Musings

And your tomorrow is my today. The promised palm trees!

We’re on the leeward side of the island. We found these grazing horses under steep volcanic slopes that were greener than I expected.

Oh great omen, the rainbow. Stubby but still a bow!

And the leeward side is the sunset side. And the sun’s getting low. This is the end of the road on the west coast.

And full sunset! A stunner! Another wonderful omen?

Totally slipped my mind on the last post: when we left the airport, we rode in a rental car. So yesterday: trains, a plane, a car, and several walks.

Posted at 2:21 AM | Comments Off on Almost unreal colors

The grass has to know how the canna got downed. Has. To.

I’ve got a bit more data on this one. This yard sports new-this-season sod, and it’s supporting a sprinkle of these little ’shrooms, perhaps inky caps. No other yard has them. Mushrooms d’sod? The grass has to know.

Posted at 5:12 PM | Comments Off on Grass stories

I’m glossing over myriad details to note there were many during our now-completed northern trip. We swept back into town less than an hour ago with reasonably light traffic, made a few extra [green] lights, the truck is now empty, and the thermostat readjusted to blast the temp downward more than when the house was empty. Home in the summer.

Last night’s sunset. I like the flag and the glow, but had no time for a second shot with the other poles edited out. Such is life. [I have no doubt editing software could readily remove them, but not me.]

Posted at 8:28 PM | Comments Off on Highlights

Last relaxed morning. Here. For a while.

The peonies are winding up. The dominant blooms on the branches with double buds have finished, and the B-team is putting on a meager, but still lovely scented, show. This is one of the largest of the final crop.

We made a small Sunday-drive outing on this last day, up to Eagle’s Nest, or Eagles Nest, or Dad’s version: Eagle Nest. This is the pond-and-marsh to the south. I found the poofy clouds in the blue sky very compelling, with the green belt of vegetation separating the heavens from its reflection.

Posted at 6:11 PM | Comments Off on Change is coming

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

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

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