Category Archives: Weather +Climate

Weather +Climate

Hot and Humid

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Beltane                                         Waxing Planting Moon

Savannah has moved into the twin cities.  The jet stream has a ridge bulging into southern Canada and right over our northern border.  That sucks the hot, sticky Gulf air right up the mid-section of the country and plops it on us.  Some weather service sites have us exceeding the all time high of 87 tomorrow, perhaps 88 or even 90.

While those of you in the humid tropics, say Singapore or Bangkok, or even Georgia, may laugh at such a high, temps above 75 are serious business here in the northern heartland.  We don’t mind a few each year, just to remember; but when they come early and stay late like a guest overstaying their welcome, well, sir, we’d prefer they just kick back on down to the Big Easy.  We don’t need their kind in our state, not for long.

No bee work today.  Rainy and overcast in the am while too windy this afternoon.  I’ll head out tomorrow or Monday if we get half an hour of calmer weather.

Garden, GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Fly Dragon Fly

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Beltane                                    Waxing Planting Moon

Under the cover of a cloudy sky and a gentle rain I planted tomatoes, peppers and alyssum, spread moss as a mulch and cut the scapes off the garlic.  It’s hard to believe but the garlic will be ready to harvest the middle to late part of next month.

I always turn my computers off during a thunderstorm.  Better safe than sorry.  When I came down at 2:30 to crank them up again after the loud thunder bangers we had crashing through around noon, the clouds had dissipated.  I looked up and saw a fleet of winged insects flying to and fro, everywhere, just outside the windows to my east and to my south.  I went out to see what they were.  Dragonflies.  They flew in various directions, scouring, I imagine, for recently hatched mosquitoes.

The dragon fly has a warm spot in my heart not only because they eat mosquitoes, though that’s enough, but their bi-wing construction and hovering flight also appeal to me.  They have just a tinge of magic and the exotic.

As I planted the tomato and pepper transplants in the suntrap, I happened on a small dark toad.  He had been happily ensconced under the bale of sphagnum moss that I moved when I begin to spread it.  He looked around, hopped a bit and stopped.  I told him I didn’t mean to uncover his hiding place and that I was happy he had chosen our garden in which to live.  He acted like he didn’t hear me.

Aging, Art and Culture, Weather +Climate

All Miked Up

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Beltane                                 Waxing Planting Moon

I completed my last tours for three weeks this afternoon.  This was an Elderhostel group, now called Exploritas for some reason.  They fitted me up with a microphone and transmitter; I tuned to channel E and began the tours.  As a hearing impaired person, I know how valuable these things can be, especially if there is any echo or other transient noise.

The Asia tours went well with lots of questions, interest and stickiness in that some folks kept with me to one more set of objects after the tour had already gone over 20 minutes.  The second, a treasures of European art, felt less vibrant, but it was at 1:00 pm, after lunch and 3 hours into the groups stay at the museum.  I know I collapsed when I got home, tired from all the time on my feet.  My suspicion is that they were also tired.

Kate takes off on Tuesday for San Francisco, so I’ve planned a couple of weeks close to home.

Looks we may get some free irrigation, cloud style, not piped.  I’m in favor.

I’m awake now, my nap was deep.  Onto the treadmill.

Aging, Art and Culture, GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Hostel Elders

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Beltane                                  Waxing Planting Moon

Two tours today with an elderhost group from Portland, Oregon.  The first involves the Asian collection, the second highlights of European art.   I enjoy Asian tours since I have spent a lot of time with the collection, Asian history and literature.  I also enjoy the freedom of selecting objects for a highlights tour, which can include objects that seem interesting at that time.

My brand new router acted up yesterday and I lost my internet connection.  Minny, an Indian young woman working at 8:30 pm her time, walked me through how to resolve the issue.  Took the usual hour or so after calling Comcast, eliminating the modem or their servers as the problem.  They connected me to Netgear.  It was, as far as tech service goes, a quite reasonable process.

Looks like we’re about to have hot, muggy weather.  That’s the good part about living in Minnesota, without leaving home we can visit several different climates over the course of the year.  This week we will imitate the muggy south.

Bees, Weather +Climate

Bee Plan for the Weekend

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Beltane                                     New Moon (Planting)

The sun.  The sun.  We’ve been doing a great imitation of Seattle for the past week, cool and rainy.  Today and tomorrow we’ll have plenty of sun.  I’m glad because I have to check on my division (#2), see how their doing; check on my package colony (#3), see if they’re drawing out comb, the queen’s laying brood; and, finally, I have to check the two honey supers on the parent colony (#1) and see if I have to add supers, as well as doing a reverse on the two hive boxes.  The reverse follows, roughly, the amount of time it takes a queen to migrate into the next hive box.  This way, she lays eggs in the bottom hive box, then moves up into the top one, lessening the chance that the colony will feel crowded and want to swarm.

Tomorrow, too, I’m going to take my new digital camera and shoot pictures of the pancake comb I’m seeing, as well as the dark, splotchy comb.  I’ll send the pictures to Gary Reuters at the UofM to get his take on them.

The sun after a long stretch of Aunt Roberta dull, gray days makes me feel great.  Work to be done and time to do it.

Kate continues to look forward to her hip surgery as the pain in her right hip has become excruciating.  I’ll be glad for her when its better.

Bees, Garden, Politics, Weather +Climate

A Quieter Period of Time

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Beltane                                            Waning Flower Moon

We had a light frost last night.  Many flowers are now gone, tulips mostly, and a few leaves have that sickly green color that comes from burst cells in the stem.  The weather service has predictions of 29 tonight, that means I’ll for sure have to cover the sensitive plants this evening.

