Wednesday, 2 October 2019
Overcast this morning yielded to a bright sunny afternoon, perfect for spending time on the porch and a visit to the beach (no swim, though!).
Gulls or ducks? I’m betting gulls. They are…productive. And there was small flock floating out a ways, white heads made brilliant by the…sun!
Apples are ripening here. Here, after all, is an orchard.
Tuesday, 1 October 2019
I allege “magic” because it was 61°F for at least six hours today, from when I got up until after noon. At least it was 61° on the front porch for that long. Overcast and consistent. And that’s a long time for it to be the same temp out in these parts.
Later, the sun came out for a bit, and it broke 63°, but the sun-time was brief, and when I was making dinner, I noticed it had dropped to 59°. I’m sure it’s dropped more by now, but I’m lazily not checking. Sometimes scientific data are incomplete for such reasons, and often because…does it really matter? Stand back: the long-time steady temp is the news here.
Monday, 30 September 2019
Rain rain rain rain. During an almost-cessation, I suited up in rain gear and rubber boots and set out. Light drippiness, no wind. That’s okay, I thought.
I reached my half-way point, and uh-oh, the precip kicked in, creating rushing brown rivulets. My gear was good and I slogged on.
No traffic, I thought, that’s one good thing, as I marched back. Was the rain slacking off, I wondered. Half-way back, my knight in shining Nissan appeared. Yup, the rain was slacking. He passed me and turned around, and returned to collect me. I bargained for a few more minutes of trudging since the rainfall had diminished. He waited on top of the hill, and I bounced into the cab, dripping.
And, back at the cottage, he even pulled my boots off. That’s true knightliness.
😉 🚶♀️ 🌧 ♞ 💜 🍀
Tuesday, 24 September 2019
Ah, fog in the orchard…
As we drove (we left early), it became fog just about everywhere that was low.
However, when we left the trailhead and moseyed through the woods, no fog.
Chapel Falls. This is just the top from above. Video captures it best…[pan; water-roar].
Previous years we might have called this loop Biting-Insects Trail. Today it was Fun Guy Trail. I am sparing you the other sixty-seven types of Fun Guys we photographed.
Legendary Grand Portal. Yes, the rock has caved in. Still stupendous. Sometime I may see it from the water.
However, I will not do it as a paddle boarder. Kayaker, perhaps. From a commercial tour boat, perhaps.
The Botanist had several plants he singled out in the shoreline habitat. Basswood was one. Extremely large and distinctive leaves.
Also note: 30K steps, 11.6 miles of oft rooty and muddy trail (with gorgeous views).
I’m withholding comment on the doings in DC; we seem to be starting a new chapter, as the saying goes.
Saturday, 21 September 2019
This is the porch and there was sun: tada! Sunporch! ☀️ Late in the day there was a bit of precipitation and the laws of physics held, and off to the east we saw a rainbow! 🌈
Friday, 13 September 2019
Can a morning be murkier? Rain. Mud. Looked like the sky wouldn’t clear for a week.
So we set off to assuage our need for some activity, and pfft, by just after noon: sunshine. We found flooded rivers and huge puddles down along the Lake Michigan shore. It took more than our latest rains for these floods! Decorative carts in Nahma were all in puddles—four of them! Nahma must have a year-around population of something like 300, so that’s an outsize effort.
Came across this small gang/rafter of turkeys…two hens on each side of the tom. The ladies split two to each ditch. He went with the ladies on the right. We motored slowly past and assume they reunited.
Eventually, we stopped at the Thompson fish hatchery. It was after the buildings were locked, but we could walk around, following the yellow fish road.
I don’t remember this machinery. They pump fresh water from a super deep well, then swap out trapped nitrogen for oxygen (they oxygenate the water). However the water smells of rotten eggs as it has a high sulfur content.
The one open water pool was the waste pond downhill from the hatchery. All the nutrients from the fish and excess food is removed here, before the water flows back into the wild. Big sheets and islands of algae.
Even a few “no fishing” fish. Speckled trout?
Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Blushing cauliflower.
Giant zucchini blossom.
Rain last night. Heavy overcast and surprisingly warm all day, but not raining. Rain has returned ushering in an early dusk.
Thursday, 29 August 2019
Probably should have used this yesterday with my discussion about textiles. Only this is with cotton or something mimicking cotton.
Almost COLD this morning. Almost autumnal. Yay!
Haven’t heard a prediction on this, but I’m assuming we’ll get some rain here in Big-A-town from the spinning bands generated by the coming storm…Monday? Tuesday?
Tuesday, 27 August 2019
It’s rather like the rainy season arrived today. Rain in the wee hours, then periodically during light-time. I got out early and it was cool (for here, for now, for lately), but geeze the air was full of wateriness.
MEANWHILE, we watch that tropical storm down in the Caribbean and see what spaghetti-thread it follows….
Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Real made-in-Hawaii Hawaiian shirt….
That’s what you get for vegetation today, as it was too hot to go out for a walk.
At 6:15 am: 78°F and nudging up. Up, eventually, to 100 round number degrees, with a heat index of 1-oh-big-niner. Yikes. A record for the year, heck the high since summer 2016.