Wildflower Walk

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 If you haven't had a chance to get over to Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, there is still time to do it before summer is over.  I did that this past Friday and there were plenty of flowers still in bloom.  It is a little gem of a place located within the larger Theodore Wirth Park.

Half the fun of going to the gardens is walking to the gardens.  Starting with my Car2Go vehicle, I parked at the north end of Lake of the Isles. I left the car in front of the house with all the pink flamingos.  Don't have to come back for the car.  Someone else who needs it will drive it away.  There were a lot of plants still blooming along the shoreline.

From Lake of the Isles, you can cut through a neighborhood to get to the east side of Cedar Lake. Out of all the lakes on the Chain of Lakes, I like Cedar the best because it is so wooded.  I have to get back over here for a swim. At some point in it's early history Minneapolis bought up most of the shoreline of the five lakes that make up the Chain of Lakes, guaranteeing that everyone has access.

There were Pale Touch Me Nots in the woods.

  At the top of Cedar Lake, you can cut across the railroad tracks to Brownie Lake.  The train sitting there had the tallest cars I've ever seen.  It pulled away as I was looking for graffiti.

I had never walked along the west side of Brownie Lake and the trail is quite nice.  I think this lake must be the smallest in the Chain of Lakes.  I saw joggers go around three times while I ate my sandwich in the shade.

There was a patch of American Bellflowers along the trail and I was able to identify them on the https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info when I got back home.

There were quite a few Evening Primrose at the water's edge.

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At the top of Brownie Lake was some Sneezeweed.  Again, I was able to identify this one when I got home because it so unique looking.  That is not always the case with yellow sunflower-looking flowers and telling one from the next is tricky.

One thing I learned from the wildflower website is to start looking at the back side of the flower and take better photos of the leaves.  This is a Smooth Oxeye.  The website will let you do an advanced search if you can just describe a few details.

You have to cross the highway to get over to Theodore Wirth Park.  The wildflower gardens are just a short walk north.

There is a naturalist on site and plenty of signs and books to help you decipher what you see in the gardens.  This is a Groundnut plant and if I remember correctly one could cook up the tubers like potatoes.

 Continuing north from the garden, we decided to walk further and see what the woods along the west side of Theodore Wirth Lake look like.  New territory.  Nice trail.

Eventually after another mile or so you end up at the Chalet.  You could have a cold and overpriced beverage here if you were so inclined.  Otherwise, the #7 bus picks up here every 30 minutes and goes back into downtown. 

This and That

On my morning walk today I saw this nice blue canoe sitting on the beach just north of the Hennepin Bridge.  It had all that one might need to make an overnight paddle down the river.  Don't know where the owner was.  Hopefully they won't be gone too long.  This is downtown after all.  A couple of weeks back I talked to a woman (and her grandson I think) who were paddling from Saint Cloud to somewhere beyond St. Paul.  They were getting ready to portage their red canoe down past Mill Ruins Park to the Lower St. Anthony Lock and Dam.  She told me that the river looked generally clean and I was happy to hear that.  She complained a little about the lack of port-a-potties in the downtown area so I gave a few suggestions.  There were some interesting boats in Bassett Creek this past week.  A guy with two kayaks strapped together with a lawn chair and powered with a small motor was amusing.  I think he had a beer cooler next to him.  His friends were in a similar styled rig only made with canoes.  They asked if I would care to buy a boat but I declined.  Soon I will be able to rent my own kayak on the Mississippi just north of downtown and paddle back into downtown courtesy of the National Park Service. 

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2016/08/01/kayak-rental-minneapolis-mississippi-river.html

 Down by the Lower Lock and Dam the shore looked like this a few weeks ago.  I cleaned up what I could but some of it was just out of reach.  I did find out that this property is technically US government land.  I had been wondering if this was part of Park and Rec property or the city or what.  Partly running through Minneapolis is 72 miles of shoreline that is a partnership park called the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. It is a partnership of land owned by the US government, the city, the county, the state, and privately owned.  Most of it is nice, especially the gorge area, but the downtown stretch does get mucked up.

There was a guy doing his laundry in the river about a week ago.  It did make me wonder about where a person who is living outside could take care of cleaning their stuff.  I know House of Charity provides a free shower for people, but maybe they could also provide laundry services??? It does make one feel grateful for having access to a washer and dryer.

There was a bike in the weeds on the shore that someone had stripped down. I took the rest up to the trash. By the way, that nice pink quilt that I wrote about was gone the next day.  Hopefully it is back to its owner or maybe a new owner and not in the trash.

Further north of downtown I found this mess that needed cleaning.  I still need to finish this area up.  There is a lot of small styrofoam bits mixed in with the bigger stuff. 

And finally, I treated myself to a Kona Ice this month.  There was more than one day in August that was so hot!! This was so good and it got me back home!

