Rambling On

Walk with me awhile.  I'm bored with gardening and mowing lawns so....come along, ramble with me.

 So, I can't decide.  Do I like the green of the Reedgrass, or it's tassels?  I can't decide so I will like the entire patch along my driveway.

 The Speckled Alder can be seen from some distance, 

if you know how to see it.  It's the color purple, dark but bright, that gives itself away.

 Within the thick bark of the Basswood, are pinhole-sized holes drilled by a wood-boring insect waiting within, to finally hollow and destroy this ancient beauty.  Then comes the woodpeckers in search of such tasty morsels, such is the life cycle of this particular tree within our forest.

 The clouds captivate me.  The dark V and the cottonball clouds look like Big Bird to me, lying on his back, just floating along for the ride.  Phew, he just missed those powerlines.

 The Hemlock trunk and roots below, are at our cabin, overlooking the creek.  It's become a favorite place to sit and read, watch the woods and the creek, explore.  The Grandkids take turns crawling throughout the roots.

Look below.

Do you see the confused Flying Squirrel?  These velvet-coated rodents are nocturnal so to see them out in the daytime, there's a good reason.  This particular fella was looking for his home, being blind in the daylight.  His home was in a dead tree that had tumbled down in a storm.  He did find the hollow of his home eventually, as it lay on the ground.  Most likely, he will find another hollow much higher off the ground again.

 Look closely by clicking on any of the photos and you will see much more.  The green rock is full of moss, shadows and lichen.

 The rock below has a surprise.  It appears to be the fossil prints of perhaps a raccoon.  I love happening upon these treasures.

 And check out this freak-of-nature find...it's a rock within the trunk.  Apparently the tree grew ' around ' it.  I've seen this before, especially along a river bank, like this one.  Cool, heh?

 Tattered old buildings always catch my eye.

 This one has eyes of broken out windows and an eeriness

about it.  I wonder what those walls would have to say about 

it's youth?

 Legend has it that this old trappers fort was one of the first established along the northwest shores of Lake Superior.  It's logs were caulked with mud and clay, ceiling, very low and much ventilation.  It's now at a wayside/rest area just north of 

Ashland, WI, not 45 minutes from my home.

 I'm sure the caulking of the cabin was done after it was moved.  It isn't too likely that a nail would have existed back in 1696.  or am I being a skeptic???

This has just been ' me ' taking a reality check.

I've been so busy gardening that I needed a reprieve.  

It was fun finding a few pictures to share with you that really had nothing to do about nothing, just a rambling of my mind.

Now ' that ' could be dangerous.~~~

Hope you enjoyed the walk.

I know I enjoyed your company !

R & R ~ Rest and Repair

From sun up til night fall, I've been 

hangin' out, doing ~ not much of anything ~

except taking photos, 

 enjoying visits from my grandkids and their folks,

 doing a little sight-seeing from Lake Superior's shoreline,

 to the north fork of the Flambeau...

 taking walks down the cabin roads,

 and picking veggies and zinnias from my garden, ~

 and finally helping make my first 2 gallon jar of 

Garlic Dill Pickles, Green Beans, and Carrots...

anything, I say, ANYTHING, I could manage with one hand ~

~ while ~

waiting for THIS to finally heal ... and what fun ...

 I apologize if these photos make you squeamish but you don't know how wonderful this looks to me.  Finally, I can feel my fingers again and use my left hand.  I'm a ' lefty ' so it's even a bigger thrill.  This is the result of carpo-tunnel repair of the first surgery from over 20 yrs. ago.  I'm as tickled pink for the success as my hand is as it regains use.  Now, to get the swelling down a bit more so I can put my wedding band back on...I miss it.

I missed you all but now I can type with both hands again.  You still won't see me often this time of the year, however, as the garden is beginning to bounce back from the hail damage and I have vegetables to process.  I'm still reading your entries but also not writing quite so much just yet.  

Thank you all for hanging in there with me and commenting in spite of my lack of appearing anywhere.  You're good folks.

Loveya

Dar

Change

 The Raspberries are picked and jammed, jelled and frozen.

 The Bleeding Hearts have finished their bloom as the foliage dies back,  just like the Bluestars next to my sister's home.

 Most all of the new generation of birds have taken wing and are no longer depending on their parents to feed them.

Our gardens are bouncing back from the hail storm a week ago and now it's time for me to rest awhile.

I'll be taking time off from blogging for a few weeks

but will still be reading what I can.

Have a wonderful ' end of summer,'  hustling to get a few more weeks of vacations in before fall takes hold and sends your scholars back to school.

Until the next time...

Bless You All and enjoy every second of every day.

(((Hugs)))

Dar

WHAT the HAIL* * *

Hey, Grandma, have you seen my swim goggles?  

click on any photo to enlarge

What the Hail...is going on with this weather?  We had a short-lived hail storm a few days ago.  The powerful rains lasted less than 8 minutes dumping 2 inches of rain and then came the hail.

 As small as what the actual hailstones were, from tiny to the size of a dime, it still did a considerable amount of damage to our vegetable gardens.  The green beans were torn and left pounded into the mud.

 The onions have white spots on their leaves from where they were pelted with the hail.  The same happened to everything that shows it's growth above the grounds surface, sugar snap peas, green beans were left with the burn marks of the icy hail.

 The broad corn leaves are now in shreds but the corn will be fine so long as it doesn't get hit again as the ears develop further.

 The carrots lay on the ground with broken fronds.

 The tomatoes lay all over the ground pounded off by the hail's fury, leaving it's mark all over the tomatoes that managed to hang on.  The white spots speckling the fruit and the stems show proof of damaging weather.

 We remain grateful that the pumpkins were just getting their start.  Had this storm arrived when our pumpkins were fully grown, we could have lost the entire field of them.

 We do not, however, hold much hope of eating cucumbers this year.  Our patch was destroyed leaving only once cucumber. Before the storm, you could not see any ground where the cucumber plants once were. 

 Tiny crystals of ice certainly can create a lot of despair for the average gardeners such as ourselves.

 What the hail did not destroy, the rampant rains washed away.

 The rain fell so hard but when the hail started, and the wind from the west, we thought for sure our west windows were going to crack or blow out under the pressure.

During all of this, Bill was splitting wood at the cabin and was forced to run for cover, it came so quickly.  He headed for the garage to sit it out, saying he had to keep moving his chair back because it was hailing in so hard....and loud, he said it was so loud pounding against the metal roof.

Traffic pulled off the highway because it was so slippery with the couple inches of hail.  To top it off, the power was also out for several hours.  Never a dull moment.

Through those amazing 8 minutes, there was still room for a miracle.

 Not one of my paper thin poppies were destroyed.  They stood tall throughout the storm while the corn got cut down to half it's size.

So in spite of ice at the end of July and damaged gardens, we can rest assured that the root crops will still produce for us.  We may not be eating many tomatoes this year but we will have our carrots and beets.  I even think the cabbage will make it.

All my life I've heard that if you want to see a rapid change in weather, come to Wisconsin.  We do have it all.

Have a great week and stay safe.