You have to watch out for that Friday the 13th and black cats crossing your path—that day is really bad, but you can come to the Old Forge Farmers’ Market that day and pick up some great deals on potted wildflowers, wildflower seeds and some shrubs for your garden and yard, many of which are deer resistant.

The Old Forge Garden Club has been conducting the sale for many years at the Farmers’ Market to help fund the plants we put in Point Park each spring.

Many members will be sharing their knowledge of the plants they are selling, so get ready to have your head filled with information and your gardens with beautiful plants.

I’ve potted over fifty plants and I know many other members have several plants and roots ready for your gardening pleasure.

The temperatures are like fall used to be with a frost in early September and fog over the lakes most every morning.

I had just 30 degrees at my house on Friday morning, September 6, the start day for the 90 Miler Canoe Race.

The low temperatures kept the fog on the water a little longer that morning.

A brisk wind came up and the race got off to a good start. Temperatures were cooler during the three-day event with a little wind and rain but not as much wind as last year on Long Lake.

On my way to Old Forge on Thursday (9/5) I saw a Monarch Butterfly fly across the road in front of my truck and go down Daiker’s driveway. That was only the second one I’ve seen this year.

I had a young lady call me that night and tell me she had over 50 monarch caterpillars on the just a few milkweeds in her yard on the north shore of Fourth Lake.

She asked if I thought they might freeze during the cold night. I told her probably not as the lake would keep the temperature up some.

I asked if she might share some of her caterpillars as I have none and she said yes.

Today she called and asked if I still wanted some as they made it through the cold night. I said yes and asked her to bag some and bring them up. This afternoon she came with a bag full of tussock moth caterpillars.

I hated to burst her bubble, but I showed her the couple hundred tussock moth caterpillars on my milkweeds. Now they have some company.

We had a good laugh over that one and I showed her a picture of the monarch caterpillar in my butterfly and moth book.

She said she was going to check out the milkweed patches along the highway and see if she couldn’t find some real monarch caterpillars. I’ve checked many of them and so far have not seen any.

As far as spiders go, we have and lots of them. I just hope they are eating their share of bugs flying around. I have a good spider story to share with you from earlier this year.

I had to take a trip to Utica with Karen’s car one day and when I left the driveway there was a small spider on the middle of the windshield. I didn’t get out to knock it off as I figured it would fly off when I was going 55. Well, it didn’t.

It wasn’t raining so I didn’t have to use the wipers. He hung on tight until I got to the stop light in Barneveld where he switched his position on the glass and rode the rest of the way into Utica.

When I returned to the car after my first stop in Utica he was gone. I guess he only paid for a one-way trip.

The New York State Outdoor Guides Association is sponsoring a wilderness first aid course on Saturday, September 28 at the White-Otter Fish and Game Club located at 10914 Woodgate Road in Woodgate.

The class will start at 8 a.m. and goes until approximately 6 p.m. Included will be lunch and two breaks.

The class is developed by the Emergency Care and Safety Institute Education Center and is accredited by the Wilderness Medical Society, Emergency Care and Safety Institute and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

Included will be: muscle, joint and bone injury, soft tissue injury, bandages and splints, sudden illness, heat and cold injury or illness, evacuation methods, prevention advice, recommended first aid supplies.

The cost for the class will be $110 and anyone interested in signing up can contact instructors Sheila and Sonny Young at (518) 359-8194 or adkfoothill@yahoo.com prior to September 14th.

Birds and wild fruit, but that’s another story. See ya.