tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25285885025272060902011-11-02T08:37:00.058-05:00Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-33238661451720890072011-08-21T12:45:00.006-05:002011-08-21T13:43:59.963-05:00

Last week I went to Wisconsin Point with some friends. It is technically possible to get there with bus and bike, but it is a lot easier with a vehicle, so as a result I generally don't get out there unless somebody else drives me. It was more peopled than any of us would have liked, but that is to be expected on a beautiful summer evening. Although there was easily more dragonflies than

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-50590414931984126662011-07-10T17:30:00.003-05:002011-07-10T17:43:04.053-05:00

Maybe he was headed to Taste of Greece up by Marshall.I was walking along Central Entrance when I saw what I thought at first was somebody's dog in the field downhill from the Coppertop Church but then realized it was a yearling black bear. I managed to snap a couple crappy cell phone pictures as he crossed the street (luckily there wasn't much traffic, just one car that slowed down as the bear

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-30818707415898900142011-07-03T22:57:00.007-05:002011-07-04T00:05:52.245-05:00

I was on the side of the road in the Antennae Farm, taking pictures of the viburnum (ain't it purty?) when I heard a rustling from behind me on the other side of the road. A few minutes earlier a raccoon family had crossed the road about 100 feet in front of me, and although the mother raccoon had stopped to glare at me until I turned away and pretended to be graze on vegetation so that she

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-67858466298976551082011-06-26T21:13:00.006-05:002011-06-26T21:58:01.305-05:00

I have been so busy hustling to make ends meet and trying to get my garden in in the few scraps of spare time that I have that I ended up missing a lot this spring/summer. But at least I did not completely miss the ladyslippers.I have three ladyslipper spots out east within walking distance of each other. The first two were a complete bust--no ladyslippers at all, not even any evidence that

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-23430680243832315032011-01-28T13:18:00.004-06:002011-01-28T15:27:13.970-06:00

Last weekend I attended a meeting organizing a grassroots movement against sulfide mining. I think I'm probably too undereducated and hermitish to be of much help, but I figured at the very least I could blog about it.PolyMet is proposing open-pit mines in northeastern Minnesota near the communities of Babbitt, Hoyt Lakes, Biwabik and Aurora. This part of the state has a long history of iron

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-66843841956949007292010-12-19T19:39:00.005-06:002010-12-19T20:09:12.274-06:00

Greentangle's been posting so many lovely pictures of ice that have been reminding me that I haven't gotten down to the lake much at all this winter, so today I went out for a quick foray through Lester Park and then down to Kitchi Gammi to visit the lake. Today the high was around 20 and down my the lake there was a sometimes biting wind, but I brought a thermos of hot tea and wore a lot of

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-4141395238673957602010-12-05T19:09:00.006-06:002010-12-05T20:12:21.248-06:00

Clarkhouse Creek is still flowing, albeit only marginally, but the pond is completely frozen over, although I didn't try walking on it to test the thickness. The forest was mostly quiet except for a few crows and chickadees, plus two dogs that came barreling down a long driveway to bark at me, which doesn't really count. There were also a few deer browsing on shrubs, and lots of deer and rabbit

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-47109598113568153452010-11-22T14:53:00.004-06:002010-11-22T15:27:49.601-06:00

It looks very picturesque out there, with temps in the 20s and softly falling light, dry snow. Unfortunately there will be no frolicking for me today because the only reason I'm not shut away in a near-windowless factory is because I am getting over the worst cold I've had in years. My walk to the compost pile earlier is probably all the outdoors time I get today.So instead I am browsing

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-79821896243263684152010-09-28T20:16:00.007-05:002010-09-28T21:32:31.335-05:00

In town the maples are starting to turn and are flaming up the boulevards, but in Lester it is mostly birch and aspen coloring the landscape in warm yellow. Smaller plants like ferns and sumac are also preparing for autumn.Lester is one of my favorite city parks. I like the rivers, and the landscape seems more deep woodsy than a lot of other parks, and it seems like I fairly consistently find

