Entomological moments
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
Walking mantis.
Running ladybug beetle.
Musings
Change of scenery
Friday, 4 October 2019
Puzzle of the day: parse the flags.
Here’s a clue: Canadian fall color [some spots were even more autumnal].
Lake Huron gulls on a marina dock.
We saw many buggy-icon signs, and could see the shoulder was well-used (and, umhem, decorative road apples), and finally we spotted buggies. The first two each had a lone woman, wearing a large black tightly tied scarf. This one was a pair of beard-guys. The fourth was a solo beard-guy. No kids, but I’m guessing there were dozens at home! [Perhaps I exaggerate.]
Bucolic moments
Sunday, 29 September 2019
A tractor is pretty darned bucolic. In the modern industrial sense.
Grapes…still green and still not eaten by the birds. In my experience, avian beings eat grapes, cherries, whatever, about three hours before I figure out they’re ripe.
You’re forgiven if you think these are Canada geese. Nope: sandhill cranes.
Local pretties
Monday, 23 September 2019
Chicory blossom. Chicory roots are processed (roasted? ground?) and used to make a coffee-like drink.
Both this Queen Anne’s lace and the chicory are not native to North America, but are now naturalized. Root also edible. This is closely related to carrots.
Squint at the dots in the field right and rear of the low, green outbuilding. I think six adult deer and one youngster—our local herd….
Subsequently, it cleared and became sunny for the late afternoon…yay!
Naming/not naming
Thursday, 19 September 2019
By the toes, I’m guessing: tree frog. But I think of tree frogs as green—my ignorance, I’m sure (and the amphibian ID book is at our first home, not here). I can use that rural CYA naming strategy, and call it a toad-frog?
That’s lush for a lichen. If I form a band (ha!), I’m thinking Lush Lichen will be on the short list for a name. Along with Illusion of Symmetry.
Snorkel a shipwreck
Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Yup. That was today’s expotition (intentional misspelling, in the style of KayakWoman). At the parking lot at the mouth of Hurricane River, we were cheered on by glorious clusters of mountain ash berries/fruit/redness.
We zipped on foot along the coast path a bit over a mile, then down these steps to…
…head along this beach to our destination. The lake is so high the remains are almost totally underwater (to my left and slightly ahead of me). Warm today, so not bad for getting into the waters of Gitchee Gumee, despite what you may be thinking. I did snorkel a loop out around the wooden ship-carcass, so can officially check “snorkel in Lake Superior” off my bucket list. [Turns out, I’d rather not have waves breaking on me when I’m snorkeling.]
Welcoming us home: this pair of sandhills, which prefer fields to the north of us, but sometimes visit our property—pretty sure it’s the same pair.
Local lore(ish)
Monday, 16 September 2019
Ever so slightly foggy this morning. Have no fear, we got full sun by mid-day and the solar gain has been lovely. Note the woodpile, far right (dark brown).
And on the woodpile: this fur-bearer. John calls it a chipmunk apartment building.
On another note…local cuisine. I didn’t know about pickled eggs until I was of drinking age and archaeo-co-workers during some rural northern midwestern project took me to a local bar…and there were a pair of those big clear glass barrels on the bar, one of pickled eggs and one of pickled pigs feet. I stuck to beer.
Shades of beige
Saturday, 14 September 2019
Here’s the desiccating “riverbed” that was running with water yesterday in the same stretch of road. I have seen so many desert places across the world on GooEarth that look like this on a gigantic scale. I find the braided paths and subtle shadings mesmerizing.
I had seen the hole and the dirt smear before, but today I spotted the perpetrator, ehem, builder. My grandparents called them Chippies. [I don’t know if it had a double meaning to them.]
Somehow, when we inventoried menu possiblities, we ended up with a blond dinner. That’s cauliflower from the neighbor’s garden, plus scrambled eggs and quinoa. [It tasted good, perhaps better than it looks?] And a very colorful green lettuce salad with tomatoes (garden again) and wee rounds of chives.
Sun did come out
Thursday, 12 September 2019
We haven’t stopped at Seney’s Boot Hill in years, so we did today. It was buffed up perhaps fifteen years ago, but nothing since, so it’s entering another genteel decline. Strange plastic items survive better than most of the wood.
We went on to the refuge, and it’s mushroom season…mushrooms and swans. And the usual marsh critters and plants.
Parent trumpeter swan in front of perhaps three-quarter grown swan/cygnet—when do the youths become swans?
I’m speculating: giant aphids?
Not sure what nibbled this mushroom down to the gills—I know turtles like them….
Speaking of turtles…painted turtle?
Oregano pollen
Wednesday, 14 August 2019
The August heat has created huge bloom spikes on our oregano, enjoyed this afternoon by a busy bumblebee.
Sounds (something) like a poem!