Winter wonderland... sorta

Snow has been falling half the night and all morning, but it is barely covering the grass. The temps are high enough that the streets are wet but not slick. I was hoping for a white xmas, but rain is in the forecast.

I keep waiting for the day I will be invited to xmas instead of having to host xmas. Maybe next year. Meanwhile, I have things to do, places to go, people to see. Happy holidays!

Imperfect

Last week I was happy to report that my whole house generator kicked on during a brief power outage. This week I am not very happy with it, as it lost its connection to the wi-fi and can't get it back. It has lost its connection before, but with the help of customer service, we were able to get it back. Not this time - it just can't find the wi-fi extender.

Generac sends me daily reminders, via email and text, to reconnect, but the weather has been frightful - very cold and windy. It has warmed up a bit, but it's now rainy and windy. Sorry, I am not standing out there fiddling with the damn thing until the weather becomes a bit more cooperative. The generator works fine without the wi-fi, and that is all I really care about.

It's gift exchange season, and I brought home a xmas cactus from one. As you may recall, I received one of these plants several years ago as a gift, but it pooped out after its second season of bloom. I'm hoping to take better care of this one.

This past week, I've been catching up on "Wiser than Me", one of my favorite podcasts. The interview with Alice Waters, founder of Chez Pannnise and promoter of "California Cuisine" and the farm-to-table philosophy, made me want to grow food again. I wrote about this urge before, but my follow-through has been pretty lame.

What would I grow? I have a growbag that fits into a milk crate, perfect for a few green bean plants (not a new idea on this blog; in fact, I think the seeds are in the fridge). Store-bought garlic has been particularly crappy this year, so maybe some of that. Strawberries? The ones in the grocery stores taste insipid, bred for shipping and keeping, NOT flavor. Those are all possibilities worth considering.

OR I could put on my granny pants and frequent farmers markets, at least for those things that I don't want to grow myself.

Power up

I was lying on the couch when I heard something beep, something chime, and something roar. Since I had a cat in my lap, I didn't want to get up to check on the noises. It turns out there was a brief power outage. It lasted less than a minute, but the whole house generator I had installed this past summer kicked in like it is supposed to. (That was the roar; the other noises were devices coming back online.) So at least it works.

The weather has been barely tolerable for dog walking, which means it brings the backyard birds. These photos aren't very good, but they document some of the most recent visitors.

Junco

Robin

House finch

Nuthatch

The appearance of this guy was a bit confusing at first, as I thought it was my cat Finn... but wasn't Finn inside? Yes, he was. I think this feline belongs to some new neighbors that live about a block away. Finn isn't very interested in birds, but this one was in stalking mode.

Not Finn

I'm still working on my outdoor xmas decor. The flamingo chorus is up, with a solar-powered spotlight this year. The fall wreath on the front porch is now an evergreen one (plastic - it will outlast us all). All that is left is a net of lights for the trellis.

Muskrat love

At first, I thought there was only one muskrat in the neighborhood pond, but the other day I heard three distinct spashes as I walked by with the dog. So that muskrat is lonely no more.

Photo courtesy of Indiana DNR

When I googled "muskrat", most of the hits involved muskrat removal. Apparently, they can be a nuisance. However, being mostly aquatic and awkward on land, they are not likely to be rooting around in nearby garbage cans.

While muskrats closely resemble otters, mink, and beavers, they are more closely related to mice and rats, which explains their hairless tails. In nearby marshes, I have seen their houses made from cattails, but here they have "bank dens" - homes that are above the waterline but with underwater entrances.

Muskrats are mostly vegetarian, dining on cattails and plants, both aquatic and on land, although they will eat fish, frogs, and small turtles. Our pond has all this except cattails. They also serve as a food source for hawks, owls, coyotes, and foxes, all of which live in this area. The circle of life.

For more info on muskrats, visit this Indiana DNR page, where I found most of this information.

On the homefront, the weather has definitely turned wintery. I'm fine with the cold as long it is not accompanied by wind.

Home is the sailor...

No, I'm not a sailor, but we did take a trip up to Michigan City for our early family Thanksgiving. The weather was halfway decent (for a change - we frequently seem to bring rain and wind with us), so we spent some time outside.

One stop was the Galien River County Park, which is a mix of upland and marsh. We ambled out onto the Canopy Walkway, which is 60' high and *sways*. Despite the safety fence, adults are warned to not carry children in their arms on this structure; strollers and backpacks are de rigueur. A l-o-n-g stairway leads from the upland to the marsh (we went down it, but not up), then there is a nice path that took us back to the beginning.

At a different park (don't remember the name), I was taken with this red oak tree. It could be one of many several, but I'm going to guess it's a pin oak.

While wandering around Chesterton, we spotted this vine on a chainlink fence. I was puzzled about the "flowers" until Google Photo Lens revealed that they are the seed pods from a "white clematis".

From our AirBnB, we were able to walk down to the shoreline of Lake Michigan. In the neighborhood, there were several vividly red trees. Only after I arrived home did I realize they were probably Japanese maples, just like the one in front of my dining room window.

Yes, we received some snow yesterday. It's gone already, but a good sign that winter is on its way. I plugged in the birdbath and set out the feeders yesterday. The birds have found them already, especially the blue jays who are actually fighting over the whole peanuts.

How to measure a tree

I recently finished reading a book called The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession, by Amy Stewart. It contains portraits of people obsessed with trees in one way or another. My only complaint is some of these collectors are importing trees from other parts of the world without a concern that they may be introducing an invasive species into their own habitat; one has even planted Russian olive! It's a pleasant read, if you are so inclined.

One section discussed "champion" trees - the really, really, REALLY BIG ones. Points are awarded for girth, height, and crown spread. My trees are definitely not champions, but an annual measurement would give me a more objective idea of how they are growing (besides eyeballing each one and thinking, Yep, it's bigger this year).

Rather than repeat what the books says, here are some lousy photos of the relevent information:

My trees are mostly naked right now, so I'll wait until next summer to measure them. Hopefully, that will become an annual occurance.

One holiday down

Originally, the people who built houses in my neighborhood raised families in them, so there were a lot of kids. Now these houses are considered "starter" homes or, in my case, "ender" homes. There are still a few families with children of trick-or-treater age, but not many. About 20 visited me the other night, accompanied by just as many adults, most of whom were also dressed up. It was festive but very low key.

Tonight we are getting a little rain. We have had a hard enough frost to nip some of the coleus on the front porch. Most of the winterberry bushes are *loaded* with fruit, while the flowering crabs and hawthorn tree sport their share as well.

I admit that I lose interest in the yard this time of year. I'm ready to hunker down for winter... if it ever arrives.