Join Waukesha resident Brien Lee and his blog, Sir Fido, as they explore the city and report on the interesting things they find.
Happy Thanksgiving. I had intended to do today's blog on things my readers are thankful for but I've had computer problems. I'm at a relative's right now and can't access my email to see what you've written.
Besides the obvious: family, home, church, clean air and water, job, there are two things I most thankful for this year; an old friend and an old wood.
Like the woods I gravitated to in my youth when I had too much time on my hands, my friend of 30 years has changed. Still recognizable but, in some ways, more fragile.
My son visited a friend this week in a neighborhood so new it's not even on the map yet. His house, just east of Meadowbrook Road, is so new it still lacks any grass in the yard. It took a while to find him because we've never been in that area before, at least not in any car.
His new neighborhood is going up in an area I used to roam as a young lad so I stopped to take a quiet walk in the woods by myself after dropping him off. It used to be risky going there and it's still risky, if for different reasons.
The land used to be owned by farmers that didn't seem to mind, or didn't know of, our presence - we didn't get yelled at until we destroyed corn for a mini bike path. There was so much exploring to do, an old dump and limestone outcroppings. After crawling through rusty barbed wire my brothers and I would watch out for cows and their pies as we made our way toward the crick and pond - what I now know as Pebble Creek. We sometimes risked swimming in the pond and had to check out the tadpoles as long as the cows were away.
Today the cows are gone, the pond too shallow to swim in and the houses are closing in. Without any animals to keep the growth down it's a lot harder to get around and you're taking a risk because there's a lot of "private property" signs (don't tell anyone I was there). There's a small amount of trash in the creek but for the most part the place looks relatively unchanged. The moss-covered limestone is still there and the rare cold water creek will always be there. There is a lot of development pressure in that area but it seems great pains will be taken. Millions of dollars will be spent by the developer to cool rainwater run-off from the neighborhood before it reaches the creek so it doesn't change and harm it.
I regret not having the opportunity to travel more in life but enjoy one of the benefits of living in one place for so long; the woods of my youth are still around for me to show my kids, and will be around for them to show their kids. The Pebble Creek area is an area worth preserving and the developers know that. There are or will be paths constructed for the use of the residents in the area. For once, street names reflect the land not as it was before development but as it will always be - Coldwater Creek Drive and Rockridge Way. For once those expensive new houses that always seem too expensive will actually be worth it because of the area and the pains the developer is taking to preserve it.
As I picked my son up hours later he told me he had the best time. They climbed on the rocks and walked in the woods. I smiled.
