Saturday, 25 August 2007
We held the Make Up Party tonight, the one McGrady suggested because we weren’t up here for the Fourth. The best eye-candy came from the moon, however—see the Two Moons of the UP?
No beach fire; the Gov’s put the nix on outdoor fires until…?
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Near the northern end of the Old Manistique Road that wends its way along the south side of the Manistique swamp from Germfask down toward Lake Michigan is a lovely State Forest park at the confluence of Mead Creek with the Manistique.
Although all the road-straightening and bridge improvements have removed some of the winding woods-road charm, this route remains one of my favorites. We almost always make a short stop at Mead Creek to admire the river, especially the reflections of the treeline. Sometimes we can even find a few berries to browse on, too.
This week when we stopped we found the latest change. The tiny campground loop is barricaded and marked with red “CLOSED” signs, surely a casualty of the budget-tightening afflicting the State.
This clump of birches (etc.) remain mute witnesses to the days when campers built smokey fires on this bluff, waiting for the coffee water to boil so they could head out for some early morning fishing along the bank carrying a full thermos. See the peeled bark on the right-most tree? Evidence.
Water levels are low along these reaches of the Manistique, too, although the sprinkles we got yesterday and fogginess that continued this morning brought dew, a very modest relief. So, the sun hasn’t extracted as much from the plants and soil lately, but the deficit still means the UP is dry dry dry.
At the same time we hear about flooding in northern Ohio and in I believe MN/WI, which aren’t that far away.
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
The Botanist planted and nurtured barberries at each corner of the cottage, so I had to trim them back so we could access the structure for painting and staining. Now I have a whole wheelbarrow full of barberry twigs that needs to be buried somewhere so no one will step on them, since bare feet abound in these parts.
In fact, Cousin S’s currently suffering from barefoot vulnerabilities: a hornet stung her!
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Last night after a fine potluck meal (the first maize from the Provider’s garden, the first applesauce from the old orchard—thanks Cousin M), we adjourned to the beach donning sweatshirts (most of us) along the way and pulled up chairs around the first beach fire of the season for me. Finally, the hot weather is abating and we are back to the typical summer UP evenings, when it gets cold enough that you want more than a t-shirt when you sit outdoors after sundown and listen and tell stories and laugh.
Laurel and her friend Rachel sang a cappella for us all. They started with “Me and Bobby McGee”—excellent and very moving! I think Janis would have loved their rendition!
Technical info: JCB just introduced me to MarsEdit for composing my blog texts, so I can avoid directly using WordPress, which had been giving me fits. So far, I’m loving it. Recommended!
a fast-moving brownish insect, a type of bristletail, that frequents warm places indoors (thank you Apple Dictionary)
Saturday, 11 August 2007
It never occurred to me that leaf miners (if indeed these patterns are made by leaf miners) would chow down on water plants. Here’s the proof!
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Manistique Lake’s levels are lower now than ever in my memory, and this is the beach (much narrower) we would run up and down as kids when we wanted to keep playing in the water, but we were assessed by the watchful mother (rarely father) as having the dreaded “blue lips.” The remedy for this condition was to wrap in a sun-warmed towel and make several speedy sand-tossing-by-toes circuits until circulation had been restored and we were allowed to return to the water.
Awoke last night over and over again because the wind switched yesterday to the north, bringing the smoke smell to the house. (Earlier this year we smelled the smoke from the South Georgia fires—in Atlanta, now we get the smoke from the Sleeper Lake fires.) It doesn’t smell so bad at midday, but we expect that to fluctuate.
Sunday, 5 August 2007
Over at the Seney Refuge, late in the afternoon, but by no means at sunset, we saw the usual complement of birds, and not much else on the long loop of the driving tour (skipped the welcome center; we’ll stop next time). A couple of turtles. Very few Canada geese. Several family clusters of trumpeter swans, heads stained orange-brown by the tannic waters. Almost no ducks, grebes, or coots. Water levels are low, as across the UP and into Ontario. Not good for nesting. Or myriad other things.
Ah, that “mallard”—wrong! It was a male ring-necked pheasant! I finally got a good look at ’im. Now I know why the “duck” walked/ran so far!
Ya gotta give me a break on this mis-ID; I haven’t seen a pheasant in a while—vigilant wildlife officers and hunters have intentionally extirpated them in Georgia. After all, they’re not native to the Americas.
Friday, 3 August 2007
Here in the Northland, we’ve been greeted by various species of wildlife. Two fawns came gingerly through the backyard. We saw a woodchuck considering crossing the road over near Curtis. We’ve seen Canada geese here and there. Same with seagulls, robins, cardinals, and assorted other birds. In the lake we saw minnows, but no leeches (thankfully).
Without a doubt the most exciting critter sighting was the bat that appeared in the bedroom about seven the other morning. A bat’s better than coffee to get your blood flowing and your brain percolating as the sun rises! I’d been awake for a while reading, so if s/he had been there, s/he had been absolutely quiet. I have no idea where they’re getting in; each year for the last three years we’ve had one visit.
John, enjoying pre-coffee morning ablutions downstairs, flew up the stairs after I screeched, to find me crouched near the floor (it’s a low-ceilinged room), as the bat tried perching on different walls. The Guru saved me, getting a paper grocery bag and gently capturing the bat without harming it, carrying it carefully outside, where it took off into the early morning sky, probably saying to him/herself, well, I’ll try somewhere quieter to nap the day away!
Friday, 29 June 2007
Yeah, I know, an old picture: Kitch-iti-kipi from 2004..
Pearly lipstick. Ever wonder what makes it pearly? I hear it’s ground up fish scales.
Ick.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Today’s NYT science section takes evo-devo as its topic. I had to look up the term, and only felt mild relief to find it’d been around less than ten years. (I think.) Still…. Evo-devo evolutionary development biologists look at how molecular and genetic changes put in motion a whole set of possibilities and take away another whole set.
So, here’s my contribution. Two thoughts….
Here’s an article on the bushy tree of life, and its many branches, a more technical explanation than what the venerable NYT offers. I provide it, not merely for the content, but also for the final subhead. My response: let me count the ways….
Second is the photo above, of a mature tree next to Lake Clara Meer. Its neighbor, disfigured by a streak of rot and a blob of uncontrolled growth (virus?), I noticed, has an orange dot at eye level. I’m guessing it’s slated for removal. So this oak will survive a little longer, offering its leaves to the sun-gods and its shade to the squirrels…and me. Another tree of life….