Timber Creek- Sunlight Edition

  Back to that same nearby trailhead at Timber Creek today. There was a group hike, so Loren and I just joined them. Not sure why the group picture has such a funky color.

The big, wonderful news of today was that we actually saw the sun in the morning. I'm telling you that sunlight and shadows make any day better.

The round burl is still where it always is. No surprise there! Haha.

Most everyone turned around after about 2 miles. Loren and I (with Koa and Corky) continued on to 8th Street before turning around, which made our total hike 6 miles.

We finished before the sky clouded over for the afternoon, and the wind picked up again. But it was a glorious morning for a walk!

Hike 100 Challenge 2021 is at 31.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Timber Creek (US 10) north to 8th St and back, 6 miles

In other news: I made myself get back to writing on Dead Mule Swamp Singer today. I don't know that there's much quality in what I wrote, but I did one chapter and moved the plot forward. I can always improve it later.

See Not Quite Endurance Edition

Guest Post- Is Your Weed-Whacker Gas Powered?

  This essay was written by my crafting vendor friend, Chris Cornell. It cracked me up, and she said I could use it on the blog! It refers to the day in October that is linked below.

Is Your Weed-Whacker Gas Powered?

So I learned something about my friend, Joan, the other day. Well, and maybe just as much about myself as well. I learned that sometimes it is very easy to slip into common assumptions. Ha, ha, ha, I let myself do this and then the truth of the matter was a big surprise! For example: Joan has been talking about weed whacking her front yard in preparation for an Author/Vendor sale which she is hosting. I willingly offered to come and help her weed whack, as this would benefit all the participants, and make it easier for mowing which is being done by my brother.

She asked me, just to be sure, if I was volunteering for weed whacking. She said, “Weed whacking is hard work”. I’m thinking how hard can it be? You stand there and move the weed whacker back and forth, and the string on the end does all the work. What is she thinking?

Well, let me describe Joan’s weed whacker for you. It is a tool with a wooden handle about three feet long. On the end is a metal frame similar to a rake, but it holds a serrated blade, sharp on both sides. To whack the weeds, it takes a good deal of manual labor to swing that weed whacker back and forth. It does the job, but it’s a back-breaking, thumb-blistering, arm-muscle strengthening exercise! I accomplished this “exercise” whacking just one row from the top to the bottom and that’s all I could do. Joan says, “I can go up and down and up and down before I have to take a break”. Now you’re just bragging, Joan.

At least I did help her put up the sign in her yard. Let me tell you, not only can Joan weed-whack like crazy, she is also very good at swinging a sledge hammer. I was holding the posts as she was pounding them into the ground. She did not miss once!

In the future, I will definitely be asking specific questions, such as, “Is your weed-whacker gas powered”?

This can also serve as a little advertisement for Chris' memoir which will be available this spring. It's called Moments in Time, and includes vignettes of growing up in rural Mason County. Stay tuned! If we manage to be allowed some vendor events this year, I'm sure it will be available.

In other news: I edited. I did a little research.

The sunset was spectacular, and wasn't until after 6 p.m!

See Signing in the Rain

Duck, Duck... (Walk)... Puzzle

  Cathy and I did a fast four miles between her work and my bell practice today. We started at Lincoln Lake where we saw this pair of Common Goldeneye ducks from the bridge over the lake.

Our road loop took us around to the north side of Lincoln Lake. From here, it looks small, just peeking through the trees.

The final side of the loop had us walking west toward Lake Michigan. What you need to know is that between Lincoln Lake and Lake Michigan is the private community of Epworth. I've mentioned this place a few times in the past when I was allowed inside (because of the job I had at the time). The important thing in this picture is that pointy hill. To be more precise, that pointy sand dune. I left all the urban mess in the picture to give you the scale. You can see a picture of this hill in summer in the link below, and some pictures taken from about 2/3 of the way up that hill. In the winter, you really can see the bare bones of the dune.