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-57778585144540928352010-09-14T17:32:00.003-05:002010-09-14T18:14:24.590-05:00

Nature, of course, continues. I've been busy with a new job that is otherwise good except that I'm stuck in a windowless basement all day, and I have never really mastered the skill of balancing a 40 hour work week with having a life, so I'm not getting out as much as I'd like (although I do have a recent Antenna Farm jaunt to write up).Today I overslept just enough to miss my usual bus, and I

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-59362907348981170702010-08-09T21:42:00.003-05:002010-08-09T21:54:11.995-05:00

Today the high temp (according to my thermometer) was 88 and the humidity level was around 70% most of the day, and if that isn't a perfect day to go jump in the lake, I don't know what is. This time I didn't want to make the trek to a specific "swimming beach" so I just found some little cove in the hillside where the shoreline is rocky and the rocks are kind of slimy once you're more than a

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-79508324945507202662010-08-03T12:28:00.006-05:002010-08-03T12:56:56.691-05:00

The thimbleberries in Chester are ripe now, and while they are not as abundant as they have been in years past, there is enough ripe fruit just off of the trail for a sizable snack without quite gorging myself. (Although it is also somewhat early in the season, and there might be more substantial yields in a week or two.) Wild raspberries are ripe now, too, but in Chester they are much less

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-63613437787488965902010-07-27T16:31:00.008-05:002010-08-03T12:54:52.043-05:00

I used to live on South Street and 16th, literally just a block from Lake Superior. The shore there is not a sandy beach, but I did have really easy access to the water and I could usually find a little stretch of lake all to myself and go swimming a couple times every summer. Since I moved from that apartment five years ago, I haven't gone swimming once, so I was long overdue. It's been

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-27646488551507643662010-07-24T21:51:00.002-05:002010-07-24T21:54:47.055-05:00

I'm raising black swallowtail butterflies again this year, and tonight I got to watch one of them pupate. I wrote about it in my other blog. Go check it out!

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-46261099070960437422010-07-19T18:58:00.007-05:002010-07-19T19:47:38.580-05:00

Okay, wanting to post stuff on the day that I observe it obviously isn't working, because the result more often than not is that I don't post at all, and in the middle of summer when there is so much happening--even if I'm not getting out enough to see it all--I really don't want to go back and post date entry after entry. So from here on out I officially switch to slapdash summaries and

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-40414474667310218112010-07-05T18:22:00.007-05:002010-07-05T18:53:09.207-05:00

Mowing the lawn with an electric mower is a pretty hateful task, but mowing the lawn with a reel mower is almost enjoyable. You can hear the birds sing, watch butterflies (I had to wait a few times for cabbage whites to finish nectaring at the hawkweed; luckily for the butterflies the reel mower tends to just roll over some of the taller, wirier plants like hawkweed, so even after I mow there's

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-40013168462556771122010-07-02T22:47:00.006-05:002010-07-02T23:14:27.717-05:00

Cells phones are annoying and horrible inventions, but I have one anyway because there's always the possibility I might fall into a ravine and break my legs and have to call for help (anti-spoiler: that is not what happens in this entry). My very old, decrepit cell phone was finally starting to die, so I got a new one, and the new one has a crappy camera. The camera is very crappy, and the

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-42951395358873076832010-06-29T21:54:00.008-05:002010-09-28T21:35:57.888-05:00

I've barely gotten out this June--the weather, my schedule and my mood did not often happily align--and I've missed so much. Missed the ladyslippers, missed twinflowers, missed coralroot, barely saw any clintonia and columbine and sarsaparilla and mertensia. So today I set aside silly things like job hunting and housework and went and walked around in the woods for a while.June has turned out

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-26543765799164871362010-06-16T17:18:00.002-05:002010-06-16T17:32:48.673-05:00

This must be my week for meeting new mammals. Today I was running errands out west, and I can't say I was really paying much attention to the scenery, when all of a sudden a groundhog runs across the sidewalk, moving much more quickly than I would have expected a groundhog to move. I've never really given groundhogs much thought, and was somehow under the impression that they lived Somewhere

