Eisenhower Lock, St. Lawrence Seaway

I had just left the Nature Center (see previous two posts) and was headed south toward home. The area between the Grasse River and the St. Lawrence River (and Seaway) was rife with ponds, streams and marshes (see the Google map, below):

I hadn't expected to take any more pictures, but I couldn't resist. And this was what stopped me and caused me to pull to the side of the road - two displaying male turkeys. They were intent on what they were doing and not much concerned with me:

I got back on the road but was again distracted, this time by the Eisenhower Lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway. I had to drive uphill to get a view of it:

Looking to the west, a large ship appeared to be coming through:

And looking to the east, where two seagulls were squawking at me:

There was a lot of construction going on. It was a busy place, though tourists couldn't get to the active areas:

I was just leaving the Eisenhower Lock when I stopped to photograph this pair of Canada Geese:

Remember I said that I had to drive uphill to get a view of the Eisenhower Lock? The road goes beneath it, though the tunnel seems so short that I had to look it up on a map when I got home:

What I learned when I checked Google Maps was that the Seaway narrows dramatically at the point where they built the Eisenhower Lock. Rather than build a bridge for the road, they built a tunnel:

I thought I was finished with photos when I noticed a small body of water with a blacktopped drive going down to it. There were a number of birds in the water, so I drove down for a better look. As you can see, there were two Canada Geese, two Mallards and a Loon. I was surprised by all the interesting things I saw while driving home from the nature center, but that's all the more reason to return soon:

Around The Farm

Things had been chilly, but spring continued to advance slowly. Blue and Jasmine stood together near the stock tank for this photo. Jasmine was overdue for calving. You can see that she's rather big around the middle. I was checking on her several times a day:

I was out in the south field when I took this photo, looking toward the barn, house and the neighbors' red barn. The brown circles are wasted hay from where the bale feeder was located at one point. I moved it with each new bale:

 Dawn in the pasture, with the sun just breaking over the trees:

 Remy and Jasmine on a windy day:


 The wild Shadbush all burst into bloom on April 29 and continued for several weeks, adding beauty to the woodlands everywhere:

 Shadbush in bloom along the edges of a neighbor's field. Also notice the big puddles in the foreground of the photo. It has been a very wet spring:

 Our spring began in earnest and then it suddenly turned chilly and rainy. In fact, it was so rainy that wild ducks began nesting in corn fields. The Mallard drake was right next to the road but became alarmed when I stopped and rolled down the car window to photograph him:

 I returned to the neighbors' sheep farm to see how their lambing season was going:

 This little cutie was hoping I had a bottle of milk for her. I didn't, and she quickly lost interest in me:

 The lambs in this pen were running and playing, angering the crabby old ram. The ewe in the small pen had tiny, delicate lambs and they were being protected from the hustle and bustle in the big pen:

 I was told that they had about 80 lambs this season. I asked about the red marks and learned that they are simply identification, to help the farmers keep track of who was who:

 Lambs sure are cute. It's always fun to visit them:

Around The Farm In April

The chickens began going outside every day in April. They are hardy little birds who love being outdoors:

And they sure can cover some ground:

The dogs watch them with great interest. After a few near catastrophes, I no longer trust the dogs with the chickens and keep them on opposite sides of the fence:

The pigeons are much less concerned with their freedom and seem to think it's too cold outside most of the time for them to be bothered with going out:

But every once in a while, a few fly up to the top of the barn. That's quite a feat for fantail pigeons, who are not good flyers:

 

And sometimes they walk around on the metal roof of the milk room, their little toenails clicking as if they are tap dancing:

As the weather improved and the days lengthened, everything began looking brighter:

The Tree Sparrows all disappeared, headed for the their nesting sites up north. But these little mystery sparrows returned. I've long suspected they were Song Sparrows but they were elusive and their songs so varied that it was hard to know for sure. Finally I got these two photos and decided that they were indeed Song Sparrows:

We of course had a number of  spring snowfalls:

But the chickens went out anyway, leaving footprints in the snow:

And they headed straight for the bird feeders, where they knew they'd find dropped seeds to eat:

And we seemed to be having lots of rain. I knew for sure it was a wet springtime when I saw these two Mallards, enjoying the water in the middle of a hay field:

From The St. Regis River At Santa Clara To The Farm

We were almost to the farm, the dogs and I, and were on scenic Route 458, the last stretch of road. But the day was uncommonly warm and beautiful so I pulled off the road into the boat launch area for the St. Regis River in the town of Santa Clara. It had been blocked by snow all winter and I was looking forward to some nice views. I parked the car near the water but left the dogs inside: 

There was still a bit of ice left on the St. Regis River but it was leaving rapidly. A few Mallards and Canada Geese floated happily on the surface:

Since this was my first day with a new camera, I tried the 18X zoom lens on the ducks. Not bad, not bad:

The ducks flew away but the geese stayed, unafraid of me, my car or my dogs. We were almost to the farm so I got back in the car and continued on toward home:

Arriving home at the farm, my first sighting of the barn with its not quite finished brown steel siding was exciting:

The barn looked almost like a brand new building. This was major restoration:

The south end with the wind damage, however, had not been touched. I'd have to ask the contractor about that:

Much of the debris from the demolished sheds had been removed, but much remained in unsightly heaps:

The sagging, broken floor joists were temporarily supported and a new wall had been built where the old wall was rotted away:

I was concerned that the contractor might be planning to leave the telescoping posts so I asked him about it when he arrived. They were only temporary, he told me, and the whole area would soon have a laminated cross beam supporting the hay loft floor. But I'd just arrived so had much to do. I'll post more tomorrow:

The Corning Preserve Trail, Part 2

I was hiking on the Corning Preserve Trail which traverses north and south between the western shore of the Hudson River and downtown Albany. I had my four youngest dogs with me and clearly they were having a wonderful time:

The trail was difficult to walk, pock-marked with foot prints which had softened in the sun and then re-frozen. Beneath it all was water which soaked quickly through the shoes I thought were waterproof. So we didn't go far and soon turned back toward the car. But when I saw footprints heading from the trail down through the snow towards the riverbank, I just had to explore. It led us down along a little feeder stream where we could see the downtown railroad bridge in the distance:

The two Papillon puppies, Clover and Daphne, were having a grand time and were light enough to float right over the crusted snow:

For Seamus it was more difficult. He, like me, kept sinking in the snow:

Fergus is perfectly designed as a snow dog. He has a thick, waterproof woolly coat and lots of energy. He and Daphne were great playmates:

Clover insisted on stopping to watch the Mallards. Seamus didn't much care, but I think that Clover would have trekked down there to see them if I'd have let her:

As we got near the parking area, the two pups ran ahead:

The parking area is beneath this elevated highway (Rt 787) and protected from the rain and snow:

The railroad bridge appears to be very old and spans the river between Rensselaer and Albany. Instead of one section raising when a tall ship passes, it pivots and turns sideways. It's quite a sight to see. I walked across this bridge once and found it a bit intimidating with big spaces between the timbers and a much bigger distance down to the water below than you would think looking at this photo:

I put the dogs back in the car and snapped this final photo of some of Albany's buildings nearby. It had been a brief excursion but much needed. I can hardly wait for the snow to melt so that we can get back out into the forests and mountains: