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| Blogs > kzoopair > Take two- they're small |
Mid Winter
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Mid Winter We've been hiking every day but I haven't seen a lot to<b> photograph. </font></b>We've been in a freeze-thaw cycle, hanging around twenty to thirty five degrees and haven't had a lot of snow. It hasn't been warm enough to melt the ice in the driveway or the rough and packed ice in the trails at Al Sabo. Those trails are getting treacherous. They're hard ice pockmarked with foot prints and it's like walking on slick rocks at the beach. You have to walk the line along the edge of the path. It's no good striking out on your own off trail because the snow got crusty in the thaw and it's tough enough for Gracie to walk on top of it in places but PD and I crunch through. Monday we walked the Portage Creek Bicentennial Trail instead, heading south. They plow that trail and it's paved for bikes. We had a sunny day in the low twenties Monday and we hiked all the way to the Celery Flats. Ninety per cent of the trail is marshy or swampy, or at least quite damp and the Dutch settlers started cultivating celery here in the nineteenth century. The roads were lined with houses built high off the wet ground, on narrow lots, and the celery plots strung out behind each house. Those houses were perched up six to eight feet above grade on stone and block foundations. Any deeper and the basements would have been indoor swimming pools. Many were flooded anyway. Celery thrives in salt marshes. There's no salt here but there was a lot of wet ground with gummy black marsh soil and the farmers added salt in the proper ratio to grow here. Failure to rotate crops resulted in a celery blight in the 1930's and with a water table lowered by all the paper mills in the area celery farming died here and moved west. Kalamazoo, once known as Celery City, had to find a new nickname. The city of Portage built a Celery Flats Interpretive Center to preserve the memory of the early days of farming here- many of the old families were Dutch immigrant celery farmers. Some of the names are still common here- Boven, Dykhouse, OnderDeLinde, VanDenBerg, Wenke. Eppie Niewoonder. Eno Bolhuis. Den Adel. Oddly enough we see more wildlife here then we do in the forest preserve. A blue heron that I couldn't get a shot of- that one hurt. He waded out into the creek and I didn't even have my camera out of the bag, and as soon as I got it turned on he flew. The trees were too thick to see him, let alone get a picture. But we did see turkeys and lots of deer. The deer were not frightened- they know they're safe- but one was a bit peeved that we didn't keep moving, and walked toward me stamping his foot. He kept his eye on me as I moved around trying to get clear of the brush and get a clear shot. He never charged but he did keep walking in my direction and stamping, hoping that would impress me and scare me off, so we left them alone and moved on.         Become a member now and get a free tote bag. |
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Who knew Kalamazoo was such a celery hotbed! I've tried to grow it but never go that bleaching (blanching) part to work very well. The Dutch settled Delaware first... before Billy Penn came along. Downstate there's lots of historical buildings and the Zwaanendael Museum. I do enjoy reading your blog!
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I really am tickled by the fact that the deer aren't skittish around you -- this either says something very good about your demeanor, or something very bad about their chances for long-term survival. "Man has entered the forest." Stop in, read, and offer comments at my "swinging as seen in the media" blog, "Confessions of a Lifestyle Man" humorlife, which is also the home of the monthly virtual symposium. New post: The Virtual Symposium Returns Lets Pick A Topic
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Who knew Kalamazoo was such a celery hotbed! I've tried to grow it but never go that bleaching (blanching) part to work very well. The Dutch settled Delaware first... before Billy Penn came along. Downstate there's lots of historical buildings and the Zwaanendael Museum. I do enjoy reading your blog! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Thanks Leo. I'm a professional fuck off. I retired a year ago New Year's Eve. I don't know shit about photography, but I know what I like. I'm pleased that you like the photos. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I really am tickled by the fact that the deer aren't skittish around you -- this either says something very good about your demeanor, or something very bad about their chances for long-term survival. "Man has entered the forest." Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Thank you NoMo. I like hiking the same trail day after day and watching the changes. But the trail is getting rough in the forest and it's hard on PD. I would continue but it's more fun if she is there, so we made a switch. (And then, last night we got ice, so first thing today she slipped and fell on her ass!) It doesn't hurt to change it up once in a while anyway. If we get a new snow we'll be back to Al Sabo quick. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Well....it ain't all that sexy. But I like local history. We don't have a lot more marsh or wetlands than any place else in Michigan, but West Michigan had a lot of Dutch immigrants. They were on their way to Holland, Michigan and got stuck in Kalamazoo in the 1850's by - I think- a smallpox quarantine. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Thank you, Calypso. I have more photos in the blog. Feel free to browse around. We don't have wild pigs...yet. If a wild boar hunting facility moves in as planned, that could change. And then I'll have to carry a gun. Wild pigs are mean and dangerous. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Sounds like your winter is about like mine, unusual for january, a bit warm, not that i'm complaining mind you, just woundering what it's going to do to our summer, I fight wild fires in the summer and i'd rather not do that here at home. glad to here your out and about and not hold up in a cabin all winter, keep mingling with the wildlife and watch for big cats.
