Yes, Virginia, there is some good news!

 Common milkweed leaves are turning yellow as seed pods form. Ripe cherries drop from a black cherry tree. Some hummingbirds, probably juveniles, still visit sugar water feeders. "Tumblegrass" inflorescence are blown across local fields and pastures. Meteorological Autumn begins one week from today.

gray tree frog in bird  bath

Photo by J. Harrington

This morning a gray tree frog greeted me from the birdbath as I rehung the bird feeders. I can't begin to surmise why a tree frog would be interested in climbing up onto the deck to find a birdbath in which to become immersed, although other years we've found tree frogs in the shaded spaces under the birdbath, where it's attached to the railing. That may be where s/he spends days, hiding from birds. We'd never have suspected had we not been clumsy one time when we were cleaning and refilling the bowl.

common milkweed seed pods

Photo by J. Harrington

We may not wait until Meteorological Autumn to cut the grass, but cutting will be deferred until the heat and humidity have declined, maybe this weekend when the RNC has finished?  I'm sure I'm not the first to note that it would be really great if we could find a beneficial, productive, use for all the hot air generated by political speeches.

I'm planning to spend the afternoon in the cool, air conditioned house carefully reading a recent report from Trout Unlimited [TU], on the topic of critical minerals, responsible mining, and fishing, and people. Perhaps some of the paradigms from western states could prove to be helpful in Minnesota. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is prominent in the report's description of "Special Places" and known critical minerals deposits. I'm particularly curious to see how the Tenets for Responsible Critical Mineral Development and the Best Practices compare to the guidance and requirements established by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance. The publication of TU's Critical Minerals report at about the same time that a decision the Pebble Mine's permit has been delayed until a mitigation plan has been submitted almost gives me hope for a future that includes sane, rational, scientifically-based decision making in the mining industry and the agencies that regulate it. With luck, we'll survive such a shock.

Today’s News

By David Tucker

A slow news day, but I did like the obit about the butcher   

who kept the same store for fifty years.   People remembered   

when his street was sweetly roaring, aproned   

with flower stalls and fish stands.   

The stock market wandered, spooked by presidential winks,   

by micro-winds and the shadows of earnings.   News was stationed   

around the horizon, ready as summer clouds to thunder--    

but it moved off and we covered the committee meeting   

at the back of the statehouse, sat around on our desks,   

then went home early.   The birds were still singing,   

the sun just going down.   Working these long hours,   

you forget how beautiful the early evening can be,   

the big houses like ships turning into the night,   

their rooms piled high with silence.

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