POTPOURRIE

OHIO BUCKEYE FALL LEAF COLOR

PAPER BIRCH SEEDS, AS SEEN THROUGH THE  MOONROOF OF THE PICKUP TRUCK

SUGAR MAPLES ARE COLORING UP

PEEK VIEW OF CHEQUAMEGON BAY

WHY DID THE TURKEYS CROSS THE ROAD?

Monday, 8:00 AM.  55 degrees F, wind SSW, calm with occasional strong gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity down at a71%.  The barometer is also trending down, at 29.69".  It looks like it will be a repeat of yesterday.
   There was no church service at Christ Church Episcopal yesterday because the visiting priest was indisposed, so we had the whole day off to just do whatever.  Mostly we drove the countryside in fine early fall weather scouting for grouse.  We didn't do much actual hunting because Buddy still has a nasty cough, although he doesn't seem sick in any other way.  We immersed ourselves in the growing intensity of fall color, including the rather unlikely, in-town sight of a bronzed Ohio buckeye on Manypenny Avenue.  The sugar maples are suddenly coloring up, and to our surprise the paper birch are shedding their seeds, by the untold billions,  an event I expect to take place during the winter, when the snow is often littered with the tiny, winged yellow-brown wafers.
   We saw a lot of turkeys on our travels, including one huge, bearded Tom that moved off too quickly to snap his photo, but the above flock crossed Hwy. 13 west of the Rez like ducks in a row, and then waited patiently for us to take their picture (I guess that's why they crossed the road).
  Our travels took us way out in the boondocks on the very primitive Smith Fire Lane, where we had never ventured before.  We drove down it for miles, seeing deer and eagles, but never did get to the end.   We  walked an offshoot  with Buddy, who came to a classic point along the trail.  He held it perfectly until the bird finally flushed into the fall foliage.  I heard it but never saw it.  Darn!
   I think the best view of the day was that above, taken from the top of the bluff on Kjarvick Road, looking east over Chequamegon Bay,  Upper Peninsula Michigan's  Gogebic Range barely a shadow on the horizon.
   I have been ruminating, frustrated, over the incongruity of our military installations, first Fort Hood, then last week The Washington Navy Yard, and incidents in-between,  being shot up by terrorists and crazies and not being able to shoot back.  We are told they have to rely on local police for protection.  I suppose there are lots of reasons why this could be the case, but (and I am really not being facetious),  doesn't our military have any guns?  Or, maybe no bullets?  Surely there are Military Police on these bases that should be trained and armed.
   If the U.S. Army and Navy are not able to protect themselves, how can we believe they will be able to protect the rest of us?  The Obama Administration wants to disarm the American people; has it first managed to disarm its own military?  It has, however, armed the Internal Revenue Service to the hilt.  What the hell is going on in this country?

MARTHA'S FANTASTIC GARDEN, PART II

AN OLD WILLOW ARTISTICALLY PRUNED TO EMPHASIZE ITS TRUNKS...

...GARDEN VIEW WITH LAKE SUPERIOR IN BACKGROUND...

...CHINESE BOWL AS BIRD BATH...

...CHINIOSERIE ALLE'...

...MARTHA!

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind SSW, calm to moderate.  The sky is clear and the decks and grass are still wet from yesterday afternoon's rain.  The humidity is 80% and the barometer is trending up, at 29.91".  It should be a fine day.  

   Buddy is still coughing but does not seem to be in the least sick, and I am beginning to think he is allergic to something, maybe ragweed pollen.  Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

   Continuing our tour of Marha's Fantastic Garden:

   The old multi-trunked willow tree facing 9th st., pictured above, was pruned by Jay Cblick, owner of Jay's Tree Care of Ashland, under Martha's exacting direction.  The tree adds an element of timelessness to the garden.

   Glimpses of Lake Superior add borrowed views and a feeling of spaciousness to the small garden.

   Birds and bird baths should be a part of every garden, and large Chinese bowls placed directly on the ground and kept filled with clean water perform the function well.

   Many design elements are represented in the "Chinoiserie" photo above; Chinese bowls, a diminutive European alle', and cobblestone and gravel walks, representing contrasting styles and textures ( the contrasting walk surfaces offer two different garden experiences in the same small space).

   Finally, Martha Larson in her garden, happy mistress of all she has created.

   Much of Martha's garden can be seen from North 9th. Street.  If Martha is in her garden, as she usually is from spring to fall, I am sure she would like you to stop by and say hello.  I can't speak for her regarding other visitation. 

   

MARTHA'S FANTASTIC GARDEN, PART I

CLASSIC FORMALITY...

..

...LARGE OLD TREES ANCHOR THE GARDEN...

...COBBLE STONE WALKS WITH CHINESE ACCENTS...

...ADD SOME WHIMSY...

...GARDEN PATHS...

...TAKE A WALK IN A STYLIZED WOODS

Saturday,  8:00 AM.  63 degrees F, wind W, light with stronger gusts.  The sky has a high overcast and there is haze over the Islands.  The humidity is trending up, at 78%, and the barometer has fallen to 29.76". It was unusually warm in Ashland yesterday evening, and considerably cooler north towards Bayfield.  Local radar shows storm clouds moving in from the west, and NOAA radio is posting small craft warnings for later today.  It is likely to be a wet afternoon, which is OK with me, as I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday splitting wood and Buddy has a cough and we both need a little down time.
   In a long career as a botanical garden and arboretum director I worked in and helped design a lot of gardens, and travelled throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Europe visiting famous gardens, public and private, so I have an appreciation for garden design and maintenance.
   There are many types of gardens, from kitchen gardens to great pleasure gardens and everything in between, and some that defy categorization.  There are as many reasons to make a garden as there are gardeners, just as there are as many reasons to make a painting as there are artists.  But most gardens, if not all, are at heart an idealization of nature, regardless of their functionality.
   I could go on and on about the subject, but instead will simply introduce you to a fantastic garden that has many if not most of the elements of a great garden, and it is the creation of one individual who lives right here in Bayfield.  Most noteworthy gardens are the result of considerable wealth spent with abandon and employing the talents and labor of many individuals.  This garden was created by the interest and labor of one lone individual.
   Her name is Martha and her garden is in her backyard on the corner of Washington Ave. and Ninth Street.  Her knowledge is the result of years of travel and study, and the labor is, with minor exception, all her own.  This in itself makes it a noteworthy garden in my estimation, but its combination of various classical design elements and wide variety of plants and garden ornamentation make it outstanding in almost anyone's garden lexicon.
   I hesitate to give the style of her garden a name,  as I don't know whether Martha would agree with it, but to me it is best described as chinoiserie, which is a combination of Eastern and Western stylistic elements and originated in France in the 18th Century.  In Martha's garden', Japanese and Chinese garden ornaments are mixed with English garden benches and tueters.  Native North American plants are mixed with all sorts of other species and varieties.  Oriental motifs are laid out with French formality.  Variations of color, texture, and form abound.  All this in a garden that fits within the bounds of a city back yard.
   I will continue with more about Martha's Fantastic Garden, Part II, in tomorrow's blog.

SIMPLY TOO, TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR THE COMMON TASTE

VERY RARE 1937 STUDEBAKER PICKUP TRUCK...

...NOTE THE CLASSY SIDE-MOUNTED SPARE..

...A REAL BUMPER..

...AND NO IRRITATING, DISTRACTING HIGH TECH STUFF ...

