Close Enough!

 I'm starting with the trailer loaded to go to the township cleanup day last Saturday. That's because the long-term solution to my house cleaning problem is that a lot of stuff has to GO. Well, we made another little dent in it.

One big issue on my list was the sink I was unable to unclog very well last summer. The reason there are so many links at the end of this post is that although this iteration of "the big sort" is nothing like really cleaned up, it's light-years better than the previous working status events shared at various times over the last year.

Got the fitting apart without much trouble. I guess I was just too frustrated after the big toilet fix in July to apply myself to the problem. The assembly that holds the stopper under the sink is just a little too long to fit nicely between the pipe and the wall, and it's a pain in the you-know-what. But I got it apart. Here's the culprit.

A video would have shown this better, but I think you can get the idea that the water is gushing, and not collecting in a pool. Just because it's mandatory, I have to tell you again that I hate plumbing.

One big piece of cleaning up the house was to open the trailer for the summer. I can't leave cushions or fabrics in it over the winter because I've had problems with mold. So the cushions and all kinds of stuff have also been piled in the dining room. Long term, I have no good storage options unless I do serious cleaning in our one good outbuilding. Not happening soon.

So, I uncovered and started airing Sunny out a couple of days ago.

I'd been getting the cushion covers washed over the winter, so I did the final two. Put everything back together and did a moderate cleaning. No immediate plans for us to go traveling, but I want Steve to be able to see my Sunny.

Now for the inside spaces. Here's the living room. Still stuff piled behind where I am, but this is an amazing amount of usable space given what it was. I still have to run the vacuum cleaner, but I'll get that done.

And I saved the stunning transformation for last. OK, there are still piles you can't see in the picture off to the left, and not everything got dusted, but I am rather amazed that I was able to sort and condense what was there enough to basically clear the necessary space to use the table.

I still also have to clean the upstairs bathroom, but that's not a huge project. It just needs a quick cleanup.

Steve will be here about 2 pm tomorrow. I have a car full of stuff to recycle in the morning, and a trip to the store to do.

Let's not talk about all I did not get done. I know this still isn't anything like CLEAN. But little by little it's getting done. Maybe I'll live long enough to sort it all. The next crisis will be to get the lawnmower going.

No writing happened except to edit a couple of files in response to some emails that gave me up-to-date info on some places.

I'm whipped, but I do hope to run the vacuum yet, and maybe start on the bathroom.

See My Little Sausage See Acountability 101 See Dining Room and Trailer Tetris See Ain't It Fun?

Flowering Trees

 Gosh! I love these days of the full blossoms on the trees.

Here's the crab apple.

And the cherry. Usually all I get is blossoms and no fruit that survives the birds, but who knows?

I totally missed getting a picture of the pear trees. Yesterday they looked nice. Today they are all done!

But my favorite is the apple anyway.

Even though I'm not fond of pink, I love how the buds start out bright pink, but then when they open, they are white.

And, there have been several of these gorgeous spring days. Here's another mood of my backyard. Even though my kingdom has been getting squeezed, I still have this view.

I want you to know that I worked my little tail off today. Tomorrow you'll get to see the accomplishments. But I wrote a column in the morning, did laundry, worked on the house, but got only 78 miles of campsites done. I might get a few more done yet, but I'm kinda beat, and the next 100 miles are going to be a lot of work.

See Just Wow! See Fruity? See all the moods of my backyard

Spirit of the Woods Hike - May 2024

 We had 29 people (2 are not in the picture), 3 dogs and a ferret hiking today.

We hiked the same place I hiked a couple of months ago with some friends, but look what's happening now!

The green makes me so happy. And I like the lakes better at this time of year too. This is Leaf Lake

And Condon Lake.

We went to the north end of Condon and turned around.

I thought this was interesting. Some people got pictures of the flowering dogwood trees on the way back when the flowers had opened flat like you usually see them. I don't think they close at night, so they must have just been opening for the season. Maybe one of you has a tree and knows.

I'm always a sucker for baby oak leaves. This is a white oak.

And finally, some wild flowers. This is gaywings, Polygala paucifolia. Always a fun spring find.

I did get a load of stuff to the township cleanup day before the hike. And I did complete my 100 miles of campsites. But now I'm beat.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 221.6, of which 78.6 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, Walkup Lake to north of Condon Lake and back, 7.0 miles

See When P... eacocks Fly

Just Wow!