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-40302513481254008732010-06-10T20:53:00.004-05:002010-06-10T21:37:01.113-05:00

In my backyard this evening, I saw what I can only guess is a weasel. There was a small mammal back by my neighbor's shed, and I thought, "Well, huh, that's a funny looking squirrel." So I got out my binoculars. The animal in question was about the size of a gray squirrel, but with reddish brown fur, larger ears, a longer snout, a thin weaselly body, and a skinny dark tail. Consulting my

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-39959644894193944032010-06-08T20:33:00.003-05:002010-06-08T20:47:28.901-05:00

Lupine are blooming already, despite the cold and the wet. My cultivated spiderwort has been blooming for about a week, and now the native spiderwort is blooming, too. Some volunteer rough cinquefoil in my yard is just starting to flower, and the volunteer wild strawberries are still putting out a few flowers but are mostly concentrating on making tiny fruit. Chokecherries are long done

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-51729793863004794122010-05-20T23:44:00.004-05:002010-05-21T22:32:00.133-05:00

As nice as my last trip to Hartley to monitor the frogs was, even nicer is going on a similar hike with a friend who is smarter and more observant than me, because that way I see things like a spotted sandpiper on the rocks by the big pond and an osprey fishing overhead (okay, I probably would have noticed the osprey on my own). She was also able to identify that the flutey hooting noise that I

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-73603674652059268462010-05-16T17:22:00.005-05:002010-05-16T17:47:24.611-05:00

The baby house finches, meanwhile, are getting really big, really fast. I only noticed the babies for sure a week ago on the 9th (there was some activity on Friday the 7th, but I couldn't clearly see what; that was also the day of the freak blizzard). And then today suddenly they are big enough that one of them accidentally fledged. The babies hadn't previously been bothered by me using the

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-16301767889048995082010-05-14T12:47:00.003-05:002010-05-14T13:05:59.919-05:00

I was fixing breakfast for the cats when there was suddenly a ruckus outside, a flock of robins attacking some predator near the nest (from the angle of the kitchen window, I cannot see the nest or the predator). This was more than just the nesting pair, this was at least eight robins all swooping and squawking. Soon, a crow flies off with what I am assuming is one of the baby robins in his

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-88716408830735806832010-05-09T21:02:00.005-05:002010-05-11T18:50:08.339-05:00

I took my friend C. out to the Antenna Farm today, and at her encouragement we walked down an ATV trail that I hadn't previously explored, which went through a very pretty birch woods with several small hills and valleys. At the pond, C. heard a pied-billed grebe (something I certainly wouldn't have been able to recognize by sound alone) and later saw a swamp sparrow. In the woods, there were

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-56482942066465366422010-05-08T22:16:00.006-05:002010-05-09T11:29:51.004-05:00

I needn't have worried about the snow. Most of it was melted by 2 or 3 p.m., and according to my thermometer the high temp today was 52 F. My peas, spinach and peonies all pulled through with flying colors (I probably didn't need to cover them, but then when I uncovered them this morning, the robins appreciated the suddenly snow-free ground and immediately began pulling up worms), and one of

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-33545616188046760782010-05-07T20:49:00.004-05:002010-05-07T21:34:30.636-05:00

The last official snowfall in Duluth this year was on February 25, which meant that we were well on our way to having the first snow-less spring in recorded history. And then today happened.As of this writing, there's about an inch of wet, heavy snow on the ground, and it's continuing to fall, although it is starting to taper off now. The temperature's been hovering right around freezing, and

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-76386196021222041072010-05-03T12:42:00.005-05:002010-05-03T13:19:29.835-05:00

The merlins eventually decided against my spruce, but they are definitely nesting in the neighborhood, I think in a little grove of conifers about four blocks (as the merlin flies) from my house. A few weeks ago on a neighborhood walk I saw one perched at the very tippy-top of one of the trees, and the other flew out from the interior of that tree to another tree, and they seemed to be calling

