Wildersmith August 3

“Neebing” has moved into August, and before the northland can even blink its eyes, the full blueberry moon has come and gone. Yep, a couple nights ago the big cheese in the heavens glistened down on the land of midnight blue waters.

If you missed this one, though, we’ll have another before Augustus will bade us farewell. I don’t know what the Ojibwe call it, but this a month of the blue moon.

A review of the week’s weather has seen a goodly amount of rain in the Wildersmith neighborhood, and some typical summer temps, not too hot and not too cold. The rain gauge readings in my yard totaled just about four and one-half inches with one effort yielding a wonderful two during one overnight drenching.

This rain has held the Gunflint Lake level summer decline in check for the time being. It had been dropping off about three-quarters of an inch per day in spite of the off and on rains that have happened in the past six weeks.

The rain has also cooled the water temperature slightly. At our dockside, a week ago, it was 78 degrees, and since, has dropped off to the low- to mid-70s in concert with some cooler night air.

Our new month has me thinking of autumn. The dogbane along area roadsides has already taken on a 24-carat hue. I see wild rose hips having emerged into their brilliant scarlet tone, and there’s a strange early color transition in the tamaracks up on the Chik-Wauk site.

It’s also harvest time in a big way all over the territory. Take your pick from blueberries, serviceberries or the reds of raspberry and thimbleberries. It looks to me like there’s going to be a lot of potential for pie makin’ and jam/jelly preserving.

Another moment of time in the forest has shown me a number of those wooly caterpillars. All observed to date are nearly coal black with little to no brown.

I don’t know if there is any significance to this coloring issue. I remember someone once mentioning that the darker the woolies, the harsher will be the coming winter. So much for that old wives tale, but if there is really something to it, bring it on and let’s see!

Several critter reports have come my way during the past week. A gal down the road tells of having a quartet of pileated woodpeckers land in her yard. They came in single file formation and touched down in the same manner. They hung out for a while, then departed one right after the other. I have never seen four in one group at the same time. Perhaps it was parents and kids on an educational outing.

Same lady also tells of having a loon pair cruise into and around her little bay on Gunflint recently. This is not too unusual, but the fact that momma loon had three chicks crawl onto her back via an extended wing seems rare to me. I have never seen a loon pair with more than twins.

Up the animal ladder another rung or two, I have two reports of a large Canada lynx sighting. The bigger-than-usual cat was first observed in the middle of South Gunflint Lake road by a bicyclist. More recently, it came into and hung out in a resident’s yard along the Mile O Pine, providing a number of photo ops.

If this fat cat is as large as reported, it’s no wonder that I’ve been noticing a scarcity of snowshoe hares lately. From a nutrition standpoint, this wild feline probably thinks it’s died and gone to heaven, because we’ve been seeing an increasing number of the long ears for the past couple years.

Getting back to thinking of pies, residents and visitors alike should mark their calendars for the third annual pie and ice cream feast sponsored by the Gunflint Trail Historical Society. The sweet treat event will be held Saturday, Aug. 11 on the grounds at the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donations from the fundraising effort will go to the Museum to assist with continuing program development.

A trip up the Trail will be well worth the time to get a sampling of the great pastry skills of resident bakers. Think of that, pies from the fruits of the forest served out in the forest, it can’t get any better!

Keep on hangin’ on, and savor the sweetness of the woods!

Airdate: August 3, 2012

Photo courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.