Friday, 9:00 AM.  Wind variable, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity is down, at 74%.  The barometer is also trending down, currently at 30.00".  The Farmer's Almanac predicts wet weather the 28th through the 30th of September.  I guess rain is in our future.
   If you're a regular Bayfield Almanac reader you probably know that I love old cars and trucks.  I'm not a collector or mechanic, I just appreciate them...at least what I consider the classics.  You also probably know by now that all sorts of oddities...human, natural, artistic, and automotive...show up in and around the odd little town of Bayfield, Wisconsin.
   I thought I had seen all the classic pre- and post-war pickup trucks, so imagine my surprise and delight when we spied this 1937 Studebaker pickup truck sitting outside The Hitching Post wood carver and gift shop on Hwy 13, less than a mile form our home, yesterday.  Joan saw it too and pronounced it a pre-war Chevy, which wouldn't be so rare around here, but it struck me as something entirely different.
   Turning the truck around and pulling into the parking lot, I thought at first it was a Plymouth, but I  was also pretty sure Plymouth never made a pickup.  Upon closer inspection we saw by the hood medallion that it was a Studebaker.  I have seen other Studebaker (the brand went out of business in the 1960's) trucks, which were OK but pretty utilitarian.
   This vehicle is right out of a pre-war Art Deco studio!  It's classic lines flow effortlessly, and it appears to be in motion even when  standing still.  The windshield angle gives it a feeling of speed, as does the chrome strip that leads back from the grill on either side of the hood. The entire front end reminds me of one of those iconic "streamliner" railroad locomotives of the 1930's.  The hood and engine compartment, by the way, are far longer than necessary for the six cylinder engine, which creates the impression of great power, even though it isn't there.  The headlights can only be described as sensuous.  It has classic touches such as a side-mounted spare tire, and little details here and there not expected in a work vehicle of the era.
   I owned two Studebakers when I was young; a '53 Starlight Coupe, which was a beautiful little thing, and a diminutive 1960 station wagon that came standard with a small-block Chevy V8 engine under the hood, and was simply a hot-rod in drag.
   Studebaker was famous for its beautiful and original vehicle designs, which are now great collector vehicles. There are several '60's era Silver Hawk coupes around town that are real show stoppers. I don't know why Studebaker couldn't keep up with the competition of the day; perhaps it was because they were simply too, too beautiful for the common taste.

RETREATING TO FALL

TURNER ROAD

HWY. 13 EAST OF THE REZ

BACK YARD SUMAC 

Thursday,  8:00 AM.  50 degrees F, wind SSE, calm.  The sky is clear but there is a thin veil of fog over the water and creeping up the bluffs, but it will soon be gone.  The humidity is 100% and the barometer is up slightly, at 30.04".  It will be a good day for almost any outdoor activity.  Haven't decided which as yet.
   The lawn got mowed yesterday and we made a final mid-week run to the recycle center (from now until next spring the Bayfield and Town of Russell Recycle Center will only be open on Saturdays).  So we will probably get back to making firewood today. Or do some late season garden work.  Or, maybe find a new forest trail to walk down with Buddy.
   In any case, it's time to start appreciating fall colors, which are becoming more apparent every day.  Sumac and red maples lead the charge, along with Virginia creeper and various shrubs.  It won't be seriously fall until the sugar maples start to turn, but its fall enough for me right now.
   No matter how ridiculous the political  scene becomes I can always retreat to Fall to find some solace and regain my sanity.  Try it.  It works.  But I am afraid we need fall to last for the next three plus years.

CHALK ONE UP FOR THE OLD MAN, AND REMEMBERING INDIAN CIGARS

PAGODA DOGWOOD LEAVES COLORING

MORNING SUN AND FOG

CATALPA TREE IN WASHBURN

CATALPA LEAVES AND CIGAR-LIKE FRUITS.

