Musings

I’m glossing over myriad details to note there were many during our now-completed northern trip. We swept back into town less than an hour ago with reasonably light traffic, made a few extra [green] lights, the truck is now empty, and the thermostat readjusted to blast the temp downward more than when the house was empty. Home in the summer.

Last night’s sunset. I like the flag and the glow, but had no time for a second shot with the other poles edited out. Such is life. [I have no doubt editing software could readily remove them, but not me.]

Posted at 8:28 PM | Comments Off on Highlights

That freighter: Indiana Harbor. I assume it’s a real place. The strange-shaped vessel behind it is working on the disputed pipeline that crosses the straits. I think the white cone is part of the pipeline project.

Sparty. BMOC. You know which C.

Old Forestry building, now called Chittenden Hall. Mom’s office was on the second floor.

Irish nachos. Totally decadent. Happily shared with almost-birthday guy, DeeMickGee.

Posted at 10:03 PM | 1 Comment »

Last relaxed morning. Here. For a while.

The peonies are winding up. The dominant blooms on the branches with double buds have finished, and the B-team is putting on a meager, but still lovely scented, show. This is one of the largest of the final crop.

We made a small Sunday-drive outing on this last day, up to Eagle’s Nest, or Eagles Nest, or Dad’s version: Eagle Nest. This is the pond-and-marsh to the south. I found the poofy clouds in the blue sky very compelling, with the green belt of vegetation separating the heavens from its reflection.

Posted at 6:11 PM | Comments Off on Change is coming

This is how far along the grapes are. These are wild grapes, I think, and the vines are quite productive this year. They have taken over the spreading juniper since The Guru had to remove one trunk of the sour cherry they used to hug. I bet the birds still get the fruit when it ripens, and we don’t snag more than two or three grapes (not bunches) per person.

We got to dine with five lovely young women and two of our age-set tonight. We laughed, we told stories, and we learned that “vinho verde” is not pronounced with Spanish phonetics. This makes sense because it is a Portuguese wine. The correct pronunciation of the second word is along the lines of “verdj(eh),” with the “eh” at the end just a hint. We sampled two tonight; one was still and the other had teeny bubbles, technically pétillance. Note that the green in the name refers to young/new/youthful, rather than the color.

Note that the grapes above are not a variety used in vinho verde. Or in wine. So far, anyway. Maybe not even technically a variety.

Posted at 9:31 PM | Comments Off on Vinho verde, technically

We went on the wildlife walk, and, as I expected, we saw far more plants than critters. Joe-pye weed.

Did not look very hard in the wildflower ID book for this one…variant joe-pye weed.

Fragrant water lilies and yellow pond lily.

Didn’t ID this; didn’t browse for long.

Mullien.

Then we took the wildlife drive. We still saw many more plants, but they were farther away. And the bugs were so desperate to find us the were slamming into the windows. I was glad we were inside. Painted? turtle. We saw the usual complement of mid-summer loons, swans, Canada geese, seagulls, and a few ducks. No grebes; no coots. No mammals.

Gotta go apply anti-itch cream to the bug bites I got on the wildlife walk.

Posted at 7:28 PM | Comments Off on Searching for wildlife

The grass and its friend have overtaken the rhubarb. Again. I know there are four crowns, and I think there’s a fifth—if it has survived.

Here’s the result after a little over an hour of clearing. I need to hit it again, remove more invaders and put down cardboard to cover the open soil to frustrate a new crop of invaders.

Below the pink foxglove to the left is the fifth crown. Yay!

Don’t know the name of this beauty.

Oh, the headline? “We” lost 140 lb today, “we” being our real estate, that is, crud removed from the back porch and the garage and deposited at the “dump.” And by “dump” I mean transfer station. All the actual dumps in the UP were closed decades ago; that means no after-dinner bear watching.

Posted at 6:36 PM | Comments Off on 140 lbs lost

Sandhill cranes.

I awakened about 4:30am and could hear a soft pitter-patter of rain mostly disguised by the fan. Still, I descended and closed what windows were open on the porch, or closed them enough that if the rain picked up a bit it wouldn’t come in.

By perhaps 8am, the sun was out and I thought geeze it’s going to be hot and humid! Then, shortly overcast set in until about 12:30pm, followed by the day’s full allotment of sun sun sun. The basil is happier with the rainfall.

Wisely, as it turns out, I took my walk during the overcast. I got over the hill and I was striding along and all of a sudden I could hear this bunch making a ruckus. It wasn’t until I got past the fencerow vegetation to the field access opening that I could see this bunch. There are two/three young ones to the left of the adults.

Posted at 5:18 PM | Comments Off on Raucous

I found a milkweed just beginning to bloom, a plant in the vanguard of the blooming, and covered up with skippers.

I found this vetch with plenty of skipper-attention.

Something aka some critters/insects have been eating my basil. This skipper is the only visitor I’ve spotted; however, I don’t think of skippers as basil-eaters. Mystery….

Tar-gravel fixing of holes in the perpetually patched blacktop through the swamp. It’s a bumpy ride.

Posted at 9:39 PM | Comments Off on Skippers everywhere (exaggeration)

It’s no surprise that when we head off into the woods on dirt roads that we see a deer. This morning we saw five, all singles except a doe/fawn pair.

I think this is a rugosa rose. They were imported from Asia to stabilize dunes. This was flourishing with many rose-kin…surprise, on a sand dune.

We walked from the mouth of the Hurricane River to Au Sable Light Station. Easy. Flat. Nice. Closed Mon and Tues. (FYI.)

Several years ago there was a large, lingering forest fire that blackened this area. This route…hmm, a Google choice we should have not tried. Got stuck on that hill. Got out quickly with some sand removal and pushing by JCB. Yay! Returned the way we came in and tried the road we should have taken. And it became the road taken.

Yup. Crisp Point is not National land, and drone was permitted. Great shot, no? Interior closed for renovations. The lake is gorgeous, eh?

Posted at 9:14 PM | Comments Off on Light station x 2

Old deer tracks. Exaggerated by being made in soft mud, and from subsequent desiccation.

Recent deer tracks. Just barely penetrating the soil/former mud.

I was on foot, and I could hear a motor that was skipping behind me. It was the mower on the left. Then I heard a second motor. It was the ORV that traveled faster and here is on the right (I turned around to get this shot). I continued walking down into the swamp where I found the tracks above. Because I had descended I couldn’t hear what happened, but both vehicles must have turned into the fix-it place that is before the swamp, as I did not see/hear them again. My hypothesis is that riding mower guy abandoned his ride to fix-it man, joined ORV guy, and they motored to whence they originated.

Posted at 10:05 PM | Comments Off on I’m a tracker