My Quality Day

Pet Rabbits

2012-01-31T22:26:00.001-05:00

It's one of those days I'm too tired to care. Out doing assignments all day, over 200 miles and 10 cases. Just enjoy the tame rabbits. They followed the owner everywhere he went! I'm a complete sucker for rabbits.


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Birds in Flight

2012-01-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken this week, but not all today. I just thought it was interesting to compare the two species.

First we have the pigeons from the space station, er... grain elevator. You can't tell all of the difference in still shots. The pigeons fly more slowly, and seem to rise higher, then settle down on a wire, or roof, or whatever.

The starlings seem to fly more horizontally. They just zoom across the sky and suddenly they are all in a tree, and then just gone again without ever climbing vertically.

I think I need to try to catch video clips!

	See Pigeons on the Space Station
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Baptism Sunday

2012-01-29T22:55:00.000-05:00

This post is different from most of my others, but it was a really good thing that happened today. If you are reading this and it doesn't make much sense to you, that's ok. Twelve people were baptized this morning at our church.

Baptism is just a symbol of a Jesus' death, burial and resurrection that indicates a person wants to be known as a Christian. Someone simply lowers the person being baptized under water and then lifts them back up. It's traditionally done with the person going backwards so that they have to demonstrate trust that they will be lifted up.

Each person was allowed to choose who they wanted to baptize them, and two of the guys had Omer do that for them.


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Just a Little Different from Yesterday!

2012-01-28T23:56:00.000-05:00

Overnight we had a little bit of freezing rain that changed to "powdered sugar" snow. That made every soft flake stick to every surface. Even though the wind picked up this afternoon, the trees are still coated. These are my two favorite pictures from the day.

I did a lot of writing this afternoon and evening... and if you didn't see Joan Young Begins a New Adventure- Writes First Mystery Novel, feel free to take a peek.

	See Cold Magic
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Trees Along Hawley Road

2012-01-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

I was out doing errands this afternoon and we had some lovely sunshine, which always adds magic to any landscape. I drove home via Hawley Road, and just liked some of the trees along the way.

The line of bare gray-brown trees on the left are Lombardy Poplar, Populus nigra. It's a European tree, but is often planted here for windbreaks. If you see a row of tall narrow trees, it might be these. Next, see the yellowish tree just beyond the poplars?

Have you ever noticed that weeping willows seem to look yellow all winter? That can be a clue about this tree. Yes, it's a willow, the black willow, Salix nigra. It's a common native willow, often growing on the edges of wetlands.

Finally, just a couple of miles farther was a lovely example of a Scotch pine, Pinus sylvestris.

Generally, Scotch pine are not on my list of favorite trees. I think they are coarse and scraggly looking when they are young. However, if they manage to survive to this size, they can be interesting. Especially on sunny afternoons. One way to help identify this species is to notice that the outer bark on the upper half of the tree peels off, revealing the reddish underbark. See how the trunk is gray at the bottom and coppery near the top? Here's the upper tree.

They also tend to have twisted branches, making the shapes interesting. The gnarly youngsters grow into real characters. This tree is unusually handsome.

I've featured Scotch pine before in Choirs of Trees

Even driving and looking at shapes of trees can give me a quality day!


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More Small Critter Tracks- Vole?

2012-01-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

Although I went to Dublin yesterday, I also went out back for a walk with Maggie. It was a calm, warm morning and lots of wildlife had been out. The snow had softened just enough to take good tracks.

I think we are in a good year for rabbits. There were a huge number of those tracks. That might not be so good for the bushes, but the snow hasn't been so deep that they are really gnawing them yet.

Here are some tracks I haven't shown you before, because I haven't found any that were good enough to picture before this. And now that I have them, I have to admit that I'm not positive if they were made by a vole or a deer mouse. But first, here's what they look like.

They look a lot like squirrel tracks, don't they? You'd be right if you said yes. This animal also hops when it runs, like the squirrel does. That's what leaves the parallel sets of front and hind feet side by side, and the large hind feet land in front of where the smaller front feet were on the previous "step."

But these tracks are a lot smaller than a squirrel. I managed to break the little ruler I'd been carrying to measure tracks, but I put a glove down for scale.

There is about 8 inches between each of those track sets! Also notice that there is no tail mark.

I spent some time with my track ID books, and had settled on this being a vole, but then another book said that it could be a deer mouse. Apparently deer mice don't drag their tails, and also make long leaps. Deer mice are adorable with large black eyes and white underparts. (Adorable unless they are in your pantry.)

Either of these critters are found here in abundance. I'm leaning toward vole because of the width of the track. Voles are slightly larger than mice. But in truth, I'm not good enough to tell for certain. One book says that a deer mouse has four toes on the front feet and five on the back. This was the clearest print I found. Can you tell? I can't.


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Sure, an' We'll Next Be Goin' to Dublin

2012-01-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist, since we are on a theme. I've been to Dublin quite often, including today. This Dublin, that is. Are you confused yet?

Dublin, Michigan, is in the middle of nowhere, but enough people live surrounding that nowhere to support what has become something of a local phenomenon, and that is Dublin General Store. It's the large building on the right. It has groceries, camping gear, fishing tackle, hardware... everything you would expect of a general store.

Also on the right is Granny's Kitchen, a small restaurant that stays open all year. Across the road is a gas station and a summer only fudge shop. That's it, folks. You've just toured Dublin (except for a few houses).

	See After I've Seen Par-eee
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After I've Seen Par-eee

2012-01-24T23:50:00.000-05:00

If you've been a reader for a while, you know that I'm quite the traveler. I've been to Italy, and recently found Hollywood.

But, today, I got to go to somewhere I had never been before. Yes, I went to Paris!

I did it all this afternoon! I have superpowers! I speed faster than the Concorde! I am amazing! Oh, ok... I only went to Paris, Michigan. It's really very cute.

That's it... It sits in the valley of Paris Creek trying to hang on to an identity in the face of a railroad's demise and the building of an expressway that bypasses it. The township hall sign says "Green Charter Township," which means it was the first township to be incorporated in Mecosta County. The largest city is Big Rapids, and that township (Leonard) was apparently organized at about the same time, but Green Township was the first to be approved. Interestingly, the name was originally Parish, for founder John Parish, but was soon corrupted to Paris. How's that for a comedown (or up?).

The most interesting thing to me was Paris Creek, a rather large creek at this point.

This is pretty much at the mouth of the creek. Just beyond the bend, beyond the bridge, it enters the Muskegon River. And the bridge? It's the old Grand Rapids & Indiana RR line. Now, it's the White Pine Rail Trail, which is the same one that Om and I have ridden sections of. If we keep working our way south from Leroy, where we ended our last ride, we'll get here eventually!

Michigan (any state) has interesting place names. Of course, in Michigan you can visit both Paradise and Hell. The Yoopers (residents of the Upper Peninsula) like to point out that Paradise is there, and Hell is... well... in the Lower Peninsula. I've been to both. I've actually been to Hell more often. Is there a message in that?

Anyway... today, Paris, tomorrow... who knows?

	See Details from the Bike Ride
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Showers of Blessing

2012-01-23T23:50:00.000-05:00

Now we are doing rain. So much for recreational snow. The roads are all icy. I tried to go out on work assignments. More on that later. I really liked how the raindrops were clinging to this red cedar.

The blessing? Well, um... shuffles feet and gets embarrassed... I slid into a ditch on a back road. I'm fine. I even managed to drive out of the ditch (gotta love my little Subaru!). But I ripped the back bumper off the car. Oops. Or not. Bumpers are only plastic these days and this one had a crack or two. So I get a whole new plastic piece, and the real bumper that's behind it since I also bent one of the brackets, all for the $100 deductible on my insurance.

Finally, I'm getting some benefit from having insurance. Mostly I think of it as a legalized scam, but today it earned its keep. Parts are ordered, it will be fixed early next week.


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Of Mice and Mice

2012-01-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

The little critters are out! I love the little mouse tracks, and although they tunnel under the snow most of the time, sometimes they run across the top. The first picture is blurry, but it's not the camera's fault. I took it yesterday, and the snow was really fluffy. It didn't hold the pattern well. But you can see that there were two mice, side by side.

Today it was warmer, and the snow is beginning to pack a bit so it holds impressions better. Once again, there were two mice side by side. See the side by side prints of the large back feet? The back feet obliterate the front foot prints when they are hopping through the snow. And I love the cute little tail drag.

Where were these mice going? Not far, out in the open! See the two round holes, side by side? They ducked right under the snow where they make tunnels.

Have fun, little mice!

	See Mouse Antics See Subnivean Layer Revealed
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Spirit of the Woods Snowshoeing at Pine Valley

2012-01-21T23:18:00.000-05:00

Today was the monthly hike for the Spirit of the Woods trail club. Once again, there were only three of us. But Ellen has become a world traveler, gone to the other side of the globe. This time it was Loren, Dave, and me (with two dogs, Corky and Maggie).

The day was pretty cold, but sunny, making everything beautiful. We were all bundled up well enough, so that was no problem. Destination? Pine Valley Pathway. It really looks different in the snow. I was glad someone had been down the trail ahead of us. A few more markers might be in order in unbroken snow.

The dogs had enough sense to walk in our tracks, rather than flounder through fresh snow. We went 3.4 miles, which was plenty. Part of the way was well-broken, but another part had only one old ski track to follow, so that was more difficult. It took us just under two hours.

And what does one do after a chilly, strenuous hike, and a nice lunch?

I'm loving some nice winter!

	See Pine Valley Pathway Again
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Grousing Allowed?

2012-01-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

On a blog devoted to finding the positive things in each and every day, is grousing allowed?

Most definitely, when it's this kind! We have a lot more snow than this now, but I took this picture last week along the North Country Trail. There are a lot of different tracks here, but I left them all for scale.

The bird tracks going left to right along the top of the picture are ruffed grouse. In fact, I saw two of the birds while hiking, but I didn't see these tracks being made, so I had to check in my books after I got home.

You can also see one of my footprints, and one of Maggie's. Bicycles are allowed on this section of trail, and two cyclists had ridden through earlier in the day.

Winter is always a great season for seeing tracks. Who knows what we'll find this year?

There's a link below to a post with pictures of the ruffed grouse.

	See Ruffed Grouse
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Emily Marguerite Fisher Rowe 1882-1972

2012-01-19T22:11:00.002-05:00

I'm going to play along with Chuck's Family Friday "game" today, even though it's Thursday. I won't be doing this very often, but today is a milestone kind of day. If my grandmother were alive, she would have turned 130 today. Can you believe it? It's true. She was born January 19, 1882. I have too many pictures to share, but it was SO hard to pick just a few. Even so, the ones I chose hardly do justice to the versatility of Emily Marguerite Fisher Rowe.

I was looking for the earliest photo we have of her, and I had already scanned this one from 1906, when I found a portrait from 1900. But I kept this one, because it has more interest, I think.

Granny, Emily, was the oldest of four children, and the only girl. She was born in Spencer, New York, to Charles and Catherine Fisher, and her brothers were Lou, Ben, and Charlie. Although she was the oldest, I never knew any of her brothers (we did receive a couple of pictures from Ben when I was about ten).

She was always athletic. Tales abound of her beating the boys at goat cart races, or climbing trees (usually with a book to read). There are photos of her climbing mountains in the Adirondacks, rowing a boat, camping, and playing tennis in bloomers.

In 1906 she married Howard Meade Rowe, and Merrill Fisher Rowe (called Jacques- "Jack") was born in 1907, and my mother, Catherine Burnham Rowe, was born in 1909.

Pictures of Jacques and me at similar ages, side by side, are indistinguishable except for the age of the photo.

There was another daughter, Margaret Perham Rowe, born in 1913, who was a preemie and only lived three hours. Jacques was killed in a tragic accident when he was 26. Of course that was long before I was around, but Granny never really got over it, and Jacques was always a "presence," especially since I looked so much like him.

Granny was forever interested in many things. She gave public "readings," as they were called in the early 1900's. Most were sentimental or religious essays or poems, staged quite dramatically. She also gave lectures about quilts and quilting. There are scrapbooks of clippings about many of her performances/talks. She was an avid knitter, and taught me to knit when I was four.