Wednesday, 8:15 AM.  52 degrees F, wind SE, calm at present.  The sky is clear but there is moderately heavy fog over the lake, and the sun shining through it gives it an ethereal inner light.  The humidity is very high at 97% and the decks and grass are wet with heavy dew.  The barometer is trending down but is still pretty high at 30.01".  It should turn out to be a nice day, and the lawn needs to be mowed.
   Yesterday was spent doing a number of necessary chores, including leaving the Honda Ridgeline pickup truck at the dealer in Ashland to have the radio reprogrammed.  You may remember my blog of several days ago, in which I described the ridiculous situation of changing a battery, which caused the truck's radio to go dead and  need to be reprogrammed which couldn't be done because I never was given the necessary code numbers to do it and the radio had to be removed to get the serial number from the back of the radio and the manufacturer contacted by the dealer to get the right numbers to key in to revive the radio, whew!  Got that?
   The cost would have been $47 plus tax, but I made such a fuss that the dealer did it for nothing, probably just to get rid of me.  Even washed the vehicle, including vacuuming the inside and washing the windows.  Chalk one up for the old man, and for some minor justice in a usually unjust world.
   Fall is beginning to show up here and there;  the leaves of the native pagoda dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, in the woods on 9th street are starting to turn their inimitable pinkish-red.
   And the big old northern Catalpa trees,  Catalpa speciosa,  on Hwy. 13 in Washburn are loaded with the pendulous, bean-like fruits we kids used to call Indian cigars.  We never tried to smoke them, like we did cattails.

EAB, BBT, PHD, DNR, USDA AND GETTING THE STICKY STUFF OUT OF MY HAIR

EAB...INSECT PUBLIC ENEMY #1

Tuesday,  8:00 AM.  49 degrees F, wind calm.  The sky is clear, the humidity still high at 87%.  The barometer is steady, at 30.06".  It is a beautiful morning.
   The Bayfield Tree Board met yesterday and we had a full morning, the main objective being the taking own and examining of the two big blue Emerald Ash Borer traps we hung in ash trees early last June.  I had intended to take photos of the whole procedure but became so involved that I forgot to do so, or have anyone else take them.  Mea culpa, and on top of that I couldn't find any old EAB trap photos in my archives, so if you want to see what they look like, go to my blog of June 8, 2013, or search for EAB trap on the blog search engine.
   Anyway, we managed to get the traps down from the ash trees we had placed them in and opened them up.  Carefully, as the inside of the traps are a sticky, sticky mess.  We found a whole host of little critters...moths, flies, bugs, beetles...inside, and we all carefully examined the gooey dead insects.
    I have been  sworn to absolute secrecy by all manner of state and federal officials as to my own conclusions or opinions of the contents of the traps, since a positive identification of any trapped Emerald Ash Borers may only be made by a United States Department of Agriculture entomologist stationed in Michigan (and I am on probation, and on my best behavior with the law, since the dog-off-leash incident).
   By the way, I agree wholeheartedly with this procedure as I sure would not want to try to positively identify anything we found in the BBT( Big Blue Trap). Most of the contents were dead long enough that they didn't look like much of anything.  I don't know whether even a PHD bugologist will risk his or her reputation by making a definitive identification.
   But we did our part, well and to the letter, and I scraped together a few suspicious bits of DNA and mailed them to the proper USDA representative in Madison, Wisconsin, who will forward them up the entomological chain of command.  I am told we will find out the results of the autopsies, if that is the proper forensic term, in about a week.  In the meantime I will try to get the sticky stuff off my hands and out of my hair.

A SUNDAY FIRE, NEW ENGLAND ASTERS, AND A CRIME AGAINST AMERICA

THE FRUIT OF MY LABORS

NEW ENGLAND ASTER

Monday, the first full day of fall.  49 degrees F, wind SSE, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear except for haze on the eastern horizon.  The humidity is 87% and the barometer is rising, currently at 30.06".  It should be a nice day.
   Our tree board meets this morning, and we will take down and examine the two Emerald Ash Borer traps we placed in the spring.  One has been hung in a large white ash tree in the alleyway on Manypenny Ave. between 8th and 9th streets, the other in an ash tree in Dalrymple Park campground.

   Yesterday was purposely a quiet day of rest.   Except for church and Andy and Judy coming to dinner, Joan and I did nothing but read and relax.  There are few things more satisfying to me than the simple pleasure of watching a fire whose wood I have cut and split myself.  Wisconsin naturalist Aldo Leopold famously declared that he considered the opportunity to watch the fire in his fireplace to be far greater than the opportunity to watch television, and I agreed  with him wholeheartedly yesterday.

   Hints of fall are everwhere now, most apparant in lowland areas where the red maples are turning their brilliant hues, but for the most part the season's changes are still  too subtle for my camera  to  capture them.  Except for the last Aster to bloom, the New England Aster, Aster angliae-novae.  The one pictured is somewhat early, as it is at the back of our church where it gets plenty of warm west sun in the afternoon.  I had to cut back those in my own garden because they got entirely out of hand (they can easily grow to five or even six feet under the right conditions) and they won't bloom for a while.  The New England Aster is also called St. Michaelmas daisy, as it is commonly in bloom on that feast day, and so is often planted in traditional Episcopal church gardens.

   The plan now being unfolded by the Obama Administration and its Environmental Protection Agency will kill the coal industry at every turn; mining, transportation, electrical generation...it will kill almost a million jobs in our country and raise electricity rates dramatically, further impoverishing millions of Americans.  All this to reduce CO2 worldwide by an estimated .02%.  And, if it is shipped to China or India it will be burned in less efficient plants than even our oldest, and we will get not only CO2 but truly poisonous pollutants arriving on the west wind.
   Terrorism has been defined as the use of violent acts to frighten people as a way of trying to achieve a political goal. I think the new carbon dioxide emission regulations qualify as economic terrorism.  Too bloody a word? Then economic sabotage, or economic treason.  Take your pick, they all describe this crime against America equally we'll.

MUSHROOMS; MYSTRY AND BEAUTY IN THE FALL LANDSCAPE

TENNIS BALL SIZED SCLERODERMA MUSHROOM

BOLETUS MUSHROOMS...

...PORES ON UNDERSIDE OF CAP...

...SOME AS LARGE AS A PIE PLATE

AMANITA MUSHROOM...

...GILLS ON UNDERSIDE OF CAP

Sunday,  9;00 AM. Temperature 46 degrees F, up from 41degrees  earlier.  Wind SSE, calm to light.  The sky is clear and sunny, the humidity down some to 75%.  The barometer is up, at 30.11".  The Farmers' Almanac predicts cool weather with some shower activity for the Midwest today and tomorrow.  No showers here, I think.  We cut some more firewood yesterday afternoon.  A few more loads and I will call it quits for a while, but we won't work on Sunday.

   I used to think I knew some mushrooms, but I now only approach them as things of natural beauty.  I do not pretend to know any but a very few and would personally never eat wild mushrooms, many of which are highly poisonous.  But I can appreciate them as interesting and beautiful living things.  The mushroom cap is only the above ground, reproductive structure of the organism, the vast majority of its living cells being underground.  I recently read that what is thought to be the largest living thing in the world is a morel mycelium  which resides underground throughout several thousand acres of forest in the state of Washington.

   Mushrooms reproduce by spores which in most species are dispersed from the underside of the cap of the mushroom.  A major identification characteristic is whether the spores are released from pores or gills, as seen above.

   The wet weather we have had recently has encouraged mushrooms to sprout everywhere in the Bayfield area, and they add beauty and a sense of mystery to the fall landscape, often competing with or complementing the fallen leaves in color and form.
   Use the blog search engine for previous blogs about Bayfield mushrooms.

THE MOUNTAIN ASH AS A WILDLIFE TREE

NICE DAY

CEDAR WAX WING AND MOUNTAIN ASH BERRIES

...SO MANY BERRIES, SO LITTLE TIME....

UNIDENTIFIED AVIAN SPECIES SEEN IN DOWNTOWN BAYFIELD

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  44 degrees F, wind WNW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is clear except for some scattered puffy white and gray clouds, mostly along the eastern horizon.  The humidity is 85% and the barometer is up a bit, at 29.96 ".  We should have a nice day.  The Farmers
Almanac predicts fair weather for several days, and turning unseasonably chilly.
  We cut some more fir wood yesterday in the afternoon, after it stopped raining.  Buddy and I hunted down the logging road but saw no grouse.  He is working extremely well and we will start to go farther afield now.  I find that an hour or two of working in the woods is about all I want to do at this point, so the net result is rather meager but that's OK.  My mother used to say, "You can do everything you used to do when you get old that you did when you were young, as long as you never stop doing it."  I would add to that, but not as much and not as fast.
   The mountain ash tree outside the kitchen window continues to attract  many species of birds, but by the end of today the berries will be virtually gone.  The berries must be at the very height of their delectability. So far I have seen robins, cedar wax wings, downy woodpeckers, flickers, fall warblers and even a female hummingbird dining in the tree.  The later I felt a real pang of sorrow for, as I fear she has missed the migration.  It is a terrible thing to be abandoned by one's flock.
   I am so impressed with the mountain ash tree as a wildlife attractant that I have vowed to add one to every landscape plan I draw, and put it right outside a good viewing window.
   I have written a lot about mountain ash trees in past blogs, just use the blog search engine to read about blossom time, the different species of mountain ash and their ecology.

THE OHIO BUCKEYE, AND THE FANCIES OF FOOLS

OHIO BUCKEYE...

...RIPENING BUCKEYES...

...PALMATELY COMPOUND LEAF

Friday,  8:00 AM.  59 degrees F, wind variable, light.  It has been raining and it was a damp walk with Buddy this morning.  The humidity is 95% and the barometer is more or less steady at 29.72".  We had a heavy rainstorm yesterday afternoon, and today looks like another washout.  I would like to get back out into the woods,  but won't add getting stuck to my misadventures.

   Yesterday's rain didn't deter dozens of birds from siting in the mountain ash tree and dining on its berries, which must be at their culinary peak.  A whole flock of cedar waxwings hung on during the height of the rainstorm, and were joined by robins, flickers and even a little female hummingbird, who I fear may have missed the migration.  I felt a pang of genuine sorrow for the little creature, as it must be a terrible fate to be abandoned by one's flock.

   The Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra, in the horsechestnut family, the Hippocastanaceae, makes a surprisingly nice ornamental street tree.  It bears attractive yellowish flowers in late spring(see the 6/15/13 blog for photos) and has interesting palmately compound, five-leaflet leaves.  The iconic buckeye fruits, famous as good luck charms and missiles for little boys, can be considered either a nuisance or a bonus, depending upon one's world view of such things.  In any case, this one, located on Manypenny Ave. between 4th and 5th streets,  is an interesting addition to the street tree inventory. 

   One of our most colorful late spring blooming street trees is the hybrid Fort McNair buckeye, with red flowers.  It bears no fruit.  I wrote about it when it was in flower last spring, use the blog search engine to read about it. The Ohio buckeye seems to be a somewhat more dependable tree and more vigorous than the hybrid.

   The recent flooding in Colorado has been disastrous.  Unfortunately it is mostly predictable, and therefore avoidable.  Building homes and even entire communities on the banks of mountain rivers or in their floodplains is simply irresponsible.  In the front range of the Rockies or in California or wherever, these flood prone canyons are also firetraps.  This poses the age-old question; is it better to perish by flood or by fire?  How about neither, by being sensible and not building in dangerous places?  

   Humans like to live "on the edge," it is clear; I have seen multi-million dollar residences hanging on the edge of the cliffs of the San Andrea's Fault, and others built on stilts out into the surging tides of the Atlantic Ocean.  I'm all for freedom of choice, but I am not for paying for the fancies of fools. 

THE HACKBERRY TREE, AND BACK WHEN THE MUSIC WAS BETTER

QUIET, FOGGY MORNING

HACKBERRY TREE, WASHINGTON AVE. BETWEEN 3RD AND 4TH STREETS

...HACKBERRY LEAVES...

