While not my typical barn picture, this barn-like building is called the Twine Shed, which is found on the site of the Hokenson Brothers Fishery on the shore of Lake Superior, north of Bayfield, Wisconsin.
Named for the twine used in fishing nets, nets were prepared, repaired, and stored in the building and a fishing net reel can be seen in the foreground. Fish boxes full of gill nets and floats were stacked inside the barn but it was more than just storage for fishing equipment as it was also the workshop, smithy, machine and carpenter shop. The Twine Shed embodies the necessary skills of a commercial fisherman.
The temperature for yesterday’s Thanksgiving was the coldest since 1930. I sure would have rather be looking at the ice caves yesterday if it was going to be that cold instead of snowing snow in the very chilly air.
In the northern states, we often refer to birds as winter birds or summer birds, even though the winter birds are actually year-round birds. The summer birds arrive in the spring and leave in the fall and most of the ‘summer’ birds are gone now although I still heard a bluebird singing on Saturday.
But then there are the traveling birds who only stop briefly on their way to and back to farther distances like the High Arctic tundra. And when they are passing by, they often are changing their plumage so it makes it difficult for me to identify these visitors.
On the shore of Lake Superior this fall, I encountered one of the visiting feathered friends and at first, I thought it was a Semipalmated Sandpiper. When trying to determine which bird it was, they often state it is larger or smaller than another bird but when I don’t have the other bird in the same picture or a ruler as they run by, that doesn’t help me much.
One site stated that “If it’s on sand but really actively chasing the waves back and forth, up and down the beach slope with each wave, with legs moving so rapidly they’re blurs, it’s a Sanderling.” Well the birds I was watching was doing just that as I have a lot of blurry legs pictures and the few which aren’t blurry or not standing in water, shows the lack of hind toe that a Semipalmated Sandpiper has. It is also lacking the fine tipped bill so it appears my piper is actually a Sandlering juvenile or a Sandlering adult in transition from breeding to non-breeding plumage.
Whatever they were, they sure were fun to watch as they chased the waves in and out and once in a while, they got wet like I did when a rogue wave rolled in.
I wonder if there will be some big waves hitting Devils Island and carving out more of the sea caves if 30 mph wind gusts are predicted for today. In the winter, the sea caves turn into ice caves, and both views provide an unique experience of the sandstone caves and arches.
A damp, rainy Monday would be more fun if enjoying the Lake Superior waves rolling into the bay than watching the wind blowing the colored leaves off the tree around here instead.
A lighthouse was approved to be built on Long Island, one of the Apostle Islands, but the work crew was directed to Michigan Island instead so after the ‘misplacement’ of the lighthouse, the small, wooden structure LaPointe light was hastily erected in 1858. Near the end of the century, it became clear that the diminutive 34-foot tall tower was no longer serving the needs of maritime traffic.
When the shipping focus shifted to Ashland, a second light was needed on Long Island and a fog signal. In 1897, the “New” LaPointe light, a 67-foot cylindrical tower, was constructed as well as the Chequamegon Point light a mile away with the lighthouse keepers walking between the two. The old LaPointe lighthouse served as the living quarters for the keepers until a triplex apartment block was built in 1940.
The new LaPointe Light, a fixed white light fourth-order, Fresnel lens, was lit on October 11, 1897, the same day Chequamegon Point Light was established.
The Echo Dells in the Houghton Falls State Natural Area is a very interesting area and would be fun to explore more when the water isn’t flowing so rapidly.
I was joshing with a relative of mine about the ugly pictures I post, and she stated none of my posted pictures were ugly. Well today I will prove her wrong as today’s picture is about as ugly as a photograph can be and about the sorriest looking lighthouse and ugliest island that exists.
No one would vacation on this 3.51 acre island as there wouldn’t be a dry spot if a big wave rolled in and the lighthouse wouldn’t be turned into a bed and breakfast. Even the cruise ships taking people to tour the other nearby lighthouses, don’t pass by this lighthouse even though near the northern point of Michigan Island which has two pretty lighthouses (except under certain circumstances which might change the boat’s course as was the case for me since it did go by this ignored lighthouse).
As as the name suggests, Gull Island has thousands of nesting gulls and even those servicing the fifty foot lighthouse don’t like to visit due to the dive bombing birds and the stench from all the bird droppings. There wasn’t many gulls on the island the late fall day as I passed by but other birds like the cormorants were resting on the shore.
But since this skeleton tower, which originally serviced a light in Pennsylvania, was first place in service on Gull Island (the smallest of the Apostles Islands in Lake Superior) on September 30, 1929, I will post an ugly picture for today as it did serve to protect boats with an acetylene light which could be seen for thirteen miles as it displayed a white flash every ten seconds to warn sailors of the three and half mile underwater ledge protruding from the tiny island.