Howard died in 1941, so I never knew him either. But Granny apparently enjoyed a few more years of outdoor activity. This is one of my favorite pictures, taken about 1945. I still have the snowshoes, snowpants, and sweater she is wearing! (Although the photo was tinted with colors that don't match the actual clothes.)

She had slowed down a lot by the time I appeared in 1948. This picture is the two of us in 1960. I've always just liked this one too. It's very typical Granny, and I look less dorky than I usually did during that period of life.

This is definitely the last picture that was taken, on her 89th birthday, about 17 months before she died.

I have to say with all honesty that our family was quite dysfunctional, probably because we were all very strong personalities, also with strong flaws. Granny was an amazing person, however, and if I could have known her as an adult rather than a child, I would have been able to better understand some of the reasons she was the way she was.

I'm a strange mixture of her and my father... the two people who never could get along with each other. (That will tell you a lot about me, if you have made it this far.)

I do think that people who lived in her generation had to make huge mental leaps at the changes in the "world." When she was a child the primary transportation was still horse and buggy, and before she died we put a man on the moon. I'm not sure that even the transition to the digital age can compete with that scope of technological change.

Anyway... that's my Granny. Happy Birthday.


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A Versatile Blogger

2012-01-18T23:51:00.001-05:00

On January 10, Jean at Jean's Musings gave me the Versatile Blogger Award. It took me a while to "pick it up," but here it is. There are rules, of course, and I'm going to do some of them.

I'm supposed to:

• Nominate 15 other bloggers (not likely)
• Inform my nominees (OK)
• Share 7 random facts about myself (hmmm...OK)
• Thank those who nominated me (thank you, Jean)
• Add a picture of the award to this post (done)

I will nominate a few other blogs, choosing to move outside of the circle of my most frequent commenters. I've given most of you several awards in the past:

Canadian Doomer a family trying to live in an extremely self-sufficient way.
Missing Moments where Reena tinkers with photos and writes poetry.
Along the Trail with Rochelle, who makes beautiful jewelry and takes wonderful nature pictures.
Some Assembly Required- John and I have a lot in common, although he does it all on a much larger scale than I do. Nevertheless I keep shaking my head over so many similarities.
String Too Short to Tie, because Vanilla's writings have become some some of my favorites, and he has been a frequent commenter, but I don't think I've ever given him an award.
Random Stream of Consciousness, where I've come to know John, whose hometown is just 40 miles from me.
Dickster's Random Thoughts, another blogger whose random thoughts appeal to me.
Right Where We Belong, because Karen and Gerard need something good to boost their spirits right now (Gerard and their dog Abby were attacked, Abby was hurt badly, and Gerard was bitten on the hand.)

I'll just close with snow on sumac branches- a typical image from my walk today.

Oh, wait! I'm supposed to tell you seven random things about me.

Are you sure you don't know it all already?

1. I bought a complete set of Gilbert and Sullivan DVDs with Christmas money
2. I have been bitten by dogs three times in my life
3. I've been practicing Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (by Leon Jessel) on the keyboard
4. I'm wearing PJs with flying cows
5. I'd like to clean up my house, but it seems pretty hopeless
6. I don't like to talk on the telephone
7. I was insanely in love with horses as a child- took riding lessons, but never owned one.

	See Sumac Times Three
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Frosty

2012-01-17T21:13:00.001-05:00

We are having a mini-blizzard here. Maggie and I went out but we didn't stay out long. It was nasty. And I still don't have much energy. That needs to end tomorrow.

Meanwhile, how about some frost patterns?


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Cold Magic

2012-01-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

The weekend was amazing. I'm home safe and sound with a little sore throat and more tired than seems reasonable. I'm going to get lots of sleep tonight and hopefully hold off whatever that might be all about.

The snow stayed on the trees both days, and although the weather stayed cold, we took many outdoor excursions. I skied, snowshoed, and walked, played games, sang songs and ate way too much!

While looking at the thermometer, keep in mind that this is Fahrenheit.

Here, the weather warmed to almost 40 again today, but we are supposed to get snow tonight, so we may get to keep winter. Just south of us, they are saying rain, however. Great weekend, but now I have tons of work to do.

	See A Weekend with Friends
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A Weekend with Friends

2012-01-15T20:32:00.000-05:00

I have limited internet access until I get home, but I've just had a wonderful weekend with a group I belong to called The Society of Les Voyageurs. 29 of us gathered at a cabin in northern Michigan for skiing, snowshoeing, campfires, singing and lots of food. I'll just share a couple of pictures today. Perhaps more this week.


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A Fish from Rose

2012-01-14T21:47:00.003-05:00

I entered Rose's little contest to win a "whimsey" over at What I Made Today, and I won!

The gift I selected was a painted wooden fish on a hand twisted cord. I wove the cord into my braid, and the little fish dangles at the end. It's hard to see the light green cord in the gray hair, but it's there.

Thanks, Rose! I love my little fish.


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Thirteen

2012-01-13T22:24:00.000-05:00

I'm on my way to a northern weekend activity. I probably won't have internet access till I get home (probably Sunday), so posts for a couple of days are pre-scheduled.

I got a little itch to do something with the fact that it's Friday the 13th. So, today I bring you thirteen things you may not know having to do with thirteen.

1. Wooly Bear caterpillars have 13 segments.

2 The Sterling Marsh Boardwalk that our trail club built over the past three years has 13 sections.

3 One-hundred-one is the first number with 13 letters when written out.

4 The Thirteenth Floor is a movie with some interesting twists. You should take a clue when you think about what number is always missing from the elevator buttons of tall buildings. It was nominated for best Saturn Sci-Fi flick of 2000, but it was up against The Matrix, so... no cigar. But I like it a lot.

5 The Colossus of New York: A City in 13 Parts is a book I know nothing about, except that I read the free part on Amazon, and it's interesting. It's by Colson Whitehead. The 13 parts are: City Limits, Port Authority, Morning, Central Park, Subway, Rain, Broadway, Coney Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Rush Hour, Downtown, Times Square, and JFK. There were a lot more than 13 books with "thirteen" in the titles.

6 There are three books of the Bible with 13 chapters: Nehemiah, II Corinthians, and Hebrews.

7 There are at least two common sets of 13s that we may rarely think about. 13 x 4 = 52. There are 52 cards in a deck, so one suit has 13 cards. We remember that one because most of us play cards. But a year also has 52 weeks, so one quarter is 13 weeks. Think about it... most months have 4 weeks, but every so often there is a fifth week, and it works out to once a quarter.

8 Any number raised to the 13th power will result in a number where the last digit is the same as that of the original number. For example:
2^13 = 8192
3^13 = 1594323
4^13 = 67108864
5^13 = 1220703125
6^13 = 13060694016
7^13 = 96889010407
11^13 = 34522712143931
and so on!

9 Quickie quiz! What is 10^13? Hint: It's less than the number of dollars in the US National Debt.

10 Thirteen is the first "teen" number. (OK, this fact is probably pretty boring unless you are the parent of one. I'm NOT. Been there, done that.)

11 There were 13 original colonies that combined to form the United States. It's such an odd number that it would seem surprising except that we Americans grew up hearing it so often, it is just "old hat."
(image from worldatlas.com)

12 A tridecagon or triskaidecagon is a 13 sided polygon. OK... but here's some geometry that's even more interesting: There are 13 Archimedean Solids. These solids by definition have all their angles equal and all their faces are regular polygons, but are not all the same. They are a truncated tetrahedron (8 faces), truncated cuboctahedron (26 faces), truncated cube (14 faces), truncated octahedron (14 faces), rhombicuboctahedron (26 faces), icosidodecahedron (32 faces), truncated icosidodecahedron (62 faces), truncated dodecahedron (32 faces), snub cube (38 faces), rhombicosidodecahedron (64 faces), great rhombicosidodecahedron (64 faces), and the snub dodecahedron (92 faces)

13 The last book of the original Nancy Drew series is named The Thirteenth Pearl, and was the 56th book under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene (there were a number of actual authors) by Grosset & Dunlap. At that time the series was taken over by Simon & Schuster. The number of Nancy Drew books now stands at 175 (as far as I can tell).

Happy 13s!


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Another Adventure at Ludington State Park

2012-01-12T22:45:00.000-05:00

Now it's snowing, sloppy and cold. Two days ago it was in the mid 40s, and I couldn't stay home all day! Maggie and I went to explore another un-named trail at Ludington State Park. It led into the dunes. I followed a number of pathways, and just walked around some (walking in loose sand will give you your exercise quota quickly!)

This southern area of the park isn't developed. There are a few ski trails west of where I was, and the trail I found last fall is just to the east, and down the edge of the dunes. This section is just acres and acres that are wild and solitary.

I found one of the places where you can see both Lake Michigan and Hamlin Lake. I have no idea if that is really the highest point in the park, but it's high and in the right place. The pictures aren't super clear because it was hazy. The first picture below is to the east, and is Hamlin Lake. I had to pull both of these views in with the telephoto.

Looking to the west, here's Lake Michigan

I'll be exploring here some more next summer!

	See A New Trail to...
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Last Day of Green / Best Local Finds of 2011

2012-01-11T22:04:00.001-05:00

Late in 2011 I found two trails in our local area (I call this the four counties around me) that I'd never known about before. They are Pine Valley Pathway and Ludington State Park from Piney Ridge Road to Hamlin Dam. You've seen hikes on them:

Hiking at Pine Valley Pathway
Hiking at Pine Valley Pathway Part 3
Pine Valley Pathway Again
Finding Inspiration Point
A New Trail To...

Today, Maggie and I did a little hike on the North Country Trail. It was almost 50 degrees, and I just couldn't stay inside. Brown woods, more snow there than at my house. I enjoyed every minute of the walk, but it was hard to find interesting things to picture. I liked this green moss, though. No ID... I haven't taken on mosses yet.

It's supposed to start rain/snow tonight, and be all snow by tomorrow afternoon, with maybe 10 inches accumulation. We'll see!


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Two Directions, Same Time / Best Accomplishments of 2011

2012-01-10T23:50:00.000-05:00

One of my best memories of all time (since we are doing "bests") is of riding a bicycle across the Mackinac Bridge (yes a few groups were allowed to do this in the past... explanation too long for this post) with the sun rising on my left and the full moon setting on my right.

No bridge, but that same astronomical effect was delightfully repeated this morning, and I sort of like the hominess of the setting. Here's the moon setting over our barn.

Stay tuned for the sun!

Continuing with the "Best of 2011 Series," first I have to make a correction. I think I have to add one non-fiction book to the best reads. My record-keeping for the past year hasn't been very good, but I think I read Home Before Morning this past spring. I've added it to the post of two days ago, in any case.

I chose three accomplishments as outstanding. They are all in different categories, but I'm highly satisfied to have completed each of them. Again, in no particular order (I can never weigh apples and oranges):

Swimming Hamlin Lake:

I learned a lot about what I need to do to complete my quest for a long swim in 2011, and also learned that I should be able to still accomplish that dream, too.

Canning enough juice to meet my breakfast needs for the next year. I love a small glass of juice before my coffee each morning, and I've managed to put up some of my own, most years. But this year, between grape juice, autumn olive juice, crabapple juice, and apple cider, I think I won't have to buy any at all!

And third, actually finishing and e-publishing News from Dead Mule Swamp. So far, everyone seems to like it a lot, and is eager for more books in the series, which I hope to be able to deliver. You know I have to say it... if you haven't bought it, it's only 99 ¢ and you can get it in several formats at Smashwords.

The second book is Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp, and you can track my progress at Shark Bytes and Tales.

Now for the other direction. The moon set was taken just seconds different in time from the sunrise. Just long enough for me to take about ten steps, so that I could sight around a tree that was in the way.

I like doing these "best of" posts. It really helps me track the milestones of my life. Thanks for coming along!


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Best Food Discoveries of 2011

2012-01-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

This week is going to be mostly focused on listing the best of 2011. Today will focus on food.

The best thing I learned this year is that I can make apple cider without a press. It works just fine if one is not trying to make dozens of gallons.

Combined with other juices, I think I've canned enough that I won't have to buy any juice at all this year. That was a little goal of mine, so that may end up in best accomplishments too.

The best recipe find was actually on experiment of my own, but it's so drop-dead yummy that it instantly rose to vie with my all-time favorites. And that is... crabapple pie.

I've chosen my favorite humor posts, and you can pick the funniest, if you want to play. See poll above.

Today was a work day... just paved roads and civilization. But the wind was really blowing, and here's a wave crashing over the Manistee breakwall. Notice how rough the water (Lake Michigan) behind the wave is!


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Books and Trees

2012-01-08T23:50:00.001-05:00

Today you get two of my favorite things, trees and books. The picture above is a maple tree against the sky taken Thursday. Any blue-sky day is a good one!

You are also going to get a list of books. This blog has become mostly nature stuff, and I do love that, but somehow my love of books has been been neglected a bit. It's also January, and I like to list some of the "bests" of the previous year. I didn't do a very good job of keeping a list for 2011, but I'll be sharing some things this week.

Here are the 10 11 best books I read this year in no particular order. I choose my reading materials mostly based on piles of free books from the library or gifts, so don't try to read much into the selection.

Title	Author	Genre
Brief Review
The Light in the Clearing	Irving Bacheller	Period Fiction
Bacheller was a best-selling author in the early years of the 20th Century. His ability to describe a scene from a time period that is quite foreign to us is amazing. This book is a fictional recounting of the life of Silas Wright, a New York statesman, through the eyes of a boy as he grows to manhood.
Encounters with Animals	Gerald Durrell	Animals
This is an enchanting look at animals Durrell comes in touch with during a lifetime as an animal collector. Keep in mind that the regulations were much more lax when the book was written, but the tales are charming.
East of Eden	John Steinbeck	Literary Fiction
I like Steinbeck, but I'd never read this one. It's spectacular. It traces the life of two brothers, and then the children of one of them. Steinbeck considered it his best work. The symbolism is staggering.
The Down East Murders	J. S. Borthwick	Mystery
This is a light mystery, set in Port Clyde, Maine, and on a fictional island. I'm fairly familiar with Port Clyde, and this book is everything that I hope the Anastasia Raven mysteries can be. It's got all the small town stuff, a good plot, lots of twists and turns. I read a lot of light mysteries, but this one stood out.
Berlin Tunnel 21	Donald Lindquist	Historical Fiction
This is based on one of the many tunnels that was dug under the Berlin Wall to bring people out to the West. It's a nail-biter, and I won't give anything away.
In His Steps	Charles M. Sheldon	Christian Fiction
I think this is the third time I've read this book. It's very old, and really changed my life as a teen. The premise is that the congregation of one church decides to live completely the way Jesus would want them to. For example, the owner of a newspaper decides he can no longer run any ads for tobacco or bars, etc... but can a paper survive that way?
Final Payments	Mary Gordon	Literary Fiction
This one was a shocker. I thought I hated it and was going to finish only because I try not to give up on books. But it kept twisting and turning and made me think. Not many books do that any more. A young woman is released from the care of her invalid father when he dies, and her emotions and actions run the gamut because she never went through any of that as a teen. You can see more of my thoughts about it at Selfishness and Sacrifice
With a Vengeance	Eileen Dreyer	Mystery
Maggie is a nurse who has things to prove to her father. She becomes the first female member of the city SWAT team. In her dual role she begins to realize that people are dying without any good reasons. When a mentally deranged patient of hers tries to tell her how they are connected, he becomes the next victim.
The Glorious Cause	Jeff Shaara	Historical Fiction
I'm a Revolutionary War buff, and this is a readable and gripping account by the same man who wrote the better known Gods and Generals (Civil War)
The Detroit Electric Scheme	D.E. Johnson	Mystery
Johnson came to our writer's group An Evening with D.E. Johnson when this, his first book, was just coming out. I bought one, just because I liked what he said. But the book is really good. He's now on the third in the series. It's a mystery set in Detroit in the era when electric cars were in serious contention with gasoline-powered ones. There is lots of action, and history. I think he's headed for a best seller.
Home Before Morning	Lynda Van Devanter	War Memoir
This poignant memoir by a nurse who served in VietNam will impact you, no matter what you think of that war. She recounts her journey from a carefree college kid who enlisted on the promise of easy certification to her dehumanization by the carnage, to advocate for women veterans.

OK- Those are the best books of the year. It was supposed to be 10, but I forgot one, so you get 11!

How about some nice trees from today to close us out. This is the clump of quaking aspen by the railroad tracks.


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Fire On the Space Station

2012-01-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

OK... remember, this is not a news blog. Don't panic and run off to check a real news site.

You may or may not recall that I call the co-op grain elevator next door (to the east) the "space station." I looked out just before sunset and saw that the towers were blazing!

	See Pigeons on the Space Station
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Nature's Alphabet 2- A-E

2012-01-06T22:33:00.001-05:00

The most popular posts on my blog (from searches) are the alphabet that I did a couple of years ago. So, I've been hunting for another set this fall. Trying to use different things from the last time.

	See Nature's Alphabet A-E
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A Ward Hills Mystery Solved

2012-01-05T22:09:00.000-05:00

This is a picture I took yesterday. See those two clear streaks coming down the front of the facing hill? The one on the left is NOT a continuation of the road. The road jogs left to go through a valley and not over the hill.

Those open cuts are two of the ski runs at the former Ward Hills Ski Area. The only mystery is that I wasn't positive this was the correct location until last night when I found a web site dedicated to a lot of local history (most specifically Big Bass Lake, which I haven't mentioned very much). The web page is More on the Ward Hills Ski Area. The post is a little confusing because it also talks about Big M, which is not in the same place at all.

I've done several posts on Big M, and one other on Ward Hills. Here's a really long shot of the same hill as above taken in February 2011.

Ward Hills was always a small, family-friendly ski area. It only had a couple of rope tows. I remember the school took a bus load of kids every week in the winter with discounted prices. Our oldest (Sam- the one we don't hear from much) usually went. His only complaint was that the rope tow really chewed up gloves.

Serious skiers considered it a bit boring because the runs were short and straight, even if fairly steep.

But when it closed (in the early 1980s?) it was a real loss for people who are on low budgets because now the closest place for downhill skiing is Crystal Mountain, which is also lots more expensive.

There seems to be some sort of public lodge operating at the old Ward Hills site, but they haven't updated their Facebook page in over a year. Wouldn't it be great if they hosted an occasional ski event? Probably too many insurance issues for it to ever happen.

	See Sauble See SPW Ski Outing at Big M See Snow Fun at Big M
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Scanning the Bar Code

2012-01-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

I don't mind shopping when these are the sorts of bar codes I scan! Can you guess what three things I "bought?"

As you can probably guess, I was out and about today. Only had seven cases, but they took ALL day because they were so spread out. The back roads were pretty icy, so it wasn't quite as relaxed as a lot of the days I'm out, but I'm not complaining. I got home safely, and found all the places with no troubles.

OK, did you make your guesses? I think the first two were pretty easy. I played with the third one quite a bit... couldn't find a high hill to get the right perspective.

The snow is melting... Supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. Hard to be a winter wanderer this way!


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Top Commenters- November & December

2012-01-03T23:39:00.001-05:00

Finally, some snow! I got out the snowshoes and did about a mile. I'm out of shape! But it was such fun.

As for recognizing commenters, I got behind, and missed November, so I combined it with December. Here are the top commenters for the combined months.

There were 54 different people who left messages in these two months, and a total of 406 separate comments (not counting my own responses to them).

The top 10 commenters for Nov/Dec are:

Ann's Snap & Edit (Ann- 59 comments)- Ann really needs some competition!
Secondary Roads (Chuck- 55 comments)- Quiet days in the country, and Family Fridays
Carmen's Chronicles (Carmen- 33 comments)- Despite being in India, Carmen reads and catches up every few days.
Duck & Wheel with String (Lin- 32 comments)- Lin really gave Carmen a run for the money.
The Everyday Adventurer (Ratty- 29 comments)- look who's feeling better, and is now in Iowa.
My Journey (rainfield61- 27 comments)- he communes with the bugs and hills
Duxbury Ramblers (Carole- 22 comments)- botanizing and walking the dogs in the UK.
The Joys of Simple Life (betchai- 14 comments) great hikes in the US west, tied with
Don't Unplug Your Hub (John- 14 comments)- memories and life in the UK.
Snapshots as they Happen (Borris- 12 comments)- he has several blogs, but this one is travel and family.

The small banner in the sidebar for a month is just a tiny way to say thanks for sharing your thoughts. Anyone who comments here is in the running!


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A Warning We Probably Didn't Need

2012-01-02T23:55:00.001-05:00

Warning! If you are a safety freak, or a new parent/grandparent, don't send me hate mail. I'm fresh out of babies here, and this just struck me funny...

So, Loretta left today. Well, that's neither funny nor happy. We had a great time and she helped me accomplish things I never would have gotten done on my own. *

She went and got some of those "space bags" that you hook to your vacuum cleaner and suck out the air. They allow you to pack more stuff in the same amount of space. So, we compressed a pile of her sweaters and a coat so she could get things in her suitcase. (She bought a ski jacket while she was here.) We got all done, and I noticed the safety warning.

Don't you just wonder what people are thinking sometimes?

See the image in the lower right? Just in case I didn't think of it on my own, I've been warned not to put a baby in the bag and suck out the air. Oooooo Kaaaaaaay. I promise I won't, for today at least.

Or maybe it means you should put a seat belt on the baby before you put it in the bag and suck out all the air...

(Really, no hate mail, please. It probably means don't give it to a baby as a toy, but I think that's a visual symbol that has some problems.)

* I didn't treat Loretta as slave labor. We worked out a deal whereby she agreed to help me do a bunch of stuff. We did:
1. Cooked holiday food
2. Kept the piles of dirty dishes to a minimum for 10 days!
3. Sorted all my work mileage records for 2011
4. Filed an overflowing notebook of North Country Cache sales records
5. Made calls to all stores that had books on consignment
6. Made a few calls to stores that might want more books
7. Took a whole car load of dead computers and peripherals to Goodwill
8. Got all salvageable items out of the collapsing shed
9. Fixed the dining room light switch
10. Had some fun too!

	See Trail Work Day
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New Year's Eve- The Way it Was

2012-01-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

We did go to a party...

You could pick your holiday for the decor.

We all took our cameras. This is Omer's. I liked the reflection in the screen. Loretta took pictures of me taking a picture of Om's camera. Pastor Al commented about Loretta taking pictures of me taking a picture of a camera. Are you confused yet?

We didn't stay the whole evening. There were going to be games, but they didn't seem to be happening, and I'm not great at casual conversation, and Om had to do the paper route at 2:30 of course.

Ludington was getting set up for their midnight ball drop. Here is S. James St at about 9 pm. The ball was up on the crane. You can see the red spot above the Christmas decor.

The ball changed colors every few seconds. It was kind of cool. We were told that all the hotel and motel rooms in town were full because so many people come in for the ball drop. Well, we contented ourselves with a few more pictures and then came home.

That was enough New Year's excitement for us.

	See 1.1.11 and Fun
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Happy New Year's Eve Morning

2011-12-31T17:07:00.000-05:00

Just a beautiful mood of my backyard this morning. Out the door for church and a New Year's Eve party. See you next year!


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How I Found My Way to Hollywood

2011-12-30T23:59:00.001-05:00

First of all, let's be clear... I did, indeed, make it to Hollywood.

How I got there is something else altogether. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go on assignments again while Loretta is still here, but I did have to go out this morning. One of the places I had to go was actually kind of exciting for me. Yup, Hollywood.

But, probably not for the reasons you think. This short Avenue is found along the Lake Michigan shore. Today's view, pre-storm, and with light fog...

The trick is how to get there. The road that leads there angles off of Morton Road just north of Cooper Creek. Here's a picture taken from Morton Road. The road I needed to turn on is named "Old Freesoil Road."

I've been wanting to explore there for a long time. In the first place, the name is really odd... the road is miles and miles from the village of Freesoil, and doesn't lead there by any stretch of the imagination.

In the second place, I have not found any map of that area that is correct. Today I took four maps with me: Google, DeLorme, Mason County map, and the Manistee National Forest map. Not a one of them shows all the roads correctly. OK, then! So I turned from Morton onto Old Freesoil Road. Here we go...

I was really glad to do this assignment this morning, because we were actually supposed to get snow today (but we didn't). I don't think I want to drive this area in the snow. Nope, not even me.

The road branched and wiggled and the sand got looser and looser, and of course, none of the branches were labeled. After about a mile I got here.

