15 Miles!

  This photo is from later in the hike, but I love the way the sun on old beech leaves makes the trail glow!

Today I connected with the hike from March 23, and I had a personal challenge goal. Yup, I hiked 15 miles. 15.8 to be exact. What I did was in two sections. First I went east from 58th St to connect with the Coolbough Natural Area trail from a previous hike. This took me across Bigelow Creek. Out and back, this walk was only 2.6 miles.

I passed through the area where there was an active fire when our group hike went through in 2017. I never did blog about that hike. But the firefighters let us walk through since the area actually burning had moved somewhat north. Here's a photo from the day of the fire.

And here's what that area looks like today. Just some charring of the bark on the trees.

Then I made notes on a little road section- would be pleasant enough to walk- a little-used dirt road. After that, it was time to get serious. I parked the car and planned to walk north for 6.25 miles before turning around. I am saving some pictures for another day. But this is very interesting to me. There are some unusual wetlands in here, with a big interpretive sign. I'll probably tell you more about them later. I may have to come back and look for plants.

I'll share a couple of closeups. Since I was about 30 miles south of my own latitude, I thought I might see some hepatica or bloodroot in bloom. Nope- probably just not the right habitat. However, the trailing arbutus is trying hard to open those buds. Dang! Who knew it would be such a chore.

The cute little chickadees often keep me company, but they get shy when you try to catch a picture. Well... this one wasn't looking at me, but at least it's in focus.

I walked to just north of this unnamed tributary of Coonskin Creek. I thought there was going to be a 2-track road for a milestone. Maps show an extension of 14th St crossing the trail, so I thought there might at least be an old woods road. But nope. So I walked far enough to be sure I would have crossed it, and then turned around. I stopped on the bridge on the way back for a rest and a snack. Nice place!

This is the best picture on the return trip as the sun was starting to slip toward the horizon. I just liked the layer of last year's oak leaves hanging on in the understory. The sky tried to sprinkle on me, but not even enough to put the electronics away.

I got back to the car at 5:02, and made a beeline for a convenience store and a cold drink! Wonderful day. I'm not even sore in any specific place- just general long-hike stiffness, and tired. Feet and knees are fine!

There is no other news at all, except to say that we are supposed to get several days of rain, and I'm saving some more pics from today to show you.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 179

North Country Trail Newaygo County, MI. East from 58th St 1.3 miles and return, NCT north from Twinwood Lakes to latitude of 14th St and return. Total 15.8 miles.

See Croton to Coolbough

Birds of the Week

 
It's a sure sign that spring is on its way when the bird activity begins to pick up. I've seen quite a few in the last several days. Catching pictures of them is another matter.

Here's the best capture. There were a pair of purple finches in these spruce trees. This is the male.



The robins are here.



And the chickadees never left, but they are happy.



This shot isn't focused very well, but it shows how light-colored the red-tail hawk can be on the underside. I actually thought it might be a northern harrier until I blew the picture up on the computer.



I've also seen cardinals and blue jays, both of which were here all winter, red-wing blackbirds, sparrows and other LBBs (little brown birds), and most glorious of all... a bluebird. Some ducks flew over yesterday, and I've heard the sandhill cranes.

Still working hard on The ABZ Affair. I MAY have it done tonight.

	See Purple Finch 2010
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Small Stuff

 
Took a little walk today in the cemetery. Looking for anything that isn't brown and gray. March is my least favorite month, as you know!

The moss is making an effort to continue its existence.



Yucca plants have a curly tale to tell. This really should have been in the curlique post, but I wasn't willing to ski through the cemetery to get the picture.



Patterns on the water are always interesting.



Saw the first robins of the year, and caught a shot of a happy little chickadee.



I'm working as hard as I can on book formatting. Still a long way to go on The ABZ Affair. Work at the paper tonight of course.

	See The Cute and the Sad See Curlique
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Houston, We Have Soup!

 
Where this blog post ends up is in the soup pot, but it's going around the bend to get there. Here we are ending with turkey noodle soup.



Where this starts is with the water. The water we still don't have. But maybe we have someone coming to look at it tomorrow. If I can get the driveway clear, and if they get around to it.

What I really want to talk about is my attitude toward running water. Running water in a creek is nice. Running water in the house is nice (ok, when it runs out of the faucet on command, not out of broken heating pipes or cracked toilet bowls or drips from the ceiling below the upstairs bath). People are pretty much appalled that I don't consider it much of an emergency that we haven't had water for six days now. What will be the emergency is the cost to get it working again. Dealing with water not from a faucet, not so much.

You may wonder why I feel that way. The list of reasons is long.

I grew up in a house that had running water from a cistern. That water was conserved like gold. We could use it for washing and flushing the toilet (with country rules "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down"). There was no bathtub or shower. My parents took sponge baths in front of the sink, and I bathed in a tin tub till I got too big. For drinking, we carried pails of water from the barn where we pumped it by hand.

When I was maybe 11, the pump in the barn broke. Dad didn't want to pay to have it fixed, so we carried jugs of drinking water from town until I was 14. On her way home from work every day, Mom would fill a jug or two when she picked me up from school. When I was 14, Mom paid to have the well water piped into the house and a shower installed. Oh yes, and a water heater that was on all the time. Before that, if you wanted hot water you heated it on the stove or for a serious enough project, like baths or laundry or canning food, the gas water heater could be lit. But you had to remember to do it a good hour before you wanted the hot water.

For 22 years of life with Om we spent anywhere from four to six weeks of every summer on the road leading bicycle trips. I got to ride on a few, but I was usually the driver of the support vehicle (first a trailer and later a converted bus). The support person did all the cooking for the group. The cooking happened in a custom kitchen area of those vehicles. It had a burner/grill unit, storage, work space and water jugs. Every day, I filled the jugs. Actually, the trailer had a water tank for a while, but it had to be filled every day. Out of this kitchen, I produced three meals a day for anywhere from a dozen to 54 people. And did the cleanup. Can you say water conservation?

Then there is backpacking. Every drop of water you drink or cook with has to be collected, treated or boiled. Water to wash with is easier, but you have to go to it, it's not conveniently located in a nearby sink. You also have to lug water with you. Water is heavy. 8.35 pounds to the gallon, to be precise. Trust me, you don't want to add too much water to your pack weight.

Right now, there are two of us in the house. We have jugs filled with clean water for cooking. We have a large handy snow pile just outside the door, big pans, and a stove that works. We're flushing once a day. (TMI? Just being thorough in explanation.)

Ready? We're almost back to the soup. Last Tuesday, I took the turkey carcass out of the freezer and boiled it down, but didn't get the rest of the meat pulled off the bones. The whole pot went in the fridge. Wednesday, after work and after I had done some other chores, I pulled it out thinking I'd finish the soup project. Then I said to myself, "What are you thinking? You have no water and you're going to get four pans greasy and cover yourself in turkey grease to your elbows. Just wait until there is easy water again."

However, it's way past Wednesday, and I sure didn't want that stock to go bad. That would be a pretty big waste. So, today, I finished the soup, melted an extra pan of snow and washed all the dishes.

Don't misunderstand me, I won't mind a bit when water appears in a stream just from turning a handle. But it's not a crisis to acquire it in other ways.

Just for fun, here were some of today's visitors, a pair of cardinals, chickadees, and a nuthatch. There were also juncos and a downy woodpecker. They were all willing to share, except Mrs. Cardinal. She would peck at anyone who came near when she was on the feeder.

	See Thankful for Water
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Tweaking the Bird Feeder

 
A tiny job done and a fun story to tell you. Mostly, it's been a quiet day. That works just fine for me. I did a few errands and so far have written 1 1/2 chapters. But I did one tiny fix-it project.

We gave up the bird feeder several years ago when our finances became even tighter. But last summer Loretta bought a wire basket, and a compressed seed cake, and she's been keeping it filled ever since. I think Omer bought a couple of cakes too. I've been concerned, because if you are going to start feeding the birds, you need to be consistent about it, but so far, so good. The cakes hold up quite well, so not much seed gets wasted.

However... the basket ended up being hung on a bracket I'd fastened to a deck post for a hanging plant. It worked fine, but you couldn't see the birds very well because the post was in the way. This little chickadee was in sight,



but the cardinal (despite the one good picture I got for Sharing is Good) mostly hid. Like this.



So today I moved the bracket to a different side of the post. What a difference it makes to me, and none at all to the birds!



Within minutes, the chickadee was back for a snack.



Here's the fun story. When I first went out to move the feeder there was one chickadee clinging to the bottom. It was hanging as you see in the final picture above, by one foot. I kept moving closer and closer to the feeder and it didn't move. I realize that chickadees can be trained to become quite tame, but I haven't been doing any of that. Nevertheless, the bird let me reach out and touch it before flying away. How awesome is that?

I think this bird may have something wrong with the foot it wasn't using. The picture here is when it came back, and it's still hanging by one foot. I also got another picture of it sitting on the deck rail and it's listing to the side where the possibly useless foot might be, which lends credibility to the idea.

Injured animals often don't last long in the wild. But I'm glad this one is getting a few free meals, and wasn't afraid of me.

	See The Cute and the Sad
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Sharing Is Good

 
No pix from today. I worked at the paper all day, and got home after dark. Besides, when I went to get the camera card, I discovered it hadn't been in the camera all day. So it's a good thing I didn't want to take any pictures!

I'm a little tired. That's ok. Tomorrow will be a new day.

Meanwhile, enjoy another picture from the bird feeder. The cardinals really seem to like these seed cakes, but they were willing to share with the smaller chickadee (and some juncos too- not in the picture)

If I would wash the windows come spring I'd get better pictures.

	See Mr. Red
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Foggy Day

 
Today was warm, as the weatherman promised. It was also raining, wet, foggy, some thunder and lightning. Not exactly a day for outdoor activities. But it had a few pleasures.

This morning, a flock of juncos showed up to eat seeds from some viper's bugloss I didn't mow because I think they are so pretty. I guess the birds like the seeds!

Here's a perky little junco contemplating one just out of easy reach.



After I watched a while, one single chickadee showed up and wanted to be part of the feast.



Later in the day, the fog thickened. This is certainly the best picture of the day!

	See The Fog is Lifting See One Little Junco See Viper's Bugloss
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