...RIDGED, CORKY BARK

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  65 degrees F, wind SSE, light.  It was eerily foggy earlier, and it is just now beginning to lift, revealing a partly cloudy upper atmosphere.  Th humidity is 99% and the barometer is steady at 29.94". It's hard to say what today's weather will be.  If it doesn't rain we will cut firewood or pick blackberries in the afternoon.

   The hackberry tree, Celtis occidentals, is in the elm family, the Ulmaceae.   It is a native tree of eastern and Midwestern North America.  Its grows  in deep, rich soils.  It is not a major component of the deciduous forest, but neither is it  rare.  It became a rather popular street tree after the devastation caused by Dutch elm disease, because it is a close relatieve of  the elm, and its leaves and general appearance are somewhat similar. It has an interesting, closely ridged, corky gray bark.  It is hardy and makes a suitable street and park tree.  Its leaves turn yellow in the fall, but not the vivid yellow-bronze of the American elm.  It is immune to Dutch elm disease.

   The hackberry flowers are insignificant but the fruit is a noticeable small berry that encloses a hard stone, and turns blue-black when ripe.  The fruit had already dropped when these photos were taken.  We have a few hackberry street trees in Bayfield, this one is on Washington Ave., between 3rd and 4th streets.  They are doing well, and we will plant more.

   Epilogue to yesterday's battery failure: now the radio doesn't work.  If the battery is removed without maintaining power to the radio, it becomes inoperative, the only way to revive it being to key in security code numbers, using the radio's station buttons, that are on a card provided the original owner.  Lots of luck finding that.   Without it one must disconnect the car battery for one minute, reconnect it, turn the ignition switch on twice, hold down radio buttons one and six, and write down the radio's serial number which flashes momentarily on the radio screen.  That number along with the vehicles vin number must be given to the dealer, who then contacts Honda to get the radio's security code, which then must be keyed into the radio.  Lots of luck doing all that, as well.  

   I long for the good old days when a radio had one knob to turn it on and off, and another knob to dial the stations.  the music was a lot better back then, too.

RESCUED!

SURPRISE!

THANKS, BILL!

Wednesday,  9:00 AM. 58 degrees F, wind SSE, very light.  The sky is overcast and the grass and roads are wet, either from rain earlier or from a heavy dew.  The humidity is 100%.  The barometer is down, at 29.90".  I didn't see this weather change coming.
   Yesterday, late morning, we went down to the deer stand again to cut firewood.  I took the 20 gauge and the dog, and walked down the logging road looking for grouse while Joan followed fifteen minutes  behind in the truck.  The birds, doubtless having heard of our prowess, wisely stayed far back in the woods, but it was a nice walk anyway and Buddy hunted very well, quartering back and forth a short distance in front of me.
   When Joan got down with the truck I donned my safety gear and fired up the chain saw and cut a respectable amount of wood before the saw ran out of gas. Mind you, I don't cut a lot of wood before I run out of gas myself.   Figuring I had worked enough after an hour or so of cutting, I loaded up the cut wood and my gear.  Joan had switched to the passengers seat to read, the motor off.  I got in the truck, turned the key...and heard that telltale "click, click..." that means the battery is dead.  The Honda thinks too much, and the headlights stay on if the key is not removed after the motor is shut off, I guess so that you don't forget the key.   Never mind that you then can't go anywhere. I could use a dumber vehicle to match wits with, I guess.  Anyway, there we were, half a mile into the woods from the nearest road.
   What to do?  First, we called Triple A.  Good idea, except that there was no cell phone reception where we were.  Second, hike out and see if anyone is home up the hill on the main road.  So I left the dog with Joan and her book and hiked up the hill.  When I got up to Torbick Road I tried the cell phone again, and again there was no reception, and by then it's battery was out of juice too.
   Einar and Dawn Olsen live down the road a bit from the junction of Hwy. J and Torbick Road, so I continued my hike.  I don't know if they were home, as there were two trucks in the driveway and around the back of the house two painters, one high on a ladder and one on the ground.  As I rounded the corner of the house, both said, "Hi, Art!
   It was Allen Waite and Bill Peterson.  The latter said, "I read that you have been cutting firewood."  I didn't know he was a reader of The Almanac. I explained our situation and he put down his paintbrush and gave me a ride down the logging road and a jump start (lucky I had booster cables in the truck).
   He followed us out in case we stalled, and we waved goodbye and kept right on going to Goodyear in Ashland and had a new battery installed.  The gal at the reception desk assured me it was "The biggest, baddest battery" that would fit in the Ridgeline.
   Joan and I went across the street to the Second Street Bistro and had a nice lunch while waiting, so everything turned out fine, and I won't have to worry about a weak battery while out somewhere in the Wisconsin or Texas boondocks.  Thanks, Bill!
   You may not hear the following from the mainstream media, so you will hear it from me.  According to the last weekend's Wall Street Journal, a new report by the official climate change study group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to be released on Sept. 27, will downplay the possible negative effects of global warming, and will state that the overall effect may even be positive, since increased atmospheric carbon dioxide has already had a positive effect on crop production and forest tree growth. Gee, I've been saying that since at least 1995.
   In addition, the actual warming is now projected to be less than half as much by 2075 as previously predicted, a relatively benign change.   In fact, it has been at least fifteen years since there has been an actual annual increase in global temperature.  Add to these facts that the past year has seen an increase of almost fifty-percent in Arctic ice, and I think even the global warming diehards should tone down their dire predictions.  But I wouldn't count on it.
 