A really busy week last week with several trips in and out of the cities, meetings or events at various times of day and three days in a row at the MIA.  It’s nice to have a few days where I can organize my time on my own.  Not like there’s nothing to do, of course.  My three bee colonies each will need inspection today or tomorrow and there’s weeding and other gardening chores.  Latin, chapter 14 in Wheelock, will put me half-way through this text, usually used for a year long college level course.  Then I’ll tackle my next four verses in Ovid.  There is also a tour to prepare.

This is supposed to be the last or next to last week of the legislative session, but the Minnesota Supreme court’s ruling on Pawlenty’s unallotments of last fall has thrown the whole situation into a big mess.  We may end up with a special session, in which case the legislative committee’s work is not yet done.  You may have seen that the Minnesota House voted to lift the moratorium on nuclear energy though with some important provisions.  Until such legislation is also passed in the Senate, worked out in conference committee, then signed by the Governor, it is not law.

Bees, Garden, Weather +Climate

A Colony Divided Against Itself Can Stand

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Beltane                                      Waning Flower Moon

The potato bed now has three bags of composted manure dug into it and the leek, sugar snap, bok choy bed has one and one more coming.  Kate has weeded several beds including the herb spiral and the sun trap.  It all looks better with the weeds gone.  I found the seeds purchased Friday, so I’ll be able to plant them after lunch and the nap.

The honey house is swept out and ready for a large table and better organization.  It feels good to have a place just to store bee related things like frames, hive boxes, the smoker, smoker fuel, bee suit and gloves.

I leveled the foundation for the divided colony and after lunch, as the winds die down toward mid-day, I’ll do my first division.  We’ll see how that goes.  This will be my third colony.  After this year I should run at four colonies until or unless I have a winter kill or disease.

A full outside day with pleasant (60 degree) temps and a light breeze.  Not like the 40 mph gusts from yesterday.

Aging, Garden, Great Wheel, Great Work, Humanities, Weather +Climate

The Great Wheel

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Spring                                              Waxing Flower Moon

As spring winds down toward Beltane on May 1st, the green up has taken on an accelerated pace.  We have leaves on trees like the Amur Maples, ash and feathery new leaves on the oaks as well.   The daffodils and tulips have brightened our April for some weeks now.  The more integrated I become to this property and its transitions, the more I can layer them in my head.  That is, as this moment of greening and flowering promises a new season, the needed resurrection of the plant world, I can also see late August and September when the florescence begins to yield to brown, to decay, to dieing back.  The two are not polar opposites but places on a continuum that extends not only from season to season but from year to year, decade to decade, century to century.

This layered sensibility is one of the privileges of staying in place, where the rhythms of the land call different things out of me.   As Rachel Carson said, “There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrain of nature–the assurance that dawn comes after night, spring after winter.”

This rhythm, the Great Wheel, teaches us about our experience of life, about life’s ongoing struggle against entropy, a struggle always lost, yet a struggle always valiant and often joyful even though destined to end in tragedy.

I hope your life has a springtime right now, one in which the trees have begun to leaf out, the daffodils have bloomed and the first vegetables have started their journey toward your table.

Art and Culture, Weather +Climate

A Bold Spring

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Spring                                    Waxing Flower Moon

Yesterday the magnolia blossoms fell like snow driven by the wind.  This bold spring has leaped right into existence, confounding plants, gardeners and meteorologists.  I like it.  The transition from winter to summer often happens in the same way with a cold April followed by a chilly May, then June and the heat.  Not so now.  A real, southern spring with sun and warm breezes.

A tour of Spanish art this morning then a stop at the Wedge to pick up some new items for our pantry.

Art and Culture, Humanities, Weather +Climate

Goddess of Rivers and Streams

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Spring                                                 New (Flower) Moon

Oh, what a beautiful morning.  69 degrees.  Sunny.  Greening.  Daffodils waving in the breeze.  The smell of moist earth as soon as you walk out the door.  As metaphor, This is the day that the Lord has made works well for me.

Which reminds me.  I have a pension with the Presbyterian church.  I’ve not claimed it yet, won’t for at least a couple of years, maybe more, but still I want the info.  Went on the website and it wouldn’t let me on.  Sent two e-mails.  No reply.  Called this morning and the first one hung up just as a person came on the line.  Gosh.  Maybe they don’t like me since I quit?  Turns out that’s partly true.  According to the person on the phone inactive, terminated folks like me can’t access our information on the web because there are too many of us.  An interesting factoid.  Turns out they’ll answer any questions by phone.  I hate the phone.

Decided on objects for my spanish arts tour.  I start in the arts of the americas where I have chosen a very nice statue of CHALCHIUHTLICUE, goddess of rivers and streams, wife of Tlaloc, the rain god and patroness of women in childbirth and the gold objects from Mesoamerica.  Reading about her and Mexica (Aztec/Nahuatl) gods and goddesses got me interested again in the whole pantheon and the elaborate system of sacrifices that made their faith tradition go.  With these two objects we’ll discuss the cultural traditions the Spanish wiped out, then we’ll head over to Goya’s wonderful Dr. Arrieta, my favorite piece in the museum right now.  From there in to Africa and the Goya inspired Sleep of Reason by Nigerian expat, Yinka Shonibare and after that up the stairs to another personal favorite, Morales’ Man of Sorrows.  El Greco follows and after that onto surrealism with Dali and perhaps a stop at the most famous Spanish artist of all, Picasso.  Should be fun.

Did some more Sententiae Antiquae, ancient sentences.  You know, one of those days.

Oh, one other very cool thing.  I figured out how to stream Netflix onto the TV threw Kate’s Wii.