5/15/09 GOTTA KEEP MOVING TO STAY WARM!

Friday, 7:45 AM. 42 degrees, wind NE, calm to light. The channel is slightly wrinkled, the sky clear. The barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies. The low of the past several days, which never did produce any rain, has moved east and its counter clockwise rotation is sending us cold winds right off the big lake.
Today is a full day, with a 9:00 AM Arbor Day tree planting and dedication of the new Cooper Hill Park, and at 11:00 AM the Larry Meiller Garden Talk radio show kicks off Bayfield in Bloom at the pavilion.
Blue forget-me-nots are blooming in the ditches, and gray pussy toes in sandy lawns. The purple flower is Burgenia, much used in older gardens here but which I find too coarse for my own tastes.

5/14/09 THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Thursday, 8:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind W, gale force at times. The channel is choppy, the sky is mostly overcast but clearing and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
I was checking plantings at Reiten Boatyard Park on the lake front late yesterday afternoon when I was approached by a strange creature reminiscent of something out of a 1950’s science fiction movie. It said “hello” so I had to assume it was friendly. It did not say, “take me to your leader,” assuming I guess that I was as high up on the totem pole as it was likely to find at the moment. It’s space ship was not in sight. It turns out this apparition was none other than Dwayne Szot (see blog of 1/22/09) heading for his daily swim in the harbor. He swims from ice-out to freeze-up, using a variety of wet suits. The aerobic effects of swimming, the stimulation of ice-cold water and the acceleration of heartbeat cased by shear fear must give him a heart like a steam engine. I’ll just keep planting trees, thank you. Good Luck, Dwayne!

5/13/09 HUMMINGBIRDS ARE BACK, THE JUNEBERRIES ARE BLOOMING, BUT I SMELL A SKUNK

Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 54 degrees, wind S, gusty. The channel is rough with white caps and the sky is overcast, the barometer again predicting rain.
The hummingbirds are back! Either they were a day late or my projections were a day early. The males at least are back to establish nesting territories and the aerial battles will soon commence.
Amelanchier canadensis, called Juneberry in the Midwest and shadblow in the east (because it blooms when the shad run) just began blooming here, this one on 11th street, and they are as beautiful as dogwoods although the blooms only last a few days. The berries soon follow, and they are very good, but the birds usually get them first. Shrubby commercial varieties are small enough to be netted and they are a good crop for jams and jellies.
The flower pictured is Fritillaria imperialis, also called crown imperial, an old-fashioned bulb little used today. Very pretty, they smell like a skunk. They evidently have the virtue of keeping critters out of the spring garden with their noxious s odor.

5/12/09 DREDGING UP A MAGNOLIA

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 50 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is like glass, the sky is mostly overcast and the barometer predicts rain. A tugboat with a dredging barge behind it is going down the channel.
The hummingbirds haven’t shown up yet, but gardens everywhere in town are colorful with spring bulbs and a star magnolia is blooming beautifully on 11th street. Many plants, like the magnolia, do fine here because of the long, cool springs, the result of the moderating effects of the lake. Hopefully we will not have a hard frost anymore, and the orchard cherries will not get nipped in the bud as they did last year.

5/11/09 RIVERS AND ROCK WRITINGS

7:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is like glass, the sky is blue and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies. It looks like a repeat of yesterday, which turned out to be a nice day.
Yesterday being Mothers Day we mostly watched the ball game and waited for our kids to call Joan, which they all did. I fished the Sioux for a few hours early morning, but neighbor Zach has caught all the fish. But it was a fine outing, an eagle flew close over my head, and I had a nice hike high along the rocky ledges above the rapids, I came across what look like Indian rock pictures, but I doubt they are authentic. I have passed this rock a number of times and not noticed them before. Anyway they are interesting and I will let others be the judge of their authenticity.
The hummingbird feeders have to go up first thing this morning as this is the date they usually return.