Well, that Forest Road number wasn't on ANY of the maps I had. I took it for a while, then turned on another that seemed to head toward the lake. It wandered around and got narrower and narrower, and finally dumped me right back near the corner of Morton and Old Freesoil. So, now I know where THAT road goes.

I turned around and went back far to the north, and tried to come in from that direction. Success! I found Hollywood with no problem, and the house I needed even had the number on it. Whew!

That was my last assignment so I tried continuing on Old Freesoil Road to see where I should have come from the south. Turns out, it's really easy when you know which unmarked sand road to take...

	See Cooper Creek See Ellen and Joan Sneak in an Adventure
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The Mundane & The Magical

2011-12-29T22:15:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to show you this for a while, and then when I did the paper route in early December, I was able to complete "the set."

The magical parts of this post were taken in August (also on the paper route), but on the very morning I left for Ohio, and then I showed pictures from hiking rather than these.

The mundane part, which is the first picture, is a shot of an unkempt open field. It has little to recommend it... dead grass, some dead conifers, nothing much of quality botanically.

However, when you add some heavy fog which was just lifting, and a sunrise, look what you get:

If you read my author blog, you know that Loretta and I accomplished great things today! (but they were not exactly picturesque... thus you get "old" views)


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Maggie's Christmas

2011-12-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

Just in case you were worried about what kind of a Christmas Maggie had, she'd like you to know that she was well cared for by Santa. Her favorite treat, rawhide was under the tree (she followed it from the Kitchen to the Living Room, and could hardly wait for it to be laid down).

And, post turkey putting away, yeah, ok... she got to lick the platter. It was Christmas, after all!

Lack of sleep last night (taking Steve to airport), and an early doctor appt for Josh in the morning means that I'm headed for bed right now.


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The Annual Christmas Picture

2011-12-27T19:22:00.000-05:00

Somewhere along the line we started taking a picture like this since we've been in the "new" house.

Here's the 2011 version.

See Just Another Crazy Christmas for another of these pix.


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Three Craw Sat Upon a Wa'

2011-12-26T23:27:00.000-05:00

I've been hoping to find "three craw" sitting around somewhere for quite a while. Sorry, I don't have a "wa," so they are just in a tree, but I get to share this song. We used to sing it at Scout camp, and I have always thought it is particularly funny. It's a traditional Scottish children's song. I think there are several versions, but they are all similar.

Three craws sat upon a wa',
sat upon a wa',
sat upon a wa',
Three craws sat upon a wa', On a cold and frosty mornin'.

The first Craw fell an' broke his jaw,
fell an' broke his jaw,
fell an' broke his jaw,
The first Craw fell an' broke his jaw, On a cold and frosty mornin'.

The second craw couldna' flee at a' ,
couldna' flee at a' ,
couldna' flee at a' ,
The second craw couldna' flee at a', On a cold and frosty mornin'.

The third Craw couldna' find his maw'
couldna' find his maw'
couldna' find his maw'
The third Craw couldna' find his maw' On a cold and frosty mornin'.

The fourth Craw wisna' there at a',
wisna' there at a',
wisna' there at a',
The fourth Craw wisna' there at a', On a cold and frosty mornin'.


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Galluzilla Fuels More Good Times

2011-12-25T21:46:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you are just dying to hear how Galluzilla turned out. Well, much to my surprise, it was excellent! I decided to cook the 20 pounds (yes, still that much even with the less prime parts already removed) in an oven roasting bag, and that was a great choice. It was moist and tasty. I tried a new stuffing- apple sourdough, and that was good too.

We sat down to eat around 2 pm. With Loretta helping me the cooking didn't seem like such a drag... some help and someone to visit with makes it all much better.

After the table was cleared and the mess all settled, we played some games. Steve skunked Loretta and me at three games of Mille Bornes, and we laughed a lot.

Josh brought little Loopy over for the day. She is fatter than ever, but she actually let me pet her!

I know these scenes look like everyone else's family times, but we don't get to have them very often, and we are having a really good time, so forgive me for sharing so many.

Hope your Christmas was everything you wanted it to be!

	See The Point of My Quality Day for more about Loopy
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Fun and Food

2011-12-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

First of all, a correction... the Elf says he is not an elf, but a Hobbit. Sorry, Om.

We are having a ton of fun. This is turning out to be a great Christmas. It's been a while.

The Hobbit worked on decorating the tree for a while.

I got my big gift early, and Loretta and I were having fun with it this morning. Yes, I got a keyboard! Much more than our usual gift-giving, but Om said he owed me a few things. I won't complain! So we sang some carols. Loretta has lots more talent than I do, but we have fun anyway.

I made pumpkin-cranberry muffins. Mostly for tomorrow's breakfast, but we had a few today too. Yummy.

Then Loretta and I made the jello for tomorrow and cut up the veggies, and made two pumpkin pies. The Hobbit wanted to check them out. He threatened early sampling, but we banished the food to the pantry to keep it safe from Hobbits and red dogs.

This was the result of Thursday's baking spree, but I promised you food, and I'm going to deliver!

The less prime parts of Galluzilla have been boiled, picked from the bones, divided into soup makin's and dog treats, and the stock all packed away in the freezer. Whew... big, big job. I sure wish I would have cut up that monster in November when we got it. But, hey, we got it all done.

I'm posting this early, because we are going to church at 5:30 and then leaving right after that to go to Grand Rapids to get Steve at the airport. We might not be home until midnight.

Merry Christmas to all my blogging buddies! Have great times with your families and friends, and if you are having a lonesome holiday this year, have a hug and a smile.

	See Under the Knife for more about Galluzilla
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Our Own Private Elf

2011-12-23T23:14:00.002-05:00

Today was nuts, but we are looking a little more festive! Yesterday the tree made it to the stand, and today, when I came home from the grocery store, good things had occurred!

Loretta caught our own private elf adding lights!

Joshua's follow-up exam showed that his eye is doing well. His vision is better already, even though there is still swelling and healing that needs to happen!

This will be short. Everyone is too busy to read long posts right now, and I'm too tired to write one.

Tomorrow will be non-stop cooking. I'll share!

	See A Short Tour of the Christmas Tree
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Under the Knife

2011-12-22T23:52:00.000-05:00

Don't be confused at the fact that half this post is serious and half is kinda funny. It's just that there was an odd connection between the events at the two ends of the day.

For starters, Joshua had cataract surgery this morning. This was not a typical cataract, but was associated with the traumatic cataracts he's had since his childhood in VietNam (probably a shrapnel injury). We hope it will improve his vision, but it's not an absolute certainty.

Everything went fine, and I took him home about five minutes after this picture was taken. I suspect he wanted to go there, rather than here, because he has more channels on his TV.

I think we've finally kicked into Christmas gear... more on the festive parts another day. But you may remember Galluzilla...no? Sure you do, it just didn't have a name the first time around. (Gallu- comes from gallus, the Latin word for the common barnyard fowl; zilla- do I really need to explain?) This is the 30-pound plucked fowl that I, unfortunately, threw in the freezer whole.

Don't worry though. It spent two days under water in the (scrubbed) laundry tub. Next task... dismemberment.

Do you think there's enough for all of us?


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Mystical Christmas Woods

2011-12-21T23:40:00.002-05:00

On my wanderings today I passed through a section of woods that I suspected harbored some mystical powers. My mystic sensors started beeping seriously when they detected a gnome emerging from its underground realms.

My suspicions were confirmed, and the scene came into stronger focus, when this Evil Elf rushed toward me from the forest edge. I was afraid he was threatening to either beat me with a candy cane, or to sing and dance Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer to the tune of Way Down Upon the Swanee River.

Not to worry, though. The elf was soon called to task by Father Christmas himself. We can tell that FC wins because he is wearing the Red Gloves of Power, and he's not afraid to use them! Don't be alarmed at the expression of surprise on his face. He's never daunted by rogue elves. The cause of his surprise is that while he was busy disarming the elf he kinda forgot to pay attention to other possible threats and two holly-jolly Leeches of December latched on to his ankle and hip.

And it's nice to see that a venerable myth is now dispelled. Instead of two hungry children crouching beneath the robes of the bringer of Christmas Present, there is actually a singing penguin with snowmen for a backup band. Don't ask, don't tell!

I wasn't fast enough to snap a pic of the Christmas Pig, but it's probably just as well. You might not have been able to stand the shock.

I'm telling you the truth- I live in a really special place in this world!

	See A Tale of Nor-Dunes
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Crystal Mountain- It's Winter Somewhere!

2011-12-21T00:15:00.002-05:00

Remember the snow-making machines? (See Explosion? Fire? Foggy Valley?) Today I had to survey a house that is in the actual resort community for Crystal Mountain. How would you like to have this in your backyard?

It was actually quite bizarre. There is also a golf course in the resort, and it was all still green. You could actually play golf and ski on the same day! I didn't get a picture of the golf course, but if you look at the lawn in front of the lodge you can see the green grass.

The public parking lot was almost full. The winter lovers with money to buy lift tickets were out in force.

Downhill skiing is not a sport for the poor. Actually, if you catch one of the early deals on season tickets, you can get a pretty good price, but you'd have to go there at least once a week to get your money's worth out of it. The equipment isn't cheap either. I'd love to learn how to downhill ski, but cross-country is a lot cheaper and easier!

While many parts of the U.S. are getting blasted with winter storms already, it looks like Lower Michigan is going to have a green Christmas. How strange is that? Except for Crystal Mountain, of course!


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Birds on a December Day

2011-12-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

Did assignments all day long, worked all evening on the reporting. Tomorrow will be ditto, and I just got 11 more cases that are due by the 29th. Let's see... I can go out tomorrow (already in the plan). Then Loretta comes tomorrow night. I can go out Wednesday (don't want to right after she comes, but you'll see why it may be the best plan). Can't on Thursday- Josh has cataract surgery. Can't on Friday. Josh has followup. Theoretically could on Saturday, but the day before C-mas... I'd rather not. Saturday night we go to GR to pick up Steve. Sunday- C-mas. Steve can stay till the o-dark-thirty on the 28th. So I don't want to go out on the 26th or 27th since we haven't seen him for two years. I guess I could go out on the 28th, but there's no wiggle room there for errors. Yikes!

Let's talk about more fun things than schedules. How about birds of the day?

First we have an ordinary crow, but I caught it flying.

Next we have some wild turkeys. I missed the chance to bring you a really funny video. One turkey, near the back of the pack, kept sticking its head straight up and then taking a jump... a straight up popcorn jump! I finally figured out it was pulling autumn olive berries off a bush, but when I turned the video camera on, of course he wouldn't do it again.

Here's a little tufted titmouse at someone's bird feeder. I wish it would have stood in silhouette to show the crest, but instead you get a front view... makes him look like he has a Mohawk!

Those are all pretty typical, gray, December pictures. How about something brighter and funnier? Not wild birds, but these made me laugh. The ducks were quacking, the hens cackling, and the rooster even crowed for me!

I actually have something really nifty to show you, but I have to locate some pics from earlier in the year to go with the ones I took today. That will be a good thing to save for a "slow news day!"

I'll be out taking more pictures of houses, and hunting for surprises for you tomorrow.

	See Backyard Birds
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The Tree Comes to the Yard

2011-12-18T23:25:00.000-05:00

That's it... we got the tree here. We have no idea when we can manage to set it up! The upstairs (living area) is too big a mess to bring it in. That's my problem. Om went on a cleaning jag and the downstairs (bedrooms and den) is pretty good.

I'm facing a horribly busy week (I know, who isn't?), and don't see much hope of straightening up. I should have done it today, but mostly goofed off. Well, not mostly, but more than most days.

So, the craziness starts in about 8 hours. You can come along for the ride! I still promise something good every day, but who knows what it will be?


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Finding Inspiration Point

2011-12-17T23:59:00.000-05:00

Today was the monthly Spirit of the Woods hike, and it was just us three girls again (Loren, Ellen and me!). We are having a great time every month, but if you are local, we won't mind a bit if you crash our party. Come join us in January (Pine Valley Pathway, Jan 21)!

A couple of years ago, someone asked me if I'd been to Inspiration Point on Hamlin Lake. I said that I had not, but for some reason (maybe we got interrupted?) I never learned how to get there. Well, today, we found it by accident!

We began by hiking the trail that I told you about in A New Trail To..., but we started at the dam and went the other way. Coming back, we took a side trail high on a dune ridge along the south side of Hamlin Lake.

In about a half mile, we came to a bench with the label "Inspiration Point." Here's the view to the NNW.

We sat on the bench and ate our lunches. But it was COLD, so we didn't sit there long. The ice is beginning to form on the edge of the lake, and I just liked the patterns it makes.

All together we hiked about five miles. We only had two dogs today. Loren only brought Corky, as Teak and Cedar are finding it harder to do the long hikes. This picture is closer to Lake Michigan, before we actually started walking, but I just like it.

We saw a Pileated Woodpecker, and some gulls. Not a great wildlife day, but we sure had a good time. And now I know how to get to Inspiration Point!

And... I can explore another day, because the trail goes on farther. I wonder where it goes? You know I'll tell when I find out.

	See Hamlin Lake Inspiration Point is just to the east of #3
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Little Manistee River Drive

2011-12-16T23:46:00.000-05:00

There is a road that I like to take whenever I can, and if I have to go to a particular area it's likely that I'll be on it. This is because, even though it's a rustic road, it's really the only way to connect through from one area to another.

It's name is about as long as it is: Little Manistee River Road. The road is only about 1.5 miles long. It does parallel the Little Manistee River.

Here's the road! As you can see, it's not going to win for straight or smooth. Just my kind of thoroughfare. The potholes force you to slow down and look around. True to the name, the river is just to the south.

Today was really, really busy! But I enjoyed that short drive and hope you enjoyed it too.


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Ribbon Candy

2011-12-15T23:01:00.001-05:00

This post is a bit different from my usual casual description of whatever... it's an essay, a memoir, if you will.

Driving home in the rain and dark last night the lights of the car ahead trailed streaking, wiggling reflections in their wake. It must be because it’s December that I was reminded of ribbon candy. It’s seldom raining here this close to Christmas. Usually at this time of year my thoughts are swirling with snowflakes.

But suddenly I found myself remembering ribbon candy, something I haven’t tasted, haven’t even thought of, in years. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t even like it any more. Yet, it was a seriously important part of my family’s Christmas tradition when I was a child. Each year my father bought one box.

As I recall, my father’s contribution to Christmas celebrations was minimal. Dad was serious, precise and liked routine. There was a right way to do everything; Christmas was messy and temporary. I think he tolerated the tree and candles and decorations primarily for my benefit. And, he always brought home one box of ribbon candy.

How is it that ribbon candy tastes different from other candy? It’s made from sugar, corn syrup and flavorings, the same as a thousand other candies. And yet, it is different. There’s something about the way those thin strips of hard sugar crunch, and the way the flavors of the stripes blend together.

Do the red and white ones really taste different from the green and white ones? Why are some of the ribbons shimmery, while others are in clear primary colors? How do they make those perfect squiggles?

Why did my father choose this as his contribution to the festivities? Was there some tradition from his childhood that he never shared? He was adopted when he was four by a hard-bitten, Irish immigrant farm couple. I doubt that there was much extravagance in that family. Why did I never think to ask him about any of his Christmas memories?

Yet, as I write this, I can see Dad smile as I tear the cellophane off that flat, rectangular box. Did he know that I silently cheered when he bought the big box, the one with two layers? We would set a date each year when the bottom layer could be uncovered, to make the treats last longer. The last broken crumbs were savored some time before New Year’s Day.

A long red and white ribbon of memories flowed down the road, beckoning me to follow, last night. Dad, if I never thanked you for the ribbon candy, I hope you can hear me now.

	See My Yearly Nativity Project
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Interesting Barns

2011-12-14T23:10:00.002-05:00

I had to work today, and it was raining all day. At least it wasn't pouring for most of the afternoon. The best things I saw were two interesting barns. First is one with an ogee roof. I actually saw several like this today.

They sent me to an area I'd never been to before. In fact, I don't think I'd ever been in one of the small towns.

Here's a round barn.

The day did not lend itself to exploring, and I just barely finished by dark. I can't complain about work for pay, but I got 26 assignments yesterday that have to be done by the 23rd! Time is going to be tight.


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Back to the Blackberry Lily

2011-12-13T23:07:00.003-05:00

I August, I showed you this lovely orange garden flower, the Blackberry Lily, Belamcanda chinensis. I teased you by saying that it's neither a blackberry nor a lily. True enough, but you might wonder how it got the name.

It's actually related to an iris, with flat, fanned, strap-like leaves. The leaves in the above picture are from a day lily (really a lily) that it's growing near. See the leaves of the Blackberry Lily in another picture from August, below (and a bud).

But we had to wait until recently to see why the "blackberry" got into the name. If you notice the green seed pod in the first picture, here's what happens after a couple of months. The pod splits open, and reveals the "berry." Of course, it's not edible, or botanically a berry at all. But it looks like one!


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West Shore Concert Choir

2011-12-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

One should never plan ahead too much, ya know? I AM telling you about the Christmas concert, and I got to see it yesterday. The "plan" was that I was going to see it again tonight, at a really pretty church. I went yesterday with my friend, Loren. Her husband, Dave, was one of the singers. Then I found out that the date for the next concert is tomorrow, not today, and I'm busy tomorrow night. But, I did get to see it once.

Today was not an ideal day. The paper route thing caught up with me and I felt awful, all day. That means tomorrow should be better!

Now, for the concert- There was a mixture of sacred and secular music. The director was Becky Sopha, who also directed the Flash Mob Hallelujah Chorus last year.

There was a good amount of variety for a choir event. One of the pieces was accompanied by an oboe, another of my favorite instruments.

A couple of smaller sub-groups of the choir sang, including these four ladies who call themselves "The Four Flakes."

I can't imagine that pictures of people standing still and singing are really engaging when you don't know the people and have no auditory memory of what they sang, so I'll stop with the images.

But you can be assured that I had a very good time, and am sorry that I can't catch the group a second time. Yes, it was that good.

I also liked spending the time with Dave and Loren. They are generally hiking friends, but we've done a few concerts and things together too.

OK... I'm taking my fuzzy head and weird stomach and going to bed.


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Moon Over the Courthouse

2011-12-11T21:46:00.001-05:00

I had an invitation to attend a Christmas Concert today, and I did go... it was great. But I'm saving that until tomorrow for reasons you will see then.

It was just getting light as I finished the paper route this morning, and the (one day short of) full moon was hanging above the clock tower on the Mason County Courthouse. I took a pile of pictures, and this one is tolerable. But I couldn't come close to capturing the real look. The moon was so bright that it "burned out" the photo, but if I upped the speed then the trees and sky were too dark.

Anyway... It was so pretty that I drove around the block to see it again and try to get a picture. Just one more day of paper route!

	See Moonsong in A See Decorating the Tree
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Almost, Maine by the Ludington Lakeside Civic Players

2011-12-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

Tonight I treated myself to a play by the Lakeside Civic Players. The group is young and small, and I didn't know this play at all. But I took a chance and the result was not disappointing.

The play is Almost, Maine, by John Cariani. It's sort of a cross between Escanaba in Da Moonlight and Lake Woebegone. It has no single plot, but consists of eleven scenes (nine are listed in the program, and two are surprises) that are each short vignettes about love. I thought it was both insightful and funny. A lot of the comedy is based on double meanings and deadpan interpretation of idioms, which generally cracks me up, particularly when someone "puts one over on me." I didn't see several of the jokes coming, so that really made me laugh.

It is quite a new play, written in 2006, and didn't do well in New York, but has been produced a lot around the country since then and is generally popular.

Just a few shots. The first one is from a scene in the laundry room of Ma Dudley's boarding house, entitled "This Hurts."

Next we have Man and Woman in "The Story of Hope."

This is Rhonda and Dave in "Seeing the Thing," which scene is particularly funny. It was a nice counterpoint to the ending.

And a nice satisfactory closing to a play about love. But, how we got here might not be as straightforward as it seems. Notice the Northern Lights playing in the "sky."

The production was well done. Sometimes, in the dialogue, it was hard to hear the exact words, but I could always figure out the gist of what was being said.

The set was simple and left a lot to the imagination, which is not to say that it was poorly done. Actually, I like plays staged this way.

I have some issues with the modern definitions of "love," which generally have nothing to do with commitment. Even so, for the most part, this was a meaningful play. If you ever have a chance to see Almost, Maine, I'd say "do it."

	See Flowers for Algernon
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My Yearly Nativity Project

2011-12-09T22:15:00.001-05:00

Om is the Christmas decorator around here. I have one duty that I still enjoy, and that is setting up the creche, the nativity scene. If you recall this explanation from last year, sorry, but new readers need to be clued in.

During my childhood it became a tradition to display the nativity set differently every year. I haven't succeeded every year. There have been some very minimalist displays on occasion, but I'm confident to say that I've come up with at least 45 different backdrops. There aren't pictures of most of them.

This set of figurines is very special to me because it comes from my mother's childhood (except for the dog and sheep).

So here's what I did this year (at NO cost, since I had some things left from last year): arrange floral foam and fasten it together.

Then I started gluing twigs and seed pods around the edges.

Along the back edges I glued those weird ailanthus stems.

This process took several days because I could only glue a few of those tall stalks on at one time and hold them in place until the glue dried. Then, I forgot to take pics of some intermediate steps, they they are pretty straightforward. When it was dry I took the whole thing outside and spray-painted it white.

Then I tacked up a green backdrop, and stuck in some winterberry in front of the white sprays. Then I added the figures and sprinkled it all with fake snow.

Well, it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but it's yet another format! This last picture didn't turn out the way I wanted either, but I can't spend any more time fooling with it, so here's a somewhat lame interpretation of "the Glory of the Lord shone round about them," with today's late afternoon sun.

The next three days will be an exercise in the reason for this blog. I have to do the paper route. We know how much I like that. My assignment is- and I do choose to accept it- to find something to be happy about each of those days.

I just felt the need to remind you that I feel crabby and miserable at least as often as you do. But this blog is about finding the good thing in each day, even if it's only one thing.

I'm off to bed to try to sleep. Alarm goes off at 3 am.

	See The Nativity Scene Goes Up
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Profiles of the Cautious

2011-12-08T23:32:00.002-05:00

I really was rushing on Tuesday to get all my assignments done before it got dark, but I managed a couple of stops for wildlife. First is the oh-so-common whitetail deer, but this one was less cautious than you might think, allowing me to get a nice closeup. Maybe she thought I would mistake her for a part of the tree!

This one is much more interesting to me. I thought I was going to be able to show you all three types of swans that we have together, but no such luck yet. This is one of the native ones, but after studying the pictures very carefully, I've decided this is another tundra swan, not a trumpeter. I always thought the trumpeters were more commonly seen than the tundras, but not in my pictures. I won't point out the differences until I have pictures that can show you.

Anyway... enjoy the majestic swimmer!

	See A Waterfowl Puzzle
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Watery Moods

2011-12-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of images in the dwindling light of yesterday afternoon. First is Portage Lake near Onekama. I love how the docks make orthogonal patterns and the ducks are like polka dots. The sun at the channel just makes it perfect.

But this one is my favorite. I finished my assignments just as the last light was fading, and I drove home mostly in the dark. The season for beaches has also faded. The blowing sands cover the benches and defy the fences which try to slow the drifting.

	See Ludington Beach in January
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Explosion? Fire? Foggy Valley?

2011-12-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

I was driving along a state highway today, and saw the space between the hills in the distance billowing with white.

What was going on? First, I thought my eyes were tricking me, but there was definitely something going on up ahead.

Have you figured it out yet? OK, just a little closer should help.

Yup, Crystal Mountain has begun making snow for the ski season. They can't turn on the machines until the weather stays below freezing. I can tell you that it was definitely cold enough today.

Here's one they must have turned on very recently. You can see that there is even green grass in the lower right, but the snow is starting to build up in front of the blower.

You get one more just because I like the way this one looks- a little art mixed with the game.

The joke is on me. I even know the ski area is on that road, but it took me longer than you might think to figure out what I was seeing. I do think it's weird to have a snowy hill in the middle of the not-yet-snow-covered landscape.

	See Trail Work Day
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Somebody Went to the Ocean, and All...

2011-12-05T23:22:00.004-05:00

... I got was to see a Horseshoe Crab shell. But that's OK. I'd never seen one in real life before.

I didn't realize how big they are! They also aren't really crabs. They are arthropods, closely related to spiders, but even more closely related to the extinct trilobites. This isn't my picture (it came from Miss Pegasus), but it shows what's under the shell of a live one.

There sure isn't much agreement on line about how many pairs of legs they have, but I think the correct answer is 6 pairs. They use the small ones for eating, the next set for mating, and the other 4 sets for walking.

The tail is very important because they can use it to turn over if they get flipped. So a horseshoe crab with a broken tail could be in serious trouble.

I hope I get to see one in real life sometime! I bet lots of you have seen them. They are found around the world, at the ocean.


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Wood on Water

2011-12-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

Today was gray; I did almost nothing and I have a stiff neck. So I bring you some assorted images from earlier in the week that I just like. Two are on the Little Manistee River, and the bleached root was on the Pere Marquette.

	See Color or No Color?
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Last Night and Today with the NCTA

2011-12-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

Friday evening I had the great pleasure of being part of a Christmas "party" (low-key) with North Country Trail Association board members, staff, and family. I'm not currently on the board, but I needed to be at the meeting today as chair of the Long Distance Hiking Committee, so I was invited.

These are people I know well, with whom I share common goals, and they also know me pretty well. That all adds up to being very comfortable with them, and having lots to talk about. (I run out of topics in "normal" company REALLY fast.) There were about 25 people there all together.

The host was the NCTA Executive Director (Bruce, in the green t-shirt). We could sample venison fondue, fish chowder, and wild turkey/mushroom soup over wild rice. And that was just the protein! There were lots of other goodies/munchies like crackers, vegs, cheese, spinach rolls, stuff to dip in chocolate fondue... in other words, food forever!

People left pretty early to go back to the motel, since meetings began early this morning. I stayed at Bruce's house.

I wasn't required to stay for the entire day, since I'm no longer an actual board member. So I only stuck around till mid-afternoon. Here are a few directors, looking serious.

My really big news of the day is that the policy presented by the Long Distance Hiking Committee was passed by the board! Now there are actual standards which NCT hikers will be expected to follow. If this interests you, read more at NCTA Board Approves End-to-End Hike/ Trip Policy.

It was a very quality day!


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A Lovely December Hike

2011-12-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

Who can believe it's December?! Ellen and I took a walk along the Pere Marquette River. I have to upload some photos fast and get out the door for Grand Rapids. Will schedule the post to show up in the evening as you are used to seeing. It was just one of those lovely bright days with cold air and sunshine. Who can resist the sparkle of sun on water? This white pine isn't the biggest I've seen, but it's not to be sneezed at! I hate these pics taken of people too close in, and struggling to get in the frame, but anyway... it proves we were there and having fun! I'm off to a party and meeting in G.R.- who knows what I'll share from that?


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An Unusual Squirrel

2011-12-01T23:43:00.000-05:00

I was out doing assignments today, and saw some waterways that interest me, but they all look pretty much the same when I show the pictures. I have a river "idea" for another time, but today I'll just show you the best find of the day.

I've never seen a squirrel like this one. It's clearly the black morph of the gray squirrel, but the color of its tail is not just a trick of the lighting. It really has a rusty-red tail. I'll be interested to hear if anyone has seen a similar squirrel.

I tried to get more pictures, but they all look basically the same, and this is the best.

	See Walking Around Tallman Lake
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Sharing a Sunset

2011-11-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

I'm too tired tonight to do anything meaningful. I'll share my view of the sunset that Chuck showed you also. We live a couple hundred miles apart, but the weather front that produced the sunset was the same one, I think.

No work today... that got pushed to tomorrow. I'm going to bed. Will answer comments tomorrow too


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Hamlin Lake

2011-11-30T00:36:00.001-05:00

... and arrived at Hamlin Lake Dam!

I'd been told that's where I would end up, but it was still awesome, because I'd never seen it from this side. Look sort of above Maggie along the far "shore" and you will see orange floats. Those are for safety, above the dam.

Now look the other way, up the lake. It looks narrow and smallish.

But it's not. Everything you see in these pictures is in Ludington State Park. But the Lake is not small at all. This end, very near the dam, narrows down, but here's a map to give you perspective. Check out the mileage legend. The big blue space to the left is Lake Michigan, of course. The dam is located at number 3.

So, before we go any farther, let me show you the dam. Think about the size of this lake. It covers 4992 acres (surface area), and has a maximum depth of 78 feet. That's a pretty big lake. Now take a look at the dam.

Too bad there was no one else there so I could put a person in for perspective. The dam is only about 8 feet tall, yet it creates that huge lake! Isn't water amazing? It was built during the logging era (about 1900) to create the lake for floating logs. The dammed river is the Big Sable.

OK... what are all those numbers on the map? I thought I'd show you where some of my other adventures have been.

Point 1: Big Sable Lighthouse- Two Lighthouses and a Trail

Points 2-3: Yesterday's hike- A New Trail to...", and A Day for Friends (the posed picture at the end was taken on the other side of Hamlin Dam)

Points 4-5: Where I swam across the lake in August- So Slow, But Undaunted

Point 6: Where the Big Sable River enters the lake. I don't have a picture from that exact location, but it's been featured upstream in Interesting Intersection but No Train and Cinq Rivieres

Point 7 (and surroundings): Nordhouse Dunes, where you've seen many adventures- Ellen and Joan Find Treasures at Nordhouse, or Ducks of the Day (on the little round lake to the right of the 7), or A Tale of Nor-Dunes

Point 8: Victory Park- Orange, location of the Orange Mist cooler in the woods

Point 9: The end of Larch Drive- Overheard on Hamlin Lake

That's plenty of info for one day, but I thought it would put some perspective on some of the adventures where I've dragged you along! Work day tomorrow- who knows what I'll find?


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A New Trail to...

2011-11-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

In one of those strange coincidences of life a few weeks ago I was trying to turn into the driveway of a house to do a work survey, and an acquaintance was trying to turn into a parking space that was directly opposite. Of course we asked each other what we were doing, and thus I learned that there is a small trailhead there.

Today, Maggie and I went to check out the trail. It begins by going through a beech-hemlock forest.

Next we passed behind some really large sand dunes (look beyond the trees)

It shouldn't have been a surprise, but there is a whole string of little ponds on the inland side of those dunes. I didn't know any of this was here!

The trail continued, pretty much on the level, for about two miles. Then, we climbed up a valley to pass over another ridge of dunes,

and arrived at.... sorry, come back tomorrow.


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Rainy Day Flight Plan

2011-11-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

Despite the rain, Maggie and I at least took our little walks around my kingdom. It wasn't pouring, just dreary wet. As we were passing through the apple orchard I heard odd noises from the sky. You may recall that audio input is my weakest sense. My hearing is fine, actually very good, but I don't seem to remember things I hear as well as things I see.

But I knew it wasn't Canada geese. They honk discordantly. I knew it wasn't sandhill cranes. They rattle. Then I saw them.

They were quite high up, but I was pretty sure I knew what they were. See how long the necks are? Not geese. See how straight the necks are? Not herons.

The sound I heard is a sort of honk, but not just noisy like geese. It's a higher pitch, and not such a continuous blast of noise.

Now you can see how the wings are curved when they make a flight stroke.

Well, when I looked at the pix on the computer, and could blow them up, my suspicion was confirmed. These are trumpeter swans.

You can hear how they sound at the Cornell Ornithology Lab

I love these birds, much more than the mute swans, because these are native to North America. Links below to other encounters with trumpeter swans.

	See A Waterfowl Puzzle See Kayaking on November 21
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The Ivy-Covered Window

2011-11-26T22:42:00.001-05:00

I've been saving this picture since late summer. I think it looks as if it came straight out of a fairy tale. Just for fun, I played with it a little bit. Nothing drastic, but just some subtle changes to make it a little mystical. Which one do you like best? The first one is the original.

Rain all day. I was on the computer getting the formatting done on News from Dead Mule Swamp. All day. Tomorrow needs a bit more activity in it. I decree it to be!

Sorry... I just had to add one more!

	See Just WOW in Blue and White
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Pine Valley Pathway Again

2011-11-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

I'm just so NOT in tune with cultural normalcy. Forget the stores; I spent my Black Friday in the woods. It was warm (about 50F) and sunny. Maggie and I both donned blaze orange and headed for Pine Valley Pathway again to hike the inner loop.

We saw nothing unique. I was going to say "nothing amazing," but we did see amazing things... the natural world simply IS amazing.

I liked the sun on the white pine needles... like stars in the tree! (Christmas lights?)

Lost Lake showed a different character today. Instead of being sparkly, it was pensive.

But here's my favorite. Is this a green fried moss egg? An alien spaceship that has landed? Maybe it's a wooded hill atop a palisaded plateau. Don't you just want to know what's under that hump?

P.S. Facebook can be sort of awesome (I can't believe I am admitting that). I stumbled across a fellow from the town and church I grew up in. He is a few years younger than I am, but he's now the Pastor of Ministries at LifePoint Church in Reisterstown, MD. Check out his blog if you think you might be interested. A Leader's View.

We have done a bit of back and forth catching up. A few years age difference seemed really a big deal in high school. Now, not so much!

	See Hiking at Pine Valley Pathway
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Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

We were invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with our new (since summer) pastor and family, and their neighbors. I was nice to have somewhere to go. Most of the pictures I took are terrible, but you get the idea. I'm sure it looks pretty much like T-day looked at your house too!

The pastor is at the far end of the table.

	See And a Wonderful Meal it Was 2010 See A Quiet Thanksgiving 2009 See We Were Loud 2008
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Watery Patterns

2011-11-23T23:23:00.001-05:00

Maggie and I went for a little walk at Scottville Riverside Park, but I wasn't very impressed with any of the pictures I brought home, so I decided to just have fun. Images... compliments of the physics of water. Enhancements... compliments of Paint Shop Pro.

	See More Textures
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Overheard on Hamlin Lake

2011-11-22T23:10:00.000-05:00

It's a gray day in the Hamlin Lake neighborhoods

Coralee is really out of sorts because Hank doesn't want to take her out for Thanksgiving. He'd rather have homemade corn bread.

"Coralee, really, wait for me. I didn't mean it the way you think I did. I just was trying to tell you how much I love your cornbread, but if you want to swim over to the Middle Bayou for escargot, I have no problem with that."

"Hank you handsome devil, you! Let's start now. It's a long paddle."

Meanwhile, under the bridge at Drake and Hettie's digs... "Honestly, Hank and Coralee have gotten quite uppity lately. The snails here are just as lovely."

"Yes, dear."


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Vistas, Lakes and Who's Looking

2011-11-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today was a work day. I had a lot of places to go, and a lot of miles to drive. I had assignments pretty far north. They've been sending me out of my actual area. Works for me, as long as they keep paying mileage! And, I get to see new places.

The drawback for you may be that vistas and lakes all look pretty much alike. But I enjoyed them, so I hope you will too. The area north of me is actually a bit hillier than right where I live. I think these views show that pretty well.

The first one is on Marilla Road, north of Brethren, looking north.

And the second vista is on Faylor Road north of Copemish. I'd never been on that road before. The view is looking west, and the hills (stabilized sand dunes- as are all of our hills) in the distance are a row of dunes that flank the lakes you are about to see next. Then there are more dunes between those lakes and Lake Michigan.

Once you get west of those hills there are several large lakes, and a bunch of small ones "trapped" between the dune hills. This one is Little Platte Lake, not one of the tiny ones, but not huge, either.

The largest lake in that area is Crystal Lake. This view kind of shows that, looking down the lake (west). You can see that it is quite long. Vacation towns that ring it are Frankfort, Benzonia, and Beulah.

So, that's what I was watching. But who was watching me? This little guy...

But I like this one best!

Hope you enjoyed the views, and maybe a little explanation keeps them from looking all alike.

	See More Vistas See Sauble
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Flowers for Algernon

2011-11-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

Last night Om and I went to the local high school production of Flowers for Algernon. It's a pretty heavy play. The plot follows a young man of low intelligence who becomes the subject of a medical experiment. (It's set in the early 1950s) The operation has been performed on mice, most recently one named Algernon, and has been a huge success. They have received permission to test it on a human.

After surgery, Charley begins to get smarter and smarter. He becomes more aware of his social status. He had previously believed that everyone liked him, and he now learns that people have always made fun of him. With all the changes happening in his life now, he's still an easy mark for ridicule.

