Tuesday, July 20, 2010

forward









Flatlanders (the Illini) would come up to help mine the southern part of Wisconsin. This was early on, the days of roadhouses, rolling uninterrupted farmland, ghosts, and trees grasping for the clouds.

Being of less hardy stock than those indigenous to our counties and towns, these feeble flatlanders would head back to where they were from at the peep of cold.

Our people, solid as steel and with icicles suspended in our blood, would rush in and take over the dwellings left abandoned by our southern neighbors. We'd inhabit them like badgers and continue mining throughout the brutality of winter. It had to be done. And we did it. Deep freeze or not.

That's how we became The Badger State.

Have you heard that story?

I love, love, love this land. How could you not?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Wow. Peaceful and serene. The place looks amazing!

berrylies said...

It was great, Colleen! And I highly recommend it to anyone made of stuff strong enough to allow them to do w/o running water for a short time. http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23472

Cortney said...

this looks lovely.