Alternative Uses For Old Halloween Decorations

Neither my mom or I felt like going to all the trouble of cooking and scraping our jack-o-lanterns after Halloween, so I went and set them on the back patio, to see if squirrels would go for them.

After a couple of days with no activity, I went out and put some birdseed - mostly sunflower seeds - inside each pumpkin, and a little around the mouth of each one. Today when I was outside I took the lid off of one of them, to see if that made any difference.

A few hours later...

Scenes around the house

I'm taking a moment to post some photos of my yard that I've taken over the last few days.

Actually, the first few are of the bird feeder hanging from the eaves just outside the backdoor. This is not your typical bird feeder. It's an upside-down feeder, with the holes placed under the perches!

The upside-down feeder is filled with thistle seed to attract goldfinches, but it's the upside-down-ness that really draws them. They have no problem at all simply flipping upside down for a few seconds to grab a seed, and the bigger birds like sparrows and house finches can't manage it! For a long time we hadn't seen any goldfinches for a while, just the bigger house finches or purple finches, which seemed to be bullying them away. Then when we got the upside-down feeder, we started seeing goldfinches again! And we found out that they were still around in the winter - but they lost their color! Instead of the bright canary-yellow (on the males, anyway) they are a drab gray-brown with hints of yellow.

Touring the neighborhood

The other day I went for a walk to the park down the street. I am very lucky, because my house has a city park right behind the backyard, and another park just a block away! This is my green space, and it's a great place to go for a walk and get outside.

This time around, I decided to take some pictures to post here, since I'll probably write about going to the park as my main "rambling in nature", when I'm not taking a special trip somewhere else.

Enjoy your tour! We'll start with the park at the end of the street - it's a dead end street, so there are no roads bordering the park, just touching here and there. There's a nice asphalt path going around it.

Turning left...

 I love that there are a lot of trees here, and not just open space.

Heading south

Today we took yet another scenic drive! This time it was just my parents and me. We drove south of St. Louis, down into the St. Francois Mountains - in fact St. Francois State Park was our first stop (after breakfast at Burger King...) This is one of our go-to parks for "getting our nature fix", and we almost always go there to see wildflowers in the spring, and fall colors in the autumn. The fall colors aren't turning out to be as spectacular this year, but there were a lot of individual trees that had some nice color.

We drove around the main road, and through the campground - all the sites were full for a Halloween event that's happening tonight! There were a lot of pumpkins and decorations around - it looked like fun, and it was definitely perfect weather for camping. In fact, it was actually hot out! It felt strange to be wearing shorts outside when a week ago I was wearing my fleece jacket and stocking hat inside the visitor center at Miner's Castle!

We stopped at the picnic area on our way out to check out Coonville Creek, a beautiful little Ozark stream. There's a gravel bar right there, so you can get down to the water.

There are little fish in that pool - minnows, but also some bigger little ones. I tossed bits of gravel in, one at a time, to watch them dart for it to see if it was food. A regular feeding frenzy!

Leaves on the water.

Little frog on the leaves! This is about life size.

Apple Run

Yesterday my parents and sister and I went on our traditional trip out to Calhoun County in Illinois to buy apples. It's as much about the scenic drive as it is about the apples, although they are certainly delicious! We always cross the Mississippi River at Alton and drive upstream along the Great River Road, along the bluffs. We stopped this time at the tiny town of Elsah for a picnic at the little park there, which is by a spring. A family with two little kids got there just after us, so we got to enjoy watching them on the playground!

We drove on past Grafton to Pere Marquette State Park. We didn't have time for a real hike, but we did walk a little ways up the trail near the parking lot. It was nice to get out into the woods, even though we could still hear the traffic just below.

Actually, it took us a few minutes to get past this gorgeous sugar maple near the parking lot!

  

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I realize I've gotten behind in posting. That's partly because I stopped having internet access at the house about a month ago, but I do have a lot I want to catch up on! Here's a brief overview, though: I have finished my time at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I just returned home to St. Louis, and in the last two and a half days have gotten almost nothing unpacked! I will be working on all that, but also on catching up here. I have a number of posts written out in a notebook, that I just need to type up, and a lot of photos to sort through. I plan to get all the posts ready, then put them up all at once, backdated to when I wrote them, with a note at the top telling what's new.

Oscar comes to visit

Today we had an unusual sight at Miner's Castle. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile showed up!

I didn't realize it at first. A man and woman came in wearing shirts with the hot dog logo on them, but I didn't make the connection until I overheard a family outside. The parents were telling their little boy, who was about 4 years old, "Look, there's a car that's shaped like a hot dog!" "Where?" "Right over there, see?" "I don't see a hot dog..."

A few minutes later the man came in and asked if I had a phone he could use - because his vehicle wouldn't start! I saw he had a cell phone and suggested he try walking around the overlook area to see if he could get any service further out, and if he couldn't get through I would use the radio to call out for assistance. While he was out doing that, I talked with another couple who had come in, and told them what was going on. They had jumper cables in their truck so went out to offer to help jump-start the Wienermobile.

