Musings

Checked out the mouth of the Manistique today. This is looking upstream at the US2 bridge. The dead vegetation in the water stands on what were the banks of the river several decades ago and dramatically indicate that the water is still quite high. And this was before it rained today haha.

At the other end of the dock we saw three…well, yachts. One had this fancy treatment of all the mooring lines. I have heard mariners have plenty of free time; perhaps this is an example.

Posted at 6:11 PM | Comments Off on Highwater biz

We received a bit of rain this afternoon, but I didn’t think it amounted to much, so I checked the soil profile. It was lightly moist deeper than I thought. So: yay for MaNachur. [The sandiness of the soil makes it look drier than it is.]

The new moisture should help these grapes along. They’ll never get very large; these don’t. However, they do seem small for mid-July, reflecting the recent dryness.

Posted at 8:44 PM | Comments Off on Ag check

I’m astounded by the hot temps from northwestern central North America. This is climate change combined with an Omega weather pattern. It’s only going to get worse. And perhaps accelerate.

Posted at 9:13 PM | Comments Off on Fasten your seatbelts

The thoughts you have when I suggest “humid”—not humid enough to nail the air condition this morning. Outside, I mean. Where it’s not air-conditioned.

Posted at 9:10 PM | Comments Off on Muggy, sticky, stifling

Since yesterday (at least), our weather has been greatly affected by that tropical depression that moved north out of the Gulf. This morning fairly early I checked the prediction, and figured we’d see rain all day, off and on. Then, about 10:30, I saw that the temperature predictions had changed, and rose significantly into the afternoon, which I figured meant that the sun would come out, and…I should get out before that happened unless I wanted to melt.

I did do ho-hum, and got my shoes on and headed out, enjoying a few random drops from the trees. Then I saw a bit of shadow, and thought oh no, I didn’t move fast enough. But the sun retreated and I kept moving through the humidity that the overnight rain had engendered, got my minutes in, and returned soaked in sweat, but not as overheated as I would have been if I had left later.

First photo: droplets on spreading grass. Second: crepe myrtle bark, soaked. Third: magnolia blossom, newly opened so dry inside the petals.

Posted at 8:04 PM | Comments Off on Rolling with change

Dawn sky. Apologies for the infrastructure eyesore.

By late afternoon yesterday, the humidty had dropped, and even though the temps had not, the FEELing was more pleasant.

Ditto for today, for the humidity. Somehow, in addition, it was even cool this morning. And we’re in lily season.

Posted at 8:27 PM | Comments Off on Five star morning

Another foggy morning.

With sandhill cranes (center, on hill).

Later, much later, a teeny storm was threatening from the northwest, and this merganser mom lead her brood away from our par-tee. The storm did get to us, a wee bit of wind and not even enough rain to moisten the soil around the mint on the ringfort.

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Variable weather

First drama was a population explosion, overnight mind you, of tiny gnats…which meant the spiders got busy, and the porch was decorated with web-caught and un-caught gnats.

Second drama was a lowering sky to the southwest…which meant it slid past us to the south, but it wasn’t clear whether it would follow that usual pattern or not for quite a while. As I was out walking.

The third dramatic event was that we attended a live music event! Meet AnnMarie Rowland, singer, song-writer, story-teller, and writing teacher. Covid struck and separated the Michigan native from her love, a Canadian. Now, all is well. She got a special exemption to travel to Ontario late last summer, and they got married, and now she can easily border-cross. As she said, “Sixty years old, and I HAD to get married!”

Posted at 9:25 PM | Comments Off on Day of drama

We did get rain during our small dinner party on the “sun”porch, but only enough to almost make the upper surface of the hillfort garden-let damp.

I am my husband’s smart speaker. I’m smart (asserted modestly), and I speak (undeniable). [I’ve been hearing too many prompts on the radio….]

Posted at 9:37 PM | 2 Comments »

Always love the effect when there’s a quiet night and plenty of dew, which together create a mist when the sun-heat arrives.

Pair of sandhills in the field on the opposite side of the road from previous sitings/photos. If I’d been quicker to snap the shutter, you could see both their bodies (instead of two necks/heads and one body). I heard that the farmer may put some feeder cattle in the field (no sign of that so far*), so they better take special care in selecting a nest location.

* Since the nutritional quality of the grass will soon drop precipitously—it’s almost going to seed—I’m not sure if it’ll be worth the effort of shipping the beasts in and out, and upgrading the fencing.

Posted at 6:55 PM | Comments Off on Neighborhood summery-ness