Musings

I think of Cincinnati as the place where we have to slow down…either on I-75 or by taking an evasive route because the traffic flow on the Interstate is hosed. That is: greater and metro Cincinnati. This time problems were downhill into town and across the I-75 bridge over the Ohio, so we checked out some of the old timey infrastructure along our alternate route. We had a good time on the grey roads!

Back on the Interstate zoom zoom, we encountered this…in Tennessee?. Some miles along, we found cattle transporters with moo-capable cattle, yet this specimen was the most unusual.

We arrived in ATL under changeable skies. Spotty rain inbound…and of course rain during part of the unloading. Of course. We are home and all is well. Yay!

Posted at 7:41 PM | Comments Off on Yay!

I was outside doing an outdoor chore (rhyme!), and noticed this grey cloud to the north-northwest. Sure enough, ten minutes later it was over us. Ten minutes after that, it had moved on to the east.

And ten minutes more, we had some sprinkles (not enough to dampen the ringfort, but, hey, rain is rain).

Posted at 6:51 PM | Comments Off on Predictable?

When the Manistique River is high this time of the year, the lake it flows from must be high, too? Roight? And it is. And it has been. For years. We go from drought years to this in, what?, just a few years…and this high-water has been with us for, what?, a decade?

The lake it flows from is a shallow lake, big and shallow, and the speed boaters always had to take that into account…like anchor their boats well off-shore (takes some depth for those big motors) and take a dingy in, and the like. Well, those folks like the high levels. The rest of us watch our property wash into the water and disappear. Not happy-making.

In short, Lake Michigan is high. The feeder rivers that flow into it are high, and everything upstream is water-filled. Welcome to climate change, this local version right at present.

Today’s official palate-cleanser flower….

Posted at 8:32 PM | Comments Off on Water! Essence of life.

I have to say that I tend to enjoy drippy rain. White-noise drippy rain. Today’s lasted, off and on, until about 5:30 pm, when the sun came out and the temp began to elevate. I hear even more bird calls now. And, as you can see, the rain barrel is full…plenty to last us a few days until the meteorological report predicts sprinkles, as I only have to water the basil…and mint! Peppermint! This summer’s science experiment (thank you, Sweet, Kind Neighbor, who induced my snippings to send out roots after I had failed to do so).

I see a stand of goldenrod (Solidago spp.) has pushed well above the grass head near the garage. Only they’re not yet golden. Time, magic time, will change this.

Title refers to a common phrase around here that goes something like…if you don’t like the weather…da da da.

Posted at 7:25 PM | Comments Off on …wait ten minutes

Spartan! Yeah, an ag school…different kind of maize here than at that big, noisy school down the old Indian trail to the southeast.

Sheriff…as in behind the law on top of the bridge.

Cloud cover looks a bit thicker than it was. Just want to mention: temp about 69°F. Soooooo fiiiiiine.

Posted at 9:18 PM | Comments Off on S is for…

Hoy: caliente y húmeda incluso antes de las 8 de la mañana.

And we’re getting the third overhead rain cell right NOW, for an extra boost of humidity! Oh, yay!

Posted at 7:12 PM | Comments Off on My life in Spanish

Prediction is for temps in the nineties for the whole, entire, every-day of the coming week. With “feels-like” numbers even higher.

Makes me think of heading north…way north. Not so excited about all the toilet-rooms and the overnight room on the way…but we made it work a while back, coming and going, so…repeat?

Posted at 7:07 PM | Comments Off on Tempting jawline zits

The early-morning weather people I heard both said there was ground fog murkiness, so I expected to see it when I left the house before 7.

They also said that in the general area of the city the smoke from the Fourth fireworks was adding to the obscurity. I find that interesting. These health-pandemic types keep saying we should go outside because the Covid particles disperse more. Now the weather specialists are saying that particles don’t disperse (essentially). I’m guessing there are more factors involved…like 5/6 feet off the ground has rather different patterns than 200 feet (plus) above the surface.

Certainly, whatever the air conditions, it took longer than usual to clear.

Posted at 9:27 PM | Comments Off on Smoky fog

Good vibes morning sky.

Don’t recognize this tree (shrub?).

Just a bit of mystery to this fence-shadow.

Rain cells came through afternoon and evening, so it’s a good thing I got a nice morning sky photo—evening would have been…drizzle.

Posted at 9:17 PM | Comments Off on Slow-day Sunday

We ventured farther afield…took US2 along the north shore of Lake Michigan. The lake is HIGH, backed up into the rivers that normally flow into it. Of course, until just recently it was very low, and many people are not old enough (raint-raint-bwaaah) to remember normal levels. Such is life in the time of climate change.

One chore was to stop at this hardware. One small tank truck, one SUV, and otherwise a line of pickups. And more pickups on the other side of the parking lot. An unconscious social statement? Probably pretty clogged inside (narrow aisles), but I didn’t go in.

We drove into rain after the hardware, and it is still with us. After everything was unpacked, I finally got a bit antsy and put on boots and headed out for a walk…and found the first lupine in bloom. White! And not a single other plant that I saw even has a bud!

Some kind of pussytoes, the flowerheads weighted down by the rain. I just read in the cyber-land of miscellany that pussytoes (Antennaria sp.) are in the daisy family (Asteraceae), and these plants are connected underground, and so are one, or clones, however you want to describe it. Plants are not animals.

Speaking of plants and seasonal progression…I nabbed a handful of chive-tops to put in tonight’s salad, and discovered they’re already sending up buds. I almost missed that transition, too!

Two because: one to town, one around the property….

Posted at 5:24 PM | Comments Off on Two expeditions