Elderberries and Sunflowers

 Librarian Trevor held a volunteer meeting today.  Actually, his official title is 'Director' which, to me, is less informative and seems a little haughty for village libraries like ours.   He wisely held the meeting the hour before the library opened and had coffee and donuts waiting for us.  A good start to a successful meeting is timing/location/ and shamefully plying your audience's vices.  We had a good turnout w/ only two volunteers who couldn't make it.  Trevor had a full agenda going over the next three months and what activities he has planned for each week.  There is even a 'Banned Book Week'.  The discussion there was do we display books banned in the last five years or over the last century?  Picking books banned recently usually means those w/ LGBT etc. content and that might result in some raw emotions.   We'll go w/ historically banned books which were banned for a whole host of reasons.  When I got home I checked books in my private library and found a number of the books have been banned:

Alice in Wonderland - U.S. in 1960's, promotion of drug usage

Lord of the Rings trilogy - Alamogordo NM in 2001, being 'Satanic'.  Copies of the books were burned.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - U.S. in 1885, described as trashy and conflicting w/the views of the community

1001 Arabian Nights - Egypt in 1980's, accused of being obscene and containing references to vice and sin.

The Works of William Shakespeare - Florida due to 2023 law, sexual and gender-bending content in Romeo and Juliet and The 12th Night.  Fortunately, Florida decided banning Shakespeare went too far.

As I checked farther, over half of the fiction books in my collection had been banned at some time somewhere.  I assure you my collection is not salacious.  (To be completely honest I do own a copy of 'The Joy of Sex' but c'mon, that's a classic.)

Maximillian Sunflowers

 The bird songfest ceased awhile ago.  I remember going out on the constitutional with the dog and suddenly registering that there was no morning chorus.   I don't think the birds have left yet though.  I will see a line up of birds on high-line wires - all of the same species - getting ready to migrate.  Sometimes a field will erupt w/ a flock of birds that have been feeding together.  I think this far into the season, there is no reason to sing to attract mates or mark territory.  Also, the countryside is bursting with food so without fledglings to keep them anchored to a nest, they can spread out.  I'm still keeping the hummingbird feeders full. It's easier now.  The male hummers have taken off and there are only some females and youngsters left.  After Labor Day I'll start keeping track of each day I see them.  Two weeks after my last sighting, I can take the hummer feeders in for the season.   Even w/o the birdsong it's not quiet - there is a day-long background hum of insects and peepers.  The bees are everywhere.  It was late into the spring before I saw any at all.  However, fill a meadow w/ goldenrod in bloom and they will come.

Tree frog on the outside of the window

Big decision tonight was if I should close the windows.  It wasn't going to rain.  The temp though would get down into 40's/50's.  The problem was gray tree frogs (they might be Cope's tree frogs - hard to tell).  The little frogs like to climb up and sit atop open window sills.  If I close my casement windows I run the risk of squeezing the little fellas to death.  Seemed a shame when they eat insects and are 'environment enrichment' for the cats who try to catch the frogs as the scooch up the outside of the windows.  In the dark it's not easy to see if they are perched on the top (or sides) of the window and I'm a bit too squeamish to go outside and run my hand over the edge of the windows feeling for soft moist bodies.   I left the windows open.  I didn't want to remake my bed w/ the electric blanket either - it is still August and there are standards to be maintained.  However, even if Blitz and Whip snuggled up against me in bed, it would get too cold sometime at those temps.  Instead I dug out a big old black quilt that I have stashed away for when the winter gets really cold.  Threw it over the top of the bed.  Both I and the frogs should have a good night.

Rainbow at Sunset

The alarm had gone off but I stayed in bed a little longer listening to the state's Public Radio weather forecast.  High in the 60's w/ a chance of frost tonight in the northern parts of the state.  Yikes!  It's still August for another week.  Picked up Friend Nancy for breakfast and we both are looking forward to putting flannel sheets back on our beds.  (It's a Northwoods thing.)   Once home I checked on Mjolnir's apartment.  Every autumn it turns into a Fly Apocalypse - last year my count reached over 3,000 flies.  However, I'm pretty sure from what I observed last year that the flies are squeezing through the front door frame.  Now that my company has left, I took blue painter's tape and taped the top and sides of the door.   I'll enter through the workshop until freezing weather arrives.   Then I placed a sticky fly strip on the front door window.   There were 4 flies buzzing around the day I applied the tape and the count was up to 7 tonight (none flying - all caught on the fly strip).  If the number starts to rise significantly I will tape the bottom of the door too.   If that doesn't work I've got more ideas.  I swear this autumn that apartment will not look like a Biblical Plague struck!

Phil hanging up his laundry

Brother's Brent and Phil have gone home.  For the short time they were here they left their mark.

- Put in a diverter on the downspout of the house gutter.  It can divert water into a large garbage can I have on the deck and use to water the flowers.  Around 1/2' of rain will fill up the can.

- Take down the blinds in the living room.  Dunder has finally had his way w/ the blinds and they no longer work.  Will replace them when I replace the windows.

- Installed the Roku stick in the spare bedroom's TV.

-  The dead tree that had fallen over one of the paths is now cut up and I have a few more pieces of wood for the winter.

- Glued together some tiny wooden ornaments that had broken (again Dunder's doing).  I wasn't sure how to keep them in place while the glue dried but the guys do.

- Made a small patio of concrete bricks for the tete-a-tete chairs to set on.  I won't have to move them now when I mow the grass.

- Laying drain tiles over the draw between the front 80 and the back 80.  Between Phil and Neighbor Blake there is a passageway now for the mower to pass.

- Brent went through the lilac bushes that make a 'hedge' 20' out on the SW and SE sides of the house pulling woodbine that trailed in and out of the lilac branches. 

- Mowed the lawn & trails.   Cultivated the garden (which meant pulling off the lawn mower attachment, putting on the cultivator, and then reversing the process).  Trimmed around the house.

- Cleaned and brought in the bird houses for the season.

- Broke apart the wooden support for the aquarium.  It was well built but a year after getting rid of the aquarium seemed there was no other use for it.  Made great firewood.

- Cut small trees that would have impeded my view out to the hills and the small trees sprouting up in the meadow.  (Wouldn't stay a meadow long if those weren't annually removed.)

- Replaced a cob light in the work shed that had burned out.  (Thought those things were suppose to last 15 years?)

- Walked the dog and fed the cats while I was away at the Fair.

There were probably more things they did that I forgot to write down.  Hopefully, in-between all of that they got in some rest and relaxation.

Small Bench

Went to the State Fair!  Drove to the Big City in the afternoon leaving Brother's Brent and Phil to their own devices.  I stayed at the same hotel as Friend Kathy and her husband Stan.  Kathy and I met up the next morning at 6:30 in the lobby and then drove to a Park & Ride that featured express bus rides to the Fair grounds.  We arrived there around 8 a.m.  Did our usual things - coffee and cream puffs to get us going.  Walked through some animal barns where Kathy got licked by a cow.  Met up w/ Friend Nancy who had driven over that morning.  I purchased some rocks at the Hippodrome and we walked on up through the Fair.  Attendance didn't break first day records but came quite close at 137,000.  Even w/ that many people I managed to recognize Cousin Rick's profile and we stopped to say hi to Rick, Dawn, Paul, and Gillie.  Brent had planned to go w/ them but had caught my cold and stayed back at my house to rest.  I stopped off at Northwoods Furniture and ordered another small bench (ordering at State Fair gets me a 15% discount).  We walked on to check out the Siberian Husky aficionados demonstration.  There were some other places on the way that looked interesting but lines of people waiting to get in were incredibly long!  I picked up a falafel pita sandwich and pomegranate lemonade at the food building (funny no long lines for wonderful middle-eastern food) and met up w/ Kathy and Nancy who had gone to the Dairy building for malts and to see Princess Kay of the Milky Way sit in a freezing room while her likeness was carved into a block of butter.  We met up on the lawn of the Horticulture Building to eat before continuing on through the grounds.  More long lines even at a pronto-pup stand but Nancy & Kathy wanted one so they stood in line.  I sat down at a nearby bench at the same time as another gentleman.  While waiting we struck up a conversation and talked maybe 20 minutes until Kathy & Nancy were ready to head out again.  By 2 p.m., Kathy and I had said good bye to Nancy and gotten on the bus back to our hotel.   I've been to the Fair enough to know that afterwards the first thing is to take a shower and put on fresh clothes.  At 4 p.m. we met up again to continue our newer tradition of going to a movie matinee after the Fair - this year it was Weapons described as a dark comedy horror flick.  Then, of course, we went out to eat.  Something about going to the Fair always makes me hungry afterwards.

