Musings

We went on the wildlife walk, and, as I expected, we saw far more plants than critters. Joe-pye weed.

Did not look very hard in the wildflower ID book for this one…variant joe-pye weed.

Fragrant water lilies and yellow pond lily.

Didn’t ID this; didn’t browse for long.

Mullien.

Then we took the wildlife drive. We still saw many more plants, but they were farther away. And the bugs were so desperate to find us the were slamming into the windows. I was glad we were inside. Painted? turtle. We saw the usual complement of mid-summer loons, swans, Canada geese, seagulls, and a few ducks. No grebes; no coots. No mammals.

Gotta go apply anti-itch cream to the bug bites I got on the wildlife walk.

Posted at 7:28 PM | Comments Off on Searching for wildlife

The grass and its friend have overtaken the rhubarb. Again. I know there are four crowns, and I think there’s a fifth—if it has survived.

Here’s the result after a little over an hour of clearing. I need to hit it again, remove more invaders and put down cardboard to cover the open soil to frustrate a new crop of invaders.

Below the pink foxglove to the left is the fifth crown. Yay!

Don’t know the name of this beauty.

Oh, the headline? “We” lost 140 lb today, “we” being our real estate, that is, crud removed from the back porch and the garage and deposited at the “dump.” And by “dump” I mean transfer station. All the actual dumps in the UP were closed decades ago; that means no after-dinner bear watching.

Posted at 6:36 PM | Comments Off on 140 lbs lost

Sandhill cranes.

I awakened about 4:30am and could hear a soft pitter-patter of rain mostly disguised by the fan. Still, I descended and closed what windows were open on the porch, or closed them enough that if the rain picked up a bit it wouldn’t come in.

By perhaps 8am, the sun was out and I thought geeze it’s going to be hot and humid! Then, shortly overcast set in until about 12:30pm, followed by the day’s full allotment of sun sun sun. The basil is happier with the rainfall.

Wisely, as it turns out, I took my walk during the overcast. I got over the hill and I was striding along and all of a sudden I could hear this bunch making a ruckus. It wasn’t until I got past the fencerow vegetation to the field access opening that I could see this bunch. There are two/three young ones to the left of the adults.

Posted at 5:18 PM | Comments Off on Raucous

I found a milkweed just beginning to bloom, a plant in the vanguard of the blooming, and covered up with skippers.

I found this vetch with plenty of skipper-attention.

Something aka some critters/insects have been eating my basil. This skipper is the only visitor I’ve spotted; however, I don’t think of skippers as basil-eaters. Mystery….

Tar-gravel fixing of holes in the perpetually patched blacktop through the swamp. It’s a bumpy ride.

Posted at 9:39 PM | Comments Off on Skippers everywhere (exaggeration)

It’s no surprise that when we head off into the woods on dirt roads that we see a deer. This morning we saw five, all singles except a doe/fawn pair.

I think this is a rugosa rose. They were imported from Asia to stabilize dunes. This was flourishing with many rose-kin…surprise, on a sand dune.

We walked from the mouth of the Hurricane River to Au Sable Light Station. Easy. Flat. Nice. Closed Mon and Tues. (FYI.)

Several years ago there was a large, lingering forest fire that blackened this area. This route…hmm, a Google choice we should have not tried. Got stuck on that hill. Got out quickly with some sand removal and pushing by JCB. Yay! Returned the way we came in and tried the road we should have taken. And it became the road taken.

Yup. Crisp Point is not National land, and drone was permitted. Great shot, no? Interior closed for renovations. The lake is gorgeous, eh?

Posted at 9:14 PM | Comments Off on Light station x 2

Old deer tracks. Exaggerated by being made in soft mud, and from subsequent desiccation.

Recent deer tracks. Just barely penetrating the soil/former mud.

I was on foot, and I could hear a motor that was skipping behind me. It was the mower on the left. Then I heard a second motor. It was the ORV that traveled faster and here is on the right (I turned around to get this shot). I continued walking down into the swamp where I found the tracks above. Because I had descended I couldn’t hear what happened, but both vehicles must have turned into the fix-it place that is before the swamp, as I did not see/hear them again. My hypothesis is that riding mower guy abandoned his ride to fix-it man, joined ORV guy, and they motored to whence they originated.

Posted at 10:05 PM | Comments Off on I’m a tracker

On our last half-day with our houseguest, KB of Minneapolis, we visited the locks and the metro lock area. In the locks visitors’ center, we perused a display that asked people to write about what they liked most about their locks viewing. This writer liked the ACTION, and I concur; it’s wonderful to watch when “the boat gos out.”

Here, however, the car ferry goes out. Right at the Clyde’s lunch stop. Over to Sugar Island; sometime I will take that ferry.

Then we waved bye-bye to KB and dropped in on KW and GG and P___ and M___ at their windy Gitchee Gummee beach. We opted to stay indoors safe from the breeze and the biters, and whiled away the afternoon with non-stop laughs and great stories. Such fun fun fun. 🤭

Posted at 8:51 PM | Comments Off on the boat gos out

We trekked to Manistique and parked by the historic water tower and a cozy, small historic house that was the home of a friend of my grandmother’s.

Quelle surprise! Both were open! This is the view from the window at the stairs next to the small bedroom under the roof. I liked the pattern from the lace curtain very much; however, I don’t think it is “antique.”

Those two buildings are right next to the famous siphon bridge, which only did the siphon thing for about eight decades. The surface of the bridge was below the surface of the water (yes, it’s possible), and beneath the bridge the water was deeper, and this “sucked” the water beneath and past the bridge, and removed much of the pressure of the water level being higher than the deck of the bridge. If I understand correctly.

Despite the date on this plaque for construction of the siphon bridge, 1918, the centenary was celebrated this year. All other info we read indicated the bridge dates to 1919. These discrepancies happen with historical archival info.

Posted at 9:37 PM | Comments Off on Manistique news

Loving the low-angle morning light. And this rug. It’s seen better days, but we both like the color, so it stays (for now).

Stunning flower arrangement for the table…all from the garden and field. Great party followed!

Bumper crop of tent caterpillars this year. Friends are picking them off by the five-gallon bucket full. Yikes! I have heard of scat 💩; turns out that the same sort of output by insects is frass. I knew you wanted to know that.

Posted at 10:36 PM | Comments Off on New vocab: frass

Two skippers; I think of them as “everyday skippers.” One daisy. Definitely an everyday daisy.

Posted at 8:34 PM | Comments Off on Two and one