Chilly and dry

While we have had mostly sunny weather, there's been just enough rain here and there to keep the fire danger LOW (we do check, and know that the sign hasn't changed in months!). Not having a rainy fall thus far, though, means that we do not have a Cascade so much as a pile of rocks. It's lovely to walk through the woods in the fall; just don't expect a waterfall right now!

At 9 am, it is 51.5 degrees and rising. (That's a ten degree rise since dawn.)
The humidity is at 94% and steady (thus, the fire danger continues LOW).
The barometer is at 29.32 inches of mercury and steady, under clear blue skies.

Yesterday traditionally was celebrated as the feast of Michaelmas, recognized as when you'd really want to buckle down and get ready for the winter. We've seen our birch and beech trees start to turn yellow; most of our maples haven't done much more than start their color change yet. The squirrels and chipmunks have picked up their tempo. The woodland aster is well in bloom and starting to fade. Our apple tree has been busy for weeks (green very tart apples).
Enjoy the fall!

Heading into fall

The fire danger remains low and the brook is still running, as it's starting to get chillier at night and stay cooler during the day. Currently, the brook is running at about 2 inches.
The squirrels and chipmunks have been busy here lately, as the shagbark hickory nuts are ripening. You can sit outside and hear what sounds like rain, as the squirrels high up in the trees shell the nuts.
At 9:30 am, it is 72 degrees and rising under clear blue skies.
The barometer is 29.21 and steady.

And I have a squirrel scolding me through the window as I post this!


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Note that this weekend marks the start of our fall festival season: please look for us at Worcester's Canalfest, which you might have seen covered in yesterday's paper.
And be sure to check out the video!

Heading into fall

It's clear that we're heading into fall here, as the fire danger has been bouncing up and down this week, even without much rain. The dews are heavier overnight, and the days are not as dry. We've now put the fire danger for today back down to LOW.
The barometer is currently reading 29.35 inches of mercury and steady under somewhat overcast skies. We aren't expecting any rain.
The wood aster are in bloom now (those are the white small star flowers you'll see under trees). They are a native New Englander, so see them and be glad!
At 11:30, it has just hit 70 degrees here with a breeze of about 6 mph.

We're expecting a troop of Clark students through here today. As part of their Outing Club's annual fall start, they run shuttles full of students up to the Cascades Parkland to show them that Worcester is not just urban; it's also full of woodland and open space!

Warm and dry

We're into week two without rain here, so the stream is drying up. It's still much cooler under the trees than it is elsewhere in the city, though. At ten am, it is just now getting to 75 degrees and steady.
We've got a bit of a breeze here, as well.
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.

We had a large group of people here yesterday for the every-other-Thursday work project, including a group from the Worcester Public Schools. Much sign routing, painting, staining, and log shaping going on well into the afternoon. You'll be seeing the fruits of that labor going up at various properties as we head into the fall!

The logging work at Cascades West is now completed (and if you didn't see the T&G report on this, check it out), and the new route of the Meadow Ridge trail is open for hiking. We've gotten some good reports on it already! We'll be watching the newly cleared space this summer as it starts to come back with grasses and bushes, much better and more mixed habitat for all that lives here.

Mailbox being reclaimed by the forest

We have an enthusiastic grapevine trying to take over the mailbox.

I also realized today that we have chipmunks living under the front steps. Periodically, one stops on the porch and squeaks at us.

Warmer!

We have daffodils working their way up through the leaves down by the sign, and a high of the mid-fifties is forecasted today!
If you've got a hankering to do some outside work, come by: we're out doing work on signs until 11:30 today.
At nine am, it is 38.7 degrees and rising under sunny skies.
52% humidity
The barometer is at 29.44 inches of mercury and steady.
The stream is 5.6 inches and burbling merrily along.

Woodland Asters in bloom

Prior to the rain, we were a bit concerned about the woodland asters all over the property. They were drooping badly.
Well, the rain of the last week was plenty, and by a few days in, they'd not only perked up, they were blooming.

Nice one!

We had PLENTY of rain last night, which has made today quite nice! Here, we had 1.02 inches before midnight and an added 0.12 after. While this hasn't gotten the Cascades going, it did give everything a good drink, which means that the wood asters, which were droopy, have perked up and everything's much fresher. Expect the trails to be damp today.
At 11 am, it is 67.6 degrees and rising.
53% humidity and falling
29.32 inches of mercury and steady
The fire danger remains LOW.

