geology. He's the one who directed us to Bogus Bluff cave. But, and the clincher is, he's got some very passionate opinions about Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright, according to Dan, was a VAMPIRE.

"He always wore a cap and a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off of his face. WHY? Because he's a vampire."

"You ever seen his designs? Tiny windows, large overhangs. WHY? Because they were crypts. For vampires. If he wasn't a vampire, he was a minion."

"You see his building here in Richland Center? Aztec motif. Aztecs - Quetzoquatl -blood - vampires."

"He and his wife helped Josef Stalin's daughter emigrate to Wisconsin. Stalin (raises his hand to chin level). Hitler (higher on the scale). Frank Lloyd Wright (above his head!). All vampires."

I could've talked to him the whole rainy afternoon, if it weren't for work. Yes, it's true, I like to engage in quirky conversation and will egg people on as much as possible. Maybe too much.

I asked my grandma about FLW and all she said was, "He used to hang out on my Dad's porch... and he never wore shoes."

I think a real vampire would wear shoes.

This week's tally:

Holes dug: 0

Meetings attended: 3

Free drinks: 2 each.

Omelets: Just one for me.

Hours spent browsing other job announcements: About 3.

Hours spent doing quizzes and top 5's on Facebook: More than I care to admit.

Hours in actual sunshine/daylight: I'm guessing 7 for the work week.

Maybe my co-worker is a vampire. Hmm.....

Rosie, Wheels, and Ed Gein

The week in Waushara County ended with minimal fieldwork completed because of snow, then thunderstorms, and I won't be getting back there anytime soon. Shame, because I made some crackin' new pals.

Rosie is this wonderful lady who leads a yoga class at the hotel two nights a week -- free for hotel guests, I've NEVER encountered that before with all my traveling. I've been spoiled, I don't want to go without it! Yoga classes are something I always want to be involved with, but can't because of my constant traveling. What a teaser. And Rosie was great, a real ass-kicker! She made me stretch in ways I haven't tried since high school cheerleading (most people can't picture me as a cheerleader, but yep, it happened and I liked it). The other ladies in the class were great too, it's always fun to banter with people while traveling. They're always so curious about what I do. I definitely liked an idea that one of them came up with: Make people who throw litter out their windows do community service collecting road kill. Wisconsin cut road kill pick-up out of the budget... combine that with small scale road projects requiring us to walk ditches, you've got weeks of summer fun. Ughsome (I'm borrowing that word from Chris).

More crew joined us on Thursday, but only a small posse of us managed to get out and about on Thursday night. We tried out Christiano's Pizza on Hwy 73. Great pizza, but I was pretty blown away that they didn't serve any alcohol. Not even 3.2 beer! I've been in a lot of joints around Wisconsin, but I'm blanking on remembering another pizza place that didn't serve beer. I'm told there are some, and it's definitely true but doesn't seem right. Beer and pizza just go together. But, because there was no beer, we were inspired (well, more so me, but thankfully the others were up for it!) to find another local establishment for a quick drink. A place that had caught my eye earlier in the week was Billy B's on Hwy 73 (everything in Wautoma is on 73 for the most part). Just a small brown building with a fabulous red neon sign and some Harley's parked out in front. I wasn't disappointed. There weren't many patrons at first, but it filled up a bit after while. The bartender's name was Wheels, no doubt a biker nickname. He was a bit kooky and got more than a few smiles out of me. He was sassy and very generous with the high-5's. Bottles of Spotted Cow were only $2.50, which alone makes the place worth a return visit. It reminded me of the taverns I visited while growing up with my dad in the tavern business. The bar stools were upholstered with vintage orange pleather, matching the plastic ashtrays. Wheels decided to test us on the juke box, and after being pleased with the first 7 selections, kept feeding us dollar bills to play more. He'd also crank up the volume and tip his drink up every time time he was particularly pleased with a selection. It was very satisfying to have people coming and going, complimenting our selections: Dylan, Cash, CCR, Zeppelin, Petty, Patsy, etc. I think they were surprised us bunch of youngins' didn't choose from the at least three Nickelback CDs in the box -- we all know how I feel about Nickelback.

Susan fiddling to The Devil Went Down to Georgia

One "downer" of the week was learning more than I ever really cared to know about Ed Gein. Our project area reached into Plainfield, where Gein committed his crimes of murder and grave-robbing. You know Ed Gein, the one who inspired Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs, dressing up in human skin and all that. I don't feel the need to go into anymore detail about his life, there are plenty of other sites about that. Anyways, we figured out where his family's farmhouse was, which was burned down a few months after he was arrested. We chose not to go to the location -- too creepy. Some bad energy just doesn't need to be messed with, and something was telling me to stay away from there. We did, however, go to the Plainfield Cemetery to see where he was buried. Jeff managed to find the spot, running around in the freezing rain. He was buried in between his mother (who's body he dug up) and his brother (who he probably killed), and his mother is buried next to his alcoholic father. There's no marker because it was stolen, but later found and returned to a Waushara County Museum -- not open until after Memorial Day. It looks like people try to mess with his family's markers though. His mother's had been knocked over previously, and his innocent brother's was quite off-center. Creepy. And the rain stains on the markers made them look more creepy. CREEPY.



It's thunder storming like a mo-fo tonight, so I need to take this to a lighter note before I freak myself out. Looking at my photos reminded me that Jeff had a pretty hilarious episode of spilling his coffee. As he correctly pointed out, I helped out Susan and then I went for my camera, leaving Jeff to fend for his coffee mess on his own. But I ended up with this great photo, with Jeff in his "biker fieldwork outfit". The scene of the hilarity was the family restaurant in Plainfield (at CTH BB and 73) during one of the storms. Who could ask for a better second breakfast? Two eggs, three pieces of -quality- bacon, and homemade wheat bread toast for $4. Bottomless coffee if you want it. God, I love small town Wisconsin.



This week's tally:

Hometowns of serial killers: 1

Days when it snowed: 2

Days when it stormed: 2

Days it hit 80 degrees: 1

Artifacts: Pfft.

Evenings of shredding with Jillian Michaels: 3

Nights of recovering in the hot tub after shredding and yoga: 2

Viewings of Cabin Boy: 1

Days of quoting Cabin Boy: Un-ending.

Dollar amount Wheels gave us for the juke box: $6. Or $8?

Number of Apple Pie shots: 1 each

The best profiterole dessert in Wisconsin: Farm Market on Hwys 73 and 22 -- try it!