5/10/09 KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL

Sunday, 7:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind WNW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky is mostly overcast and the barometer is down, predicting partly cloudy skies.
The daffodils are beginning to fade on sunny hillsides but hopefully most will last with the cooler weather until Friday’s Bayfield in Bloom kickoff. Many other garden flowers are now blooming; tulips, creeping phlox, violets. I mowed the lawn for the first time yesterday; I have been considering a new lawn mower but the old (read decrepit) mower fired up and did the job, and it may last another season. I am in kind of a quandary because I ran over my hand push mower with the truck last fall, and I had always used that as my main lawn mower, but time marches on and I may want to go to a power mower. I have been looking at electric mowers but they are pricey and the only American model, the Nueton, is not self-propelled, which I think I should get if I invest in a new mower. However, most of the gas-powered mowers that I have looked at are American made, which I find very encouraging. Things usually come full circle, and I expect to see a resurgence of American manufacturing, including automobiles and trucks, once the recession is over and we are more competitive again. We just have to keep our eye on the ball, like Roxy.

5/09/09 BAYFIELD DAFFODILS ARE IN BLOOM!

Saturday, 7:00 AM. 34 degrees, wind NE, calm. The channel is calm and a light rain is falling from overcast skies. The barometer predicts sunshine.
The trip to Stevens Point was pretty uneventful except for the age-old question: “did you remember to pull the plug on the coffee pot?” I will not go into the dismal details ensuing from this seemingly innocent query. The hills are chartreuse now with young aspen leaves, and old fields and hedge rows are full of white-blossoming Juneberry trees (Amelanchier canadensis).
I actually welcome a few damp cold days, as it will help our daffodils last through next Friday’s Bayfield in Bloom kickoff with the Larry Miellor Garden Talk radio show. They look spectacular right now.
I have to leave now to pick Lucky up from blue Ribbon Kennels in Ashland, were he has been languishing (that’s his opinion) for two whole nights.

5/07/08 MORE UNUSUAL SPRING FLOWERS

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 54 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is calm, the sky clear with some haze, and the barometer predicts rain, which we got a trace of last night.
The Pasque (Easter) flower, Anemone patens, a member of the buttercup family, is an interesting native of dry prairies and slopes. It is somewhat used as an ornamental, and has very pretty seed heads which last long after the flower is gone. Another usually overlooked flower is that of the much over-planted Norway maple, Acer platanoides.
The chipping sparrows are back, very welcome little birds with a chestnut patch on the top of their heads, and their chipping song is much heard in the yard and at the feeder.
We are heading south to Stevens Point at noon for a quarterly Urban Forestry Council meeting and Lucky gets to stay at Blue Ribbon Kennel for two nights where he will undoubtedly bark the entire time. It should be a nice drive. Joan will have brakes put on the convertible while I am in meetings. We will be back late Friday.

5/06/09 NEIGHBOR ZACK HAS A GOOD DAY ON THE SIOUX

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 53 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is glass, the sky hazy, we got a trace of rain last night and the barometer predicts more. It promises to be a real spring day.
Our new young coastguard neighbor, Zack, had a good day on the Sioux yesterday, losing several steelhead trout before he landed this keeper (minimum size 26”). It looks to me as though it is not a migratory rainbow trout from the lake, which are called steelheads because of their steel-like color and almost indiscernible rainbow coloration, but rather a fish (much darker coloration and distinct rainbow) that wintered in the river. In any case Zack was a happy guy, and his catching it was almost as much fun for me as it was for him. I am nursing a sore foot and can’t wade the stream for a few days, hope I don't miss the run completely.

5/05/09 GREAT GREENHOUSES, GREAT VIEW

Tuesday, 7:00 AM. 51 degrees, wind W, calm. The channel is like glass and the sky is mostly overcast. The barometer predicts rain.
I went to Bailey’s Greenhouses yesterday on Whiting Road several miles south of town to pick out and reserve hanging baskets. It is a fine wholesale operation that serves local retailers and the Twin Cities alike. They have a spectacular view of Chequamagon Bay and Long Island.

5/04/09 MORE SPRING FLOWERS

Monday, 8:00 AM. 45 degrees, wind W, light. The channel is calm, the sky cloudless and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
The black willows are leafing out and blooming, the “pussy” flowers are a pretty chartreuse rather than the silvery white of “pussy willow” flowers.
Lots to do today, set up street tree planting with Diggers Hotline, reserve hanging baskets at Bailey’s Greenhouses, a tree board meeting at 2:00 PM, and pruning young street trees after the meeting.

5/03/09 A FANTASTIC MORNING AT THE BEACH

Sunday, 7;00 AM.44 degrees, wind W, light. Skies are blue with some haze. The channel is calm and the barometer predicts rain.
We have had all kinds of finches at the feeder, including pine grosbeaks.
Lucky and I are off to the beach, where it will be fantastic this morning.

5/02/09 CAUTION: TREE BUTCHERS AT WORK

Saturday, 7:30 AM. 40 degrees, wind W, light. The sky is overcast and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies. It is a cold dark morning.
I have had issues with utility company tree “pruning” for years. Basically, there is no respect shown to trees as elements of either beauty or environmental utility. If a tree is in the way of overhead lines it is just hacked, topped, whatever. Of course the most relevant answer to the problem is either to bury the lines (too expensive say the utilities, although they often do it in new subdivisions) or replace tall trees with varieties that do not grow into the overhead lines. Utilities sometimes offer grants to do the latter, but they are few and far between. In the meantime we live with ugly and disease prone, butchered trees.

5/01/09THE SNEEZE, MY FRIEND, IS BLOWING IN THE WIND

Friday, 7:30 AM. 42 degrees, wind NW, light. The sky is mostly blue, and the barometer predicts sunny weather. Yesterday evening we had some sustained high winds as the high-pressure system moved in.
As a rule, once one notices a particular thing or event , one suddenly sees similar things previously ignored. So it is with the catkin flowers; the aspen, Populous tremuloides, catkins shown here are quite large and obvious once one looks for them. In early spring an aspen tree truly looks “in bloom,” and is quite attractive. The male catkins of the common tag alder were releasing their pollen while the snow was still on the ground, and the oak male catkins will be obvious shortly. The pollen released by male catkins is borne on the wind, not by insects, to the female flowers, and such wind borne pollen adds significantly to the pollen count for allergy sufferers.
We have made good progress on our big planting job, but we must now wait for the wildflowers and grasses which will be in the greenhouse for another three or four weeks.

4/30/09 THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM

Thursday, 7:30 AM. 41 degrees, wind is NE, calm. The skies are overcast and .4 inches of rain fell last night, the barometer predicts more.
The paper birch, Betula papyrifera, and the American hazlenut, Corylus americana, are producing their new catkins (flowers). Both are in the birch family, in the birch(the photo with my hand in it) both male and female flowers are produced in different catkins, and in the hazlenut, only the male flowers are catkins, the insignificant female flower producing the hazlenut when fertilized.
Last night’s rain has produced roads covered with thousands of earth worms. The robins should have a good breakfast (to each his own). Come to think of it, catkins look and feel kind of like worms.

4/29/09 EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL IN ITS OWN WAY

Wednesday, 7:30 AM. 41 degrees, wind NE, calm. The sky is mostly clear with some haze. The barometer predicts precipitation.
The box elder, Acer negundo, is a small to medium sized tree that grows everywhere and is generally dismissed as a weed tree, although it is not really that. It is also called ash-leaved maple because it has pinnately compound leaves, unlike other maples. But see how beautiful its flowers are! Everything, in nature has its own distinctive beauty if we but seek it out.
The spring warbler migrations have begun, tiny birds are flitting about, but I do not have the patience to be a really good birder and salute those who do.

4/28/09 A REAL SPRING DAY AT LAST

Tuesday, 7:00 AM. 40 degrees, wind NE, calm. The sky is blue with some haze, and the barometer predicts sunny weather. The channel is calm. It promises to be a real spring day.
The Reiten Boatyard Condominium job starts in earnest tomorrow, so today we will get a start on spring cleaning of Garden View Lodging, as the tourist season will soon be here.
I forgot to bring the bird feeder in but there were no ursine visitors, but we had a large flock of purple finches at the feeders yesterday.

4/27/09 DAFFODILS AND RED MAPLES ARE BLOOMING

Monday, 8:00 AM. 38 degrees, wind W, light. The sky is partly cloudy and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies.
It rained all day off and on yesterday so it was mostly an inside day, watching the Brewers ballgame in the afternoon. Today we start a pretty good sized landscape job for the Reiten Boatyard Condominiums in town and will be busy with it all week.
The daffodils are blooming in earnest all around town, and if it stays cool will last for weeks.
The red maple I have been watching on Manypenny Ave. is in full bloom. Many tree species we don’t think of as being flowering trees have very nice blooms and are quite attractive overall if we only adjust our viewpoints and expectations a bit. Red maples will now be blooming in the swamps and wet hillsides.