In The Arboretum…
…with 45 middle schoolers and high schoolers. Tree learning activities and then planting a dozen shrubs. Lots of help, great kids, good fun.
Photos to come tomorrow. Meanwhile, the backyard witch hazel is in bloom.
…with 45 middle schoolers and high schoolers. Tree learning activities and then planting a dozen shrubs. Lots of help, great kids, good fun.
Photos to come tomorrow. Meanwhile, the backyard witch hazel is in bloom.
In trying to be environmentally friendly we are mulch mowing rather than raking. (But full disclosure, some of us did rake under the three big oaks and under the huge birch, where the carpet was getting thick.) The mulched leaves provide sustenance for a whole range of creatures, all the way up to our avian friends.
We are definitely letting things pile up under the shrubbery, as compost.
I’ve been inside (with the excuse of a bum leg) while quite a few Trick or Treaters have stopped by the display outside.
I did prepare dinner, though.
The three remaining old-style windows had screens swapped for storms. Leaves got raked or mulched. Trailer got a new wiring harness. Most of the heavy lifting not done by me.
Small but engaged group, and fun and informative presentation by a real tree expert.
Big plans for erecting the donated pavilion kit today we’re dashed by the fact that the foundational concrete did not get poured. But today there was excavation, and the dozen volunteers have been notified that November 11 is the new date.
…is what this blog is largely about. Therefore, I intend to take the science more seriously, and to devote some space here to being a phenological calendar. Love the Phenology Wheels below, taken from the web, but I will probably seldom veer from photographs.
Brief visit, but long enough to include three games of Sequence. Cloudy morning, giving way to beautiful, chilly afternoon. Photos by Katy.
…the change had to come.
…this way comes.
Another warm day, and now a very windy, almost, spooky, evening. Makes me think of Ray Bradbury’s story, quoted in the headline.
Small thunderstorm went sailing by last night, somewhere off to the south. It feels like a bigger storm could show up this evening. With all this wind there’s no doubt the trees will be waving bare branches come Halloween. (Photo of Arb, above, by new Arb volunteer.)
…will we pay the price? Leaves gone from locust, crabapple, and redbud. Oaks are still holding on. Witch hazel has yet to flower, and the buckthorn is pretty much evergreen.
Great program, small crowd, but still fun. Good to work with Wes, sustainability director at the U. Gorgeous weather—77 for a high.
…and lunch at Chucks (which was crowded). Just another outing, on a beautiful Indian Summer day.
…apple cider doughnuts, and caramel apples. Fruits of a fall outing on a cool but bright day.
Pumpkins available too, but apples preferred.
…at the Arboretum.
Almost all of the 192 trees ordered this spring are now in the ground. Workshops begin this weekend.
…for a visit , lunch, and an a little Kettle Moraine outing. Good fun.
We dropped our absentee ballots off at City Hall.
A great many humans, across the globe and throughout time, have been susceptible to the blandishments of totalitarianism, authoritarianism, dictatorship.
This being the case, a demagog can easily stoke the somewhat natural fear of “the other”—be it ethnic minority, religious group, alternative culture, or immigrant group. This demagog claims that these “others” are causing all the problems, and that by marginalizing or eliminating them the once dominant “majority” can get back to its rightful place at the top of the dogpile. This demagog promises to restore the perfect past.
The totalitarian urge flares up a various times and in various places. Right now the world is experiencing a serious flareup—Russia. China, Turkey, among others, and in the U.S.
The U.S. has narrowly escaped at least two totalitarian insurrections, one in the 1940s and one on January 6. Thanks to the efforts of a slim majority of citizens who believe in democracy, these attempts were foiled. But the urge toward dictatorship remains strong, and there are plenty of demagogs willing to exploit it.
This mid-term election is therefore extremely important. If enough authoritarian election deniers get into office, democracy will be seriously, perhaps unrecoverably, threatened.
Those of us who are glad we don’t live in Russia or China need to vote in this election, and we have to get every other reasonable person we know to do so, too.
…back in Whitewater. Once again I was not allowed to drive.
…in spite of flakes and freezing temps. And what a great boat it is. Can’t wait to sail it.
Some projects at attempted, and completed, at Squirrel Lake house.
Photo by Will.