Leaves Late, Feels like Winter

The DNR site shows that across Minnesota the leaves are late.  The cold chill in the air is more a late winter blast than the beginning.   We have had a couple of branches on oaks turn and move all the way to that partial drop that they do, leaving some purple-brown leaves till Spring.  But the general cast of the forest is lightly yellow-green.  Not much worth an oh or ah. 

Usually late September and into October had days of swimming left in it.  Not so far.  A couple last days to clean up is all we have seen.  Most days the lake is just too cold to hang out on.  Dark is clearly present too.  The cloudy day is the norm.  One day a few ago it was like a light bomb exploded it was so bright.  That emphasizes how rare those periods have been.  Of course, Canadian wildfire haze in the air has dimmed a lot of days this Summer. 

The garden is long done.  It had good grape tomatoes and beans, but the potatoes were a bit on the small size.  They all taste great, but there is just less potato in the cooler.  One wonders if the regular tiny rainfalls prevented a good enough dosing of the crop.

Frost and freeze are now expected the next two days.

Fall Settling In

Fall is in the air and settling upon the land.  Cold days are showing up some.  While near 90 yesterday, it still was chilly in the wind on the lake.  Swimmers were limited to me on the lake. and I was trying to stay in the really bright sunlight.

It was an amazing day, though.  The sunlight was so clear and super bright.  No light clouds, no heavy clouds, no Canadian wildfire haze.  These have stunted the brightness for a long time.  It seemed like a new burst of sunniness upon us in that it has been hazy for so long. 

The geese have begun to gather.  The numbers are tiny, but the fall ritual of honking has begun.  We watched about a dozen try to fly into the wind and making a had slow climb.

A flock or rafter of wild turkeys was spotted down the road the other day.  The rafter was thought to be about 24 of them.  They took their time crossing the road.  A pair running out of the grasses just as an earlier crossing pair made it across.  They are around but rare to us.  They seem to prefer the deeper woods it seems.

We have heard others talk about lakes being a bit weedier this year, and we find that true on Mud Lake.  Along with that, the water has never reached the bathtub temperature that it seems to always reach in earlier August.  It remained cooler than our normal.  I think like land grasses it got just the right cool to grow more.

The leaves have begun to turn for fall, but it is not a big rush.  Two area of oak have a branch turning full fall colors, while mostly green surrounds them.  The normal peak is about two weeks hence.  They have a long ways to go.

Our tamarack had a poor start this summer but has recovered.  It grew a very tall thin top piece that just did not make it through winter.  It looked on the way out, but recovered with a much bushier base area and a shorter top.

A pine grove starting by the lake seems to be doing well, too.  About two dozen 3-4 inch pines are starting in an area of about 10 by 30 feet.  We have given them a chip base to hold water and most of them survived last winter.

As the last post was in April, you can tell the summer was busy.