Bassett Creek Bottles

A few days ago I was picking up trash north of the Plymouth Bridge.  On my way home I crossed one of the bridges at Bassett Creek.  A group of kayakers were heading into the creek towards the conduit opening. As I watched them I realized that a tree was covering the entrance.  I walked over to have a closer look.

Just another storm and another downed tree in the park, but this one will be a little more difficult to clean up.

The root ball of that tree was sticking up and I could see glass shining in the hole that was created.  Years ago the creek was used as a place to dump trash so it's no surprise that there is junk down there.  The tree had just been growing on top of it all.

Most of what was visible was broken, but there were a few intact glass bottles just laying there.

I took the unbroken ones home and cleaned them up.  The taller bottle (5.5 inches) is an old Listerine bottle (Lambert Pharmacal Company) probably from the 1920's or 30's or so some folks on ebay say.  The wide short bottle in the back says Carter's 723 on the bottom and would have been an ink bottle.  The tiny cobalt bottle says Emerson Drug Company Baltimore and would have contained a headache (hangover) remedy of bromo seltzer.  The last bottle on the left says Devoe Raynolds Company 2oz and most likely contained paint.  Well, it's not worth much but it was fun to find it.

By the way, the real treasure right now in the creek is all the Jewelweed (Spotted Touch Me Nots) that are blooming along the trail.

What's this blog about anyway?

I've been blogging about picking up trash now for about 15 months.  Seriously, I never thought it would hold my attention for this long.  The blogger site allows me to see how many folks look at each of my posts and what country viewers come from.  Although most people reading my blog are from the USA, about 25% are from other places around the world.  How do they find this site or is it mostly by accident?  When I started this blog it took me about 30 seconds to decide on the name Trash Talk, not really considering that someone might be looking for porn or sports.  So if you're looking for porn or sports talk I probably haven't said much about those topics.  I will tell you that I occasionally pick up used condoms in the park (usually with a stick and gloves of course).  In fact, I picked up one yesterday by a park bench.  There was another one on the bridge today as I was walking across the river to attend the Polish Festival.  I didn't pick that one up.  Really, on the bridge people?  So back to my real topic about litter....and that quilt.  I was out yesterday walking to my usual places along the river.  I found this patchwork quilt.  It was wet and dirty and all balled up under some brush near Middle Beach.  I picked up the litter around the quilt and then shook the thing out and layed it flat to dry. I thought about that quilt and wondered about the story that brought it here.   Most likely it involves someone (she) who didn't expect to find herself suddenly homeless and spending the night down by the river.  But there is also someone who fashioned that quilt with not a lot of fancy needle work but with love and caring nonetheless.  I left it there to dry and maybe someone will come back to claim it.  It just needs a good cleaning.

In Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources Adopt a River program requests us volunteers to estimate by weight what we have picked up during the year so they can combine it with all volunteer's efforts.  I take a picture of almost everything I pickup because it gives me a visual record and makes it easier to make a wild ass guess at the end of the year. At First Bridge Park yesterday there was leftover fishing litter as well as stuff from folks sleeping out.

Over at Middle Beach there was lots of trash that had washed up from all the rains we have had.  Who is splitting wood down there at the beach?  Several months ago, probably on a rainy, cold spring day, I got the idea that I would return some of my trash finds back to the wild in the form of trash mobiles.  Were some folks amused (I hope) or am I just another litterer. There were five of them and I think most of them have disappeared now.  Bye Bye.  It was fun.

I walked as far as the beach on the north side of Bassett Creek.  I barely got started there before I was out of bags.  One thing I have come to know about people who litter along the Mississippi River is that they prefer crappy beer. 

So, Trash Talk isn't just about picking up crap, it is also about finding and learning about what is out there in nature.  This is fast becoming my favorite part of this whole thing.  I came across this little blue flower yesterday along Bassett Creek.  Fairly tiny and low growing, I saw this by the bridge that goes over the creek on the north side.  According to the Minnesota Wildflower site I've been using, I am fairly certain it is a Dayflower. 

Growing next to the Dayflowers was also a patch of Bur Cucumber Vines. I don't have a fancy camera and it has been a learning experience trying to figure out what I can do with the camera that I have. I have learned that white flowers are really hard to photograph.  Sitting in the dirt trying to get a picture of this flower must have looked odd to the bikers and runners who passed me by on the trail.  Hey, I just mentioned sports!

I have to say that I got some of my inspiration for this blog from something I saw on the internet a couple years ago about a guy who picked up trash on his way to work somewhere in Denmark or maybe Finland.  Anyway, I suspect that we people around the world all have the same problem with just too much garbage everywhere. 

July, you have been a difficult month

July, you have been a difficult month.  You have crapped up some of my favorite paths.  This one goes down to Middle Beach and I like to go there often. I can get under that tree branch, but I don't look or feel that graceful crawling under that mess.

 Some of the shoreline that I would normally cleanup is underwater.

