Obsessed with Maps

 Months ago, I mentioned that I hoped to do a fairly long hike this fall. I had started planning and got a decent start. But that's all it was- a start.

Now, that hike is looming! I need to leave home on September 8. Will go to the NCTA and Buckeye Trail joint Trail Fest, and then head south from there to hike.

I feel that I need to do my own paper maps. There is a FarOut electronic map and a guidebook, but I'm not really comfortable without paper too. And I'm planning to hike 350 miles. That's a lot of maps at the scale I want.

I had finished the overview maps. They look like this, and help put the trail in the landscape. That's important, because most of it is pretty remote, in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and it's not like you can just find a nearby town to help locate the trail. There are only 12 of these maps for the whole trail. They also have the elevation profile for each day.

The real problem is the detailed topographic maps. There are 31 hiking days, and I have 26 maps done which gets me through 6 days. Long way to go.

All that to say I spent most of the day sitting at the computer. Can you say stiff?

I also spent a good chunk of time editing. Oh, and finished cleaning up the bathroom/toilet mess.

See Off and Running to the Next Adventure

Only Three Trips to the Store

 There is a joke going around these days that is actually pretty funny.

How did Jesus' parents know that he was divine while he was yet a child?

He only went to Home Depot once to complete his first carpentry project.

Here's the situation. The upstairs toilet has been leaking for quite a while, but not badly enough to do anything except keep a towel under the tank. Last week, I decided to tighten the bolts that hold the tank to the commode. Nope. One of them disintegrated under my fingers.

I had made the first stop at the store before I started removing the old bolts. Assumptions will always get you in trouble, right? I assumed that because both toilets were installed when the house was built that they would be the same. Remember I just fixed the other toilet last year. That one has two bolts, so I bought a two-bolt kit. Nope, this one has 3 bolts. Number two trip to the store.

Yesterday, I took off the tank and replaced the gasket (good timing- you can see the old one is pretty deformed) and the bolts. Everything sealed up nice. I filled the tank partway with a bucket to be sure nothing was leaking. So far so good.

Then I went to hook up the water line. As I was tightening it, the fill valve tube broke in half.

Trip number three to the store this morning for a new fill valve. That went in with no issues. It seemed like the old one hadn't been changed that long ago, but from the blog post, I see it was 11 years ago.

Look through the water and you can see the three shiny new bolt heads, and the new fill valve on the left.

The mess is almost all cleaned up. Working on getting the rust stains off the floor.

I got groceries while I was out and stopped at Cathy's so she could dig a sliver out of the bottom of my foot that I couldn't quite access.

Edited, did dishes, and am back to working on prep for the Sept-Oct hike.

See Fix It and Then...

Random Flowers

 Here is the 'Banana Split' Sedum in full bloom. It's WAY too tall for its space, but it may not be that tall next year, so I'll leave it alone for now. I like the dark leaves and pale yellow flowers.

After umpteen years, the wild Orpine is blooming. The deer think it is candy, but keeping it in prison has done the job this year, and I think this is only the second time it's bloomed. This is a native sedum.

In theory, I have a lot of naked lilies. The original patch was down at the other house. I moved some up here and they are in the beds with the day lilies. But, they don't like to be moved and it takes them several years to get established. I think they bloomed a couple of times, but now those ones haven't bloomed for years. Not sure why. This year, the original patch down by the road bloomed. This is really an amarylis rather than a lily. In the spring it has a shock of strappy leaves which die back, and then in late summer the naked stalk comes up nearly overnight and blooms.

It was supposed to rain while I was gone, but it didn't. I came home to several unhappy plants. I don't think anything is dead, but some are sad. And something dug up two of the Gazania. I've replanted them. We'll see how they do. And now I'm watering everything.

Worked my little job in the morning. Walked to the library. Started that home repair job that I bought parts for twice last week. Had it almost back together and something else broke. I'm not going out again today. Maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow. Sigh.

Miles walked in 2026: 294.4
Road walk to town and back.

See Naked Lily

All Wrapped Up

 I am safely home. Jean has another 1.5 hours to go.

This is always a long, long weekend, but we both did well. Today started off rainy and slow. That did clear up, but it got just windy enough to be chilly and make us take down some of the looser parts of our displays. Despite the slow start we both had pretty good sales for the third day.

Every vendor that we talked to was quite happy with their overall sales. That makes vendors want to come back another year. Jean and I both signed up for next year already, which wiil guarantee us the same booth spaces.

Just two weary but happy vendors.

That's all for tonight. All my stuff is put away except my personal cooler, and I have nothing of any greater interest to report. Well, I'm kinda fired up about author things because I made good sales, but I have to get busy on other things for the next couple of weeks. Always how it seems to go.

See Blue...Bear...y

Blue...bear...y

 The location Jean and I have in the festival is really a good one. And right from the back of our tents, we have this beautiful blue view of Whitefish Bay. The land you can see out there is Canada.

I keep trying to get some good pictures of Jean interacting with people at her booth. This one isn't bad.

The man playing guitar and singing here is a regular at the Wild Blueberry Festival. He is really great with the kids. He had a whole bunch of them singing and dancing and talking into the mic.

I figured I should have my blue-bear-y face hole board picture taken. These are also called "comic foregrounds." Did you know that?

Here's my best story from the event so far. A lady came to my table and said she liked mysteries, especially the Joe Pickett novels, which I also love. So I responded and asked if she had discovered the Mike Bowditch series. (One is a game warden in Wyoming, and the other is a game warden in Maine.) She also knew that one and she began asking about the mysteries I was selling. I clarified that they aren't thrillers, but are classic murder mysteries. She thought she'd buy a couple, and then found out that there is a price break if she bought 4 or more, so she decided to buy the whole series. She was getting out her credit card, and I was collecting the set. She asked me, " But, do YOU like this series?" I did a bit of a double take. I said, "Well, I wrote them, so... yes." Then she did the double take!

She still bought them all.

It was another good sales day. Neither Jean nor I are quite as tuckered out as yesterday, but we are again chilling with a book for the evening. We do this for one more day.

See Chickens and Puppets

Chickens and Puppets

 Today was pretty amazing. People were buying! I sold a lot of books, and Jean sold even more.

Here are the two chicks she brought this year. They are both Silkies. This is Cocoa Puff.

Jean writes "Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and childrens' books about chickens." I get to listen to her say that a thousand times a day while she listens to me say "I write mysteries, mysteries for kids, and three books about the North Country Trail." If you think we are sick of listening to each other... we are actually sick of listening to ourselves. But this is how you sell books.

This is Lola, daughter of Laya who is in one of Jean's chicken picture books. Kay-Kay is in the other book. She sells a ton of these.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are lots of kinds of entertainment available. This puppet was walking around inviting people to come to his show.

It's pretty much impossible to get pictures of new things at the event. Vendors who don't have multiple people manning their booths are really tied to the spot, especially when it's busy as it was today. Jean and I have an excellent location for our spaces, which we get to keep unless we don't sign up some year, then we would lose those spots. None of this is complaining... mostly just explaining why this year's pictures look pretty much like every other year.

Jean and I are simply talked out. We came "home" fixed some dinner and have retreated to separate spots to read for a while. We like each other just fine, but we'd both be perfectly happy to not have to say another word to anyone until tomorrow. This is a great event, but you need a fair amount of stamina to participate.

9-5 again tomororow, then 9-4 on Sunday. Paradise, Michigan!

See Wild Blueberry- Take #4

Wild Blueberry- Take 4

 Jean and I rode together in her van to the Wild Blueberry Festival again this year. Pretty sure this is my 4th year doing this event. We had to play serious car tetris to do it. Something like 35 books titles between the two of us which is about 10 tubs of books, 8 sand bags, 5 cold drinks, 4 bags of food, 3 tables, 2 canopies, and a chicken in a carrying case. O wait... make that TWO chickens (Lola and Cocoa Puff).

