Fall Colors and stuff

[Weeble]

I finally got a photobucket account if only because the colors up here were incredible. If this works I will put more up. I decided the test photo should be a true northern michigan fire pit shot. The wife and I were laughing our heads off at this one.

[Weeble]

ok, the pic worked as a link, help with how to just show the pic...
.
Done - Distracted (wearing her admin hat)

[Distracted]

If you look to the right of the image on Photobucket there's a list of codes. Pick the one that starts with [IMG and left click on it. That will copy it automatically and then you just paste it into your post. Alternatively, if you click on the Img button above the text box in your board post and paste the code that starts with http in between the [ img ] and the [/ img ], that will do the same thing.

[Weeble]

attempt no. 1

[Kotik]

ooooh, red bush

[Distracted]

Purty, purty.

[Kotik]

That picture in the first post - is that the Trailer Park Lounge ?

[Alelou]

ooooh, red bush

Maple TREE if I'm not mistaken. Lovely.

Gotta love that fire pit. That's what my parents would call "God's Little Acre." (SB would recognize that as an homage to Erskine Caldwell.)

[Weeble]

Kotik, what you have to look at is the construction of the seats. It appeared to me that it was boat seats mounted on old car wheels, now thats recycling.

Alelou, our maples go first I have about three kinds here at the house. If we could get some sun for a few days, you'd be amazed at this years colors.

Here's another. I have a minor technical glitch, wife's photo files are in SE Michigan. I will have more next week.

[Alelou]

Wow. Is that a natural stand of pine, or are you growing for lumber?

Our colors seem muted to me this year, but it could be because it's been so rainy and dreary over the last month that you'd think we were in the Pacific Northwest. We're just not getting the kind of sun that makes trees glow. The good news is that our drought is made up.

And here's another year (tonight) when we're going straight to a hard freeze in the 20's without ever having had a frost.

[Weeble]

Alelou,

Much of the area I live in is either State or National Forest. Much of the state land is grown for timber. Right across the road I live on the timber was taken 5 years ago. The poplar grows back incredibly fast and the pines are replanted. It was interesting to watch the change in the movement of the deer. The disappear for a bit, HOWEVER, now that the poplars are giving them cover the buggers are back to charging into cars.

Northern Michigan was logged off a century or so ago and the dirty little secret is that the value of the lumber was more than the value of the California Gold rush.

More pics coming. The wife and I did the color tour today. The Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore was disappointing. Colors are better near the house.

[Silverbullet]

Weebie, much of the timber in Washington State was clear cut a century ago. the lumber companies are just now re planting. fortunately, the Olympic Rain forest was saved. Not that the timber barons didn't want it.

SB

[Weeble]

SB

Thankfully we were a bit better with our renewable resource.

Sleeping Bear Bay on Lake Michigan


The in an out sunshine didn't help


A nice yellow tucked into the pines. My family sold this acreage to the National Lakeshore (under duress) 10 years ago but 45 years ago this was a field.

[Alelou]

Beautiful.

There's very little old growth forest in our area, too, but mostly because this area was booming with industry a hundred years ago and the rest of the land was cleared for farmland, timber, charcoal, etc. When that industrial boom fell apart the woods grew up again. You'll find giant old maples where farmhouses once stood (our next door neighbor has a gorgeous big old maple, bright orange right now), but otherwise I'd guess it's about 60 years old at most.

Indeed, just in the ten years we've been here I'm a little amazed at how quickly the woods on about half our property have grown up. I got the wood stove professionally serviced this year in the hope we can burn a lot of it without the house getting quite as smoky.

Meanwhile, a doe has been bringing her yearling or whatever it is around to feed on my garden even during the middle of the day recently (the hydrangeas are down to nibs). She isn't easily scared off, either. In fact, when I tried to push her into the woods a little further after chasing her out of the garden she not only stood her ground but started heading back at ME. I'm the one who backed off then! This does not bode well for winter damage.

It's always a little startling when animals won't give ground. I'm not scared by snakes, which is a good thing because there are tons of them here, but I was a little freaked one day by this one ribbon snake that just plain wanted a fight. I mean ... I was HOW much bigger than this itty bitty little snake? Maybe she had eggs around that I hadn't seen.

[Silverbullet]

Alelou, the State of Washington is divided in half by the Cascade range of mountains. East of the Cascade is dry. some good Farmland in the southeast cordner. Desert in the middle and forest in the northeast corner.

West of the Cascade it is WET. Water everywhere. Not great country for snakes. There are snakes but not like in the eastern part of the state.

Too much Rain, e.g. where I lived in the state before moving to Arizona we received five (5) FEET of rain a year.

the trees that row in the West are Douglas fir., with some Sitka Fir tossed in. the little old growth still standing is quite tall. Fir grows slowly.

I guess you could say the state has a split personality. But if you love the outdoors Washington is the place for you.

SB