Fall Color

 The view off our back porch this morning:

Southern Maryland isn't really on the list of destinations to see fall color, like, say Sky Line Drive, but it's not that bad, and it's close to home. Our forests have a large number of species with great variation of colors, from brilliant red to yellow, that color at different times. Dogwoods, Black Gum (aka Tupelo) are bright red relatively early along with the yellow Tulip Poplar. Maples, Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam), Pawpaw, Sweet Gum and various Hickory come later, across the spectrum, and Oaks, mostly Black and White, come last in yellow and brown. We have a few trees green all year, American Holly and Mountain Laurel.

Fish Fall Dead In Baltimore Harbor

WBAL TV, Crews collect large amount of dead fish from Baltimore's Inner Harbor

t turns out, it wasn't pollution, but a natural phenomenon that resulted in a massive fish kill Wednesday morning that became an all-you-can-eat buffet for seagulls.

Baltimore City Department of Public Works crews did their best to collect as many dead fish as they could. WBALTV.com observed DPW crews on land and on a boat picking up dead fish from the Inner Harbor near the Maryland Science Center. The stretch of dead fish extended well past the science center.

A passerby told WBALTV.com she walks by the harbor every day and has never seen anything like this.

"It just looks like a really unhealthy situation, especially after we were told that we could swim in this water," said Renee Hammel.

"Just a few months (after) when they said we can swim here, this isn't an indication that our harbor is safe," said Charyl Laird.

Not only was it disgusting, it smelled like death. Well, it was death.

"This is not a result of pollution. This is not because there is some sort of toxin in the water. It's a naturally occurring phenomenon called a thermal inversion," said Adam Lindquist, the manager of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore's Healthy Harbor Initiative.

Lindquist told 11 News the fish kill was due to cold weather overnight that caused the surface water in the harbor to get colder faster than the water at the bottom.

"That colder water is heavier, so they have a tendency to switch places, and that pulls up bacteria from the bottom of the harbor that sucks all the oxygen out of the water. (Then, there's) not enough oxygen for these fish to breathe at the surface," Lindquist explained.

Blue crabs were dying, too, as they couldn't get enough oxygen either. Lindquist told 11 News that as long as the weather pattern continues, there may be more fish kills.

Turnover occurs every year in late summer or early fall. Most of the time, fish feel the water cooling and get out of Baltimore Dodge. This year, they didn't.

Fall is Fell

The autumnal equinox—the September equinox or the fall equinox—arrives on Saturday, September 23. Not only do temperatures drop, but plant life slows down and so do we. 

The fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrives on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 02:50 A.M. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. The equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Meanwhile In The Kitchen up on time and under budget at The Other McCain.

The Annual Leaf Post

One (or more) pops up in the Chesapeake Bay newsfeed every year: USDA, This Fall, Leave the Leaves!

It’s the time of year to do your fall garden cleanup. Rather than the tedious task of raking and bagging leaves and taking them to the landfill, the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves!

Leaves create a natural mulch that helps to suppress weeds while fertilizing the soil as it breaks down. The leaves also serve as a habitat for wildlife including lizards, birds, turtles, frogs, and insects that overwinter in the fallen leaves. These living creatures help keep pests down and increase pollination in your garden, so having a habitat for them in the fallen leaves can help to keep them around when you need them the most.

Micro-organisms are the life of soil, and they need food and nutrients all the time. The more leaves left on your garden, the more feed for these micro-organisms that make soil healthier and plants grow stronger. As the leaves decay, they add organic matter back into the soil, which lessens the need for fertilizer.

You can also include leaves in a compost mix to use on your crops. Mulching is a simple and beneficial practice you can use to create a healthy garden, and if you have trees, you have free mulch at your fingertips each fall. Mulching can protect the soil surface and help stop erosion from rainfall. Mulch also helps to moderate temperature extremes by keeping roots warmer during the winter and cooler in the summer, and helps to keep moisture in the ground, which is especially helpful during times of drought.

You can mulch leaves where they fall, chop them up with your mower, or choose to move the leaves. Leaves work well in between rows of crops or around fruit trees, areas where there is heavy machine or foot traffic, and shaded areas where vegetation doesn’t grow well. They can also be used in between growing seasons rather than leaving the soil bare. The leaves can also be useful in areas that have compacted soil as they help to reduce runoff as well as using their nutrients to create healthier soils.