Roses

Apple tree in bloom

Lovely

It's another lovely day: the daffodils are up, the hyacinths are blooming, and under the trees, the trout lilies are starting to come up!
At 10 am it is 60 degrees and rising
Sunny skies
The barometer stands at 29.44 inches and steady
Clear blue skies

Green everywhere!

Suddenly the woods aren't looking nearly so brown. While most of the trees are not yet budding, the bloodwort and lots of other sorts of groundcover are popping up!

Hat tip to the fun albino robin spotting in Athol!

The stream is down to 5.2 inches.
The fire danger remains HIGH (VERY HIGH to our north).
At 9:30 am, it is 60 degrees
Overcast right now with the barometer at 29.15
The Cascades are still running, but they have slowed down considerably.

Heads up!

It is NUT season in the forest (insert your own hiker joke here), so heads up! If you here something coming down fast through the trees, you're probably under a hickory nut tree and one has just broken loose. Heads up! They hurt if they hit you!
If, on the other hand, you hear more of a pattering noise (like rain), you're under a squirrel who is unshelling a hickory nut. Little pieces come pelting down through the leaves as the squirrel has a snack. Good fun!

At nine am, it is 68 degrees under cloudy skies.
29.41 inches of mercury (rain and possible thunderstorms moving in)
The stream is still at 1/2 inch

Lovely week

And the nice weather continues: cool in the morning, warming up as the day goes along.
The stream is consequently down to 2.2 inches today
At 9 am, it was 62.6 degrees and rising
94% humidity and falling (not yet cool enough for the fog off the pond; we'll get there soon)
29.44 inches of mercury under clear blue skies

All those white flowers you see in the forest now are woodland aster (a native wildflower!). The ones around here are fall-blooming.

Identifying all that green stuff

Courtesy of Martha Gach from Mass Audubon comes this poem on identifying the green stuff in meadows:
Sedges have edges
Rushes are round
Grasses have joints
all the way to the ground

The three things that grow in meadows are sedges, rushes, and grasses.

At 8 am, it is 58.1 degrees and steady
67% humidity and steady
29.94 inches of mercury
The stream is WAY down to 1.8 inches
57 degrees and steady in the water

Honey Locusts in bloom

If you head up the Cascades trail from Olean Street, you'll smell something sweet in bloom.
You can't see them, but, high up in the canopy, the honey locusts are in bloom.
Lovely.
(You can also see them on some downtown Worcester streets, as Worcester has planted them as street trees in some neighborhoods.)

Raining

After a long day's work (they didn't come back until nearly dark), the SCA gang slept well in their tents and were out for another day's trail clearing before 8:30 this morning!
At 9 am, it is 52 degrees and steady
85% humidity and just starting to rain.
As of 9, we had not gotten enough rain to measure. At 2pm, we've gotten 0.08 inches.
The stream remains at 4.4 inches.
Barometer is at 30.12 and steady.
The current storm is moving offshore.

We've had an enormous amount of leaves come out over the past few days. The forest is really filling in!
Yesterday afternoon, we planted two forsythia bushes, one red maple (I know, I know! but it came free from the Arbor Day Foundation!), and ten mountain laurel. The laurel is down by the street. We're hopeful!

Trout Lily in Bloom

Spring is moving on here at Cascading Waters, and the trout lilies (above, from the north side of the stream, taken this morning) are now in bloom. They're easy to spot this time of year, with the bright yellow flowers standing out against the dry leaves of last year. The rest of the year, you can find them by the mottled leaves that give them their name.
The bloodwort have largely stopped blooming now and have only their shamrock-shaped leaves out.

And now it's spring...

Yes, we finally got around to changing the top photo. The pansies went in earlier this week!

Flowers in bloom

There's quite a number of flowers in bloom out there now. In addition to the woodland aster (white, look like miniature daisies), there's also blue-stemmed goldenrod (the yellow flowers mentioned last week), bachelor's button (there's some right now by the sign), and late purple aster (which look a lot like their sisters, the woodland asters, only, yes, purple).

You'll find many of these links go to the Brandeis "Wildflowers of New England" site, which is a great place to start a search for a name.