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Thursday, May 31, 2012

5/31/12 MORE BLOOMS; AND IT LOOKS LIKE SERFDOM

THE SHADE GARDEN

'LEMON LIGHTS' AZALEA

'HAAGA' RHODODENDRON

'MIS KIM' LILACS

DECORATIVE ONIONS

Thursday, 9:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind NW, light.  The sky is blue with a few ghostly wisps of white clouds idling by.  The barometer is way up, it should be a pleasant day and things will dry out.
        ‘Lemon Lights’  Azaleas, developed by the University of Minnesota,  and a ‘Haaga’ Rhododendron, developed by the University of Finnland, are blooming in the shade garden in the front yard, and decorative onions, Aliums, in the little herb garden.  An accent hedge of ’Miss Kim’ dwarf lilacs is blooming in the side  yard.
        Bernie Marcus, founder of Home Depot, says that today’s businesses have to worry more about how to serve the government,  rather than how to serve their customers.  It looks like serfdom to me.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

5/39/12 RAIN, RASPBERRIES, DOGWOODS; AND HE CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

RASPBERRIES BEGINNING TO BLOOMN...

LEMON-SCENTED FLOWERS

PAGODA DOGWOOD,...

ALMOST IN FULL BLOOM

AN ARTISTIC MOSAIC

Wednesday, 8:45 AM.  45 degrees F, wind NW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is mostly overcast but the sun is struggling through the gloom.  It rained again last night, but the barometer predicts sunny skies.  The reflections of clouds and sun and the patterns created by shifting, wrestles winds created an artistic mosaic on the surface of the channel waters this morning.
        Raspberries are beginning to bloom in earnest now, their blossoms surprisingly large and pretty, with a very delicate lemony scent.  Makes me think raspberries and lemon sauce or ice cream would be a delectable combination.  There are too many different wild raspberry species and sub-species for me to say anything more about them than that they are all in the genus  Rubus, in the rose family.                                                                                              
        The pagoda dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, is blooming now, not quite fully.  It is an unusual shrub in the landscape and in the genus Cornus, its strongly alternate  branching habit giving it a rather distinctive Oriental appearance.  It is also the only species of Cornus that has alternate leaves and branches.  It is quite beautiful in the landscape but I find it finicky to transplant and establish, and it has a tendency to develop a branch blight that can be rather troubling.  Use it, but with the anticipation that it may be problematic.
        They ‘re baaack!  Questions regarding President Obama’s place of birth and whether he can constitutionally be President of the United States have arisen again because of a written statement that has come to light that he made to promote his autobiographical book, long before he was a candidate for President.  He stated that he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia.  It seems to me he is either a natural born citizen, or a natural born liar.  He can’t have it both ways.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

5/29/12 SPRING WILDFLOWERS, PELICANS AND A COMPLETED PROJECT

STAR FLOWER

DWARF CORNEL (AKA BUNCHBERRY)

CANADA MAYFLOWER

WEEKEND PROJECT COMPLETED

LUPINES


Tuesday, 8:30 AM.  Wind WSW, moderate.  The sky is overcast, and  it is raining again.  The prediction of the barometer is inconclusive.
        The spring northern woodland wildflowers are pretty much in full bloom.  Dwarf cornel (Cornus Canadensis), Canada may flower (Maianthemum Canadensis) and star flower (Trientalis borealis) are all in flower now along Bloom Road, and the Lupines are blooming everywhere in the fields and along roadsides. 
        Working between the raindrops over the holiday weekend I managed to finish my little landscape project in the front yard and I am pleased with it.  The shrubs are ‘Gold Flame’ Spireas.  I had to create something to draw attention away from a bad pruning job on the big Colorado blue spruce in the neighboring yard.
        We ate lunch  yesterday along the bay in Ashland and saw a brown pelican flying, the first one we have seen in the area (which doesn’t necessarily mean they are rare, just that we haven’t seen them).  They are quite a sight, akin to watching a B52 bomber in flight. When we lived in Nebraska we used to see  flocks of the huge birds, skimming along the water or circling the big reservoirs in close V formation, flapping their wings and gliding,  then flapping their wings and gliding again, in perfect military unison.
        If it ever dries up I will need to mow the lawn.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

MEMORIAL DAY: STANDING RETREAT WITH SERGEANT ARPIIN

OH BEAUTIFUL, FOR PATRIOTS DREAMS...


