Leland Harbor Renovation- Installing the Fuel Tanks

Folks returning to Leland this spring will see some big changes. The old Courthouse has been torn down, and there are plans for new housing in it's place. The Leland Library is undergoing a complete interior renovation and should be looking nice and new by mid-May. but the real nail biter has been the long-planned Harbor Renovation. It has been a challenging project, requiring cooperation between Leland Township, Michigan DNR, Michigan DEQ, Michigan Office of Budget Management, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Leelanau County Road Commission, Leelanau County Construction Code Office, and, no doubt, some other agencies that I've forgotten.

Today it was a pleasure to see a big part of the project successfully put into place. The fuel tank in the pictures and video will hold both diesel fuel and gasoline, providing boaters with the only fuel stop between Frankfort and Northport. Behind it, rather lost in the mayhem, you see our pretty little playground. I was happy to see the fuel tank nestled deep into the ground. When the area is back filled and sodded, it will be a nice venue for "king of the Mountain."

It was a warm spring day, with beautiful blue water framing Whaleback. The construction guys are hoping for more weather like this to make up for the time they lost fighting blizzard conditions early in the project.

P.S. As I left the site, I saw an eagle soaring above, too high for a photo, its white head gleaming in the sun.

A Hummingbird Story

In early fall, two years ago, I found this lifeless hummingbird ensnared in our garden gate. We always have lots of half grown hummingbirds around that time of year, swooping down on the feeders and playing tag in the air. This one must have misjudged the nature of chicken wire and run out of energy while trapped. It was beautiful and delicate, even when dead.

I took some photos and then worked it out of the chicken wire and showed it to Anna. She packed it into a little cotton-lined box that had once housed jewelry and showed it to everyone who visited. The next day she took it to school to show her fifth grade class.

On the third day she decided to have a funeral. She dug a hole under the pine tree, and opened the box to say a few words about the deceased. The cat seemed to be participating, so she held the bird out for the cat to say his last words. That is when the cat jumped up, snatched the hummingbird, and swallowed it whole before she could do anything about it.

Last summer Anna had another funeral for the one-eyed baby chick that lived only a few days. The cat dug up the deceased and ate it. I'm hoping she gets this funeral thing a little more finessed before it's time for mine.

Another Lousy picture of my Exciting Life

We were driving to Leland to see my folks, checking out the ice, which was punky today after our record high temps yesterday. We saw something out on the ice, bigger than a bird, and moving fast. It was an otter, alternately running across the ice and then sliding on its belly through the puddles. It seemed to be heading towards the open water of the river, but in no particular hurry.

We have seen otters in the river, in fact one year a mother raised her pups under the dock in front of my parents' condo. We'd never seen one out on the ice before. I think the ice was strong enough for an otter, but maybe not for coyotes and other predators. It was an otter's day to play.

The Lost Ladybug Project

I was researching a different topic when I stumbled across the Lost Ladybug Project. Here in Michigan we have been so overrun by the ladybug's stinky brown cousins, the asian beetle, that most of us haven't noticed that the classic ladybug is no longer around.

Besides being incredibly cool and charismatic ladybugs are also essential predators in both farms and forests that keep us from being overrun with pests (like aphids and mealybugs). In many areas the native ladybugs are being replaced by exotic ones. This has happened very quickly and we don’t know how this shift happened, what impact it will have (e.g. will the exotic species be able to control pests as well as our familiar native ones always have) and how we can prevent more native species from becoming so rare.

Cornell University is asking for help from the citizen scientist community to find out what's going on. The Lost Ladybug Project asks us to watch for ladybugs and, when we find them, photograph them and upload the photos and other information to their database. Anyone can do this; you can read here about the elementary school kids who made the first sighting in 14 years of a nine-spotted ladybug in the eastern US. There are clear instructions and a map of others' sitings on the website.

I think I've seen some nine-spot and two spot ladybugs in the last few years, but I wasn't thinking of them as a nearly extinct species or I would have paid more attention. The lovely ladybug is a reminder to me to slow down and pay attention to the little lovely details of my days.

Blueberry Picking and a Bear

A Trunk Full of Blueberries

I have been working 45-plus hours each week since that break I took for Chris's wedding, so when Richard proposed that we go blueberry picking I was happy to just ride along and look at the scenery. Our final destination was the Baatz Blueberry Farm in Honor, but we took a side trip to the National Park Headquarters to renew our annual park pass, and then to the blueberry patch in the park on Esch Road, where the berries are free, but you have to crawl through the underbrush and overgrowth to get at them.

