Winter Sunset

The sun is on it’s southern most track.  For us that means we can catch a sunset over Guyles Lake. 
But you have to hurry because this time of year the sun set comes on really fast. 

Chance and I were hurrying along, trying not to miss the sunset.   He knows the roads and keeps a look out for deer or turkeys…we saw neither.

Sometimes it is all about the chance for Chance.  The chance to go for a ride, when some days he has to be content with staying at home in the yard…so anything beyond that is exciting.

We just barely caught the sunset.   Those trees that circle the front of Guyles Lake are Tamaracks and even if they look like dead sticks all winter in the spring they will turn all lush and green.

Once again we are thrust into the darkest part of the year.  Today our sunrise is a 8:05 AM and sets at 4:36 PM for 8 hours and 31 minutes of sunlight or 15 hours and 29 minutes of darkness.  The Winter Solstice officially happens for us at 10:49 PM. I always look forward to the return of the light little by little minute by minute.

It is good to finally be officially in winter.  It is probably my least favorite time of year, I am ready to get it over with already. 

Fall Color at Guyles Lake

It is not a great year for Fall Color.  The drought we had last spring must have carried through showing up in so so fall color.

Guyles Lake has very little water.

Fall color at Guyles Lake.

We went for a short ride, Chance had not been for a ride in a couple of days.

I worked on Christmas Ornaments outside until the wind and chilly 57 F or 13.8 C eh got to me.  I may have to move to the greenhouse/woodshop to finish up.

I gave up at 5:50 PM and turned the furnace on…I was just cold…and even my sweater and slippers didn’t warm me up.  I guess furnace season is here.

Scenic Minnesota

We went for a drive last night.

This Bald Eagle was pretty skittish, he was pecking at a deer carcass and we disturbed his feast.

A deer was hiding in a meadow.  They are looking for green grass.

Guyles Lake benefitted from all the rain.

So did Cripps Creek…it is overflowing into the wetlands.  We sat here quite a while just listening, we thought we heard a Red Winged Blackbird but never spotted him, we also hear an Owl and the pair of Canada Geese were honking at us.  Spring peepers maybe…my ears wanted to hear them so badly.

I wonder if the Canada Geese are going to claim the top of the beaver hut. Time will tell.

Here is what Cripps Creek looked like on April 8, 2014, what a difference some rain makes.

Early Spring Wildlife

We went for a ride after supper on a wonderfully warm evening.  As it turns out we were not the only ones out.  These were all photos taken within 3 miles of home.

One duck at the dead beaver area, there were more but they flew off into the sun.

Two Swans on Guyles Lake, we called them early squatters because there is no open water yet.  Usually Guyles Lake has two set of Swans.  We decided they had a long flight and were resting out on the ice safe from predators.

Six Wild Turkeys in the shadows of the Smoky Hills.

Six Deer down by the creek on Ashley’s Road.

 

A gaggle of Canada Geese in Steve and Jo’s cornfield sparkling in the evening sun.

We also saw three pair of Trumpeter Swans in Donnie’s corn field and two deer (one a huge buck…we could tell by the way he was walking) in the opening by my parents old resort and five or six more deer on the edge of the Canada Geese cornfield.

It was a great wildlife ride. 

Dog Days of Summer

It is dry.  Guyles Lake has dried up.

There is usually water beyond those Tamarack Trees.

Here is another photo I took of the same lake in June of 2009.

Ha!  I even took it at about the same spot.  One fluffy Tamarack towards the center of the photo and two  possibly struggling/dead trees to the right of the one that is thriving.

I have passed by this lake for sixty years now.  I have seen it dry.. but I have never seen the water totally disappear from the lake.

Even though it has rained some in the past few weeks I guess it wasn’t enough to raise the level in the lakes and the potholes.

This has been one of the warmest summers that I can remember in Minnesota. Day after day of heat and humidity.  I hate to say it..but I am looking forward to fall and cooler temperatures.

I am getting tired of the “dog days “ of summer..typically July 3 to August 10.  That old Dog Star Sirius must be to blame.

"These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after."  From Tuck Everlasting.

I wonder if it is the “dog days” that make me cranky and more tired than usual.  Far Guy says “No, we are just getting older.”:)

Four Seasons at Guyles Lake

Yes, we are supposed to have four seasons in Minnesota. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way. It seems that old man Winter hogs a great share of the year..or perhaps I am just imagining that. One of my favorite places to go is Guyles Lake. Not exactly the sunbathing, boating mecca of Minnesota..but it was home to a pair of Trumpeter Swans last summer. So here is Guyles Lake through the seasons...no I did not stand exactly in the same place each time..but close enough for an old lady. One of Minnesota 's last wilderness lakes in our area ..they are logging off the south east shore..I was deeply saddened to see that this area is being disturbed. If it belonged to me, I would let the animals have it.

Winter at Guyles Lake in March

Spring in June

Summer in August

Fall in October ..the Larch or Tamarack are golden, they are a deciduous conifer, which means their needles turn golden and fall off for the winter.


This was a fun project for me to do.. what other totally obscure projects can I find to photograph? I have begun a rather bazaar collection of other subjects easily found in Minnesota..weed seed heads.. deer stands..I really miss the wildflowers..it is certainly a long time til May..five more months ..most all of them wintery:(

I would like to thank Jeanne at The Raisin Chronicles ..she was the inspiration for this photo project. If I recall correctly.. she said "You should do a four season presentation for us! ."

Guyles Lake

"Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow. Invasions can be arrested or modified in a manner to keep an area usable for recreation, or for science, or for wildlife, but the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible. " Aldo Leopold

Far Guy took me out the other day, I was pinging off the walls and it was a warm day( above zero!! ). We went for a short drive. We found this "lake home" ..beavers are opportunist's. They build where there is water and wood, they don't think about lake shore taxes when they build..they just know that winter is coming and they need a home. In this case he has his own private lake, Guyles Lake. No one lives on it because it is surrounded by a swampy reedy area. Swampy edges must be natures way of saving some lakes for wildlife.

I wouldn't exactly call this small little swamp locked lake a wilderness, but in it's own way it is. No humans live on it, there are no docks and no boats. It is desirable only to the wildlife. There are no houses with gardens and lawns to fertilize and run off into the lake. No one can possibly throw trash that far to make it a garbage dump, although its swampy edges do suffer from that fate. Over the years this lake has shrunk, and it's swampy areas have increased. When I was a child this lake had a swampy buffer but only a small one. In years that we had lots of rain, the water did reach the edge of the road. Am I the sole witness to this change over fifty years? Am I the only one who still appreciates a swamp locked lake, perfect for wildlife? :)