0/31/09 NO LIGHT, NO PHOTOS

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.