Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 45 degrees, wind E, calm. The channel is like glass. The barometer predicts sunny skies which are now blue with some haze.We went to the Larsen’s for dinner, they are living in their “winter camp,” a large multi-purpose room at the back of their metal barn. Andy is building an elaborate roofed tent platform that will house a large new Cabella’s tent, and will be a luxurious camping facility. Judy is anxious to be cooking outdoors in the cook shack, as she and Andy are truly gourmet camp cooks. Anyway, we had a nice evening with them and Myron, who lives up the road and probably smelled the chicken roasting. The ticks and mosquitoes are still fierce in the woods and it was just as well that we ate inside.
Coming home just about dusk we saw a yearling bear on Hwy. K and Lohman’s (Myron’s) road. He wasn’t shy and we got several good looks at him but I didn’t have my camera.
There has also been a big sow with cubs in the area, getting into things, and Myron says her tracks alone weigh over twenty pounds.
We have what I am calling a Bayfield signature tree, it is a Paul’s Scarlet English hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet,’ an old fashioned variety. Probably the most beautiful of the hawthorns in flower, it is located in the little park on Sixth Street and Old Military Road. I would like to propagate it and plant it throughout the city.
Former Bayfield resident Howard Larsen had propagated some and planted them around town and they seem to be doing well. “Paul’s Scarlet’ is usually susceptible to all sorts of disease problems and is seldom used these days, but this tree seems to be resistant, either because of our Bayfield microclimate or in that it has evolved a true genetic disease resistance.
The dominant male hummingbird is driving himself crazy trying to defend (now two) feeders from interlopers, and I am tempted to put up a third and push him to the limit.
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