Color Tour 2025- Part 2

Here are the most stunning colors from yesterday. This was a farm on 112th Ave in Newaygo County.

Someone planted some wonderful maple trees 50-75 years ago. The house and barn were surrounded by flaming maples.

I just couldn't do an entire tour on paved roads. We took one dirt road. This is 200th Avenue in Oceana County.

I loved all the bright orange and red tones but thought we needed some yellow too. I think this was somewhere on 172nd Ave.

Of course, the big joke is that perhaps the most stunning tree we saw was on 6th Street after we got back in Scottville! The light was lower by then and that's when you can get some awesome pictures.

We got a bit of rain today, but mostly it was just gray and windy. Did all the usual projects, went to the store to look at various tools, had bell choir practice.

See Color Tour 2025- Part 2

On the Farm

I signed up for this vendor event a couple of weeks ago that's held on a farm in Mears. Unless you are local, you've probably never heard of Mears. I had some "uh-oh" moments as the map directions took me off the "main road" through the town. I wondered if I'd signed up for a dud.

This was their welcome display.

I didn't count how many vendors were there, but it had to be around 50.

They also had a nice backdrop where you could take photos.

I have no idea how many years they've been doing this event. This was not the first. But the traffic was steady all day long. I'm not sure how many times I said, "I write mysteries, and children's mysteries, and three books about the North Country Trail." But there are 360 minutes in 6 hours, and I would guess it might have approached that many. Of course, when people stopped to talk, I got to say different words.

Bottom line... I did really well for a one-day event. But I'm beat.

There was live music by a group called 80 Cows. Folk and Bluegrass- very good and very enjoyable. Although I'm glad my booth wasn't right next to them. It's really hard to talk to people when you are close to the music.

Some people even spontaneously got into folk dancing!

No picture, but I also watched a little boy, maybe about 4 years old, rolling down the hill over and over, just for fun. At one point, he took his sneakers off his feet, put them on his hands and rolled some more. It was great to see a kid having old-fashioned fun!

The venue is a working farm- it was a perfect setting for an autumn festival.

But now I'm going to lie down and do something meaningless!

The link below is relevant only because the paper route we used to do was down in this area. I really don't have anything else from Mears!

See Milkin' the Paper Route

First Stop- Ester

  This almost doesn't count as leaving home. But I'm 3+ hours on my way. I'm basically using Ester as a motel for tonight. I'll stop here again on the way home to actually spend enough time with her to do something.

After I got here, I took a fast 3-mile road walk. This fat little donkey watched me go by.

A few houses down, I found a stiff friend for the donkey.

The best "natural" (it's man-made) feature is this pond. It's that time of year when there isn't much color anywhere. But this was at least something.

So far, I've only discovered one important thing I forgot. But I can work around that.

The biggest treat of the day was a tiny piece of chestnut pie that Ester saved for me from her party this past weekend.

See Last Time I Saw Ester

Best Photos of March 2022

Here are the best of the pictures I took from March 2022. I need to step up the speed of going through pictures. I have a program coming up quickly.

From March 2022, I've chosen what I think are the 10 best pictures to share, but there is a reason I don't like March. There's not much color. I always call it the gray and brown month.

I am saying these pictures are "best," not because they necessarily tell the story best, but because I think they are simply the best actual photographs. I've left them full size, so you can click on them and see them larger. That always makes photos look better. Every single one is tweaked a bit to reduce the blah, flat look of low light sky.

These are again, all in Ohio, but they get me almost to the Pennsylvania border.

This one is some of the pointed Ohio hills that eroded from a plateau, with farms.

My one artsy-fartsy shot for March that looks like anything.

Once in a while, there is a good photo that also tells the story of the hike.

Piedmont Lake on an almost sunny day. This isn't a spectacular photo, but as I said, nice lighting was hard to come by in March.

There weren't very many days with a lot of snow, but this was one of them.

Another hiker in the brown woods picture, but the valley in the middle helps.

And another snowy road. Can you tell I'm rather unimpressed with the March offerings?

More farms on hills. I actually love scenes like this, but as far as photos go, I didn't manage to take many nice ones.

Little Beaver Creek in the State Park of the same name.

Probably the best picture of the month has nothing to do with hiking. Bill took Sue and me out to eat at the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton, which is a hyper-historic canal town. It was a lovely place!

I should be in hyper mode myself. I have tons to do. But I'm having trouble getting motivated.

See Best Pictures of February 2022

O'Flynn's and Back Again

My vendor event today was in Cedar Springs at a small art gallery called O'Flynn's. We were part of the Cedar Springs Summer Vibes Sidewalk Sale day.

It's a pretty nice little gallery for a small town, and the owner likes authors. I found out she is one herself, so that explains why they support authors with book premiers, and author signings, etc. Most of the vendors were out on the street, but the gallery offered a few spaces inside, and I took one. There were two of us inside. They provided the tables and covers and chairs. That was nice- less stuff to haul around for me. And since I was inside, I didn't have to fight with the canopy.

In addition to art for sale, the room itself is decorated with some whimsical wrap-around murals on the support posts. I like this one best.

I came home in the black, so I can't complain at all, but there was almost no street traffic. That has to be disappointing for the city, and some vendors left early.

You already know what I did on the way home. I took the back roads! I think I managed to find some I'd never been on before, and even the ones I have previously driven, I haven't been on for a long time.

Nice farm fields with the corn looking quite good, given how dry the weather has been.

I don't think I'd driven the road between Pickerel and Sylvan Lakes before. This is Sylvan Lake. They are completely surrounded by cottages, but I can accept that some lakes are going to be populated, and the water is still pretty.

You knew this was coming, right? There had to be at least one road like this. This is Lincoln Street in Newaygo County. I met a truck coming the other way, but it was at a curve where there was a wider space!

Not much else happened today. At least it wasn't a stressful event in any way, and I made friends with the next-table vendor. Two people I knew came in to see me. That's always fun. Certainly this is not why I hiked the NCT again, but several people recognized me from news stories. Being a mini-celebrity won't hurt book sales; that's for sure.

See Headshots

An Unusual Concrete Silo

  It's been a long time since I brought you pictures of silos, but this one is unusual, and I've been wanting to share it for a while. It was also on yesterday's walk. So, here you go. The primary section of the barn has fallen, but the silo remains.

This appears to be a rounded concrete block silo. Block silos have thicker walls than concrete stave silos (see link below). From what I could find, this probably predates the stave silos. Farmers were experimenting with materials other than wood, because the wood rotted from contact with the silage.

I learned that the familiar tower silos we associate with farms didn't come into use until the 1880s!

Here's a closeup of the wall where it was previously not exposed to view because it was inside the barn. Those blocks appear to me to be long and curved. That would suggest they were either custom cast or commercially available. In the short time I spent, I could not find a company that made such an item. That doesn't mean it didn't exist. However, a web site at silo.org verifies that farmers often made their own molds and cast blocks over the slower winter months. Molds could also be leased from construction companies.

The top is the most fascinating of all. It's the "coolie hat" style, and it seems to be cast concrete. That must have been one heck of a project to get it in place! Not to mention casting it without having it crack as it dried.

Another very interesting feature is the apparent stuccoing with concrete that was done to the exterior in the areas that were visible.

As if I don't have enough projects/ideas... this makes me want to write a book with lots of pictures about historic silos.

In other news: I had a longish meeting in the morning, and the rest of the day was spent doing tax prep. I took a short walk. But I feel quite productive!

See Concrete Stave Silos

Walking Off the Grumpies

  I was a super-grump today. Fortunately for you, you did not have to deal with me. My solution, as always-- take a walk.

This is a mostly ephemeral wetland, and I liked the stark appearance.

How long a walk? I wasn't sure what was needed. I started out to do 8 miles, but when I came to a corner where I could make a choice that affected the distance, I decided I was 10-miles grumpy.

Cows are always curious. I'm pretty sure these are Highland Cattle, the oldest registered breed! (So, I also learned something new.) They mooed and mooed long after I had passed.

Best find? Here you go, but what is it?

It's an oriole nest! I haven't found one of these in years, although the orioles come each spring. And this crazy bird forgot that it is supposed to be a secretive species. This nest is hanging right over the road, although I'm sure it was completely hidden when the leaves were out.

You can compare this nest with a vireo nest in the link below, the other bird that builds a hanging nest. However, the vireo's is small- the size of a tennis ball. This is much larger and hangs lower.

So did the 10 miles do their work? Guess so. And I decided I was primarily grumpy because my yearly rhythms know that this is the time of year I should be in Philadelphia for the Flower Show, and seeing Marie, and David and his family. I haven't been actively thinking about missing all that, but I think it's the root issue. So now I can move on.

OK, I was also grumpy because I have to get busy on the tax prep, but now I've hunkered down on that. Also did a bunch of editing.

See a vireo nest See orioles

In Search of Another Road Loop

  I had to go to the store today, so I checked out a different road loop for a walk. It was a poor choice, actually. Flat, too much traffic, and not a lot of high-interest things to see. I won't choose that one again. However, I managed to snap a few things in five miles.

This is the one water feature on the loop. It's a tributary of the Lincoln River, apparently unnamed. It flows north. In this picture the water is moving toward the camera.

This bird was standing in the road. All his yard-mates were staying in their own driveway. It was quite a collection. I did chase him out of the road. What is it? It's a muscovy duck, native to Mexico and South America, but they have adapted well to colder climates and are now often domesticated in the north. The red face is distinctive. They aren't always white, sometimes dark or piebald. I think the feet are really interesting. Look at all the spots!

And this antique hay rake looks really nice against the snow! It was horse drawn when it was used. How do I know? Because there is a seat on the rake itself where the driver would sit.

In other news: I did all that grocery shopping. I did some editing. Doesn't sound like much.

See Five Flat Farm Miles See Lincoln River Continued

Thanksgiving Threesome

  Joshua came over to eat with us today. We were going to go out because it's so hard to fix things that all of us will/can eat. But the restaurants are shut down again, so we managed to come up with a menu that I like all of, and Omer and Josh like most of. We had lemon-rosemary chicken (on the stove), rice, buttenut squash, salad, and the pies.

Because of the aforementioned house Tetris, there is no place available to eat. So we set up an extra little table. Worked fine!

After the food settled a bit, I went on a walk. Just a road walk, but I decided to challenge myself. I was doing a 7-mile loop, and I wanted to see how fast I could do it. Kept a 4 mph pace for the first two miles (my casual pace is 3 mph), but I couldn't quite keep that up. My overall pace was 3.74 mph. Not too shabby. And, it's never a race on a real hike. But I figure if I push myself when it's easy, then I'm in better shape for when it's not.

The sky was mostly gray, with a temperature of 43 when I left the house. Light breeze. Nice walking weather. No spectacular pictures. I was concentrating on walking fast. There were rays coming from the spot of light in this cloud, but the camera didn't catch them.

In other news: There is no other news. I cooked and cleaned up and played my game.

See Dinnerpieme