#upper mississippi river

[fatehbaz]

Rattlesnake roundup events in the United States.

The “World’s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup” occurs in Sweetwater, Texas, held annually in the month of March since at least 1958. Texas government agencies estimate that, each year, up to 24,000 pounds or more of rattlesnake will be “harvested.”

#sweetwater roundup is this week #now timber rattlesnake is widely locally extinct in large parts of new york pennsylvania ohio and upper mississippi river corridor

[calicoadventures]

We recently took a day trip along both sides of the upper Mississippi Rover, and we filmed our favorite parts. Check out our latest Calico Adventure now!

#calico adventures #youtube #travel #tina tuna #nature #minnesota #wisconsin #mississippi river #upper mississippi

[rjzimmerman]

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Excerpt from this story from Madison.com:

A federal appeals panel heard arguments Wednesday in a case involving a controversial power line through southwest Wisconsin that could influence future permitting decisions on lines considered critical for a clean energy transition.

Conservation groups oppose the line, known as Cardinal-Hickory Creek, which would run 102 miles between Dubuque, Iowa, and Middleton. They argue it is unneeded and too expensive, would mar the Driftless landscape and cannot legally cross the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Utilities building the project at a cost of more than $500 million say it will improve reliability and deliver clean energy to places where it’s needed, while industry groups and academics argue the electric grid needs far more such long-distance lines to wean itself off fossil fuels.

The utilities are seeking to overturn U.S. District Court Judge William Conley’s ruling that the environmental review for the line was inadequate and that the project is incompatible with the wildlife refuge.

Conley barred the utilities from building within the 260,000-acre refuge, effectively blocking the planned river crossing, and ruled that a proposed land exchange cannot be used “to evade Congress’ mandate” for the refuge, which covers 261 river miles between Rock Island, Illinois, and Wabasha, Minnesota.

While they have not presented any alternative routes, the utilities have continued construction on either side of the river, spending at least $337.5 million, according to the most recent quarterly report to state regulators.

Opponents have asked the court to overturn Conley’s ruling that utilities can build outside of the refuge, which he called an “orchestrated train wreck.”

The appeals panel, composed of two Republican appointees and one Democratic appointee, appeared skeptical of the argument that the Fish and Wildlife Service could sidestep statutory requirements with a land swap.

#Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge #electricity transmission grid #Wisconsin #driftless area

[amtrak-official]

#polls

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Washington’s Eagle

Description: Featured in Birds of America by John James Audubon in 1827, Washington’s Eagle was described as 4ft 7in, with a wingspan of 10ft 2in, seen around the upper Mississippi River. Due to a lack of sightings, the bird is no longer accepted as a valid species. 

#cryptid #cryptids #cryptozoology #cryptid of the day #washington's eagle

[snototter]

Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) take flight from the upper Mississippi River, Brownsville, Minnesota

by Larry Reis

#tundra swan #swans #waterfowl #birds #cygnus columbianus #cygnus #anatidae #anseriformes #aves #chordata #wildlife: minnesota #wildlife: usa #wildlife: north america

[kimberly40]

When you’re very small, running barefoot through damp grass on a summer evening, honeysuckle’s scent beckons like fireflies. It’s an alluring smell that, on the scale of things that will someday make you weep with longing, is somewhere between a magnolia blossom and your mother’s best perfume.

First, you pull off a creamy white or pale yellow flower. Then you hold it with the green base up. You carefully tug off the little green cap and draw out the single thread of the stamen. If you’re lucky and the fairies are with you, you’ll be rewarded with a drop of nectar, a small sip of sweetness, hanging on the end of the thread.

It’s a joy best savored by the young and patient, those with mouths so small and taste buds so fresh that the little drop seems as big and sweet as a Nik-L-Nip, those wax bottles of colored sugar syrup.

It’s like God loved Southern children so much, he draped the woods with a candy counter, free for the taking, proof that life will always be delicious and full of promise.

And then, inevitably, we grow up. As we get larger, tiny pleasures like honeysuckle blossoms don’t seem like such a big deal anymore. We get lives and yard work and mortgages, and we discover that not everything lovely is carefree.