Mulching leaves is only one way to use sustainable practices in your home garden. For more gardening tips, as well as information about how to participate in USDA’s People’s Garden initiative, check out The People's Garden | USDA.

For what it's worth, I'm a proponent of using the gas powered riding lawn mower to mulch the leaves that fall on the land, and leaving the leaves that fall in the beds until spring. Georgia would rather have the leaves raked.  We have a lot of leaves down now, and a huge number of them came down last night when temperatures dropped and the wind kicked up to 20 kts or so. I see mulching in my future. 

The Wombat has Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: IJN Uranami ready and awaiting your approval.

Fall Is Fell

Fall arrives in the northern hemisphere at 9:04 EDT. Glad to see it, although I can't say I enjoy raking leaves. That won't happen for a few weeks, at least.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Seltin Sweet ready and waiting at The Other McCain.

Every Year

CBF and other groups send out this article: Wait, Don't Rake: Leave Fallen Leaves Where They Fell

It's that time of the year when mornings come with frost and evenings come fast.

For many critters, that means final preparations for coming winter. For many of us, it means hours of yard work battling leaves.

Leaves are often seen as litter. To many people they look messy. So, Americans spend countless hours raking, bagging, blowing, and even burning leaves from their properties.

Leaf blowers may be convenient, low effort tools for moving a lot of leaves fast. But as with using gas-powered landscaping machines, can come at a cost beyond time and money. Blowers are noisy. They can cause hearing loss.

 

The exhaust also pollutes the air and contributes greenhouse gases.

Nature knows better. It knows that when leaves are left to lay on the ground, good things happen.

If you don't want to see a thick carpet of leaves in your yard you can help nature move things along by mulching fallen leaves with your lawn mower.

Fallen leaves form an organic blanket of sorts that protects roots and critters from the pending cold weather. Over time, this blanket is composted by a plethora of microorganisms that the plant roots use as source of natural fertilizer, and pollinator insects use as a food source.

This organic matter also allows more precipitation to soak into the ground, reducing nuisance flooding events and polluted stormwater runoff while recharging groundwater supplies. Scientists estimate that forest floors infiltrate 10 to 15 times more precipitation than do equivalent areas of lawn.

As it travels into the ground, pollutants in precipitation can be filtered out by the soils and broken down by microorganisms. This ground water is the source of potable water for many Pennsylvanians with wells and supplies streams with cool, clean water in the summer dry months.

Leaves also play an important role in supporting diverse and abundant life in local rivers and streams by creating something called watershed "tea." This tea is the microscopic breakdown of leaves and wood, and it's the food source for the good bugs and bacteria in a stream. These bugs support healthy populations of the economically important Eastern brook trout, the iconic Eastern hellbender, our state amphibian, and a large array of other critters.

Pennsylvania has a lot of trees and thus leaves. But we've lost a lot, especially in the places where they're most needed—alongside streams and streets. No other practice is as good at restoring stream health, cleansing the air, and providing wildlife habitat than strategically planted trees. That's why we're working with over 200 partners to plant 10 million trees for Pennsylvania.

Numerous studies have also found the being around and just looking at trees can improve our health. Trees do this by releasing chemicals called phytoncides, which help lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce stress, anxiety, and help with sleep.

So, take a break this fall. Instead of blowing them away, walk among the leaves.

These posts always make me want to go around and check the houses of the guys who put this stuff out, to see if they practice what they preach. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Denise Richards ready and waiting at The Other McCain.

Beach Report 11/7/20

Our fall colors here have just about peaked. Not a brilliant as some places, mostly gold and orange shades, with occasional red. 

Having Japanese Maples is cheating. 

Skye and I were surprised to run into Whitey as we came down the steps at the marina. He retreated to the T-pier. You'd think he'd be pretty blase about us now, and in fact, he'll let me closer if I don't have Skye on the leash with me.

Down on the beach, I was pretty proud when I spotted this fairly ordinary Carcharhinus tooth sitting in the sand.

But then, about 2 minutes later, Georgia found this pretty decent Mako.

But even that didn't hold a candle to this magnificent Mako/Hastalis that someone else found near the water line in a spot I had walked through minutes before. That tooth was fresh and sharp. It would certainly beat our best Mako for the year.

