Well, I was ready to head out fairly early with three options for my morning meander. I peeked out the door to see if it really was as cloudy as the weatherman said … yup, another gray and gloomy day. At least no rain was predicted, but it was blustery and only 60 degrees.
I mentally ticked off today’s excursion possibilities: the “Old Car Festival” at The Henry Ford, which I had planned to attend since I went to the Model A event last month. It would be fun with all the vintage cars, old-time food and ragtime dancing in the street, all geared to mimic days of yesteryear. Elizabeth Park and Heritage Park were also options, but with a gloomy and sunless sky, it would not be a stellar day for picture-taking at any venue.
All Summer, I’ve been hankering to go to “Saturdays in the Park” where six miles of Hines Park is closed to vehicular traffic.
I have lived in Michigan 52 years, yet I’ve never been to this popular park, which features a long trail that encompasses 15 miles over six cities. For me, the closest way to access Hines Park was in Dearborn Heights, so this drive was about a 25-mile round trip for me. Luckily I found a great place to park because they had already set up the blockades within the Park.
I began on a pathway that ran parallel to Hines Drive. As I walked along I thought “well it could be a little bit warmer” and then I wanted to slap myself, after complaining about the heat and humidity all Summer. But truly, that blustery wind was whipping around and the sunless sky made it feel like a late September/early October day. Almost everyone was wearing hoodies with the hood flipped up. Yikes! I was in short-sleeves and shorts and probably could have layered up a tad more.
There were plenty of people enjoying full access to Hines Drive without fear of a vehicle running them down. I saw walkers, joggers and even a contingent of teens who were rollerblading along the smooth pavement. I must have seen 100 or more bicyclists, even a few on recumbent bikes.
I meandered along, glancing here, there and everywhere for something interesting to include in today’s blog post. The woods was rather dense in places.
I heard some blue jays screeching noisily at one another and I was prepared to toss out a few peanuts for them, or to any squirrels, but no one paid me a visit.
There were a lot of trees down in this Park, but not the result of recent storms, and, in some cases, it didn’t appear they had been uprooted, but just toppled down and left there for effect – it didn’t look all bad, and the way they had rotted away was rather interesting as well.
Up close, some of this rotted wood made me wonder if a woodpecker or two had had a go at it, or it simply rotted away from the weather?
This fallen tree was so perfectly sliced, I wondered if someone cut it down and forget to haul it away? I was trying to count its rings, but it was difficult to do so, because of the dark-colored edges.
I kept trying to catch a glimpse of the water between the trees and brush and I noticed even more fallen and submerged trees crisscrossing the water. I walked about ½ mile further and saw a bridge where I could cross and get a bird’s eye view. I thought the trees forming an arch across the water looked interesting.
If you look closely, you can see the water rippling in the breeze.
As you can see, this sign is a mileage marker, but someone added a little impromptu artwork to it … is this the twiggy equivalent of those cairns, or stacked rock piles, that you see along some hiking trails?
I saw many leaves down along the path, no doubt the result of that drought-like weather we had all of July, and the hot weather we’ve endured all Summer.
In my blog post headline, I mentioned “flora” … so, here you have it, probably the only colorful blooms I saw at Hines Park. It was a huge group of Goldenrod which was covered with bees. I had to be careful as there must’ve been a bee or two per bloom and I wanted a photo of them, but I didn’t want to bend over too close in case they buzzed up my shorts!
So that was the flora part of my trek; the fauna part … well, that was a whole other story. My “Kodak Moment of the Day” was a pair of deer I saw near the bushes, across Hines Drive, and rather far from the trail I was walking along. Knowing deer are more fleet of foot than me, I took their photo from across Hines Drive and hoped for the best. They watched me and posed nicely, even gave me a profile view, then, with at least three decent shots under my belt …
… I decided to cross the street and get a closer look at them.
Well, you see how that worked out.