• • •

The honeysuckle that festoons our woods is Japanese honeysuckle, and it’s an outsider here, an invader that pushed its way in, like kudzu and wisteria, those other vines that came from the outside and stayed to color the Southern landscape. Honeysuckle is not supposed to be here. It’s just another visitor that dropped by and liked it here too much to leave.

This rampant vine, first brought from its native Japan to U.S. shores on Long Island, New York in 1806, absolutely loves the Eastern climate. Propagating by berries spread by birds as well as running rhizomes, it proceeded to conquer just about all of the woodlands, roadsides, wetlands, and disturbed areas east of the Mississippi River. It invaded Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri too.

Like most vines, Japanese honeysuckle is programmed to grow and spread and never stop. If it has nothing to climb, it creeps along the ground until it does. When it does, it twines around it until it reaches the top and then starts looking for something else to climb. It will readily reach the top of a 100-foot-tall tree. If it twines around a young tree, it can literally strangle it to death. As it travels from tree to tree in the woods, it forms impenetrable thickets.

There are some uses and benefits to honeysuckle though. Mainly regarded in traditional Chinese medicine, the Honeysuckle has long been used as a natural home remedy to treat inflammation, stomach upset, upper respiratory infections, fever and more.

•Learn more about the benefits of honeysuckle at: https://www.greenshieldorganic.com/honeysuckle-benefits-and-uses/

(by Kathleen Purvis)

#appalachian #appalachian mountains #north carolina #appalachian culture #western north carolina #appalachia #the south #nc mountains #mcdowell county #mcdowellcounty

[popculturelib]

Haunted States of America: Michigan

Haunts of the Upper Great Lakes (1997) by Dixie Franklin

A bit of superstition haunts most of us -- a remnant perhaps of the memories of chillingly scary ghost stories told to us in our childhood. Northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula have more than their share of ghosts and haunted spaces: from Lotta, the mysterious 'shady lady of the night' in Hurley, Wisconsin; to the ghost of Mary Green, who apparently thinks she is still the captain of the Delta Queen, an elegant paddlewheel boat that sails the Mississippi River today; to the mystery light that appears along a lonely road near Paulding, Michigan; to the various shades and ghostly occupants of homes and inns on Mackinac Island and across the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. There are haunted lighthouses, haunted mansions and inns, and haunted woods -- all waiting for you in Haunts of the Upper Great Lakes!

Check out these other books about haunts in Michigan!

Haunted Houses of Michigan (1998) by Karen Hoisington Donaldson

Haunted Michigan: Recent Encounters with Active Spirits (2000) by Gerald S. Hunter

Ghost Stories of Michigan (2002) by Dan Asfar

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

#bgsu #libraries on tumblr #haunted states of america #michigan #upper peninsula #great lakes #ghosts #books

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I simply cannot resist a house with a turret. This 1930 beauty in St. Cloud, Minnesota blends French countryside seamlessly with the finest standards and attention to detail. 3bds. 4ba. $699,900.

Original custom made doors. 

Look at the lovely arched hallway, rounded walls, tiled floors and wrought iron railings.

The sitting room has a lovely French fireplace. One door opens to the dining room and one to the beautiful sunroom.

Isn’t this a wonderful room? And, look at the size of the radiator- it’s a year round space.

The sunroom also has a door to the dining room. Look at the built-in glassware display closet. 

This is my kinda kitchen- it’s not matchy-matchy, has antique furniture taking the place of cabinetry, and original tile backsplashes. If new buyers come in and modernize this kitchen I will bitch slap them.

Look at the doorways on the upper floors.

The main bd. is spacious and has this wonderful original en-suite. Look at the fabulous tile. 

This bd. has room for a desk and it also opens to the upper terrace. 

This bath was modernized, but at least they kept the pedestal sink and original mirrored medicine cabinet.

There’s definitely potential in the attic. 

Home also offers a finished basement with a lovely brick fireplace.

Isn’t this a cute little area?

Look at the antique sink in the laundry room. I even love the radiators hanging on the ceiling.

Bonus! The house has gryphons on the upper terrace.

The property is on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Cute little shed on the property, too. It’s a great house.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/37-Highbanks-Pl-S-Saint-Cloud-MN-56301/74886588_zpid/

#french country house #brick house #french architecture #houses #house tours #home tour

[astraphel]

The EPA announced three additional carcinogenic chemicals have been detected in the Ohio trail derailment.