1 crab pot, cheap

I suspect it was lost from this boat, given the yellow paint, but they're about through for the year. How the hell it ended up on the beach is an interesting question, but a few do.

Just enough wind to fill the sails.

But not enough to spoil kayaking

Father and son team make Mt. Doom.

A Perennial Post

Every year, around this time, a similar article comes out from the same crowd. I'm tempted to track down the houses of the principals and find out if they follow their own advice. My guess is they don't, and that their lawn care guys take care of the leaves just like everybody else. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Raking Leaves? Drop the Rake and Stop What You’re Doing

This year save time and energy and leave the rake and leaf blower in the shed.

Yes, you heard that right, 2020 is the year to leave the leaves where they lie. Although people often rake and bag leaves to prevent their lawns from being smothered and to make yards look better, in most cases, you're fine not moving them. In fact, many environmental experts say raking leaves and removing them from your property is not only bad for your lawn but for the environment as a well. 

Instead, use your lawn mower and chop the leaves up. Not only will the leaves provide excellent nitrogen and organic matter that your winter grass will love, it’ll:

• protect root systems;
• preserve soil moisture; and
• the lawn mower will help cut weeds, providing critical light for your grass

Mulching your leaves also helps wildlife. Insects depend on leaf litter in the winter to provide protective habitat and food. Those insects in turn become winter food for other animals like birds. The only reason to pick up the rake this year is to help spread the love of your leaves to other parts of the yard or garden that can use this natural fertilizer. 

Not only does mulching your leaves help your grass and soil, it also helps reduce greenhouse gases and limits waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 8.7 million tons of yard trimmings, which include leaves, went to landfills in 2017, accounting for just over 6 percent of all waste in landfills. These bags of leaves not only take up space, they also can break down with other organic waste to create methane, a potent greenhouse gas which exacerbates climate change.

If you must rake your leaves, check to see if your city or county has a composting program—some programs even give you mulch in return. Try to avoid raking your leaves for pickup into the street. There, they can clog storm drains and make their way into local streams and the Bay, increasing nutrients and leading to algae blooms and dead zones.

So do the Bay a favor and drop that rake!

I keep telling Georgia, and she keeps not believing them. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Dawn Wells up and running.

Fall is Fell

 The Autumnal Equinox occurred at 9:30 on Sept. 21, 2020, ushering in the official start of fall

Where's my leaf blower?

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Elizabeth Taylor ready for your digital enjoyment.

Pumpkin Spice Tuesday

Inspired by this week's series of If All You See… over at Pirate's Cove.

Maitland Ward

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Revolution Calling up and awaiting your digital pleasure.

A Hot Day at the Beach

It was 91 on Oct. 2 when Skye and I headed off to the beach under clear skies.

"I need a cooling break, Dad!"

But signs of fall coming.

Saturday 11/3/18 Fall Beach Report

Fall is well underway here. We're probably at "peak" color, such as it is. Our trees tend to go at different times, with dogwoods, some maples, and gum trees (black and sweet) going early, beeches, poplars and hickories in the middle, and our various oaks last (if ever). This is a Black Gum (Tupelo) just behind the house. It was a wee thing when we built the house thirty or so years ago.

 An American Hophornbeam (also called Ironwood) tree that we moved into the yard from the woods behind the house as a sapling in front of a large Hickory (yellow) behind and a still green maple to the right.

Unfortunately, the price of colored leaves is leaves, and in our case this year, acorns, falling. We're having an incredible year for the production of acorns from our oaks in the front. This represents what fell in 1 day.

We cleaned the deck and driveway yesterday (and the day before)

Acorns accumulated on the low spot at the French drain. It's too bad it's so much trouble to make them edible.

Skye and I set off for the beach right after lunch, and I was lucky to have this Eastern Comma sun itself on the walk down.

A big LNG tanker either approaches or leaves the Dominion Cove Point LNG terminal.

And a Great Blue Heron uses the posing post. He flew off to the north, and actually had to move again several more times as we walked up.

It was cool (55) and breezy (15-20 NNW) after a storm blew through last night, with minor rain and a lot of wind. Fossil collecting was minimal due to high tides, sand, and leaf chunks.

Georgia and Skye head for the car.

Driving From Fall to Winter

Crossing the Appalachian mountains from Canonsburg to Slower Maryland, the seasons changed from  early fall to winter: