Aug 122013
 

Usually August is a transition month for weather in the Northwoods.  That time of year when you gradually go from the sweltering days of July into moderately temperate days of August that will lead to slightly chilly days in September.

That analysis only applies to normal July, August and September weather, of which we didn’t have any of this year.  May was like July, June was like August and July was like May.

The seasonal calendar was all kinds of screwed up this year.

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Thankfully it hasn’t seemed to have had any affect on the Blackberries.  We’ve got a few bushes across the street that are just getting into their various stages of ripening.

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Some are producing nice, plump berries, while others are pretty much on the green side yet.

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It’s the perfect time to go out and collect a handful and plop them in your mouth without any regret whatsoever.

Which I did.

And I feel pretty pleased about that decision.

 

May 202013
 

When you live in the Northwoods and are surrounded by 80 to 100 foot tall trees, you don’t have the luxury of actually seeing a storm approaching.

To know what is on the horizon, you need to keep your eye to the sky and see what the trees have to tell you.

And you have to listen, because those trees are going to give you the first indication that there is a bugger of a storm coming, and it’s coming fast.

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Just like the one that hit us last night, punching this tree in the stomach and making it kiss the ground.

When you start hearing those cracking sounds in the woods you don’t know which direction they’re coming from and pray to a higher power that they aren’t anywhere near you.

Once again our property looked like a disaster area with 20 to 30 foot branches scattering the yard.

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This little darling landed on the rock garden that I had spent 4 hours cleaning all the winter leaves and branches out of just a few hours before.

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As you can see the woodpeckers have been using it for personal reasons.

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Here is one of the reasons I don’t like to be out in the yard when that wind starts whipping up.  When those branches fall and hit the ground they dig in about 8 inches from the impact before they bounce out and litter our yard.

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And don’t even get me started on how high my paranoia can go if I had been riding around in a car when this storm hit.

Naturally Rick loves this kind of weather and was standing on the deck the whole time it blew through.

I stayed close to my desk in case I had to dive under it.

 

May 062013
 

With the weather warming once again and the last snowfall melting (again) I can finally see the damage that occurred to the trees from all that wet, heavy snow.

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This branch is about 15 feet long and came within inches of smashing into my greenhouse.

And the trees weren’t the only victims.

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The fencing around my garden took more weight then it could handle.

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Now that the snow is off of it, I can see that we will have a little work ahead of us if we want to keep any unwanted critters away from the plants.

And speaking of plants, they’re spouting nicely thankyouverymuch.

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These cucumbers will be ready to move into bigger pots in the next week or so.

The rest of the plants haven’t made as much headway, but I’m optimistic that they’ll start poking their heads out of the dirt this week.

If they don’t, I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it.

 

May 012013
 

Remember when I scowled at Mother Nature for her sick sense of humor when she dumped a bunch of snow on us?  Well, I didn’t tell you that a couple days after that she got pissy again and hit us with another foot of the white stuff that added insult to injury.

Well, all that got forgiven when she blessed us with glorious weather in the 70s for a few days and made it go away.

Thaw

Saturday

Thaw 2

Sunday

Thaw 3

Monday

There are still a few pesky mounds scattered here and there, but those should all be history by the end of the week.

Unless, of course, she goes off her meds again and throws us another zinger.  Which is entirely possible.

This is Wisconsin after all.