Windy

 If you are local you know it's pretty windy here this evening. Probably a little over 20 miles an hour. Without a video, it may be hard to tell that these branches are dancing.

I think in this picture you can almost tell that the needles are being pushed against the branches.

Today was a really good day! I managed 90 minutes of work screen time (not all at once), and maybe an hour of other light work in 15-minute stretches. I'm a little tired, but It seems like I earned that right, since I did accomplish some things.

I walked around the inside of the house for 15 minutes, too. I haven't been able to do that for over a week.

See Mailbox Semi-Success

That Valley Trail

  I'm taking you back to one part of Tuesday's hike at the State Park that I want to tell you more about. I thought I had pictures that showed how this has changed, and I do!

When we headed back toward Lost Lake we cut across a valley on what is now part of the Lighthouse Trail. But long ago, this was called the Beechwood Trail. That was before 1998. That year, there was a large, straight-line wind event called a derecho. To have that designation, there have to be sustained winds of more than 58 mph. The result was that almost all the trees in that valley were flattened. In 2010, you could still see the effects of that with tree trunks littering the ground in a linear way. The trees felled were mostly maple and beech.

The trail was closed for years. But the park redesigned the trail system, and in 2010, this was the valley, now with a set of stairs leading down to the floor, where you can see some regrowth of white pine lining the edges of the trail. This is now a portion of the Lighthouse Trail

Well, I took a picture at pretty much the same location on Tuesday. Look at the valley now! You can't even tell it had been bare. Nature is amazing.

In other news: Another hot, hot day. I did finish mowing the lawn before sundown last night, and tried to do some outside tasks this morning, but things didn't go right, so not much was accomplished. I did one load of laundry. After that I tried hard to make it a book day. I managed to write a whole chapter, and worked hard on the cover. Stay tuned. This evening, I attended another of the Reading Regatta Zoom events.

See Two Lighthouses and a Trail See Straight Line Wind

Light After the Storm

 
It rained most of the day yesterday, cooling things down nicely.

After I had done my blog post, as the sun was nearing the horizon, the far row of trees beyond my backyard was catching the light.



Every time I start to think there aren't going to be any new moods of my backyard, I have another delightful surprise like this one.

Some of the wind turbines (5 miles away) stand out in contrast to the dark sky.



The sunset wasn't spectacular, but there were a lot of interesting clouds. I was watching them as I drove to work. I'll bet if I'd been on the beach with a view unimpeded by wires and signs and trees, there were some interesting pictures to be had.

	See Moods of My Backyard
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