Last week’s flashes of yellow and red on the path around the Falls were early indicators of the approach of the autumn season. The yellow flashes were of school buses with their first of 180 daily journeys transporting students. These flashes are very predictable and usually coincide with the first day after the long Labor Day weekend.
Those flashes of red come on the sides of the road, rather than the road itself, and are much less predictable. We are talking about the sumac, which turns from green to red much like traffic lights, signaling summer to stop. The first of those brilliant red roadside flashes were seen last week, according to one report and confirmed by this observer over the weekend.
The growing range of plants can create a lot of interest. With certain cash crops like corn and soybeans, the growing range has expanded over the past generation or two as newer varieties were developed to tolerate conditions in northern Wisconsin. The recent, rapid construction of another in the series of giant, shiny, steel grain bins in the Bay Lakes complex at the northern edge of Oconto Falls suggests that the coming grain harvest is expected to be a good one.
Expanding the growing range of native plants is less of a priority. The fruit of the sumac is used as a spice in many parts of the world. In Arab cuisine, it is used as a garnish on dishes such as hummus and is added to salads and other ethnic specialties. It adds a lemon-like flavor and can also be used to make a lemonade-like drink. Having said that, we live in what is the northern edge of the growing range of the sumac and the southern edge of the growing range of the tamarack, both of which have a dramatic color change with the coming of fall. Perhaps if Middle Eastern cooking was more popular in this area, one of those new, shiny bins might be used to store dried sumac fruit.
While the brightening of the sumac leaves came early, those flashes of yellow came right on schedule Sept. 3 with the first day of school. As is the tradition, this observer takes a trip on one of those yellow buses to start the school year off right. This year the journey was to the western reaches of the district in the town of Morgan. There was Morgan Marsh Road, Morgan River Road and several other roads that didn’t have Morgan in their names.
Debbie Bunker was at the controls of that big, yellow machine and even with only one year’s experience as a full-time driver for the district handled the controls much like a surgeon using the joystick for a delicate robotic procedure. Not that there is a gender difference in bus drivers, but most women tend to be just a bit easier on the equipment because they know they can’t beef things around.
Debbie worked a bit for the Gillett transportation department where she lives but really likes the staff at the Oconto Falls Transportation Department and signed on with us. She was especially complimentary about mechanic Rex, who takes time to train drivers. Like many of the drivers, she heard about the job opportunity through a relative who also drove bus.
That first day on the route she was especially concerned because there were a couple of new stops, and she wanted to make good first connections. With those new stops she offered suggestions to first-time riders about different places to wait in order to improve the level of safety. Traffic safety has a special place in her heart.
At one point on the route, she slowed way down because she knew there had been a dip in the road over a culvert that was hard on equipment. Passing over it confirmed that it had not somehow miraculously improved over the summer. Some skilled athlete trainers talk about muscle memory. Skilled bus drivers need road memory. She had it and confidence that showed.
There was a lot of picture taking that morning. In one case, even a dad got into the act.
Rolling into town, there were a lot of smiles from people standing on the street. They seemed to project a feeling of trust and pride about the district’s transportation service. Even two county deputies standing next to Peterson Ford gave a smile and nod of approval as their squad car was dropped off for service. Safety and service are big words with bus drivers.
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