His intelligence continues to grow, and he eventually reaches genius level. However, the mouse, Algernon is showing symptoms that are alarming. When Algernon dies, Charley knows that his time as a "normal" person is short.

This is a serious play, more often staged by colleges. However, the teens did an excellent job last night. I would say that the five major players were as good as I would expect of college theater, and the boy who played Charley was outstanding. We went because he is the son of a friend, but he really did a great job.

If you ever have a chance to see this play, I highly recommend it.

	See Oklahoma!
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Hike at Orchard Beach State Park

2011-11-19T23:54:00.001-05:00

Today was the monthly hike for the Spirit of the Woods trail club. There were just three of us and four dogs! We hiked the Nature Loop at Orchard Beach State Park in Manistee. This was our choice because we wanted a place where hunting is not allowed. You can see that we are being pretty careful to be visible anyway.

This is a place I've featured often, because it's where the wonderful tulip tree is found. And you aren't going to get out of seeing it this time. All the leaves are gone, revealing the opened seed pods decorating the upper half.

There weren't any botanical surprises today... you'll have to settle for the beauty of familiar things. This is some shelf fungus on a dead beech tree.

Finally, another familiar plant, but I'm not sure I've shown it before. This is northern ground pine. It's a lycopodium (club moss). The taxonomy for this family is in complete chaos. DNA testing has thrown everything on its head, but these plants were always confusing anyway. So, this one is currently Diphasiastrum complanatum. It may stay put, because it's one of the most common. It looks like little Christmas Trees... a timely plant.

Loren took a few tulip seed pods home to decorate a wreath. I took pictures. Ellen took memories of another good hike.

P.S. You can enter to win a copy of News from Dead Mule Swamp. Complete rules at Shark Bytes and Tales.

	See Revisiting the Tulip Tree
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Color in the Right Place!

2011-11-18T23:06:00.000-05:00

I wasn't sure what I was going to share today, but then I made a quick run to the grocery store. When I came back in the driveway something was changing the color of the tops of the white pines.

See how orange they look? That's called alpenglow (just in case you don't know). And what causes it? What else...

Another busy day, but I think there will be something interesting happening tomorrow.


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Color in the Wrong Place?

2011-11-17T23:28:00.000-05:00

I took these pictures a couple of days ago, but I'm enjoying them today. I worked really hard and got the second revision of News from Dead Mule Swamp done! Way too much sitting, but I'm on track with my goal to release it in e-format on Dec 1. Stay tuned for a contest to win a free copy.

Here's the sunset on Nov 15. Yes, this is a color picture. But where's the color?

Meanwhile, while all the weeds have gone to gray and brown, this goldenrod is just being a rebel and hanging on to some beautifully shaded colors. Those are just the leaves... almost looks like a poinsettia.


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On the Wing

2011-11-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Just some more feathered friends today.

Here's my private murmuration of starlings. Not a very large one, and they weren't in a tight formation, but hey... what I see is what you get.

And, as I was walking Maggie today, I disturbed my red-tail hawk. I hoped it would fly out over the field, but it didn't care about my picture taking wishes. I did catch one shot.

Cold and windy here today and getting colder tonight.

	See My Kingdom Today for another hawk picture
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The Guilty Party

2011-11-15T23:33:00.002-05:00

This is not going to be a very inspired post, but I've been very busy today and very frustrated at trying to complete a report for my job. I'm having to watch the training videos to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and they are loading slowly. And it was the first day of hunting season, and Om let some friends hunt on our property, so Maggie and I didn't get a walk, and I had errands to run, and... but this blog is not supposed to be about that stuff. Everyone's days are like that.

This blog is supposed to be about the good thing(s) that bring me a smile or put a little wind beneath my wings.

So here's my smile for today. As I was working this morning, I was picking the XX-thousandth red dog hair out of my keyboard. I'm trying hard to keep it from getting clogged too fast. On a whim, I put the following phrase on FB:
"Why is my new(ish) computer keyboard already full of red dog hairs?"

By far, the best response I got was from a friend named Angie. She says:
"Perhaps you should restrict said puppy's Facebook time"

I know you know the guilty party!

To compare, here's Maggie when she was just a year old.

	See Maggie's Tips for a Holiday Weekend See It's For You
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Backyard Birds

2011-11-15T00:45:00.000-05:00

Today was gray, but warm and the wind was calm. Perhaps that combination made the birds more willing to pose. I caught all of these pictures today except for the bluebird (obviously... blue sky!) They aren't great shots, but it was fun to see what I "caught" when I looked at the files. The dove was easy to tell, but I wasn't sure of any of the others until I could blow the picture up on the computer. Digital birdwatching!

I'll do the bluebird first- it's the best picture. It's also the bird most featured on this blog, definitely because I like the little charmers so much.

All of these birds are common, and will also stay here all winter. Next up is the purple finch. I featured a much better picture of this bird another time (see link below), but I am happy to just see such a variety of feathered friends today.

Next up is a male goldfinch in his winter colors- much more drab than summer. I could see a hint of the yellow, and suspected that's what this one might be, but he sure was hiding in those branches.

This little bird, gray on top and white underneath with a pink bill, is a junco. They are common in winter and spend most of their time near the ground.

Finally, another very common bird, but I haven't featured it before. Lots of people really like the mourning doves, but somehow they don't appeal to me very much. A few of them hang around all year too. With the heat and food from the grain elevator they have all they need.

Supposed to be sunny tomorrow, but it's also the first day of gun-deer season. My outdoor activities are going to be limited to hanging out a load of laundry, I think.

	See More Firsts this Year for the purple finch See Cuyler Hill to Paradise Hill for a male goldfinch
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Pine Valley Pathway Part 2

2011-11-13T23:07:00.001-05:00

Today was still warm, but very windy and very gray. The memories from yesterday are strong and bright

Pine Valley Pathway circles a small lake called Lost Lake (no relation to the one at Ludington State Park). Sun on water is impossible to beat.

If you walk quickly with only a goal to hike a lot of miles, it's likely you'll only see brown woods and the lake. But with just a little more attention, lots of interesting things can be found.

This is an aging polypore fungus, probably turkeytail.

How about another red oak leaf- actually showing some red.

Don't forget to look up. I can't decide if this looks like winged victory or a viking helmet. I was wishing for a hawk to come sit on it, but that didn't work. (Chuckle)

Finally, a tiny blossom. The witch hazel bushes bloom in the fall. Don't these little flowers look like like they were made from shredded paper?

Lots of goofing off today. I think I have to get busy again tomorrow!

	See Hiking at Pine Valley Pathway
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Hiking at Pine Valley Pathway

2011-11-12T22:44:00.000-05:00

I had a whole lot of things I needed to get done today, but because the weather was supposed to be nice I really wanted to go hiking. So, I spent the morning scrambling like crazy, to be able to get enough done that I could head to the woods after lunch.

My big goal was to visit Pine Valley Pathway, in the Pere Marquette State Forest near Luther. I'm pretty sure I was there once about 20 years ago, but had completely forgotten that it was fairly close by.

These trails are for hiking and skiing. This shot looks just like a thousand others in the brown woods, but they are all great when I get to walk them.

I love to look for the little secret details that are still beautiful. Here are some raspberry leaves, turned toward the sun. Yes, the sun came out! It was in the high 50s, and I was hiking in shirtsleeves.

The trails wander through some gentle hills. I think I would be able to ski even the one marked difficult. At the southern end, the trail turns past a small wetland. You can see open water out there in the cattails.

I just like this:

We hiked about 7 miles, and made it home before dark to get the clothes off the line. Then I made Butternut- Garbanzo Bean Soup. It's quite good.

I think you'll see more of Pine Valley Pathway tomorrow.

	See Trail Work Day
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Today's Laugh Out Loud Story

2011-11-11T23:21:00.001-05:00

I had just three assignments to finish up for this week. They were spread out pretty far, and two were in areas where I don't know the roads yet.

I needed to get to 142nd Ave. Now that may sound like a really fancy street name, but in Oceana county all the N-S roads are avenues, from 0 at Lake Michigan (no ocean) to 204th on the east edge. So 142nd was marked on the map as a dirt road, not a very good dirt road, and it doesn't connect through to M-20, the road I was taking from west to east. So I turned south on 154th and then west again on Garfield, which was paved. Then I jogged south on 144th, which was dirt, but the map indicated that if I turned west in a mile on Arthur there was a bridge over the White River.

So far so good. I may have mentioned somewhere in the past that there are so many rivers here that they are usually the real issue in getting "from here to there." Many, many roads do not have bridges. Might I mention that many maps that show bridges on certain road are lying? However, the bridge on Arthur is real.

Then I jogged south on 144th. I needed to just go one mile to Cleveland and take a west over to 142nd and I'd be home free. Well, 144th did not look too promising, except that the map promised that it went through. It was posted as seasonal. At this time of year, that might not mean much. It certainly means it's not plowed in the winter, but otherwise it might be anything from a decent, but narrow, dirt road, to a deeply rutted horror that even I am not willing to drive.

To be honest, 144th was not great. Remember, we've just had three days of rain, and two of those days were solid, pouring rain. Puddles like these are not good. They could be 6 inches deep, or two feet. But I made it through the first set by hugging the edge. I could see that others have been driving the road, so... it was only a mile, right?

After about half a mile... more of the unknown puddles.

Only the last one of that set was really deeper than I felt good about driving through. But now, I was through it, right? And I only have to go one little mile all together.

Then the road narrowed even more. There were no more dirt tracks. (Yes that's a road, not a trail.) There were no more little turnouts where one could get out of the way if another car was coming. I'd now driven a little more than a mile, and things were not looking so promising.

At 1.3 miles, the road ended in a little turnaround at a deep, narrow gully containing Bear Creek. No bridge, no turn onto Cleveland. Guess what was there...

Another 1998, green Subaru Forester! You just can't beat a Forester! We are irrepressible! I shook my head. And I laughed! I laughed out loud for perhaps five minutes. (But what are the chances I'd find a twin on a road like this? And where did they put the kayaks that were on that fancy rack? Is there a trail over to the White River?)

I parked, got out to look at Bear Creek (a lovely place to visit some other time, I think), and then drove back through all the puddles again, and went several extra miles west so that I could come in to 142nd Ave from the other direction.


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Choose Your Weather

2011-11-10T22:49:00.000-05:00

I was out all day doing assignments. I should have taken gloves! O well. I left home in a light drizzle. Before I finished my first two cases it was snowing so hard the visibility was very bad. That didn't last- I didn't even get a picture to show you because I was rushed to make an appointment.

But the ducks don't seem to mind the cold. Here's a common mallard male, but I managed to catch him flying.

A few hours later, I was out at a cottage on Lake Michigan. It was brutally cold with a wind sailing right up the bluff and trying to peel my skin off. However, it was sunny!

At the same place, I found this nifty yellow fungus. I tried to get a super close-up, but I was apparently shivering too much to hold the camera still enough for that tight of a shot- they are all blurry. But here's the long view.

Up close it is little dimpled dots. No time to figure out what. I have to go out on more cases tomorrow, because it got dark on me today. I did my second ever high-value survey on a $1.2 million dollar house. Took 2 hours!

But cases = money = new tires which I need, so I won't complain.

That's what I did today.


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The Quintessential November Day

2011-11-09T23:41:00.000-05:00

Emily Dickinson wrote:

I like the fall, the mist and all
I like the night owl's lonely call
And wailing sound
Of wind around.

I like the gray November day
And bare dead boughs that coldly sway
Against my pane.
I like the rain.

Today was cold, rainy and gray. The good part was that it wasn't pouring buckets the way it was yesterday, because I had to go out and do assignments.

The water was lead gray

Wind rattled the trees, and pushed corn leaves horizontal from the stalks.

But, despite the gray, there is always a bright spot (winterberry and cattails).

Emily liked the fall, but not quite the way it sounded in the first verses above. She finished the poem:

I like to sit and laugh at it
And tend my cozy fire a bit.
I like the fall
The mist and all.

	See Michigan Holly
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News from Dead Mule Swamp

2011-11-08T23:35:00.001-05:00

This is going to be sort of like double posting, if you also read my author blog Shark Bytes and Tales. But I'm just too hyped to keep the parts of my life separated into different blogs at the moment.

I finished my first-ever mystery novel. OK... it's really a novella, because the length came in shorter than a full novel. Whatever. But, this short length is really not the standard, these days.

