Thursday, 21 October 2021
I said goodbye to the grove for this year. Notice how many leaves are hanging on.
I said goodbye to the barrel reflection, and dumped the barrel and rolled it inside for the winter.
We crossed The Bridge to return to extended temporary trolldom (trolls live beneath the bridge, ya’know).
And we said hello to dear young newlyweds at Farm Club, northeast of Traverse City and highly recommended. What a starter, no?
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Just a few of these left…what an exquisite lacy silhouette.
Today was overcast, so this photo is from another morning, with early light on the upper branches of this, the Ghost Elm…ghost because it’s dead and the bark has sloughed off, and the wood is silvery, and it’s dead most likely because of dutch elm disease. [In elementary school, I did a presentation on DED; big hit with the kiddies, as I recall (sarcasm).]
Time to say goodbye to Ghosty, as we’ve begun a process to get the tree guy to down it strategically without also imperiling our electric service line. I think it used to be in the yard of the Red House, which burned in about 1960, barely within my memory.
Tuesday, 19 October 2021
Such a gorgeous morning, I had to visit the beach and greet the sun.
Just me and the foam. Solitude. Peacefulness.
For the record, plenty of leaves are still on in the maple woods, and even green, but they are thinning.
Monday, 18 October 2021
Without doubt, the most beautiful part of today was the extended morning fog, caused by the sun after our overnight frost. A friend says this, our first frost, is perhaps six weeks later than average. That’s a huge discrepancy. Anyway, we’ve been enjoying the relative warmth.
Usually the sun hits and doesn’t climb very long before most of the fog dissipates, leaving a few lingering wisps that then disappear. Not today; the fog was uneven on our property and hung around for quite a while.
We did two big(?) chores today. This morning we did laundry, which had been delayed because the “dro” was closed on Friday when we intended to do it, and the sign indicated it’d be closed all weekend. And the other dro has no change machine, so we had to wait until Monday, that is today, to return to the first choice dro. Got the wet clothes hung out for the sun to dry, and then trimmed barberries, two wheelbarrow loads worth of errant branches removed. As the sun started dropping most of the clothing was still damp, so I distributed it around the sun porch with its abundant solar gain (and a ceiling fan). It looks like the aftermath of a clothing explosion. And now it’s mostly dry. One triple load’s worth.
Sunday, 17 October 2021
I did get two “crowns” of rhubarb transplanted. They were so poorly that neither was a crown, truth be told. They REALLY needed to be transplanted. I just hope some of the bits survive.
After reburial, I lightly watered the survivors, then put some dessicating fern fronds on top for winter protection.
Saturday, 16 October 2021
We had another gorgeous morning here in the North Woods, or maybe the North Woods and Fields and Lakes.
I set my goal with prepping a new bed for two rhubarb crowns that are being smothered and otherwise slowly snuffed out in their current location. I hope this will work, otherwise I’ll be transplanting them again.
In my recollection, I spent the most time and energy on moving soil and combing through it to remove roots and rootlets, so as to reduce competition by quack grass and other floral familiars.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll attempt an actual transplant.
To finish up the narrative of the day, the afternoon weather became dicier, with overcast and some raindrops, so I made a large pot’o’chili, which we greatly appreciated as we watched the sun fail to warm the sunporch sufficiently to allow opening the doors to let warm air enter our main living space. If that makes any sense.
Friday, 15 October 2021
Enjoyed a glorious sunny, lovely morning, as if it hasn’t been raining off and on for days.
Even the playhouse looked inviting.
However, overcast had returned by the time I walked in mid-afternoon. I took a detour along the back edge of the pine plantation, and discovered the tree guys have been busy.
Here’s the detail on how the rootballs are wrapped and prepped for shipping. They used to use burlap for the wrapping, and this fabric does look like burlap, but I’m guessing it may have some artificial fiber incorporated (polyester?). Ages ago when I worked in the plant nursery world, trees prepared this way were called B&B, for balled and burlapped. [Nobody even cracked a smile.] I never saw the metal frame way back when; seems like a smart improvement.
Thursday, 14 October 2021
I suspect this is a Cladonia species, perhaps pixie cup. These have long fascinated me, such strange shapes. I’m glad I’m not an ant having to navigate among them.
Late afternoon became sunny and pleasant, not long after we finished a mint (Mentha spp.) transplantation exercise, establishing three new colonies, two to the south, and one (the large parent plant) to the southwest. The hillfort is now empty of foliage, although I’m certain many aggressive mint roots remain. I will transplant at least one rhubarb crown to the north margin of the hillfort. It’s time; they are languishing in the shade by the sour cherry.
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
All the rain we’ve had means (of course), the creek is rising. I use is as more precip is expected overnight. We did have a wan sun for a few minutes when we were out moving brush. The pickup did the hard part transporting it from where we didn’t want it to the dump pile, which is as close to where we want it as any place. If I am terribly daring, we may fire the pile (with abundant buckets of lake-water standing by) in the spring and reduce it, I admit, in a not-green way. Speedy, however.
Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Today was gloomy throughout, with on-going mist and drizzle. The swamp endures.
Even this mullein is tolerating the near-continuous moisture. Rain is better than a hard frost, I suppose.
Overall, we’ve had a warmer-than-average fall.