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-5072177643484591532010-04-28T23:26:00.004-05:002010-04-30T20:22:37.496-05:00

A full-time job is nice for the whole regular income thing, but it doesn't leave a lot of time or energy for frolicking (or, for that matter, laundry or dishes or cooking real food or...)Nevertheless, I got out for a small walk tonight. I volunteered to survey frogs in Hartley this spring, but have so far been a very bad frog counter and only got out once. It's been such a warm and dry spring

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-46256043307247316272010-04-17T21:47:00.008-05:002010-04-18T16:51:20.619-05:00

I went out to Lester and Amity in search of spring ephemerals today, because I've only ever seen hepatica and bloodroot in gardens, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen spring beauty. But alas that ephemerals have thwarted me once again. I have it on good authority that hepatica was blooming in Jay Cooke last week, but getting out to Jay Cooke without a vehicle is a significant undertaking. At

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-52485311595498247052010-04-08T21:37:00.003-05:002010-04-08T21:42:47.413-05:00

Today I had the opportunity to walk from the mall to Home Depot (because the bus does not go directly to Home Depot anymore). Past the parking lot, on the other side of the frontage road, there is a puddle of a pond, maybe 10 by 25 feet. Today, at 3:30 p.m., even with temps around 40-45F, there were wood frogs singing in the Home Depot pond. I wonder how many people ever notice them. There's

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-74803521557073019982010-04-05T21:48:00.002-05:002010-04-05T21:59:52.714-05:00

Finally got up to the Antenna Farm at dusk, and as predicted, it is teeming with frogs. The tiny vernal pools were quiet when I started out (around 6:30 p.m.) but at the pond it was wood frog pandemonium, then by the time I was heading back (7:45 p.m.) the frogs in the vernal pools had started up, too. I might have heard a spring peeper, too, but over all the wood frogs it was hard to tell if

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-26784519803884066962010-04-04T18:39:00.004-05:002010-04-04T18:56:55.680-05:00

On and off all day long I thought I heard a red-winged blackbird outside declaring his territory. I couldn't see him anywhere, and I didn't really take the noise too seriously, because I'm about half a mile from the nearest wetland or patch of cattails. A red-winged blackbird just passing through would be one thing, but sticking around all day and acting like he's going to set up shop? So it's

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-29913276589167239232010-03-30T20:42:00.003-05:002010-03-30T21:05:04.739-05:00

Last Thursday morning, the day after I had the merlin fly-by, I got to actually see the merlin. He flew into the confer in my yard, called a while, flew out, flew by in again, and repeated that for about half an hour. I've heard him every day since but haven't gotten to see him again before today, when I learned that it is not just a single merlin, but a pair. I was just heading out for a tiny

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-69301507245542704102010-03-28T21:20:00.007-05:002010-03-29T11:52:57.220-05:00

I rode my bike around the Antenna Farm today, and the endless ruts and potholes and the small but numerous inclines convinced me that the Antenna Farm is better for walking than biking (or driving, for that matter). The ice is almost completely out on the pond now, and today there was one red-winged blackbird proclaiming his might. A bit further down the road I saw a pileated drumming on a

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-46531447867684116982010-03-24T18:15:00.000-05:002010-03-24T18:38:30.533-05:00

Today must be Raptor Day in the Central Hillside. Around noon I stepped outside briefly and saw at least five (and probably more, it was hard to keep track) bald eagles circling overhead, coming over the hill and drifting slowly up the shore. Two of them flew directly over my house, so I can now legitimately add "bald eagle" to my yard list. There was also one red tailed hawk, although he did

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-1508830977922317682010-03-22T17:38:00.000-05:002010-03-22T18:22:13.080-05:00

Today under my feeders there were three, possibly four juncos poking around for seeds and squabbling over prime patches of grass. They were all dark, dark gray, so probably all males. The boys and girls spend the winter apart, and the boys are the first to move back up north to stake out their territories. Some juncos stick around all winter in Duluth, but I haven't had any in the yard since

