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Earlier today, Sarah, Dalla, and I drove up to Devil’s Lake State Park for an afternoon of hiking. We anticipated finding the park with peak fall color and we weren’t disappointed. The tree were ablaze with plenty of reds, oranges, yellows, and of course some greens. The trails were often covered in fallen leaves and acorns the squirrels hadn’t yet buried. We saw some portions of the park we hadn’t seen before, and we took some photos of ourselves and a few of the things we saw.

When the three of us are out hiking, it’s like being out in public with a celebrity as Dalla gets all of the attention from children and adults alike while we’re barely acknowledged at all. Today, numerous other people talked to her and tried to scratch her. Ironically, she couldn’t care less about other people, unless they have food for her, which none of them do.

Some interesting sites I’ve seen of late:

• The 2007 Monthly Doos calendar is perfect for the, umm, doo lover on your Christmas shopping list.
• If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to fly “sultan class,” check out these photos of the Sultan of Brunei’s plane.

For your daily dose of outrage, I suggest the following: TSA confiscates a geologist’s rock. Yes, a rock. They claim it is a “dual-use” item.

Theodore Judson’s sci-fi novel, Fitzpatrick’s War, is a relatively unconventional take on empire, history, government, society, and love. That he covers all of these topics in just a shade under 500 pages is itself quite an achievement.The world of Fitzpatrick’s War is Earth four hundred years in the future. With one exception, the world’s societies are once again steam-driven. Zeppelins transport people through the air from place to place while steam locomotives, cars, and trucks are generally responsible for ground transportation. The technologically dominant society is an amalgam of the US, Canada, Britain, and a handful of minor geographic locales. This dominant society is known as the Yukon Confederacy.

The Yukon Confederacy is both healthy due to its trade and technology, and prone to internal collapse due to its rigid societal, political, and economic structures. The vast majority of Yukons work the land as farmers. Mobility for this class into the upper classes is almost nonexistent. Those of all classes who attend school are taught lessons only from approved textbooks and the most important subject is History. The Yukons are a people constantly looking backward.

Judon’s book is written as though it is an annotated reprint of a historical text. The annotation is provided by an approved Historian; the text is the autobiography of an individual Yukon citizen-soldier. This artificial construct never managed to withdraw into the background of the story. Frequent footnotes prevented the story from building much momentum as they introduced useless facts about extremely minor characters. I’m sure that the construct Judson chose enabled him to tell the story he wanted, but it doesn’t enhance the reader’s experience.

In addition, Judson isn’t much of a word smith. He has a serviceable grasp of the English language, but no one would ever describe his prose as witty or clever. He’s a good enough writer to keep language from getting in the way of his ideas, but not much more than that.

The themes that Judson wants to explore are the central characters in the novel. These themes joust with each other for room on the printed page, with some receiving more space than others. However, Judson’s views on these themes (the nature of empire, the power relationships in a marraige, the importance of history, and others) are all relayed to the reader eventually.

Fitzpatrick’s War is a serviceable yarn, but not one that should send you to the bookstore RIGHT NOW to pick up a copy. Instead, keep your eyes open for a used paperback copy and buy it without reservation.

Sarah, Dalla, and I went hiking in the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest yesterday. We hiked roughly six miles and took a few photos along the way. The gun deer season has started here in Wisconsin, so we were all wearing blaze orange. We made Dalla a blaze orange collar of sorts out of a polyester hunter’s vest since she can’t wear a cap or a vest. The weather was perfect, there were no bugs, and the trails weren’t too crowded. We really enjoyed the day.

As September draws to a close, Sarah and I have been engaged in our end of summer activities.This weekend, Sarah’s bicycle club sponsored a cyclocross race just outside of Madison. She took part in the clinic on Saturday and raced in her first cyclocross race this morning. She took third and received a bronze medal for her efforts.

Yesterday, we went hiking at our favorite local hiking spot for the first time in quite a while. We like to hike on he Belleville/Brooklyn segment of the Ice Age Trail and we hike there in spring, fall, and winter. The Trail in that segment borders a huge marsh, and the mosquitoes can be overwhelming in the summer, so we generally avoid the trail until this time of year. About 45 minutes from the trailhead, there is a hand pump that brings up well water, and we have gotten into the habit of hiking out to the pump, drinking a bit, and heading back to the car. We didn’t have a surfeit of time yesterday, but we managed to make it to the pump and back regardless. Along the way, we took some photos of ourselves, Dalla, and the Trail’s surroundings.

Two weeks ago we went apple picking with some of my coworkers and their families. We only picked $10 worth of apples, but we still have half a bag left after eating them with pretty much every meal for the last week.

Even though the stumblebum Vikings have been playing for the past few weeks, I’ve been so completely caught up in the Twins that I haven’t been able to get very excited about the unsurprisingly below-average offense that the Vikings field this year.

The Twins, on the other hand, are an interesting and compelling team. I love the way they play the game: playing solid defense, fielding strong pitchers, getting runners on base, moving them over, and then driving them home. I certainly wasn’t alone today when I turned into a die-hard Royals fan for one day.