 9:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind N, calm.  The sky is overcast with dark gray clouds after raining again last night.  The humidity is still high but the barometer has begun to rise, and the sun is making a still- feeble attempt to break through the gloom. 



The following is reprinted from my blog of Memorial Day, 2009.  I don't think I can do any better today.


    I performed my military obligation between the Korean War and the Vietnam War, a period of time that was mostly a standoff between the US and the Soviet Union, and except for a few incidents there was no shooting going on, so my experiences were not very remarkable and I can’t say I took any of it very seriously, and was more often a sophomoric wise guy than not. I was, however, soundly put in my place by Platoon Sergeant Arpin, and I remember it exactly, more than a half century later on this     Memorial Day.
    The post commander at Fort Leonard Wood had determined that proper military tradition was being lost (probably true) and decreed that all personnel would stand retreat each evening with their units. This meant that everyone had to change into their dress uniforms after mess and go through the ceremony of playing taps and lowering the flag. No one was thrilled with all this, and after a week or so I asked, “Sergeant Arpin, why in the hell are we doing this?”
    Now the Sarge was a good guy, who must have screwed up somewhere along the line and been bucked down to being a platoon sergeant for raw recruits. He was something of a father figure, very patient, and a rarity among his breed. He was a rather whimsical figure in action, as rotund as a beach ball, and he huffed and puffed his way through the platoon sergeant business, but he had a certain military bearing and dignity about him nonetheless.
    Anyway, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Ode, we’re doing this to honor the memories of all my buddies who got their asses shot off at Iwo Jima.”
    No more wise guy, I stood retreat respectully thereafter until some time later when the order was rescinded and things went back to normal.
    So, Sergeant Arpin, I imagine you are resting in some military cemetery somewhere, as I doubt you had anywhere else to go, and I hope that you are happy there among your comrades in arms. But I want you to know that I will stand retreat in my heart today for you and all your old buddies. It’s the least a young wise guy can do.

5/27/12 MY MY, DIDN'T IT RAIN; AND BUCKEYS AND HAWTHORNS

'FORT MCNAIR' BUCKEYE

'PAUL'S SCARLET' HAWTHORN...

...BLOSOMS

'FORT MCNAIR' BUCKEYE BLOOMS

MORE RAIN?
Sunday, 8:45 AM.  47 degrees F, wind NE, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is overcast, and we had rain again last night, at times torrential.  The roadside ditches are rushing like mini-mountain streams.  All this rain should bring the lakes, including Superior, up considerably. The Daily Press reported yesterday t hat Mountain Road, near Cornucopia,susained $250,000 worth of storm damage. It is a gravel road, hard to imagine it is worth that much in its entirety; may have to go and take a look. The barometer predicts more rain.
        The ‘Fort McNair’ hybrid buckeyes along 6th st. coming into town are in bloom and are a fine sight, as is the hybrid English hawthorn, ‘Paul’s Scarlet,’ in the park on the corner.  The latter is not much available anymore because of its susceptibility to fire blight, but this one seems to be unaffected.
        There are several other nice hawthorns in bloom along 4th St. just north of Rittenhouse Ave.  Hawthorns are rather hard to use as street or specimen trees because they are wide-spreading and densely branched, but they can be very effective in the landscape, blooming just after flowering crabapples and Lilacs.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

5/26/12 THE LAND IS LUSH WITH LIFE

A VERY PLEASANT DAY

JUNEBERRIES WILL SOON BE RIPENING

HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY BUSH IN BLOOM...

