When the Black-eyed Susans open up, you know summer is officially here and the very hot day confirms summer has arrived. The wildflowers might not wither and wilt in the heat like I do but I won’t be hiking out to the field in the hot afternoon to confirm that theory.
Daisies and Black-eyed Susans
The light from the Raspberry Island Lighthouse tower’s fifth-order, fixed lens was exhibited for the first time on July 20, 1863, shining its beacon on the Lake Superior waters in the Apostle Islands.
When built in 1862, Raspberry Island Lighthouse was a two-story, rectangular dwelling with a square tower rising from the center of its pitched roof for the single lighthouse keeper and his family.
As the workload increased with the addition of a fog horn, the old lighthouse was greatly expanded in 1906 and converted into a double dwelling with room for two families and an unmarried assistant. The head keeper occupied the first and second stories on the south side of the lighthouse, what was essentially a three-bedroom dwelling, while the first assistant had the ground floor on the north side and the second assistant three rooms in the upper floor.
Raspberry Island Lighthouse
Area youth have been busy getting their animals ready to exhibit at the local county fair this week and that includes washing their cows and pigs. All that washing creates water running in the drainage ditches and that is a super strong magnet for little boys who love to run through the water or test out how waterproof their shoes really are!
Where There is Water, There are Boys
On a lazy summer afternoon, Clifford found a nice comfortable spot to watch the birds going in and out of the birdhouses, feeding their young. And he needed his rest after escorting me around the yard looking at flowers.
Comfortable Clifford
People, critters, birds and flowers are enjoying this nice sunny summer day.
Fence of Color
The evening of July 16, 1942 was an event for those living in Bayfield, Wisconsin, will never forget when an estimated 8 inches of rain fell in about 12 hours and caused a massive flood which destroyed homes, businesses, city blocks, equipment and unearthed caskets from the cemetery. The “Big Ravine” forms a natural drain in normal times, but became a roaring river that night which tossed boulders like marbles and ripped through the city with destructive forces, leaving mud and sand everywhere when the waters receded.
The thirty graves which washed away from the cemetery, where scattered among the mud and not of all the bodies where able to be identified and some had to be re-buried in unmarked graves. In 2007, during a sewer project, more bones were found and were
believed to have been deposited by the 1942 flood.
In front of the Bayfield Heritage Center, a recreation of the mud filled streets which buried cars and trucks from the 1942 flood is on display as well as a section inside the center dedicated to the history of the flood.
Buried by the 1942 Flood
Seeing a wet, shaggy looking flower in the ditch reminded me of my hairdo in the morning. Wild bergamot, is a wildflower in the mint family and is widespread as a native plant in much of North America, and you often see butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds visiting the flowers for nectar. But I didn’t see any insects feeding when it was raining and I was taking the picture, so I guess the butterflies had more sense to stay out of the rain than I did.
Wild Bergamot
The milkweeds are starting to bloom and the milkweed is important to many species, especially the monarch larvae which appears to feed exclusively on milkweeds and the monarch butterflies need the milkweed to lay their eggs.
Some people eat the milkweed flowers, using them in stir-fly, soup, casseroles and other dishes (after you wash the bugs out first). I prefer to just look at them and take pictures of the blossoms instead of eating them and I will leave them for the monarchs butterflies instead.
Milkweed Blossom
Last evening the rain ended as the fog was rising while the sun was setting and the colors probably would have glowed more reflecting off the fog and from all the moisture in the air, but with the growing army of mosquitoes, I didn’t stick around to watch the changing of the color at dusk.
Sunset as Rain Ends
This poor tree has seen better days and with the rain today, probably is feeling a bit soggy too. When it finally collapses into the water, it will no longer be a home to the birds.
Worn Out Tree
