Aerie Report, August 19, 2009 Evening Edition

I took my bride out to lunch today. Not quite an anniversary dinner, but we did have coupons for the McDonald's Angus burger.

We sat down at a window table just as the sky opened up at 1 PM. And remained open for about 90 minutes. We had some other errands to run at Agway and Wally World so we had to venture out in the wet. We managed to do so during slack times but the sky opened once more as we made our way back to the Aerie. The sides of the dirt roads ran with chocolate milk colored runoff.

When we got home and the rains finally stopped, I checked the rain gauge. The contained 0.77 inches of water. (Add yesterday's 0.41 inches and that's a heck of a lot of water!)

The sun did come out for a few hours after the rain passed and the temperature rose all the way up to 78 degrees. Since the sky is still mostly cloudless, I expect the temperature to drop into the 50s tonight. Great sleeping weather!

I had some stuff to put in the compost heap and when I got there I finally figured out what our bruin visitor was up to this morning. There were two small chokecherries just behind the compost heap. I say "were" because one of them is bent horizontally now and the other has a few branches snapped off about four feet off the ground. Last week these were loaded with tiny chokecherries. From Terry's description of where she saw the bear, I deduce it had just finished snacking on the cherries and was heading up the hill to see if there were any blackberries left in my pickin' spot. Since I'm leaving for the North Woods tomorrow and with the work I've got to do up at the Bolt Hole probably won't be back for a week or more, the bruin is welcome to all the berries it wants. I'm through picking for this year. Especially since there's no room in the freezer what with the blueberries, blackberries, string beans, and zucchini bread. heck there's not even any room for a deer or two. BUT I WILL MAKE ROOM IF NEED BE!

Well, time to take a shower and get some shut eye. It's going to be a busy and interesting week at the Bolt Hole.