Oops! This bicyclist not only photobombed my deer shot, but it spooked that doe and her fawn, and they leapt into the woods, flashing their white tails. I walked over to the edge of the brush where they had been grazing but they had vamoosed in record time.
I stayed on the trail that ran parallel to Hines Drive until I reached 2½ miles on the pedometer, then I made the return trip to head back to the car. I got a great cardio and legs workout as it was frequently hilly, so all that up-and-down trekking was good for me, since most of the trails I walk are flat. You can see the steep incline in these photos below.
I stopped at Council Point Park before heading home and added another 1½ miles to my total, by searching for hungry squirrels and checking on the status of the turtles. Hungry squirrels I found – Parker was not around, but a few of the youngsters bravely came over to visit me. The baby snapping turtles have not emerged yet … if they were smart, they would stay put until it warms up again next week.
So 6½ miles added to my walking tally, a deer sighting and I’ll sleep well tonight.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Linda
Glad you got a whooping 6.5 kms today. And this in cold weather. You will surely reach your target for this month, my heart says. And you went to meet Parker too after the long walk at Hines. I would have called it a day after the first walk. I think this is the first time I am seeing a deer in your pictures- so that was a great bonus of your walk. Everything looks so green though the sky was broody. i would like a day like that.
Susie
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Hi Susie – how are you feeling? I am a little behind in Reader … I saw you shared a fellow blogger’s post, but think you had something else from yesterday. I am hoping to catch up a little tonight. Hope you are recovered from your bug you picked up on vacation. I was really excited about seeing the deer today. Last Saturday I went on those two nature treks, and as I was driving from the main road through the Park to where the trek began, I saw a deer and it was still early in the morning. It was gone in a flash as well. You are right, it is the first time I’ve ever had a deer in my blog. I was a long walk in the cold … we were so hot and humid all week. This weather is just crazy. I hope some of your horrible heat has abated.
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Heat no change.
Bug more or less gone.
Mood not much improved- feeling lost.
A work colleague has moved on to another job and starting today she will not be at her desk- I feel bewildered. I don’t want to be at the desk either- I just would prefer lazing at home. Sigh !!
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I wish there was a “not like” button Susie. Having heat that hot is just oppressive and to still have it after all these months! The bug being gone is a plus. How is the diet going – are you and your husband still on it in a “maintenance phase” though? Are you well enough to go back to the exercise classes? That’s too bad about the co-worker … see, you were off on vacation, then home with the bug and having to acclimate back at work to begin with is difficult enough, without having to accommodate a lot of changes. Don’t blame you for wishing you were at home lazing instead. I am sighing along with you!
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Starting exercise this week. Also I don’t like the work too much because of interference by supervisor in everything. If she was on vacation, always things would be different. She is a nice lady usually but she seems to think as she is paying us, we need to earn our keeps.
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Had that situation before as well … nothing is easy is it? I have been in situations before where it is absolutely intolerable to walk into the workplace. It should not be that like ever, but we tolerate it. So much of our day is our work life, and it just is not fair.
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Miss Linda…………………….congratulations on walking at Hines Drive……………………………….I never even knew that they did corner off traffic and let the pedestrians take over their routes……………………..lots of people were there enjoying it……………………..thanks for the pictures of the deer…………………………they knew that the traffic was okay to trod on too…………………….
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Hi Ann Marie – I saw it last year and had thought of going – today I thought it was just so gray and gloomy looking that I’d try it out since I was hoping to get a long walk in anyway and a long run for the car was good as well. It is nice and no cars at all – I didn’t understand how you were supposed to access it, and so I made sure I got there before the barricades went up, snagged a parking space and then walked. About 2 1/2 miles into my walk, I saw a huge parking lot filled with cars, but I’m not sure how they got into the Park … they must have to have some access points but I’m only familiar with the Dearborn Heights area, so did it that way. And I’d not been to Dearborn in a while, plus with construction – I really had to pay attention so I didn’t get lost! I was excited to see those deer!
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Great photos Linda!