Some new debris has drifted in.  This area probably won't be accessible anytime soon.

You've made a mess for Park and Rec.  With all the rain, it looks like a jungle.

 These steps are going nowhere right now.

On a hike in the gorge area it was the same thing. Some paths are underwater.

This might be Yellow Loosestrife.  If I could just get closer to identify it.

Rain, humidity and heat is what we've had for most of July. I was out one evening and saw three separate islands of trash and tree branches floating downstream. They were moving at a normal walking pace so I followed.  I didn't have my camera.  Why didn't I take my camera!! The first island flew off the falls in a spectacular fashion.  The second rammed into the yellow barge bumpers, cracking the wood and breaking it up until it too crashed mostly off the falls.  The third island of trash seemed to drift into the lock and just stall there. Last night, the weather seemed cooler after another afternoon rain.  Dare I say almost chilly. So this morning I walked down to the Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam for a morning tour.  I really wanted to ask them some questions and see what happened to all that trash and tree debris.

The federal government closed the lock and dam to barge traffic last year to prevent the spread of invasive carp from getting into the lakes above the falls and harming our preferred fish like walleye and bass.  The National Park Service has now taken over the visitor center at the lock and dam and gives tours 3 times a day.  You can get the whole scoop on how the water power of the falls helped create the flour milling industry in Minneapolis.  Today Minneapolis has plans to turn this area into a park that sounds too awesome to be true, but I will have to stick around downtown for 7 years to see it be completed.
                                     http://mplsparksfoundation.org/projects/water-works/

The park ranger reminded us that don't even think about rafting over those falls.

Up top on the lock some trash has certainly accumulated.

The Army Corp of Engineers comes in once a week to flush out the trash and send it downstream.  This stuff will probably end up in Hastings.  Couldn't someone scoop it out at this point instead?

A lot of tree debris that the rain brought downstream is now hung up on the concrete apron that surrounds the falls.  I wonder if workers will attempt to remove some of that debris.  In any case the Cormorants that were hanging out there seemed to be enjoying it.

River Rats and Bumble Bees

It's almost 2 miles from the Hennepin Bridge in downtown Minneapolis to the Broadway Bridge. I've been walking that route a few times each week in the last month.  The Twin Cities River Rats waterski group put out their rafts a few weeks ago. They give shows up there on Thursday nights during the summer months.  Maybe I'll go up there next week to watch it.

 
So I was up there a few weeks ago and it looked pretty bad.  My goal was to walk this stretch and see what I could accomplish before the 4th of July weekend.

Of course first I usually have to check on the beach that is closest to home.  This was blooming by the water.  Have not been able to identify it on the Minnesota wildflowers website.

Yesterday there was a lot of broken glass all over the concrete sitting area across from the Federal Reserve Bank building.  More than I had ever seen before.  Party the night before I guess.  A couple of folks were organizing a kayak tour and had all their boats laid out waiting for the people to arrive.  That's a nasty way for things to look when your business is getting people out on the river.

On another day, just north of Bassett Creek I checked in on Fisherman's Point and collected a bag of stuff.  There was a pair of sunglasses (my second pair in a week) plus a full bottle of spray paint and some batteries.  I think I have found about 8 pairs of glasses in the past year.

At the top of the stairs going down to Fisherman's Point was this little wildflower.  I think this is a Creeping Bellflower and unfortunately it is considered to be an invasive species and hard to get rid of once it is established.

This is a baby diaper I found along the shore.  It takes 450 years for that to decompose in a land fill. I know that because I won a prize for knowing the answer to that at a training at Snelling State Park.  Who doesn't love prizes!

I found three pieces of Styrofoam laying in this patch of Crown Vetch.  I took it but later after looking at this photo realized that someone was probably using this as a place to sleep.  Sorry. Crown Vetch is a plant that is everywhere.  Take a look at the roadways next time you are out driving around the Twin Cities. It is an invasive species that spreads and turns everything into a monoculture. There is a group that is working with the park service to remove this stuff from Mill Ruins Park. They meet every other Saturday in the morning.



Crown Vetch has not taken over everything on "The Stretch" and there are plenty of other wildflowers in bloom.  These are Grey Headed Coneflowers.

These are some interesting little guys: Purple Prairie Clover.

There were bees all over these plants, Wild Bergamot or Bee Balm.

I saw more than one variety of bee on my walk yesterday.  The giant Bumble Bees were loving these thistles.  I have been following a local nonprofit group on Facebook called Neighbors for a Pesticide Free Minneapolis.  They have some very informative articles on getting our city free from pesticides, pollinator health, etc.



The kayak group finally caught up with me up river.

I rolled that tire up to one of the Park and Rec trash cans.  Hello little dolly, goodbye dolly.

Located one ski from last week's water ski show!  I left it there in the weeds for them to find.  Hint: it's just south of the little blue stairs.

Last bag of the day.  Time to walk home.  Taking that little blue hand home with me.