Caught Mr. White

Completely filled the afternoon with back to back activities. Went to hike in the School Forest and Methodist Church trails. Then I spent about an hour with Betty. Then there was bell practice.

Best picture from the hike? I got a pretty good one of a white squirrel. We have a fairly good size population of them here, but it's still hard to catch a picture. You can clearly tell in this shot that it's not albino (eyes are black, not pink). It's a color morph of the gray squirrel, and it's a recessive gene, so once you get a population, if both parents are white ones, they will only have white babies.

Some websites are calling this a variation of leucistic coloration. Anyway, they are nifty. I would think this coloring would make them more susceptable to predation, but, as I said, we have a good local population.

Did my regular work in the morning.

I hoped to hike 3 miles, but I didn't feel like walking that fast, and it was sort of raining. Anyway, I got in 2.8.

Miles hiked in 2025: 459.9

Ludington School Forest and Methodist Church Trails, various. 2.8 miles

See True Blue Gumby II

Caught Some Critters

Ludington School Forest has lots of squirrels. In fact, I'll bet if I checked back, most of the squirrel pictures I have taken are from there. Gray squirrels, anyway. And gray squirrels include black and white squirrels which are color morphs. They are all pretty jumpy, and hard to catch a picture of while you are walking fast through crunchy leaves. No chance to sneak up on one.

Today I caught a gray one...

...and a black one.

Oddly enough, the trees are not turning colors very much in the School Forest. This is the same tree (from a different angle) I showed you weeks ago, the one that turns red early every year. There is some yellow and a lot of the leaves have come down, but not much color.

I stole this idea from someone else. I didn't work very hard at it... like to find more leaves of the same kind. Long after I took the first picture, I found an orange maple leaf that was even bigger. If I had held on to the leaves until the end of the walk, I could have had 5 in that stack. But what I wanted to do was hike 3 miles in the hour before bell choir, so I needed to keep moving.

Did I succeed? Not quite. I ended up with 56 minutes to hike and made it 2.8 miles. So, I probably could have done those other two tenths in the four minutes. (A 20-minute mile is one-tenth in two minutes, so I am not fudging the pace.)

Got a lot done today on projects and editing in the morning. Finished the mowing in the afternoon, then bought screws, walked, and went to bell choir. That filled the day!

Fall just keeps being glorious! I will have more pictures for another day.

Miles hiked in 2025: 413.2

Ludington School Forest, miscellaneous trails, 2.8 miles

See Pepper and Salt

Found Some Color

I only had time for a short hike before bell practice today. Found some trees starting to look autumnal. This is in the lawn of the Methodist Church. There are several, and they are beautiful although I'm sorry to say that I'm pretty sure they are Bradford Pear.

I did some of the School Forest trails that are north of Bryant Road. These connect to the Methodist Church trails that I hiked last week.

Sassafras usually turns yellow in the fall, but once in a while there will be an orange or red one. This is getting to be a lovely salmon.

Some brilliant red maples among the white pine.

And this splash of bright orange.

It was an exceptionally busy day. I edited, and then the washer repairman came in the morning, and once again he was able to fix our 48-year-old washing machine. I spent the time being his go-fer and assisting as needed.

Then lunch, and then I spent all the early afternoon doing a personal paperwork thing that has to be completed. I think I'll have it ALL done tomorrow.

This left me just time to take a short hike before bell practice, and then there was practice. Didn't eat until after that. Long day, good day, but wow. I'm going to go relax next.

Miles hiked in 2025: 393.8

Ludington School Forest, various trails. 2.0 miles

See Reclaimed Methodist Property Trails

Looking for Some Color

I'm certainly not trying to rush the season. But after bell choir practice I took a walk in the Ludington School Forest (as I so often do because it's right there). I thought there might at least be a brightly colored fallen leaf or two. Nope. Only color is this tree that always seems to turn a little earlier than everything else.

Found one lonely berry from a Lily of the Valley.

Best thing is that they've put a sidewalk along Bryant Road beside the forest. That's because a few years ago they took away about a quarter of the forest and built a new elementary school. Finally, there is a safe way to walk there.

Again, I spent a lot of the day running around. A couple of the things I found out are good. The news from the dentist... not so much. To fix the problem correctly is going to cost about $5000.

I'm working on some book marketing materials.

Miles hiked in 2025: 365.5

Ludington School Forest. 1.5 miles, various loops

See Ludington School Forest in the Fall

Meeting Tim and Tammy

 Today, I interviewed Tim and Tammy Martin who recently completed hiking the Appalachian Trail for the second time. Actually, I had met them long ago, but never really knew them very well. We spent 2.5 hours talking because it was more than an interview. We swaped hiking stories, and talked gear, and methods, and all that kind of stuff. It was a great time.

I'll be writing articles about their adventures.

After that, I went back to the School Forest with the goal of walking two miles. Guess what! I walked two and a half!

Best find was a poodle wearing a scarf.

And all this did not exhuast me. I came home and have done computer work alternately with reading.

Now, if I could just figure out how so many stink bugs are getting in the house!

See Building Stamina

Building Stamina

 The other thing I did yesterday was remarkable, not for where I did it, but what I accomplished. I decided to try to walk at least 1 1/2 miles on natural surface.

After church was over, I changed and went across the road into the School Forest where I often hike because of its close proximity to the church. I was mildly surprised to see that they groom these trails. Actually, I thought only the fat-tire bike trails (which wind through the woods off the footpaths) were groomed. But you can see the shadow of the trail edge in this picture

Maybe next time I'll get a picture of the tool they use to do this. It's just sort of a scoop shovel, but I don't know what they pull it with.

The School Forest is a fantastic resource for people who live in town to be able to walk in a natural area. I both love it and find it boring. But it was pretty in the falling snow yesterday. You can see a trail junction post near the middle.

Anyway, I walked 1.7 miles, and that's after being at the church, practicing and playing bells, and needing to be mentally alert for a total of 3.5 hours. I was tired when I got home, but not enough to lie down.

And, I've only taken 4 ibuprofen for the past two days, so perhaps I've successfully made that transition.

Today, it's really cold outside and I didn't have to go anywhere, so I didn't. I worked at editing and some things of my own I need to do. It's all good!

See Mile and a Half

School Forest Again

 Headache, day #3. Apparently this is something called a cluster headache. It can last a long time. The whole right side of my head near my eye is sore and tender. Eye watering and nose dripping. I'm working hard at being functional in spite of it. The day went OK, except bell choir practice was hard.

I could not talk myself into hitching up the trailer and picking up the dead snowblower today, so that will have to be tomorrow's priority. I managed to walk about 1.5 miles in the School Forest before bells. You've seen about everything there is to see there.

This is the new Ludington Elementary School. They took a huge chunk of the forest to build it.

This alleyway of young white pines is pretty.

And I always love how the beech trees hold their leaves through the winter.

I edited, I worked on some other projects. Hopefully this will be done tomorrow, but probably not. For now, I have to go to bed.

Miles hiked in 2025: 10.5.

Ludington School Forest, various trails. 1.5 miles

See The Lay of the Land

The Lay of the Land

 Had time to go for a little walk before bell choir practice. I didn't measure it, but I'm going to say 1.5 miles. Forgot to take dinner with me, so I had to go buy something.

The walk was in the Ludington School Forest, and with the leaves down, I was surprised to see that there is a fairly significant hill in the middle of it. Well, not hugely significant, but I really thought there was almost no topography in there, so I was surprised.

The lay of the land at home is leaning into Christmas. Om and Josh put up the tree today.

Yes, it's small. Those of you who know us will recognize that this is a recent switch. But I've finally convinced Om that we should get trees that we can lift without help. It was just fortuitous that Josh came by.

Right after bell practice, I went to Writer's Group. I will see if I want to continue doing these two intense events in a row every other week. Just got home, after 9:30 pm, so you can see it's a big chunk of concentrated time.

I did also manage to write part of my next column for Ludington Daily News and double check some research for Vacation from DMS.

Miles hiked in 2024: 532.

See Christmas Arrives

Mason County Garden Club Program

 There was a good turnout for the trail program at the Mason County Garden Club. The food table was really attractive, and the snacks were yummy.

The general tables were nicely decorated too.

Afterwards, I did two loops around the School Forest, and managed to get 3 miles. I love that there is a real, forested trail right in town, but it doesn't have features of interest or much topography.

I managed to get some editing and stuff done in the morning, but the above took the whole rest of the day.

Miles hiked in 2024: 506.3

Ludington School Forest, 2 full loops, 3.2 miles

See Mason County Flower Show

Refrigerator and Friend Soup

 I made the soup. This was a lot of things from the refrigerator: onions, 1/2 a cabbage, hairy carrots, 2 yellow squash, a small eggplant. From Neva I added 6 tomatoes, some parsley, part of a red pepper, some green beans.

It's really good. And I have plenty for the next few days.

Today was the first bell choir practice of the season. I like the pieces we are starting to work on.

As often as I can make it happen, I try to walk before bells. The School Forest is right across the road so it's very convenient. A picture can't convey how nice this was today. The temperature and humidity were perfect. The use was light and it was quiet.

I also did a couple of errands in town in addition to working on required stuff in the morning. I may have made it to tired. I might go to bed soon.

Walked 2.7 miles, mostly in the School Forest.

Miles walked in 2024: 420.9

See Will Walk for Vegetables

More from the School Forest

 I did a few errands in Ludington this afternoon, and then took a walk at the School Forest before bell choir practice. I had hoped to get in more miles, but the trails were sloppy and slippery. This was about the worst, but even so, I couldn't hike as fast as I wanted.

The weather was really nice. In the 40s and very little wind. I'm trying to get tracks of all the bike trails there. You aren't supposed to walk them when they are groomed for fat tire bikes, but there's not enough snow for that now.

There's one of these teepees built of sticks that you find in forest from time to time. I don't know if this one was just built by kids for fun, or if it might be part of some ongoing school activity, since this is the school forest. Also, the forest is right beside the new elementary building. To be more accurate, they built the new building in part of the forest. Sigh. I understand this is called progress, but...

At this time of year, interesting things to take pictures of aren't much in evidence. Here's a stump. I'm pretty sure it's hemlock since it's reddish and broken into blocks.

One section of the forest has a grove of Norway Spruce, Picea abies. There are a couple of species of spruce with bark that forms these little round scales, but around here, it's likely to be Norway. These are not native, but are often planted.

One really special thing on one of the trails is the Telephone of the Wind. This was installed to honor first responders who "work tirelessly to help your loved ones when they are at their worst." The larger print says that this is a safe place to talk to loved ones you have lost, to tell them things you never got the chance to say when they were alive.

I also did editing and writing.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 105.7 of which 18.7 is North Country Trail.

Ludington School Forest, 3.0 miles

See Pepper and Salt

Ludington School Forest in the Fall

I'm back to attending bell choir practices on Tuesdays. I like the pieces we are working on, and a couple of them are a little challenging. That is fun.

The church has a small bit of trail on their property, and it connects with the Ludington School Forest Trail. So, I went early enough to take a walk. I was hoping to catch some good autumn color. We are just about at peak here, I think.

That was about the best. Most of the trails are just shady and the leaves are yellow. Not that this is a bad thing. It's a lovely walk, and so easy to get to.

There was one other spot of bright color on an edge.

I was hoping for more pictures of single leaves with outstanding color, but I got one.

I had to do errands in the afternoon and then this walk and bells, so I need to spend some time yet this evening doing work if I can talk myself into it.

Ludington School Forest and United Methodist Church property, 2.3 miles

See Ludington School Forest

Urban Forest Trails

  Today, Cathy and I walked through two urban forest areas in Ludington. It would have been a good choice for a different day (or to have had snowshoes), but we sure got a good workout. Took a couple of streets to reach the Ludington School Forest. This has a nice loop with various cutoffs. It gets a lot of use, so I figured the dog walkers would have packed it down well Sunday and yesterday, since the snow had pretty much stopped Saturday night. Nope. Really unbroken snow except for occasional ski tracks. Even though it's not groomed, we tried to stay out of them.

Maybe the lack of walkers is because of the temperatures. The high today was 14 degrees, but be were bundled up and it was no problem. My new boots are keeping my feet warm and dry.

Then we crossed the road and entered Methodist Church property. Someone had skied there too. I just liked the tracks.

I've showed you some of these trails before. But today we went out farther, where I've never hiked before.

We weren't sure we were even on church property, but we finally picked up some snowshoe tracks and were following those. Before long, we came to one of the many wooden crosses in the woods that I think they use at Easter time for some sort of meditation walk. So we knew we hadn't strayed too far.

And then, when we were almost at the end of our time... the sun came out for a little bit. It sure was nice to see bright light shining on the pine needles!

The sky never really cleared, but there were blue patches, and it was a gorgeous shade of blue!

We only managed to walk 3.5 miles, but our knees know we did something. Nice time.

In other news: I did some volunteer stuff in the morning. Then Doug (Cathy's husband) came and plowed out the driveway, and tried to get the snowblower running. He couldn't get it to go either, so I feel better. Then I did errands, walked with Cathy, and then had bell choir practice. After that I bought groceries, and then finally I got to come home and eat. Full day!

See Methodist Trails