Fred
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Thanks Fred, I was ecstatic to see the deer. It took me by surprise.
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I enjoyed the whole post, but I laughed at the post with twigs sticking out of it. I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s hard to believe you felt the chill in the air after baking all summer.
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Glad you liked it and what was up with that? I was thinking maybe kids did it to be funny, but that was the only one that looked like that. 🙂 I wanted to slap myself up side of the face when I wished it was a little warmer out! It was really chilly though – we are having a rainy day tomorrow and Monday morning – sigh.
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Our weather is almost ideal — warm during the day and cool at night. Given a choice, I’d choose cool/cold. We should have that before long.
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Yes, I’m ready for the cool weather too – it would have not been as bad at 60 degrees today had we not had the gray sky and blustery wind. It’s going back to the 80s again Tuesday.
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Ugh!
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Ugh indeed! What an ugly day we had today Anne. I went out and walked in the neighborhood as it looked like it would pour any minute. It has drizzly and dreary since about 11:00 a.m. and it only got to 58 degrees! A week ago today we had 98 degrees and a real feel of 100 degrees or more. And it was a blustery north wind. This weather is crazy.
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The weather is not only crazy — it’s enough to drive you batty!
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I know – it is very cold in the house now – cold and damp. I told myself putting on the heat would be nice but just put on a sweatshirt. It is driving me batty. I hope this entire year’s weather is not the new normal. It is very windy and I lost my power for about two minutes at 8:30. I held my breath believe me.
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Could you hold your breath for an hour??? Just kidding. I remember the panic that I used to feel when the power was out. Being retired lessens that a bit.
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Well, I e-mailed Rita next door and asked if her power went out – she said “yes, it’s been windy all day” … yes I knew that, but my concern is that my lights have been flickering for a couple of weeks now, very subtle flickering and at first I blamed it on the new glasses with this blue-light tint for computer use maybe with the light hitting the lenses a certain way, or something was wrong with the kitchen light, but then I noticed it in the bathroom with those lights and with my other glasses on. I e-mailed back and asked if she had flickering issues – not heard back from her. When the power went out, my first thought (besides “oh no”) was is that connected to the flickering lights?
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Golly! There is always something to be concerned about, isn’t there? I would be like you if lights were flickering. I’d find an excuse for the lights, hoping there was nothing really wrong. Good luck!
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Well, she still didn’t answer back – so much for that. I’m going to see if I can catch her outside when she leaves for work at 8:00 a.m. It is like late October this morning. The sky is still dark right now, it is 58 out, but a real feel of 55 and I think I’m going to put on the heat. If I was moving around in the house like yesterday doing housework, I’d be fine, but sitting in one place all day will be cold. I can’t see if it is raining out – they say it has stopped so good, I can walk, but won’t stray from the neighborhood in case it starts to pour. As to the lights, maybe Googling will give me an answer … sometimes though the answer is worse than you anticipated and then I’ll worry more.
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It’s hard to believe how cool your temperature is. Wouldn’t you like to put the law of averages to work??? I do hope your lights and electrical system are fine. Keep us posted.
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I am playing with these excel charts again and just forwarded them to home to try on my computer here, though I have the same version of Excel (2010) … I saw Rita has responded as follows (below) So, now I wonder if I need to call DTE? What do you think? I need to respond to Rita that it puts my mind at ease. I have no one else to ask … the other side of the street is not on the same grid as we are.
On September 10, 2018 at 8:59 AM Rita wrote:
Funny you should mention the flickering lights!
Yes, just my bathroom lights though
Thought the bulbs were going bad.
Sent from my iPhone
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Ummm. Perhaps it’s good that you are in it together. Would you be able to find any clues on the internet? Do you have any friends that understand electricity?
We had a young accountant in our office whose dad was an electrician. She often worked with him before she became a CPA, and she really knew her stuff. Unfortunately, I’ve lost track of her.
