A QUALIFIED SUCCESS

A FLOCK OF MIGRATING GEESE 

SAILORS OVERNIGHTING OFF THE MOUTH OF THE ONION RIVER

MOST EVERYTHING GONE...ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

IF YOU CAN'T GIVE IT AWAY, CHARGE A DOLLAR AND IT WILL BE GONE

Sunday, 8:45 AM.  65 degrees F, wind W, with moderate gusts.  The sky is crystal clear, the humidity down to 66% and the barometer is trending down , now at 30.04".  It is a spectacular day!
   Buddy and I went to the beach this morning.  We saw an eagle heading somewhere with deliberate, dignified determination, and the first flock of migrating geese we have seen so far this fall.  Buddy ran through the swamp long enough to fill the truck with its characteristic aroma, and he is now relegated to the porch until he is rendered less fragrant.
   Our two day downsizing sale, garage sale, tag sale, yard sale, call it what you will...is over and done with except to take whatever is left back to the storage unit or to the recycle center.  We are exhausted but happy to be mostly rid of a garage full of stuff, even though the tables still have to be lugged back to church.
   Things we thought would fly off the tables are still there, and things we thought would never sell are gone.  Inevitably, we regret having sold a few things, and some we never intended to sell got into the sale mix.  Poor Buddy had a rough couple of days, being confused and worried about what was going on.  He barked a lot, endeavoring to be a good watchdog and protector of the premises.
   We learned a few things we can pass on.  First, put the prices at twice what you think the the items are worth, then mark them "Fifty Percent Off," and they will likely sell.  Second, if you can't give it away, charge fifty cents or a dollar for it and it will likely be gone.  Third, price things so that it is easy to make change.
   Overall, we got rid of a lot of excess stuff and we are a couple of hundred bucks ahead after all expenses were paid, so we can say that it was at least a qualified success.

MAKING HAY AND PAYING TAXES

FIELD  WITH HAY BALES ON HWY. 13, WEST OF RED CLIFF

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  57 degrees F at the ferry dock, 53 on the back porch. Wind WNW, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity is 83% and the barometer is still trending up, at 30.08".  Fall is almost here and we have had no summer!  We have only eaten dinner on the back porch perhaps two or three times.
   As most Almanac readers know, the Bayfield region is mostly forested, primarily with mixed deciduous and coniferous northern tree and shrub species.  But there are farms and hayfields, some quite extensive.
   From a visual and aesthetic standpoint these fields provide a welcome contrast to the forest.  I also appreciate the cultural aspect of farmland; it says humankind has been here, still lives here, molds and refines the landscape with its presence.  The pastoral esthetic runs deep in the human psyche.
   I also am of the opinion that all land, ultimately, must prove its value not only in the economy of nature, but also in the economy of man.  So, I have been counting hay bales.   I am told $35 is the going price for the big round bales that have pretty much replaced the rectangular bales of  my youth, that could be lifted from the field by hand and tossed onto the hay wagon.  It takes a tractor with a lift arm to wrestle these around.  I have tried estimating acreage, counting the bales, and multiplying them by dollars per bale, but that is likely so inaccurate as to make little sense.  But if I did get a ballpark figure I would then have to multiply it by cuttings made this lush growing season, which I think has been three for most fields.  
   Anyway, suffice it to say there is a fair amount of money represented by those hay bales.  But then of course one has to subtract the expenses, which include labor, equipment, fuel, lime, marketing, delivery, etc.  But why bother with all this economic struggle?  Why not just let the woods engulf it all, sit back, and enjoy nature?  Well, besides the aesthetics, there is that ancient inevitable; taxes.
   Land in private ownership is taxed. Always has been, always will be.  Why? Civilization, with its enterprises of government, education, transportation, health and welfare...is expensive, whether measured in dollars, rubles, dinars, drachmas or shekels.  And if the land is owned by the government (as much of northern Wisconsin is) the money not collected in private land taxes has to be extracted from some other pocket of one's jeans.
   Of course the Indians and similar mostly nomadic peoples paid no land taxes to a governmental entity. But, think again.  They paid for the use of the land with their blood, in constant feuds and wars over who was to occupy what land.  So we have discovered herein a constant of the human equation: pay land taxes in money to a government whose obligation it is to hold it in protective trust for us, or in lieu thereof, pay with our blood in constant warfare with our nearby neighbors.
   So, when I see hay bales I see not only the stored energy of the sun which will feed the cattle that in turn will feed me; I see a historic, fundamental shift in the development of human society.  One way or another, we all must make hay.  And pay our taxes.

