Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

There's a turtle in the pond!

We've been at this house for over 25 years, there's been a pond in the backyard for nearly 20, and this is the first year we've seen a turtle there. I'm pretty sure it's a fresh arrival, as it's very easy to see when it's on the rock in the middle of the pond, and I would have noticed as I walked by the window (because I always look at the pond & nearby birdfeeders, just to see what's going on out there, and if there's anything new).

It's *not* a baby -- shell is 4" across or so -- probably this year's crop of wanderers, evicted from the swampy-bit where it was born a couple of years ago because there's too many turtles there. It's hard to get a picture, because it's *very* skittish, and as soon as the door opens it slips into the water. Maybe after it's been here a while and not been chased it'll settle down so that I can get a picture. J was able to get a couple of pix yesterday, by sitting out on the deck with the camera until the turtle decided he wasn't a threat, but he had to be very careful and slow moving so the turtle wouldn't spook.

J hosted SEMGS yesterday, so I spent a lot of time actually doing the work of hosting, while he got to do the chatty bits. sigh. It was very hot (nearly 90, with a heat index of 95F or so), but we'd managed to rig enough shade on the deck that nobody melted, and when people got really hot they could go inside. We got *lots* of rain last week - over 2" in each of two separate storms, so that doesn't help with the moisture in the air. And the weeds are going to be really happy! I will have lots of weeding to do when I get home from camp. I will leave a reminder for J to weed the strawberries, because I don't think I'll get them done today - it's 87F with 80% humidity right now, so HI is over 100F, and that's just too hot for me to work in.

I head off to band camp at Interlochen tomorrow AM, so I'm spending today packing and making a list of the things I need to pack from the fridge. I did manage to get a room on campus, which is really much preferable -- the hotel is older and not as spiffy, but it's *right* *there* and I may not have to drive anywhere after camp starts Tuesday. I'm going up a day early, and spending Monday afternoon at Sleeping Bear Dunes, unless it rains, in which case I'll figure out something else to do.

We'd not gotten any rain for two-three weeks, and that combined with the heat to turn the gardens into hardpack. And there's no point to trying to weed in hardpack, as the weeds break off at the surface, leaving the roots behind. But that changed late in the week. We got about half an inch of rain Thursday night, which was enough to loosen up the soil in the garden by the house, so I weeded there on Friday. While dodging the 2+ inches (5cm) of rain that fell on Friday. And it fell nicely, not in downpours, so most of it actually sank in to the ground. The weeds will lurve that. Okay, the flowers I want will like it too, but...

My back has been really cranky lately. I suspect it's the months of sleeping on my back because I can't sleep on my side that's catching up to it. It really doesn't like me sleeping on my back, but it's not like I have a choice right now.

I finally got into a PT clinic -- the referrals were all to UMich clinics, most of them almost an hour away, and two of the three clinics on this side of A2 didn't even call me back. I finally got in to the MedSport clinic at the ice arena. At 7am. Which means I leave here at 6:20am to be there at 6:50. ack! I've been getting up between 7 and 7:30 for the last four years, and even before that the school alarm went off at 6:10. The clerk I talked to there says that the sunrises are very pretty. :)

The rill has been settling in weird ways, and I think I've convinced J that he should put some hardware cloth under the rill liner to help with stability and to keep the chipmunks from gnawing holes in the liner. Well, what will really happen is that he'll get the hardware cloth and I'll get to do the rest of the work.

- still waiting on calls from imaging departments. The referrals are showing in my medrecords, so I suspect that they're just really behind.

- the rill is mostly in. the main structure is finished, the liner is in but not adhered, and the rock spillway is only about half done. But it's running, and the birdies and frogs approve. There seems to be a teensy leak in one of the basins -- I think the water is going around a fold in the liner. It's been very dry, and sunny and breezy, and the rill accelerates evaporation, so it's hard to tell how big the seep is.

- I finally finished weeding the flowerbed next to the forsythia in the front yard. My shoulder does not like weeding, and I can only do it for about 45 minutes a day. Unfortunately, that means I'm falling farther and farther behind, as the weeds have really started to take off now that the weather has gotten decent. I need to go weed this morning, as it's supposed to get warm this afternoon (and I've got a blood donation scheduled - don't like weeding after those).

- still no strawberries. Maybe tomorrow - there are some pink berries out there, but most of them are still tiny green nubs.

- there's been a skunk in the backyard for a couple of days. We make enough noise when we go out that he doesn't get spooked, but just scampers off. After presenting his rear to us, of course.

- I will not be going to the Annual Picnic. J is (of course) but I'm going to be working the election a week later, and I'm thinking that going 600 miles to hang out with people from all over a week before spending a day in close quarters with a different set of people is not a responsible choice.

- Band Camp at Interlochen has been cancelled. I may or may not get my tuition back (I may decide to let them keep part/all of it to cover their shortfall). Livingston Band officially cancelled their summer season two weeks ago. FCB cancelled their summer session in April (they're more structured than Livingston). (I got an honorarium from the FCB for helping with setup. It worked out to about a dollar an hour for this season. I'll just increase my fall donation by that amount - I don't do it for money or recognition. Although I do find it amusing when people ask me rather than the actual Equipment Manager about things. Fortunately, so does he.)

- I took the kids' car out yesterday for errands. The license plate/holder fell off when I closed the trunk. DB tells me that it's been doing that for a while, and he just never mentioned it. sigh. The mirror controls barely work - I wound up rolling the window down and shifting it manually, which I'm sure will not help.

- lots of people in line at the barbershops and bottle returns. Still people not wearing masks or following lane markers. Still holes in the distribution system, as evidenced by empty shelves. I can usually get the things I need, although it may take a couple of stops and some serendipity. Next week? Costco!

Monday, I shifted a few more rocks in the rill to eliminate a slow seep of water out.

Tuesday, J and I went to Watkins Glen NY. Mum wanted to walk the Gorge one more time (she figures this is probably her last time walking the whole thing, as she's going to be 89 at her next birthday, and that last flight of steps is a looong one), but it's no fun doing it by yourself and none of her friends from Pennybyrn even want to try it. It's a not-quite-eight hour drive, if all goes well, but we had to stop by work so J could mail something, and then there was construction all the way through PA and for about 40 miles in NY - traffic was single lane 50-55mph. We got to the motel about 9.5 hours after we left home.

Wednesday morning, we walked the Gorge. It's lovely, it is. The NY state park administration has redone the entry, and there's a lot more information there, as well as a tourist information center and a small gift shop. The parking lot shifted a bit north, and is larger. They also added a self-serve kiosk for parking. It's really a thing you need to do slowly, as there's so much to see. It was a beautiful day for the walk, cool and sunny. We had a picnic lunch at the top, then drove back into town for ice cream, eaten outside because it was too nice a day to waste by eating inside. I walked from the ice cream shop back to the parking lot where my car was (less than a quarter mile), and stopped to watch a heron fishing in the river flats at the base of the Gorge. There were a lot of ~5" (12cm) fishlets swirling about, trying to avoid becoming lunch.

Thursday, after breakfast with Mum, J and I went to the Corning Museum of Glass, which is almost on the way home. The outdoor exhibits (blow your own/make your own) were closed for the season, but there's still a lot of stuff there. The demos seemed a little simplistic -- they're probably fine for summer when there's lots of kids, but I didn't learn anything from them. J was a bit disappointed that there was only a single, not very large, exhibit on the Palomar Telescope lens. But we got lucky, and got a survey, so we mentioned that in the survey.

Then we went home. The problem with an 8 hour drive is that it's hard to break it up plausibly. We left Corning shortly after 2 pm, and decided that sleeping in our own bed was better than spending a night in a hotel along the way.

Friday, I caught up on all the household stuff that didn't get done while we were gone. Including a leak in the rill. Not on the side that I'd rebuilt last weekend.

Saturday, I committed gardening, and split about half of the iris patch. I probably should have stopped one clump sooner than I did, as when I took my shoes off in the mudroom I twanged my back and flared the impingement. That took longer than usual to subside, so I won't be finishing the irises today. (or tomorrow either, as that's my day to move furniture & percussion and it's supposed to rain.)

