Nature's Alphabet F-J

I've been awake 36 of the last 38 hours, and I'm planning to stay awake just long enough to give you the next 5 letters, and then I have to catch some Zs. Really. Ratty should have added "ability to stay awake indefinitely" on his desired superpowers poll.

See Nature's Alphabet A-E

Border Route Views

I'm really, really busy, working on pix from hikes. I have to try to recover a bunch that got messed up too. YIKES! Here are just a couple of pretty ones. Above is the view east looking back along the ridge which runs south of Portage Brook. the top picture was taken on our first day on the Border Route Trail in Minnesota's Arrowhead, and the bottom one on the next day. Imagine views like these for several days in a row! And the weather wasn't even good this day... everything was hazy and foggy.

Below is a view above the Royal River looking north also. This sure was a hike that I'll always cherish, despite the cold, snow, wind, downed trees, poor marking, and anything else!

See Live Post, What A Hike! See Home- The Hike Was Great

Hitchhikers?

Look what we saw on the way to church. Need a closer look?

Nature's Alphabet: A - E

Hey! I finally did something today that I've been wanting to do for a LONG time. I got rid of that background supplied by Blogger that wasn't yellow, brown, or pink. It was supposed to look like parchment. The texture was fine, but I hated the color. So I made my own background "paper." There is a tiny spacing issue at the bottom to fix, but I like it a lot. What do you think?

So, tah-DAH, here are the first 5 alphabet letters, as per your votes from the end of October. I made up some basic "rules" for getting these. I couldn't "manufacture" any letters, but I allowed myself to pull branches or grass out of the way to clear a picture foreground. It was ok to move around to get a perspective that might create the letter, and pictures are cropped to focus the letter. As you will see, I also decided that it was ok to change the orientation of the picture.

I've gotten all of these pictures within a few miles of my house, and during the past few weeks. If I took more time, in different seasons and locations, there could be more variety in the "finds." I'll present 5 letters every day that I don't have something else special.











Oh, and I did ride my bike for about 6 miles today. It was almost 60, and the wind calmed down, so I figured I'd better ride if I was going to get any chance this year. Tomorrow might be nice too.

See A-Z It Is! See Swishes and Swirls

Bark Beetle Galleries

I've been working on that trail obstruction, and I found some nice bark beetle galleries to show you. This tree does happen to be an Elm, and it was bark beetles that carried the Dutch Elm Disease that pretty much wiped out the American Elm, but the beetles themselves were not the problem, and these galleries tell me that it wasn't even made by the disease-carrying beetle.



Not all galleries are patterned, some are just twisted passageways like the picture above. You can find these tunnels under the bark of many dead or dying trees, not just elms. I learned a lot, checking this out to write about. European elm bark beetles have the main egg laying chamber running with the wood grain, and side larval tunnels running across the grain, like these pictures. The native elm bark beetle builds its chambers at 90 degrees from this, and the native beetles are the ones that carry the disease. The European beetle is smaller.



For the most part, bark beetles simply help break down dead or dying wood. But they get a lot of notoriety when there is an outbreak of some disease-carrying kind that infects a large number of trees. I've included a link to more info below.

See Univeristy of Minnesota Extension about bark beetles See Monthly Winners for the dead wood where I found these

The Answers To Ratty's Quiz

Just to help you out, I've posted the answers to Ratty's Nature Trivia Quiz here.
monkey, firefly, dodo, Greenland, black widow, kangaroo, blue whale, skut, Lake Superior, four, yes it was wonderful
P.S. I knew 6 of them without peeking!

My Low Budget Black Taco Ad

Have you seen the Black Taco ad on TV? I think it's pretty well done. Here's my low budget version for your enjoyment (with some commentary).

Black Birds


These starlings were swarming in the aspen tree on Tuesday. Today, I saw that silly bluebird again. WHAT is he still doing here?

Black Dirt


This pile of nice black dirt has been sitting in the cemetery for months. I think they plan to re-landscape one section eventually. Meanwhile, I liked the contrast with the yellow leaves in the sun.

Black Spots


Tar spot fungus on Norway maple leaf.

Black Trees


Tonight's sunset.

Black Dog


Loopy (and Joshua) after today's checkup at the vet. All is well!

No Black Dinner


Sorry... nothing black for dinner- I warned you this was low budget. But I made Turkish Buttermilk Soup with barley. It was good.

See Spooky See The Point of My Quality Day