While there are some Lupinus perennis (Wild Lupine) in the state, most of the pretty lupines spotted along the road are the Lupinus polyphyllus (Large-leaved Lupine), a native plant to the Western US but introduced by gardeners to this region. But even though they got loose, they are still pretty.
Pretty Lupines
Today is the 8th birthday of the orphan kitten who I raised since she was a week old and the star of my children’s book. For all the pampering she had as a kitten, she never was a cuddly cat and became ornerier when my other cat Dutch died last spring so she lost her place in the house and now living in the building outside. Apparently no one told her that on a farm, there are always new and cute kittens which can dethrone a cranky cat like this batch who are just starting to wander out from their nest exploring the big world.
Kittens New Explorations
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, round barns were promoted as an efficient design, with feed for a dairy herd stored in the middle and cows spread out around it. Round barns were not easy to expand for increasing herds and the mechanization of American agriculture was more suited to rectangular barn design so the round style was never as popular as the traditional style and few remain across the county and all stone construction are a rare find, which only one listed in Wisconsin.
Matthew Annala, a Finnish carpenter and stone mason, had a small dairy farm south of Hurley, Wisconsin, where he built a 24 inch thick stone round barn which took five years to complete with the help of some of his sons and neighbors. Only a little mortar was used since they relied on the mason’s skill of fitting the multi-colored stones together for a tight binding. The barn was completed in 1921 and continued to be a dairy barn and deliver milk to the region until 1973.
In 1979, Matthew Annala’s barn earned a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. A paragraph from the petition states, “The Annala Round Barn and Milkhouse…is significant for its design, its excellence in craftsmanship, and its associations with the area’s early Finnish settlement and with private dairy farming in Iron County.”
Annala Round Barn and Milkhouse
A river flows onward to another river, lake, sea or ocean, unless it dries up before reaching its destination and they can be many miles or just a few. The Montreal River is a river flowing to Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Much of the river’s course defines a portion of the Wisconsin–Michigan border. The Ojibwe name for the river is Gaa-waasijiwaang, meaning “where there is whitewater”. And there is some ‘whitewater’ on this river as it drops more than a thousand feet in less than 50 miles as it travels downstream over four named waterfalls (Peterson Falls, Interstate Falls, Saxon Falls and Superior Falls) before empties calmly into Oronto Bay on Lake Superior.
The Montreal River looks rather peaceful at its mouth even though it just went over a 90 foot drop a short walk in the opposite direction.
Montreal River Reaching Lake Superior
In the northeastern states, you can often spot bluish purple color along wetlands, ditches or marshy areas when the native iris called Blue Flag is blooming. Iris veriscolor, commonly called Northern Blue Flag, Larger Blue Flag, Harlequin Blueflag, and Wild Iris. The name flag is from the middle English word “flagge,” meaning rush or reed. Iris flowers are said to symbolize power, with the three parts representing wisdom, faith and courage.
Northern Blue Flag
When I was traveling on some remote roads in the Chequamegon National Forest, I came across some large moving tennis balls. Or at first glance that is what they appeared to be until the three “balls” piled on top of each other. When my vehicle got closer, one went up the ditch bank into the woods and the other two re-piled to hide and stayed as still as possible so I wouldn’t notice them on the edge of the road.
I didn’t see mommy duck or any water nearby, so hopefully the family of ducks got back together after I drove pass them.
Baby Ducks Trying Not To Be Seen
The earliest reference to the suggestion of a “Flag Day” was by Victor Morris of Connecticut, where the city of Hartford observed that day in 1861 but it did not become a tradition.
Bernard J. Cigrand generally is credited with being the “Father of Flag Day,” with the Chicago Tribune noting that he “almost singlehandedly” established the holiday. A grade school teacher in Waubeka, in eastern Wisconsin, Cigrand held the first recognized formal observance of Flag Day at the Stony Hill School in 1885. From the late 1880s on, Cigrand spoke on the need for the annual observance of a flag day on June 14, the day in 1777 that the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.
In 1916, inspired by Cigrand’s actions, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 to be Flag Day, but the day was not officially established by an Act of Congress until 1949.
Flag Day
This little falls doesn’t have a big drop as the other falls downstream on the Potato River, but it is a nice little waterfall consisting of a series of drops totaling 18 feet with the largest drop about 6 feet. Two more falls are downstream as the water makes its way to Lake Superior.
Upson Falls
A short video clip of Upson Falls.
A few patches of orange red flowers in the road ditch caught my eye the other day, especially since I don’t have them growing near my home, and so I had to stop and get a photo of them. But the showy, eye catching color isn’t from the true greenish-yellow “flower” or corolla but from the scarlet colored specialized leaf bracts instead which attract hummingbirds who are the main pollinators of the Indian Paintbrush.
With over 200 species of Indian Paintbrush, the Castilleja coccinea, commonly known as Scarlet Indian paintbrush or Scarlet painted-cup, are found in my area. The species name coccinea means scarlet although sometimes the bracts are yellow and look like their ends have been dipped in paint, hence the common name paintbrush.
They are a hemiparasitic plant in which their roots grow until they touch the roots of other plants, frequently grasses, then penetrate the roots of these host plants, obtaining a portion of their nutrients.
Scarlet Indian Paintbrush
Certain birds let you know when you are too close to their nest and will try to lead you away from their nest, dive bomb your head or start squawking at you. The Red-winged Blackbird gets rather noisy when too close to the nest and soon both the female and male are making a fuss until I leave the area. The female was trying to feeding her babies when I spotted the nest and she wasn’t happy with me. At least this nest I could get to since most of the nests are over the water as the Red-winged Blackbirds like to build their nest among the cattails.
Red-winged Blackbird Babies