I’d say, since it might put your mind at rest, call the DTE when there isn’t a major catastrophe going on. They might have instant suggestions.
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That is a good idea Anne – I did look online and they suggested that fluorescent lights do this more than other lights – the bathroom lights are on a bar, three lights in a row, and they are fluorescent lights (all 40W bulbs) and the kitchen is a CFL 150 equivalent. I just put it in recently when I heard the buzzing noise and a fly had gotten in the house and I couldn’t find it – hate flies and looked everywhere for it and heard a rattling noise in the light. That was the same day I had the guy bump against the hot water heater when he replaced the furnace water pump and I had to call in a plumber to see if something was wrong with the hot water tank. I’ve not heard back again from Rita. Also the internet info mentioned the lightbulb may not be installed correctly. I never twist them tightly after having a few of the upside down lightbulbs get stuck and broke in my hands in the past, but I’ve put them in that way for years. The bedroom is the only other light on for extended periods of time and it seems fine to me. Tomorrow, going to walk up the street and see if there are other neighbors on this side with the problem, then contact DTE. I think they are done fixing power from the storms last week and likely crews will be heading to help out after Florence wreaks havoc everywhere. Are you going to have any issues with Florence? I’m thinking you are away from the action. How about John’s sister in Charleston? I know Virginia is not looking good and Evelyn has had two hurricanes since living in Richmond, VA – the last one I believe was Hugo and she had substantial flooding the basement – lost her washer and dryer and had furnace damage. My furnace I got installed in 2012 is sitting on bricks which is a good feature – the others were not in the past.
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It sounds like you have a good plan for dealing with blinking lights. We are likely to have lots of rain from the hurricane, no matter where it hits. The forecast shows rain for the rest of the week, and it’s already raining here now. We are in touch with friends on an island off SC who might come here for shelter. John’s sister and family near Charleston are also considering a hurricane visit. We’ll see what the storm brings and how they all feel about it. John’s other sister in NY says they have been warned about heavy seas and rain. Nathaniel’s mother couldn’t remember how close Charlotte is to the coast, so she asked about weather implications. Time will tell!
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Well, I hope I’m not dawdling and should be proactive, but it did raise my comfort level that the power outage was not unique to me, or the flickering. I think bringing it to the attention of our energy provider may not be good as I’m sure a contingent of utility workers are probably slated to go to a staging area, if not already on their way. They sent DTE workers to Puerto Rico for three months at a time after Hurricane Maria. They have already sent down a Michigan state police person to help with coordination of FEMA efforts. I could wait, but I’ll bop down the street and see if anyone can enlighten me – has to be on our side of the street. I could break down and ask Jeff … I’ve had nothing to do with him since June and his text re: “no time for grass” – but this is important, but he may say he doesn’t know as well. I will see what I can find out tomorrow or next day – we have no rain the rest of the week. I forgot about Nathaniel being in Charlotte now. I remembered John’s sister. Your friends on the island make me remember that Robb has a good friend who lives in SC – he just retired last year to an island and they were ravaged last year and had a lot of water damage. He lives on Callawassie Island. Good luck to you and I hope it is just a rain event for all of you.
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I’m sure I’ll be writing about the fallout of the hurricane or about nothing weather-related at all.
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Well I hope it is the latter topic.
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I’m with you, bring on the cool temperatures!
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Today we had a high of 58 degrees! A week ago today it was 98 degrees – that is just crazy. I walked early in the day in the neighborhood as I thought it would rain any minute … plus it was very blustery as well. It was like an October day.
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great shots
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Thanks Andy – the deer were a real treat. I was amazed that such a large park would be devoid of squirrels and birds. I heard the jays and saw no waterfowl either. But a good walk nevertheless.
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Pretty Deer.
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I think the fawn was pretty big. It still had its spots and online I learned they lose their spots after four months. I hoped to see deer again … I glanced over to every bush and woodsy area along the way, hoping they’d turn up again, but nothing. I got the bicyclist in the picture because it was so dark and gloomy out, the flash was going off each photo I took and it caused the camera to run slow, so I had to just hope the pictures came out before the deer bolted.
