November 14, 2025

Fall Work in the Park

There are many jobs that need to be done before snow arrives at the hills and prairies of Fort Ridgely. Staff have been busy mowing down prairie grass and flowers for sliding hills. Also, the three year rotation of where to burn prairie was carried out in another part of the park. Fallen trees have been cut up by staff for firewood. There are people repairing the roof of the upper picnic shelter. Nancy and Steve Engel came down from the Twin Cities to help us clean bluebird houses and take down some old houses that were used mainly by wrens rather than bluebirds on September 27.

The kids sliding hill is all ready after being mowed with a path from the chalet parking lot. We just need some snow!

The big and steeper sliding hill is mowed in the background below the chalet. The hillside where this picture was taken had undesirable plants and trees cut to make it a more authentic prairie.

Prairie burn in area between the historical site and the upper parking lot and picnic area.

Prairie burn below the hill next to highway 5. This picture was taken on the hiking and horse path that runs parallel to highway 5.

On a recent visit to Flandrau State Park in New Ulm we noticed that they had done similar burns of areas of prairie

Another area burned in Flandrau

A pile of firewood cut up by staff and not stored inside yet.

Workers replacing the roof on the upper campground building.

The hard work of the staff around the park is contrasted with the neglect by the Minnesota Historical Society of their part of the park. They decided not to renew the contract with Fort Ridgely to mow the area they own around the museum and all the ruins of the fort. Staff would gladly mow it but cannot legally go in without permission from MNHS. Anybody have any contacts with MNHS to find out what is happening and find out if there is anything we could do to mow it.

Grass is very long and many weeds are coming up in the area around the fort ruins due to it not being mowed.

Another view of the part of the park owned by the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS).

Another indication of neglect is this sign near the museum. It definitely needs to be redone!

Shortwave radio in Fort Ridgely

October 26 was the second time we have met a shortwave radio person broadcasting and receiving at Fort Ridgely. The last time was a couple years ago. We were told both times that this was a state and national program for shortwave (ham) operators to get out to parks and communicate with each other from state and national parks. The fellow pictured below told me what the program was called but I did not write it down so forgot. Today I looked it up online and I think the program is is called Parks on the Air (POTA). Many ham operators have mobile units like this fellow and can set up anywhere like a picnic table in the upper picnic area. WHile sitting there talking to him and watching him trying to communicate with other ham operators in parks I took a few pictures of lichens and bugs on the table.

Ham radio operator with his gear on a picnic table trying to communicate with other shortwave transmissions

He was part of the program called Parks on the Air (POTA)

Fall Nature at Fort Ridgely

This bug had the interesting name of insidious flower bug. It was on the picnic table

This strange bug is a tree hopper. Notice there was lichens on the wood of the picnic table.

This photo shows how thick the lichens on the picnic table was in certain parts. There were several different colors and types of lichens.

Ever-present Asian beetles were bugging us as we sat there.

There were still pretty leaves on some trees, but peak colors were definitely passed.

There was still this orange sulfur butterfly flitting around.

Here are two pictures of the chalet from airplane hill that I took with my telephoto lens. It was still pretty but many trees had lost their leaves.

We missed peak colors in Minnesota because we drove to Asheville, North Carolina for our younger daughter Britta's wedding. It was at a beautiful camp with a lake that was warm enough for many of the younger folks to go swimming. We were in charge of the photo booth where there were lots of props for people to put on for their photo. We had a small photo printer that we used to print them off and each family or group of friends were to put their picture in an album and write something to the couple.

Driving through the Appalachian Mountains close to Asheville, NC. The trees were at peak color there.

Mist on the lake at sunrise outside the building where we had most activities at the wedding.

Britta and Jeffrey taken by the professional photographer.

Our other daughter Beth, her husband Justin and our granddaughter Sophia at the photo booth.

Walk in the woods

On November 7, I went for a walk in the woods of Fort Ridgely and had some cool encounters with some unique things in nature. Walking on the woods trail north from the chalet and parallel to the prairie trail I saw a deer laying down trying not to be seen. She got up before I got my camera ready but was curious enough to look at me so I could take her picture (see below). She was no more than 30 feet away, so I didn't need to zoom to get the picture. Shortly after that I got to the trail that comes down from the Fort. As I walked toward the prairie to head down to the campgrounds, I heard a bird song that I had never heard before. I got out my phone and had the Merlin Bird app listen to it to identify its species. Much to my surprise it was identified as a merlin, which in addition to being the name of the app is a falcon seldomly found in this area. When I saw the bird that was making the sound, I zoomed as far as I could to the tree top it was in across the prairie and took its picture. When I got home I cropped the picture and submitted it to iNaturalist to see if it was a merlin for sure. As you can see, the picture is not clear but several people on this site verified that it was a merlin.

I continued down to the campground and crossed the creek at the bridge there. I stayed down by the creek on the other side heading south and past the narrow spot where we are cautioned not to go. There was no path any more there, so I found deer trails and made my own path. I was surprised to see some fresh healthy mushrooms on a tree stump. It has been so dry lately and most mushrooms dry up for the winter. Later they were identified by iNaturalist as velvet foot. I guess they are edible and other names for them are lily mushroom, seafood mushroom and winter mushroom. I guess the last name gives away why they are still fresh.

Lichens are visible all winter and easily seen on decaying trees, on rocks, on metal and even the ground. Their colors make them very visible, especially when snow flies.

Curious and somewhat trusting deer

Merlin, a small raptor in the falcon family, probably migrating south.

Velvet foot mushrooms on a decaying tree stump.

Also called lily, seafood and winter mushroom

Eastern speckled shield lichen

Common greenshield lichen

Huge flock of geese flying over the park

Left side of the previous pictured goose flock

Flower called hairy rocket blooming in November

Cardinal eating some kind of berry

Kids in the park

Another of my things to do in retirement is teaching Lego Robotics through GFW Community Education to elementary and middle school students. I also coach a middle school First Lego League Challenge team in the fall and an elementary First Lego League Explore team in the winter. Each year there is a different theme for the teams to explore in addition to programming Lego robots to carry out missions on a 4'x8' field. This year the theme was archaeology. We are exploring what natural paints were used by people through history before synthetic paints were developed. Last Saturday I took the team on a field trip to Fort Ridgely to find soft colored rocks along the creek that we could crush, sift and mix with oil to make paints. It was a fun field trip and after doing our work we hiked and explored the archaeological site of the fort area itself. Here are a few pictures of what we did.

Looking for soft colored rocks by Fort Ridgely Creek

Testing rocks to see if they leave a colored streak when scratched on a large hard rock

Crushing rocks with a hammer and mortar and pestle, sieving to a powder and putting in bags to later make into paint.

Students by the museum. From left to right- Mitchell Templin, Maya Ramsley, Bethany Krueger, me, Christian and Jonathan Hallo. Boden Schwecke was sick and not on the field trip

Glorious skies

Sunrises and sunsets have often been stunning this fall. Becky and I take pictures of them to enjoy them later and share with friends. The full moon recently was called a beaver super moon. I guess it was closer than it will be to earth for the nest 10 years. That is why it was so big and bright.

Sunset just as we came into Fairfax on highway 19 on November 2

Sunrise taken from our house toward highway 4 on November 11

Beaver super full moon over our house on November 5. The white spot on our house is a mystery. Probably a reflection or quirk of my camera.

Becky's picture on the same night.

Last night (November 11) Becky and I drove south of Fairfax to the first county road going east-west. We wanted to get out of town, away from as much city light as possible, to get the best view of the northern lights (aurora borealis). It turned out to be the most spectacular ones I have ever seen. The whole sky was covered with their red and green splendor. To the naked eye they looked like thin clouds with tinges of color. The cameras on my iPhone 16 Pro and Becky's iPhone 15 were able to bring in much more light and could see the colors more clearly. The first pictures below were taken in early evening and were not just in the northern sky. Later in the night, when nature called, I went out on our deck and took a few more pictures. It is supposed to be at least as good tonight if it is not cloudy and I may include a few more pictures. With permission from her I am also including a few of Lisa Rau's pictures of the northern lights also. She is from Hector and took the pictures in the area around her city. She works for the Renville County Register newspaper.