Musings

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.

Posted at 6:44 PM | Comments Off on Rising waters

Most everywhere I looked today outdoors I saw the mark of autumn. Leaves on the picnic table we feasted around on warmer, sunnier, summer days..

Tomatoes with that late season look from anthracnose and I don’t know what else.

And wind bringing down the leaves from the Uncle Dave Maple, and the brown, withering fern leaves by the back door. I haven’t cut them because I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to put them…I think I’ll transplant a rhubarb crown and put the leaves atop it for winter protection. We plan to return early enough in the spring to remove them before they inhibit growth.

So, it’s not enough to see signs of autumn, I find I’m looking toward winter and spring…already.

Posted at 6:45 PM | Comments Off on Seasonal timelines

A quiet sunrise, with fog and horizon color graduation.

Quiet mid-morning on the lake; just wake-riffles from now-absent boat traffic.

And a quiet afternoon, with a senescent maple sculpture soaking in the sun.

Posted at 6:45 PM | Comments Off on Quiet day

I’ve been keeping an eye on this project. At first, I just saw guys and heard sawing. Then, poof, walls and siding, but no roof. I thought it was a camp cabin, but now I think it’s a garage. There’s already a structure in the woods behind it, but it doesn’t look cabin-y either. Outside the frame to the right is another garage, pretty large. So: all garages, no domiciles? I await developments….

Posted at 8:32 PM | Comments Off on Building complex mysteries

There’s no mincing words, today was all overcast and mostly rainy. I thought there was a break in the precip and headed out on foot just before mid-day, enjoying the yellows and oranges in the maple leaves along the road.

By my return, however, the rain closed in, soft and relatively warm, and without lightning, so fine for a return to shelter, and the opportunity for dry clothing.

Can you tell it’s raining? View from back door. Playhouse and I swear the clothes line poles are actually more upright than that.

Posted at 8:46 PM | Comments Off on All overcast, all day

The fog lasted and lasted this morning, although it just looks odd in this photo of the ghost elm.

Speaking of odd, a rough-skinned heirloom squash.

Another local sign. A now truncated parking area…gravel, so unorganized.

Posted at 9:02 PM | Comments Off on October is here

Among the many necessary chores and activities around here is going to the laundromat (aka dro). That was today’s big chore. This was the welcoming sign on both doors of the dro. Small-town humor.

Since The Guru reinstalled the clothesline (posthole digger work to get a replacement post erected), we used MaNachur for the drying cycle. Aided by strategic removal of items still damp in late afternoon to the toasty sun porch…toasty until the temps drop, and headed down to reflect an overnight low of approximately 52°F. Still, they’ll be dry dry dry by morn.

We got our late afternoon sandhill crane flyover, for something like the fifth day in a row, that I’ve noticed. Magnificent. And a bit raucous in a pleasant way.

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on Dry is open

It was sunny late morning to late afternoon, then the rain came in, just as we were assembling our potluck at the neighbors’. Lucky us, we got to see and hug and congratulate the newlyweds, up from below the bridge. By the time we left, clearing sky, I suspect portending temps dropping into the 40s. Weather rather sets the tone for our lives in this fall chore season.

Posted at 9:32 PM | Comments Off on A railing and its reflection

I believe that today is number 365 of My Life with Apple Watch [not iWatch].

I have decided that of all the metrics for moving around and being busy on a daily basis, the most useful for me is “Move,” that is, the red ring. Move is portrayed as calories over baseline/basal counts (the calories needed to exist). Move clearly reacts to walking or running, and I assume cycling and swimming and skiing. Move still increases if you are active but not walking, and say gardening or house-cleaning. On this: yay for Move measurements.

Other places, Apple refers to Move as Active Energy, and and the basal metabolism as Resting Energy. Apple indicates that the units of both are calories, by which they mean calories just as you see listed in nutrition tables.

It is my belief that both these Energy measures exceed non-Apple calorie counts, so that they are below 75% of non-Apple calories, at about 72–73%. I derived this from looking at my two energies versus my approximate calorie intake, and watching it closely for weeks on end.

So I was not surprised to read this week a NYT article, “Your Workout Burns Fewer Calories Than You Think,” by Gretchen Reynolds (September 22), which says that despite careful measurements of energy expenditure, “most people seemed to be burning only about 72 percent as many additional calories, on average, as would be expected, given their activity levels.” I promise you I came up with 72% before I read the Reynolds article. The scientists who did the study do not know why the descrepancy.

I have said for a long time that a calorie is real and accurate in a test tube and in a laboratory, and it’s a great concept, but that energy does not measure the same in a body. Somehow.

Posted at 8:48 PM | Comments Off on One year

Rainy evening cleared overnight, so we have a full barrel, yet no dry plants, and darned little growth this time of the year. The downspout was still dripping, hence the active distortion.

Our big event was that we drove to the nearest county library, which has a true, lovely reading room. Note the air cleaner tower, right, by the newspaper desk. I picked up a Louise Penny and an Anne Hillerman (daughter of…) for relaxation, while the Guru was getting us some moving picture entertainment using their sorta fast connection.

Taking advantage of the gorgeous day, I walked late, including along the edge of this christmas tree forest (lots of quiet shade away from the road). The orange flags are new, and I assume they indicate that these generously sized spruces are going on a trip this year.

Posted at 7:31 PM | Comments Off on Sunny sun sun