Sunday, 26 September 2021
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.
Saturday, 25 September 2021
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.
Friday, 24 September 2021
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.
Thursday, 23 September 2021
I tried to make a transportation theme for the day, and it could have worked except for this photo. And I had to include it because: proof of sun…when I walked this morning. Still: breezy and cold-ish, but some sun. Oh, yay.
Sometime after noon, or I guess 1pm, we decided that the afternoon probably would have windy, cold-ish, and no sun, so we’d head to A Small City for errands, groceries, and…a bite to eat. We discussed the options, west, southwest, and east, and their pros and cons, and decided on east: that is, Sault Ste. Marie.
For our final stop, a burger, we headed to Clyde’s, duh. Closed for the season. Oh, no. But we did get to see a school bus on the Sugar Island Ferry adjacent to Clyde’s parking lot…through heavy fog.
However, this summer, Newberry friends extolled the virtues of West Pier, which they prefer to Clyde’s. And it was open! For two more whole days! Lucky us—our first visit could happen. Excellent burgers, but no bison version, which is what we order at Clyde’s. This is how you broaden your horizons, folks.
And from West Pier, we had a great view of The Bridge to a Foreign Land, although traffic counts are miniscule with the border closed to all non-essential traffic. Also, we listened to the CBC as we left SSM, and heard all about their nationwide average of 80% of adults fully vaxxed, yet also too-full hospitals in rural areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan (if I remember correctly). However, a large stadium is expected to be packed for a hockey match this weekend. So, Canadians also…well, I’ll just stop there.
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
That is, here we are on the first day of autumn, and look at those leaves…a metric for the season-change?
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Thought I’d offer a visual to go with the reference yesterday to an artesian well; here it is—I returned today. And when I was there it was lightly spitting rain. That let up fast and the sun came and went all day, although my device indicates that it will fall into the high 40s tonight. That’s almost 20°F cooler than last night. Have to go switch to the heavy quilt. Again.
Monday, 20 September 2021
I felt like walking more than usual when I started out this morning, and made my goal an artesian well over on the next mile-road. Which means I got a drink and turned around. Wonderful.
The farmer had this pond made so he could pasture cattle instead of grow hay on these fields, way back when I was in elementary school. No cattle; back to hay. And nature is infilling the pond. As you’d expect. [Same farmer, however; he’s gotta be in his mid- to late-80s.]
Sunday, 19 September 2021
My that’s some gorgeous moonlight!
And I do believe I see clues to how my phone-cam does its low-light magic…given the the green dot-cluster to the left, and the red highlighting on the foreground plants.
Still, what a fabulous moon!
Saturday, 18 September 2021
We went across the road to greet the neighbors, and she gave us a big hug and took us through to the front deck to wave at her husband, out in the boat. On the mirror-surfaced lake. It isn’t usually this calm this late after sunrise. It was a gorgeous day all the way to dark.
I digress.
Her husband came in shortly with a big haul of four, fine, large fishes. These are the two largest. They are planning on a big small party in a week, so these will go in the freezer until then. And we are invited, so….
Friday, 17 September 2021
Just north of Clare (MI) on US-127, the road goes up a hill, or what’s a hill in these parts. I think it’s a glacial something, moraine perhaps. Anyway, this is it. If you were riding a bicycle, you would certainly notice this hill. North of it the country is rolling and the soils are different, and thus so is the vegetation. My mother always called this the North Country Hill, and her voice had such seriousness, that I always imagined it to be capitalized.
This set us up to get to The Bridge, and the local drive-in, Clyde’s, where we got a late lunch/early dinner of bison burgers. Mmmm.
Did the most urgent cleaning and unpacking, and walked down to the lake to catch the last of the sun on the trees on the point. Our point. It’s far less of a point than it used to be, a victim of much higher water levels and scrounging of the rocks that made it by neighbors. The rocks were below the water line, so there was nothing we could do.
Despite irregular setting of the apple blossoms and the negative effects of an earlier infestation of leaf-eating Lymantria dispar (used to be called gy- -psy moths), we do have some apples. I don’t think they’re on the “best” trees, but they will do. Great color.