The tempest of my eyes

[pameladean]

I am on Google+ as Pamela Dean. If I know you but have not added you yet, it means only that I'm a little bewildered and somewhat beset with daily life.

I went to the eye doctor today, for the first time since I had a peripheral vitreal detachment in 2004 or thereabouts. To my great pleasure, the eye doctor told me that my eyes looked "very healthy," with no sign of the various bad possibilities lurking in my family history. I certainly do need new glasses, though, and have a prescription for same. I had been a little uncertain about whether I simply never got the hang of bifocals, or whether I seriously needed a new prescription; it's clearly the latter.

At the moment, what with the dilating eye-drops, I have the overwhelming sensation that the lower, near-vision half of my glasses is smudged and must be cleaned, but of course I could clean it till Doomsday to no avail.

Since the Minnesota legislature contains too many Republicans with no sense, no empathy, and no apparent wish to use whatever intelligence they possess, who willfully let the state government shut down on July 1, and are still faffing around refusing to negotiate with the governor unless he criminalizes stem-cell research and does other evil things he is not going to do, Raphael and I went to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin yesterday. The vegetation at the edge of the lake near the boat landing was packed with damselflies: if you looked at a square foot of sedge or daylily, dozens of bluets sewed the air. Elsewhere were huge numbers of dragonflies, primarily twelve-spotted skimmers and widow skimmers. I have never seen so many widow skimmers. Every few feet, one was perched on a stick or blade of grass, or swooping back and forth over the short grass of the path. There were a few Halloween pennants, too; also a spotted sandpiper running along a fallen log near the foot of the dam, a red-bellied woodpecker, and bluebirds. At sunset at the edge of the lake near the swimming beach, Raphael found a single vesper bluet, with a bright yellow body and a tiny blue tail-light. We didn't even get to the waterfall, but we plan to come back, even if the Minnesota parks reopen.

I don't want to live in Wisconsin. I love Minnesota. And at least we aren't afflicted with the equivalent of Scott Walker. But sailing down the steep hill on I94 West, zipping over the lovely St. Croix River, seeing the Welcome to Minnesota sign, and then seeing the first big rest stop blocked off with orange barrels, yellow tape, and huge orange CLOSED signs, was infuriating and lowering.

Pamela

Comments

[clio21000.livejournal.com]

As a Wisconsonite, I'm glad you could enjoy our parks! So very sorry that your park system is shut down, but as you said, at least you don't have to deal with Scott Walker. >:( Believe me when I say I understand frustration with a Republican-dominated government...

[pameladean]

Your parks are really beautiful, as is your whole state. And everybody was very nice to us. We are in quite similar political situations. Dayton won by a couple hundred votes; there was a recount. We could be in a situation much more like yours, where, ironically, the parks would be open, but their funding would be eviscerated. I don't actually know that Walker cut park funding, but I suspect him. And Dayton's opponent would have.

P.

[clio21000.livejournal.com]

No, Walker didn't start the problem with our parks' funding - that was his predecessor, Jim Doyle, who, though not a Republican, was also a not-awesome guy. The parks have been running on a non-existent budget and skeleton staff for several years now, a real shame considering how amazing they are. Walker would like to make things worse, though, by further cutting their budgets. DNR employees are almost working themselves to death for non-existant pay as it is, but hey, let's squeeze more money out of their budget! There's some pretty strong indications that Walker would also happily sell off at least some of our parks and let them be developed - to put it simply, he doesn't give a sh*t about them.

[pameladean]

Ah, your tale of Jim Doyle's depredations explains a few things -- the higher day charge and yearly sticker charge for people from out of state, and the somewhat decayed state of signage and trail maintenence in some, though not all, of the parks. Eric and I went to a couple of stunning parks more or less across the Mississippi from Winona -- Merrick and Perrot, I think -- with bluffs and goat prairies, and some of the bluff trails were pretty notional. They must be hard to maintain at the best of times. The idea that Walker would want to sell off any park for development makes me sick. I am saving a bit to contribute towards the effort to recall him, though I have mixed feelings about interfering in other states' business.

P.