Thursday, May 15, 2008

5/15/08 A BEAR LOG


Thursday, 8:00 AM. 46 degrees, up from 40 at 7:00 AM. Wind SSE, calm. Channel calm. The skies are blue and hazy. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies. It is a nice day.
We walked through the woods this morning and saw a long-fallen spruce log that has been mostly shredded by a bear looking for grubs. The trees are at long-last beginning to leaf out, the poplar leaves are about the size of my thumb, a very light lime green.
This morning I will stake out city trees for planting along Hwy.13 (6th.St.) through town, ten red buckeyes, cultivars of the Ohio buckeye, about the size of flowering crabapple trees at maturity. They bear large bright red panicles of flowers, and will be a very impressive entry to downtown.
This afternoon we will set up the pavilion for the Bayfield in Bloom activities tomorrow. Tonight Joan and I will have a real treat, dinner in Ashland with friends of our youth, Dave and Mariette Novak, whom we haven’t seen in at least forty years. They are here to participate in the Ashland Birding and Nature Festival, Mariette having just published a new birding book.