To this verdant country they came from all around

My trail camera captures two buck whitetails at a mineral lick here in Nolalu

Tomorrow is Canada Day and this year is particularly special since it is our 150th birthday as a nation. It's much longer for First Nations, of course. Their history began thousands of years ago. The scene above reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot's line in Canadian Railroad Trilogy about "this verdant country." Here are the lyrics to the beginning of his song:

"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real

 

But time has no beginnings and hist'ry has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall
Built the mines the mills and the factories for the good of us all

 

And when the young man's fancy was turnin' to the spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
And many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay"

 

Not only did people come to this "verdant country" but so did animal immigrants. Even as recent as 150 years ago this area was mostly inhabited by caribou. Then came moose and now deer.

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Now is time to learn more about the outdoors

There are bracken ferns, wild sarsaparilla, star flowers, coltsfoot and maybe, large-leaved asters in this shot

Tiny but very beautiful are these fringed polygala flowers

A very small bear feeds on white clover I planted two years ago

The only spotted fawn I have ever photographed, caught on trail cam

Now that I have the time, I'm doing my best to learn the names of the more obscure plant species that grow here in Nolalu. Some of these virtually blanket the forest floor; yet, no one seems to know what they are called. Imagine not knowing the name of that plant with narrow leaves that predominates in your lawn -- you know, grass. There is a large-leaved plant that covers almost every inch of land in the bush here and after hours of research in my books and on-line I can only guess what it might be. I think it is large-leaved aster. It would help if it would hurry up and flower. If it is in fact a large-leaved aster that might not take place for another month according to my books. My friend John said he only knows the Latin name for this plant -- U. biquitous.
My field guides are mostly about the showy flowers or ones that you might commonly see around roads, things like buttercups and daisies. Tiny (but still beautiful) flowers that only grow singly or in small groups are harder to track down.
The trail cameras have caught some animals that I don't ever photograph in the winter. There was a bear feeding on clover I planted a couple of years ago for the ruffed grouse and deer. This was a very small fellow, probably about 60 pounds, and would have been last year's cub. He should have still been with his mother. He hung around for a couple of days and then moved on.
I also got photos of porcupines, skunks and raccoons. I've never seen a raccoon here before although we have friends that have horses and have seen them coming into the barn for food.
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So here we go into retirement!

This has been a regular sight out our front window

But then so has this!

Our son, Matt, joined us at camp in May. Joanne Spillar photo

Indian Skipper samples a dandelion

Wild columbine

Brenda and I and Cork (the dog) are experiencing summer for the first time at our home in Nolalu since retiring from camp at the start of June. From the moment we built our house in 1991 until now we had spent every summer operating camp.
I have been gobstruck at how lush and beautiful everything is here. I ran around for days photographing wildflowers that grow on our 65 acres and it is a good thing I did because other vegetation has since towered over the smaller flowers, blocking the view. I was amazed to find trilliums and orchids, most of which haven't bloomed yet. Although I have a pile of plant and wildflower identification books there are many species I can't yet identify.
We also got to see a few unusual birds before the trees were completely leafed-out. These included a rose-breasted grosbeak and chestnut-sided warbler. We have two pairs of tree swallows living in nesting boxes that I put up in April. The first nestlings actually fledged today.
I have put up bluebird boxes for the past 25 years without ever getting to see the birds. They came after we had gone to camp for the summer and left before we returned at the end of October. I could tell from the leftover nests what species had used the boxes -- mostly tree swallows but once in awhile bluebirds too. I saw a male bluebird twice this June but I guess he didn't have a mate or just didn't like my nesting box locations.
Brenda had the same experience with flowers. She has planted seeds for decades without ever seeing a single flower until now. We have a hillside of beautiful lupines in front of the house along with a large-flowering vine that we can't identify.
We have many acres of land to mow here and I have been largely thwarted in accomplishing this task by almost daily rains. I have been able to mow the lawn around the house but have only gotten about three-quarters of the fields done and just a tiny bit of the brush that borders our lawn. I haven't done any of the mile of trails on our property.
Brenda and I joined Bow Narrows angler Doug Billings for our first-ever professional baseball game, yesterday. Doug is on his way home from fishing at camp last week and for years has come south through Thunder Bay. We watched the Thunder Bay Border Cats play against the St. Cloud Rox in the Northwoods League. Wow, was that fun! Tonight we are meeting Doug and Dan and Sharon Sharp, also Bow Narrows anglers on their way home, for supper at a restaurant in Thunder Bay which is about 40 minutes from Nolalu. When we say we are "going to town" we mean Thunder Bay.
Brenda and I have also been busy preparing our house for some big construction projects that we were never able to get done during all the winters we lived here. These include pouring a concrete floor in the basement and adding on a sunroom to the side of the house. There's lots to do and it would help if the rain would stop!
I apologize for letting the blog fall to the wayside for awhile but I should be posting things fairly regularly from now on. I'll be concentrating on the natural world. There's no end of subjects there.


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