March 26, 2005
You can tell a lot about a person by what you see in their office. Charles J Kostichka has one of, if not the largest collections of “Mr. Potato Heads” in the world on top of his file cabinets. Why Mr. Potato Head? Because Chuck is a potato scientist. He is also the Superintendent of the Hancock Agricultural ‘Research Station in Hancock Wisconsin. This is part of the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They study potatoes and other plants there because this is one of the top producing areas for potatoes in the state. It used to be a large lake and the soil is real sandy. This is the reason you see all the irrigation equipment as you travel through central Wisconsin.

JoAnn and I traveled to Hancock, just south of Stevens Point for a story to go in my Travelogue section of wiupnorth.com. This section will start off with twelve different pictures and a general location for where to find them. It will be the passenger’s job to find them as they head up north. Each picture will also include a story about the site, to bring some knowledge about the area to the reader. In this case, you will see a picture of the Research garden near the turn off for Hancock and then the story will be my interview with Chuck.

Chuck said they started the garden many years ago as a hook to catch people’s attention on their way up north. The garden is easily visible from Highway 51 and during the summer is full of flowers, plants and herbs. You can take a self guided tour of the gardens with its hundreds of variety of plants all identified. Chuck said many people come for the garden and then take a tour and hear about the research they do at his facility. Thousands of people come each year to learn more about agriculture. He said you would be very surprised at the fifteen years of research that went into the bag of potato chip you eat.

He gave a great example of how cucumbers are currently being grown and picked. He said in the old days, each one was picked by hand over several weeks as the plants got to the right size. They also kind of grew where they wanted to with vines running many feet away from the main plant. They now have developed plants that flower and grow at the same time. The cucumbers all grow at the same pace so they are all the right size at the same time. They also grow only so far from the main plant so mechanical pickers can be used to pick them.

The rest of the story will be in the travelogue shortly. To get more information on the gardens or set up tours you can get a hold of Chuck and his staff at 715 249 5961. Don’t forget to ask him to see the Mr. Potato Head collection. It is worth the trip.

We will also be taking a tour this summer when things get growing.

Odds and Ends

Mrs. Sackett has lived across the street from us on Webster Street since before I was born. She passed away last week at 91. In the paper her name was listed as Isabelle but I always called her Mrs. Sackett. Don’t think I even knew her first name. Seems odd that you don’t hear people referred to as Mr. or Mrs. anymore. Maybe in schools. My best recollection of the Sacketts’ was them getting the first television on the block. When they plugged it in, we were all standing outside their front window. Lots of moving horizontal lines before they got it to settle down and we were watching television for the first time.

I remember many football games in our side yard with the three Sackett boys, my brother and several of the older neighborhood kids. We would watch the Green Bay Packers at noon on Sunday and then reenact the game later. Since I was younger, I was regulated to the task of hiking the ball. I wasn’t at the original “Ice Bowl” as many people claim to have been, but I did watch the game. You know it was cold when even the side yard game was called because of cold weather.

The other day at work, several third graders came to Conney Safety Products to hear John tell his story about his experiences out Mushing. Of course they handed out copies of my article in Northern Prospective about John and his mushing.

They took down the house at 109 Webster Street where JoAnn lived. Now it is clear all the way up the street except for the Sackett house, which they are using for the construction people. It will be gone when the hospital is finish. Gone just like its owner. See my last article about “all things are passing.”

I did try the popcorn I talked about in an earlier article. It was great. I cooked it up in a pan with a lid. After it got popping, I remembered why you needed a good top that sealed well. Got a little oil on the stove. It sure tasted like the kind I used to get when I was a kid using my mother’s pressure cooker pan. JoAnn said the same thing and remembered her having a popcorn popper with a red lid.

Just 5 more weeks until we begin our weekend treks up north. I can’t wait. Hope to see you up there.
March 12, 2005
I am sitting in my office at home in Beaver Dam Wisconsin, looking out the window at the fire department doing a controlled burn at a house across the street. I bought the house on Webster Street from my mother in 1976. I remember moving in well as it must have been 100 degrees that day. The house was built by my parents in 1940, and there’s been a Helfert in it ever since.

My wife JoAnn and I go back a long ways. She lived at that house that is going to be burned down today. She was at 109 and we are at 120. Yes, I did marry the neighbor girl. Last year, the local hospital announced they were buying all the houses across the street from us so they could put up a new hospital. Good or bad, we lost all our neighbors on the odd number side of the street. The current owner of 109 finally sold out a few weeks ago and the home will be gone by the end of the day.

There is a sad feeling when you see part of your history going away. I have that sad feeling today and I know JoAnn probably feels it more. I had a similar feeling loosing my sister Carol and her husband Dick with in a month’s time at the end of 2003. Driving by their house in Rhinelander made me sad. I had a similar feeling this week when several of my co workers jobs were eliminated. Walking by their empty desk is real sad. Watching the house at109 be burned is sad.

When I get to feeling like this, I think of JoAnn’s way out of it. My mother had a book mark made up for all the members of her family. JoAnn says it every morning to get a positive start to the day. I’ll share it with you.

“Today is God’s gift.

Every morning lean thine arms awhile upon the window sill of Heaven

And gaze upon the Lord

Then with a wish in thy heart

Turn strong to meet the day.”

From the Clippings of Jennie Carlson, our great Grandmother

The second message on the bookmark is:

Beryl Helfert sends this message from St Teresa via the Clearing.

“Let nothing disturb you;

Nothing affright you:

All things are passing’

God never changes’

Patient endurance attains to all things

Who possesses God in no thing is wanting

God alone suffices.”

St Teresa of Avilla
1515-1582

Wisconsin Prairie, before man got to it was miles wide and full of wonderful plants and creatures. Most of it is gone but some live on. On our trips up north, we go right past S & S Wildflowers on highway 33 between Fox Lake and Portage. Actual address is W4401 Hwy 33 Pardeeville Wi. We would stop in summer for early vegetables and later for wonderful sweet corn. In our talks with the people there, we began to think about having our own prairie in our back yard. They helped us select the right types of prairie flowers and we now have the greatest 8’ x 8’ original Wisconsin prairie garden there is. Many of the flowers we will have up shortly in our gallery will be from this garden. They start coming up in spring and only end when the fall comes to Wisconsin. Then stand throughout winter as a watch flower for spring.

They helped us select flowers to fit the seasons. For spring they selected: Cream Indigo, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Smooth Penstemon and Jacobs Ladder, Columbine, Spiderwort and Blue Indigo. Summer: Queen of the Prairie, Yellow Coneflower, Prairie Blazing Star Bergamot, Culver’s Root, Tall Bellflowering, Purple Coneflower, Lavender Hyssop, Nodding Pink Onion, Butterfly Weed, and Purple Prairie Clover. Fall include: Smooth Aster, Goldenrod, New England Aster, Sky Blue Aster and Stiff Goldenrod. The garden reaches five foot in height and please don’t ask me which ones are which. They are just pretty.

Our financial planner has me beat by just a little. Pat Clark has his own prairie measured in acres not square feet. He has a wonderful book out titled “Observation from a Wisconsin Prairie”. Pat tells about his quest to have a beautiful prairie outside his home on Beaver Dam Lake. He blends a group of small short one or two pages stories about his prairie and the plants and creatures that live there. It is a wonderful book and can be purchased at amazon.com, autherhouse.com and barnesnoble.com. This is must reading for those who see the beautiful flowers along the way up north and later while your there. A future story and pictures will be on Pat’s prairie. I am sure there will be lots of photo opportunities.
March 3, 2005
Sometimes other peoples' weekends seem a lot better than the one you just lived. One of my coworkers had one even better than that. John McGuire, his friend Tru along with John, Liz and Rob went up to Spirit Lake www.spiritlaketrails.com to go "Mushing." You got it, Dog sledding in North Wisconsin (or as I say, Up North). After months of planning they headed north on Friday to spend time in a very nice three bedroom cabin. Liz got the idea for mushing from her association with the International Wolf Center in Ely MN. Their web site is www.wolf.org.