At the Baatz Farm, there are nice mowed rows and you can pick berries by the handful instead of one by one. I like to pick berries with my husband because we have such good conversations when we work together. Anna has hated blueberry picking in years past and this year I relented at the last minute and let her stay home on the condition that she organize her wardrobe for the start of school. Still, I felt like a bad mom for not requiring her to come along and pick what will be our winter food. A good parent is supposed to make you come along on boring hot car rides to nowhere, right?

We picked 11 quarts of berries in about 2 1/2 hours. It did seem slower without Anna to help. We talked a lot about politics, windmills, Europe, bugs and birds. The berries were $2.00 a heaping quart. We drove back into Honor for cold drinks and then headed home, back past the blueberry signs.

I had been thinking all day that I would see a bear. When we left the house, I felt sad that Anna wasn't with us, thinking "Now she won't see the bear," but knowing that I couldn't promise a bear, that seeing a bear was most unlikely. On Esch Road, there was a smell that immediately brought to mind the old question "Does a bear shit in the woods?" I was paying attention and looking before I crashed through the next set of trees expecting a bear or a mink or something, until Richard noted that the pig farm across M-22 was really stinky today. Later, at Baatz Farm, I heard young kids wandering down the rows from Mom to Dad, and I felt like saying "Stay close to the Big People! There's bears!" but I didn't say anything because I didn't have any real reason to think there were bears around. It might have been the fact that Anna slept outside in the hammock most nights last week, despite my worries. It may have been that old children's book, Blueberries for Sal. It might have been the book I'm reading now, David Western's In the Dust of Kilimanjaro, and its discussion of living closely with large mammals.

At any rate, we were heading north on Ely road, passing the blueberry signs again, when we came around a curve in the road and there was a bear. It was a younger one, bigger than a cub, but not heavy like a mature bear. It seemed to be interested in something that was on the road, but when it saw our car it turned and walked off into the brush. Richard was saying "What is THAT?" and I was saying. "It's the bear. I knew we were going to see a bear." He prompted me to grab the camera and get a picture, but it was gone by the time I unzipped the case. As it walked off the road, we saw the unmistakable bear silhouette.

At home, I baked two blueberry pies as Richard cooked bratwurst and corn and Shelagh made a salad. We all sat around and ate a great dinner and drank a bottle of wine. The hummingbirds chased all around the house for our entertainment, and we all enjoyed the evening off.

A Bear in Leland

Richard tells me that John Henderson saw a bear in Leland this morning, in Pendergast's yard on M-22 across from Indiana Woods, just a stone's throw from Fudgie Beach. It's usual to see foxes, minks or an eagle in that location, but a bear is a little over the top. Maybe it will show up at the Wine Festival tomorrow.

I looked for it at 11:30 when I drove in to pick Anna up on the last day of school. I didn't see it -- no surprise there -- but there were fudgies on the beach and downtown was crowded with newly released school kids and resorters riding bikes and walking dogs.

We've had 4 inches of rain in the last week, not a lot compared to much of the Midwest, but enough to make the farmers happy. My sweet potatoes, which looked like produce department scraps when I planted them, have sprung a few leaves and grown a few inches. Still no seedling peanuts, although I've now replanted them for the third time.

What Else is Happening

As predicted, I am tripping over tomato and basil plants while we wait for weather warm enough for planting. I am trying peanuts this year; my first attempts at starting them inside resulted in rotting seeds that smelled awful. I was advised to try again, with charcoal in the soil to lighten it up. I had a spot in the warmer part of the garden where I had burned before, so I tried some outside with wall-o-water cylinders to warm the soil. No news on that, yet.

The potatoes are in, the peas are up, and we've been eating greens from the garden. I also tried dandelions from the yard this year. They were good, parboiled for a few minutes and then sauteed with a little garlic. You just need to clean them very well because the stray blade of grass is like trying to chew dental floss. Rhubarb is up and very vigorous. I've been selling a lot to passersby and to the Covered Wagon Farm for pies. Rhubarb traffic is a constant interruption, but rhubarb lovers are such nice people that I don't mind.

There is one more bake sale, this Saturday, in front of the Leland Mercantile, for the Odyssey of the Mind teams that are going to world competition. They have managed to raise over $1o,000 in a about six weeks, though bake sales, car washes, a movie premier, large and small donations, and grants from the Leland Educational Foundation and the Oleson Foundation.

I will be baking again for this sale, but I have to go to work earlier and attend a noon meeting so my output will be less than the 20 loaves I baked last time. Maybe some Rhubarb Crumb Cake would be in order.

All this happens, but we still stop to admire the orioles, indigo buntings, and hummingbirds. And to hunt for morels. I never find any, but all that hunting gives me opportunity to note the locations of raspberries and gooseberries so I can go back later in the summer. I came home from work late one night and found a Cool Whip container of morels on my kitchen table. It seems the neighbor was weed whacking when he found the mother lode of morels on the site where the former neighbor cut down an apple tree 12 years ago. Not many people will share morels, but I have wonderful neighbors.

What Happened Yesterday

Richard went outside and found the garage door window broken and a softball laying in the yard. He went and found Anna and asked her "Weren't you even going to tell me that you broke another window?"

Anna said, "What window? I didn't break a window?"

They went and looked at the garage. There were shards of glass from the door all the way to the other end. Laying in the middle of the garage, dead, was a red tail hawk.

It seems that the hawk dove right through the window, killing itself in the process. We can't figure out why. Perhaps it had something to do with the cats, who have been sunning themselves on the roof of the car in the driveway. Or maybe it has something to do with the pair of mourning doves who have been nesting in the pine tree next to the garage.

I will tell the story to Pat Patterson, who keeps racing pigeons just up French Road and who is regularly besieged by hawks. He may or may not have some insight, but it will certainly make his day.

Tired Of Winter

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We're all tired of snow, but the animals are doing something about it. The red squirrel and the grey squirrel are both done hibernating and back to raiding the bird feeders. Our cats and the dog are back to chasing the squirrels; the cats are coming close to success.

The tracks in the snow tell stories all over the yard. Above we have the dog's big tracks, a cat's smaller tracks. and the tiny tracks of a mouse that came out from under the lilac and wandered in skittering paths all over on top of the snow.

I'm doing something about the snow, as well. This is a flat of lettuce and arugula, planted from the seeds of last year's crop. I'm growing them under lights and in the window on sunny days for cutting greens. They were doing well until Shelagh and Jordan brought their cat home for spring break. He found this flat to be a fine place to curl up in the sun. and watch all the action in the yard.

I try to plant peas on St Patrick's Day, but this year it seems unlikely. Lettuce, radishes, carrots, peas, and parsnips will go in as soon as the ground thaws; a little snow won't hurt them as much as the hot sun of June does. I will have a few of last year's parsnips to eat as soon as the ground thaws and they will be a treat.

Kestrel Kill

Another lousy picture of my exciting life!
I looked out the window and saw a bird covering another under the clothesline. "Wow," I thought, "It must be spring! Birds are mating in the snow!"

But they weren't mating. It was a Kestrel hawk, killing something. As it turned around, I saw red feathers and knew it was one of those exuberant cardinals that I heard a few days ago.

I tried to take a picture, but the window was too far away. The second I tried to sneak out the back door, the Kestrel was off, carrying the cardinal with him.

Sandhill Cranes

A pair of Sandhill Cranes, as seen from French Road near the corner of Bodus Rd. Richard tells me they have been in the neighborhood for about two weeks. They are probably resting on their way south.

Summer Birds

Anna left me a note on the backdoor Wednesday night to tell me she had seen an oriole. Thursday morning, Richard looked out the window by the coffee maker and saw an indigo bunting on the bird feeder. A few hours later I was hanging laundry when a hummingbird came over and hovered a few inches in front of my face. I was on a tight schedule, but I took time to boil up some syrup and fill and hang the hummingbird feeder.

As it turned out, work was slow. It was a beautiful day and when they offered me the option of a day off, I took it. I went home and cleaned the kitchen and made enchiladas for dinner, which inspired Shelagh and Jordan to ditch their plans and eat dinner with us.

By then there were two hummingbirds sparring for places on the feeder. Shelagh and Jordan made a rhubarb cake for dessert and then Shelagh played piano while it baked. I listened while planting in the garden. It was a nice night.

Loons on Lake Leelanau

Last Friday evening Anna and I walked down Popp Road to the lake access. We foolishly forgot the camera, as it was very still at sunset with the sun shining on the eastern shore across the lake. The twigs of trees turn colors when the sap starts to rise. The hills were pink with maples, but the shore was spotted with golden willows.

There was still snow, but it was clearly spring. We saw a pair of Canada geese, a pair of mallards, and a pair of loons. The loons were a treat, since they never stay on Lake Leelanau after people start running boats on the lake.

The next morning , north Lake Leelanau was glazed over with ice again. It actually refroze twice this spring, which is most unusual. I know the loons are still there, because I heard them tonight, as I came in after work, calling from the lake in the distance.

Leelanau Sees Sun

It's Easter Sunday and it finally stopped snowing. The April sun is strong, so strong that it was melting the snow even before the clouds really cleared. Anyone with doubts about passive solar heating needs only to park their car facing south and check the temperature in the front seat about 2 pm.

It was never a real blizzard, but it was close enough to scare me a little. Driving home, I had to creep along following the tracks before me in order to stay on the road. In a real blizzard, you have to do the same thing, only you're doing it while you walk from the garage to the house, hoping that you're following the right tracks. When I lived through the big Buffalo blizzard in 1977, I walked home a few times, just finding the sidewalks by following others' footsteps. The odd part was when I came to a corner. I would have to scrape some snow off of the corner building, study the brick pattern, then try to remember which building had that sort of brick so that I could figure out where I was.

