Heavy Rain Ends, We Hope

 

The heavy 5 inches of rain and the winds that followed, seemed to have come to an end.  Only light misty rain today.  Damage to the forest continues to be assessed.  The tree loss count in in the 5-7 range.  Sadly they are mostly living trees hit by wind or wind and sift sandy soil.  The two large dead trees we spot are still standing tall.

Given the size of this group we may just remove the more burnable branches and leavers and let the trunks become forest soil eventually.  They were meant to end that way.

I must check on the chainsaw and get it ready to help.  On its last legs but should be ready for some effort.

Days of Rain and Wind

 

One assumes the drought is over and gone for now.  The sky has been, shall we say, plentiful for the last few days.  With the sandy soil the water drains with super haste, but the plants have all been refreshed to the max.

The tree s are certainly restocked in water, but the winds have taken some nice ones.  All living trees, which is a puzzle.  Why not take the two dead ones down to the ground so I can more easily recycle them?  No.  Nice living trees losing the whole or top parts.  Saw a study in which a guy found that it took 92 mph to take a tree down, no matter the type.  While still not sure on this study’s applicability to all trees and situation, we must have had more wind than we thought.  The lightening in one was so continuous you could look outside and evaluate if the trees were falling.

Them squirrels seem to take a break, too.  They seem to hide out more and visit the sunflower feeders meant for them.  One would expect them to not hide out in the search for nosh because rain is more natural to them, just damper than normal.  But they do seem to hit the food supply in the yard less these few days.  They do stock up so maybe it is all just stored away in some tree hole.

This afternoon’s storms missed mostly to the south, but I see another line way to the west. 

Them Loons

 

Forgot to mention that the loons have been about.  Status of the child bearing is not clear yet.  We hear a lot of calls, but most are a bit out on the lake, nothing close.  They are up during the night as a quick middle of the night call will attest.

Popcorn Day

 

A strange day today with popcorn storms.  Good rain for two minutes then the sun comes out.  Clouds then sun.  Clouds then a short storm that hardly starts.  Some outside work done but nothing big.

Bad news on the turtle eggs as the fox or something else struck.  That is Nature. 

Good day for shorter walks.  Temperatures are set to be rising soon, and today one could move nicely around.

Beautiful Day

 

It was a beautiful day on the lake, today.  The popcorn storms seem to be missing here and that has left wonderful temperatures and a lot of sun.  Some general cleanup took place as has been true the last bunch of days.

Potatoes are showing their heads nicely in the garden and some are growing right up.

Turtle Walk Time

 

A snapping turtle was seen crossing the yard yesterday.  This is the local sign of egg laying and turtles on the move. 

The nest has not been spotted, so maybe whatever eats the eggs every year will not find them either. Turtle eggs have not fared well over the last few years.  Deposited by our garden they are dug and eaten almost as laid. Never seeing this done, we have no idea what gets them.   Maybe baby turtles this year.

The other event likely to happen is spotting turtles crossing the roads slowly around here.  None so far, but one does have to be in the right spot at the right time to view this.  Problem occurs as people stop and wait for slow turtles to cross.  Moving them is not advised, but if one must, then only in the direction they were going.  If not, then they just walk back on the road.

Tamarac Growing

The most viewable Tamarac we planted last Summer is growing well.  It came out of winter with some good bushy growth.