Playing possum

 

Trump’s Parting Shot at the Arctic Refuge on its 60th Anniversary

 

Photo: Vladsilver/Istock  

 

Sierra Club article link: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump-s-parting-shot-arctic-refuge-its-60th-anniversary

Bailly Homestead in N.W. Indiana

 A walk though the woods in N.W. Indiana. French Canadian fur trader Joseph Bailly established a trading post here in 1822; the only stopping point between Fort Dearborn/Chicago and Detroit. Bailly was one of the first non-native settlers and Potawatomi were the dominant Native American tribe in N.W. Indiana at the time.

 

Ashokan Farewell

 

Saw-whet owl in Rockefeller Center Christmas tree

 A little saw-whet owl was found in this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/19/owl-christmas-tree-rockefeller-center-new-york?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_us&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR18kRZeecjpFju9ZKodMTpf6jyIlm4j21uUMFpzqD5KyzO5XHgmY8O3

Frog on our window

 

Pretty Church/Indian Summer

 A pretty church in the sunshine, Chesterton, Indiana:

Chicago Fall Leaves

 

Fall colors

 Our trees are nearly at their peak of Fall color.

Fountain Grass

I’ve been growing Purple Fountain Grass and Prairie Winds Fountain Grass for several years (in pots) but they’ve never grown as much as this year. Could it be the drier than usual summer and fall?

 

 

Tonight's Hunter's Moon

Native Americans called the October full moon the Hunter's Moon because tribes hunted and gathered meat for the long winter ahead.  The next full moon will be on Halloween (a BLUE MOON as it's the second full moon in a calendar month).  I took this photo from my house last night as it will be too cloudy tonight.

Photo: Marge Ishmael

 

Sunflowers

 Two cute cottages with sunflowers on today's walk.

Late summer outdoor get together

 At my friend Helen's - with honey from her daughter's bees; fizz; wildflower bouquet.

 

Baby opossum

 A baby opposum asleep in our hostas.   

 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/opossums/

Otters vanished and everything else crumbled

 

Photo: Ron Niebrugge/Alamy.  In the Aleutians' delicate seascape, otters hold the entire ecosystem together. As they disappeared, the rest of the food web started to crumble — a process that's been accelerated and compounded by climate change, Dr. Estes and his colleagues report in the journal Science.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/science/otters-sea-urchins-alaska.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=curfbclid=IwAR0A4wvCTPjV7Mw900R0bsBU8BpU5LVEId6M9hUDcseEjEON70PVK_epQB4

Sunset at Lakeside Inn

 Sunset at Lakeside Inn, Michigan.

                                                                     Photos by Marge Ishmael

Great Marsh Trail - Indiana

Photos: Marge Ishmael

Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" from Rodeo

One of the happiest pieces of music I know.   Aaron Copland's ballet Rodeo is a celebration of the American West.

Chipmunk

A little chipmunk on our Japanese lantern today.

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Stargazer Lily

My Stargazer lily bloomed last week. 

Photos: Marge Ishmael

Full Moon in July

The Full Moon in July is the Buck Moon, named after the new antlers that emerge from a buck's forehead around this time of the year. It is also called Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, and Wort Moon.  It was two weeks ago on 4th of July.

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Mint tea

We have a bumper crop of mint and now drying the mint leaves to make mint tea:

Photo by Marge Ishmael

Possum

A possum under a neighbor's car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum

Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday’s 1939 protest song.  Abel Meeropol wrote it after seeing a photo of a double lynching in Marion, Indiana.

Sign of the times

Signs in a local restaurant today:

Photos: Marge Ishmael

Turtles at Botany Pond

Turtles enjoying the sunshine at Botany Pond this afternoon.

Red-eyed cicada

This red-eyed cicada was sitting on our cedar picnic table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Experts rate the risks of 14 summer activities

Meredith Miotke for NPR

"It has been around two months of quarantine for many of us. The urge to get out and enjoy the summer is real. But what's safe? We asked a panel of infectious disease and public health experts to rate the risk of summer activities, from backyard gatherings to a day at the pool to sharing a vacation house with another household." - NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.comutm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25usFwhHSH7LMY0uWmCHUknOxRRf1V6d1yfOFwqNHhvCFrg63PQuqwwNA

Memorial Day blossom

Photos: Marge Ishmael

Young stag

A young stag caught on our trophy cam:

Rabbits face their own deadly virus

CNN

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease type 2 has killed thousands of rabbits in the American Southwest and poses a grave threat to the pet rabbit industry as well as endangered species and other wild animals that eat rabbits. The disease is thought to have originated around a decade ago in European rabbits, which comprise most domestic rabbits sold in the US, and eventually reached the wild rabbit population: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/rabbit-virus-hemmorhagic-disease-scn-trnd/index.html

Stopping deforestation can prevent pandemics

Credit: Taylor Callery

Destroying habitats makes viruses and other pathogens more likely to infect humans:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stopping-deforestation-can-prevent-pandemics1/

Coronavirus and Climate Change (cartoon)

This week's cartoon from KAL: https://econ.trib.al/LfycWFF

Nature is sending us a message

Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis is hurting humanity, with Covid-19 a "clear warning shot" say experts:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-nature-is-sending-us-a-message-says-un-environment-chief

Photo of cabin from meadow

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Raccoon through a glass window