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A sunrise

And a sunset

When you live in flyover country the views over the horizon are generally pretty nice.... 

Halloween

Anyone know if and when the Ghost Ship will make her appearance?

Hard to know with the shut down and all…

Another First

Thirty-one years I've been here on the Peninsula and I've never had a personal encounter with a tick.  Almost anywhere else in the state of Wisconsin is an altogether different story - mostly involving wood ticks.  But here?  Nada.

Until last weekend. 

This is a deer tick. 

A first. 

It's a blood-feeding arachnid; and we picked a half-dozen or so off the dogs following our hike on the Ledge last weekend.  

This is the first time we've personally been witness to ticks on the peninsula.  Heretofore, I always assumed my personal experience was evidence that Door County was low on the margins of tick sightings and tick-borne illness.  A little bit of internet sleuthing suggests tick-borne illnesses have been on the uptick (pardon the pun) of late.

The trend for the tick population on the peninsula is increasing, as evidenced by a significant rise in both tick-borne illnesses and related hospitalizations in recent years. Contributing factors likely include an expanding tick population (mild winters), improved reporting and increasing numbers of outdoor enthusiasts recreating in tick habitats.

These buggers are exceedingly small and difficult to spot.  You're likely to feel it before you see it. 

This is a black-legged tick - Ixodes scapularis.  And it is the primary vector for Lyme disease in the eastern and Midwestern United States.  There's some additional scary-sounding diseases this arachnid will share with you; including, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Borrelia miyamotoi disease, Powassan virus disease, and ehrlichiosis associated with Ehrlichia muris eauclarensis.  Consequently, we'll likely have to take greater precautions treating outdoor footwear and clothing and be extra vigilant with tick risk exposures.  Ugh.

Pre-Rut

 

Two weeks ago we found our first deer rub; predictably a sacrificial tamarack sapling. While out for our daily walk yesterday Ruby and I found our first scrape.

 

If you encounter a whiff of deer pee redolent in the autumn air look carefully beneath any shoulder height tree branches close by. You may locate a bare patch of dirt in the turf that is trampled with deer hoof prints. This is called a scrape. 

 

 

Bucks create scrapes by using their hoofs to dig at the ground. Once the soil is stirred up, they urinate on the scrape. Bucks don’t pee the way we do. We try to keep it off of us. Bucks actually try to pee on their own hind legs. The object is to hit their tarsal glands in an effort to leave their scent on the scrape. Every deer has its own unique bouquet and the tarsal glands hold concentrated amounts of that spoor. 

 

 

About the licking branch - a tree branch will hang above the cleared-out soil. Bucks will rub their forehead glands on it and will also lick it with their tongue to deposit their scent on it.

 

The earliest of rubs and scrapes that begin to appear in October are few and far between and used principally to communicate as bucks begin to leave their bachelor groups and stake-out their territory. It is akin to posting a no trespassing sign on a property line. 

 

Scrapes serve much the same function in the whitetail world as a mailbox post or a fire hydrant does for dogs. Scrapes are meant to show dominance over a territory but are normally used by more than one buck.

 

Very soon the scrape will be used to communicate breeding readiness.

Semiquincentennial

Mention Boston to a British subject nowadays; the response will likely be - Aye, that's where they dumped the bloody tea.  Neither the Stamp Act rioting,nor the Boston Massacre nor Paul Revere's ride have quite the notoriety of Samuel Adams' Indian Caper - or Boston Tea Party.

This event was singularly a turning point in colonial resistance to the crown's trade restrictions and taxes.  Governor Hutchinson himself acknowledged that war and separation from Britain was inevitable.

The first tax on tea was imposed by the Townshend Acts of 1767; but this tax was ineffective.  Boycotts by the colonists  prevented taxed tea from being sold; then smuggled tea from Holland  undercut the price of legal, taxed tea.  By 1773 the East India Company was nearly bankrupt with millions of pound of tea moldering in London warehouses. 

The Tea Act  was principally a bailout of the East India Company.  Reducing the price of tea it retained the three-penny tax on tea as before and gave the company a one-shilling-per-pound subsidy on all tea sold in North America.  Consequently, the company could undercut the smuggler and get rid of its surplus inventory profitably. 

Bostonians weren't having it however.  The Tea Act gave a monopoly to certain consignees who were all relatives and cronies of Governor Hutchinson.  Boston merchants were outraged.  If royal officials could do this with tea they could do it with anything else.  No shop owner or merchant would be safe. 

Moreover, the Tea Act was perceived to be a ruse to get the colonists to pay the three-penny tax they had long opposed.  From Faneuil Hall the cry of No tax on Tea! was heard loud and clear.  Ironically, the Tea Act managed to offend just about everyone including many loyalists. 

The consignees were labeled as enemies of the country and hardly anyone, save the consignees and the Governor, wished the tea to be offloaded.  Abigail Adams said it well; The flame is kindled and like lightning it catches from the soul to soul.

    

The Tea Party originated at the Old South Meeting House from which organizers marched to Griffin's Wharf where the three tea ships were docked.  The ships log of the Dartmouth provides this description: 

Between six and seven o'clock this evening came down to the wharf a body of about a thousand people.  Among them were a number dressed and whooping like Indians.  They came on board the ship and after warning myself and the Customs House officer to get out the way the unlaid the hatches and went down to the hold where was 80 whole and 34 half chests of tea which they hoisted on the deck, cut the chests to pieces and hove the tea overboard where it was damaged and lost.

 

Nothing, save the tea, was damaged.  One padlock had to be forced open and was replaced the very next day.

Depend upon it, wrote John Adams, they were no ordinary Mohawks; as the Tea Party was organized well in-advance.  Most of the 120 or so young men and boys had gathered secretly in taverns, houses and warehouses while the crowds were at the Old South Meeting House.  

Once the deed was done the fear of British retaliation was so great that lips were sealed so effectively that many of the perpetrators went to their grave without acknowledging their participation. 

Destroyed were 342 chests, half chests and quarter chests of tea weighing  92,616 pounds - more than 46 tons of tea leaves.  Enough tea to brew 18,523,000 cups!  The East India Company's loss amounted to £9,659, 6 shillings and 4 pence.  About $1.5 million in current dollars.

Rumors spread around town of the taste of fish being altered and the behavior of fish not unlike a that of a nervous overly-caffeinated individual. And since not a soul was willing to talk, Parliament meted out communal punishment on the entire town.  The Boston Port Bill closed the harbor to all vessels, even restricting the ferries, until the townspeople paid for the tea.  The economy of Boston came to a standstill.

The Coercive Acts of 1774 abolished most all of the colony's popularly-elected government, assembly was restricted, trials were moved to England, General Thomas Gage was appointed Governor by King George III and troops could be quartered in colonist's homes against their will.

These Intolerable Acts did not break the colonist's spirit as Parliament had hoped.  Rather, these measures inflamed hostilities ensuring  that people would resist even more strongly; with their lives if it came to that.

And it wasn't long before it came to that.

Embrace The Cult

In an alarming trend - MAGA supporters by the thousands - are demolishing the east side of their houses.....

Fall Colors

 Hiking last weekend with friends - Bay Shore Blufflands State Natural Area.

 View from the escarpment (the ledge)

Fall foliage

Milkweed fuzz

Staghorn Sumac