  Never in my wildest dreams did I think the rock garden would look so good in this first year after the recovery effort. The color doesn't show up as much in the picture as it does in real life. Or maybe I took the photo too late in the afternoon.

Anyway, here are some more goodies. The bronze ajuga is blooming, joining the various colors of moss phlox. It's very happy, and it spreads easily. I'm going to move some farther out from the wall this year and see if it will tolerate the sunnier place out there because the foliage is nice all season.

Here's the moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia again. I can't believe how happy it is since it's never done anything before except be scraggly and barely survive. Near this patch, it's found a place to hide itself in a crack between two rocks and that looks especially nice. I hope it does more of that. You can just barely see a sedum friend beside it. That is also a sedum that I didn't think was going to survive. I bought it last year, and it was not very happy. But I guess it just needed to get better established. Soon, I'll do a sedum picture day, but I want some of them to get a little bigger first.

And I have two more daffodils for you, but I think these will be the last different species for this year. The first are some tiny Tete-a-tete in the rock garden. Another one I did not know was still alive.

Now, we'll move out of the rock garden. I should have pictured these yesterday before the rain. But I still have some Pheasant-Eye Narcissus. These came from my childhood home.

The 'Stewartsonian' Azalea was a bit stressed from being transplanted when it was in serious bud, so some of the buds just withered. But enough of them opened that you can see its color. This is now planted near the forsythia and the Flowering Quince (that doesn't often flower, but the bush is looking the healthiest it ever has, so there's hope). I like it. I used to have a sand cherry there, but it died.

But this is the real stunner. I had no idea these would look so great together in the spring. This is the 'Frostbite' Brunnera and the 'Peach Flambe' Heuchera. I'm pretty sure the 'Jack Frost' Brunnera has died. But I'm seriously liking the Brunnera that the deer won't eat. Their real beauty is later when the leaves get big and are colored. These ones will be mostly white. I'll probably get another.

Much was accomplished today. I only have 86 miles of campsites done, but I'm pretty sure I'll get to 100 yet this evening. And huge progress happened on other fronts. Stay tuned.

See Much Nicer Than Expected

Land Protection Talking Points

 Today, the Land Protection Specialist for the NCTA came and met with people from our chapter. The Michigan Regional Trail Coordinator was there, and two people from the National Park Service.

Our chapter doesn't have a lot of places where we need to try to get off road through private property, but we have a few. This meeting included a field trip for most of us to the Vince Smith Bridge (Big Sable River). I'm starting with that picture because it's more interesting.

However, before we got to play in the woods, we met for several hours. Not only did we learn some basics of the process, we discussed a specific place where a landowner has already approached us about options to get the trail off a road for part of that roadwalk.

The great news is that this piece could be moved very soon. That will get 0.25 mile off road. Not huge, but it's a start. There are options to keep going, but they won't happen quickly. This first piece is easy. The next pieces, not so much.

The tamaracks are just getting their needles.

And I just liked this. Nothing special- a dandelion and a cabbage butterfly. But they are cheerful.

I didn't get one thing done that I wanted to. It was raining when I got home, so that will have to wait. However, I did get 108 miles of campsites logged.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 214.6, of which 71.6 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, near Vince Smith Bridge, 1 mile

See Planning A Re-Route

Progress Report

  I worked so hard today! I got 208 miles of campsites done. That leaves me with about 1200 miles to go.

I also worked in the dining room. Remember, this is not a 100% cleaning job. It's creative re-stacking with some sorting and organizing. But things are looking good.

I did go substitute at a practice of the Pentwater bell choir.

I have a few things yet to do this eveing, but I wasn't quitting on the book until I got over 200 miles!

See Accountability 101

Not Much Blooming

 I manage to get about one walk a month in at the School Forest in Ludington. It's very near where bell choir practice is, so it's a great way to get a little exercise on the same trip. Today, I was particularly looking for wildflowers. Nope.

There are escaped daffodils and Vinca (myrtle, periwinkle). I don't really know the history of this property. It's quite possible there were some houses in this city block at one time.

The one "wild" thing I did find blooming was some blueberry, probably Vaccinium pallidum. These are nice and pink. They vary from pink to white.

I heard a Barred Owl, and saw another Red Admiral butterfly. Disc golfers were out playing on the course that's also on the property.

I have 142 miles of campsites done today. I may do a few more yet this evening because I'm probably not going to meet the quota for several days coming up. I worked on the dining room some and did errands.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 213.1, of which 70.6 is North Country Trail.

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 2.2 miles

See More from the School Forest See Blueberries in the Snow

Acountability 101

 This is almost a "before" picture. I've already moved a few things, and I have spent some time sorting hardware.

The best I can hope for is to restack all the piles. However, there is good hope that there is room to do so in a way that would allow us to use two sides of the table when Steve comes for a visit next week.

You will hold my feet to the fire to make that happen, right? Nobody has eaten at this table for about 6 years.

Meanwhile, I did 162 miles of campsites today. I still have 1600 miles to go (I thought it was 1600 after yesterday, but I actually added it up today), so I have to keep my focus on that project too.

I am reminded of a sign a former pastor had on his desk. "Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, and your nose to the grindstone. Now try to work in that position."

And of course, the grass started growing overnight.

See Dining Room and Trailer Tetris

Not Easy!

 I hadn't worked on a jigsaw puzzle in almost a month! But Cathy and I started this one over a week ago, but it was much harder than we expected, and we didn't finish.

I went over there Friday, but we still didn't finish. That's saying something. It's only 500 pieces, and we are both good puzzlers. But the pieces are cut so that lots of times more than one piece would fit in a certain place, particularly the edge. On Friday, we had fewer than 50 pieces to put in, but I was out of time. I like challenging puzzles like this. Cathy- not so much.

I went over today, and we got it done. (And worked on another easier one Cathy had going on another table.)

This is more than just a random puzzle. For several years, the North Country Trail Association was commissioning artists to create things they could use on various items- like t-shirts, patches, stickers, etc. And this one was made into a puzzle. What does it have to do with the trail, you ask?

The inside edge of the butterfly wing is an approximate map of the trail.

Not seeing it? Here is the trail line.

I did some formatting for someone else, and then did 150 miles of campsites! I might do a bit more cleanup formatting on my book yet tonight.

See Magnificent Ocean Puzzle

Much Nicer than Expected - 2024 Rock Garden Report 2

  I never expected the rock garden to look so good the first year after cleaning it up. A lot of plants that I thought were dead and gone have showed up. Here is the view from the deck, just for comparison with last fall. You can see that it looks fairly full, and not much of that is weeds. I think by next week, I'll be able to start carefully cleaning again.

I showed you these daffodils two weeks ago. They are still looking really nice. Pretty sure they are Narcissus Canaliculatus, although 'Minnow' is still in the running. They seem to be getting a little tall for the rock garden, but they are OK in the space they are in. Since the flowers are smallish, that works well.

Here's a daffodil I had no idea was still alive. I had purchased bulbs for a lot of miniature ones. A number of them seem to be truly gone. This is N. pumilla, 'Rip Van Winkle.'

I wasn't sure this sedum was going to make it. It never looked happy at all last year. But look at it now! This is Sedum pluricaule, 'Ewaze." I like the color, and I think it stays rather blue-ish all season.

Here's a little plant that just refuses to die, although it never is happy. My hill is really way too dry for it. This is Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea.' Hey, I'll take any tiny bit of colored foliage. I don't think it's ever bloomed. I just leave any little bits I find instead of digging them up. It has a grape hyacinth friend.

Now, for two carefully staged photos, but no photoshopping! These views look like what I want the garden to look like all the time. This one is a section of violets and light magenta moss phlox (it used to be candystripe phlox, but it reverted to this color and white).

This is the very best! Would you look at that Pasqueflower still going gangbusters after a full month since it first bloomed! Filling in spaces is magenta and white moss phlox. There are some sempervivum and sedum starting to get bigger in between, and a few violets. The best of all is the white grape hyacinth in the middle. There are some scattered blue ones popping up all over. But the white ones were a gift from my mom a long time ago. I had no idea there were any still viable, and sometimes the oddball varieties don't last as well as the old standards. And, it's not just a couple of stalks, but a whole clump! This is what a spring rock garden should look like.

Mostly I worked on the book. 100 miles of campsites, some formatting and fixing things. Also edited for 30 minutes for someone else. I might be able to beat myself into a little more yet this evening.

See 2024 Rock Garden Report 1