This week’s weather was pleasant and just a tad nippy a couple mornings.
We had more sunshine and a couple real hot days that should help hatch some Monarch butterflies.
I saw three in one patch of goldenrod along the Rondaxe stretch of Route 28.
Two were working some joe-pye weed along the South Shore Road.
I also saw a red admiral and an American lady working these same flowers.
I was spraying some loosestrife plants that had red spike flowers. These grew from seeds that came from a ways away. They were probably carried here by snowmobiles or other vehicles.
If anyone sees some loosestrife plants or believes they have some, let me know. I will give them a shot of Round-up and pluck their flowers.
So far, these plants have been kept in check in this area.
This is largely thanks to canoeists and kayakers, having reported spotting them in their travels.
Only a few plants have sprouted from seed brought by the thousands of snow travelers.
This is surprising with all the habitat that exists along our snowmobile trails.
We were out on Massaweppie Lake Tuesday night (9/2) trying to catch another GEO locater pair of loons.
The moon was our enemy that night, as the loons could see us as well as we could see them.
They wouldn’t let us get close enough to net them.
The female we were after had something hooked to her leg and dragging about 18 inches behind her. Since we didn’t catch her, we don’t know if it was fishing line or just a water plant.
The moon went down just as we got off the water about one in the morning. That was the time we should have started the operation.
We may give these loons another shot on the dark side of the moon.
While we were out on the lake, we saw a few shooting stars flash across the sky.
With the stars and moon so bright, it was good night for small birds to travel.
And we heard lots of chips and chirps, as they flew overhead, communicating with each other during the night.
We were up on Utowana Lake Friday (9/5), the day of the start of the 90-Mile canoe race.
We paddled with friends and had lunch at the lean-to.
That was just enough time to see the first few canoes come through, just before we got of the water.
We met the caretaker’s wife from Blakeland Camps. She came out to thank us for keeping our distance and not disturbing the loon pair and chick.
She had done the loon census count during July.
During the week she heard a lot of noise from the loons on the lake. She went down to the dock to see what was going on. An immature bald eagle made a few swoops down and caught one of the loon chicks.
Hunting season for bear opens Saturday, September 13, so just be aware when hiking local trails to enjoy the beautiful leaves.
Just last night, as I was coming from doing a program at Antlers, I saw where a bear had marked its territory in the highway by the Raquette Lake Library.
It wasn’t there when I went up a couple hours earlier, so this bear must have come into town to visit one of the apple trees. They have lots of fruit right now.
This is your last chance to get raffle tickets for the Hornbeck canoe at View Arts. The drawing will be at the One Square Mile of Hope celebration on Saturday, September 13.
This beautiful 13-foot, 15-pound canoe can be yours, and tickets are one-for-five or five-for-twenty.
Lots of the winners in the Labor Day raffles were late entrants, so now is the time to enter!
I’m out collecting wildflower seeds this time of the year. I take a large paper bag and tip the wildflower seed heads into the bag and shake them.
This works good on most plants but some, such as coneflower and shasta daisy, you have to pick the seed heads apart by hand.
The Old Forge Garden Club will be at the Farmers Market on Friday, September 12, selling wildflower roots, potted plants and some seeds to make your garden nice for next year.
Most wildflower seeds will come up, but the first year they will have just a floret of leaves and no flowers.
They will bloom the second year, however, and many years after that.
Most flowers we sell are deer-resistant, but some have to be fenced in.
One Square Mile of Hope for the third time and a new record… but that’s another story. See ya.