Musings

This yesterday-photo better illustrates the lake level than one from today would. Today has been breezy and variable, with 8-inch rain—as in drops eight inches apart…meaning enough to note but not enough to make any difference to the vegetation or even a measuring device. Note that there is beach, or enough sand exposed to be called beach, for the first time in, what?, two decades or more? I forget.

In my youth (yes…), the beach at the point (this view; this point) was sometimes twenty feet wide. You might be thinking “climate change” and that probably is not wrong, but more, it is the result of the lake outflow being far more heavily restricted, which has the effect of raising the lake levels. For years, it has been much higher, like on the order or two feet, than in the past. This means increased erosion, among other things.

Our lake is shallow, historically usually less than eight-to-ten feet across much of the basin (which is on the order of three by six miles), so people with their big speed boats, that is: MUCH bigger than the rowboats that we used to use, have been much happier with the greater depth, while…blah blah blah. I’m for the historic levels, but I’m probably in the minority of landowners with lakefront property.

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on Rant about water, various

Before the heat came on, that is around 8:15am, I was removing grasses from around the peony and found these rosebuds! Later I found two blooms. These are small roses, less than two inches across and a slightly different pink from the peonies.

In the heat of the afternoon, we took a jaunt to Naubinway to King’s to get smoked whitefish for dinner. After we secured our purchase (and we could have had menominee or lake trout or I forget the other local fish), we meandered down to the dock…and found the Ida S., all buttoned up…for the season?…permanently?

Kinda hard to believe all these little towns along the Lake Michigan shore used to have many active fishing boats, shipping their catch toward Chicago and Detroit. Most of the fishermen were immigrants, Europeans who knew the fishing trade of the Atlantic or Mediterranean. Some Portuguese and Italian surnames still remain, for example.

Posted at 8:44 PM | Comments Off on Finds

We’re in another hot and dry spell. I’m glad I watered these beauties earlier, or I don’t think the blooms would be as substantial as they are. Now I’m back to watering to maintain them—fingers crossed.

Posted at 7:00 PM | Comments Off on Bloom beauties

Dandelions aren’t the only species that uses the wind to disperse orbs of floatable seeds.

Here’s what the yellow goatsbeard looks like when it’s still in the quiescent blooming stage.

Posted at 7:16 PM | Comments Off on Summer wiles

Today.

Yesterday.

In one hot and humid twenty-four hour period, the bud became a fully opened bloom. Insects note the progress.

Posted at 5:33 PM | Comments Off on One day

Ya leave for two nights and the critters and varmints and infestations set in. Aphids are sucking the juices out of (a minority, I admit) the lupines. Arrgh; it’s tough to be a human molding the world. [Hello, Anthropocene.]

Posted at 8:43 PM | Comments Off on Just that fast

In my admittedly sketchy attempt to obtain and retain Upper Great Lakes headlines, I vaguely recollect a story or mention of cruise ships, perhaps looping from Chicago to Mackinaw Island and back, something like that. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to see this towering maritime vessel, but I sure was. It was anchored just off the mouth of the Manistique River, and thus offshore of the celebrated city of Manistique. I’m pretty sure that orange central vessel was transporting cruisers…but what did they come ashore to do? Shop Main Street? Visit the Thompson Fish Hatchery? Wander the aisles of the hardware store (as we occasionally do)? What?

Posted at 8:31 PM | 2 Comments »

With our fine cuppsa-joe in hand, we strolled across the Fox River bridge rather early in the morn, meeting these googly-eyed statues of two of the four fox-sons of Papa Charlemagne. The St. Charles (Illinois) Chamber of Commerce website tells the story of Charlemagne’s command to his offspring to take care of the EuroAmerican settlers of the valley. I find it a fanciful and strange tale.

Upriver a short way, we came across this statue, also with rather paternalistic words, although I rather liked the figure’s presence.

We continued up the riverwalk to the older train trestle (green), now with a walking bridge nestled alongside (brown). Our friends said long ago when they were children, the daring among them might cross on the trestle…this was long before the river was cleaned up and the walking trails developed. And condos built and development and resurgence…and gee, it’s great someone spent tax dollars to clean up the river….

In the afternoon, we attended a fine party and BBQ, and still later, we caught the smoke-altered sunset en route to our overnight location in Wisconsin. A great time was had by all.

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments Off on Quite a day

Saw lots of green growing plants outside the car windows today, row crops to forests, with several kettle moraines for good measure. Here’s a yucca from the garden we ended up in.

Posted at 11:07 PM | Comments Off on Ate too much Chinese food

Here’s another garden escapee that is surviving in the tall (unmowed) grass: bachelor’s button (BB). Our specimens all look like this, which is like only a minority of the photos that Goo summons up to a search for BB. Perhaps it fell out of favor in the gardening community?

Posted at 8:15 PM | Comments Off on Minority cultivar (?)