Rehearsals continue apace (first concert is Sept 29, weather permitting); garage redo continues, not so apace. My car is in the garage, but the bay is still pretty full around it and the lawnmower, yard tools, and bicycles still need to go in. The space is painted and the heat pump is mostly installed. Still lots of things to be put back into the garage, but there will be some purging done as well. (I hope!)

I have not been weeding because it's been quite dry -- we got about .75 inches of rain on Thursday, and that's the first appreciable rain in a couple of weeks. At least one of the patches of blackberry lilies has gone to seed, and I need to cut those back before the seeds start dropping - I don't want the patches to get any more dense or any larger. I should go out today and pull some weeds, but the weather has turned (it's 25 degrees colder now than it was 24 hours ago). And the rill sprang a leak last night, so that needs to be fixed first -- I hope it's just that some rocks settled and the water needs to be re-routed, but I won't know until I get out there. At least the water is warm. :) The frog count high for this year (so far) is 21, and the biggest ones are getting to be pretty big. Watching the little frogs scramble up onto rocks is amusing.

Next week I go back to the K-2 library. I emailed the librarian last week, and she said that they'd just started taking books out, and so she wouldn't have any coming back until next week anyway.

I have been poking about in the workroom, clearing and sorting a bit, and have plans for a few new things. I think I will not make a new costume for the FCB Halloween concert, unless I decide to make an early 1960's dress (according to the flyer, the Spooktacular theme is "Mission Impossible", and there's a piece from Hairspray in the program (probably - I expect that it will be on both the cider mill and spooktacular programs)).

I fixed the rill yesterday. (Finally!) I pulled off the rocks along the top three levels, pulled back the liner & roofing felt, and rebuilt the sides of the pools so that the water would go over the flagstone drip edges rather than around; then replaced the liner and the rocks and turned on the pump. Nearly a day later, there are no damp bricks in the retaining wall, and the pond level hasn't dropped much (there's always more evaporation when the rill is running).

J ripped out the bigger of the two shrubberies next to the rill because it was getting too big; and the volunteer tree also got sent to the burn pile. The volunteer barberry got moved next to the red barberry in the backyard. (We have birds, chipmunks, and squirrels in the yard, we get lots of volunteer plants. Some we keep.) He also moved two of the oak 'trees' from the front flowerbed -- they're about 18" tall, but have lots of healthy leaves.

I have been weeding between rain events, but I'm way behind because the big gardens are too wet to walk in. They should dry out for the weekend. whee?

Sunday was the FCB's last formal concert for the season. It was at St James' church in Novi, and while it's a gorgeous space, we're really too big for it. The tubas were in the third row on the altar, and we could see Damien...sometimes. It didn't help that he was two steps down, on the sanctuary floor. I flubbed the cutoff at the end of Simple Song because I didn't see it, CB said he blew right through a fermata, etc. I told the set-up crew "don't do that again!". Next up is two more rehearsals to learn a bunch of new music, then a concert on the 14th and one on the 17th of June. The gig on the 17th is the first in a new series of concerts at the Belle Isle bandshell. My mother says that she will tell 'her people' and they may show up, depending on the weather (many of her Michigan friends remember going to the BI bandshell in their youth).

Tuesday night, J and I wandered off to the HS for the spring band & orchestra concert. We haven't been to one since DB graduated, but the Wind Symphony was premiering a piece that had been commissioned for Chelsea High; from a high school buddy of J's. It was as expected -- contained bits of the fight song and the alma mater, and written for a good HS band. The concert was pretty good, actually. The spring concerts tend to be the best, musically speaking, as they've had the most time to work on the pieces in it. The concert had been pushed back 30 minutes in the hope that at least some of the girls on the softball/lacrosse teams would be back from their (rescheduled due to weather) games in time to play. There were probably 15 girls still in athletic uniforms for the concert. It was a bit odd after the concert - J went and got his recorder, and then we went home. No stacking, no racking, no waiting for kids, etc. I took my concert knitting, but didn't get as much done as I used to, and on the way home I realised why -- I didn't show up 45 minutes before the concert started and leave 60 minutes after it ended.