Vinyl chloride: a colorless gas that is used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and is highly flammable and decomposes to make toxic fumes. According to the National Library of Medicine, it is also carcinogenic and can cause other health issues.

Butyl acrylate: a clear liquid that is used for making paints, sealants and adhesives. It is flammable and can cause skin, eye and respiratory irritation.

Ethylhexyl acrylate: a colorless liquid used to make paints and plastics. It can cause skin and respiratory irritation and, under moderate heat, can produce hazardous vapor.

Ethylene glycol monobutyl: a colorless liquid used as a solvent for paint and inks, as well as some dry cleaning solutions. It is classed as acutely toxic, able to cause serious or permanent injury, and highly flammable. Vapors can irritate the eyes and nose, and ingestion can cause headaches and vomiting.

Vinyl chloride turns into hydrogen chloride when burned (which is what Norfolk did). When hydrogen chloride mixes with water (think the upper atmosphere), it turns into hydrochloric acid. This was the primary chemical in this spill.

The chemicals have, at this point, on February 13th, 2023, reached the Ohio River, which then flows into the Mississippi. Wildlife everywhere in Ohio and Pennsylvania are dying, and people are being told that it's okay to go home.

This tragedy happened because Norfolk Southern Railway has been cutting operation costs to a dangerous level. This is one of the things, in addition to NO SICK LEAVE for rail workers, that was being brought up when the rail unions were threatening to strike before Joe Blow busted it.

The Carmen, who have their own union and are responsible for safety checks, have had their inspection times reduced from the industry standard of three minutes per car to 90 seconds. Going over that time risks termination.

There was another derailment on December 2022 ALSO in East Ohio and ALSO with Norfolk Southern Railway, only that was just candle wax. 7 weeks later and this happens.

#ohio chemical spill #norfolk southern #east palestine #ohio river

[fatehbaz]

Big week for news about “mountain lions wandering back into historic habitat where they were once persecuted to extinction” in February 2023.

---

Central Texas:

Headline and screenshots from: Priscilla Aguirre. “Potential mountain lion sighting in San Antonio area raises awareness.” My San Antonio. 14 February 2023.

Excerpt from this article: Officials at the San Marcos Parks and Recreation Department are asking others and the surrounding areas to be cautious about potential mountain lions in Central Texas. Officials said the message comes after the department received a call about a potential sighting of a mountain lion at Upper Purgatory Creek Natural Area in San Marcos on Sunday, February 12. [...] In Central Texas, it’s extremely rare to see a mountain lion in person, according to a report from the San Antonio Express-News. [...] Only one mountain lion has been confirmed in Bexar County in the past decade, on November 24, 2013, according to TPWD. [End of excerpt.]

---

Great Plains and Nebraska:

Headline and screenshot from: Damon Bennett. “Nebraska mountain lion now looking for a name after 700-mile journey.” Lincoln Journal-Star. 16 February 2023.

Excerpt from this article: A Nebraska mountain lion that found itself in a sanctuary in Indiana after a 700-mile journey through four states is now looking for one last souvenir: a name. Back in the fall, the big cat made its way from the scenic Niobrara River valley all the way to suburban Springfield, Illinois, according to the GPS tracker that Nebraska Game and Parks had tagged it with a year prior. "A lot of people were watching him," said [the director of an “exotic feline rescue center”] in Center Point, Indiana, where the mountain lion has been since October. When the lion overstayed its welcome near Springfield, it was sedated by federal wildlife officials, who offered to return it to Nebraska. Nebraska declined.’ [...] "I'm incredibly impressed with this animal; he crossed both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers [...]." [End of excerpt.]

---

Ozarks and Missouri:

Headline and screenshot from: Julia Wilson. “Mountain lions in Missouri? We’re seeing more than usual this winter.” Columbia Missourian. 16 February 2023.

Excerpt from this article: Footage from a trail camera taken Jan. 3 confirmed that a roaming mountain lion made a rare appearance in northern Boone County. Since then, the Missouri Department of Conservation documented three additional sightings around the state last month — one in Callaway County, another in Montgomery County and a third that was hit by a vehicle south of St. Louis.  Reports of mountain lions, also known as cougars, pumas and panthers, have increased over the past decade in the state. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 65 were counted around Missouri. Compare that to the years between 1994 and 2006, when only 12 were spotted. [...] The animals may come from an established colony in the Black Hills, cross Nebraska and wander into Missouri, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Missouri’s extensive forest coverage, which includes 35% of state acreage, then becomes an ideal destination for the animals. Mountain lions have roamed Missouri since pre-settlement times. Their range crosses the western hemisphere from Canada to southern Chile. [...] Although they are seen across the state, over half of all sightings have been documented within 40 miles of Mark Twain National Forest in southeast Missouri. [...] Trophy hunting by early colonists wiped out most of the population east of the Mississippi River. [...] Except for the recent encounter in Franklin County where a lion was hit by a vehicle, the last documented human contact occurred in December 2021 during another vehicle collision. [End of excerpt.]

---

For reference:

[lackadaisy-headcanon-supply-unit]

Hi hi hi! It’s awesome to see Lackadaisy fan content writers coming on Tumblr! Could you write some general romance headcanons for Nico Savoy?

Can’t wait to see what you guys do in the future! 💕💕

The finest of choices, my friend 💖

•As established by canon, Nico doesn't do well with the concept of romantic commitment.

•That means his only real relationships are flings that last a couple of weeks, sometimes four. His record was three months.

•He's left a decent trail of broken hearts, and no one knows whether his own is so much as dented from it all.

•Of course, as a hired hijacker and member of the Marigold, you can't exactly say he's fallen in with a "good" crowd. Most of his romantic liaisons have been meet-cutes in those circles and in back alleys, from deadly gunslingers to the lovely ladies populating the houses of ill-repute.

•He'll definitely make it feel like more than a short infatuation, however dubious it is at its core. He probably doesn't even realize he does so.

•He's aware that he's a smooth charmer, that's for sure. A real Dom Juan who spares no drop of golden charisma or expense, especially in the beginning. He goes all in, knowing what he wants and unafraid to show it. It's that confidence that dazzles his conquests and sweeps them off their feet before they know it.

•Evening dates—when he's not on duty—include fishing in secluded spots down by the river or a good old bar brawl and subsequent wrestling match in the Marigold. He favours the raw rush of life to fancy dinners and tight-necked upper-class parties.

•Unfortunately that means his private life and his work life often weave and intersect, and that any of his current romantic affiliations end up involved with the Marigold's business in one way or another.

•If they can handle a gun decently well, it makes for even more fun. There have definitely been some interesting couple's nights out, that's for sure.

•If it wasn't obvious, Nico's romance rarely flourishes outside the cover of darkness. Managing to find him during the day is already a feat unto itself.

•It's hard to know what he really thinks of love in general. The normally brash and abrasively honest Nicodeme Savoy always plays the same seduction game, wins it and lets his victory wane with his affections. It's hard to see what really goes on behind that mind of his.

•Maybe Serafine knows. Maybe one day, a partner of his will find out, too.

•All his romantic flings are certain of is that it's worth making the most of their partnership while it lasts. Despite the eventually heartbreak, sweet memories of a rumbling laugh and Cajun drawl, the brooding amber gaze and the dreamy fireflies and passing boat lights glittering over the surface of the Mississippi stay deeply engraved, forever.

•Sharing even a few days with him feels like a sharp shot of spiced-up booze, difficult to get out of one's system and lingering like a curse.

•And just like alcohol, the addiction is often hard to do away with for good.

#🦉mod iphiko #I love Nico with all my heart he's just so #these kinds of requests make me feral in a very good way #so thank you #lackadaisy #nicodeme savoy #nicodeme lackadaisy #nico savoy #headcanon home brew #headcanon

[beardedmrbean]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to change the locks on a coveted city-owned apartment in its latest dispute with Mayor LaToya Cantrell, whose use of the French Quarter property drew scrutiny and figured in a failed recall effort.

The newly flaring dispute centers on one of 50 units in the 19th-century building known as the Upper Pontalba. It's steps away from the Mississippi River and, along with St. Louis Cathedral, is among five historic structures bordering the green space known as Jackson Square.

