AMERICAN VETCH IS BLOOMING

AMERICAN VETCH...

...TYPICAL LEGUME FLOWERS

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  55 degrees F on both the ferry dock and the back porch.  Wind calm to light with a few stronger gusts.  The sky is overcast and cloudy, with some fog over the lake.  The humidity is 92% and we have had a trace of rain.  The barometer stands at 30.62" and is more-or-less steady.  It looks like it will be a damp day.
   Well, for what it is worth, it seems I have made yet another enemies list, this one declared by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who says that so-called "climate change deniers" are simply "not normal."
   Now, I have never claimed to be particularly normal and do not wish to be so,  therefore the snide proclamation does not upset me much.  As a matter of fact, I will admit there have been times in my life when I have gone out of my way to be contentious, combative, and a stickler for the facts, rather than merely absorbing whatever information was presented to me as incontrovertible truth  (that has gotten me in a lot of trouble with parents, professors, men of the cloth and a host of others).  Come to think of it, that is a pretty good definition of the scientific method.
   "Cogitus, ergo abnormal," said the Red Queen to Alice.  It seems we have all gone down the rabbit hole.
   The American vetch, Vicea americana, in the Legume Family (Leguminosae), is a common roadside and pasture plant also native throughout much of North America.  It has quite colorful panicles of small, blue, pea-type flowers.  It creeps and climbs by tendrils and can be somewhat weedy, but is not very aggressive.  As a legume it enriches the soil, and is much used in restoration projects.
   Blue wildflowers are something of a rarity, and the American vetch adds color and interest to our countrysides.