Friday, 30 June 2023
We’ve been watching what to me is the “new” series in the StarWars franchise, Andor. When I hear it, I hear and/or (like and/not and similar). When I read it, I can see it as Andor. Anyway, mostly a pretty good story…grim world, but decent story/characters/writing.
Thursday, 29 June 2023
The smoky haze continues to hang here; you can barely see the other side of the lake (approximately three miles). Thankfully, yesterday and today it didn’t smell smoky outdoors.
Meanwhile, on land, the lupine blooms have mostly become pods—still green—as Fabaceae do.
Wednesday, 28 June 2023
This is what I think of as the standard, even ubiquitous milkweed leaf shape on this property.
Lately, I’ve noticed that a minority have this narrower leaf shape. Without a doubt still a milkweed….
I haven’t seen enough monarch action to see if they notice a difference.
After poking around in details online, I think the first one may be Asclepias syriaca, and the second Asclepias meadii, but that’s an off-the-cuff assessment.
And I thought a milkweed is just a milkweed. My ignorance.
Yeah, I know the light is totally different. The colors of the two are slightly different, with the broader leaf plants “greener,” and the narrower leaved ones, slightly more blue-green. IMHO
Tuesday, 27 June 2023
People say age brings wisdom, but for most of us that really isn’t true, when we get old we’ve just accumulated more experiences, good and bad. The result is more likely to be cynicism than wisdom.*
I have to go with Backman on this. We age into cynicism?
*Text is on page 30 of Neil Smith’s translation of Fredrik Backman’s The Winners (2021; hardback version; title in Swedish original: Vinnarna).
Monday, 26 June 2023
We did a wee bit of time travelling this evening and watched “Yellow Submarine.” I’m sure I never saw it before. Great music; I sang along with all the songs!
Sunday, 25 June 2023
This yesterday-photo better illustrates the lake level than one from today would. Today has been breezy and variable, with 8-inch rain—as in drops eight inches apart…meaning enough to note but not enough to make any difference to the vegetation or even a measuring device. Note that there is beach, or enough sand exposed to be called beach, for the first time in, what?, two decades or more? I forget.
In my youth (yes…), the beach at the point (this view; this point) was sometimes twenty feet wide. You might be thinking “climate change” and that probably is not wrong, but more, it is the result of the lake outflow being far more heavily restricted, which has the effect of raising the lake levels. For years, it has been much higher, like on the order or two feet, than in the past. This means increased erosion, among other things.
Our lake is shallow, historically usually less than eight-to-ten feet across much of the basin (which is on the order of three by six miles), so people with their big speed boats, that is: MUCH bigger than the rowboats that we used to use, have been much happier with the greater depth, while…blah blah blah. I’m for the historic levels, but I’m probably in the minority of landowners with lakefront property.
Saturday, 24 June 2023
Before the heat came on, that is around 8:15am, I was removing grasses from around the peony and found these rosebuds! Later I found two blooms. These are small roses, less than two inches across and a slightly different pink from the peonies.
In the heat of the afternoon, we took a jaunt to Naubinway to King’s to get smoked whitefish for dinner. After we secured our purchase (and we could have had menominee or lake trout or I forget the other local fish), we meandered down to the dock…and found the Ida S., all buttoned up…for the season?…permanently?
Kinda hard to believe all these little towns along the Lake Michigan shore used to have many active fishing boats, shipping their catch toward Chicago and Detroit. Most of the fishermen were immigrants, Europeans who knew the fishing trade of the Atlantic or Mediterranean. Some Portuguese and Italian surnames still remain, for example.
Friday, 23 June 2023
We’re in another hot and dry spell. I’m glad I watered these beauties earlier, or I don’t think the blooms would be as substantial as they are. Now I’m back to watering to maintain them—fingers crossed.
Thursday, 22 June 2023
Dandelions aren’t the only species that uses the wind to disperse orbs of floatable seeds.
Here’s what the yellow goatsbeard looks like when it’s still in the quiescent blooming stage.
Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Today.
Yesterday.
In one hot and humid twenty-four hour period, the bud became a fully opened bloom. Insects note the progress.