It's with a couple of beta readers right now, and I expect there will be a bit of extra development of some scenes, but not enough to double its length.

I'm hoping to have it out as an ebook by the end of the month, and am looking into options for print copies.

If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you'd pop over to Shark Bytes and Tales and answer the very short poll at the top.

It will help me make some choices about what I do next in terms of making it available for purchase.


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More About the Tamarack

2011-11-07T23:59:00.001-05:00

Chuck says he likes tree ID, so that's what you get today. I've been saving these pix to do this anyway. This is sometimes called Tamarack, sometimes Larch. The European larch is not the same as this one, although they are both Larix. This one is Larix laricina. Note the fuzzy look and conical shape (although sometimes they just look oddly shaped).

The soft needles grow in tufts all along the branches, and even the main stem.

But, as you saw yesterday, they turn yellow in the fall and then all the needles come down for the winter. I'll try to get some pictures in the spring. There is hardly a softer green possible than a regenerating tamarack.

They grow in acid, wet soil... bogs.

Tonight I made a gallon of apple cider. Yum!

	See Fresh Apple Cider- No Press Needed
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Top Commenters for October

2011-11-06T22:55:00.001-05:00

Here is some beautiful tamarack or larch in the fall. It's the northern conifer that loses its needles each year. They turn bright gold before they come down.

Here are the top commenters for September. You are so faithful!

There were 44 different people who left messages in August, and a total of 217 separate comments (not counting my own responses to them).

The top 10 commenters for September are:

Ann's Snap & Edit (Ann- 31 comments)- Ann plays with photos and paper strips (quilling)
Secondary Roads (Chuck- 30 comments)- Chuck blogs from a country home
Carmen's Chronicles (Carmen- 23 comments)- Carmen is still getting ready for a trip to India.
The Joys of Simple Life (Betchai- 16 comments) great hikes in the US west.
Duck & Wheel with String (Lin- 14 comments)- Lin is putting the pond to sleep for winter, tied with
Don't Unplug Your Hub (John- 14 comments)- who can make you laugh or cry
My Journey (rainfield61- 12 comments)- ladybugs and spiders and more
String Too Short to Tie (David (vanilla)- 10 comments)- a retired Hoosier with opinions.
My SIL Loretta came in next with 8 comments, but she doesn't have a blog.
The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life (Jean- 8 comments)- many feathered visitors in her yard.

The small banner in the sidebar for a month is just a tiny way to say thanks for sharing your thoughts. Anyone who comments here is in the running!


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Green and Gold

2011-11-05T22:38:00.000-04:00

These are three un-retouched photos from the last couple of days. I think the colors are pretty amazing. Big announcement at the end.

The late afternoon sun just catches every golden leaf that still clings to the trees.

The quality of the next picture was totally unexpected. I thought it was going to be a discard. I was trying to get the camera to focus on the gold beech leaves. And I did get one picture of that, but somehow this one is more stunning.

This one is my favorite, because the colors seem so unusual for fall. I actually turned around and went back to get this picture. As I drove by the black and green just flashed in my head, and I had to go back and see what it really looked like.

I think I'm just overdosing on color this fall!

OK... here it comes. The first draft of News from Dead Mule Swamp is done! It's gone to beta readers/editors, and I hope to have it available as an e-book by the end of the month.

	See What a Glorious Day
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Color or No Color?

2011-11-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

You would think that with all the wonderful colors I'd be still showing you those every day. Instead, I think today I'll take out the color (almost).

We'll start at a backwater of the Pere Marquette River.

This next picture didn't have very much contrast in color. Miss Black Squirrel was trying to blend into the fall landscape and was succeeding better than you might expect. But look what happened when I faded out the colors of the leaves.

OK, I admit to playing with this one a little bit. But not much. This picture is actually what gave me the whole idea. The morning was frosty, and the sunrise lit up the aspen trees in the back yard that are holding on to their leaves. There was hardly any color in the picture except the gold, so I went ahead and took the rest of it out.

I'm pretty sure I'll be back to color tomorrow!

	See My Low-Budget Black Taco Ad
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Picasso in the Woods

2011-11-03T21:28:00.000-04:00

Long day... I'm going to bed. But, I discovered that a long-lost Picasso masterpiece has been lurking in the woods.

What? You aren't seeing it? Well, the color has faded over the years. Let me see if I can do some restoration.

See ya!


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More from Yesterday

2011-11-02T23:35:00.001-04:00

Glad I have more pics from yesterday to share. It was gray and drizzly all day today, and I worked inside all day. Best event is an apple pie! Yum.

Here is one of those odd earth stars. They are supposed to be very common, but I don't find them very often.

I crossed and re-crossed the Manistee River quite a few times. But this is the view from one person's back yard.

I haven't had time to track down exactly what kind of fungus these little yellow fingers are, but I think they are cute.

But I love the oak leaves in the sun. This is red oak.

Tomorrow is another work day with 10 more cases, a lot of travel, and one of them is a kind of survey I've never done before. Will try to come home with some nice stuff to share. It's supposed to at least not rain where I'm going. Not sure about sun, though.

I just finished processing the last of the cases from Tuesday, but I DID get that pie made today.

I'm trying hard to get News from Dead Mule Swamp done in the next 3 days. I got one more chapter done today, but there are several to go.

Just way too busy this week.


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What a Glorious Day!

2011-11-02T00:01:00.000-04:00

Wow! The only thing that could have made this day better would have been if I'd been seeing all this on foot instead of in the car, but then I probably wouldn't have seen such a variety of things. I'm going to be conservative and only show you five pictures today, but be prepared for more another day.

The temperature warmed to just over 60, the sun shone, I had no trouble finding all but one of the places I had to go. For starters, I had to start before lunch, so I packed a sandwich and ate at a little park on the Lake Michigan Shore. It was not yet sunny enough for bright blue water, but there's an appeal to the big lake, any day.

On All Saints Day, those witches just can't turn everything black. This is a different kind of witch's butter, a golden one.

Don't care for slimy? How about fluffy? This is little bluestem grass, gone to seed, with the sun shining through it.

This one should be more familiar. It's a landscape plant, and was at one of the homes I surveyed. The color is just stunning- a Japanese Maple.

Finally, just a typical northwoods image for fall- the omnipresent acorn cap. But I think it managed to arrange itself quite artistically.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain hard, so I'm going to wait till Thursday to work again, in hopes of staying dryer. Maybe I'll be able to do some serious writing. I'm almost done with News from Dead Mule Swamp. If you are interested you can "Like" the Anastasia Raven Mysteries Fan Page.

I'll be running a contest for a free copy, soon.

Again... what a glorious day!


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All I Have to Say Is...

2011-10-31T21:07:00.000-04:00


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What Happened to the Twins?

2011-10-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

Do you remember the twins? They were featured in July, as Twin Trouble. I think it's interesting, because these two deer are easy to tell apart. One is smaller, and has a narrower nose. When they were young, their spots were different, too.

Here's what they looked like on August 20. They are still smaller than mom.

They are still hanging around, but now they are as big as their mother (she's not in the picture with them), and they've all put on their darker winter coats. This morning was frosty, and they really stood out against the white, but they quickly faded into the trees. They are now more wary, as well they should be in the fall.

	See Twin Trouble
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Black Witch's Butter

2011-10-29T23:37:00.000-04:00

I bring you a legend for Halloween. Nah... I don't like Halloween very much, but I did see this fungus yesterday, and its common name is black witch's butter. It's Exida nigricans.

If you find some fungus on rotting limbs that looks like raisins on a stick, you've probably found it.

It's a jelly fungus. It looks slimy, but it's not, just soft and flabby. Actually, now that they do DNA testing it is turning out that the whole genus of Exida is artificial. That means it's only based on appearances, and doesn't have any validity at all. However, what's going to be done about it hasn't been settled yet. Remember, I'm not a fungus expert. I'm just telling you what I read.

I think the reason for its common name may interest you more. This fungus grows in all northern climates around the globe. The European legends say that witches would milk the cows at night and then spill globs of butter out of the pails. In Sweden, it is known as Troll smör with a similar story.

I am going to be extra busy this coming week. I have a lot of work assignments, web site work, and things to write. If you don't see me visiting your blogs, I'll get there soon. Thanks for your faithful reading!


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Ellen and Joan Work and Walk at Crystal Valley

2011-10-28T23:51:00.000-04:00

The morning was wet and cold, with ice on the windshield that had to be scraped. But Ellen and I had plans to be outside, so we weren't going to be deterred by that. We decided to go to Crystal Valley Ski Area, and do some cleanup on the trails.

She's an avid skier (I'm only mediocre), and belongs to the association that maintains those trails. So we pulled limbs and sticks out of Loop 4. Clearing them makes it easier for the groomer, and a smoother surface. Even if there is a lot of snow, loose branches have a way of working up or twisting up to trip a skier.

By noon, the sun had come out and the woods was really pretty. It was seriously difficult to pick just a few pictures. You can see how many leaves have fallen, and yet, there are still occasional trees like this one.

Frankly, when the sun shines, even the less bright leaves are outstanding. Here are some white oak.

I leave you with the find of the season... the largest red oak leaf I've seen this year, maybe ever. Ellen will model it for you.

In addition to cleaning Loop 4, we walked Loop 5. It's not completed yet, but is all flagged, so we could follow it. All together, we hiked more than 6 miles.

	See It's the Oak's Turn
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Colors are Still With Us

2011-10-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

Every time I think the fall colors are all gone, I find another surprise. Today was a work day, and I was trying to stay ahead of a big black cloud (and pretty much did), but the sun shining around the dark cloud made the hills near Luther very dramatic.

They really need a panoramic view, but then the picture would be very narrow.

The sun through the remaining bright leaves does jeweled magic. There were water drops on these leaves that sparkled, but they didn't show in the picture.

	See Indian Summer 2011
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Michigan Holly

2011-10-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

You have to love this plant. When everything else is turning brown and dull, the winterberry turns on the red.

It's a shrub, also known as Michigan Holly. Indeed, it is a real holly, Ilex verticillata. It will keep the red berries all winter, so it really stands out against the snow.

Happy Day!


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My Problem Fades to Insignificance

2011-10-25T23:28:00.000-04:00

Someone gave us this bad boy this week. It's not that I'm ungrateful. We have to find turkeys from the farm since Om had his heart attack, because the commercial ones are pumped full of saline. So I was thrilled when Joshua said that a friend of his was going to give us a turkey.

I hope I exuded proper gratitude when they brought it by. But, frankly, my reaction was, "How the heck am I going to cook this thing? I'm not sure it will fit in the freezer, let alone the oven. And the roasting pan? Not a chance."

It tips the scales at 30 pounds, dressed, no giblets. So I shuffled the freezer and got it to fit.

Tonight at my writing group, Betsy, who has a farm said, "We decided to raise some turkeys this year, but I guess we weren't paying enough attention when we bought the chicks because they turned out not to be the usual domestic turkeys. So they got a little big. The one we dressed out today weighs 39 pounds."

I think Betsy and I will be looking for recipes that let you cut the turkey up before you cook it!

I thought I was going to show you a picture of one of my turkeys, but I guess I haven't fixed one since I started this blog. (and I don't feel like hunting through old files to find one) The boys don't like turkey, and it's a bit much for two of us, but somebody is going to have to eat a lot of fowl this year!


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In Honor of Rupert

2011-10-24T23:33:00.000-04:00

If you've been a long-time visitor of this blog, you've heard me mention a friend from New York named Elaine. She's had a canary named Rupert for almost 20 years. I'm sure you know what comes next. Rupert died two weeks ago. Elaine is sure that Rupert understood almost everything she said to him, and who am I to argue? The first picture is Rupert in 2001.

Here is Elaine, talking with Rupert, also in 2001 (don't ask how much we've aged in 10 years).

Rupert was very calm and tame. He was pretty much free to come and go from his cage as he wished. Here he is in 2009

Elaine has a new canary named Robbie, and she's trying really hard to focus on training him while working through the loss of Rupert.

She sent me the link to this video. It's not Rupert, but she says this canary's song is just like his. I didn't realize that canaries had different tunes, but I guess they do. If you are so inclined, listen to a canary sing, and think of my friend, Elaine. She's really hurting.

	See Buttermilk Falls for a walk with Elaine
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