Musings

Having taken two days off from the Eradication Project, and noticing the morning was cool-ish, and that there was a breeze off of the lake, I decided to sally forth with shovel and pickup. And a carry-bucket, a new addition to my tools. In the bucket is one and only one of the (larger) cow parsnips. And it is smaller than one I dug up later. They are aggressive growers!

I thought the lake-breeze would send most of the blackflies tumbling away. Wrong. And we’re in the peak days, so more than the last time. Ah well, I put in a short hour, and was glad I did not have to stay longer. Also I had sweated through my shirt-collar, so I did not feel guilty.

Love trilliums.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Continuity

I heard rain when I got up in the wee hours, but fell quickly back asleep and didn’t know how long it rained. The rain barrel had a damp film, but no drops, so it didn’t fall for long. But, here’s a drop, so a few lupines made a catch. Have no idea why the water seemed pale yellow. Probably some obvious effect known to physics and not to me.

Such lovely little flowers, such a delicate blue.

Spider hanging with two big birch buddies.

Somewhat large blooms for apple…as I recall, this is a Siberian apple (NOT a crabapple), good for blooming and lousy for apples…it was planted to pollinate, so I guess that bee knows where to find pollen! The apples are so unpalatable that the deer even (mostly) avoid them, the Botanist told me.

I seem to remember that the orchard has rows of pollinators; I have no idea if they go north-south or east-west. Vaguely I think north-south, but I may be making that up.

Posted at 7:37 PM | Comments Off on Another hot, dry day

You expect if you revisit the same spot at different times the light will be different and other things, too. In this case, morning ducks…

…became a pair of afternoon loons.

I almost think I can see that the foliage is more leafed out, but that’s probably my imagination. Happens fast here, however. [Sorry, the loons ride low in the water, so they are difficult to spot…persevere.] 😀

Posted at 9:08 PM | 3 Comments »

After coffee and whatnot, this was my morning exercise…more eradication of cow parsnip. And a few odd burdocks that I came across. Quit when sweat rolled off my nose and the mosquitoes joined the blackflies. Enough!

And at the end of the day, after a fantastic meal shared at the proper distance, I went down to the water to get a shot that I hoped would capture the way the distant shore was alit. Kinda. The geese took off when they saw me coming; the dog came later and didn’t chase them, although that’s what it looks like. Later I saw her biting the waves breaking on the shore. Young dog behavior. BTW, two pairs of adult geese, each with four goslings. 💩

I selected these two shots and then realized the sky was so different. And between: bright sun. The last three days we’ve been hearing we’d get some rain during the past 24 hours, but nooooo—rather dry, except the way-too-high water in the lake. 😧

Posted at 9:19 PM | Comments Off on Changeable sky

With the work of the last few years, and especially the tree-trimming=light-intensification of last year, well, and weed removal, the rhubarb is coming back! This variety courtesy of the Botanist makes strong pink rhubarb sauce, not any of that greenish or brownish stuff you may have been offered elsewhere. I may even be able to make a small pan of it!

Those long leaves are ramps, and the notched leaves are bloodroot. I’ll be digging some ramps for dinner tomorrow. But, I left them today, because I was digging cow parsnips—or perhaps giant hogweed—both are phytotoxic and invasive, and I should have done this removal last year. Then I wouldn’t have had so many daughter plants to remove. Eradicate. That human thing: choosing which plants to encourage and which to…disappear.

Posted at 6:46 PM | Comments Off on Plant choices

Sour cherry. Only we rarely get to eat the cherries. The birds unerringly know when the fruit is on the cusp of ripeness, and they swoop in and take the whole crop in a couple of hours. Done and done.

Spring beauties. Love the color variation in the centers…is it the age of the blooms, or…??

The Uncle Dave maple is always hopeful (if I am allowed to anthropomorphize). The newly germinated are ready to go for years, but are unaware that the lawn mower will axe their dreams.

*Spring is about all kinds of creatures, but plants are much easier to spot and photograph (see title). Also spotted: huge vee of Canada geese; minnows in the upper Tahquamenon. And in recent days: a rafter/flock of wild turkeys—seemed like all females? [We were moving fast.]

Posted at 9:53 PM | Comments Off on Spring is about plants*

We’ve traveled back into earlier spring. Hello, grape hyacinths!

And rediscovered a Big Bridge!

Hello, Hemlock’s Own Trillium! Been watching for a spring lovely in this exact spot at the foot of this tree for decades.

Posted at 8:00 PM | Comments Off on Oh, exclamation point

We loaded the vehicle without precip, and drove into spitty rain cells for many miles, and then finally out of the rain. Then, north of Cincinnati, we found the Butter Jesus’s christening pond overflowing, with its waters merging with acres of flooded fields. I don’t know if this Replacement Jesus is also called Butter Jesus after its slightly yellow predecessor, but that’s how I think of it.

Later, we got very close to high water. Possibly yesterday we would have had to detour a few miles.

Managed to catch the late-day light/dusk at the county courthouse I rode past twice each schoolday after I finished elementary school and had to go to town for my schooling. [Full confession: I never had to walk to school.]

Finally, out of town we got a good sky view across the flat flat fields. Purdy. [Sarcastic take on local pronunciation.]

Posted at 10:08 PM | Comments Off on On the move

Just thinking about multiple collectives failing me/us/we/ourselves/them/everyone…but in a distant, nothing-I-can-do-about-it, so…shrug…way. Trying to be zen.

A collective action problem…is a situation in which all individuals would be better off cooperating but fail to do so because of conflicting interests between individuals that discourage joint action.

So professes WikiPee.

Posted at 8:16 PM | Comments Off on Assessing collective action

I checked my fave weather app at 7am (ish) and it said to expect rain (and lightning) by 11am. I checked later, and it indicated not until 1pm. It was 11:20 by the time I hit the street and…looking up, hmm, weather-y, but not so bad. Then, a few drops. I wisely had stayed close enough to the house that I looped myself in the back door and acquired a big umbrella, thanks to a hand-off from the Guru.

Twenty minutes later, I figured I was in the clear, but within two more minutes, the drizzle was kicking in. Mr. Personal-Putting-Green (see entry perhaps a month ago) had his flag out. In the rain. Got my blood pressure up. I took a photo and kept going.

Of course, by the time I was in the final stretch the weather had clinched the deal and I was super-glad I had the umbrella. Or my walk would have been gloobered up. (See Kayakwoman for this vocabulary.)

Posted at 7:41 PM | Comments Off on In which I became glooberificated