Another trip over The Bridge! The festival is in Paradise, MI, in the UP. The Bridge is always awesome.

Once again we are generously being hosted by Steve and Brenda Begnoche. Brenda made stuffed pepper soup, I brought a cucumber salad, and Jean made her beautiful focaccia bread again, but I got a good picture of it this year.

We set stuff partway up- canopies and tables. The books will go out in the morning. We'll finish up in time for the opening. The weather is looking great for the whole weekend. 9 am-5 pm Friday and Saturday. 9-4 on Sunday. There is always entertainment of various kinds (music, magic, jugglers, etc), games like a "fish bowl" door prize event, and great blueberry food- pancakes, pie, etc. Not to mention the nearly 100 vendors. Plenty to do for everyone.

Stop by if you are in the eastern UP! You can pet the chickens. Jean and I are right next to each other. (and buy books)

See Welcome to Paradise

White-Lined Hummingbird Moth Again

 The last time I got any pictures of one of these was in 2013, so I was really happy to have one flitting around the yard today.

They move so fast you can hardly get a picture. There are several hawk moths, or hummingbird moths. They are big- 2-3 inches across. And although they look similar, the two you see most often are in different genera. This one is Hyles lineata. They are in the same family. Here are my best pictures from today. The other one has clear wings.

That was its back. Here is the side view.

And the ventral view. This one was out in the daytime and hanging around white flowers. Supposedly they like bright colors in the day, but white flowers at night. So my Moon Garden may attract them when I get more flowers there.

I did all the usual things. Of course went to the hardware store to exchange the wrong part I bought Monday for the correct part. Job not done, though. Zoom meeting this evening.

Many frustrating things, but that is not what this blog is about! Tomorrow I head for Paradise and the Wild Blueberry Festival with too few books because the order did not arrive.

See White-Lined Hummingbird Moth

My Mystery Weed

 I have a tentative ID on my mystery weed. I'm pretty sure the seeds for this came in on the skid-steer Doug used to clear autumn olive for me. (Along with a bunch more pokeweed) Here are the early leaves that I showed you on July 1.



It has continued to mystify me, and image searches were bringing up highly unlikely matches. Those programs are useful, but you need to apply some additional knowledge to the issues.

So, after it started with those pale and slightly succulent toothed leaves. it began to grow a whole network of branches with tiny buds on them. This is July 15. Google was still trying to tell me some exotic plant.

I tried again on July 16, getting a closer view of the stems and buds. Same result.

But as the plant grew, it began to look suspiciously familiar with this very rounded shape. I still didn't know what it was, but I was pretty sure I knew where I'd seen it before. Somewhere in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, maybe near Kalkaska, in the fall. I have pictures, but don't know where to easily find them.

Here are the stems and buds now.

I'm pretty sure I've now identified it as Cycloloma atriplicifolium, Winged Pigweed, or Plains Tumbleweed. Believe it or not, it's native to central North America, although the Michigan Herbarium lists it as alien in the state. However, it's found in almost every county.

I am torn between ripping it out, or letting it continue until fall. If this is indeed what it is, it's very pretty in that season. But the rounded plants do break off and tumble along in the wind, spreading the seeds. But I could just get rid of it before it tumbles its way across the whole county. I wouldn't mind keeping a couple of plants in this disturbed space.

In other news: I edited a lot, did some volunteer stuff, watered all the gardens, and decided I should make the house look less like a pig sty. Some progress was made.

See A Different Mystery Plant

Tall and Purple

  This is going to be a report on the Sedum and Sedum hybrids in the rock garden that have turned out to have purple leaves. And some are taller than I expected, but that may be an anomoly.

These are not in full bloom yet, so you may see them again.

First up is the 'Oriental Dancer.' I'm really happy with this. It was one small stalk last spring, and I wanted a tall plant there.

I also bought this one last year as a broken-off discount table item. It's 'Night Embers.' This one is supposed to be tall, but something chomped it off early this year too. Looks like it's going to bloom anyway though.

On the other hand, the final three are ones I bought this year that I did not think were going to be tall. And given another year in my poor soil, they might not be. That would be fine. But here is the 'Blue Pearl.' At least this time, I'm sure it is the plant I ordered, but I'm still wondering if there are two different ones with the same name- this one and a 'Sunsparkler Blue Pearl.' Anyway, if this gets large in this location it's fine.

I bought two others at the same time, both hybrids. This is 'Peach Pearls.' I like the red stems, and if ends up only moderately tall it can stay in this location.

The last one is 'Banana Split,' and tall won't work in this space. So I'll need to see what this does next year. As a reminder (and you can see more in the link below) I thought the last two were going to be more similar in shape to the 'Coraljade' that I have. And given a year in the ground rather than their first summer out of a nursery pot, they might be. In neither case did I expect the leaves to be so dark, although that's not really a problem. Stay tuned.

I haven't gotten very far with the current weed-through, and I need to get moving on that. I want it to look nice when the next round of sedums start blooming.

Worked my part time job this morning, edited, did odds and ends in the afternoon. Humidity slowed me down again.

See Some of the New Plants

Moon Gardening in the Rain

 I had a few goals I wanted to accomplish today in the Moon Garden. I thought I had till about 4 pm before it was going to rain. Ha! The rain started at 1 pm, so I just kept working. As it turned out, we didn't get nearly as much as the forecast said-- less than 0.2 inch. But I got things done.

This is probably all the plants that are going to go in the Moon Garden this year with the possible exception of some from my other gardens that I might split. In other words, I have to stop buying plants for now.

Long shot just for reference. Yeah, it doesn't look like much.

What I wanted to do was get the plants that were still in pots into the ground, and move the variegated Miscanthus grass to it's actual location. It was a darn good thing I didn't wait any longer to move that because the roots had started to dig right in. So here it is, moved, with the other things I planted early showing beyond it. This is one of the plants that will get tall to add a vertical dimension (and wide).

You can see the Guara at the end of the row. It has continued to bloom and look great. It's supposed to get about a foot taller, which will be perfect.

Right now, the best of the low plants in this row are the 'Frosty Kiss' Gazania. I'm hoping I can keep some of those over the winter. My grow light came, so hopefully the winter plants will do better this year.

The 'Steal the Spotlight' Hosta went in the ground. The rain speckles make it look a little funny. The blueish hostas look that way because of a waxy coating on the leaves, and the water temporarily messes with that.

Here's the plant I said that I bought at 60% off. I've waited to show you because it didn't look good when it came. That's not the grower's fault. I'm pretty sure it sat in a hot warehouse or truck overnight. The leaves were withered and burned. However, it's a shrub, so I got it right in the ground and have been watering it like crazy.

It's an 'Ivory Halo' Dogwood. This will also get about four feet tall, and add another vertical dimension in the garden. The twigs are red in winter.

Here's how it looked the day it came. The browned edges of the leaves don't show as much in the picture as they did for real.

Here it is after 2 1/2 weeks of babying. I think you can tell that there are a bunch of new leaves that are much healthier. I think it will be OK. I emailed the company after it came, just in case it didn't recover.

Last goal for today was to get some of the white Deadnettle that I also have in the front garden moved out here to the deepest shade right on the north side of the trunk of the tree.

The color of all these pictures is off a little because of the dark sky and rain, but you can get the idea. Most of what will happen for the rest of this season is continuing to dig up the grass, maybe move a few more of the free plants I can split from other gardens, and build the bench and level up the "nook." I think I have some more broken blocks coming to continue to work on the paths too.

Plants I want to get:
Hosta- "Dances with Dragons"
Santolina
A couple kinds of Artemesia
Heucherella- 'Cracked Ice'
Sedum ruprestre- 'Silver'

There are others on my potential list, but these are top priorities.

So, I got this done before it started raining hard. Also edited a bunch, did some volunteer stuff and watched a movie.

See Bonsai Apple Tree is Getting Friends