June can be over anytime now

Time has taken on a very surreal quality these days -- and though it may be just me -- I kind of doubt it.  There have been some bright spots -- GZ Facetimed me yesterday, and I got to watch the sunset from my deck with GZ and BDE.  None of us was sure that would happen this year, and the odds are still against it happening in real time and space, but I'll take it.  I took a bike ride with LH and GG on Thursday, which was also nice.  We loaded our bikes onto and into cars here and unloaded them at Pine Bend Park, about a dozen miles north of here.  From there we biked to Kirk Park because, face it, car/bike is the only way I'm going to get there this year.  We each packed our own lunch and wiped down a picnic table with GG's Clorox wipes before eating our sandwiches.  (Peanut butter.)

It was perfect weather for a bike ride -- so that's two good things.

This is the sunset I watched with GZ and BDE.  Today I got out fairly early for a bike ride -- there's a long stretch of 90 degree temperatures in the forecast, so morning rides are my only real option. 

Blueberries are going to be late this year, cold spring, late frosts, but it looks like a good crop to my eye.  TJ is going to mow my grass today, keeping an even greater distance than usual and wiping down everything he touches in the garage with Clorox wipes.  He's being tested for Covid-19 on Monday because he's been in contact with someone who tested positive.  He's off from work for the next 2 weeks either way -- he'd only been back at work a couple of weeks.  As I was leaving on my bike this morning one of my neighbors who bikes regularly warned me to stay away from Ottawa Beach Road -- it's a circus, he said.  Hot weather and the beach, not unexpected that there would be crowds. 

Poppy Field

I've ridden my bike a couple of times since my last post, but took no pictures and the rides were only slightly longer than my May average distance.  Friday was a quiet ride north and west, today's ride was similar with a little more wind.  Good enough.

Yeah, I know that isn't 6 feet.  We both had masks in our pocket, but took them off for the photo op. 

The poppies are planted in a 5 acre field in memory of the son of the owners of the property.

Now that's what I call a memorial garden.  Quite touching.

Nearby I spotted an animal sculpture -- from the rear and at a distance I thought it might be a cow.  That would have been cool.

Half past June

If I want to keep this blog thing going, I've got to keep this blog thing going.  I haven't taken my camera anywhere lately, but I think there are some pictures on my phone.  Let's see :

These are from Saturday morning, after meeting with some neighbors (outside on a deck, social distance, etc.) about sandbags, we walked down to inspect them.

Flowers on bushes.  In G's front yard, I believe.  Taken on a morning walk earlier this week.

 From a bike ride I took -- maybe yesterday morning?  I got out early because -- hot.  I circled through Tunnel Park to check the water temperature on their white board, which had not as yet been filled out.  The nice young man at the kiosk checked his app and told me the water was 61.3 degrees.  This was the only picture I took on the ride.

I made an appointment at the Secretary of State's office for 3:10 yesterday afternoon -- they are only available by appointment.  I needed to change the names on the car title.  Any business requiring that you bring along a death certificate is, by definition, unpleasant.  And they were running a half hour late for the appointments, requiring people to wait outside in the sun.  And did I mention -- hot.  So I stopped at Bowerman's on my way home and bought a slice of pie.  Sometimes you just gotta do whatever works.

Later I took a walk with LH, GG and Charlie the dog -- we ended our walk on our deck to watch the sunset.  Today I have an appointment for a hair cut.  I talked through all of the protocols they have in place when I made the appointment, and decided that the risk/benefit leaned towards benefit.  Purely psychological, but that's where I came down on that one.

Something different

Blogger is being really temperamental tonight, making it hard to upload photos.  I can write words or post pictures, but not both -- at least not easily.  So the photo above is from yesterday.  I put my bike in the back of my truck, drove to Keppel Forest and rode from there.  Standard distance, but I saw some new pavement for this year and I didn't have to ride up the Idlewood hill at the end of the bike ride.

Today I took my camera, drove back to Keppel  Forest and walked the paths through the woods -- it's way too small to be called a forest, but it's a pretty spot.  I had it mostly to myself on my walk then met a neighbor walking her dogs as I was leaving.

Irrelevance Continues

Time marches on and it seems like we might have summer after all this year.  On Sunday my Michigan family showed up in force to use the beach -- the familiar players, OSLO and the Grands, along with their cousin LF and her 4 year old son, R.  From the sounds coming from the beach, a good time was had by all.  In spite of 60 degree water.  The beach in front of our place is as small as we've ever seen it, but big enough for 5 people with beach bags and towels to isolate in their family group.  We followed it up with Deck Pizza, a huge improvement over Garage Pizza.  I've taken a few bike rides this month, the standard routes and distances, nothing to write home about.  The Aukland Rule has yet to be applied -- though this week could change that.  Miss BDE asked about my flower planting at some point a while back, and I am close to finishing up that project.  A few photos.

The two photos above are my planting project, taken before I planted more of the flowers in those containers.  This is in the curve between the garage and the maple tree.

These last three are of the area from the weeping beech to the mailbox.  This was done by our lawn/landscapers, and is ridiculously expensive.  Also very professional looking.  John loved our flower garden on the hill, perhaps because he visited his corner of the garage (that faced that direction) 8 to 10 times a day.  It provided some social interaction as well when neighbors would walk by while he was sitting there and compliment the garden.  So we're doing it for at least one more year.

Late edit:  There is work going on next door at the yellow house to provide temporary erosion protection.  Here are a couple of photos from this afternoon.

Sandbags.  Really big sandbags.

It all adds up over time

According to Blogger, this is blog post number 2,001.  The awareness of the big 2,000th slipped past me while I was out biking, I guess.

Yesterday I rode my bike a few miles, today I mostly planted flowers in the flower beds near the garage door.  The bike ride took me east through a  park where frisbee golf was being played.  I did not join in.  Also of note, this new normal has people out on bicycles who apparently haven't ridden much since middle school.  This is obvious from the size of the hill they choose to walk up rather than ride.

Next stop, the end of the road.  Lake Mac is at a very high level, though you probably already knew that.

Final stop, Tunnel Park.  I stayed just long enough to take a picture of the sign at the gatehouse.

Once again, cooler near the lake.