Settling Into Summer

The pigeons are thriving and seem happy. One old timer passed away peacefully, presumably from old age, but a baby was fledged and took his or her place. I still have 27 birds:

But then two new babies hatched. They often don't live, so I watched for a couple of days and everything seemed fine:

I didn't handle them, but I did get a closeup:

And I also got a short video of one of the parents feeding them:


There is a section between the road and "lawn" (I use quotes because it's not much of a lawn, though it is mowed) is a strip of wildflowers, including these Deptford Pinks and Oxeye Daisies:

And Common Mullein. I used to call this Moth Mullein, but learned that I was wrong: This plant grows tall and I've been told that some Native Americans considered it to have spiritual power. I've come across these majestic plants at night, lit by a full moon, and agreed with that idea:

And Common St. Johnswort. I've read that if you break a stem on August 29, the day of St. John's beheading, the sap will be red like blood. I tried it once, years ago, with questionable results - it sort of worked and sort of didn't. I hope to remember to try again this year:


The little rock garden was suddenly filled with yellow Asiatic Lilies and Blue Sea Holly:

I've been waiting for the Blue Sea Holly to actually turn blue, and it's finally begun to show some blue color:

The flowers are supposed to be bigger, though, so I'll keep watching them develop:

St. Regis River Access Plants - Part 1

I decided to take the dogs for a quick hike at the St. Regis River boat launch site in Santa Clara, NY. It's a short, easy hike and I can count on finding lots of spectacularly colored Cardinal Flowers at this time of year. To my surprise, there were so many wildflowers in bloom that I came home with a camera full of photos. So I've separated the dog pictures from the plant pictures. The beginning of the hike featured lots of Goldenrod:

And lots of Common Milkweed:

And, like most waste places, lots of Spotted Knapweed:

The sandy soil also supported Reindeer Lichen and Wild Strawberries. Those red spots you see behind the strawberry plants were not berries, but red leaves:

Tree Club Moss (Princess Pine). At least I think that's what kind it was:

There was lots of Meadowsweet growing everywhere at the dry, sandy beginning of the hike:

And Meadowsweet also grew along the riverbank, where the soil was probably richer and moister:

Black-Eyed Susans abounded but I somehow only got this one photo. It was next to a Scotch Pine:

Common St. Johnswort, like some of the other wildflowers, seems to be everywhere right now. It must be a good year for it:

The Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana, was producing fruit but I didn't taste it. I probably should have:

More Chokecherry. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Brasher Falls-Helena Road, A Driving Tour

I turned onto County Route 53, which runs from the hamlet of Helena to the hamlet of Brasher Falls, deciding to take a driving photo tour. I'd reached Brasher Center when I saw these two small barns/sheds, and stopped for a photo:

And not too far behind the two sheds in the above photo was this handsome, two-toned barn. Did they never finish painting it or was it owned by two family members who each took half? I guess I'll never know:

A shingled barn in the old, traditional green color:

And an unpainted barn, supporting lots of dormant vines, sitting right up close to the road:

A striking barn with the tallest sliding door I've ever seen. I couldn't help but wonder what was stored inside which required such a tall door:

Twin silos, barns, tractor, pickup truck and an old John Deere tractor:

I stopped at this vegetable stand which still had a sign which advertised last season's sweet corn prices. Last year it sold for $4.00 per dozen:

This looked like a horse barn to me, but I didn't see any horses:

A very old barn which seemed to be sagging in the general direction of the slanted ground upon which it had been built:

A former dairy barn, apparently not now in active service:

As I approached the settlement of Brasher Falls, the road paralleled the St. Regis River. Because of the melting snow, it was swollen and overflowing its banks, covering the adjacent hay fields:

I did notice that the other side of the river didn't appear to be flooding, and I'll bet the owners of this waterfront home were grateful for that. But I was passing out of farm country and into the settlement of Brasher Falls, so I put my camera away and concentrated on getting home:

The Fort Jackson Town Park - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking in the forest and exploring the shoreline of the St. Regis River in the Fort Jackson town park (see Part 1, yesterday):

The trail was peaceful and cool in the shade. It was quite hot out in the sun:

Wonderful ferns grew along the trail:

And Daphne loved going out into the water at every opportunity:

I discovered these berries but couldn't remember what they were until I got home and looked them up. They were Jack-In-The-Pulpit:

Clover and Daphne were not playing or kissing here, they were both grazing on grass like little Holsteins:

And Seamus was looking quite handsome in his new haircut and thinner body. He's dropped from 147 to 111 pounds on his new diet:

This was a magical place to be on a quiet afternoon:

Like a scene from a fairy tale:

It's a wonderful thing to have such a beautiful, natural spot just a couple of miles from home:

We were almost back to the picnic area:

I saw that another car had pulled in up ahead, so I put the dogs on leashes as we got to the picnic area. A couple was preparing to do some fishing in the St. Regis River. But for us, the afternoon excursion was over and we headed home:

The Fort Jackson Town Park - Part 1

I took the dogs down the road one hot afternoon for a hike in the Fort Jackson town park. We began where the lovely Big Hollow Brook emptied into the St. Regis River:

I intended to walk up the banks of the brook, just to see where it went, but I was unable to navigate the rocks because of my leg braces. So we had a change of plans:


Instead, we walked across the picnic area to the trail in the forest, all of it along the banks of the St. Regis River:

The trail took us beside the river:

Rock hopping has become both difficult and risky for me because of my awkward leg braces, but little Clover had no such problem:

Seamus didn't even bother with rocks. He loves the water:

It was a pleasant walk in the forest, with the St. Regis River by our side. It was tough on the camera, though, which didn't know what setting to use because of the variety of lighting conditions. I had to take lots of photos and then delete most of them when I got home:

Seamus and Clover walked ahead to sniff for interesting things:

The dogs were overly excited and I had to keep reining them in. But they still had fun:

Jack tried his hand (paw) at rock hopping. There are lots of new experiences for this little shelter rescue:

The dogs ran and played. I just plodded along, taking pictures:

We arrived at private property and turned back. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: