Bayfield Almanac

12/17/09 'TILL WE MEET AGAIN

2009-12-16T21:31:00.011-06:00

It has been fun writing the Bayfield Almanac blog the past two years, but this will be my final entry, as it is time for me to move on. I hope my poor efforts have helped foster an appreciation for the out of doors, landscape design, horticulture and native plants, and for independent thinking on matters scientific, political and social, as well as an appreciation for life along the byways of our great Republic. So, good’ by, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

You can find Art Ode's new blog at artsbayfieldalmanac.blogspot.com.

12/16/09 WARMER THAN PREDICTED

2009-12-16T09:03:00.008-06:00

Wednesday, 9:00 AM. 2 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast but the barometer predicts sunny skies. It did not get nearly as cold (-10 for Ashland) as the weather forecast predicted, probably because of the open water .

12/15/09 A GOOD GUESS

2009-12-15T09:24:00.012-06:00

LAKE SMOKE
BAYFIELD CITY HALL
MAYOR AND OFFICE STAFF
LANDLOCKED
STILL FISHIN'

Tuesday, 8:45 AM. 0 degrees, wind WSW, light. The channel is obscured by lake smoke, and the sky is mostly overcast but clearing. The barometer predicts sunny weather. We have an inch or so of new snow, and it has been snowing lightly.
Bayfield City Hall is a nondescript old building, mostly garage space, with a few offices and a meeting room. For most purposes, it is all we need. Around the Christmas tree are Mayor Larry MacDonald and city office staff.
Pleasure boats are now all shrink-wrapped and consigned to dry land, but commercial fishing boats will cast their nets until freeze-up. I hear they are catching a lot of herring.
The “lake smoke” is steam or fog rising into the frigid atmosphere from the warmer water of the lake. It rises, often in great billows, condenses and comes down as “lake effect snow.” It is not a continual process, but seems to depend upon atmospheric humidity, wind, and probably other factors as well. I theorize that it is cyclical because when the surface water cools sufficiently it becomes heavier than the warmer water beneath it and sinks, the warmer water then rising to be cooled by evaporation, the process then repeating itself until the surface finally becomes cold enough to freeze and stop the process. Anyway it’s a good guess.

12/14/09 OOF PARTY

2009-12-14T09:24:00.005-06:00

MISSED THE LAST FLIGHT OUT
PARTY GOERS (THE MOOSE FAMILY)

Monday, 9:00 AM. 15 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is mostly obscured by lake smoke, it is snowing lightly, with 4” of new snow on the ground. The barometer predicts more.
Mary’s OOF (Official Old Farts) Christmas party was its usual success, with most of the community’s seniors dropping in between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM for brunch and libations (the moose family crashed the party but were welcomed by all).
The robin must have missed the last flight out. I suppose I have another critter to be worried about now, as robins don’t come to the feeder. Maybe it will get some sense and fly in the direction of the noonday sun.

12/13/09 NO LOCAL WARMING, BUT A PARTY INSTEAD

2009-12-13T09:00:00.008-06:00

HARBOR LIGHTS BUT NO LAKE SMOKE
LIKE A SHADE DRAWN
SNOW OVERHANGS THE EAVES

Sunday, 8:30 AM. 8 degrees, down from 10 degrees at 7:00 AM. Wind W, calm. The channel is calm but surprisingly no “lake smoke” is rising from it. The sky is mostly cloudy but the barometer predicts sun. We are headed for the deep freeze. Today is Mary Rice’s OOF Christmas Party, I will explain the name and report on it tomorrow.
The snow on the south side of the roof now hangs down three feet from the eaves, and like a shade almost obscures the view from the kitchen window. I suppose I will have to get out the roof rake and wade through the snow and clear it, Joan say she likes it but I fear it may damage the fascia. All things considered, we could use some “local warming.”

12/12/09 A METAPHOR FOR WINTER

2009-12-12T12:11:00.004-06:00

A WINTER DAWN
OLD BLACK WILLOW
OLD BLACK WILLOW

Saturday, 9:00 AM. 11 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The channel is quiet and probably beginning to freeze, ice being visible on the Island shoreline. I hear that the Bay was frozen at Ashland yesterday, but will break up with the first north wind I am sure.
The big old black willows along Ninth Street between Old Military and Wilson are a perfect metaphor for winter.

12/11/09 A WINTER NIGHT OUT

2009-12-11T08:18:00.004-06:00

LAKE SMOKE RISING IN THE MORNING COLD
THE BAYFIELD INN
SHOPS WERE OPEN
WINTER STREET SCENE

Friday, 8:00 AM. –3.5 degrees, wind S, light. The sky is overcast, heavy lake smoke is rising from the channel, we got another 2” of snow last night and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
Yesterday evening was the annual Chamber Christmas Afterhours tour of local shops and was open to the public, which was a good idea. People were out and about and buying things, regardless of the bitter weather. Joan and I did some shopping and then had dinner at Maggies restaurant. I have been involved in Chamber Board planning sessions and am leaving for one now.

12/10/09 SURVIVORS

2009-12-10T09:18:00.005-06:00

LUCKY CHECKING OUT THE ORNAMENTS

Thursday, 8:30 AM. 3 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is obscured by falling snow and fog. We got another 2” of snow last night and some is still falling, but the barometer predicts sunny skies (which means frigid temperatures).
We got at least 20” of snow in the driveway by my reconing, which is not a record but is a lot. We can get out but the roads are not good. The old Dodge 4-wheel drive truck is a great winter vehicle and almost unstoppable with its new tires.
I still have walks and decks to shovel, but we all survived the blizzard, and not an ornament was lost from the blue spruce tree.

12/09/09 SNOW ,DUST, AND A LUCKY DOG

2009-12-09T08:28:00.008-06:00

ABOUT 16" OF SNOW BY NOON AND STILL FALLING
WHITE OUT
''TWILL SUFFICE"
HOW LUCKY CAN YOU GET?

Wednesday, 7:15 AM. 16 degrees, wind W, very strong, just now changing to NE. It is snowing, with almost white-out conditions. There is perhaps only 6” accumulation but considerable drifting, and according to the barometer it will probably continue for the rest of the day. If the counterclockwise low proceeds across the lakes we will get considerable snow on a nor’easter. It is a real howler out there and it makes no sense to be out in it yet. To utilize a quote from Shakespeare, "'tis not as wide as a church door nor as deep as a well, but 'twill suffice."Lucky was out for five minutes, came back covered with snow and is now ensconced in his easy chair in the library, in front of the fire (what a lucky dog).
We went to Duluth yesterday to do some Christmas shopping, spending most of our time at Barnes and Noble, where we bought a graphic adaptation (comic book?) by David Keller of Darwin’s Origin of Species. I hope twelve year old grandson Nick will be as pleased with it as I, as I am quite captivated by its ability to present a complex subject in an very interesting and understandable way.
I confess I don’t understand most religious objections to the theory of evolution, as there is more than enough room for God in Darwin’s or any other scientific exploration of life and the universe (the converse is probably true as well). Particularly, since there was little objection by religion to the somewhat earlier concept of “spontaneous generation” of life from pond scum and other such sources.
Which brings up the joke I remember from Sunday School about the little boy who, when introduced to the concept of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” replied, “Well, Reverend, I think there’s someone either comin’ or goin’ under my bed.”

12/08/09 "IF IT LOOKS LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE...."

2009-12-08T08:53:00.005-06:00

A COLD AND RATHER SULLEN MORNING
A MATURE BALSAM FIR TREE

Tuesday, 8:15 AM. 16 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky darkly overcast and the barometer predicts snow. I have three outside thermometers, on different corners of the house. They never agree and may differ by as much as three degrees. For consistency I always record temperatures from the same thermometer, but it points up the difficult of obtaining consistent data, even in an area as small as 1,000 square feet. The discrepancies may result from different manufactures of equipment, or from sun, wind or other microclimatic factors, but they are real and very difficult if not impossible to rectify. Multiply this one instance by hundreds or perhaps thousands (do we even know that?) of locations over 150 years and one can see that extrapolating accurate temperature data backward in time is a daunting task, to say the least.
There are a number of tall native evergreen species that exist in the wild in the Northland, and with some familiarity one is able to identify them from afar. One species easy to spot (pictured) is the balsam fir, Abies balsamea. It is very narrowly pyramidal, and the top of the tree looks like the perfect Christmas tree for your family room, and the most expensive trees on the lot are often exactly that, the tops of tall balsam firs. Balsam firs on the Christmas tree lot are usually characterized as "double needle" or "single needle" firs. The "double needle" is indeed that, and the double ranked needles are a factor of the amount of sunlight the branches receive. That is why the tops of large trees, which receive the greatest amount of sunlight, are so desirable. Of course open field grown trees may receive enough light to become "double needle" trees as well, and one would prefer I think to harvest the later rather than the former.

12/07/09 PARTY ON, MARY!!

2009-12-07T09:44:00.009-06:00

HISTORIC KNIGHT HOUSE

A WELCOMING ENTRANCE

Monday, 9:00 AM. 20 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast. We got 2” of new snow last night, and the barometer predicts more.
Bayfield is a party town at Christmas, and much of the gaiety is thanks to everybody’s neighbor, Mary Rice. Philanthropist, entrepreneur, and artist, Mary is responsible for many if not most of the good things that have been done in the community over the years. The party was held in Mary’s home, the historic Knight House, pictured above.
Her “trim a tree” party is much anticipated by friends and neighbors, and last night’s event was great fun. Mary provided the venue, the tree and ornaments and the libations, and everyone brought a dish to share. After the tree was trimmed and everyone well fed and watered, we all gathered as close to the piano as possible and sang Christmas carols. The evening ended with deserts and a really exceptional eggnog. Not to be outdone, even by herself, next Sunday will be her annual OOF (to be explained later) party for the community’s senior citizens. Party on, Mary!!

12/06/09 "NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING..."

2009-12-06T09:21:00.011-06:00

THE RISING SUN BURNS OFF THE "LAKE SMOKE"
ENTERING THE WOODS WALK
THE QUIET WOODS

Sunday, 8:30 AM. 19 degrees, up from 16 degrees earlier. Wind W, calm. The channel is dimpled, and earlier was obscured by “lake smoke.” The sky is partly cloudy, alternating snow clouds with patches of blue, blue sky. About 1” of fluffy snow fell earlier, which has started again, but the barometer predicts sunshine.
It is a quiet, quiet morning, Lucky and I meeting not a soul, human or animal on our walk, which took us through the woods this morning. There was not a fresh track, and in the spirit of the upcoming yuletide season,“nothing was stirring, not even a mouse.”

12/05/09 FLAGS AND FLOWERS

2009-12-05T10:27:00.006-06:00

AN EARLY WINTER MORNING
FLAGS OF OUR HISTORY
IDENTIFYING ASH TREES IN WINTER
PERSISTENT, DEFORMED MALE ASH FLOWERS

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 16 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is crawling slightly, the sky is mostly overcast but clearing, and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies.
The city Christmas tree is up, surrounded by the flags of many of the nations most important to its history and culture (the US flag is out of the view):Great Britain, Red Cliff-Ojibwe, Canada, France, Norway and Finland. I think I have got them all right.
We have discussed ash trees and the emerald ash borer at some length previously, and another way ash trees can be identified at a considerable distance in the wild in the winter is by the persistent deformed male flowers of many trees (ash trees are dioecious, bearing male and female flowers on separate trees. The term is from the Greek, meaning “two houses”). The deformity is caused by the ash flower gall mite, and apparently does little damage to the tree itself, but of course decreases the pollination of nearby female ash trees, so there are probably fewer of the also characteristic winter seed clusters on nearby female trees.

12/04/09 OLD MAN WINTER PAYS A VISIT

2009-12-04T08:49:00.007-06:00

LAKE SMOKE AND SNOW
THE CITY CREW HAS BEEN OUT
WAY TO GO, NEIGHBOR!
MOTHER NATURE'S CHRISTMAS DECORATION

Thursday, 8:30 AM. 16 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The channel is obscured by lake smoke, and it is snowing lightly. The barometer predicts precipitation and we have 2” of snow on the ground.
The city plows and sanders are out for the first time this season, and I have scraped the drive and decks and filled the bird feeders. Old Man Winter has arrived about on schedule, and unannounced. He will lurk about and pounce on us from time to time until he settles in for good by Christmas, and then won’t be leaving for many months.

12/03/09 PORTENTS OF THINGS TO COME

2009-12-03T08:34:00.010-06:00

CHRISTMAS IS COMING
OLY OLSEN, THE BARBER OF BAYFIELD
ANY FURTHER NORTH AND YOU'LL GET YOUR FEET WET

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 20 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel is crawling slightly, the sky is partly overcast with dark clouds and the barometer predicts sunshine. There is a very light dusting of snow on roads and rooftops. It is the coldest morning so far this season, a portent of things to come.
I guess I am not too early with Christmas decorations, as the Bonney's, on the corner of 8th and Mannypenny, have their crèche up. It looks really nice, unless the poor Holy Family is sitting in three feet of snow.
Thinking of the upcoming holidays, I went to Oly’s Barbershop yesterday afternoon and got a haircut. Here’s Oly, AKA Kenneth Olsen, outside of Wisconsin’s Northernmost Barbershop two blocks down Old Military Street from our house.

12/02/09 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE DECORATING

2009-12-02T08:32:00.010-06:00

THE HOLIDAY DECORATING BEGINS
THE CRITICS(LUCKY:I ONLY WORK FOR FOOD)
SNOWBERRIES
SYMPHICARPOS ALBA

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 30 degrees, wind NNW, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky overcast but the barometer predicts sunshine.
Lucky, Joan and I trimmed the Colarado blue spruce tree in the front yard yesterday afternoon and I am pleased with the result. No lights, just glass ornaments and a big red bow.
The snowberry bushes (Smphoricarpos alba) are growing on the corner of Fourth and Manypenny. Snowberry is a northern North American species, found on gravely banks and other calcareous waste places. Preferring partial shade, they are a good naturalizing shrub, planted especially for their attractive white berries, which are good wildlife food. A decoction of the roots was used pretty extensively by Native Americans as a wash for skin ailments.

12/01/09 WHERE'S THE DATA?

2009-12-01T08:23:00.006-06:00

THE SUN RISES LOWER AND LOWER ON THE HORIZON
AN EPHEMERAL SNOWFALL

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 29 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is glassy, the sky partly cloudy, and the barometer predicts rain, of which there is .3” in the gage from sometime since I looked at it last.
We experienced our first real snowfall yesterday afternoon (at least that I actually observed) it coated a pine tree in the back yard with large fluffy flakes but in an hour or less there was no evidence left of the occurrence. It seems that weather related information is terribly hard to hold onto these days, as evidenced by the scandalous “dumping” of irreplaceable data by the prestigious Climate Center of the University of East Anglia in England (the name sounds rather like that of a community college, eh what?), evidently destroying much of the basic evidence cited for “climate change” over the last 150 years.
Really! Are scientists just as susceptible to the common human frailties of greed, deceit, self-aggrandizement and political ambitions as us ordinary humans? If you haven’t by now answered “you bet,” I have a bridge in Brooklyn you may be interested in purchasing.
This scandal will result in significant economic, political and social reverberations, but the real tragedy in this and similar (they are not that rare) instances of scientific skullduggery is the damage it does to science itself, which is the very basis for modern civilization and most importantly for the future of our own country. There is only one way to save ourselves, and science itself, from scientists, and that is to constantly use our own powers of observation and logic to judge for ourselves the theories and evidence presented to us as scientific fact. None of us can be knowledgeable in all things, but all of us can cultivate a healthy skepticism to combat the rogues among us. One red flag to watch for: if you ask a simple question about a subject and are told it is too complicated to explain and that you must “read the book,” it is probably unsubstantiated theory or pure nonsense. Another: if scientific data or theory is presented as “consensus,” it is probably false, because science is based on incontrovertible truth, not general agreement. Yet another: if a proof cannot be replicated, it cannot be accepted as valid science. Finally and most importantly, follow the money.
Yesterday’s ephemeral snowfall really happened, as evidenced by the accompanying photo, the original of which remains, unenhanced, in my computer.

11/30/09 IT'S HARD TO SLOW AN OLD DOG DOWN

2009-11-30T09:23:00.006-06:00

FIRST FERRY OF THE DAY
LUCKY'S BEEN LIMPING

Monday, 8:30 AM. 35 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is crawling, and the sky is almost clear. It is a lovely morning, but the barometer predicts rain.
The regular gun deer season is now over, with mixed results. Those who got their buck obviously are inclined to consider it a good season, those who were unsuccessful will rank it poor. The truth probably lies somewhere in between, but it is obvious that something unusual is going on. I talked with buddy Paul last night, who hunted in the southern Chequamegon National Forest with a large group, and they saw no deer. I have my opinions but I will let the dust settle a bit before I say anything more.
Of more immediate personal concern, Lucky has had a bout of arthritis or something and has been almost incapacitated, not being able to use his right hind leg and in obvious pain. Three half aspirins, given at intervals, at least got him around the block this morning. He gets shots for Lime's disease so it shouldn’t be that. He is do for a vet’s visit soon anyway. He is getting on in years and should no longer overdo things, but it’s hard to slow an old dog down.

11/29/09 PERSISTENCE

2009-11-29T12:54:00.003-06:00

DOWN IN THE PINEY WOODS
PERSISTENCE EXEMPLIFIED

5:30 AM. 34 degrees, wind calm at present. It is overcast, no moon or stars to be seen and the barometer predicts rain. A piece of toast and a cup of coffee and I will be at the sugar bush before even a hint of daylight, then walk as quietly as I can and see if any deer are feeding under the old apple trees. Then I will go down to the pine plantation and sit until it is time to go home for lunch and a nap.
Noon: nothing doing this morning but I will still go out to my stand in the orchard country and stay until dark on this last day of the regular gun deer season. Perhaps persistence will pay.

11/28/09 STILL TIME!

2009-11-28T14:31:00.005-06:00

THIS OLD HOUSE
BLOOM FARM, ESTABLISHED 1898
TUNDRA SWANS ON CHEQUAMEGON BAY
Saturday, 2:00 PM. 40 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky partly cloudy and the barometer predicts more of the same. It has been a beautiful day, and I have been home for lunch and will be going back out to the sugar bush shortly. This morning at first light I flushed a deer by the old house and its apple trees, right where Mike shot his buck. I did not see it but it crashed away from me through the brush. I will go back and sit there until dark. Eric came over before noon as I drove into the driveway. He got an eight point buck the other day, out in the barrens. I am beginning to feel like the odd man out. But, I still have this evening and tomorrow to hunt.
There are at least a hundred tundra swans on the Bay in Ashland.

11/27/09 NICE, BUT NO ANTLERS

2009-11-27T08:41:00.004-06:00

A SLEEP-IN MORNING
HAPPY THANKSGIVNG

8:00 AM. 28 degrees, wind WNW, very light. The channel has mixed glassy areas with patterns of ripples. The sky is mostly cloudy and the barometer predicts the same.
This has been a sleep in morning, as we had fiends Dot and Grandon Harris over for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday evening and there is a lot of kitchen cleanup to do. We roasted one of the geese I shot last month, with all the trimmings, and it was an interesting meal. Dot baked a pumpkin pie, and there is a very large piece left for me to have for breakfast. Don and Grandon are retired from teaching and missionary work in Indian Country out west and we have a lot of mutual interests. Grandon is a fine photographer and brought his MacBook loaded with photos. We are all grandparents without children and grandchildren for the holiday, so of course we become a mutual admiration society when together.
Not having brought home any venison from the woods, I collected instead the materials for a swag that Joan wanted to make; hemlock branches, milkweed pods, pearly everlasting and mountain ash berries. Pretty, but no antlers.

11/26/09 WAY TO GO, MIKE!

2009-11-26T11:54:00.011-06:00

MY TREE STAND
VIEW TO THE SOUTHEAST
VIEW TO THE EAST
VIEW TO THE NORTH
VIEW TO THE WEST
VIEW TO THE SOUTH

Noon. Well, we had our weather change, it was 32 degrees at 6:00 AM and the temperature has not risen since. I was on the deer stand before daylight and stayed there until 9:30 AM. The wind picked up and blew from the north-northwest all morning. Again there was no movement of deer, no fresh tracks and the apples and corn I put down yesterday afternoon were untouched. I talked with hunters who have been on the old buffalo farm to my north and they have seen nothing. I heard two shots about 8:30 AM, over the ridge to the west, otherwise everything very quiet again.
When I got home about 10:00 AM to help Joan with Thanksgiving dinner preparations, she informed me that Mike had called about 8:00 AM. He got a 12 point buck, shot it on the Larsen sugar bush, by the old farmhouse and apple trees I hunted at the other evening. He shot it just before closing yesterday, couldn’t find it, didn’t sleep all night and went out and found it this morning, about a hundred yards from where he shot it. He was so excited he called again at 9:00 AM to see if I had gotten home yet so he could tell his tale again. He deserves to have gotten the big buck, as he has been seeing it since before the season opened. I called him when I got home but his wife informed me that he and neighbor Jim had just left for the bar at the Village Inn in Cornucopia to do a little celebrating and I am sure some tale-telling. Way to go, Mike. You’re keeping my spirits up!

11/25/09 WHERE ARE WE, SEATTLE?

2009-11-25T08:39:00.006-06:00

MORE RAIN AND FOG

NO SNOW

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 42 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is obscured by fog, it is raining lightly, and the barometer predicts more of the same.
Where are we, Seattle? I half expected to meet up with Sasquatch in the woods yesterday evening. Needless to say I am disgusted, and have vowed not to go out again until there is relief from this miasmatic weather. It is supposed to snow late today but I see no evidence of change at present.
Note to daughter Greta in Columbus, Ohio: reading my blog is not a substitute for calling your parents.

11/24/09 DON'T (BOTHER TO) SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE

2009-11-24T08:37:00.007-06:00

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 41 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain.
Thinking changing locations might change my luck, late yesterday I went out to the Larsen’s sugar bush, where there are many old apple trees, with apples still on them (the countryside is full of these beautiful old trees, replete with apples; I have seldom seen apples on the trees this late, it was a heavy crop). Deer love apples so I sat and waited. No deer, and what is more, no coyotes howling at sunset. I haven’t heard a coyote in three days. The weather pattern of unseasonably warm and very humid weather persists. I didn’t sit under the apple trees this morning, but stayed in bed.

11/23/09 NO ANTLERS, BUT HERE'S A WOLF'S FOOT

2009-11-23T09:49:00.008-06:00

A CLUB MOSS, OR WOLF'S FOOT
LYCOPODIUM COMPLANATUM (PROBABLY)

Monday, 7:45 AM. 46 degrees, wind SSW, calm. The channel is obscured by fog, the sky is overcast and there is .2” of new rain in the gage. The barometer predicts partly cloud weather. I don’t know if this is the weather change I have been anticipating, but I doubt it. In any case I am not hunting this morning, still waiting for a significant change in the weather.
The trailing plant pictured is a club moss, allied with ferns, horsetails and other primitive, non-flowering plants. Along with ferns, club mosses have a distinct alternation of generations, the more obvious life form being the 2n or sporophyte generation (shown above), which has two sets of chromosomes. The alternate, or 1n generation, which is usually very obscure, is the offspring of the 2n generation plant. It lives and grows separately to produce the male and female gametes, which then combine to form another 2n plant such as the one shown. Higher plants and animals have the alternate, 1n generation subsumed within the 2n generation life form. I hope I haven’t confused your memories of high school biology, but it is the best that I can offer. The plant pictured is, I believe, the running pine (of course not a pine at all), Lycopodium clavatum. Most of us are familiar with the ground pine, which I have also heard locally called prince’s pine, L. obscurum, and the ground cedar, L. complanatum, because they are much collected n the north woods and used in Christmas wreaths. There are more than a dozen species in the Lycopodiaceae in North America, and I make no claim as to knowing them at all well. The family name Lycopod is from the Greek, meaning wolf’s foot, a more distinctive and descriptive name than club moss, if you want my opinion.

11/22/09 WHERE IS THAT BUCK?