Previous mayors have said they had used the apartment for meetings, special events or to house visiting dignitaries. Cantrell came under criticism for her personal use of the unit after a series of reports by WVUE-TV that used public surveillance video to document her long hours there, including time with her police bodyguard and an overnight stay with guests during the summer Essence Festival.

Her use of the apartment and her billing the city for first-class airfare on official trips abroad — both defended as proper by Cantrell — were among complaints by backers of an unsuccessful 2022 recall effort against the mayor, who was reelected in November 2021 and cannot seek a third consecutive term.

Last August, the council overrode Cantrell's veto of a measure putting the apartment back into commerce with other Pontalba units that are available for rent. That followed a March 2023 finding from the city’s inspector general, who said in a letter to the mayor that her use of the apartment may violate the state constitution’s restrictions on the donation of public property and city code language governing her salary.

Council President J.P. Morrell said in a Feb. 28 letter to the mayor that “furniture and other personal effects” remained in the unit. “It is also my understanding that you and members of your executive protection detail possess the only keys to the unit,” Morrell wrote.

In a statement issued early Wednesday, Cantrell's office said the French Market Corporation, the nonprofit in charge of the building, had keys to enter the unit. It didn't say whether the mayor had given up her keys. The statement said Cantrell is not using the unit and that there have been no impediments to the corporation's access to the unit since last year's ordinance was passed.

“We hope that any reasonable person would recognize that initiating an eviction process is unreasonable when there is no tenant to evict,” the statement said.

The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Thursday's 5-2 council vote. In addition to calling for the French Market Corporation to change the locks, the measure calls for any personal items to be removed by March 21.

“To date,” Morrell told the council Thursday, “whether by inactivity or willfulness, the mayor has refused to comply with the law.”

#nunyas news

[amtrak-official]

Okay that didn't work, let's try again

#polls

[uwlmvac]

Pottery with collared rims, where the rim has been thickened to look as if a collar runs around it, is uncommon at Late Woodland sites in the La Crosse area. These three grit-tempered sherds from the Sand Lake Archaeological District near Onalaska have thickened rims that do not quite appear to be full collars, so the excavators called them “pseudo collared.” The pseudo collaring suggested that people in the area may have been experimenting with collaring techniques more common among groups in southeastern Wisconsin, north-central Illinois, and to a limited extent elsewhere in southwest Wisconsin.

For more information: 

Boszhardt, Robert F. 2004  The Late Woodland and Middle Mississippian Component at the Iva Site (47Lc42), La Crosse County, Wisconsin, In the Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. The Minnesota Archaeologist 63:60–85.

Finney, Fred, and James Stoltman 1991  The Fred Edwards Site: A Case of Stirling Phase Culture Contact in Southwestern Wisconsin. In New Perspectives on Cahokia: Views from the Periphery, edited by James B. Stoltman, pp. 229–252. Monographs in World Archaeology No. 2. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.

Kelly, John M. 2003  Delineating the Spatial and Temporal Boundaries of Late Woodland Collared Wares from Wisconsin and Illinois. Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. https://www.academia.edu/460476/Delineating_the_spatial_and_temporal_boundaries_of_Late_Woodland_collared_wares_from_Wisconsin_and_Illinois

#archaeology #archeology #woodland pottery #pottery #Sand Lake Archaeological District

[jellogram]

US state borders that piss me off: a collection

Basically the entire Arkansas/Mississippi border

2. This stretch of Maryland that consists of a single on/off ramp

3. This corner of South Dakota that ruins an otherwise fairly rectangular state

4. The general shape of West Virginia. Roast turkey lookin ass

5. Oh, did you think Colorado was a perfect rectangle? You thought wrong

6. You're not even following the river anymore!!!! Just fix the fucking border!!

7. Do I even need to talk about the upper peninsula

8. Pennsylvania just really really needed this little chunk of Lake Erie

9. This whole situation. Why does Delaware even exist? That whole peninsula should clearly belong to Maryland

10. Wait, what's so bad about the Connecticut/Massachusetts border? Isn't it just a straight line?

Huh? What's that?

Oh, get FUCKED