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-89220678325751254052010-03-18T20:27:00.001-05:002010-03-18T20:31:05.083-05:00

There's an old bird nest on one of the beams of my back porch, and today a house finch couple was thinking about taking it over. The boy flew into the nest to investigate and occasionally chipped to the girl finch, who was perched in a nearby lilac and seemed to be calling out instructions to him. They've been singing in the yard for the past two or three days.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-19933737606365170772010-03-17T23:39:00.000-05:002010-03-18T17:32:06.696-05:00

I probably shouldn't be confessing my erosion-causing sins on a public forum, but: today I went walking on the muddy trails in an around Lester Park. In fact, I chose that area specifically because it has some swampy spots, and I wanted to see if there was any skunk cabbage. Greentangle saw skunk cabbage last week in New England, which is not all that climatically different than Duluth, but I

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-22711492519574218352010-03-11T19:42:00.000-06:002010-03-11T19:53:58.385-06:00

Thunder, lightning, hail and rain today, temps in the upper 30s. After spending most of the day staring at a screen, I had to go outside and see what Lake Superior was up to. Even though it's only a few blocks, I could still feel the wind noticeably pick up the closer I got to the water. Ice is pushed up into the corner of the lake, and all you can see at the shoreline is mildly pulsing slush.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-81685645981924746632010-03-09T21:18:00.000-06:002010-03-09T21:28:20.729-06:00

Pussy willows are currently adorably fuzzy, like little bunny tails all in a row.Also adorable today: chickadees drinking from the puddle of snowmelt underneath my lilacs. Chickadees in general are singing their "spring" song now (fee-bee, fee-bee), but you have to take that with a grain of salt, because they'll actually do that all year round.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-14311505102766026342010-03-07T17:33:00.002-06:002010-03-07T17:52:02.306-06:00

The snow is quickly melting after a week of temperatures in the 30s and 40s (and today it nearly got to 50). In exposed, south-facing spots in my yard, dandelions, plantain, clover and other lawn herbs (we'll call them that rather than weeds) are coming up. Another week of weather like this and I can pick myself a salad.My compost pile has melted enough that I can turn it for the first time

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-6985395549269689072010-03-03T18:38:00.000-06:002010-03-03T18:52:09.474-06:00

I like to lean on the railing on Skyline Drive and look into the steep, wide ravine of Chester Park pierced with tall conifers and birch, and above it a wide expanse of blue sky. Behind me, cars zip along Skyline, presumably "taking in the view" at 30+ miles per hour, and joggers and power walkers pump along the sidewalk for their daily exercise. After they pass me, half of them glance over

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-60660588150036139362010-02-28T18:10:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:32:55.566-06:00

I was out exploring the Antenna Farm again today when a male pileated woodpecker suddenly swooped across the road just over my head (literally about 10 feet above me). He then perched on a telephone pole, drummed once, and flew off again. This is the first woodpecker drumming I've heard this year, although I maybe haven't been getting out to the right spots. Walking back, I noticed several

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-84302846355764804182010-02-25T21:41:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:24:17.739-06:00

The trail in Chester Park this time of year is like a luge course, full of twists and turns, steep slopes, and all of it coated in a thick layer of ice. Still, if you have to go up or down the hill, it's prettier to walk through the woods than on the street, provided you can stay in the woods and not go skidding down into the creek. It would have been safer to walk up 15th Avenue East, but

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-64348805670466919052010-02-21T21:10:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:25:06.735-06:00

Went for a walk through the woods up by the Antenna Farm, a young-ish birch and alder forest with more mountain ash than I've seen growing wild anywhere else in town. Pussy willow catkins, the earliest flowers in the Northland, are starting to bud out, and cattails are turning fluffy and explode in my hand. The birds today were mostly quiet; crows, chickadees and nuthatches passed through, and

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-53201224358713645842010-02-20T22:36:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:25:51.668-06:00