2009-11-22T14:05:00.006-06:00

AN OLD BUCK RUB

Sunday, noon. It was another very quiet morning in the woods. I moved slowly through the woods all morning, not being able to sit any longer after yesterday, walking a way and then sitting or standing for twenty minutes, but saw nothing except one lively chipmunk and one raucous pileated woodpecker. Otherwise not even a curious chickadee, or a crow on the wing. The barometer, now rising, has been down for days and I think everything has been anticipating a change in the weather. I heard not a shot. One acquaintance on Hwy J, who hunts with a big crew, usually has three or four deer hanging by now, but his hanging rack is empty. On the other hand, Don Knoke up the street and his two sons have a spike buck and an eight pointer hanging. I will help Joan with some housework to keep the peace, and go out again for the hour before dark.
The buck rub on the shrub willow is old, probably from last year. Where is that buck?
Later: went out to sit on the old logging road that goes down to my stand, hoping a deer would cross it late in the day and I could get a shot. I have seldom seen the woods so quiet, not a sound, only the sound of the blood coursing through my veins. Not a peep out of the omnipresent coyotes that inevitably yip and howl at dusk. I believe we have a huge storm brewing, and nothing is moving out of heavy cover. Now, maybe it won't materialize, but I really believe all the animals and birds have taken shelter until either we have that storm, or the barometer rises quickly to a new high.

11/21/09 A REALL QIET OPENING DAY OF DEER SEASON

2009-11-21T18:39:00.004-06:00

CLOSEUP OF PEARLY EVERLASTING FLOWERS
PEARLY EVERLASTING PLANTS

Saturday, 6:15 PM. The first day of deer season was a bust. I was on my stand way before daylight, and only saw one deer, at 10:00 AM, about 150 yards away, running through the woods like a racehorse. I don’t know if it caught wind of me or if something was chasing it. I don’t know whether it was a buck of doe. Except for a few blue jays the only other creature I saw was a fisher, about the size of a house cat, rummaging about in the leaf litter under my stand. It was a really quiet opening day, I heard a few faraway shots in the morning, and nothing in the afternoon. I sure hope it isn’t going to be a repeat of last year’s awful season!
The woods edges and roadsides are full of pearly everlasting, a plant about a meter high with attractive dried white flowers that hang on into winter. I think I identify it correctly as Anaphalis margaritacea, in the composite family. There are other somewhat similar plant species, in the genus Gnaphalium.

11/20/09 A TAIL OF TWO CATTAILS

2009-11-20T09:12:00.009-06:00

NATIVE CATTAILS ALONG HWY 13
NATIVE CATTAIL
EURASIAN CATTAIL
TUNDRA SWANS ON THE BAY AT ASHLAND

Friday, 7:45 AM. 44 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain.
We have two cattail species in Wisconsin, the native Typha latifolia and the Eurasian T. angustifolia, the former with wider leaves and larger fruit (the fuzzy cigar shaped “cattail”)), the later with narrow leaves and smaller fruit. The smaller cattail is used in floral decorations and that may or may not have been how it got here. In any case, the native is common to standing water and is rather circumspect in its habitat requirements, while the intruder is more adaptable. The real trouble arises when the two hybridize, which creates a very invasive plant that has a wider range of moisture tolerance and competes with the wild rice, Zizania aquatica, which is an important cultural and economic crop of the Ojibwe and other northern Indian tribes. There is evidence that the invasive hybrid can be controlled by cutting it beneath the surface of the water, but in any case it is a potentially serious problem. For a fuller discussion, see the winter ’09-'10 issue of “Mazinaigan, A Chronicle of the Ojibwe”, a very fine free publication available by calling 715-682-6619. $5.00 annual postage outside the US and Canada.
There were two dozen tundra swans on the bay at Ashland yesterday, enlarge the photo and you may be able to see them.
Blogs will be fewer due to deer hunting for the next nine days.

11/18/09 A REALLY BAD BUG AND REALLY STINKY PEOPLE

2009-11-19T08:38:00.009-06:00

TIME TO AIR OUT THE DEER HUNTING CLOTHES
LARGE GREEN ASH TREE
GREEN ASH SEEDS

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 41 degrees, wind NW, calm. The channel is glassy with a few ripples, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain.
The imminent threat of the terribly destructive emerald ash borer, already present in several southern and central Wisconsin localities, is making me very aware of ash trees in the community. This large green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) is growing on private property on Manypenny between eighth and ninth streets. Female ash trees are quite noticeable at this time of year because of their prominent brown, papery winged fruits. I am making a mental note of where ash trees are located and will monitor them in coming growing seasons, watching for the characteristic borer damage, which starts with the topmost branches. Sorry about the procumbent photo, it would not cooperate.
Blaze orange deer hunting clothes are appearing now on porches and wash lines, being aired out to dispel the human scent, which is evidently really stinky to all creatures but ourselves.

11/18/09 WHERE'S BRUNHILDA?

2009-11-18T09:19:00.007-06:00

THE GHOST SHIP EMERGES FROM THE FOG

8:30 AM, 36 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is calm and shining silver, the sky is cloudless and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies.
Earlier, there was considerable “lake smoke” rising off the waters near La Pointe, rendering the emerging morning ferry a facsimile of the ghost ship from some Wagnerian opera. Perhaps we can find some buxom local diva and equip her with spear and shield, and one of those helmets with the cow horns, to stand in the ferry bow and sing an appropriate aria each morning from now until freeze-up.
Last night was the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting, well attended by I will guess over one hundred members and guests. Community awards were passed out to much deserved applause, and we were entertained by a humorous motivational speaker from over in Dallas, WI who arrived bandaged and with stitches in his forehead because he didn't hold his 30.06 deer rifle tight to his shoulder. A little object lesson there. Budgets were passed and new board members elected, and all had a good time. They even sang happy birthday to me.
Only one photo this morning as the camera batteries died. My own internal batteries are O.K. but could use a little recharging. A second cup of coffee will have to suffice.

11/17/09 WAY TO GO OLD TIMER

2009-11-17T08:47:00.010-06:00

HARDLY A RIPPLE
NOT BAD FOR AN OLD TIMER
GOOD SHOOTING BENCHES
A FINE FACILITY
OBEY THE RU LES
SIGHT IN THAT DEER RIFLE

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 31 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is glassy, with some steam rising from it. The skies are clear and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies. The ferry makes hardly a ripple on the water.
Yesterday I went to the Town of Russell shooting range to do some target practice with the 7mm Browning Automatic rifle I inherited from my father-in-law. The facility, which residents of Bayfield are also welcome to use, is really good, built and maintained by volunteers. Except on weekends it is seldom busy and I had it virtually to myself. It is the kind of thing that makes living in small towns and rural communities so appealing. Respect the facility, buy a raffle ticket or lend a hand now and then and it’s yours, tax and fee free.
Today is my birthday, and the grouping of shots in the target at 100 yards looks pretty good. Way to go, old timer!

11/16/O9 THE DEER STAND IS READY

2009-11-16T08:32:00.006-06:00

A GOOD DAY DAWNING

Monday, 7:45 AM. 30 degrees, wind NW, very light. The channel is glassy, the sky cloudless and the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. It is a fine day.
I spent several hours improving my deer stand yesterday, clearing shooting lanes in several directions, while taking care not to expose the tree stand. I think it is now as good as I can get it. I only use two of the three ladder sections for the stand, as I do not care to get into nosebleed territory, as do the folks who go up twenty feet or more. Getting in and out of the stand is the most precarious part of the activity and I do not care to push it, or for that matter hang myself with all the supposed safety gear. I am not afraid of heights but am not as young as I used to be (not by a long shot).
I am encouraged by the amount of deer activity now around my stand; a deep trail about 40 yards to the south of the stand, a maintained buck scrape about 80 yards to the west, and a lot of deer tracks around a big oak shedding acorns to the east. I have a city budget meeting at 4:00 PM today but may get out to the Town of Russell shooting range sometime beforehand.

11/15/09 DAYS OF SILVER AND GOLD

2009-11-15T10:17:00.007-06:00

SPARKLING SILVER WATERS
ROADSIDE GOLD
COIN OF THE REALM

Sunday, 8:45 AM. 36 degrees, wind WNW, light with stronger gusts. The channel is sparkling, the waters dancing silver in the sunlight. The barometer predicts sunny skies.
The feathery golden plant is asparagus, growing by the roadside on Old Military. It is an interesting, useful plant. Everyone recognizes the spear-like shoots of its edible spring growth, but perhaps not its other seasonal iterations. It also produces bright red berries, although I missed them on these plants this year. It is an old-world plant native to the steppes of Poland and Russia, long cultivated and sometimes escaped here. It is now gown all over the world and is no longer only a spring vegetable. It has significant culinary and medicinal properties as a diuretic in the treatment of kidney stones and dropsy.
Yesterday was saddened by the funeral mass of the Rev. Rex Fliess, Episcopal minister and community stalwart. It was also a celebration of his very worthwhile life, which dispelled much of the sorrow. He was a kind friend and mentor to many and will be greatly missed. He also possessed an unfailing good humor, that prevailed, I am told, right to the end. Bon voyage, friend!
Now it is out to the deer stand to make some improvements before the season gets any closer.

11/14/09 JUST A BUNCH OF WISE GUYS

2009-11-14T08:53:00.004-06:00

LUPINE BLOOMING OUT OF SEASON
WEEPING WILLOW STILL HANGIN' IN THERE

Saturday, 8:15 AM. 44 degrees, wind W, calm with fog just lifting from the channel. There is 4” of rain in the gage and the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather.
We returned to Bayfield from Langlade late afternoon yesterday. The weather was cooperative and we did some walking in the woods, but not a lot, as we had serious visiting to do. We did see lots of turkeys, deer at night, some grouse and a few eagles.
Old buddy Tom Moran is a friend from childhood and we have kept close all these years. His companion Barb has become a close friend in the last few years as well and we enjoyed being with them in Tom’s new digs on Island Lake. Tom’s cousin Brian Miller is almost as old a friend, and he and wife Carol are expats from Alaska now living in Langlade on the Wolf River, but I think their hearts are still up in the Klondike. Landlubbers, they built a sixty foot steel hulled sailboat in their back yard in Anchorage, hauled it to the ocean and sailed it to the Baja with the intent of going around the world, but fortune intervened and that’s as far as they got, but did manage to escape with their lives. Their Alaska sons now winter in Wisconsin (who would think it?) to escape the dark winters, but go back during the spring and summer months. There were plenty of stories of grizzly bears encountered on the salmon streams or on the way to the outhouse. A twelve, or preferably a ten gage shotgun with slugs is a constant companion. Another old friend of mine, Bill Ballering and companion Emeline live in nearby Mountain. I, Tom, Brian and Bill all worked together at one time or another on pipeline, tunnel and other construction jobs, and when we get together the time and the tall tails tend to fly. As I reflect upon it, we are all probably lucky to still be alive. We are a rather raucous bunch when together, and relentlessly politically incorrect. I looked around for hidden microphones at times but the FBI evidently doesn't bother to put them around North Woods campfires. Lucky went along and had a good time running in the woods, eating leftover steak and comparing masters with the other dogs. There are unfortunately no photos of our trip because I was sold the wrong memory card for the new camera. Today’s photos are from the camera’s internal memory; the old weeping willow on Rittenhouse and Ninth Street is about the last deciduous tree still with leaves. The lupine is blooming on Eighth Street, just a wise guy like the rest of us, I guess.

11/10/09 OCTOBER IN NOVEMBER

2009-11-10T08:47:00.007-06:00

NATIVE HOLLY, ILEX VERTICILLATA
RED BERRIES IN THE WINTER
OCTOBER IN NOVEMBER

8:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The channel is sparkling, the sky cloudless and the barometer predicts the same. We are getting our October weather in November and it is fine for traveling. We are going to visit a number of old friends in Langlade and Mountain for a few days, traveling southeast from the Chequamegon National Forest to its southern counterpart, which used to be called the Nicolet but for some reason is now a hyphenated subsidiary of the former. Anyway it is a nice trip through forests, farms, small towns and lake country, and from the little Red Cliff Rez to the huge Menominee Reservation. We have a lot of visiting to do but may pretend to do some grouse hunting or fishing as well.
The red berried shrubs are the native winterberry holly, Ilex verticillata. They do not have evergreen leaves as do the better known English and American hollies, but their fruit is outstanding in the winter. These are south of Bayfield along Hwy 13 and the Sioux River. We saw very nice specimens the other day along the Wisconsin River but could not get to them. They are river bottom and bog plants.

11/09/09 AN ASTONISHING HALF CENTURY IN A BLESSED COUNTRY

2009-11-09T10:23:00.008-06:00

JOAN, JUDY, TED AND ART
THE FIFTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
DNR UFC MEETING: PRODUCTIVE FOR A CHANGE
US FOREST PRODUCTS LAB, WHERE ALDO LEOPOLD ONCE REIGNED

Monday, 7:30 AM. 40 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky cloudless, and the barometer predicts the same. Tree leaves are mostly down now, all over the state, except for dead oak leaves and some recalcitrant willow tree leaves. The tamaracks have shed their needles.
The weather was superb for our trip to Madison for the quarterly Urban Forestry Council meeting (held at the famous US Forest Products Laboratory)and then on to Wautoma for cousin Ted Bauer and wife Judy’s 50th wedding anniversary. The UFC meeting was uncharacteristically productive, actually requiring us to think and speak out on relevant Department of Natural Resources planning and management issues rather than just sitting there absorbing and rubber stamping mind numbing bureaucratic statistics.
The 50th wedding anniversary was a walk back in time for us, seeing cousins and second cousins and others we haven’t been with in sometimes many years. There was a tendency to mistake grown children for their parents, since many resemble their parents in their youth. It is self-evident that we all become our parents, and our children eventually all become us, physically, mentally and socially. All of us are well advised therefore to be careful who we are, as we are what our offspring will become. That said, all of us at the event seem to have raised fine progeny, as evidenced by the excellent children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren present, or if absent, boasted about. Current recession or no, it is evident that we all have progressed immeasurably over a half century. The good things of life, temporal and spiritual, seem possessed by all, and that is most certainly not the way most of us started out. Fifty years ago few of us were beyond the hard scrabble farm and the outhouse, the pick and shovel or the factory floor, and more than a few of us carried some personal baggage. Now college educations, cell phones, digital cameras and computers are the norm. Our own parents are gone, but how amazed and proud they would be to see how far we have all come. We have lived in astonishing times, and in a blessed country.

11/05/09 CRABAPPLES

2009-11-05T09:49:00.007-06:00

BRIGHT PINK FRUITS
RED AND YELLOW FRUITS TOGETHER
RED FRUITS
Thursday, 8:15 AM. 36 degrees, wind WNW, light. The channel is sparkling silver, the sky is blue and the barometer predicts the same.
Now is the time to appreciate the fruiting qualities of the flowering crabapple trees. There are scores, if not hundreds, of varieties, and only the crabapple expert can readily identify them really well. If you want the crabapple with all the best characteristics (flower, fruit, leaf color, size, shape) for your landscape you must do your homework. Fruit can be red to yellow to green, and from cherry to almost apple size. The largest fruits, like the old Whitney, are edible out of hand, and many others are good for jams and jellies. Pictured are a few with different size and color fruits, and I will say more about crabapples in the spring.

11/04/09 WON'T END UP IN THE WASH

2009-11-04T09:06:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. Wind SW, calm. The channel is obscured by fog and it is misting lightly. The barometer predicts rain.
We are on or way to Ashland this morning for dentist and doctor appointments and will buy a camera at Radio Shack. I have decided on a Nikon L20, a little AA battery job with a nice non-glare 3” digital display and a 3.6 variable power lens. It will fit nicely in my pocket but is big enough it should not end up in the wash. It isn’t expensive and will serve my blogging needs nicely.

11/03/09 PRETTY WELL READY FOR WINTER

2009-11-03T08:22:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 30 degrees, wind SW, light. The sky is blue in the south half, with black snow clouds in the north. The channel is crawling slightly and sparkling silver with reflected light from the rising sun. The barometer predicts mostly sunny skies. The porch geranium baskets still survive even though there is ice on the birdbath.
The garden is put to bed and the roses cut back so we are pretty well ready for winter, except to mulch leaves once more and put a few things away.

11/02/09 ITS A GOOD THING IT WASN'T SNOW

2009-11-02T08:37:00.000-06:00

Monday, 8:00 AM. 36 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is crawling lightly, the sky is blue and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies. There is another .4” of rain in the gage. We got 7” of rain in October by my calculations. It’s a good thing it wasn’t snow. But, it is a fine day today.
New tires go on the truck today, so I will be all ready for deer season and winter. I have to finish cutting down the garden and maybe mulch leaves once more before snow flies. The Packer/Viking game was a bummer, and it looks like the Yankees will win the series.

11/01/09 GOSTS, GOBLINS AND A CARDINAL

2009-11-01T08:24:00.000-06:00

Sunday,8 :00 AM CST. Wind W, calm. The channel is dimpled, the skies overcast and the barometer predicts sunny skies. It is wonderful to be off Daylight Saving Time.
Trick or Treat night produced about twenty ghosts and goblins, mostly brown eyed little guys from the Rez driven about by their moms, interspersed with a few local teenagers all duded up. If it weren’t for the Rez we would have hardly any kids in town or the school district.
A cardinal just came to the feeder. So much for climate theory, they have probably been off in the woods this fall.

0/31/09 NO LIGHT, NO PHOTOS

2009-10-31T09:51:00.001-05:00

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 35 degrees, wind W, blustery. The channel is crawling, the sky is overcast, and there is another .2” of rain in the gage, but the barometer finally predicts sunshine.
Daylight saving time ends at midnight, and it cannot be over soon enough for me. Those of us who wake up with the dawn have been sleeping later and later. The governmental manipulation of the natural rhythms of life for some murky reason is beyond my comprehension. No photos, as my ancient, borrowed Chamber of Commerce camera has died, and I will have to shop around for a replacement.

10/20/09 IS THERE A SEVERE WINTER AHEAD?

2009-10-30T10:49:00.004-05:00

HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY BUSH
HIGHBUSH CRANBERRIES

Friday, 9:00 AM. 51 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain, with another .75” in the gage.
Shrubs have been colorful this year, and this highbush cranberry (Viburnum americanum) along the woods edge on Ninth Street is still in leaf.
Joan and I haven’t seen a cardinal since summer, and are wondering if they have flown further south in anticipation of a severe winter. They have been winter residents in Bayfield for some years now, and may very well be an indicator species, as they are at the northern edge of their current range here.

10.29/09 EXPLAINING THE INEXPLICABLE

2009-10-29T10:30:00.005-05:00

MOST RED OAKS ARE BROWN OR BRONZE THIS FALL
SOME RED OAKS ARE A DEEPER BRONZE
ONLY A FEW RED OAKS ARE TRULY RED THIS FALL

8:00 AM. 48 degrees, wind SW, light to moderate. The channel is crawling slightly, the sky is overcast and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
I have been watching the coloration or our red oaks (Quercus rubra) and it looks like most will simply turn brown or bronze this year rather than the usual blood red. There are a few red colored oaks but they are mostly saplings. The hillsides are now mostly brown or bronze with oaks, except for a few maples and poplars with leaves, and of course the evergreens. It is still pretty but quite muted.
The fall color of our deciduous trees is determined by a number of complex factors, the foremost being shortening day length, which triggers the growth of a corky layer of cells (the abscission layer) at the base of the leaf petioles, which cuts off the flow of water and nutrients to the leaves. This causes the green chlorophyll cells to die, unmasking the other pigments of the leaf. It also makes the leaves ready to fall from the tree. The best color seasons are those in which there is a succession of cold but not quite freezing nights, and fall soil moisture also is a factor. Once the abscission layer is formed the leaves can be brought down by snow or high winds and rain, in the absence of which the leaves will hang on longer. A killing frost while leaves are still green can spoil the fall color. Each tree and shrub species has its own genetically determined leaf pigments, and even individual trees have their own genetic variations. The later fact leads to the horticultural selection of individuals for their leaf coloration and consistency, which are then propagated asexually. All in all, fall leaf color is a complex and poorly understood natural process, but none-the-less an annual event of amazing beauty. I feel as though I have just tried to explain the inexplicable. We will still have several weeks of changing and gradually diminishing fall color, until the woods are again bare.

10/28/09 ERASING MY CARBON FOOT PRINT

2009-10-28T10:17:00.010-05:00

A VIEW FROM THE ROOF
ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE ROOF
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
SWEEPING THE CHIMNEY(ERASING MY CARBON FOOT PRINT)
MY CARBON FOOT PRINT

Wednesday, 8:30 AM. 34 degrees, wind SW, dead calm. The channel is glassy, the sky blue with some haze and high thin white clouds. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
The weather and everything else presented a perfect opportunity to clean the fireplace chimney yesterday. I have my own rods and brushes and do it fall, January thaw and again in spring. I have had really good seasoned firewood of late so it wasn’t really very dirty, but I am quite particular about chimney cleaning ever since I had a chimney fire about thirty years ago in New York which, although it did no real damage, sounded like a freight train and looked like a giant blowtorch. I have considered putting a gas unit in the fireplace but we really like a wood fire most evenings and though it is not particularly efficient it heats the main living area of the house. A stove would be much more practical. We have no trouble with temperature inversions here so smoke is not an issue. Many folks heat entirely with wood hereabouts, from their own woodlots. This being a forested area there is plenty of wood to burn. I don’t know what it does to our “carbon foot print” but it is certainly a renewable resource. I suppose I could claim to have erased a few of our carbon footprints by cleaning the chimney.

10/27/09 THE ALCHEMY OF FALL

2009-10-27T10:22:00.007-05:00

AT LAST, A SUNNY DAY
A RED MAPLE THAT IS YELLOW
YELLOW RED MAPLE LEAVES
THE TAMARACKS TURN FROM GOLD TO BRONZE

Tuesday, 8:30 AM. 33 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel is lightly wrinkled, the sky is cloudless, and the barometer again predicts rain; but, at last, a sunny day!
There is a red maple tree on Mannypenny Ave. that exhibits a golden-yellow leaf coloration now, although some leaves were tipped with crimson earlier. This tree normally has bright red fall foliage. This year the leaf color is indistinguishable from the sugar maples (note that the red maple leaves have three main lobes, and the sugar maple leaves have five). The variation in fall color from year to year and tree to tree is amazing to me, and makes each fall, like each snowflake, truly unique. The tamaracks are glorious now, beginning to turn from gold to bronze. The alchemy of fall leaf color is fully as mysterious as the alchemy of the wizards of old.

10/26/09 THE SETTLEMENT DINNER, A COMMUNITY AND CULINARY SUCCESS

2009-10-26T11:38:00.010-05:00

BELANGER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE FRANK BELANGER SETTLEMENT
STAR ROUTE, ROAD TO THE SETTLEMENT
LOTS OF GOOD HOME COOKED FOOD
A GOOD CROWD AT THE ANNUAL FALL DINNER

Monday, 8:30 AM. 41 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. There is another .2” of rain in the gage. It is a very quiet morning.
The Belanger Settlement Historical Society eleventh annual Fall Dinner was held in the Town of Bayfield Hall on Hwy J and was its usual community and culinary success, although the lousy weather may have dampened the crowd a bit. The menu was roast pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, homemade rolls, and a luscious assortment of homemade pies. We never miss this hometown dinner.
The Frank Belanger Settlement is about ten miles west of Bayfield on Star Route, which is the backwoods road to Cornucopia. The Historical Society is located in the old church at the Settlement and has open hours in the summer. The Settlement is a Nineteenth Century offshoot of the Red Cliff Ojibwe Indian Reservation, and consists of perhaps a dozen homes or small farms and the old church. There is not much information on the web about it, so I won’t hazard passing on any misinformation. The Settlement folks also host a “pit stop” at the sled dog races out on Star Route. They are a very hospitable and community minded group of folks. And great cooks!

10/25/09 ANOTHER RAINY BUT COLORFUL DAY

2009-10-25T10:21:00.007-05:00

AS PRETTY ON THE GROUND AS ON THE TREES
OLD BLACK WILLOWS TURN YELLOW
BURNING BUSH: OVERUSED BUT STILL BEAUTIFUL

Sunday, 9:00 AM. 39 degrees, wind NE, light. The channel is crawling, the sky is overcast and light rain has added another .2” to the gage, but the barometer predicts sunny skies.
The maple leaves now on the grass in the front yard are as pretty lying there as they were on the trees. But, I will have to dispose of them before we get snow.
The old black willows (Salix nigra) along Tenth St. have finally turned yellow. The familiar winged burning bush (Euonymus alata), of Asian origin, is often overused in the home landscape but its brilliant fall color is unsurpassed.
Today is the annual Bellanger Settlement fall dinner, held at the Bayfield Town Hall on Hwy. J. It is a fund raiser for the settlement historical society and we never miss it. I will report on the menu and other aspects tomorrow.

10/24/09 WE DODGED THE BULLET THIS TIME

2009-10-24T12:13:00.006-05:00

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 35 degrees, wind WNW, calm, as is the channel. The sky is clear, there is another .8” of rain in the gage, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
Snow was predicted, but although we dodged the bullet this time, I saw a car come down Washington Ave. covered with it, so I assume the orchards above the cemetery got snow. The cemeteries on Washington Ave., half way up the hill, are a pretty good deliniator between warmer temperatures in town and colder winter conditions higher up the bluffs.
The sugar maple pictured is a “perfect ten” for its species; shape, health, color, all superior. It is just down the street on Tenth and Wilson. The alien, invasive buckthorns are easily identified at this time of year as they are green when the natives are still in full fall color.

10/23/09 A VERY HANDSOME FELLOW

2009-10-23T10:39:00.007-05:00

TAMARACK LEAVES IN WHORLS ON OLDER BRANCHES
SINGLE TAMARACK LEAVES ON YOUNGEST BRANCHES
TAMARACK, HANDSOME IN ALL SEASONS
Friday, 8:30 AM. 39 degrees, wind variable, blustery. The channel is crawling and has some whitecaps. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts rain. We could use a few days of sunshine.
As I have said before, the native tamarack (Larix decidua) is one of my favorite trees, and they are just now turning their characteristic golden yellow fall color. The needles will drop soon after, from which it derives its specific latin name. In the wild it grows mostly in bogs and wet areas but does adapt to drier sites, and as a landscape tree will tolerate a variety of soils and moisture conditions. Planted as a windbreak or screen on the south side of a house it will, being deciduous in winter, allow sunlight through when the sun is low on the southern horizon. Notice that the needles grow singly along the youngest branches, but older branches bear needles in whorls. This is a great landscape plant but does get very wide and very tall and must be given plenty of room.

10/22/09 "IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT"

2009-10-22T10:35:00.008-05:00

STORM TOSSED FERRY
A FINE PARTY
HORSE CHESTNUT TREE
HORSE CHESTNUT LEAF
HORSE CHESTNUT FRUITS AND NUTS

Thursday, 8 :00 AM. 35 degrees, wind NE, light to moderate. The channel is crawling, the sky clearing. We got another 1” of rain last night. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
We had a real “Nor’easter” yesterday and a bumpy ferry ride to Lotta’s restaurant on the Island in the evening. The occasion was an appreciation party for Apple Fest volunteers, courtesy of the Chamber and Lotta’s. The food was outstanding, as was the company. We took the 5:30 ferry over and the 7:30 back so there was just enough time to enjoy it all. Coming back in the dark it was hard to judge where we were on the black, storm tossed waters, and there were occasional exclamations of “I think we are approaching Ashland,” or “That’s Washburn off the port bow,” but we got to port Bayfield O.K. and I don’t think anyone got seasick.
There is an old horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) between 8th and 9th streets that is colorful now and shedding its hard little nuts. This is an old-world tree, but there are a number of Aesculus species, in the family Sapindaceae, that are native to North America, including the well-known Ohio buckeye. They all have palmately compound leaves, large attractive flowers, and produce the hard nuts that little boys formerly used (before they were put in jail for such things) as superlative slingshot ammunition. I use an herbal compound of horse chestnut to strengthen my legs before gardening in the spring, or during hunting season (could have used some to gain my sea legs on the ferry). The common name horse chestnut is derived from the fact that in former times draft horses were fed them to increase their pulling power.

10/21/09 A DARKLY BEAUTIFUL MORNING

2009-10-21T08:50:00.005-05:00

A DARKLY BEAUTIFUL MORNING
JUNEBERRY TREE
TREMBLING ASPENS AND SPRUCE TREES
THERE'S A BUCK OUT THERE SOMEWHERE
Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 42 degrees, wind NE, light. The channel is wrinkled. It is raining, there is .75” of rain in the gage and the barometer predicts more.
It is a darkly beautiful morning, and many trees I thought might not color up well are doing just that now. The juneberry tree in the garden is a light golden yellow. The grove of quaking aspens to the north of us is turning a clear yellow, and even the old black willows on 9th St. have turned a nice greenish yellow. Trees and gardens are going into the winter with plenty of water and there should be good growth next spring. There is a big buck scrape near my deer stand so the rut is beginning, and maybe this will be the year for that big buck (hope springs eternal).

10/29/09 FALL COLORS ABOUND

2009-10-20T10:24:00.005-05:00

FALL COLORS IN THE RAIN
'AUTUMN BLAZE' HYBRID MAPLES, SUGAR MAPLE, PAPER BIRCH, COLORADO SPRUCE
FRONT YARD OF GARDEN VIEW
Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 43 degrees, wind W, moderate. The channel is crawling, the sky is overcast and it is raining. There is .3” of rain in the gage but the barometer predicts sunny skies, maybe by evening.
The colors are beautiful if muted today, and leaves are dropping with the rain. Colors do not seem as vivid this year, and many sugar maples are reddish like the red maples, making them difficult to tell apart at a distance. I think the oaks will be spectacular this year, however. Each autumn has its own iteration of fall color. The tamaracks in the yard are turning and will be bright gold in a day or two.

10/19/09 LESSONS FROM THE ROAD TRIP

2009-10-19T10:53:00.008-05:00

THE INDIAN CAMP WAS NOT REALLY SEEN BY CUSTER
THEY WERE CAMPED IN THE LITTLE BIG HORN RIVER VALLEY
CUSTER'S LAST STAND
THE BLACK ENGRAVED STONE MARKS WHERE CUSTER FELL

Monday, 8:30 AM. 49 degrees, wind WSW, moderate with stronger gusts.
The channel s crawling, the sky is mostly clear and the barometer predicts rain. The colors are still good but not as intense as last year. Our hybrid maples, ‘Autumn Blaze,’ are beautiful as always. Lucky sulked for a while, either because we left him with the neighbors or because we came back, I don’t know which, but he and everything else is returning quickly to normal.
We had a fine trip and got home about dark yesterday. Basically we wanted to see northern plains country we hadn’t seen before, while staying off the I roads. We traveled west on US 2 through Minnesota and North Dakota, then took Montana Rt. 200 into the west (a spectacular Big Sky Country drive) and then dropped down to Billings and the Custer Battlefield and then east mainly on US 14 and 212 through South Dakota and then US 212 through Minnesota and back to Rt. 2 via I35. The Dakotas and Montana are vast landscapes, basically farming country (wheat, corn, beans) in the eastern half of the Dakotas and then wheat and ranch land into the west. Minnesota is black soil farming in the south, and mostly lake, river and marsh land in the north. We caught glimpses of the big new pipeline nearing completion, bringing oil from the Alberta oil sands to Duluth. We tried to see as much of the Missouri River and Lewis and Clark’s route as we could but most roads run east and west or north and south, and the river runs on the diagonal, and is hard to get to except where crossed by better roads. It is safe to say I think that one can still see much of what they saw, even after two centuries. Even the Indians are still there, living now on huge reservations. We had a hard time finding accommodations once west, Billings being completely filled because of a college rodeo, and even small town motels filled because of hunting season, construction projects and oil and gas work. Several nights we drove fifty and more miles to find a room. KEEP YOUR GAS TANK TOPPED OFF IN THIS COUNTRY, IT CAN BE HUNDREDS OF MILES BETWEEN GAS PUMPS. There is apparently no recession in the west, and everything bustles with work and play.
One of my goals was to spend time at the Custer Battlefield, where the arrogant and politically ambitious Custer met his end, unfortunately taking hundreds of good men with him. Basically he never realized that he was outnumbered ten to one by one of the best cavalry forces ever mounted. Believing the Indians were trying to escape, he threw caution to the winds and fell into the midst of his enemies. I hope that all of our war colleges teach a Custer lesson to officers going to Afghanistan. Except for some views of ranch country the battlefield must look essentially like it did on June 26, 1876, the shallow rifle pits of the surrounded soldiers and Indian Scouts still there, with white stones marking where each fell.
We saw lots of wildlife on the trip, white tail deer in the east, mule deer and antelope herds in the west. Free range buffalo are in the Black Hills, where we have been before so did not go this time. We even saw a pack of five gray wolves near the battlefield, evidently dispersed from the population in Yellowstone.
One of the salient facts one comes away with from a trip like this is the amazing and boundless productivity of American agriculture, from cattle to corn, wheat and beans, and now sugar beets for ethanol. It is an industry of great complexity, virtually integrated both vertically and horizontally; production, harvest, storage, transportation and marketing all working seamlessly and without fanfare to feed the country and much of the world. One sees single fields of corn and wheat larger than many small countries. There are undoubtedly more people working in agribusiness now, and making good livings, than there have ever been. It is the most basic and productive of all American industries, and we force it to change only at our own great peril (consider Custer’s arrogance once more). Now that ethanol production and oil and gas extraction are part of the equation it approaches true independence, or ”sustainability,” to use the current buzz word. I took no photos of agriculture and landscapes, none do justice to the whole of it.

10/13/09 A LITTLE VACATION

2009-10-13T07:54:00.003-05:00

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 30 degrees, wind W, calm at ground level, but high clouds in the east are moving fast, where the wind is from the north (they are probably getting lake effect snow in the UP). The rest of the sky is cloudless. The channel is calm, and the barometer predicts fair weather.
Joan and I are taking a little vacation, heading west on Hwy 2 through Minnesota and North Dakota. She wants to see all the little towns along the route that she has read about, and I, being something of a history buff, would like to get as far west as Billings Montana and the Custer battlefield. I don't know if we will find Wounded Knee. We both are interested in whatever Louis and Clark sites we can see on the Missouri River. We will then return on I 90, poking around in the Black Hills if time and weather permit. There have already been storms in the west, so we are pushing it a bit. Lucky is staying with the Ringbergs across the street and will be treated very well. Unless I have internet access and time to do so there will be no posts for the next week or ten days.

10/12/09 HANGIN' IN THERE

2009-10-12T10:08:00.006-05:00

THE VIEW FROM ELEVENTH STREET
THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER
Monday, 9:00 AM. 33 degrees, wind W, light, the sky is overcast. The channel is calm, the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies and it feels like snow.
Colors are approaching their peak, but the rain and cold weather has made it a bit spotty. Some flowers, like the last roses and the geranium baskets, are putting up a good, if futile, fight. Lots to do today as we are getting ready to take a little vacation trip.

10/11/09 AMERICAN CHESTNUTS ARE RIPENING

2009-10-11T09:52:00.009-05:00

A CLUSTER OF CHESTNUT FRUITS
INDIVIDUAL CHESTNUT FRUIT
HUSKS SPLITTING OPEN
EMPTY HUSKS
NUTS
Sunday, 8:15 AM. 30 degrees, wind W, light. The sky is almost cloudless, the channel is wrinkled, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. It is a pretty fall day, the color by no means full as yet.
The young American chestnut (Castanea dentata) tree on Tenth and Manypenny has produced a number of fruits. The husks are very spiny, and the remains of the female flower still adhere to it. The fruits are now falling from the trees, the husks splitting open into four divisions, with one to three nuts inside. As I have related previously, there is a large population of healthy American chestnut trees in the area. They are either resistant to, or due to their isolation have remained uninfected by, the pervasive chestnut blight which has made these native trees very rare. I intend to collect enough of them to grow them on in pots and eventually plant them around town. The kernels will need to be kept in the refrigerator during the winter to make them break dormancy. It would be fun to roast a few to see how they taste.

