Cartier Park Visit

I have been without a computer all day. That is a serious sort of weaning! I'm blogging on the old computer which could die, using accessories that have also been relegated to the "dead" pile because they are totally unreliable. My new computer is being put together, but it wasn't quite done at end of the business day.

I've been thinking about it, and I think I've had a total of 5 laptop computers. I don't think I've bought a single one of them. I can say for sure that 4 of them were used and gifts from people. I can't quite pull up the memory of where I got #2 in that lineup.

At any rate, I am forever grateful for the generosity of folks who have helped me. However, I've been fairly covetous of a computer that doesn't struggle for quite a while. I decided it's time to get serious about that.

So, I dropped my current computer off this morning along with all software disks and accessories. My recent computer problems may be all one issue, or they may be several things conspiring to do me in. So, I left all the stuff with STS Computers in Ludington. They've been my computer folks for over 30 years. They know that I know just enough to be dangerous, but they treat me with respect and don't try to force stuff on me I don't need or want. And their prices are reasonable.

Then I went for a walk at Cartier Park. We had thunderstorms overnight and the paths were damp and cool.

The last time I was there (February), the gazebo was where it's always been. But then, it was torn down because they discovered serious structural issues. But February was a while ago! Someone donated the money and a new gazebo has already been built!

Lincoln Lake was silver rather than blue today.

And did you notice who was also enjoying the water? A great blue heron.

I have managed to find some tasks to do that didn't require a computer. Mostly I read a book and tried not to stew over not being able to work on pressing things.

Now I have a Zoom meeting. I'll have to try to also do that on the old computer which needs to not be allowed to be on long enough to get very hot. Hopefully, it will hang in there just a little longer or I'll have to switch to phone.

Report on mouth- just a little swelling left. Things are good. Not eating crunchy foods yet, but everything seems to be on track.

See Mile and a Half

Abby Sends Me Off

This morning, I said goodbye to Irene and Abby. Abby seemed sad to see me go.

I took the slow route to my next stop because I love driving over the hills of home. I was going to name the post that, but I've used that title before, and it turned out that only one of my pictures is much good anyway. But the geography Western NY sure calls to me.

I'll let you play a guessing game again... where am I? With someone who also like word games. We played Scrabble. We tied at 276 points each. I expcted to get clobbered because I don't play Scrabble much, and am not adept at the strategy.

Then we played Upwords. I REALLY expected to get beat on this one. I was getting walloped, but then made a great play, and went out when the other person still had tiles! So, I won again. Don't get too excited. We are both good at word games.

Then we went for a little walk. This is white snakeroot, formerly Eupatorium rugosum, now Ageratina altissima. Whatever you call it, it's very toxic to farm animals like sheep, goats and horses. If cows eat it, and people drink the milk or eat the meat they can get "milk fever," which can be fatal.

Perhaps the best find of our little walk was a green heron on the marsh.

The focus isn't quite as good on this one, but we like how it's cleaning its foot.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you where I am. Think games and birds. The answer is....

See Did You Guess Irene?

Autumn Birds

 
Very quiet day here. Rain outside, reading a book inside. How about some bird pictures?

This was actually one of a flock of six bluebirds I saw this week. One year, there was a pair that even stayed here through the winter. I love the bluebirds!



Of course, the starlings make their presence felt in the fall as they gather in huge flocks. But this one juvenile was just hanging out. I have to admit they are fairly attractive at this stage.



The oddity is this flying bird, captured mostly by luck on the Muskegon River. The picture is terrible, and I am only showing it too you because it's a bit of a puzzle. It's the size of a blue heron, and probably is a juvenile, or perhaps a leucistic one (mostly white), but the feet are quite pink. They really should be darker.



Sorry, but I have to get back to my book. It's totally compelling. (The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh)

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5 Mile Walk - New Route

 
Today I drove a couple of miles just so I could walk a different road loop from my usual ones. I always like to see new things. Of course I've driven these roads before, but things look different on foot. That said, there wasn't much to recommend this route. Flat, run-down houses and trailers. But I managed to bring home a few interesting pictures.

The first is Phragmites (say frag-MY-tees). This is a wetland grass. You've probably seen it towering in the ditches. The problem is, this is almost certainly the non-native one, and it pushes out native plants and even wildlife because nothing eats it, and it shades sunlight from reaching the water.



The seedheads sure are pretty in the sunlight.



The native one doesn't form such dense patches, and there are other subtle differences. Maybe I'll stumble on some of the native one to show the differences.

I thought this was interesting. It's a retaining wall to prevent a creek from washing out a farm lane. Apparently made by stacking bags of concrete mix. The paper eventually degraded, leaving bag-shaped rocks.



There was no way to get something in this picture for scale. But this is a very large deer skull. Of course, it's spring so the roadsides and ditches are littered with deer parts in various stages of decomp. Trust me, this is big.



The best find could have apeared on any road walk with various wet spots. A great blue heron gave me the evil eye and then took off.



But the sky was blue and the sun shone. Nippy in the wind, but it was a good walk. (But I doubt I'll bother with that loop again.)

In other news: I finished reading the second book I'm reviewing for my newspaper column, did some housecleaning (I know, don't faint!) and laundry. Started formatting The Hitchhiker for ebooks.

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Big Birds

 
The day was gray which does not result in pretty pictures when the world is still gray and brown, but at least I didn't get rained on.

The best sighting was two sandhill cranes. They give me a chance to get the camera on because quite often they call out as they take off.



I kind of like this long shot. Those big bodies look suspended under the wings as if using a parachute.



The great blue heron is usually silent. I was lucky to get the bird in the frame at all. It flew into a pine tree. I took a couple of pictures, but I can't even find it by enlarging the shots!



I've taken lots better pictures of both these birds, but this blog isn't all about photography, it's about seizing the gift I am given.

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Green Herons on the Cemetery Pond

 
As some of you know, I got tagged in a nature photo challenge on Facebook. I don't do most of those things, but nature photos... well. That's not something canned or silly. So I participated. A few days ago, while walking, I stopped at the cemetery pond to see if there was anything interesting. It's on the other side of the road, so I don't go there all the time.

Here's what it looked like in the sun that day.


Just as I stepped into the band of trees that surround the pond I heard a series of loud "skeeow" noises and wings flapping through branches. "Green heron," I said to myself. But I didn't even catch a glimpse of it that day.

Also, on the banks of the pond I found the lovely Sparganium chlorocarpum, a bur-reed, in bloom. It doesn't really have a specific common name. It's the second most common kind in the midwest, and prettier than the most common (I think).


I went back on Sunday afternoon to get some better pictures of the bur-reed, and startled the herons again.

This time I went around to the back side of the pond and sat down and waited for them to calm down and show themselves. Two of them complied. One adult and one juvenile. I've seen a nest before, but not this one. They nest in trees.

These are simply the best green heron pictures I've ever taken. Here is an adult



And the juvenile has much more streaking on its breast with a white throat.




These are small herons (compared to most). They're about 17 inches long, and have a short neck. They usually don't stand in the water, but hunker down on stumps or logs to wait for passing fish. The first one I ever saw was on the Pere Marquette river flats near Scottville, and it was love at first sight.

Today I'm trying to ID a mystery plant. More fun!

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Buckeye Trail- Bedford Points 15-21

 
This was the fifth hiking day (Sunday), and we took it out of sequence. We did this because Monday needed to be short since a reporter from the Stow Sentinel wanted to meet with us. There were a lot of road miles in this section and we knew we could do those fast. 13.6 miles to be exact. This connected us to where we began last year's hike. See 134 Buckeye Miles.

The day's hike was defined by the Chagrin River.

We began at Chagrin Boulevard Field where the Bridle Path/Buckeye Trail headed off along the river. Although in general, I don't think horses and hikers mix well, we saw only a few riders and we managed to not spook any of the animals. Obviously others use this trail too.



We did have about one trail mile in the Forest Ridge Preserve, and saw this lady, who is obviously very used to humans.



Next we walked through the village of Gates Mills, established about 1840. The trail uses another iron truss bridge to cross the river. This bridge was something of a mystery. It looks like a railroad bridge, but on the north side there was no where a railroad grade could have gone. Perhaps it was a narrow road bridge. Perhaps it was moved there to be a footbridge. No one we asked seemed to know. Puzzles like that drive me nuts. The only sign on the bridge said it was made in 1899 by the New Columbus Bridge Company.



Here's one of the historic buildings we walked past in Gates Mills. It's the Sheldon-Higgins Tavern, established 1840. It's now a private residence and very nicely kept up.



We continued into the Chagrin Reservation for a few more trail miles. We ate lunch on a bench (nice treat). But the joke of the day was on us. Just a few steps farther on we could have had a very, very nice private and cool lunch spot. There was a little grotto with paving stones and a larger bench, with a marker commemorating Arthur B. Williams, a naturalist who helped to develop and preserve these woods.



After lunch we trucked out the rest of the road miles, stopping at another crossing of the Chagrin River to watch a blue heron (we saw lots), and we finished our miles before 3 pm.



Total for the trip so far, 62.5

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Part of the Critter List

 
Just because we were hiking in well-populated areas didn't mean a lack of wildlife. Perhaps we saw more than people who whiz past in cars. I know they didn't see these beauties. The creek is well below bridge level and the deer had a nice little watering hole all to themselves in the midst of an area filled with busy traffic.



We saw quite a few great blue herons. They have become commonplace, but are still such great birds to watch. Here's a shot from a different angle than the usual side silhouette.


Another sad story in the road. This is a little garter snake, dead. His color pattern is a little bit unusual with the light reddish-brown and the darker spots, making him look somewhat checkered. I hate seeing snakes dead in the road.




All too common are the Canada geese. Not my favorite bird. But who can resist such a classic picture with babies?




And finally, a rather unusual sighting. Rare for Ohio. A koala.



Gotcha.

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