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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.