random rains of violence

Today's weather is close to a perfect Autumn day. Midday temperatures in the mid-sixties, cool northerly breeze, partly cloudy, partly sunny skies are a very welcome change from the humid or raining weather we've had over the past week. At least we haven't suffered the 5" to 12" or more of rain that southeastern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin have received the past several days. In addition to creating suffering for the human inhabitants of the area, we wonder if the flash flooding will affect the trout populations. Those who have studied climate change tell us that we should expect storms and other weather-related events to be more intense. Much of this Summer's weather and wildfires seem to bear that out.

Vernon County WI stream before deluge

Photo by J. Harrington

One of the Wisconsin counties hit hardest by the rains is where we vacationed with the Better Half a couple of weeks ago. In fact, there was one very attractive house for sale in a community we drove through. Unfortunately, it was located in the flood plain of the Kickapoo River in a location noted for its flooding. We're both disappointed and glad that we didn't succumb to temptation. We wish a speedy recovery to those affected by the recent rains and flooding both in Wisconsin and in Minnesota,

Local rains have softened the soil enough to make pulling buckthorn relatively easy. We were back at it today after we spent some time pulling poison ivy roots and stuffing them into a black lawn and garden bag. We also threw out the inexpensive "rubber gloves" we work over a pair of work gloves to pull the damn vines. We're minimizing our use of Roundup, although there are several places where the roots are held by the soil tightly enough that they just won't pull and will require spraying, unless we break down and get some goats.

buckthorn and dame's rocket

Photo by J. Harrington

While removing invasive and irritating plants in preparation for replacing them with more attractive and even tasty flora, we came across some thorny seedlings that look like prickly ash or black locust. We haven't paid enough attention yet to have a tentative identification. That's on the list of things to do between now and Labor Day. We just confirmed that the swamp milkweed produced some seed pods that look like sort of like pea pods or something. If we end up with an explosion of swamp milkweed next year, we suspect that neither the butterflies nor we will complain. (Ash?-locust? and swamp milkweed seed pods have been added to the "to be photographed" ToDo list.) So far the routine of using yard work as a form of exercise and focusing on the process of actually getting to know many of the details of what's living on "our" property with us is going well. We're starting to wonder if home is where you feel you belong as much as any other explanation, and belonging seems to require, or at least respond to, interaction.

Home

Carl Sandburg, 1878- 1967

Here is a thing my heart wishes the world had more of:
I heard it in the air of one night when I listened
To a mother singing softly to a child restless and angry
 in the darkness.

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