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I just read that 48.7 milliion Americans plan to travel this Thanksgiving week---and it looks as though it will be a frustrating journey for many of them. The forecast shows heavy snow now in the middle of the week, and the possibility of snow again over the weekend.
Here's wishing safe travel and happy times to you and yours! Wherever you will be, I know we wil all be thankful for our many blessings.
I am thankfui for your friendships and support and your part in our wonderful community!
Have you seen this cute fellow around your house? Duanne and Ann report that this tiny little gray fox has been nibbling the ground under their bird feeders, and stayed long enough for them to take this photo. They also tell how surprised they were to discover that a fox was able to climb their trees!
Our guide to North American mammals says this:
"Although active primarily at twilight and at night, the common gray fox is sometimes seen foraging by day in brush of thick foliage. The only American canid with true climbing ability, it occasionally takes refuge in trees, especially thickly branched ones."
Thanks, Ann and Duanne, for capturing this interesting sighting. And yes, I guess gray foxes do have the pictured red-head.
Further from home, I saw a healthy-looking wolf strolling across Papoose Road, near the intersection with the Cut-off Road, as I drove last week. With the woods as bare as they are, I enjoyed watching him mosey off through the trees.
And totally unrelated, on today, Wednesday the 13th, margins of the lake are frozen, but a good-sized section of water is still open in the middle of the lake. We will see how long it takes these cold nights to freeze the lake completely.
I looked back to see what I had written last year in recognition of Veteran's Day---and discovered I had forgotten about my encounter with this man. I think I can safely assume that if I had forgotten about it, you have too! So, here are continued sincere thanks to Carlin Lake residents who served, and a repeat of a story I told last November.
Of course we can thank veterans at any time, but on Armistice Day/Veterans' Day coming up this Monday, we particularly take time to express our gratitude to those who served.
From our lake community, we express our most sincere thanks to Jim Stocker, Bill Huemann, Danny LaPean, Duanne Swift, Chuck McCall, Martin Coonen, and Richard Straus. (Please let me know if I have forgotten anyone.)
A conversation that you overhear through a curtain in one of those little outpatient compartments is not eavesdropping, is it? As I waited for a cataract procedure on Wednesday, I heard a man tell the nurse that this week marks 50 years since he was deployed to Viet Nam. In the rest of the conversation, I learned that this chatty fellow had Type 2 diabetes, multiple stents in his heart, couldn't hear a thing without his hearing aids, and his marriage had broken up when he was overseas.
This soldier's straightforward description of his health problems reminded me, of course, of the sacrifices of our friends who also served. Maybe their sacrifices may not have been so physical, but long times of their lives were sacrificed to their service.
John and I had the opportunity to thank this man as well as his driver, who was also wearing the cap and jacket of a veteran. It was a good reminder to also thank those closer to home who served on our behalf.
Thank you, Friends!
We know milkweed plants attract those monarch butterflies that we want every summer. But, I had never heard before how important milkweed fluff became during WW II.
Once Japan had been able to cut off traffic from the Pacific, the Allies became short of kapok, a light fiber from trees grown in Indonesia. And that meant a shortage of life jackets for American servicemen.
"Don't let our sailors sink" was one of the slogans utilized to encourage American school children to collect milkweek fluff in the fall, and send it to Petosky MI, where it was used to manufacture life jackets to equip sailors.
It took two twenty-pound bags of milkweed pods to make one life jacket, and kids were each asked to collect those two big bags. Can you imagine how many pods it took to equal 40 pounds of dried milkweed pods??
This information is taken from a recent interesting article in the "Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine." The article concludes by saying that by the end of the war, American children had collected 2.5 million pounds of milkweed!
Maybe observing the milkweeds along our roads this fall is a good reminder, now in Veteran's Day week, of sacrifices that servicemen have made on our behalf---like trusting their survival to a roadside plant. And, maybe it can be a reminder that Americans can accomplish a lot when we are able to work together!
Perhaps you can see in this photo how very few pods (one or so on each side of the picture) are along the roadsides this year. I'm glad no one has to depend on our meager supply of fluff this fall for their survival!