As they all walked out to the parking lot, I suddenly realized I needed to get a picture of all this! I didn't want to lock up just for that, but I walked out in front of the visitor center and zoomed in.

For about the past fifteen minutes, I had been hearing a faint shrill noise off in the distance. Some kid playing with an emergency whistle, I thought - it's happened once or twice before. But no. When I went outside, that same little boy was blowing full blast on his brand new Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle! As she passed him, the woman called out to him to "get it all out before you get in the car! It won't work once you're in the car!" (I suspect it got confiscated before he got in the car...)

Happily, they got the Wienermobile started without having to break out the jumper cables. (Something about starting it in neutral instead of park - I don't know.) Then more people were arriving so I had to go back inside and miss the triumphal exit of the biggest hot dog ever to be seen at the Miner's Castle picnic area!

Another storm at the castle

Yesterday we had some amazing weather. It was amazingly cold, and amazingly windy - which, of course, added to the cold. It was not sunny at all except for a few glimpses of sunshine late in the afternoon. However, it also wasn't raining - it was just cloudy, and freakin' cold out! It was the first time all summer that the visitor center has felt warm inside when I got there in the morning - usually it gets cold during the night and that cold sticks around. This time it was much colder outside than it had been during the night.

Marc and I were both working yesterday. (I've been working solo a lot while he covers at the other visitor centers.) So we had to keep taking turns going outside vs. staying inside hunkered over the space heater behind the counter.

The first time I went out, I mostly stood at the upper overlook and talked with people as they came out. The waves were really big, and kept coming in really hard, crashing against the side of the cliffs. It was very noisy! A spectacular show for those who braved the cold to see it! The wind coming off the lake and up the cliffs was incredibly powerful - I almost lost my hat.

When I went out later I brought my camera with me. I spent a long time at the upper overlook again, talking with visitors and taking my own photos and videos in between. Then I headed down to the lower overlook. If I had to be outside in the cold, I might as well get the full view!

Down there the waves were even louder, with a big boom every so often as one hit the rocks at just the right angle. There were big white-caps as far out on the lake as you could see, and the wind was blowing just as hard as ever. With the waves and the wind, it felt like I was shouting to be heard! People kept on coming to the overlook, so I stayed down there for quite a while.

Maybe for too long, because I never could get warm again after that - even when I was practically sitting on top of the space heater, still wearing both my sweater and my fleece jacket. When I got home I took a nap, and even in the warm house, wearing sweats, under a blanket, I was still cold. I finally felt okay after having hot chicken and rice and a big mug of hot chocolate with coffee in it.

Getting back on again...

Today I finally went on a bike ride! I just rode down Sand Point Road toward the main road and back, but it came out to just over 5.6 miles - not bad considering I've had no practice in ages, and every time I've tried the bike has turned out to need repairs before I've gotten anywhere! (Actually, there was a funny sort of creaking in the wheel - but I'm not going to worry about that at this point...)

It was a beautiful day - not warm, but sunny for most of the afternoon. I took some pictures of the trees around the Miner's Castle visitor center, which are just starting to show a few bits of color around the edges. More "before" to precede an "after" later!

Climbing to the Coves

Today I finally got in another long hike! It seems every time I've wanted to go hiking lately, another storm has come up! There have been a few showers since the last big storm, but nothing to really make the trails difficult.

This time I drove out to the Beaver Basin trailhead and hiked toward the shore from there. The first part of the hike was actually part of a short interpretive trail that leaves from the campground there, but I kept going past that loop. It was interesting how different this was from the Mosquito loop trail I hiked back in July. There was a bit more up-and-down to the terrain here, and there were giant chunks of rock sticking out of the ground and eroding out of hillsides. The sandstone layers were very distinctive. I kept spotting trees that had grown in the strangest of positions – hanging over the edge of the rock, propped up on their roots…

Seeing the Scenes at Seney

Today I drove out to Seney National Wildlife Refuge to check it out. It's a little to the south of Pictured Rocks - just barely showing at the bottom of our park map. I was originally planning to do a longer hike today, but the weather looked better for tomorrow, so I switched my plans for the two days. It was supposed to have scattered showers today, but be sunny tomorrow, and sunny further south today, so it worked out.

To get there I had to drive across the "Seney Stretch" on Highway 28. Apparently this stretch of road is notorious in the U.P. for being 30 miles of perfectly straight road (because it goes through a lot of wetlands and had to be specially built, so they took the most direct route.) It's famous for being the most mind-numbingly boring stretch of road that will test the sanity of those who try to drive along its blank straightness...

...So, my dad's from Kansas.

Thirty miles of highway in a straight line wouldn't even have registered on my consciousness if I hadn't already heard of its infamy. In fact, it felt perfectly natural as I drove along!

There was a lot more fall color in the trees along the road here. I know I wrote a while ago about the colors starting up, but it's mostly still been just bits of color, and maybe a whole tree here and there. This drive took me past huge patches of trees that were all deep, bright reds and oranges. Apparently the colors are further along inland, away from the lake. It's the opposite of what happened at the beginning of the summer, when it stayed cool longer at the coast while it was already getting hot away from the lake. Now the lake is stabilizing the temperatures and keeping it relatively warm compared to the inland areas, and that is affecting what stage of color the trees are ate. It was a real surprise - I've been seeing the colors advancing in the park, but this really jumped things forward!

The first thing I saw when I pulled up to the nature center at Seney National Wildlife Refuge was a big pond stretching out into the distance - and two huge white birds way out on the water. Swans! I knew Seney was mainly wetlands, and had a lot of waterfowl, but swans visible from the parking lot! It was very exciting.

That white dot just above the center is a swan...

Weathering the Storm

We had an incredible storm this week – or last week, I guess. It was on Wednesday, and it’s Monday now – I lose that sense of what day it is when I’m not on a Monday-thru-Friday schedule. I’m usually off Wednesdays, but I had agreed to work an extra day this week so that Marc could cover at one of the other visitor centers.

We had known there was a big weather system moving in. I was warning people all day Tuesday – there is a storm coming, with strong winds and heavy rain. A small craft advisory for the lake, with a gale warning and waves up to 18 feet expected. Chance of rain 100%! You don’t often see a forecast where they have  there is NO room for error – you know they’re serious when you see that!

It had rained during the night, but it was not raining when I got up Wednesday. I was surprised, having expected to be driving to work in a downpour! It was cloudy, and chilly, and windy, but not raining. And it kept holding off; I just kept waiting for it to break loose! I didn’t have very many people come in. There was one pair who was planning to camp at the backcountry campsite about 2 miles down the trail; I warned them a bout the weather. It was just starting to spit a little at this point, around 11:00.

When the rain finally came, it  came hard. This was not just sheets of rain falling,  but bedspreads! Falling hard and heavy. It was very loud on the roof, and the wind had picked up even more. The few brave souls who ventured forth in their raincoats said that the waves hitting the cliffs were spectacular. I could have gone to look for myself when I closed up for lunch, but I didn’t want to lose my umbrella walking out there in that wind! I could hear the roar of the waves from the parking lot, though.

While I was sitting in my car eating lunch, the temperature really started dropping. It had been chilly all day, but now it was cold. I got chilled just sitting there, and didn’t realize it until it was too late. The visitor center isn’t heated, but there is a space heater behind the desk, and I kept it going the rest of the day.

I had a few more visitors come and go. Not too many hikers, but some who came in telling how theyu had decided not to camp or hike, or had missed the boat tour because they were canceled due to the weather. There’s not much to do when it’s raining that hard, but I told them about the paved paths to the overlook, and the one at Munising Falls, and the boardwalk through the marsh…

Late in the afternoon a couple came in who had been hiking – planning to try to backpack despite the weather. They had started at Munising Falls before the rain had really gotten started, and had kept going because the woman had really wanted to make the trip happen. But after slogging through seven miles  of pounding rain – and even sleeet, someone else said later – they were giving up. Even with their rain gear on, they were completely drenched, and water had gotten inside the covers of their packs. It was another two miles to their assigned campsite – climbing down to Miner’s Beach, then up again to the other side – and even if the rain did let up, they had no way to dry off and would be at serious risk for hypothermia.

They hung out in the store for some time – it was warm, at least compared to outside, and it was a relief for them to just not have rain falling on them. She kept trying to call the shuttle company to arrange a pickup – their car was in Grand Marais, and they had been dropped off at Munising Falls with the intention of hiking the length of the park. People do that all the time – but it was just not going to happen this week.

They almost didn’t get the call through – she had to call back once after it was dropped – but they did manage to arrange a pickup, just before the phone died. A very expensive ride across the park.

It was about 20 more minutes before the shuttle arrived, and I was very glad to see that they made it. I know people have sometimes been able to hitch a ride from Miner’s Castle, with other visitors, but there was nobody else around to even ask! If they had been going toward Munising, I would have offered to take them myself, at the end of the day – but this was an hour in the opposite direction. I had become invested in their plight, and I was very glad to see them getting out safely.

The storm was still raging at the end of the day. There never was any thunder or lightning, just wind, rain, and cold.

Around 8 pm the power went out at the house. We’re out at the end of the road, so I was worried they might not get to it for a while – we went around making sure all the windows were shut to conserve the heat. I made some phone calls, talking to family members I’d been wanting to get in touch with.  And it was still only 8:30! I made one more call – to the Hardees in town, to see if it was open. Open until 10 pm, and no mention of a power outage… And I knew they had wifi! So I packed up my laptop and headed into town to ride out the evening where the lights were still lit. (I would have gone even if there wasn’t wifi – I’m always happy with a book, too!)

As I drove to town I saw a truck already working where a tree had fallen on the power line. When I got home around 10:10, my clock said 12:25, so it had only just come back on.

Thursday I was off. I had planned to do a big hike out at Beaver Basin, but after three inches of rain I was not even going to think about it! The weather was still awful, too – not raining, but dark, cold, and the wind was blowing stronger than ever. This was the day I decided to bake the bread and calzones – it was a good day for staying inside.

Friday was lighter out, but still gray, cold, and storm-like winds. Saturday we finally saw the sun again, but it was still cold and windy. Sunday, yesterday, started out sunny but was gradually overtaken by clouds and scattered showers – and what warmth there had been in the morning faded away. The day ended on a bright note, though – the sun peeked through a sprinkling of rain just as I was leaving, and I got just a glimpse of a rainbow!

Actually, yesterday I got a great view of two bald eagles in a tree above Miner's Castle! There's often one to be seen there, but this time we got to see two - and hear them "talking" to each other!

Sorry, gotta post my cooking photos!

Food - Bread and Calzones

It may or may not be evident from some of my previous posts, but I love to cook. I've even been baking my own bread all summer, using the book The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's a technique that requires no kneading at all - just mix the dough up, let it sit for a while, then come back later, shape a loaf or whatever, and bake it. (There's also a website: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ )

I made a loaf of their Buttermilk Bread yesterday - using yogurt as a substitute for actual buttermilk - and it turned out so good, so perfect, so pretty, that I decided I was going to have to post a photo of it.

It tasted wonderful, too!

But that wasn't all.

Going to town

As if Munising Falls weren't an exciting shift, today I got to work at the Interagency Visitor Center in town! Munising Falls was basically the same as Miner's Castle, with just minor differences in how things are arranged. But the Interagency Center, which has both National Park Service and National Forest Service staff, is a different setup entirely. Even the store is different - it's a different supplier, so I couldn't use the cash registers. Also, this is where everyone has to come to purchase backcountry permits in order to go backpacking in the park - basically reserving your campsite in advance. I couldn't make out the permits, either - but I did help a lot of people to figure out what their options were and make their final decision. I also helped a lot of people with more general questions about the area, while the other rangers at the desk took care of sales and permits. It was pretty slow at times, but when people showed up they kept doing it in bursts, so there would be a rush of activity and several people talking at once - then, empty! It was fun, though - it's a totally different dynamic. And it was fun getting to catch up with some of the people who I've only seen now and then since the beginning of the summer.

Another stroll through the marsh

I always have a hard time making myself actually go out and do anything after work, but I psyched myself up to go right after work and walk the loop at Sand Point Marsh. It's been a couple of months since I was through there, and I wanted to catch things before fall really got started.

If you want to compare these with pictures I took earlier this summer, check out these entries:

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/05/first-explorations-of-pictured-rocks.html

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/07/this-week-was-pretty-special-because-my.html

http://naturebrenda.blogspot.com/2014/07/sand-point-marsh-trail.html

There's a lot more growing out in the water than there was during that first walk-through in May! 

Shaking things up...

On Friday, and again today, I worked at the Munising Falls visitor center instead of at Miner's Castle. I think they wanted to make sure we all get at least a chance to see what the other visitor centers are like. 

It was pretty quiet, but it's been quiet at Miner's Castle as well. Mostly the conversations were similar, just telling about the waterfall walk instead of the overlook walk. It was nice being just down the street from my house instead of fifteen minutes away!

Whitney is usually the one who works at Munising Falls, and I had to take a picture of the amazing drawing she has done on the dry-erase board. Not everyone would have the patience to get this kind of detail!

Alternate Plan

I've been having more bike trouble! Earlier this summer when I brought my bicycle in to get the seat fixed, I also told them that the front brake had stopped working. They were able to pop it back into place right then, and I guessed that I had somehow pulled it loose when I was getting the bike on and off the bike rack. When I got the bike home I went to ride down the street  a little to see how the new seat felt - and the front brake wasn't working! I managed to get it back on by looking at how the rear brake was attached, and I figured it must have been putting it on the bike rack to bring it back that popped it loose again.

Then on Monday I decided to go for a short ride after work - just up the street to take some pictures of the jewelweed that is blooming all along the road. I rode out over the lawn - a little bumpy - and found that the brake was popped out...

I fixed it and went on riding - and when I got to the jewelweed and tried to stop, the front brake wasn't working! This is a very unpleasant sensation! The rear brake still worked but that doesn't do as much, and it takes longer to stop and it feels like you're out of even more out of control. So I went to pop the brake back in, and as I was looking at the rear one to compare, I noticed that the front  one looked bent. The brake wasn't being held into place like it should. I rode back to the house, very carefully - I'd have to take the bike back into the shop. At least I got some photos of the jewelweed.