...UNUSUAL FLOWER

LILAC 'MISS KIM'

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  54 degrees F, wind W, light. The sky is clear except for a band of gray clouds on the eastern horizon.  The humidity is 70% and the barometer is high. Things are drying out. It will be a very pleasant day.
        The Juneberries are developing nicely and will soon start to ripen.  The highbush cranberry bushes, Viburnum trilobum (the Latin species name referring to the three-lobed leaves) are just beginning to bloom.  The old-fashioned Lilacs and their French hybrids are almost done blooming, and the later species and varieties, such as the Miss Kim are blooming.        
        I have never seen so many hummingbirds and butterflies, as well as young birds of all kinds, the latter which sit on branches, looking rather dazed. Cindy’s fragrant Wiegela hedge attracts dozens of hummingbirds and who knows how many butterflies, all at once.  As we were eating lunch on the porch yesterday at noon a small hawk, I believe it was a female pigeon hawk, swooped by, almost within reach. The land is lush with life.

Friday, May 25, 2012

5/25/12 AFTERMATH OF THE STORM, AND STAR FLOWERS

MORNING AFTER THE SORM...

SAND AND SILT WASHED OUT FROM PIKE'S CREEK

STAR FLOWER

 Friday, 9:00 AM.  Wind W, moderate, perhaps 5-10 MPH.
The sky is mostly clear.  The barometer predicts sunny skies.  We had torrential rains yesterday and last night, at least several additional inches of rain fell.  Pikes Creek, south of town, is overflowing its banks, and has sent a tail of silt and sand out into the bay several miles, clearly visible from Bayfield.
        Taking Buddy for a run on Old San Road this morning I came across a colony of star flowers, Trientalis borealis, in the Primrose family.  As its species Latin name implies it is a plant of the far north, found mainly in wet areas.
        There have been very large flights of geese of late, sometimes hundreds at a time, flying in perfect V formation.  I have been told there is a good migration of spring warblers but haven’t been looking for them myself.
        The Chamber of Commerce had a night out last night hosted by the new casino in Red Cliff, Legendary Waters.  The food was really excellent and their banquet and conference facilities are very nice and will be a boon to Bayfield, which has none at all.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

5/24/12 STORMY WEATHER AND BOONDOCKS ROCKS

ECHO VALLEY ROAD

THREATENING SKY

OROBANCHE

BOONDOCKS ROCKS

Thursday,  8:30 AM.  62 degrees F, wind W trending to S at upper levels.  The sky is mostly filled with black rain clouds, left over from a night of pretty violent thunder and lightening storms, which left a fair amount of rain.  It is a quiet morning, except for the cacophony of the large flights of geese that have again passed overhead. 
        It threatened to storm all day yesterday, but never did.  The blue-black skies drew lower and lower on the northern horizon, the winds picked up and again calmed, thunder grumbled, but only a drop or two actually fell.  It was an iffy day and gave itself over well to scouring the back country roads for rocks for a small project in the front yard for which a half-dozen potted shrubs await planting. 
        We made two trips down Echo Valley Road, which runs between Star Route and Hwy 13 west of Bayfield about ten miles.  This is about six miles or so of sandy logging road accessing county forest lands.  It  was recently graded so there were plenty of rocks along the sides of the road free for the taking.  This is very often a good wild life viewing road, although even when “improved” by  grading it really requires a  four-wheel drive vehicle to negotiate it.  Joan drove while I got out and loaded up likely rocks.  Joan is a good driver and negotiated some rather iffy mud holes and rough stretches with aplomb.  Buddy wondered why he wasn’t out chasing grouse.  We did see a couple of deer and a coyote but nothing more interesting, I think most animals and birds were in heavy cover waiting out the threatening storm.  We met up with a young timber cruising forester and his  fine looking Weimereiner.  Both dogs were let out of their respective pickup trucks to meet and talk things over.  This whole area is good deer and grouse hunting country, as well as bear and wolf habitat,  but the cover is very thick and one really has to know the area well to negotiate it.  These logging roads are usually not plowed in the winter so one is really on their own.  Anyway, I now have plenty of rocks.  I think Buddy was frightened by the stormy conditions and the bottomed out barometer, as he was quiet and under my feet all evening.
        The roadside raspberry bushes are starting to bloom and it looks like there should be a fine crop of berries in a few weeks.  The little parasitic flowering plant, lacking chlorophyll, is one of the broom-rapes, probably in the genus Orobanche, I did not try to key it out any further.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

5/23/12 RAIN, OLD-FASHIONED SHRUBS, AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

LOTS OF RAIN PREDICTED
OLD-FASHIONED WIEGELA

SNOWBALL VIBURNUM...

...VIBURNUM MACROCEPHALUMN

Wednesday, 7:45 AM.  61 degrees, wind NNE, light.  The sky is overcast but trying to clear presently.  The barometer however predicts rain, and the  forecast is for heavy  rain over the next several days.  We shall see.  In the meantime I mowed half the lawn last evening and will mow the rest this morning, just in case.
        The snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) in Cindy’s yard up the street is truly spectacular in bloom.  It is fully twelve feet high and as wide, and covered with baseball sized blossoms.  Her Wiegela hedge has been blooming for a week and is still beautiful.  These two plants are mainstays of old-fashioned landscapes.
    The blueberries are in bloom, both wild and domesticated, and the blueberry farm fields are covered with white blossoms (and bees).
        The Occupy Chicago demonstrations have been near riots, but well orchestrated.  I think I now know what a community organizer actually does.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

5/22/12 LUPINES AND LAWSUITS


MAYBE

OREGON GRAPEHOLLY BLOSSOMS

LUPINES...WORTH A TRIP
Tuesday, 7:45 AM.  53 degrees F, wind NW, light to calm.  The sky is mostly overcast and the humidity is 60%.  The barometer predicts rain and we may get some before nightfall.  If it holds off, the lawn needs mowing. 
        The lupines (Lupinus perennis) will be blooming all along the roadsides and in fields shortly.  They should be worth seeing by this coming weekend, and at their peak the next.  Depending upon the weather the lupine display can last three weeks, and are really worth a trip to Bayfield and the south shore of Lake Superior.  Search older blogs for more Lupine lore.
        The  yellow-flowered Oregon grape holly in the herb garden, (Mahonia aqifolium) again came through the winter pretty well, with only a few damaged leaves.  Its spikes of bright yellow flowers attract bees and butterflies, and its glossy holly-like foliage is a welcome contrast in the landscape.  It is a native of the Pacific Northwest, hardy to zone 5.  It is said to have been brought back east by the Lewis and Clark expedition
        A number of Catholic institutions are bringing suit against the Obama administration for its health care mandates.  They include some awfully good law schools.  This is a virtually unnecessary confrontation, brought about purposely, it would seem, by the government. Which is, I would think, in enough legal trouble already without this issue.

Monday, May 21, 2012

5/21/12 DREAMS

AFTER THE STORM

LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY

HORSECHESTNUT BLOSSOMS

SWEET WOODRUFF, UNDER THE PINE TREES

Monday, 8:00 AM.  54 degrees, wind NW, light.  The sky is blue and the atmosphere clear, the barometer is high. It rained much of yesterday, and at times it was a downpour.  We must have had an inch and a half of rain over the last few days and evenings.  The vegetation will now grow lushly, and the lawn will need to be mowed as soon as things dry out.
        The lily-of-the valley is blooming, as is the sweet woodruff.  The mountain ash (several species of he genus Sorbus) are just beginning to bloom. The huge old horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastaneum) seen from Eighth street, between Wilson and Mannypeny, is in full bloom and a glorious sight. It is becoming difficult to list all the new blooming plants each day.
        Have you read, or heard, excerpts from Barrack Obama’s  autobiography, “Dreams From My Father”?  I have been struck by some of the similarities between the President’s youth and my own.  The young Barrack constantly sought a father figure, since his was first missing and later died; my own father died suddenly when I was sixteen, and I felt a similar emptiness in my own young life.  The President wasted much of his high school years lost in a beery fog; as did I (but minus the pot and blow).  Seemingly against all odds, the President went on to college and advanced degrees, as did I.  I also flirted with the politics of envy, i.e. socialism and worse, when under the influence to left wing professors early in my college years.  So we have much in common in our young lives.
        But there is a jarring disjunction thereafter.  He received scholarships to the private Occidental College; I paid my own way, every dime, to attend The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at that time a mostly blue-collar commuter institution.  He went on to scholarships at Harvard and Columbia, and again I paid every dime of my tuition and expenses for two post-graduate degrees.  He continued to be enthralled with leftist ideologies and revolution; I started a business while still an undergraduate, and went into debt for equipment and stock, and paid help.  He became a community organizer, whatever that entails; I eventually  became a manager in scientific and cultural institutions and fought public employee unions every day. He continued his fascination with left wing ideology and personages most of the rest of his adult life. He is now President of the United States of America, the most powerful administrative position in the world.  I am mostly retired (I am a lot older than he is). 
        Now I do not in any  way envy Barrack Obama, as I had neither the talent nor experience to be President.  What I do have, however,  are some questions; why was he accepted at a prestigious private college after spending his high school years in an admitted boozy daze, and how did he get a major scholarship to that institution and subsequent schools; what were his college grades that so attracted the post-graduate scholarships; who paid for the those scholarships? His employment and  political careers are almost as mystifying and opaque as his educational background. Mine are an open book  I could go on but won’t, as evidently no one but himself can answer these questions, and he has not and evidently will not.
        But the reality I keep coming back to in my own mind is, considering all of our similarities and past experiences, if I am not qualified to be President,  then I believe,  neither is he.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

5/20/12 UNEASY RESTS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN

A FOGGY, MISTY MORNING

BEING TOP HUMMINGBIRD AIN'T EASY!

THE PERENNIAL GARDEN IS IN A COLORLESS FUNK

Sunday, 10:00 AM.  61 degrees, wind NW, calm at present.  The sky is overcast, mist and fog have settled over the channel, and it has rained  off and on since yesterday evening.  It got into the 90’s yesterday, really warm and muggy, so the cool and rainy weather is very welcome.  Now I won’t have to worry so much about the recently planted trees and shrubs.  We have probably received three-quarters of an inch of rain over the last several days but we could use a lot more.  Our dominant male hummingbird  now has all he can do  to  defend  both  the  old  hummingbird feeder and the new oriole  feeder.  Uneasy  rests the head that wears the crown!
    The blooms of the lilacs and flowering crabapple trees won’t last too much longer but it has been a great spring for both.  The old perennial garden looks better with fewer weeds but will be in a rather colorless funk until the tall Iris, the peonies, the poppies and the lilies begin to bloom.
        I am itching to make some political commentary but  will stick to my “never on Sunday” pledge.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

5/19/12 NEW BLOOMS, AND THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY

RHODODENDRONS ARE IN BLOOM...

APPLE ORCHARDS WILL BE IN FULL BLOOM THIS WEEKEND

LUPINES ARE BEGINNING TO BLOOM

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  70 degrees F, wind W, calm at present.  The sky is mostly blue and the barometer, although trending down, predicts the same.
        Rosebay Rhododendrons are hardy right along the lake shore, and they are blooming here and there in town.  The Lupines have begun to bloom and the roadsides will soon be resplendent with their blue, pink and white flowers.  The apple orchards will be pretty much in full bloom this weekend.
        Except for wrapping up some odds and ends, all the plants are delivered and the planting jobs are all done.    For reasons I will not go into nor dwell upon, I am not particularly happy with the way things went this spring.  I guess I am too much of a perfectionist about plants, people and things in general.  That means I am destined to be often dissatisfied.  Anyway, things always work out in spite of, or perhaps because of, my finicky standards.
        The neighborhood sign wars reached a new level of intensity today, the folks directly across the street putting up two anti-Walker signs.  I am now outnumbered on our corner by three to one.  I threatened to get another pro-Walker sign but  Joan says I should cool it, as the election, and the sign wars, will soon be over.
        I see where the ungrateful child who is the co-founder of Facebook and an instant billionaire has renounced his US citizenship and is moving to Singapore to escape U.S. income taxes and become a “citizen of the world.”  A bill has been introduced in the Senate to stop this kind of tax dodge and never allow such a tax dodger to return to this country.  I don’t  know if such a law, if passed, could be enforced against him as it would be obviously ex-post facto and therefore unconstitutional to apply it to him.  I have a better idea.
        I think we should rather emulate the Amish, and shun him. No American should ever communicate with him again, never mention his name.  Do I think our society would ever have that kind of unity and discipline? Nope. But I wonder if the youngster  ever read “The Man Without A Country,” by Edward Everett Hale.  I’d send him a copy, if I could remember his name.