AMERICAN LINDEN, AND "DESTINY CALLS"

AMERICAN LINDEN, 6TH ST. AND RITTENHHOUSE AVE.

...LINDEN LEAF, UPPER SIDE...

LINDEN LEAF, UNDERSIDE, AND PAIRED, WINGED NUTLETS

Tuesday,  9:00 AM.  Wind SSE, light with occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity is lower at 85% and the barometer is trending up, at 30.30".  We are in for some nice fall weather.

   The City of Bayfield tries to maximize diversity in its street tree population, and both American and little leaf (European) lindens have been planted to help achieve that goal.  The American linden, AKA basswood, pictured is on the corner of Rittenhouse Ave. and 6th Street.  It was unfortunately planted where its lower limbs will always need to be pruned to keep them from obscuring a stop sign, but it is a healthy and valuable tree and we will live with it.  American linden, Tilia americana,  in the family Tilliaceae, is native to the climax deciduous forest of the eastern US and Midwest.   It grows in association with sugar maple, red oak, yellow birch and other climax, shade-tolerant trees.  It is moderately fast growing, has few serious pests or diseases and becomes a large tree at maturity.  It makes a good street tree although its mature size may dictate where it can be used.  Its hard, nut-like winged fruits may be considered messy but are not a real problem.  It bears small yellow flowers in the spring which are quite attractive if one looks for them, and are extremely fragrant.  Basswood honey is very sweet and flavorful.  American linden leaves are simple, toothed, and hearth-shaped at the base.  The terminal winter bud is rather unique in that it is not truly terminal, but offset somewhat to the side, a good winter identification characteristic.  The trunk of a young tree is brown and smooth, and has lenticels, somewhat like a cherry tree.  At maturity the trunk is rough and grayish in color.

   Other linden species are also valuable as street and ornamental trees, especially the European, or little leaf linden, Tilia cordata, which the City of Bayfield also has in its street tree inventory.  Maintaining a diverse street tree population is the best long-term defense against insect and disease problems, and relying on only a few species and varieties  makes the entire population of street and park trees unnecessarily vulnerable.
  I've been thinking about Vladimir Putin, who is evidently now writing an  Op-Ed column for the New York Times. He seems to be a persuasive politician and quite a strategic thinker.  Perhaps he should move to the US to continue his career, or the Times should move to Russia to compete with Pravda.  In either case, Destiny calls.