Up the next morning, it was time to meet the dogs. All 26 of them mostly Husky type dogs. Bob and Kay own roughly 200 acres of land up past Tomahawk Wisconsin. The dogs are picked because they are people friendly and have experience at dog sledding. The couple works on matching the dogs to the people who will be handling the sled. The sled itself can hold a person in a canvas type bag which is positioned on the sled, but generally holds only the musher who stands on the back of the sled on the runners. There are handles for holding on and helping guide the sled as it moves. Steering is done by swaying your body one way or the other. John said you have to think of it like steering it with your butt. There are also brakes on the back to slow things down when needed.

Saturday brought some training on how to handle the sled and dogs. Next, it was time to fasten the dogs to the sled. John got his dogs harnessed up and ready to mush. The sled is tied up so it wouldn't move. Since the dogs are raring to go, John said you pick them up and walk them over to the sled. The first dog in is called the lead dog. He gets hooked up to the front of the sled and anchored in so he can't move. Then the dog behind him or the wheel dog is tied in. The second lead dog is then placed to the right of the first lead dog. Finally, the last wheel dog is tied in behind the second lead dog. All are tied to each other and to a post coming off the sled.

John said by this time it is total chaos with the dogs. The anchor is removed and sled untied and the dogs are off. "Hike, Hike" gets them moving forward. "Haw" means left and "Gee" means right. Dogs love other dogs, so if you pass another sled you want to yell "on-by" so they don't stop and get tangled up. The trail is a combination of open stretches and wooded area. Learning to guide the sled is not the easiest and Bob says you are not a real dog sledder until you have fallen at least 12 times. The first run stops about two thirds of the way around the trail at a building where they eat lunch and discuss their first adventure. The run is completed in about 2 hours including the stop. You can do the second run in the afternoon or in John's group case, they put it off to Sunday. Running the trail the second time took about 1 hours without the stop.

John said the dogs get going about the same speed as if your were riding a bike. He said it is somewhat exhausting as there are times you need to get off the back of the sled to ease the burden on the dogs while going up hills. Other times you just drop one foot off to help them like you would on a scooter. Handling the sled is a talent that is learned. John did have a few times off the sled, but never lost the team. Bob is always nearby with a snowmobile to assist. Corners can also be a challenging time. All in all he and his friends had a great time. He said being out in the great north woods and mushing was a lot of fun. By noon on Sunday, they were headed back to civilization with their great story of the weekend's adventures.
February 12, 2005
It doesn’t get any better than this. Wednesday and taking a day of vacation to head over to West Bend and visit our friends Mickey and Bonnie Beth. Our first meeting with them was many years ago when they bought a trailer at the Hiawatha Park. They bought it from a friend of our and he told us it was the couple that sold wood ducks and walking sticks at the local craft shows. We visited their booth the next day and welcomed them to the park. They couldn’t believe we knew about the purchase that fast.

This day was going to be the photographing of many of the craft items they make for an on line catalog. Yes it will be on this web site in the near future. I can’t even begin to tell you how great the wood crafting is that this couple does day in and day out. I have a walking stick in my office at home and one of their loons on our coffee table up north. You will not be disappointed with their workmanship.

Photos and then lunch. More photos and then off for some fun. We went and saw Bonnie's horse and then off to Belgium Wisconsin near West Bend. Fireworks popcorn is located in the industrial park. I would have got you directions but didn’t bring along paper and pen. Trust me, Belgium is not that big. This company features many varieties of Natural American popcorn and more things that go with popcorn than I thought possible. These were all featured in a small outlet type store. Mickey said the popcorn poppers they sell really work well. I bought some “White Birch” popcorn, which is a white variety and recommended by the Beths’ I am writing this on the following weekend so I will pop some tonight and get you the results. If you go on line with them at www.pwpcornlover.com, please be sure to tell them the Helfert from wiupnorth.com sent you to them. They are getting good free advertising.

We went on a nice country ride going through lots of neat areas around West Bend. One called Cheeseville has a school and old cheese factory and that’s all. We ended up the day with my picking the place to eat. I chose the Smelt fry because neither JoAnn or I had even tried one. It was all you could eat and we found the baby pike was even a better find than the smelt. The place was called NO NO’s Restaurant in Newburg Wisconsin. This is a beautiful old place with lots of history. The name of the place came from a nickname of the owner. Got me thinking about the source and could only come up with how many times we have said no no to the grand kids. As we were leaving, a car with NO NO 1 on it was driving in. I was tempted to ask the driver the origin of the name but will leave that for you to ask if you visit.

