Fog, Sun, Clouds

  Today was about the weather...We started with thick fog.

But the sun was working hard to deal with it.

For just a little while, the sun succeeded. Best autumn view yet this year, and it's in my own backyard.

The afternoon was alternately blue and cloudy, with some sprinkles. I like the layers of clouds from dark gray to white.

I'm going to a play tonight, but I don't know if they'll allow pictures. We'll see. I'm ready for some theater!

In other news: I edited all morning and worked on the trailer all afternoon. Lots of progress, but no crossing anything off the list yet. Part of the problem is that some things I thought I had crossed off have come back with more work needed. Not trailer stuff, but other things. 35 BIG ITEMS to do (27 done) and 25 small ones (11 done) to do. 38 days to go.

See Ghostly

Ghostly

 
The alternate title for this post is "Too Much Sitting." I have been doing an awful lot of sitting still and working on the book. Working on the book is a good thing, but my body said, "move." So I did my 3-mile roadwalk in the fog.

I do love the way fog separates the landscape into layers. This is the little pond on the bypass.



Dark trees stand out from the soft background.



More trees. The dark one is a black willow. Not long after I took this picture the fog turned into actual rain, so I had to tuck the camera away for the rest of the walk. But these were the best scenes anyway. I could get more interesting pictures (or at least different ones) if I were willing to drive somewhere to walk, but it's so inexpensive free to just walk out the door.



In other news: I wrote and edited and formatted all day long. Tomorrow, I have things to do. There won't be as much book working.

	See Foggy Again
if you like this blog, click

Foggy Again

 
The most interesting feature was fog that hung around all day. It usually lifts in the late morning. Here's my personal bonsai apple tree (just kidding but it does have an interesting shape). Follow the link at the end for my favorite picture of it in the fog. But this one isn't bad, it's just that the fog wasn't thick enough to blot out everything else.



The fog wasn't heavy enough to obscure the distance, but it did enhance the layered look.



In other news: I wrote in the morning and mostly worked on cleaning the living room in the afternoon. Steve comes next week. There's not going to be much clean on this floor except the kitchen and living room. I've gotten myself into too big a clutter mess to fix it all. Omer has the downstairs cleaned up nicely. He's better at that than I am. I also managed to do some more formatting on North Country Quest. 59 pages of that done.

	See Foggy Day
if you like this blog, click

Mostly Rainy

 
Mary and I went for a walk this morning. Nothing special except that you know I love the hills. And it was a good workout.



We did this earlier, because it was supposed to rain all afternoon, and it did. However, the foggy view from the front porch was nice.



But Mary had a meeting in the afternoon and Bill was busy too, so I spent a good chunk of time writing. I finished chapter 11 and started on 12.

	See Adirondack Trail Club
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Spirit of the Woods Hike - January 2019

 
Today was the monthly Spirit of the Woods hike, and we had 13 hikers! Since it was out and back, people could choose their own distance. About half turned around to do a five mile hike, but some of us stuck with it and did the full eight miles. This is at the bridge over Jenks Creek.



The fog was still lurking in some places. I liked the way it looked at one of the two-track crossings.



We walked through Sterling Marsh, where I hiked with Cathy last fall.



This sign about wetlands is posted near the marsh, but I don't think I've showed it on the blog before. Our youngest hiker, Sophie (not the dog Sophie of course!) says she's going to try for the Hike 100 Challenge this year.



And I have to show you the sunrise again. The foggy frost was really cool.



After hiking, six of us went out to get something to eat and visit. That was fun because three of those people are always way out front and I don't get to talk with them very much.

Hike 100 2019: 8 miles

In other news: I did a little bit of bookwork and made split pea soup.

North Country Trail, 76th St to 96th St and back, Lake County, Michigan

	See Spirit of the Woods Hike- Dec 2018 See Sterling Marsh with Cathy
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Day Twenty - Midland to Mackinac

 
It was a really early start for me. Actually, not the earliest I've ever made it on the trail, but close. We spotted my car and then Sue dropped me off at a road corner with my pack and gear and a half piece of apple pie hoarded from last night's dinner. It was barely light! I ate my pie and started off on one of those unnecessary loops that adds three miles of trail where a one-mile road walk would get you there. But I'm trying to do "the trail."

If it hadn't been so wet and foggy, I think there would have been some views because the trail climbed a ridge and stayed up there for a while.



I kept seeing these weird fungi all day. It breaks open like an earthstar, but the ones without water didn't seem to have the central button of the earthstars. I have no field guides with me. But they were neat.



I walked in steady rain for two hours, and then it backed off to just a drizzle. And, of course, there was the nearly obligatory bushwhack when the blazes disappeared. Actually, I was somewhat concerned about having to do a bushwhack today. This piece is really out in the boonies. There were very few things one could bushwhack toward and be sure of finding. I explored both routes available when the blazes ended, and both led to dead ends.

At the end of the second try, I actually considered turning around, walking all the way back to the main road, and around on roads to get my car, because I wasn't even sure how close I was to where I needed to go. But I had just enough service to get my location. It said I was 1000 feet from the two-track I was trying to get to. The problem was a huge wetland between me and it.

Once you commit to bushwhack without being certain of finding the same path back you'd better know where you are headed. I didn't feel really good about it, but I worked my way west (I could hear an occasional car), and eventually came out on a two-track with BLUE BLAZES, and was only a few hundred feet from Stoney Creek Pond. Right where I needed to be. Thank you, Lord!



When I got to Stoney Creek Campground, I made new friends who fed me a hot and satisfying lunch of potatoes with sausage, eggs and vegetables, and a big cup of orange juice and a gingersnap. That was quite a treat! Multiple dogs, Bandit the pet goat who is housebroken, and two horses. Nice people. And they said if I lost the trail beyond there I could come back and they'd drive me around to my car. This was very reassuring, because the next three miles were some of the ones I was most concerned about. Trail angels!





However, the trail was really well marked for the rest of the day and I never lost it again. Loved the water drops on the aspen leaves.



The fall colors are showing more and more.



OK, just because I could find the trail didn't mean it wasn't without a couple of issues. Here's a beaver lodge for you. Where beaver lodge, they build dams. They are trying to take over the "road" the trail followed all afternoon. They have built five dams to expand their ponds which is causing water to flow across the road. This is in addition to all the ordinary kinds of puddles. I managed to walk across the first dam, but the others were overgrown with saplings. I just had to wade the ponds. Nothing over knee deep. Kind of begs the effort I spent to stay more dry all morning in the rain, however!



One more bright and cheerful hint of fall.



I reached the car at 2:40, which is nice and early, but remember, I'd been walking since 8 a.m! I also saw a kingfisher, a blue heron and another grouse. I haven't mentioned these, but I flush one up almost every day.

Anyway, miles for the day that count as forward progress: I'm saying 13.5. Miles actually walked: maybe 14.5. Total miles of progress on the trail: 165.

This is adding up nicely, but there is no way for me to finish in the remaining time I have. I'm going to hike tomorrow, since the weather looks decent. Right now, they are saying thunderstorms for Monday and Wednesday. I may go home, and try to get someone to come back with me after the weekend to spot me for the three or three-and-a-half days I'll need to finish.

	See Day Nineteen
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Day Seventeen - Midland to Mackinac

 
Look who joined me today! It's Sophie and Anabelle.

It took us a while to get together and get re-organized, since neither of the humans in the party wanted to camp in a monsoon. And a monsoon is what northern Michigan delivered this morning. Serious rain, lightning, thunder, water across the roads.



Anyway, we are now in a warm motel room. Sophie is curled up under the covers by my leg, and Anabelle is watching faithfully for Sue to come out of the shower. I got kisses from Anabelle, so I've been accepted, but Sophie just really, really likes me!

We got settled at the motel, and checked the radar, which seemed to be saying we could be in the clear by the time we got back to the trail. So, we spotted a car and started walking at about 1:30 in the afternoon. About 9 miles to the car.



The first four miles were through very wet woods, some on a two-track, but some where we just got soaked. But it wasn't raining. Then there was a road walk. The fog made things look interesting.



We passed this sign. I actually knew what it is, because I had stumbled across a description of the trail a few years ago. This is supposed to be a driving route, the Michigan Polar Equator Trail that more or less follows the 45th parallel. I have read that it really can't be found anymore. But, of course, now I've found a marker... I want another adventure.



We reached the car at 5 pm, but hey... Sue said she and the dogs would drive around an meet me at the next road if I wanted to do three more miles. Sure! So I started out on Valley Road (a pleasant route that really did stay in a valley), because as well as I knew the trail stayed on that. Nope. Took me off in the woods and I came out on another road, and had to figure out that I needed to turn around and take the road in the other direction to find Sue. No cell service, of course. But we got together by 6:15.



Then we had to drive back to the motel, which is a little farther away from the trail than would be ideal. So we got here at dark. No microwave in the room, and neither of us has much interest in setting up the stove yet tonight. We are eating cold odds and ends.

The sunset isn't spectacular but looks promising- solid gray sky breaking up. If the weather forecast that's been mostly wrong all trip is accurate there could be more storms tonight, but tomorrow could be nice. We promise to start hiking before 1:30!



Miles of forward progress on the trail 12 miles (not bad for such a late start), Total miles walked- I did about 13 since I had to backtrack to get to Sue. It feels SO great to have the miles walked be just about the same as the miles that count! Total to date: 129.5

	See Day Sixteen
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Great Balls of Fire! Or Not

 
Great Balls of Fire! Literally and in an exclamatory sense. It's only mornings like this one when you can really look at that great ball of fire in the sky.



A few minutes later the red color was gone, but the scene was magical. This tree is nothing but an annoyance to mow around, except that I consider it my own private bonsai tree.


And the moon tonight was neither a ball, nor is it fiery, since it has no fire of its own. But I loved the blue sky.



In an exclamatory sense... Great balls of fire! There was no water last night when I went to bed. What the heck? We just had a new pump put on the well this past winter (at great expense). And, um... it's certainly not frozen this week. So I was not looking forward to getting in the well pit. I did check the breaker, which was fine. Laid awake agonizing over it all. So, this morning I dialed the pump man, and just thought I'd turn on the faucet while the call was going through. Water! Hung up, since I don't like talking to the pump man who is always annoyed with me.

I have no explanation for this. The well is not dry. It's 165 feet deep with 85 feet of water in it. It never ran dry when I was doing two loads of laundry a day and cooking for herds of people; I'm sure it's not in trouble with two of us who may do two loads of laundry a week and avoid cooking like the plague.

Someone suggested that new pumps have a thermal shut-off if they get too hot. This is my only guess.

	See Foggy Day- for same tree in afternoon fog
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Little Spots with Leaves

 
Two pictures... same basic tone... solitary object... leaves on the edge.





Just a tiny bit of difference. The object in the first picture is 96 million miles away (with a whole lot of fog in the near space) and has a diameter of about 865,000 miles. The object in the second picture is about 5 feet away and has a diameter of about 1 inch.

You may recognize the first object. The second is a water strider.



It's a good idea to check your perspective occasionally. Just sayin'.

	See Water Strider
if you like this blog, click the +1   or