Beetles, Apples, and a Misty River

Yesterday the sun finally came out and I went for a 30 mile bike ride. For some reason, this nearly did me in. I can only attribute that to the flatness, so I never get a break from pedalling; and the fact that there was no one with me to make me take a break now and then.

There are swarms of these boxelder beetles around right now. I think these guys are pretty, and as far as I can determine they are totally harmless, don't eat anything we eat or use, don't bite, etc. But they are looking for a warm dry place to spend the winter and you may not want them to move into your house.

Boxelder beetles

At any rate, this morning I felt re-energized and recovered, so out I went to kayak my usual route down the river. It always amazes me that the 38-year-old Jeep still starts right up, ready to haul kayak and I five miles upriver. Although there’s not a lot of color yet, it was a stellar fall day, and I was comfortable in shirtsleeves as long as I stayed on the sunny side of the river.

A misty indian summer morning on the Chippewa

On the float back down (and I do mean float, as I barely paddled until the last mile), for the first time I did not stop at my dad’s place but continued another half mile downriver to take out at the Chippewa Nature Center. There is just no good place to take out at my dad’s place anymore. It’s a choice between getting out in knee-to-waist-deep water and then dragging self and boat up the rickety, muddy, uneven cement steps, or going to the old cow-watering place, where, unless it’s been unusually dry, you will sink in mud to your ankles and beyond, and then have to drag the boat over the remnants of an old footbridge to get it up to the yard. I am pretty tired of both of these options, and the Nature Center has this cool take-out that enables you to pull your boat (while you’re still in it) up a ramp to get it out of the water, and then provides handrails to help you disembark. I do have  a half mile hike through the woods back to the house, but it’s well worth it. Then it’s a nice bike ride back upriver to get the truck to haul the kayak back home.

The apples are ripe and we have lots of them this year. I picked about a half-bushel off of just two of our 50 trees. They are sometimes a bit ugly but so delicious. Sadly, I suppose the deer will get the rest of them.