A walk about town (with pictures)

I went into town to pick up Kubota at school but he had an essay he was wordsmithing.  So I took the opportunity to walk around town and take pictures.

State Street bridge looking upriver toward Onondaga.

Worry not.  We are prepared if those rascals from Ingham County attempt to invade us.  Eaton Rapids is flooded when the water reaches the muzzle of the cannon on Island Park.  Folks can canoe down Main Street when the cannon is completely submerged.

Also seen on Island Park.  A pleasant surprise for February 1.

Still waters run deep....and that is where the fish are.  Most fish will loaf where fast water sheets into deeper water.  They let the current bring the food to them.  One way to find that transition is to note where open water transitions to ice.  Open water = current.  Ice = still water.

Current flows left-to-right in this photo.  I will be in great shape as long as the red car does not move in the next six months.

Some young buck feeling his oats.  This was on school property.  They will probably write him up if anybody saw him.

Hmmm.  Slap fights and hair pulling.....probably hair from a doe.

This was a surprise.  Everything about the bush, the posture, branching, buds.....suggested "willow".  But I have never seen a willow with hairy twigs.  They were not prickly.    Just hairy.  I will go back after this leafs out and see if it really is a willow.  These hairs look enough like the aerial roots on Poison Ivy to give me the heebie-jeebies.

This is what Wintergreen looks like.

A close up

Even closer.

Lowbush Blueberries

Highbush Blueberries

More Highbush Blueberries.  Many of the most interesting plants like Wintergreen and Blueberries cannot compete well in highly fertile soil.  You will find them growing on sand and gravel.

Three Sassafras trees by the entrance to the Calvary Lutheran Church on Plains Road.  They have beautiful fall color.

Another mystery plant to key out.  Stalks are eight feet tall, approximately thirty to the crown.

Stalks are square and approximately 1/2 on a side.  I thought it was Compass Plant but none of my sources comment on the extreme squareness of the stems.    Added later:  Here we go, Cup Plant

Grass moguls.  These just looked interesting.