In Leelanau, the snow comes faster as the wind calms down. Thus the snow squalls of yesterday were stronger than during the blizzard warning of Wednesday. Today there is actual Sunshine and things are melting fast. Through it all, the birds have been remarkably active. The juncos were digging hoes through the snow to get the green grass underneath. The robins flocked to the road shoulders and other open areas, perhaps just hoping for a worm to show up. We bought suet cakes yesterday, but now that the wind is down and the sun is out the yard is deserted except for two juncos.

The TV news tells us that Painesdale, Grampa Gord's boyhood home, got over 50 inches of snow this week.

Coyote, Again

Just now, 9:15 pm, Liz saw a coyote in the same place as my sighting last week, crossing 204 right before the bridge, but this time running from south to north. Must be a popular place to cross.

Haloscan comments

Since I started using the customizable template, I've often wondered if the "comments" feature of this blog was working properly. When I switched to Blogger Beta the comments feature broke down completely. Tonight I've added comments managed by an outside vendor, Haloscan. We'll see how they work. I opted for the free version, so you will see an ad over the space where you type.

First Seagulls, Now Loons

The Record Eagle reported today on the ongoing observations of dead birds along the shore of Lake Michigan, in the National Lakeshore. The birds are dying from botulism, but their food sources are being disrupted as an indirect result of the proliferation of zebra mussels, an invasive specie, in Lake Michigan. Ken Hyde, a National Park Service biologist, theorizes that:

Sediments that contain the bacteria are being filtered by non-native Zebra Mussels, thus concentrating the Botulism in the mussels. The mussels are then eaten by non-native Round Gobies, which in turn are consumed by the affected birds.

At first we saw seagulls dead on the beach, but the die-off is also affecting grebes, mergansers, and loons. If there is a bright spot in the situation, it may be that park visitors are now much more likely to follow the rules and keep their dogs on the leash.

Provemont Pond

Across the road from us is the Provemont Pond Nature Preserve. It's not much of a nature preserve, in fact one of the neighbors usually bow-hunts for deer there every fall. And there is some one else who likes to dump household trash there. And some summers there are homeless people camping out there. But it is our woods, the place where we like to walk and pick berries or mushrooms in season.Anna took these photos while walking the dog in very early spring.

The Way Home, Last Night

I got out of work a little early, 11:30 pm, and faced a routine drive home. Today is the start of firearms deer season so I was watching for deer on the move, especially at the top of M-204 hill, where I've seen plenty and hit one a few years ago.

All was clear and the snow was melting. It was harder to see the deer tracks, but I was still trying to pinpoint where they are crossing so I can avoid them next time. By the time I reached the village of Lake Leelanau, I had stopped worrying about deer.

Something darted across the road just before County Road 641 -- a coyote, small and fluffy in its winter coat. It was going from north to south, towards O'Brien Road. I often hear them howling from that direction when I get home on still nights. From its small size and lush coat, I'd guess it was a "teenager", born just this spring. Teenagers of all species are known for hanging around town and darting in front of cars.

The ride home

It was a slow night at work. I started for home about quarter to midnight. It was cold but the sky was bright in Peshawbestown. When I got home there was a mostly clear sky with a 3/4 moon.

The first time I saw something move in the road I sat up straighter and scolded myself. Seeing things that aren't there is a symptom of being too sleepy to drive. The second time I realized that I was seeing real things. Rabbits were out and running around. They come out on winter nights and eat bark from the trees. In the morning we will see their tracks in the snow. A few weeks from now I will start to hear owls mating when I come home at night, but right now the rabbits think they are safe.

A few years ago I was driving home and got to the dip by Belanger Creek. I thought I saw something in the road, so I slowed down. I couldn't make out what it was: it looked first to be a pile of old clothes, or maybe someone sleeping or lying in the road. As I slowed it moved but I still couldn't tell if it was a person or an animal. Finally it slunk off, furry, hunched over, and looking over its shoulder with beady eyes. I told myself that was the ugliest dog I had ever seen.

A few weeks later in the breakroom someone made a comment about a bear. Just hearing talk about a bear brought back the memory of my "ugly dog" and suddenly the pieces all fit together. In the old stories bears are always changing into people and back again. I've never seen a dog look like a man in the headlight's glare, but it makes all the sense in the world that a bear could do that.

Since then there have been a couple of "nuisance bears" in the county. Last spring a beekeeper had to kill one that kept smashing hives, doing $10,000 damage a night. It is accepted that they are around, but usually shy. If I see one again I hope to know what I'm seeing.