We did an extra block into Cartier Park (to make it to 4 miles) and returned to the more-often-seen view of Lincoln Lake where we were parked.

As for the puzzle- I finished the hard one. I thought it was going to be very, very hard. I would say it turned out to be only hard. It did take me quite a while for having only 550 pieces. But I thought the colored rocks within the Michigan shape would be tricky. They weren't. So the only really hard part was the blue. It's called Michigan Natures Gift. (Don't tell me that should have an apostrophe. I am only copying what's on the box.)

In other news: I did my class, I edited. Then walk and bell practice.

See Lincoln Lake from Above

Familiar NCT Section- Not Quite the Endurance Edition

  Got too late a start to hike 10 trail miles yesterday, but thought I might manage 8 or 9. Nope, not that far, either. It was 11 months and 2 weeks ago that I did pretty much the same hike and called it the Endurance Edition (link below). It was pretty tough. So how did yesterday compare?

The snow was about the same- maybe five inches on the ground. I started at Timber Creek (on US 10) and headed north. I took a lot of pictures that look like this, but this one is best. Lots of vertical dark stripes against the white snow. And a blue blaze! Can you find it?

Just so we don't leave out the horizontal component, here you go. Thankfully, this was not across the trail.

As expected, there was a fairly well-packed trail for about 2 miles. At that point the herds of hikers turn around and go back to the trailhead. But I wanted to go farther. So I did! No other hiker tracks after that.

This scene is just north of the next road, which is 8th St. This looks like it might be a pond, right? It's so level.

Surprise! It's just a little grassy clearing in the woods. Here's what it looks like in summer. That is butterfly weed (a milkweed) blooming in it.

The only green I saw yesterday was this mossy log. It did look nice, fighting to find some light through the snow cover.

Best finds were some wildlife tracks after I got into the unbroken snow on the trail. I'm pretty sure this is a coyote. Size is right. Very oval- two middle toes are practically in front of the outside toes. Gap between toe pads and heel. And the tracks were very regular in a straight line.

And I am relatively certain this is skunk. The definition isn't great, but it's the right size and general shapes. The track pattern was not the usual four tracks veering to one side and then correcting and veering off again, but they can make more of a straight line when they are just walking. And I THINK I see that little line that separates the heel in the right hand one, but it's really hard to be sure.

Here's another sign that a coyote or fox (those first tracks were too big for a fox, though) was following the trail. There were a lot of places where a nose had been thrust into the snow and wiggled around through the leaves to get a good sniff of potential lunches like mice or voles hiding under there.

And, I learned something new about this very familiar section. I've always just thought about the ridges you cross, and considered it rolling hills. Yesterday, I realized that the whole trail seemed to climb a lot going north, and mostly descended coming back. Yup. Almost 300 feet of rise to where I turned around at the top of a ridge in Ward Hills. I know this isn't a lot of elevation change, but it's a fair amount for a trail here.

Anyway, I needed to be done by dark, so I walked outbound for 90 minutes, got to the top of that ridge and returned. Seven miles total. But it was quite a workout. Not quite as hard as the Endurance Edition a year ago, but tough enough.

Hike 100 Challenge 2021- 25.5 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, Michigan, US 10 (Timber Creek) north to past 8th Street and back. 7 miles

In other news: Today I did my online class, did some editing, and took a road walk. I did see a pileated woodpecker, but they are shy, and I couldn't get a picture. Also saw and heard a little downy woodpecker.

See Familiar NCT Section- Endurance Edition

We Three Kings

  We know the wise men didn't arrive until later anyway, so why not do We Three Kings in January? The services are still virtual, but we showed up and we played. This is a fun piece to play, and pretty easy. You can actually see me in this video (I'm usually mostly hidden behind something).



In other news: I took a hike in the afternoon (will show you tomorrow), and had a Zoom meeting in the evening.

See Children of the Heavenly Father