A FEW HINTS OF FALL COLOR BUT GREEN STILL PREDOMINATES

VIRGINIA CREEPER BEGINNING TO COLOR UP

A FEW RED LEAVES ON STAGHORN SUMAC

A POISONOUS BUT COLORFUL AMANITA MUSHROOM

Friday,  8:00 AM.  61 degrees F,  57 on the back porch.  Wind W, moderate. The sky is partly cloudy and overcast, with weather still coming in from the west.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is rising, currently at 29.93".  It should clear and be a nice weekend for our garage sale.
   The skies did clear for a while after yesterday's threatening storms, and last night was filled with moon and starlight, and the soft hoots of a pair of great horned owls out hunting rabbits.
   Despite all the rippening fruit, the colors of fall haven't really begun to show themselves.  Some swamp red maples are coloring up, but the leaves of other trees have not yet begun to change. Virginia creeper vines are displaying a few red leaves, as are staghorn sumacs and some dogwoods, but that's about it.
   We have had a lush growing season and the leaves of most plants are not stressed, and we haven't had any temperatures remotely near freezing.  Decreasing daylight will eventually force the leaves to turn, and  drought will cause leaves to change color early, but that sure isn't the case this year.
   With all the rain we have had, we should be due for a spectacular mushroom display, but I have only seen a few of the deadly but very pretty Amanitas.
   The bottom line:  there are a few hints of fall color but green still predominates.

A DANGEROUS STORM, A DOUBLE RAINBOW, AND HEDGE MAPLES

MORE  CRABAPPLES?...

...NOPE, THEY'RE HEDGE MAPLE SEEDS

 YESTERDAY  EVENING'S  GORGEOUS RAINBOW...

...BECAME A DOUBLE AS WE WATCHED

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  62 degrees F, wind westerly but changeable.  A severe thunderstorm with 80 MPH winds and baseball sized hail is part of a large system moving in fast from the west, and it is threatening the Hayward area and other points to our south.  Hopefully the worst of it will miss Bayfield.  The humidity is 91% and we have only received a trace of rain so far, but conditions are very threatening.  The barometer is plummeting as this system passes through and is now at 29.81" and heading lower.
   We witnessed a gorgeous rainbow yesterday evening after a quick thunderstorm. It seemed to rise right out of the channel off the LaPointe ferry dock. Maybe there is a shipwreck with a pot of gold in its hold out there.  As we watched in awe it became a double bow.
   Seeing a small to medium-sized tree with red fruits in Bayfield, one assumes it is a flowering crab apple.  But look again! It may well be a Eurasian hedge maple, Acer campestre, bearing bright red, double-winged maple seeds.

STORMS, FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL, AND SOUR DOCK

STORM FRONT OVER THE CHANNEL YESTERDAY

FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL BERRIES

SOUR  DOCK

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  61 degrees F at the ferry dock, 56 on the back porch.  Wind SW, with light to moderate occasional gusts.  The sky is clear with some haze in the east, the humidity is 88% and we got 1.75" of rain from the storm that blew through yesterday evening.  The barometer is trending down, now at 29.83", presaging more stormy weather tonight or tomorrow.

   We have had so many storm fronts come through of late that one tends to ignore them, but yesterday evening's offering was  rather spectacular.
   The migration of fall warblers has evidently begun, as I am seeing many small, virtually unidentifiable (by me) birds flitting about in the mountain ash tree outside the kitchen window.  That tree will be dead and gone next year, killed by the dastardly little sapsuckers, that are evidently unaware that they are destroying a valuable resource base for themselves and their avian fellows.  Pretty much like people.

   The false solomon's seal, Smilacina racemosa, in the Lily family,  often forms a beautiful understory mat in and on the edges of our mixed conifer/deciduous woodlands.  This plant is a far northern species of Canada, New England and the upper Midwest.  Its prominent racemes of white flowers are followed by yellow-orange spotted  berries about the size of a pea,  that eventually ripen to a mottled red.  The berries are not poisonous, and  reportedly have a pleasant acid taste, although I have never tried them (I will do so when they are fully ripe and report back).  The bears eat the berries, and the plants have had a variety of Native American uses in the past, particularly for female problems.
    The several species of the true Solomon’s seal, in the genus Polygonatum, are in the same family, but their flowers are aligned along the underside of the stem rather than in a raceme at the end of the stem. The berries of the false are red when ripe, of the true, blue. The attractive, blueberry-like berries of the true Solomon's seal are reported to be mildly toxic.
  Remember to never ingest any fruit or other plant part unless you are completely aware of what it is and whether it is edible or not, and never use any wild or domestic plant for medicinal purposes without expert advice.
  Sour dock, Rumex crispus, in the smartweed family, the Polygonaceae, is a field weed of European origin that grows in roadside ditches and abandoned fields.  The tall flowering stalks are very noticeable when bearing their red-brown seeds.
  

"IT AIN'T JUST APPLES," II

CRAB APPLES ARE LOADED WITH FRUIT

RED OAK ACORNS ARE DROPPING ON THE ROADS

THE FIRST TOMATOES ARE RIPPENING

Tuesday, 8;00 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 59 degrees on the back porch.  Wind W, with light to moderate gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy with wispy stratospheric clouds.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is steady, at 29.78".  We may get some rain tonight.
   We are entering the harvest season, and although Bayfield is apple country, a lot more than apples  are ripening.  Crabapples, closely related to domestic apples and used as pollinators by the orchards, are also bearing a bumper crop of fruit.
   Red oak (Quercus rubra) acorns are maturing, and dropping onto the roads.
   And right on time, the tomatoes are ripening in the garden.  On Sunday, August 31, there was not a hint of red on my tomato bushes.  But on Monday there was a ripening tomato.
   Fall begins on Labor Day in the Northland.

LOOKING FOR THE UNION LABEL

LABOR DAY, 2014

Monday, Labor Day, 8:30 AM.  64 degrees F, wind variable with occasional light gusts.  The sky has a high overcast and it is still raining, after leaving another 1.7" of rain in the gage.  The humidity is 97% and the barometer has begun to rise, currently at 29.57".  Buddy will have to wait a while for his morning walk.
   The above photo was taken on a previous labor day, as the PG Hydrangea in the picture is not yet in full bloom, the flower heads still lime green.  It's tardiness may be the result of the late, cool spring and summer, or perhaps due to the fact that I pruned it in the spring rather than in the fall as I usually do.  All-in-all the cold, snowy winter followed by a wet, cool spring and summer has been a boon to most plant growth, so I guess my pruning is to blame.
   The Labor Day national holiday, first proclaimed in 1894, celebrates the contribution of "labor" to the culture and economy of the United States of America.  Today it mainly celebrates the end of summer with a last long weekend holiday.  Even in my youth it had some of the trappings of the old-fasioned, 19th  and early 20th Century celebration of industrial labor unions, when almost half the non-farm work force in America was unionized.
   When I entered the work force the Union Shop was still predominant, and one mostly had to join a union to get a paycheck.  When I began doing construction work during my college years I avoided the union representative as well as I could, because the $50 initiation fee was a big chunk of my summer wages, not to mention the monthly dues.   When I saw him coming on the job I would jump down a manhole or something, but eventually I was snared.  I was a member of the Laborer's Union of the AFL-CIO for a number of years thereafter.  The only thing it ever got me was being laid off during strikes.  I never did understand the economics of the strike, probably because there was never any economic benefit.
   Also during my college years I was forced to become a member of the United Electrical Workers Union, when I worked second shift at the Allen Bradley Company in Milwaukee.  That was my first experience with the really radical, anti-business, Communistic aspect of unions.  The UE was hell bent on destroying the employer, an old-style (at that time) firm that provided wonderful benefits for it's employees.  The union considered the company "paternalistic" and a mortal enemy for providing them.  After all, if the company provided a good wage, excellent working conditions, insurance, vacations, retirement...what was the point in having a union?
   When I started my career with the Milwaukee County Parks I had to join AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union.  There I was introduced to the unique culture of public employer unions, which generally strive to do as little as possible for as high a wage as possible, while causing as much trouble as possible.  The union situation was even worse in New York when I  was a Vice President of the New York Botanical Garden in the 1970's.  It was virtually impossible to fire or discipline anyone, and the union thugs blatantly threatened everyone who opposed them.   I believe public employees should have either civil service protection or a union, but never both.
   I am not inherently anti-union, as I understand the history of the union movement as it grew out of early struggles for fair wages, safe working conditions and the right to associate and bargain collectively.  Rather, I see the union movement as an anachronism in a global economy, and yet another drag on individual economic initiative and personal freedom.  Industrial unions have caused great damage to our economy and society, virtually destroying Detroit and many other industrial cities with unreasonable strikes and impossible demands, while impeding positive change at every turn. It is little wonder that they have become pariahs in the eyes of most Americans.
   The old craft unions held a respected place in society, whereas the industrial unions became as much a threat to society as the business monopolies they were meant to counterbalance; while the public employee unions as they operate today serve little purpose other than self-perpetuation and political power brokering.
   Remembering the old union organizing song, "Look For The Union Label," I have been doing so, and it is very hard to find.  I actually was seized with a mild fit of nostalgia when I finally found one yesterday evening, on a bottle of Leinenkugel's beer, brewed in Cheppewa Falls, Wisconsin.