First male red-winged blackbird sighting of the year. It's possible that there have been some females mixed in with the mixed brown birds, but as they're just speckled brown like many female birds, it's a little hard to tell.

Also, a red headed woodpecker was at the birdfeeder this morning. More than once. I've seen a hairy a few times this year, as well as a red-bellied. They seem to like the tube feeders - they work almost like tree branches, except they give seed not bugs.

Based on the tracks I saw this morning, multiple deer were poking around in the seedfall overnight.

The snow is gone except in the deepest piles. The ice in the pond thinned considerably, and shrunk away from the pond edges with the 50+F temperatures and three inches of rain. Then it got cold again, and there's a thin skin of ice over what was open water.

Yesterday, I took the window screens down. :) At this point, we're unlikely to open the windows; and even if we do, there's not going to be an awful lot of bugs that might fly in. (Some of you may think that winter-as-observed starts when the heated birdbath goes out, or when the flannel sheets go on the bed, but not here at Chez Ridley.)

There was a solid layer of ice on the pond last Thursday, and the bit of pond that's in the shade most of the day (and out of the flow pattern from the rill) still has a tiny patch of ice. The last piece of loose ice was wandering around in the flow pattern yesterday morning when I went out to feed the birds, and it melted by early afternoon.

J and I wandered off to Chicago for WindyCon, and had a pretty good time. I had the late key for GT, which basically meant that I wandered into the room just before I went to bed and either cleaned up and said "last one out turn off the lights and make sure the door is locked", or locked up myself. J helped out in the Green Room. Saw nothing in the Dealer's Room that wanted to follow me home. Probably just as well -- we really don't need more stuff, and my TBR pile is nearing tsunduko levels. You know how it goes -- acquire books at 2 or 3 times the rate they get read.

DB stayed home to supervise backstage (as he told his minion "if I have to *do* anything, that means you messed up"). In the minion's defense, it was the first show zie'd done on that part of backstage, and everyone felt more comfortable having someone competent right there, ready to step in should things begin to go pear-shaped. Which they didn't, so that was good. (As DB said when I asked on Saturday "nothing caught on fire". Low bar, I know. But the curtain didn't rip, and no computers or speakers or mikes died, nobody fell into the pit, and DB refrained from getting too snarky at the new director....)

it's weird.

J is at the annual picnic, which I have skipped, yet again. The seats in his car and my back do not get along -- a Chicago trip (especially coming home after a con) is about as much time in the front seats as is comfortable, and annual picnic is about twice that. Driving would be worse, I think, as the headrests force my head into an uncomfortable position (he replaced the passenger side headrest with one from an earlier model, and it's much better)*. I'd like to go to the UP and see people, both those who live there and those who are visiting, but....

DB has run off to Chicagoland with a friend and her aunt to see a concert. Don't know which one, or where; some K-pop band, iirc.

The birdbath was knocked over this morning when I went out. I suspect one of the raccoons missed a jump. :)

Frog count is 8 in the pond plus at least two tree frogs.

I had intended to get some work done in the sewing room this week, but have been thwarted by cats. Either Ji is outside or Belle wants to "help". sigh. Belle will only get worse when DB goes off to Western in September, I suspect.



(* let's just say that when I replace my car, it will not be with an Escape. The seats don't fit me, and Esme doesn't fit in the back....)

Yesterday, (Sunday) we got over 2 inches of rain, according to the birdfeeding bucket that was laft outside. Today, when I got home from FCB rehearsal, there were at least two different froggies sounding off in the pond. Right now, there is a firefly creeping across the screen, blinking as he goes.

ION, it did not rain on our party. Whee!!! We had set up the tables in the garage rather than the backyard so that we wouldn't have to cram everyone into the house if it did rain, but the rain held off until well after midnight. J and I managed to get the tables and chairs returned to church between cloudbursts on Sunday, so the only thing that go wet was us. I got soaked to the skin -- J was a bit drier, but he was under a porch roof locking the hall while I was putting the tailgate back on the trailer....