The new revised Draw

 We got between 2 to 3 inches of rain in the morning on Saturday.  Phil and I ran out to the draw in Jormungandr to check on the newly installed drain tiles.  There was no water standing on either side.  We could see where the water had eddied and ran through the tubes so they worked as planned.  The soil on top is not packed yet so isn't drivable.  I could see where deer had pranced up to the bridge but not attempted to go across that soft surface.  It will settle in.  I checked out the wild plums - they are turning purple, the wild apples - they are turning red, the chokecherries - the birds are eating them up, and figured out the sweet smell on the breeze isn't from the agrimony, asters, or virgin's bower but from the goldenrod.  (Phil thinks it's a musty smell.)    I had picked up a block of mineral salt so put that in the back of Jormungandr and drove it out to the deer lick.  Also drove out to put the garbage bin at the end of the road for garbage pickup day.  Tonight Phil loaded some scrap wood into the back of Jormungandr and put it out in Ragnarok in preparation for a wiener roast.  The new table and bench that I sat out there worked well as a staging area for ketchup, mustard, drinks, napkins and other accoutrement.    I'm not a fan of wiener buns but the whole hot wiener, soft bun, tangy mustard, and acidic ketchup was an excellent combination and tasty.   Interestingly the  second wiener didn't taste anywhere near as good.  The fist taste to see if the baked beans were hot was great but by the time I finished them - not so much.   My takeaway is twofold: on a picnic eat only 1/2 as much as you think you want - and- a UTV is a very useful gadget to have.

Virgin's Bower

Brothers Brent and Phil took Jormungandr out to pick up the bird houses for the season.  I usually do it in September but all little birds should have fledged by this time if they hope to be strong enough to fly south or endure a Northern winter.  I went w/ them to show the way to the two houses on Neighbor Dearhamer's 'pup mountain'.  I brought along the dandelion puller that Sister Connie gave me as it's an excellent bird-house-cleaner-outer.  Both of those houses were used - one by a tree swallow and one by a house sparrow.  We drove to the pair of houses on Brother Russell's property.  Russell came out to say hello and though Russell said he never saw a bird going in or out, the houses had been used.  Back up to where I am planting Yggdrasils from past years to pick up the two houses there.  Then to the houses in the middle of the meadow.   Brent found the first dead bird.  That was part of the reason I clean out houses in the fall.   It's a bummer finding the occasional dead baby birds, adult birds, or unhatched eggs.  The brothers came back to the house and replaced me w/ Whip as they drove back out to pick up the rest of the bird houses.  There was another one w/ a dead bird and two unused houses but, this year, no leftover eggs.  One house that was practically impossible to find in the tall grasses was filled w/ seeds and berries.   I'd never encountered that before.  AI Google seemed to think some birds cached food but I'm fairly certain that's not what's going on here and this was the work of a field mouse.   As if to verify my suspicion, when the brothers cleaned out the double decker bird house near the apple tree, a mouse scampered out of the top when they opened up the door.  He had a pretty little winter condo started among feathers and food stuffs.  That's the other part of the reason I not only clean out the houses but take them in for the winter - I don't appreciate mice taking up winter residence.

Steeplebush

 

Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report:

12:25 a.m. - Officer observed a vehicle parked at boat landing, occupants said they were having family issues and wanted to leave for a while.  Were allowed to stay at the landing.

12:53 a.m. - Caller states she woke up to someone who sounded like a young adult female tapping on her window saying "Let me in."  She and her husband turned the yard light on and didn't see anyone.  Deputy checked the residence.  Nothing found.

10:09 a.m. - Caller advised they talked to Sheriff.  Needs patrol to go out and tell vehicles they need to be removed from the ditch line.  Highway commissioner and state are starting the process of forcing resident to remove vehicles from right-of-way.  Deputy spoke to property owner who states he had a stroke in June and will clean it up when he gets better.  He was informed the state will remove the property at his expense if it's not removed.

11:32 a.m. - Caller reports a woman attempting to get into a building.  Has made many attempts to unlock door with code.  Officer unable to locate female.  Amazon delivery lady believes it is suspicious.

1:05 p.m. - Caller reports they are at their cabin and there are seven bear-running trucks and dogs everywhere on their land.  This is actively going on.

1:29 p.m. - Walk-in complainant reporting a theft.  Female reports three people staying at her campground for two months in exchange for cleaning up property.  They took her catalytic converters that she had removed for better mileage.  She was advised to contact them to work it out, as she did hire them to up scrap and didn't specify what they could take.

2:39 p.m. - Call from County Transit company.  They received a call from an elderly female who was upset requesting to cancel all her rides because her husband was being mean to her.  Deputy in contact.  Husband said she is upset because he said se should take her to a nursing home as he is having a hard time taking care of her.  He has cancer and she can't care for herself very well.  Female does not want to go to nursing home.  Male wants to take her to her appointments and speak with her doctor. 

2:49 p.m. - Caller at Cenex reported a gas drive-off.  Driver was contacted and called back to pay.  Drive-off was intentional.

11:22 p.m. - Caller states a red-tailed hawk won't leave their back deck since about 7 p.m.  Hawk dive bombs them and their pets when they walk outside.  Hawk won't leave the deck and perches mostly 10 inches from the window looking at the cat indoors.  Caller states it has ruffled feathers but they can't tell if it's hurt.

Phil laying pavers

Brother Phil was worried about my pulling and pushing of the tall connected chairs I'd put on the north side of Mjolnir.  Whenever I mowed I would move the chairs almost wracking them out of shape.   He thought  making a small patio, just large enough for them to set on, was the answer.  First though, the telephone company had laid cable around the back of  that building and then swung down the north side until it could continue on down the  driveway.  I didn't remember exactly where the line went so I called Digger's Hotline.  They said it would take four days - until Friday - for all of the utilities to check my place.  Last Friday came and went but no telephone company.  I did get an e-mail from Digger's Hotline stating the telephone company was a 'non-participating' agency.  I called them Monday morning.  The receptionist said of course they would send someone that day to mark the cable.  When we all got back from our tour of the university, orange marks in the grass showed the route of the line.  It didn't cross the proposed patio site.    The brothers dug down around 6" in a 6x6 foot square.  The excess sod was loaded in the back of Jormungandr and dumped on some field ruts nearby.  Then they took Jormungandr down to Neighbor Blake's gravel pit and loaded about 1/3 of a square yard of gravel in the back.  They dumped that as a base in the hole they made.  The sand we'd picked up earlier was dumped, tamped solid, and leveled.  The pavers were carefully set on this base w/ edging along the side to keep everything tight.  The tete-a-tete was placed back in place and it's all set to once again be a spot to sit and contemplate the meadow, the fields, the hills, the clouds, and the sunset. Both brothers have been going to bed early and telling me they are sleeping well.  Not a surprise.

Picture taken by Brent Mayer.

Neighbor Blake

 

Neighbor Blake brought his skid steer out to my property, Phil put the drain tiles into the back of Jormungandr, and they met at the mucky draw this afternoon.  This is the same spot I got stuck with the lawn mower last month.  Blake hollowed out the area a bit lower and Phil laid the three drain tiles into the draw.  Blake went up to higher ground and dug out sod to place over the tiles.  It will protect them from crushing, hold them in place, and make the draw a bit higher.  Phil ran over it a few times w/ Jormungandr to tamp down the dirt and ... we will see.    With any luck they will stay free enough of muck to allow the runoff from the woods go through on it's way down to the creek.  (Only caveat is it may not be strong enough to handle anything heavier than Jormungandr driving over it.)   If this plan doesn't work,  I haven't invested much.  The whole thing was paid for w/ Menards rebate checks I've been collecting for years.   About time I used them.

Arrowwood Berries

Supper was out at Lehman's Supper Club in Churchtown.  It was excellent - and not only because Brother Phil paid.  This morning Phil worked on putting in a small patio by Mjolnir and Brother Brent pulled woodbine from the lilacs, mowed the lawn, and started some trimming around the house.  Really, I should have paid after all of that work.   Phil, however, said he wanted to treat Brent and I since our birthdays are both in August.  I could live w/ that.   We had a pleasant server and and the food was great. As a finale, she brought out little scoops of ice ream w/ a fudge drizzle, whipped cream, and a lit candle stuck in each for Brent and I.  I thought back and remembered early on she'd either asked if we were celebrating something -or- I volunteered that Phil was treating us because of our birthdays.    A sweet ending to a wonderful meal.  Even though we were all stuffed (I couldn't believe the size of Brent's pork loin) we motored over to Menards to pick up some final things we needed for the patio Phil & Brent are working on.  We managed to put 10 more concrete pavers and two 50 lb bags of sand in the back of Phil's car.  Took the state road back to my place instead of tackling the back way w/ it's hills and curves.  Easier on the weighted down car (and my stomach).

Lower Campus

 

Arranged a walking tour of the college campus that Brother's Phil, Brent, and I attended.   This morning we drove to Collegetown and parked in the visitor's lot (a free parking spot on campus!)   Assistant Emily greeted us at the new Alumni Welcome Center and we took off.  Phil graduated in 1967.  I graduated in 1974.  Brent graduated in  1983.  We all had different visions of the campus based on when we attended.  Emily had obviously done this before.  Her route took us past all of the major buildings.   We ducked inside to see the student lounge/cafeteria/meeting rooms and whenever we were outside there were beautiful native flower and grass plantings.   The campus, though altered, still held a charm.  It was the perfect time to visit in order to appreciate the setting w/o the bustle of students.  My old haunt at the Phillips Science Center (a new building when Phil attended) is due to be razed in two years when the Science/Medical Center is finished.  The Zorn Auditorium (where graduation ceremonies were held up until this year) is now a hole belching trucks loaded w/ debris.  (Later, we did drive down the road to see it's replacement, the new Sonnentag Auditorium.)   After an hour of showing us around, Emily said goodbye.  Before leaving the city though, Phil, Brent, and I drove to the houses where we had lived during our college years.  Brent's white house still stands by the river.  The place Phil rented is now a lawn.  While there is a house on the corner where I lived, it's not the same house.  (I hope they saved the bird's-eye maple flooring.)   The biggest shocker though was not on the university grounds.  It was driving down Water Street (located adjacent to campus).  Fifty years ago it had been a hodgepodge of grimy bars.   The buildings are now uniformly red brick and the whole place reeks of gentrification.   I suppose that's progress.

Nope, I didn't take this picture - got it off the Internet.

Chokecherries

 

Cousins Rick and Dawn came over for the day.  They had installed solar panels on their house awhile ago and were curious about the installation here.  We had lunch (Dawn brought a scrumptious almond cake for dessert), caught up on family doings, played with some games.   Brother Brent went w/ them to do a round of disc golf in a nearby park.   Then Rick and Phil took Jormungandr to check how much water was in the draw at the back of the property (that's where we plan to put the tubing).    Before long it was time for Rick & Dawn to take off again for home.  My voice still sounds raspy but doesn't hurt as much as it has for the last couple of days.  Think everyone will feel like they had a good day - provided they don't catch this cold.