10/10/09 PRETTY EARLY

2009-10-10T08:52:00.006-05:00

A RED MAPLE SEEDLING IN THE SNOW
MOUNTAIN ASH, COULD BE A CHRISTMAS TREE
FRONT YARD OF GARDEN VIEW
ENTRANCE TO GARDEN VIEW LODGING
Saturday 8:30 AM. 30 degrees, wind W, moderate. The channel is crawling, the sky is partly cloudy, with dark clouds blowing in from the west. We have more than a trace of snow covering rooftops, lawns and trees. It is too early for snow, but very pretty!

10/09/09 REQUIEM

2009-10-09T09:49:00.004-05:00

Friday, 8:00 AM. 36 degrees, the wind is W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky is blue except for dark clouds on the eastern horizon, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. There is frost on the rooftops and lawns this morning. I finished bringing the plants in yesterday afternoon.
Jack Erickson, of Rocky Acres Berry Farm died last Sunday. I had not heard that he was ill. Like the eagles he loved, Jack was a tough old bird. He was not afraid to speak his mind and could swear like a sailor when the situation warranted. We bought all our raspberries and strawberries from him, mostly because I enjoyed his banter. I learned more about eagles from watching them congregate in his trees and swoop over his fields in the winter (he fed them fish guts from the fisheries) than I ever did from a book. Our friends at the DNR of course couldn’t stand being upstaged by old Jack, so they shut him down on one pretext or another, and Jack cussed them out good and proper. Jack was a curmudgeon, no doubt, and there are too few of the species left. In my youth all the old guys were curmudgeons and society was the better for it, and I aspire, with time and practice, to help fill the current void.
The paper birches have suddenly turned to gold. It’s as though they simply decided last night that the time was right to do so...kind of like old Jack.

10/98/09 FALL COLOR, SPRING COLOR

2009-10-08T08:37:00.003-05:00

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 42 degrees, wind W, light with moderate gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky overcast but the barometer predicts sunny skies,
4,500 daffodils were planted yesterday and the rest should be planted by noon today. Then they will be top dressed with compost and fertilized, and all previously planted bulbs will be fertilized as well. We are using a mix of Milorganite and bone meal, both low nitrogen organic materials, at a rate of about 2.5 lbs. to 1,000 square feet.
The fall colors are beginning to be pronounced now, the sugar and red maples and aspens approaching full color, the oaks just beginning. Put dogwoods, mountain maple and other minor elements into the mix and it is all quite stunning. I find it difficult to take good photos of broad landscape views of fall color, it never seems to do it justice. Some things just have to be experienced first hand.

0/07/09 PLANT DAFFODILS WHILE THE SUN SHINES

2009-10-07T11:58:00.005-05:00

Wednesday, 7:20 AM. 38 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is dimpled, the sky is partly cloudy and the barometer predicts the same. Another .75” of rain is in the gage.
We are planting daffodils today, 7,000 of them. They can be planted up until the ground freezes but we will take advantage of good weather while it lasts. An experienced crew of four can plant several thousand bulbs a day, using an electric drill and bulb bit. We received a significant donation from a property owner along Hwy. 13 on the north side of town, so there will be a spectacular display of 6,000 bulbs all in one location. We will have planted 30,000 or so bulbs in the last five years.

10/06/09 HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

2009-10-06T10:15:00.007-05:00

Big Buck Track
Bear Track
Deer Dance Hall?
Tuesday, 8:45 AM. 45 degrees, wind NW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky is overcast and it is raining, and the barometer predicts more.
It being time to start checking out deer activity, Lucky and I went to my stand yesterday to scout, and in the process flushed two grouse one of which I got a shot at but missed. We came across a shallow sandy depression in the woods, which was crisscrossed with deer tracks, as though they were holding a dance, with bear tracks thrown in for good measure. There were some good sized tracks, probably a big buck. I saw no signs of the rut starting; no rubs or scrapes. Anyway, hope springs eternal.
We went to the mouth of the Sioux this morning, made a few casts but no strikes. We surprised an adult and an immature eagle fishing so I think the Coho are starting to run up the river. Lucky is so stiff from yesterday that I will have to give him half an aspirin with his breakfast.

10/05/09 IT DIDN'T RAIN ON OUR PARADE

2009-10-04T21:36:00.007-05:00

Monday, 8:00 AM. 45 degrees, wind NNW, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky partly cloudy with rain clouds, and the barometer predicts the same.
The parade started yesterday about 2:30 PM but it was a long wait in line for Joan, Lucky and I (we were #62) and the first bands were coming up Mannypenny as we turned down the main route of Rittenhouse. There were lots of good bands and floats although we couldn’t see them all. Crowds lined the entire route from 6th and Rittenhouse and all the way down First Street to the Coast Guard Station.
While we were waiting to start I talked to Seth, the manager of the hardware store, who is a tribal member and was drumming for the dancers who were behind us in the lineup. His sister was wearing a beautiful jingle dress and I asked where she got the hundreds of bells on her dress. She makes them out of rolled up snuff can lids, they have no clapper but jingle when they bump together. An Indian acquaintance once said to me, “White people think Indians just lay around all day. They don’t know how much work it is to be an Indian.” Very true, as there is a tremendous amount of time, energy and artistry that goes into these costumes and all the rituals they still perform. The same is true of the traditional activities which they continue to do…the hunting, gathering, sugaring and on and on.
Anyway the parade did not get rained out and was an evident success. Afterwards I took the contents of the trailer to the Tellfords who will compost them, and dropped the wet hay bales off at Blue Vista Farm where they can make good use of them, and took the trailer back to Eric’s. Next year I will have a better float, although this one was O.K. and even got a few cheers and a thumbs up here and there along the route.

10/04/09 JUST SINGIN" IN THE RAIN

2009-10-04T10:47:00.005-05:00

Sunday, 8:45 AM. 46 degrees, wind NW, light. The sky is overcast but the sun is shining through. .4” of rain fell since yesterday morning, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
I walked about Apple Fest several times yesterday, and despite the wet weather plenty of people were out and about, and evidently spending money. The tribe participated this year with singing,dancing and drumming, which was very colorful and seemed to be much appreciated by the crowds. The grandstand on Rittenhouse had continuous music and crowds. I have to be in the parade line up by 1:00 PM with the Bayfield In Bloom float, so it will be a busy day. The beautiful maroon leaves are white ash, Fraxinus Americana.

10/03/09 A PICTRE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

2009-10-03T08:59:00.005-05:00

Saturday, 8:15 AM. 43 degrees, wind NW, moderate. The channel is still crawling but less roiled than yesterday. The sky is overcast, and there is 1.8” of new rain in the gauge from yesterday’s deluge. The barometer, however, predicts mostly sunny skies.
The first day of Apple Fest was drowned out, but the weather seems to be better today. Hopefully it will be sunny for the parade tomorrow. Yesterday was a true fall nor’easter, the kind that sinks ships, and a big lake freighter took shelter in the lee of Madeline Island for twenty-four hours but is probably now gone. I can not see it from the porch. Its’ photo tells it all.

10/02/09 LIFE'S SHORT, EAT DESERT FIRST

2009-10-02T09:22:00.003-05:00

Friday, 8:30 AM. 48 degrees, wind NE, gale force. Skies are overcast with dark rain clouds, and the channel is rough, covered with whitecaps. The barometer is confused. It is going to be a rough opening day for Apple Fest. A ferry trip today will be better than a carnival ride.
I was a judge at the annual pie contest before dinner yesterday evening, there are a number of categories, I was a judge of Commercial Baked Pies. All pies are judged on appearance, taste, and crust, and assigned a grade of one to five on each trait, five being the highest grade. Most pies I tasted were very good, one or two were wonderful. I take pie judging seriously and have done it for several years. From 6:00 to 8:00 PM the public was invited to have pie and coffee at the Pavilion, a great bargain at $2.00.

10/01/09 ANTICIPATION

2009-10-01T09:22:00.004-05:00

Thursday, 8:15 AM. 47 degrees, wind WSW, light to moderate. The sky is blue with high, thin white clouds. The barometer predicts rain, but I think not.
The preparations for Apple Fest are evident everywhere now, the “No Parking” signs in place; the stage is up on Rittenhouse Ave.; and the carnival rides and game booths are in place across from the Egg Toss. The chamber office is all abuzz with activity, and visitors and vendors are pouring into town.
As a local resident, I look at this with a mix of emotions: excitement, pride, maybe a bit of greed for the last tourist dollar of the season…but mainly with anticipation, first for the event, and then for it to be over for another year.

9/30/09 LEMON TREE, VERY PRETTY

2009-09-30T08:48:00.004-05:00

Wednesday, 8:15 AM. 42 degrees, wind NNW, very light. The channel is calm, the sky mostly cloudy and the barometer predicts sunshine.
About 10:00 PM last night I looked at the thermometer and it was 39 degrees. I went out on the back porch and the poor Hibiscus looked like it was shivering, so I brought it in, and decided the lemon tree, the fiddle leaf fig and the Cycad all would be grateful for a bit of warmth. The lemon tree is blooming profusely, and as the song says, “Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet..,.,” and fills the room with its fragrance. The banana is tough and can stay out a few more nights. It probably got down to 37 degrees before dawn and that’s about the limit for the more tender tropicals.

9/29/09 TOO EARLY FOR GOBLINS

2009-09-29T08:22:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 42 degrees, wind W, moderate. The channel is crawling, the sky overcast but the barometer predicts fair weather. There is another .65” of rain in the gage.
We hope the weather improves for Apple Fest, especially for the parade on Sunday. Eric is loaning me his trailer for the float so that problem is solved. The weather has turned a bit nasty but hopefully we will still have a nice fall, the colors having just started. A neighbor covered his tomato plants and it looks like Halloween, but it is too early for either frost or goblins.

9/28/09 GREAT IDEAS FROM GREAT MINDS

2009-09-28T08:56:00.004-05:00

Monday, 8:15 AM. 52 degrees, wind W, strong. The channel is rough, the sky is overcast and it has been raining hard. We have gotten .75” of rain so far. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
Andy and Judy came to dinner last evening, they are trying to break camp in the wet and get back to Cedarburg Wednesday for a memorial service for a friend. They won’t be back until maple sugarin’ and we will miss them.
The flowers pictured are baskets and planters collected for a Bayfield In Bloom float for the Apple Fest parade. I also borrowed six bales of hay from Myron to stage them on, and he made me promise I wouldn’t get them wet. I haven’t decided as yet whether to use a borrowed trailer or simply take the top off the pickup bed and make the truck the float. Andy suggested I get a couple of gallons of ice cream and root beer and put them in my old milk can and it could be a “root beer float.” I added that we could pass out straws to the crowd and invite them to join in. Ah, great ideas from great minds! I haven't had a root beer float since high school.

9/27/09 THE GOLDEN WHITE PINES

2009-09-27T10:31:00.003-05:00

Sunday, 8:30 AM. 57 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is crawling slightly, the sky is overcast and the barometer predicts rain, which we have had a trace of. It is very quiet, all God’s creatures sleeping in this morning.
The older needles of the white pines are beginning to turn to gold and will soon fall, creating a golden blanket beneath the trees and prompting many telephone calls asking what ails the pines, when nothing does. Needles usually remain green and on the tree for two years before they are shed.

9/26/09 APPLES, APPLES, APPLES!

2009-09-26T10:21:00.006-05:00

Saturday, 8:15 AM. 57 degrees, wind SSW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain.
It is hard to imagine a better apple harvest! Even the wild roadside trees are laden with fruit and have few blemishes. We stopped at Hauser’s Orchard yesterday afternoon and they had Wealthy, Macintosh, Dudley, Cortland, and Honey Crisp apples, as well as Kerr crabapples for jelly. The Honey Crisp is sweet and crunchy but my favorite is still the Mac for eating. The orchards will not sell out with Apple Fest, but will have apples at least through October. I well remember the old apple storage cellars, where one could go all winter and buy fresh local apples. They were half in the ground for insulation, and half above for ventilation. Carefully controlled, they would stay at 45 degrees all winter without energy cost and the keeping apples would remain fresh. Few of those are grown any more. The Spitzenberg was a favorite of mine, hard as a rock until after a hard frost and then lasting until spring in storage.

9/25/09 FALL COLORS

2009-09-25T09:47:00.005-05:00

Friday, 8:15 AM. 60 degrees, wind WSW, moderate. The channel is dimpled, the sky is blue and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. A beautiful day awaits.
The purple New England Aster, A. angliae-novae, and the pink New Belgium Aster, A. novae-belgae, are in bloom. Both are tall, floriferous native plants. The mountain maple, Acer spicatum, is a beautiful rusty orange now in the woods on the corner of Ninth and Old Military .
The mottled pagoda dogwood leaves are also quite nice.
Apple Fest is next weekend, and we are all gearing up for the yearly extravaganza.

9/24/09 AN ELEGANT, SIMPLE LANDSCAPE FOR A NINETEENTH CENTURY HOUSE

2009-09-24T12:01:00.007-05:00

Thursday, 8:30 AM. 56 degrees, wind S, light. The channel is calm, the sky blue and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
The Nelson job on north Third Street turned out nicely. We removed a lot of inappropriate volunteer trees and shrubs, and replanted with old-fashioned plants. Bridal wreath and gold flame Spirea were planted along the front foundation, and a setting of weeping flowering crab and spreading evergreens creates a focal point in the front yard. A planting of hardy white azaleas and an oak leaf Hydrangea creates beauty in a shady spot by the back deck, and a red oak and a mountain ash front the two city streets. The grove of young oaks was trimmed up. We created a landscape which is easy to maintain, is simple but rather elegant and respects the architecture and era of the home.

9/23/09 A JOB WELL DONE

2009-09-23T07:57:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 53 degrees, wind W, light to moderate. The channel is crawling, the sky is clear, the barometer predicts sunshine, and there is .75” of rain in the rain gage.
We are on the road again, to Wausau, where we left our Saab at the dealer for repairs, and rented a car for a few days. It will be an all day trip, but will give us an opportunity to stop at Barnes and Noble and at Gander Mountain, anyway.
The two landscape jobs turned out perfectly, the photos are before and after of the Johnson job, the objective of which was to replace trees lost in a storm, reduce lawn mowing, and provide a proper setting for the residence as viewed from First Street. The major trees are native white spruce, tamarack, and river birch. The hedge is ninebark and the spreading evergreens are Siberian Microbiota.

9/22/09 A SUCCESSFUL HUNT WITH OLD FRIENDS

2009-09-22T10:28:00.008-05:00

Tuesday, 8:15 AM. 66 degrees, wind ENE, calm. The channel and Island are obscured by fog and it is raining quite hard, although the barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. The rain means I won’t have to be as concerned with watering the two landscape jobs, and I have put the porch baskets out in the rain.
The trip to the Peebles in Oconomowoc was a great success. We shot five geese and missed more, had lots of good food and conversation and went to a fun musical at the new performing arts center Saturday night. The geese flew well early on both Saturday and Sunday morning, but there was nothing flying early Monday. Lucky was in a terrible funk all weekend because we didn’t take him out with us and he had to stay with Joan (he wouldn’t be able to retrieve a goose). He wouldn’t speak to me until I bought him a hamburger on the way home. Bill’s Chesapeake retrieved for us, and we would have lost at least one bird without her. Bill just fillets out the goose breasts (that’s where most of the meat is) and leaves the rest for the coyotes, but Joan insisted I clean the whole birds so she could roast them for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. It took me about an hour to clean each bird, and they weighed 10 and 7.5 lbs. respectively, 7 and 5 lbs. cleaned. I hadn’t been goose hunting with Bill in almost forty years so it was a real treat.

9/17/09 LOOKIN' GOOD

2009-09-17T20:17:00.003-05:00

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 58 degrees, wind SSE, light. The sky is overcast, the channel wrinkled. The barometer predicts rain.
The Johnson job got planted and it looks great. Tomorrow I will work with the crew for a couple of hours, then Joan and I head for the Peebles and goose hunting.

9/16/09 BEFORE PLANTING

2009-09-17T20:11:00.005-05:00

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 56 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is wrinkled, the sky partly overcast and the barometer predicts sunny skies
We have two planting jobs going, hope to prep them today and plant tomorrow. The “before” photo is of the Johnson job on 1st St.

9/14/09 BEARLY RIPE PLUMS

2009-09-14T09:25:00.004-05:00

Monday, 8:00 AM. 64 degrees, Wind W, calm. The channel is foggy. The barometer predicts rain, but I do not.

The native plum, Prunus americana, in the rose family, is a brushy shrub or small tree which ranges throughout the upper Midwest. It is at its northern reaches here, and then is replaced by the Canada plum, a somewhat different species. The fruit when ripe is orange to deep red, and quite tasty but thick skin and large pit make it better for preserves and baking than eating out of hand. It is an important wildlife food, and was much used fresh and dried for food by Native Americans. The bark has medicinal properties, and was used for the treatment of upper respiratory ailments. These were collected up the street. We have been waiting for the plums at the Larsen’s camp to ripen, but the bears will probably get them first. Last year they demolished all the bushes, tearing them to pieces to get the fruit. The blooms of the native plum are pretty, and the plants can be used to good effect in large naturalized landscapes.

I will be busy this week installing two landscapes I have designed so the blog may suffer.

9/13/09 A BIG BEAR AND A PRETTY MUSHROOM

2009-09-13T10:34:00.003-05:00

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 64 degrees, wind W, light, the channel and Island are obscured by heavy fog, and the sky is overcast. The barometer predicts rain, but I think not.
Mike, owner of the Seagull Bay Motel down the road, reports a huge black bear patrolling the Brownstone Trail all the way into downtown, and that the cops had to shoo him back into the woods the other day.
I appreciate mushrooms for their beauty more than anything else. The one pictured, from the woods path, I believe to be Russula rugulosa, in the Agaricus family. Note that it has no bulbus base, nor ring on the stem beneath the cap. Very pretty, and listed as edible, but not by me!

9/12/09 DEADLY HARVEST

2009-09-12T10:01:00.004-05:00

Saturday, 65 degrees, wind ESE, calm. The channel is glassy, the sky mostly blue. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
I haven’t been on the woods path all summer and took it this morning, and to my delight there were several colonies of mushrooms along it, even though we haven’t had recent rain. The white mushroom is the destroying angel, Amanita virosa, as deadly as it is pretty. It has a faint, sickly sweet smell, and a large bulb at the base of the stem and a ring on the stem beneath the cap. Except for the bulb, it can easily be taken for the common edible field mushroom or champignon. The yellow mushroom is Amanita flavorescens, also with bulb and ring. It is not listed as poisonous but the Amanitas are all best avoided.

9/11/09 REMEMBER

2009-09-11T10:18:00.006-05:00

Friday, 8:00 AM. 66 degrees, wind S, calm to light. The channel and Island are again obscured by fog. The sky is mostly clear, and the barometer predicts the same.
Joe Pye weed, also known as queen of the meadow and gravel root, Eupatorium maclatum, in the Composite family, has been blooming for several weeks. There is a lot of it in roadside ditches and wet meadows. It is a tall, handsome plant and should be used more in the garden. It has a long tradition in both Native American and Western herbal medicine as a diuretic, in the treatment of kidney ailments, gout, rheumatism and respiratory complaints.
It is named after an American Indian healer, Joe Pye.
The hummingbirds will be leaving within a week. The pileated woodpeckers seem to be all over the neighborhood again this morning.
This is the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 911. Remember the Alamo, Remember the Main, Remember Pearl Harbor, and Remember 911.

9/10/09 WHERE'S THE BUS?

2009-09-10T09:56:00.004-05:00

Thursday, 8:00AM. 65 degrees, wind S, calm. The channel is mostly obscured by fog. The sky is partly cloudy and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
It is another very quiet morning, and I realize at last that another reason for it is that the school bus no longer visits our neighborhood. The few kids that had ridden the bus have graduated, transferred to Washburn or other public and parochial schools, or have moved away. The declining population of school age children in our small Northern Wisconsin communities has negatively affected all the districts, reducing state aid, making each school district more expensive, less effective and more isolated. As real estate taxes necessarily rise, more families leave, and as curriculums shrink more kids are transferred out. Everyone is reluctant to address the root causes of the decline, and so the school bus no longer visits our neighborhood.

9/09/09 FALL BEGINS WITH LABOR DAY

2009-09-09T11:12:00.006-05:00

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 56 degrees, wind S, calm. The channel is calm, the sky mostly overcast. The barometer predicts partly cloudy weather but it looks and feels like rain is on its way.
Signs of fall are popping up everywhere now, as evidenced by the quiet early morning, the exodus of tourists and many summer residents being right on schedule. Sugar maples are beginning to turn their rusty golden yellow and some of the red maples crimson. The Virginia creeper vines and some of the sumac leaves are turning blood red.
Fall begins with Labor Day in the Northland, you can count on it.
No photos as I am unable to upload them for some reason.

9/08/09 WHO STOLE THE BREAD DOUGH?

2009-09-08T08:53:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 59 degrees, wind S, calm. The channel is calm and there is a light fog over water and Island. The sky is cloudless, but the barometer predicts rain. It could not have been a nicer holiday weekend.
We cooked out at the Larsen’s yesterday evening: fire-roasted corn and chicken, fresh melon with wild raspberries, and an apple crisp baked in a Dutch oven over hot coals. A gourmet meal! Afterwards we drove down one of the Rez roads to watch the sun set over Sand Island and the harvest moon rise opposite it.
The only downside to the holiday was that J.D., the Larsen’s dog, had absconded earlier with a plastic bag full of rising bread dough, so we were deprived of Andy’s baked bread, and J.D. spent the evening quietly, with a rather doleful, pained look in his big brown eyes.

9/07/09 LABOR DAY, PEARS AND ACORNS

2009-09-07T12:13:00.003-05:00

Monday, Labor Day, 8:30 AM. 63 degrees, wind NE, calm. The channel is lightly wrinkled and hazy. The sky is mostly sunny and the barometer trends down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
The pears are ripening, the tree pictured is in the Bonney yard on Ninth and Manypenny. Erickson’s Orchard now has pears. The red oak acorns are ripening also, and it looks like a good harvest for deer, squirrels and grouse. Red oak acorns are not edible for humans, but white oak acorns are, and were much used by the Indians.
I just finished re-reading Ayn Rand’s classic, “Atlas Shrugged,” a fitting novel for the holiday, with its celebration of free enterprise, free people and the dignity of work. Now it’s on to David McCullough’s “1776” and his account of the Revolution (his “John Adams” was a wonderful read!)

9/06/09 FALL PHLOX

2009-09-06T09:14:00.004-05:00

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm to light. The channel is crawling slightly. Air and water currents at various levels from often distant sources can create wave action that seems contrary to observed wind conditions. The sky is lightly overcast, and the barometer trends down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
The Phlox genus, in the Polemonium family, consists of about 60 species, mostly North American. They are common and important garden plants, various species and varieties blooming spring, summer or fall. They range in appearance from the spring blooming, creeping P. stolonifera of dunes and dry hillsides to the tall, fall blooming P. paniculata of dry eastern woods and meadows. Phlox range in color from white to red, pink to blue and everything in between. They have few culinary or medicinal uses.
There is a common misconception that American native plants such as Phlox are underused in American horticulture, which is not really the case. American native flowers, trees and shrubs are a staple of gardening and arboriculture both here and in Europe. The issue is confused by the fact than many North American plants, introduced to Europe hundreds of years ago by plant explorers, and often much hybridized there, have been traded back over the years to North America as European plants. And of course many Asian plants have been introduced here also, since the climates of Japan, Korea and northern Asia are very similar to our continental climate and they adapt well.
The pileated woodpeckers are calling from many directions this morning.

9/05/09 WOODPECKERS, RAINGARDENS AND BEARS

2009-09-05T08:47:00.007-05:00

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 60 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel and Island are mostly obscured by fog, but the barometer predicts sunny weather. Except for birdsong and a boat motor or two it is a very quiet morning.
I am nursing a sore foot so had to walk quite slowly this morning, which allowed me to get very close to a magnificent pileated woodpecker looking for grubs on an old telephone pole. I watched him for several minutes before he uttered his characteristic high pitched trill and flew off.

Judy Larsen is a weaver, and when in camp sets up her loom in a screen tent in the woods. She has been trying to weave scarves to sell, but a fashion conscious bear has taken a liking to her work (note the claw holes Judy has her hands through). Maybe she should just weave a nice winter scarf for mama bear and leave it outside the tent.

9/04/09 IT'S CRUNCH TIME!

2009-09-04T10:09:00.009-05:00

Friday, 8:00 AM. 65 degrees, wind WNW, very light. The channel is dimpled, the sky clear except for some haze in the east. The barometer is trending down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
Yesterday was a fine top-down day, and we went to Hauser’s Orchard on Hwy J for some early apples. They celebrated their 100th anniversary last year, and are still a family business, growing apples, berries and perennials.
Their early apples are Duchess, Dudley, Whitney crab, Transparent and Melba. Early apples are best for baking, but are eating apples as well, although not as crisp and tart as later varieties. I think the Whitney crabapple is the tastiest of the early apples.
Our edible apple (Pyrus malus, synonym Malus pumila) is native to south-central Asia, probably Kazakhstan, whose capital, Alma Atta, translates to “mother of apples.” Cultivated since ancient times and brought to Europe thousands of years ago, apples are now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world, virtually everywhere there is a moderate climate with seasonal changes. Our North American crabapples are not the edible apple.
The apple gene pool is very young and plastic, allowing for virtually unlimited variation in fruit characteristics through hybridization, either natural or horticultural. There is nothing quite like the satisfying “crunch” of biting into a crisp, tasty apple.

9/03/09 BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

2009-09-03T09:21:00.003-05:00

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 64 degrees, wind WNW, moderate with strong gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky mostly clear, and the barometer is trending down, predicting partly cloudy skies. It will be a warm day.
I collected ripe seed of fireweed for the condominium project yesterday. Epilobium angustifolium, in the evening primrose family, is also called great willow-herb because of its willow-like leaves. It is a circumboreal species, growing in Eurasia as well as North America. I was amazed and amused by the copious, milkweed-like seed heads, which I had a hard time keeping from blowing away. The back of the truck may sprout fireweed from dirt filed corners next spring. I finally got a fair amount distributed where I wanted them, even if a lot of it went “blowin’ in the wind.”

9/02/09 LOOKALIKES

2009-09-02T09:49:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 55 degrees, wind WSW, calm. The channel is lightly wrinkled, the sky is clear with some haze in the east, and the barometer predicts sunny weather. It will be a gorgeous day.
The tiger lily, Lilium tigrinum, is an old fashioned garden favorite, a native of eastern Asia. It is quite similar in appearance to the native Turk’s cap lily, both of which have spotted, recurved petals and are very handsome. They bloom at the same time of year. The tiger lily has more strongly recurved petals and, a dead giveaway, little bulblets growing in the axils of the leaves. It is a common escapee from gardens. The native lily has green coloration at the base of the petals inside the flower. Otherwise they are strong lookalikes.

9/01/09 EXPLORER'S POINT

2009-09-01T10:29:00.010-05:00

8:00 AM. 58 degrees, wind WNW, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky clear, the barometer predicts sunny skies.
Explorer’s Point , just west of Ashland on Hwy 2, overlooks lower Chequamegon Bay. It’s name refers to the 17th Century French explorers, Radisson and Grosseillieers, who wintered nearby in 1624. Much of the landscape has been naturalized, and blends in with the native vegetation of the Bay.
The handsome plant with pink flowers is Monarda fistulossa, Oswego tea, in the mint family (characterized by square stems and minty odor). It is a native plant of prairies and meadows, and was much used medicinally by Indian tribes for colds and stomach problems.
The plant with the small blue flowers on multiple spikes is Salvia reflexa, also in the mint family, a sage native to meadows and prairies.
Waterfowl migrations; ducks, geese and swans, are great to watch here in spring and fall.

8/31/09 ALWAYS MOVIN' ON

2009-08-31T08:41:00.005-05:00

Monday, 8:00 AM. 56 degrees, wind NW, moderate. The sky is clear, the channel wrinkled. The barometer predicts partly cloudy weather. Local weather forecasts had called for lows in the thirties in our region last night.
The plant pictured is Juniperus rigida, a Juniper of Asiatic origin, which has an unusual branching habit. The only reason I mention it, since I don’t care for its aesthetics, is that the one other place I have ever seen it growing is The New York Botanical Garden. The folks up the street, whose yard it resides in, are members of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and have received a number of unusual plants thereby. This is a good example of how people move plants around the globe, from one continent and ecosystem to another. This Juniper is merely an oddity…plants that have greater utility or beauty migrate even faster and farther, and these plant migrations have been going on since the first farmers carried seed from one slash and burn garden plot to another, or in pouches and baskets on their continual migrations to find a better or safer place to live. Plants, like people, are always movin’ on.

8/30/09 FALL IS ON THE DOORSTEP WHEN THE ASTERS BLOOM

2009-08-30T11:03:00.004-05:00

Sunday, 8:00 AM. 53 degrees, wind W, modest with stronger gusts. The sky is cloudless except for a few on the eastern horizon. The rainy weather has blown out to the east, and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. The rain gage holds another .7” of rain.
Asters are the iconic wild flowers of the fall. The wild asters, also called Michaelmass daisies because they bloom around the time of the Feast of St. Michael, comprise a mostly North American genus in the Composite family. There are some 250 species. They are perennials with mostly blue, violet to purple, red, pink or white ray flowers. The center, or disk flowers are red, purple or occasionally white (one species, A ptarmicoides, is yellow). They are mostly plants of prairies, meadows and woods edges.
Since there are so many species, they can be difficult to identify, although some are well known. We have already mentioned the big-leaf Aster of the woods, and soon the showy New England Aster will bloom. The two pictured are, I believe, A. azureus(blue) and A. ericoides, the heath aster (white).
Fall is on the doorstep when the Asters bloom.

8/29/09 A HANDSOME LITTLE TREE

2009-08-29T10:32:00.004-05:00

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 52 degrees, wind W, light with stronger gusts. The channel is obscured by fog and it is drizzling. The rain gage holds .4”, and the barometer predicts more.
The mountain ash pictured is, I believe, one of the two species native to our region. I think it is Sorbus decora, but in any case, it is a particularly handsome little tree. One difference between it and the European species (Sorbus aucuparia) is the winter buds of S. decora are gummy, those of the European species are not. I will check that out as winter approaches. Another is the more compact and rounded form of decora, which this tree definitely exhibits. The birds are flocking to the two feeders that I filled with seed yesterday.

8/28/09 VISUALIZE WORLD PEAS

2009-08-28T09:40:00.005-05:00

Friday, 8:00 AM. 58 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel is mostly wrinkled, and the sky is overcast. We received .2 “ of rain last night and the barometer predicts more.
I have been collecting and shelling more beach peas for the Condominium project and I am fascinated by their similarities to garden peas in characteristics of the flowers, the pod and how it opens, and how the peas resemble garden peas although smaller. They even taste like garden peas, although more mealy.
According to Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany, the beach pea, Lathyrus japonica, was used by several tribes for food or medicine. Although the Inuit considered them poisonous, the Iroquois used the stalks for food and to treat rheumatism, and the Mokah (Pacific Northwest) ate the immature seeds as peas. There is no reference to use by our local Ojibwa.
The garden pea, Pisum sativa, has been cultivated in Europe for thousands of years, and probably collected for food long before written history.
The common view of prehistoric or stone-age man as a lesser being than modern, technological man ignores the fact that virtually all our foodstuffs and until very recently all our medicines were derived from the curiosity, industry and experimentation of early, non-technological humans and their cultures. All progress is evolutionary, and we owe great debts to our prehistoric ancestors who developed and used sophisticated survival knowledge.
There are few modern people who could survive in the wild for more than a few days without their technology, and most of us do not even know how our technology actually works, or would be able to produce any of it.
So here’s to the first naked, hungry human who ate a pea! As the bumper sticker says, "Visualize World Peas!”

8/27/09 DUELLING FOG HORNS

2009-08-27T09:24:00.004-05:00

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 55 degrees, wind W, very light. The channel and the Island are obscured by fog, and the sky is blue except for the fog that rises to great heights over the lake. We are being treated to a concert of dueling foghorns from ferries and docks, each of which has its own tone and pitch.
Some of the questions most frequently asked of me regard the lumps, bumps and pimples which may occur at this time of the year to disfigure tree leaves and branches, particularly those of willow, silver maple and sometimes oaks . These are galls caused by insects, often tiny wasps, laying their eggs under the epidermis of tree leaves, the larvae then feeding on the leaf tissue. The galls, which often have very characteristic shapes and colors, are the response of the host plant to the irritation. These galls usually do no great harm and nothing much can or should be done about them. Raking up fallen leaves and composting or burning them can minimize the next year’s infection.

8/26/09 THE BEST LAID PLANS

2009-08-26T10:08:00.007-05:00

Wednesday, 8:15 AM. 61 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is patterned; glassy in the lee of the bluffs, wrinkled further out. The sky is cloudless and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. Today is a “perfect ten.”
The hated Japanese knotweed is in bloom, quite beautiful. I believe it should be controlled, but that it is foolish to try to eradicate it.
The American chestnut on Tenth and Mannypenny has a lot of fruit, not yet ripe. The stigmas of the female flowers, which receive the pollen, are still prominent on the developing chestnuts.
The first plant is terribly invasive, brought to our continent as a misguided introduction by the USDA; the second is a valuable native tree, now very rare because it has been devastated by a foreign disease introduced through commerce. “The best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley."

8/25/09 PORCH SITTIN'

2009-08-25T10:12:00.008-05:00

Tuesday, 7:45 AM. Wind W, light with stronger gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain. The dark and quiet atmosphere emphasizes the beauty of an incipient storm.
Spending a lot of time on our back porch the last few days makes me realize anew how valuable an outdoor living area is in almost any climate, even if it is only used seasonally.
The term “outdoor living room” has been around for a century at least, and now has become “outdoor living area.” There have always been sheltered outdoor areas associated with the home, or nearby in the garden, whether called gazebos, pergolas, colonnades, patios, ramadas or whatever, adapted to the climate and architecture of most cultures. Greco-Roman classic home design often was more outdoor than indoor, given their Mediterranean climates.
The populating of California and the Southwest also sparked interest in “outdoor living” in garden design and architecture, and the converse, homes with large glass areas to “bring the outdoors in” became very popular wit h modern architecture and the advent of plate glass.
Today’s architecture and decorating have gone a step further, usually too far, in creating outdoor kitchens, bars, pizza ovens, fire pits, spas, and huge party areas, much of which is overtly lavish and ridiculously expensive.
I prefer a porch, large enough to be comfortably furnished and able to hold a small dinner party. We have several decks, but they don’t provide the shelter, comfort and sense of security of a porch. Here are my criteria for a suitable and affordable “outdoor living room.”
Covered and sheltered from the most of the sun and rain environment, with a sense of enclosure, while preserving air circulation
Suitable furniture for the style and economy of the home.
Plenty of rugs, cushions and colorful tablecloths.
Ceiling fans.
A simple heat source if possible.
Views and/or focal points in several directions, even if within a small or enclosed yard.
An area for a grill, and easy access to the kitchen of the home.
Lots of potted plants and flower arrangements.
One needn’t spend a fortune or inhabit a castle to enjoy “outdoor living.”

8/24/09: MOUNTAIN ASH BEER?

2009-08-24T09:03:00.006-05:00

Monday, 8:30 AM. 60 degrees, wind S, light to moderate. The sky is cloudless with some haze over the Island. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
Many plants are bearing ripe frit and seeds now. The highbush cranberry fruits (not actually cranberries) are a bright red, and will remain on the plants far into the winter as a “last resort” food for the birds. The cones of the blue spruce in the front yard are large and glistening with exuding sap. The early apples are in at the orchards and fall is approaching fast. I have never seen the mountain ash bear so heavily, and I am tempted to make beer from them.