Windy

From the tall ship visit to the Port of Sturgeon Bay is the Windy.

click on the mainmast to enlarge

Windy is a traditional four-masted gaff topsail schooner.  Although this vessel is constructed of modern-day materials - in every other respect she is a throw-back to the trading schooners of yore.

Based in Chicago she is occupied with public and private events and has all the charm of the years when sail ruled the waves.

You can learn more about the Windy here.

The Remarkable Monarch

Meet Danaus plexippus – the Monarch butterfly – in larval stage.

click on image to enlarge

This teensy-tiny fella - about a single centimeter in length - is posing on one of the many, many milkweed plants at our house on the peninsula.

Adult butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers but in its larval stage of life the monarch feeds exclusively on milkweed.  This endows it with a unique defense mechanism.  The monarch is poisonous to predators as a consequence of dining upon milkweed.  Toxic chemicals found in milkweed build-up and remain in the critter even after it metamorphoses into a butterfly giving it a chemical defense system.  Remarkable!

This caterpillar will form a chrysalis from which an adult butterfly will emerge.  The entire process of egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly takes about four weeks with multiple generations born over the course of a year.

This insect is even more remarkable when you consider its travels.  Monarchs migrate up to several thousand miles from Mexico to Canada and back.  Beginning in the spring migrating females head north in relays laying their eggs along the way with new generations of butterflies replacing the old.  Each butterfly will migrate once with its great-grandchildren migrating the following year.  The science behind the migration supposes that the monarchs use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate and the position of the sun to signal when to depart for Mexico.

Since the butterfly only lives a few weeks it is the last generation of monarchs born in late summer or early fall that make the migration.  As the temperatures begin to fall and the days grow shorter this generation of butterflies doesn’t mature enough to reproduce allowing them to live up to eight or nine months.  They’ll make the migration south for the winter and return next year to reproduce.

Monarch numbers are in decline as a consequence of pesticide and herbicide use and loss of habitat.  If you’re inclined to lending a hand plant milkweed and nectar producing flowers for this amazing animal.

Bushwhacking

With the arrival of August and the close of the nesting season for the ground-nesting birds is the onset of bushwhacking.  Namely the clearing of trails and wildlife openings - a once a year chore.  Sure, it's usually only once a year, but clearing three and a half miles of trails (10 to 15 feet across) is hard work.  Especially if the grass is tall.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  And back and forth in opposite directions.  Eventually the stubble is clipped to an acceptable height.

One of the more unusual experiences during this several days of labor is the behavior of the local whitetails.

They are unafraid.

They'll step-out of the cover and watch - fawns wagging their tails like dogs - and eventually return to the brush.  It is totally weird.  Loud clattering machinery, the belch of the diesel and me on top of it all has apparently presents no immediate threat.

As soon as deer hunting commences in September someone flips a switch and they all become a skittish as mice.  It is as if someone shared a copy of the hunting regulations with them.

Sure, I know you are skeptical of these casual observations so as evidence of this I present photographic evidence from one of my patient trail cameras.

Friday Music

A favorite of mine going back to the day.  It remains apropos.

And the irony is palpable.

I said ‘mama I come to the valley of the rich
 
Myself to sell’
 
She said ‘son this is the road to hell’

The Road to Hell" is a two-part song written by Chris Rea and released on the album of the same name. It was released as a single, with only part 2 on the A-side of the 7". The single was his biggest success in the United Kingdom, peaking at #10 on the UK Singles Chart.

Chris Rea - Guitar
Neil Drinkwater - Keyboards
Sylvin Marc - Bass Guitar
Kirt Rust - Drums
Anto Drennan - Guitar

Raising a toast to principle and casting scorn on Vichy Republicans...

Peninsula Sunset

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Riddle

What do these common, household pantry items have in common with one another?

There are the two cheeses, the bottle of red wine and the salt and pepper grinders.  The tomato in the background came from my garden - so it doesn't count in the riddle.  It's a Black Krim - an heirloom variety.  But I digress.

The items in the foreground all happen to be French imports.  The McCormick grinders had me stumped but look at the label yourself.  France.

Free trade with countries like France is what makes America already great.

Freshly ground sea salt and pepper medley from France on the tomato make America doubly great.

Beer

Indulging my recently unearthed beer snobbery...

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