Back to Mickey and Bonnie place and a chance to watch a very funny movie called Escanaba in da moonlight. I think the “da’ in the title should give you a hint of what the story line was about. Mickey said it was a yupper movie. Yes it was and would recommend it for getting a flavor for the state directly above Up North Wisconsin. Seems like there was a little of the “Fargo” movie in this one. Might want to have the children watching the cartoons on a different station during this one.

Thanks for a wonderful day to the Beths’. We came home with a walking stick with a cute dog on top. It includes a small piece of wood with bark on it. I didn’t get it right way until he said every dog has one. Bark. JoAnn got a tray made out of a wood that comes from the knot type growth on the outside of trees. Very beautiful and is also featured on their walking stick and canes.

On our way home, JoAnn and I were talking about all the people we see with the metal cane needed for walking. We can’t imagine why they didn’t get one of Mickey and Bonnies’ that have some real beauty to them. If and when I get old enough to need one, I will want one of theirs. I think there is a certain classy thing about a real good looking wood cane. Most of the ones he is making are from cherry wood that is very strong.
A rubber bottom piece is included to assure of good slip resistance. Height for canes is determined by measured from the end of the cane to the top of your hand by the wrist.
February 5, 2005
We have the grandkids for the weekend, which allows our computer expert to stay home and hopefully work our web site. We were up early and headed for Amish Country. There is an area around Dalton that the Amish have settled in and is always fun to go there. Best is the fresh sugar donuts that are warm when you pick them out. A kitchen light by the windows and kerosene lanterns is a bee hive of activity. The Amish women in their traditions clothes and bonnets are busy making breads. An Amish gentleman with long beard is tending the wood burning stoves. The bakery is open Friday and Saturday from 8 to 4.

Sitting in the car with all of us eating those great donuts is worth the sugar mess you end up with. Just enough time to get to the grocery store a mile away to clean off and head inside. Skylights help put enough light on the old time seasonings and other interesting items in the store. The candy aisle with old time candies is hard to get by. I get a package of licorice in root beer flavor and the grandkids each get a toy. JoAnn gets lots of spices and great prices. They are bulk packed but not in packages like Sam’s Club.

The trip up to Amish country is about 30 miles from Beaver Dam. We go through Fox Lake and Brendan the grandson asks if the town was named after foxes. Not sure on that one and might make a good story for another column. We play the alphabet game where you look for signs with the letters on them. When you get to “Q” it can get hard. We got hung up on the lasts letter Z. Arianna , the grand daughter said it is a sideways “N”. I don’t think I even knew the alphabet when I was three. Next came a game of “Horses”. No, not the basketball type. This one each side of the car looks for horses and gets one point for each horse on their side. A white horse is worth 10 points but must be all white. A cemetery will decrease your score by 11 points but never lower than zero. It was hard getting points on Highway 33 up to Highway 22 where we head toward Montello. For the next six or seven miles it gets better and by the time we turn on Kiefer Road and turn right we are seeing horses everywhere. We are in Amish country where horses are the main way to travel. We see lots of those little black buggies but none being pulled by horses. Seems everyone is working at this time. We head up the road past the school house on the left. Grandma points out the out house and tells the grand kids what they are all about. I know she has used a few of them in her life and am sure hated everyone of them. It’s down the road to the first road to the right, Barry Road and up a mile or so to the right and the Pleasant View Bakery. It’s back down the road and continues up Kiefer and past the wood shop on the left to the grocery store on the right. We thought better of going in the wood shop with the grandkids but it is well worth the stop if you are up that way. Lots of furniture in our house is from this beautiful little shop.

On the way home, we go straight on highway 22 to Pardeeville. They have a very quaint downtown and looks like it might be a good place to visit in the future. We back track and take highway P and JoAnn shows me the Bank her former employer Bank One used to own. We continue down County P to the town of Cambria. They are many hills in this town and it is really pretty to go through. We are on to Randolph and then home. The car smells of baked bread and donuts. We drop off some of each to JoAnn’s folks, Virgil and Mae Smith and head for home. I will add the Amish trip off Highway 51 to the list of things to see on the way Up North.