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Rain Breeds Mosquitoes!
Greetings from the North Woods!
Getting to Maine early this year (May 22nd) was great – no bugs then, and the asparagus was just coming up, so in the week we were here before heading off to Austria and Prague, we had a couple of fresh tranches -- what a treat! It's still producing, so we enjoyed more for dinner tonight. Usually we are greeted by asparagus ferns, with very few edible stalks popping up thereafter. Rhubarb is another perennial. How does cinnamon rhubarb pistachio sorbet sound? This is a recipe that I created, and I made some just in time for the hot weather we are having. Bill had made strawberry sorbet, equally refreshing, a couple of weeks ago. My strawberry patch is starting to get ripe berries, so maybe a strawberry-rhubarb pie will be forthcoming. This is very traditional New England as rhubarb grows in just about every farmyard, and elsewhere!
A late spring will give us this delectable produce, but it will also bring chilly weather, with temps dipping down to the low 40s/upper 30s at night and in the 50s or low 60s during the day; we ran the furnace regularly. After all, it was a long winter, with the first snowfall last October, which is early, and apparently unrelenting dumps of the white stuff into April. 5 feet of snow on the ground, 3 feet of ice on the lake. The snow and ice crashing down off our standing seam metal roof broke some of the rhododendron branches out front this winter; the previous winter, it gave a haircut to the juniper and Anthony Waterer spirea in the back, but Bill solved this for last winter by building a slatted wooden tent to put over these. The rhododendron bushes are too wide to apply this trick to them, so I have contacted my roofer about installing snow fences along parts of the roof.
We saw versions of these roof snow fences on many houses in Hallstatt, Austria, which is on a lake nestled in the mountains – very picturesque, with buildings like Swiss chalets and swans on the lake. The famous salt mine there dates back 7,000 years when prehistoric man chipped away at the salt with bone and antler tools. Even back then, they knew that salt was a good preservative, and this produced abundant trade possibilities through the centuries. Today, the town has Asian tourists galore (primarily Chinese) – busloads come in every day, with the tourists daily outnumbering the locals. The Chinese loved this village so much that they made a replica in China, which apparently is unoccupied, so the Chinese readily open doors to the homes of Hallstatt locals, thinking it is similar to their unoccupied replica. Predictably, this has caused angst amongst the locals, with newspaper accounts of it across Austria and beyond. But Austria is a beautiful country, with mountains, lakes, rivers, grape-growing terraced hillsides, forests, wonderful music, beautiful cities exuding history, and friendly people.
Back in Maine, how wonderful to be greeted at home by a barred owl and its “Who cooks for you?” call. We also have a doe and her fawn in the woods off our driveway. We had seen the mom, but one day as I was rumbling up our driveway on our ATV four-wheeler to get the mail, I scared the little one, and it took off as fast as it could, awkwardly, on its long, skinny legs for quite a distance before turning into the woods. On our first boat venture downlake this year, a bald eagle was flying gracefully overhead, flapping so rhythmically, with power and diligence, to perch on a treetop. Today, on a woods walk with friends, we spied a grouse which made movements to protect her little ones. And the fireworks last night got the loons vocalizing in a great chorus. Butterflies, mostly Canadian swallowtails, have been abundant, and it’s a joy to see them land on the chive or rhododendron flowers and insert their tongues to lick the nectar; they’re disappointed by the flavorless hybridized wave petunias in our hanging pots.
In mid-June, after our trip to Europe, we rented a car to get from the Bangor airport to home. It was evening, getting dark, and by the time we arrived home, the whole front of the car was caked with ¼” of splattered bugs, and while driving, I had to make an attempt at clearing the windshield from time to time. Have to watch for moose at that hour, you know! Yes, the mosquitoes have been more abundant than any time in our 31 years up here, and these have been propagating nicely with rain, rain, and more rain. I haven’t had to water the garden or plants, but they are limping along without sufficient sun. Now we’ve had a couple days of sun and heat – 91 is significant up here with no air conditioning, unless we sit in the car!
As I have noted in the past, our little brown bats have succumbed to the white nose syndrome, and for some unknown reason, the dragonflies have been extremely rare this summer, and the flycatchers (birds) haven’t been doing their bit enough. In the past, we have had a virtual air force of dragonflies cruising the yard, but not this year. So, thank goodness for our hooded bug shirts, which are one-piece net shirts with attached, zippered, net hoods, to be worn over a cap and long-sleeve shirt. For the past few weeks, up until this heat, I would attract in one minute outside a hundred or so mosquitoes, during the daytime, but with the bug shirt, I go about my work, listening to their serenade. Now they have diminished greatly, but if I’m going outside to work for a period of time, I still don my gear.
After all these years up here, we finally screened in our porch with rudimentary netting on which I sewed a binding which could be hung on hooks around the ceiling, with boards and cement blocks anchoring the bottom. We put carpeting down on the decking to keep the mosquitoes from coming up from underneath, and with a few adjustments, it has worked really well (Bill’s genius). Last night, 4thof July, we sat on the porch listening to the fireworks going off up and down and across the lake – people up here really get into heavy artillery with terrific multi-colored, continuous blasts of rockets, etc. It’s an unbelievable display coming from every direction, with the expense of it all going up in smoke! Oh well, it’s lovely while it’s happening.
Hope you enjoyed your 4thof July and may you have many more wonderful days ahead.
Best,
Marilyn
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