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how fabulous a new park after living there so long! Many walks ahead I bet!
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I think so Michael especially in the Summer when they ban the vehicles. I walked along the trails to get a better workout and most of the bicyclists were in the street. Nice to find it after 52 years!
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How quickly we forget our complaints about too hot/too cold weather when the weather changes. Your walk looked so lovely! 6.5 miles is a nice distance. What a treat to see the momma deer and her fawn.
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We are a fickle bunch aren’t we Janis? Today we only got to 58 degrees with a blustery north wind and rain. It felt like we suddenly zipped ahead two months!
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Great catches, Linda! 🙂 Bravo!
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Thanks Uncle Tree – I was excited about the deer and they were really the only critters I saw in such dense woods. It was so dark and gloomy that my flash kept going off and was very slow and I think that’s how I got the bicyclist in that picture. Now that is a photobomb!
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Wow! 6.5 miles! that was a great walk. Very nice nature pics. Mine don’t look nearly as good as yours.
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Thanks Laurie – I am still trying to get to my year-end goal, but the weather has just not cooperated this year at all. I’m glad you liked the pictures and I was surprised they came out that well because it was very gray and gloomy yesterday. I was pretty excited to see the deer.
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Goldi-Loks weather is the best…..not too hot & not too cold!
That tree limb might of been cut down by the city?It might of posed a danger or showed rot.
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It looked too perfectly cut. I know you say it is important to have submerged logs in the rivers, streams and creeks for the aquatic life there, but I could not believe how many fallen logs were in that water. In the picture that looks like an arch over the water, they reminded me of pick-up-stix. I was going to say that and I thought some people would not be familiar with that game.
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thats a chainsaw cut no doubt. Most likely done by someone professional & with the right.Meaning they were a city employee.
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Maybe they come back and chop it up for firewood as it gets closer to Winter.
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if you have a fireplace & a chainsaw,cut it up for winters warmth! I assume the trails are too narrow for trucks but wide enough for a ATV I bet!
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Well, I’m surprised no one took it then. Two or three guys could haul it out, especially when the main drag is closed down to traffic. Everyone was doing their own thing so no one would notice. Enough firewood for all Winter. I have an electric fireplace – ornamental only, just has a flickering flame and gives off no heat. I almost put on the heat to warm up the house, but stopped myself and put on a sweatshirt instead,
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It was cool but nice to walk after all that heat. It was ugly here today. It started raining at 11:00 and blustery. Right now the wind is gusting at 15-20 mph, raining hard and the real feel is 53 degrees. I think we went to late October weather!
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hate that kind of weather! You stick to everything! You loose hair getting out of a 59 Caddy!
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Ha ha – when I was young my father had a VW Beetle and he got clear plastic seat covers for it – really? Why? I think it had leatherette seats to begin with. We still lived in Canada and went from Oakville to Oklahoma for a job interview for him, in that car in 1964. Middle of the Summer. My legs stuck to the plastic seats as we had no A/C in the car and it was very hot. So we stopped and bought a blanket for me so I’d sleep back there on the hot blanket so I didn’t stick to the seat. My mom wore long pants, so it didn’t bother her as much.
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Oh btw,you went 6.5 miles not 6.5 kilometers.BIG difference!
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I know – it sure was and I wanted to clarify it.
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That’s awesome Linda, 6 1/2 miles + Flora + Fauna!!!!
Your right your adventures are a WIN-WIN!!!
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Wonderful post as always
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Thanks Sharon – I was excited about seeing the doe and its fawn – that was a first!
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Wonderful pics, Linda!!
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Thanks Ellie – I am glad you liked them. I finally finished today’s post which was a nice trek at Heritage Park this morning. I love their man-made lake there as it is a magnet for ducks and geese and some surprise visitors today as well.
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