More on the Monarchs

I haven't seen any monarchs for the last few days, because it's been pouring rain. But up until then, they've been all over the flowers across from the visitor center. I was talking to a visitor who lives in the area, and she said she's been watching the caterpillars all over the milkweed plants in her yard, and that this most recent generation is the one that will actually make it to Mexico. I had thought the ones I was seeing had flown in from Canada - and so they might have, but apparently a lot of them are just the latest generation.

I looked it up online, and it turns out that Monarchs have three or four generations each summer, but the last one is triggered by weather changes to develop differently, both in physiology and behavior - which is why they are able to make that long journey to overwinter down in Mexico. Amazing!

Foraging in the kitchen

Last night I looked up serviceberry recipes. Serviceberries are apparently also called Juneberries or Saskatoons. I really wanted to actually make something with all that fruit, not just eat it plain. I ended up making jam using this recipe. It's pretty simple - just fruit, sugar, a little water and lemon juice. Apparently the berries have enough natural pectin that it's not necessary to add more - it makes sense, since they're similar to apples, and that's what storebought pectin is made from.

I had an empty jam jar from the grocery store, and I sterilized it in boiling water. Then I washed the berries, put about half of them in the food processor and pulsed it a few times, and put everything together in a pot with a little water. The original recipe was for four cups of fruit; I had about two and a half. I actually reduced the sugar by half again, as comments from several jam recipes had said it turned out very sweet - and the fruit is already quite sweet. I didn't have a lemon to add zest with, but I did have lemon juice, so I added a squirt of that, then got it simmering and let it cook until it thickened. I carefully spooned it into the sterilized jar, and screwed the lid on tight. Later, when it had cooled some, I checked and the lid had sealed! I'm still keeping it in the refrigerator, but it was interesting to see that the lid resealed under the correct conditions.

I did keep some of the jam out, scraping it from the pot into a small container to try later! I've just been eating the blueberries and huckleberries, but if I get a lot the next time I pick behind the house, I may have to do some more recipe searches!

Foraging in the woods

Today my hike took a lot longer than it probably should have, but it was for a good reason!

I decided to walk the White Birch Trail, a two-mile loop trail at the Twelvemile Beach campground. It's got a trail guide and numbered posts, but it's hard to spot where it starts - I drove past it twice! The trail starts out at the level of the campground, which is a little above the lake level, but almost immediately it begins climbing up a steep bluff. This is actually the original shoreline of the enormous lake that formed after the glaciers melted/receded. (Keep in mind when I say "glaciers", I'm talking ice sheets thousands of miles wide and at least a MILE thick. That's a lot of water left over afterward!) The trail flattens out again on top, going through open pine forest with not a lot of undergrowth, except ferns - and berry bushes.

Bear update!

Today when I was eating breakfast, I vaguely noticed a truck go by and stop outside the house. When I went outside later, I found that we now have a bear-proof trash can! I was going to take the trash out anyway, but this thing almost had me stuck - the top is incredibly heavy, and you have to lift it straight up, then twist. I think next time it's my turn I will ask one of the others to come out and we'll each take one handle - I'm afraid I'll injure myself otherwise. Seriously.

Then when I got back from my trip, I had to pull over and get a photo of the bear scat by the road! I'm not sure if this is today's or not, but the pile that was in the middle of the road yesterday wasn't there anymore - I would guess it was removed so people wouldn't be freaking out about bears.

It seems this bear has been eating a lot of berries with big pits. Chokecherries, maybe? This is not my field...

Here's one with my phone for scale.

Well, even if I don't get to see the bear, at least I got a picture to prove it was here!

Kitch-iti-kipi - Michigan's Big Spring

I've decided I need to get serious about sightseeing on my days off, because the number of weekends I have left are becoming limited! I've been looking through a guidebook we have at the visitor center to see what points of interest besides Pictured Rocks are in the area. On my list are Tahquamenon Falls, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, and Van Riper State Park, but today my destination was a site that a number of visitors had recommended:  Big Spring.

Kitch-iti-kipi, as it was named by the Ojibwa people, is Michigan's largest spring, with a flow of about 10,000 gallons a minute. It's part of Palms Book State Park near Manistique, south of Munising. (Interestingly, that is only about 5% of the flow that comes from Big Spring at Ozark National Scenic Riverway in Missouri...)

I planned out my route using the maps and guidebooks at the visitor center, during slow periods at the desk. If I was going to drive out there, I wanted to see what else was along the way! I drove south on H-13, which goes right through Hiawatha National Forest for most of the way. It was a beautiful drive - in fact, I'd say it was the highlight of the whole day. The light was golden and gorgeous - even without the occasional red-leaved tree, the light just looked like fall. The woods were still very green - some because they were pine trees! - but that golden light really made the green leaves glow.

My first stop was to be the Nahma Marsh Trail, just south of Highway 2. I had directions from the guidebook but had not been able to confirm online that there was anything there! Even the road names hadn't quite matched - but I followed what appeared to be the right way, and sure enough there was a sign for it! I had to turn around and go back to a tiny gravel road that almost looked like a trail by itself.

The actual trail was quite nice - hard-packed gravel and boardwalk leading through open forest, then along the edge of the marsh, and ending after about a third of a mile at a platform with a panoramic view. There were a few red trees off in the distance, and goldenrod lined the boardwalk - one of summer's final flowers. The platform was surrounded by low willow bushes growing in water, with patches of open water further out. Twice, ducks flew up, spooked out of hiding and making panicked cries as they flew. That was the only wildlife I saw, except for the grasshoppers that were everywhere - I heard them rustling and clicking around me, and I could see them flying up off the boardwalk ahead of me as I walked.

And then there were the mosquitoes.

I guess there's a variation of Murphy's Law that says you will forget to bring something with you on a trip. Well, I made detailed plans to go walking in a marsh, and completely forgot to bring bug spray! I was wearing jeans and had a long-sleeved shirt, though - and luckily my bug hat was in the car. When I first got there I had stopped to take pictures of some flowers at the edge of the parking area, and almost immediately there were a few mosquitoes around me, so I went back to the car and got the hat. A good thing, too, because as I went further along the trail there were more and more of them - so many that it was all one loud collective hum. That sound really pushes on your instinct to run - get away! But all they could reach was my hands.

The Nahma Marsh trail was short but very scenic - and just three miles from the highway!

WILDLIFE ALERT!!!

This morning as I was leaving the house, my boss was just driving away from HQ next door. She waved and called hi, then headed out. A minute later when I drove out, I saw that she had pulled over to the side of the road, near the beach. I thought maybe she had remembered something she wanted to tell me, so I stopped - and she pointed out the large pile of bear scat in the middle of the road!

There is a healthy population of black bears in this area, but although I've heard people tell about a few sightings this summer I haven't seen any. They're not habituated to getting food from people, and black bears are 'fraidy-cats in general - if they hear you coming they're more likely to run away than anything else. So you're just as likely not to see them. But this! This was close! This was only a few hundred yards from my house! With all the blueberries growing around it! Which bears love to eat! My harvest may be curtailed...

This evening, two of my housemates said they had seen the bear, at two different times, in about the same area - along a stretch of Sand Point Road that is lined with thimbleberry bushes. (Thimbleberries are similar to raspberries.) I hadn't realized those berries had started to ripen, but apparently they're enough to keep this bear in the same area throughout the day!

I will now be looking out the windows first thing in the morning... and before I go outside to go to work!

Guess who!

Today when I walked down to the lower overlook, I spotted a chipmunk. A common occurrence. He saw me, too, and was wary - but then he started scrambling up into a bush! I thought maybe he was trying to get a higher vantage point to watch me from. I managed to get a photo of him but I got too close, and he fled. That's when I noticed what was at the end of that branch - gooseberries!

More harbingers of fall

Today while I was out at the Miners Castle Overlook talking to people about the bald eagle that was once again perched in the tallest pine tree just opposite us, I noticed a monarch butterfly fly past. A few minutes later, I saw another one. And then another! I didn't see any more until I went to go have lunch. Across from the visitor center, along the path that cuts across to the far end of the parking lot, there are a bunch of purple flowers blooming. And they were covered with dozens of monarch butterflies.

I looked up the flowers - they're sweet joe pye weed. And apparently they're very tasty. They were being totally mobbed by butterflies - mostly monarchs, but a few other types as well - and lots of bees and flies. But of course the monarchs were the main show! Apparently their migration has begun - something flipped the little switch that sends them south. From Canada. Across the entire width of Lake Superior. At its widest point. And this was the first spot they had gotten to! It was a very popular filling station and rest stop for these amazing travelers - and a perfect spot for all the human visitors to get a close look. Throughout the day, looking over, I could see a lot of people stopped there to take pictures - and I kept mentioning it to people when they came in, so they wouldn't miss it. It's truly amazing to watch - the individuals drinking nectar right at eye level, and the broader field of view alive with fluttering. This is definitely one of the wildlife highlights of my summer here at Pictured Rocks.

Signs of fall

When I came out to Pictured Rocks, I originally thought I would only be here in Michigan until the beginning of September, just after Labor Day. I probably misheard something during the interview - and my seasonal job at Yellowstone last year ended after Labor Day, so that was my default expectation. So I was a little surprised to learn that I was actually scheduled to work all the way through September! I didn't mind, except that it meant I would have to miss an event back in Missouri in late September. Still, I'm happy to earn a few more paychecks and be around to see the fall colors!

Now I've been asked to stay on a big longer than that. My last day will be October 18! I've worked several summers at various parks now (only one as an NPS employee, though) but this will be the longest I've stayed on at the end of the summer. It's going to be well into fall when I leave.

It's strange to be thinking about fall when it's only August, but I've been starting to see the signs already! We've been having some very cool weather - I actually had to turn on the little heater in the visitor center a few times last week.

I've been starting to see some colors in the trees, even! At first it was just a branch here and there - which can happen if the branch has broken and is dying. But I've been seeing more and more of them - mostly sugar maples, which have almost a neon orange-red color. It was still just here and there, though, and I was having a hard time believing it. It's not even September yet!

 

When I drove to Marquette today, I noticed a lot more colors. The tree-covered hillsides have had a subtle change - not to reds, yet, but just a lightening of the greens. The chlorophyll in the leaves is starting to fade, and there is more yellow showing through.

The final proof came when I drove past a marshy area with a grove of trees that were a full, deep, dark red. There was nowhere to stop, but I'm pretty sure they were red maples, which is another one of the main trees out here. It's strange seeing them out in the woods, because in Missouri I've only ever seen them used in landscaping - not wild.

So there is no doubt in my mind - autumn is almost here! The main fall colors are supposed to be in mid-September, but there are an awful lot of trees that are sneaking in early - and not sneaking very well!

I cannot wait to see this all unfold. A whole forest of sugar maples! The only thing that even comes close is when I drove home from Idaho in September 2012, through Rocky Mountain National Park, right at the peak of the aspens' color. Oh, wait, there are aspens here, too... I have a feeling this place is going to win!

Beyond my backyard

I was going to go on a hike today, but with all the rain we've been having I decided to wait a few days. I did, however, go for a walk before supper, just in the wild area behind the house. I walked toward the beach, checking for blueberry patches as I went - I just picked nearly a quart on Monday, so I didn't pick more than a handful or two as I went, but I was looking to see where might be a good place to pick next time. I saw a lot of blue berries, but a lot of them seemed very tart, so I think they've still got to ripen a bit.

And then there were the bushes that are nowhere near ripe! I thought from a distance that they were another type of berry entirely, because of the bright red and green, but they have the right general shape - they're just on a different schedule than the ones I've been picking so far.

I was a little surprised to find mushrooms growing out of the sand! I know they pop up fast, but it's only going to be wet here very briefly!

Rainy day

It rained all morning long.

It was a pretty slow day.

I kept looking out at the rain falling, and dripping from the roof across the way, and I decided to get out my notebook and try to describe it.

---------------

Rainy day, looking out the window

I watch the rain against the opposite wall

Big silver drops fall from the edge of the roof

Dripping down the shingles

Gathering in tiny intermittent streams

Constantly dripping in the same places

Big bright drops forming solid vertical lines

In the air, in my vision

Against the dark wet wood.

Meanwhile, rain continues to fall

Wild and blowing – not a storm

But a constant breeze

A swarm of tiny drops, blown about

Pushed relentlessly at an angle by the wind

Swirled around erratically by further gusts

Defying the straight silver lines of the rooftop drips.

The droplets from the roof have already landed

Joined together, flowing along the surface

Along the path of least resistance

Even as they fall again,

They follow a straight path

Too substantial to be blown off course,

They simply drop straight down.

In their final descent, those straight lines

Highlight the wild flurry with which they fell

From untold heights

Blown about and swirled, as are those drops

Still blowing around the lines as they fall.

Having missed the roof,

They are wild for just a moment longer,

Free in the air.

The rain begins to slow, until

There are only the big silver drips

Falling in straight lines from the roof’s edge

All joining, once again, on the ground

Flowing away together

Through the cracks of the boardwalk

Soaking into the grass

Until only a few drops keep falling, here and there

Having taken refuge in the trees

Slipping from leaf to leaf

Until there is nowhere left to fall.

New fruits!

I've been browsing on raspberries near the visitor center - there are at least a couple of ripe ones every day. I've also tried a few gooseberries growing on a bush near the upper overlook - they went from yellow-green to a sort of greenish-purple, and when I ate them they were sweet and a little tart.

Now the chokecherries are starting to turn red.

Communing with nature... delicious nature...

Today was my extra day of work, but it went pretty well. I didn’t waste any time in the evening, either – right after supper I went out and picked more blueberries!

This time I went behind the house again – there was a big patch just beyond the edge of the yard, and then I worked my way back through a band of trees to another sandy area at the edge of the Sand Point Marsh. I worked around the edges – not much grows in the sand out in the open, just under the trees. There were a few good patches, and a few with some berries that weren’t ripe yet – and a few patches of taller bushes that had very green berries on them! I’m not sure if those were blueberries but they looked about the same, so we’ll see. (I checked the Wild Berries and Fruits guide at the visitor center and there are several things I may have been picking out here – a couple of varieties of blueberries, black huckleberries, and even something called bilberries – but they’re all pretty much interchangeable as far as eating them goes!)

It was really neat being alone back there. I could hear the strange hooting call of the sandhill cranes, even though I didn’t see them. (It seriously sounds like something out of the Jurassic Park movies. I even saw the tracks… I have dinosaurs in my backyard!)

And then I saw a deer! I didn’t scare it out, I just looked over and realized there was a deer looking back at me, a little ways off. We were both a bit surprised – and then it left fairly quickly.

At this point I decided to stop picking, because I was having a hard time seeing the blue color of the berries – it was getting to be dusk. I had been out there for over an hour! I started working my way back, trying to spot where I had come through the trees. I didn’t quite take the same path back, but I came out in sight of the house so it worked out all right. It was a lovely evening, out there in between the trees and under the sky… and I got almost three cups of blueberries! About a quart, with what was left over from the other night!

This is about the actual size.

Going to market

This week I will be working an extra day on Wednesday, to help cover for someone who will be out elsewhere in the park. Marc will be working at the Grand Sable visitor center tomorrow, and I will take his place at Miners Castle. I’ll basically be working on my Saturday – for overtime pay, but all the same it means a short weekend! So I decided to do my grocery shopping after work today, instead of on my one day off.

I always go into town right from work on Tuesdays to go to the Farmers Market. I bring a shirt to change into so I won’t be in uniform – although sometimes, like today, it’s cool enough that I can just put on a jacket over my work shirt. The market goes from 4-7 pm, and I’m usually getting there around 6 pm, maybe a little earlier – so I never know if there will be anything left! There hasn’t actually been much produce, although I lucked out and there was just one or two bags of lettuce left the last couple of times I got there. (The strawberries were a one-time thing.)

But this week, there were several stalls! I got two kinds of lettuce, a cucumber, and a whole lot of raspberries, for a recipe I’m planning on making. Then I went to the grocery store – and managed to make it through the list without too many detours! I did make one important purchase, though: pancake mix. I can’t let all those blueberries go to waste! 

One taste was enough...

Those blueberries were so good I went out and picked a bunch more! I went in the evening, after supper, and went across the street again. I walked a lot further this time, and really got down on the ground to get to the plants, which are only about six inches tall. Luckily it’s all sand in between, so it was dry and not too dirty. I was careful to sit or kneel around the edges, trying not to land on any berries! I brought a quart yogurt container with me and picked it just about half full. I walked a little further, picking here and there where there was a heavier bush, but there were still a lot more that weren’t ripe.

So with a whole pint of fresh blueberries, I felt I needed to make something. To bake something. I thought of a couple of possibilities, but ended up going with my first impulse, which was blueberry muffins – following the original Betty Crocker recipe! They turned out great – I left out four of them for my housemates to share, and kept the rest. Hopefully I can make them last at least a couple of days…

The best part is, I still have almost a cup of fresh berries left! I’ll put some in my cereal tomorrow morning.

Wild animals and plants

Today was pretty hot - for this area, anyway. It was cool in the shade but when I was standing in the sun at the overlook, the water looked really inviting! It was incredibly still - there were no waves at all, until a boat went by, and then it was just that one series of waves from the boat's wake, splashing into the cliffs and then bouncing back and creating interference patterns that showed up as shadows on the floor of the cove. It looked like a giant swimming pool.

At one point, there was no one at the overlook, so I went to stand in the shade for a moment - and see if there were any raspberries on the bushes growing off to the side and below the platform! I've gotten a few here and there, and every couple of days there are another couple of ripe berries. As I was making my way around, I noticed a strange noise - I wouldn't have heard it if anyone was there talking. Sort of a hard scratching sound... I looked over, at the bare ground under the platform, and spotted this!

A chipmunk was under there, gnawing away at a plastic water bottle! I don't know if he thought there was food inside, or was trying to get to the water, or just felt like chewing on something, but it was a very unusual sound! He got kind of jumpy once I started getting closer, but I kept still for a minute and he went back to chewing so I could get a picture.

It was warm all afternoon, but it was already feeling cooler when I walked to the car to go home. I had really hoped it would stay good and hot so I could go for a swim, but it was definitely cool when I got home, so I didn't even try. I did go for a walk after supper, though - just through the sandy area across from my house, then around to the beach. And I found blueberries! There are a lot of little blueberry plants all around Sand Point - including behind the house. I had a handful of them the other day. There are only a few ripe ones, a lot more that are unripe - but most of the plants have a few ripe ones each, and then a bunch that are still just green or pink. They're delicious, but they're kind of hard to pick because they're only a few inches off the ground - so it's a lot of bending over for a very small payload! If it weren't for the fact that there are still some mosquitoes out there, I would have just sat down next to the patch and picked from that level! Maybe once there are a few more ripe ones...

Also, there are different kinds! I can't really tell a lot of difference between them. They all taste good, though! 

I walked over to the beach near Headquarters. Not the place where I've gone swimming, on the point - this was a little more isolated, a little more sheltered. And I spotted some shorebirds! Sandpipers or plovers of some kind - they seemed pretty small to me. They kept pecking around the high water line, and occasionally at the water's edge. It was kind of exciting to see something new right near where I've been living all summer!