In Duluth in the springtime, all the avenues become honorary creeks. The temperature has been in the 30s all week, unseasonably warm for this time of year, and all the snowmelt goes coursing down the hill into the lake, carrying with it all the road salt, sand and miscellaneous detritus of winter.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-44735902757478120952010-02-16T18:23:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:26:59.191-06:00

Running errands just before dusk. Near the co-op are 100 to 125 crows silently spiraling through the sky, descending onto the roof of the ramshackle apartments across the street and roosting in the huge boulevard maples down the block. Even from street level I can see that the buds on the maples are starting to swell and turn red. The days are getting noticeably longer--it's still light at 6

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-61687955884653364042010-02-11T18:32:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:33:34.039-06:00

Lots of fruit still on the mountain ash trees, and although up close it is wrinkled and faded, the trees en masse make a bold statement on the landscape. Sumac, apples, crabapples and European buckthorn all still have fruit, too.Brewery Creek is mostly frozen, but today is trickling through storm drains.It's been warm and sunny enough recently that in the afternoons I can open up the door to my

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-13634155682751512042010-02-03T22:31:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:36:14.708-06:00

I went to a lecture at Hartley about climate change in the upper midwest tonight. The presentation itself was kind of disappointing--lots of statistics without stories, the speaker did a lot of equivocating and fence-sitting, and I'm fairly certain I was the only one that arrived by some means other than personal vehicle, and most of the vehicles in the parking lot were rather hulking, too--but

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-62160623473397956142010-02-01T00:06:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:36:41.424-06:00

Walked along the Superior Hiking Trail today from Piedmont Avenue to Enger Tower. This section of the trail doesn't offer as many sweeping vistas as other parts of the SHT further west, but there are still some nice views. Chickadees, nuthatches and crows all active in the woods. I heard either a downy or hairy woodpecker but did not see it, and thought I heard crossbills, too, but I didn't

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-21173685616216833942010-01-29T16:40:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:37:19.171-06:00

Apparently 13 above is too cold for the chickens down the street. Their coop door is open, but they're all huddled inside pecking around the fluffy straw.In my own yard, bunny tracks in the snow lead to the compost pile, while a rotten butternut squash is lightly nibbled upon. Come spring I'll have to cover the kitchen waste better, but for now the bunnies can have a free snack.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-77620951047878005432010-01-16T23:29:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:38:11.486-06:00

Spring-like, sunny and with a warm south wind, temps in the low to mid 30s. I walk along the Lakewalk from 12th E to 43rd E., comfortable in a short-sleeved t-shirt, flannel and ski vest (I had to take off my sweater because I was too warm). Just past the Ugly Condos on Water Street, four robins fly overhead, rocketing out of a little patch of trees and headed up the hill. A bit later, out on

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-29247271241573638402010-01-15T17:17:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:40:00.426-06:00

Warm, sunny and slushy. In the woods behind Grant Elementary there are chokecherries with fruit still on the tree, looking very desiccated and raisin-like. There's more pit than fruit now, but the flesh is sweeter and milder than any Rainier cherry

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-80444386445511440842010-01-09T21:46:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:40:28.265-06:00

A walk at sunset takes me up to the Coppertop Church. Crows partol the neighborhood, and once I thought I heard a raven croak. From the overlook by the Church, the birds are dark arrows against the dusky rainbow of colors in the sky and lake.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-3974190351605021322010-01-03T20:09:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:40:59.851-06:00

In Congdon Park, a flock of about 30 crossbills ransack the spruce trees. They take a bite or two, then let the spent cones trickle down through the trees like raindrops. Red squirrels are more than happy to glean their leftovers. The creek is as yet unfrozen; it gurgles underneath a skin of ice and snow.

Sonyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426854940221973070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528588502527206090.post-70736828125410082552010-01-01T18:31:00.000-06:002010-02-28T18:41:21.334-06:00

Cold and bright, clouds just at the horizon. Steam rising up off the lake. Starlings at the feeder and spiraling overhead and perched on the wire, fluffed into little balls. Fresh bunny tracks in the snow. Temps around zero with a light, biting wind.

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