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Sounds like your winter is about like mine, unusual for january, a bit warm, not that i'm complaining mind you, just woundering what it's going to do to our summer, I fight wild fires in the summer and i'd rather not do that here at home. glad to here your out and about and not hold up in a cabin all winter, keep mingling with the wildlife and watch for big cats. We could use more water too. I like it when the Lakes are high. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Well, it could. They see me as a demented old fool? That decrepit fucker? He couldn't catch a train waiting for him at the station. What's to be scared of? Sheeeeit! That sumbitch couldn't catch a cold unless the virus slowed down and waited for him. I used to bang his momma on a slow night when I couldn't do no better and the bar was deserted. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Celery with peanut butter is good! A whole lot of stuff is good on celery- anything to give it some taste! It has a pleasant texture, but it tastes like........water. And water tastes good, so drink some. Celery really was thought to be a sort of curative health food. Probably because it isn't much fun to eat. But peanut butter- now that's some good shit! Gracie is a peanut butter junkie. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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A very interesting read. The history of places is fascinating. Nottingham is still known as Lace City even though all its factories have long since been closed; I now live in one!  
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A very interesting read. The history of places is fascinating. Nottingham is still known as Lace City even though all its factories have long since been closed; I now live in one! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I guess I never really thought about celery, I guess somebody was growing it. I never would have guessed it was in Michigan. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I like the photos and also your write!  Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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That dog was a magician. PD would give him a piece of leftover sandwich with a pickle slice in it, and would chew and chew and then swallow, and spit out a completely untouched pickle slice. I know it sounds like bragging, but dogs like me. It's probably the smell. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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KZ it seems I attract dear too.. I been taking care of one for the past year and now he and his off spring are around. He even found a g/f.. Awesome and we are having a mild winter as well. .Spring today here 10C.. golf weather.. hugssssssss V Become a blog watcher sweet_vm
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KZ it seems I attract dear too.. I been taking care of one for the past year and now he and his off spring are around. He even found a g/f.. Awesome and we are having a mild winter as well. .Spring today here 10C.. golf weather.. hugssssssss V Thanks for the picture! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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We've got deer ticks now too. I saw the first just last summer. We've had wood ticks, or dog ticks, all along. But the deer ticks are hard to spot, and you have to be really vigilant. Ticks have been bad here for a few years. A couple of years ago I was finding them on my dog in February! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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She will sit very still and quiet and watch them, until they run. Then the predator instinct kicks in and she wants to chase. So, the deer are pretty cool about her and they don't seem to see her as a threat. My Malemutes were not sold on the concept of sitting quietly and watching. They were hard to hang on to when any wildlife was present. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Oh Bill! I am late to your post. I am so glad to have seen it and read this morning. So enjoyable and informative. Your pictures as always are beautiful, even if you missed the heron. I am very fortunate to have a lot of wildlife in my yard. My yard is only small. The entire property is probably only one tenth of an acre. But we are on a cul-de-sac and the curve of it gives us a little more privacy. In the back we have turkeys, once there was eighteen of them just feet from my bedroom window! Of course the camera wasn't handy. I have a herd of deer that visit as well, often just five feet away from my porch. The groundhogs climb the mulberry tree and eat until full. One time I heard the most alarming racket, vicious growling coming from the tree top. I had no idea what it was, but soon a raccoon, pride wounded, made its way down the tree. Two raccoons engaged in battle is a frightful sounding thing indeed. I am amazed that you and PD still get to walk as much as you do. The cold, along with this illness has all but finished me. Even grocery shopping yesterday left me winded. I had to leave the groceries in the trunk for Tom to fetch inside later. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I see deer tracks on my driveway every morning after it snows. Canadian Geese are here year round. And Squirrels never Hibernate. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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The old celery farm houses were built just like all the others, they just dug shallower holes for the basement. Almost all of them in Portage are gone now, but on the North Side of K'zoo and in Comstock there are quite a few left. On Westnedge Avenue I remember the old farmhouses from when I was a kid, but they all got razed for shopping centers and strip malls. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Thanks. I know they're common as cats and dogs, but I still like seeing them run around wild. There are more deer here now than when the first settlers arrived from the east- way too many. But still it's fun watching critters just doing what they do. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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