Tourist Day in Duluth-Superior

It was a busy day playing 'tourist" today. Slept in a little, had a bagel & coffee at the hotel. Then consulted the maps to find my way via highway to Canal Park.

My first stop was the Lake Superior Maritime Museum. The top photo here is the entry hall to the museum. I was there early (9:45) as the museum did not open until 10am. It was interesting to see so much information about the shipping on Lake Superior. One exhibit I found very interesting was a relief of the Great Lakes and surrounding area. It really shows the depth of the Great Lakes. I knew Lake Superior was deep, but did not know Lake Michigan has a very deep section.

The building that houses the museum is also the offices of the Corps ot Engineers. Not a large museum. Sure can't complain as there is no admission fee. The museum is in Canal Park right next to the Aerial Lift Bridge. Parking was pretty reasonable - 2$ for the first 2 hours..

Next was the agenda was the Great Lakes Aquarium. Admission to the aquarium was a bit steep. First, there was $5 for parking. Admission was $16.50 (at least there was a discount for seniors - $13.50 for those 62+). The middle photo on today's posting is of the entrance of the aquarium.

The most interesting exhibit for me was the large model of the Great Lakes water system including locks, power plant, and even Niagara Falls. I spent about a hour at the aquarium.

It was about lunch time, so thought I would find the Anchor Inn in Superior for lunch. I had been told they have great, cheap hamburgers. Alas - Tower Avenue is all torn up. Gave up and headed to the next stop.

I knew that today was the Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center 3rd annual Open House (I was there 2 years ago!) Free burgers/dogs, chips, and soda. So, I could at least get a little food before later dinner.

Did not see much new - but it was a nice break. The museum has artifact from WWI, WWII, Korea, VietNam, and the "cold war". Did not see anything about Iraq or Afghanistan. The center piece of the museum collection is a P-38 plane.

By this time, my left knee was having a fit. Time to go to the hotel and "get horizontal". After a little nap, I processed the photos I took today. Then it was time for some dinner. After some debating, I decided to find a place for pizza and beer.

The Firelight Inn (don't remember why I ended up at that site) recommended Thirsty Pagan Brewing. I knew I could find the brew-pub since I was past it earlier, trying to find the Anchor Inn.

I told my server (Christy) that I would like an Amber Ale, if they had one. She served me a pint of North Coast Amber - brewed on premises by thier brewer - Allyson. OK, does it sounds like I was getting to friendly with the brewery? t was just so easy. Manager Steve stopped by and answered any of my questions.

I like to sample the local beers while on the road. Talking with Steve, he asked how Hayward biking was - I said it was mostly wet. He also stays at the Country Inn in Deerwood, knew the owner, Dan. I asked if he knew Hansi - the local IMBA Regional Director - he does. Guess he's also a mountain biker! Gave Steve the URL for my cycling blog and general web site.

Was a very enjoyable dinner. I can sure recommend Thirsty Pagan Brewing for beer and pizza and friendly staff.

Otters, we have otters

It worked! Hubby put the game cam where something seemed to have created a path from the creek to the pond. We'd seen fresh otter scat near there.

I'd hoped that the flash would scare the otters away. Sure, they're cute, but they've eaten most of the fish from our ponds.

Considering that this picture was taken a full minute after the previous one, I don't think that strategy is going to work.
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When I swap over to the new Blogger, I'll create a category for the game cam, so you'll be able to click and see all the related posts together. But since I'm getting a lot of Google hits on the topic lately, I'll mention again that this is a Cuddeback game camera that we ordered online from "Boss Buck".

Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

After our bike ride on the Cannon Valley Trail earlier this week, we headed to Crex Meadows WildlifeArea in Grantsburg, Wisconsin.In thefirst two photos shown here Jessica is looking for Sandhill Cranes in the fog during the first light of the day. We could hearalot of cranesin the distance but couldn't see them at first because the fog was so thick.



Eventuallly the fog started to clear enough that we were able to start seeing some of the cranes.


Loved this view through the fog of a group of cranes standing on a mud flat.


For about 10 minutes the clouds and fog cleared enough that a bit of sunlight came through and gave us some really cool light. Once the sky cleared a little, the cranes started to take flight.




Sandhill Cranes in the early morning light, diffused by thick fog.


There were several thousand cranes at the refuge, this view along Main Dike Road was where we saw most of them.


These three cranes were walking with purpose across this flowage.


Cranes in flight... love the subtle yet beautiful variation in color on their wings!


We enjoyed a breakfast snack at the "Rest Area" along North Refuge Road. The rest area was surrounded by beautiful oak trees, and looked out over a vast field which included a pond complete with a beaver lodge along the edge of the pond. Every now and then a few cranes would call as they flew overhead. It was a little slice of heaven for us :-)

Kettle Moraine State Forest

The weather cooled off a bit yesterday. And, the humidity dropped - actually a comfortable day. A bit windy, so headed to the Kettle Moraine State Forest, North Unit to get my dirt fix.
What ended up getting fixed was my bike - more on that later.
I checked the Wisconsin State Parks web site and noted that Kettle Moraine is a unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. As such, my National Park Service Senior Pass was honored. Saved me the $10 vehicle fee. Still had to pay the $4 bicycle trail fee.
From the Forest Headquarters, it was down to New Fane trails area. Rode the 1/2 mile warm-up loop. Mosquitoes were nasty so stopped at the car to spray bug juice. Off on to loop 2.
Heading into that trail, it seemed that there were more "baby head" rocks on the trail. Lots more than I remembered from November. I know the trail is new, so all the rain this year might have exposed the rocks.
Pedaling up a hill, I quickly remembered that the Fuel EX7 was having shifting issues. Was skipping the chain the last time I rode it (back at Tsali). I should have headed back to the car, but kept on riding. On to Loop 3. The problem was getting worse so took a short cut back. 1.7 miles in my ride the chain broke.
Hike-a-bike back to the car. Now, I had ridden 1.2 miles into loops 2 and 3, but walking back on the hiking trail took me 1.7 miles to the car. Of course, the mosquitoes a swarming over me. Was a miserable walk back.
Once back to town, called a local Trek dealer - Grafton Ski and Cyclery. They said they were not too busy and could look at the bike. Replaced the chain and adjusted shifters. Told me the bottom bracket bearings are going bad.

New life

Discovered on a walk by the River Spey yesterday. A patch of precocious green, and not just a few shoots, but burgeoning flower heads.

Their habitat was an east-facing mossy bank, scattered with fallen leaves, and in dappled sun. Sheltered from the prevailing westerly and northerly winds, and above all but the very highest reach of the river in spate.

And flowering - delicate, deeply divided individual flowers emerging from fresh green bracts, some of them frost-burned.

I turned to the family copy of the Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers. First printed 1955, ours is the seventh edition, 1969. No first edition, sadly, as for our Reader's Digest 'The Gardening Year'.

When my mother and I used to use it to identify flowers we found on our walks, we would invariably discover that we had whittled the possibilities down to something extremely rare and confined to the south of England. The explanation of the star system used by the Collins guide has a schoolmasterly tone, "We have devised a star system to show how common or rare a plant is, to add to the pleasure of finding something uncommon, and to discourage rash identification of unlikely rarities". Continuing in that fine tradition of pleasure rapidly followed by discouragement, my first stab this time turned out to have three stars for rarity, and to be "confined to woods and copses in one small area in E Sussex. Flowers June-July". A second attempt gave me the satisfyingly Lord of the Rings sounding White Butterbur, two stars for rarity and "local in plantations and by roadsides, chiefly in the N". A quick cross-check with photos on the internet (the Collins guide is illustrated by line drawings), and I'm sure that it is indeed White Butterbur. The two star rarity is for scarce plants "which usually grow only in limited areas, but may be thinly scattered over a wide area". White Butterbur is apparently an early flowering plant, so its January appearance is not a cause for climate change concern.
With this stirring of new life even in the north of Scotland, I'd like to wish all my readers and commenters a Happy New Year. Who knows where blogging will lead us in ... Writing this post, I found myself wondering about taking a botany course at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh...I'd be interested to hear where blogging has led or might lead you.

Good Skiing and Narada Falls Face Snow Pit

Howdy Everyone!

Afterseveral daysof cooler weather and some precipitation, the mountain has come back out in full sunshine with a good 6" of powder on her flanks. There is some great skiing on the south and west aspects right now; while the eastern aspects are getting crusty.

This weeks snow pit was dug at the top of Narada Falls Face, just below the Steven's Canyon Road. As you can see from the profile, the main layer of concern is between 10 to 20 cm below the surface. Some moderate failuresfor the stability tests indicated that point releases are possible especially on lee slopes. However, no propagation was observed during the stability testing.

CTM(14) @ 12 cm Q3

ECTN(18) @ 12 cm Q3

RB3 @ 12 cm Q2

Keep an eye out for possible point releases on south facing aspects...there's plenty of sluffs coming off all around the Paradise area; especially the face onPanorama Point and the 4th Crossing area.

The Left Coast Garden Consultant

This post, "The Left Coast Garden Consultant", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.

Garden bloggers like Carol of May Dreams and Frances of Faire Gardens report the presence of wee fairy folk in their gardens but I've never seen evidence of them here. Luckily for me, an experienced maker of fairy gardens happened to be visiting Austin a couple of weeks ago and she graciously consented to a consultation - accepting root beer floats, barbequed brisket and gift shop souvenirs in place of her usual fee.
The Fairy Garden consultant liked many parts of the garden. She appreciated the deep fuchsia color of an emerging anemone but felt that the most likely place for the fairy folk to dwell was in the Secret Garden, kept warm in winter by a brick wall and southern exposure, but shaded by deciduous trees in summer.
This small garden is planted with a fig tree, shown with summer leaves in the photo above - how many fairies would it take to eat one ripe fig?
Apparently, the fairies didn't feel at home because they had no small benches to perch upon. The cute little caps of the live oak acorns weren't set out on tiny tables.
Pot feet that could be useful to fairies weren't placed in the secret garden but were stacked on shelves. Seashells from a vacation were kept inside a large plant saucer. How could the fairies use them if they weren't handy?The consultant arranged shells, rocks, wood and terra cotta in a more pleasing way. She liked a heart-shaped rock and some tumbled glass mulch. Some fairies don't mind manufactured items but these fairies are the Austin hippie type, disdaining all but natural materials ...the pot feet get by because they're clay and the tumbled glass started out as silica sand.
The stars were cut from paper, which used to be wood.
It's possible that I won't see any fairies attracted by these efforts but I'll keep watch for traces of them dwelling in the secret garden.
The consultant rested on the bench for a moment, looking at her work.I started to believe that there had been a fairy in my garden after all. This post, "The Left Coast Garden Consultant", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.