Spring's Sudden Arrival

Just one day after a snowstorm, we were warm and snowless. Spring was in the air, so I walked around the yard, searching for anything green. The first signs of growth I saw were the Bearded Iris coming up:

And to my surprise, I had a Crocus in bloom:

And one Crocus almost in bloom:

The Daffodils were emerging:

And the Magnolia had one green bud which looked promising. This happened last year, though, but the bud fell off when I touched it. This time I kept my hands off of it:

Jack, Daphne and Clover watched my every move from their back yard run:

Seamus and Fergus watched from the other side of the yard:

The Lilac beside the barn had buds which were very swollen, as sure a sign of spring as the blooming Crocus:

In the field, the cattle were lounging comfortably and didn't want to move. When I brought them a new hay bale, only Jasmine had the energy to walk over to it:

Blue was sleeping with the cows, but Remy walked over to see me:

And the most important miracle of all was the appearance of some green grass. Grass is an important crop here, the basic feed of much livestock - not to mention its function as lawn:

One of the apple trees by the road lost a major limb and a second big limb appears dead. Both of them have been stripped of bark, probably by porcupines. This will be a big job for me to take care of soon:

On The Eastbound Rutland Trail - Part 1

My sister arrived for a visit and of course we wanted to take the dogs out for a hike. The weather was still cold and I figured any forest trail would still be covered with snow and ice, so we went to the nearby Rutland Trail, the eastbound section which is an old, elevated railroad bed through wetlands. It didn't begin well, however, when we found this headless deer skeleton near the trail head. There was also a pile of garbage someone had dumped:

Just to the right of the deer skeleton were two porcupine carcasses. I wondered where all this had come from but there was nothing we could do anyway, so we began our hike. Alas, Clover later began limping and I found a short piece of porcupine quill stuck between the pads of one of her paws. But it was easily removed and we went on our way:

And the dogs were ecstatic. With water on both sides and a level, straight trail, it was easy to keep them in sight:

My sister and the dogs walked on ahead while I checked something out:

Most of the adjacent wetlands on our left were still covered with thick ice. The water on our right was mostly clear of ice. I never did figure out why, unless perhaps one side was deeper than the other:

It was chilly, but not too much so to have a happy experience. The sun was shining and the sky was blue:

There were both patches of ice and deep puddles, but the dogs didn't mind. My sister and I had on rubber overshoes, so we were OK as well:

Daphne, Seamus and Clover stopped for a breather:

There was beaver sign all along the water. We also saw a number of beaver lodges out in the water, but none of those photos were usable:

Both sides of the trail had been brush hogged, which seemed a shame but I must admit it opened up the views:

We came to a large body of water which was filled with Canada Geese - thousands of them:

Most of them moved away from us or flew away when we got too close. There were also ducks mixed in, but none close enough to tell what species they were:

We had the geese on our right for a considerable distance because there were so many of them - some swimming, some resting on gigantic sheets of floating ice. They were fun to watch. But there was more to see on this section of the Rutland Trail. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Adirondack Wildlife Refuge - Part 2

I was touring the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and had reached the cage with Barred Owl, a common owl around here. It has a distinctive call which I frequently hear early in the morning when I let the dogs out:

They had a number of Bald Eagles, all with permanent injuries which prevented them from being released back into the wild. They have, however, had successful releases including one which now lives on Whiteface Mountain and returns to bother the captive eagles sometimes:

A Goshawk:

This Porcupine was a favorite of the staff and a friendly clown. He had been rescued when his mother was killed by a car. He was released and lived in the wild for about a year but returned, missing the easy life at the refuge:

Great Horned Owls:

Sedwick, the Great Blue Heron:

Broad-Winged Hawk:

I came to a clearing in the forest with a number of cabins and a small pond. I had been told earlier that the coyotes were being kept from view so they would not get used to people and could be released soon. From what I could see, I figured they were behind those tarps:

There was a house or office building from which a woman emerged, carrying a small animal:

It was a female Saw-Whet Owl, seven or eight years old. She had been rescued from her nest as a baby after crows had pecked out her eyes and will live out her life at the refuge:

 The woman pointed to the crow on a nearby cage, explaining that it was very tame but loved to torment the owls, including the Screech Owl in the cage:

While a small boy interacted with the crow, I snapped a picture of the Screech Owl:

And then the crow flew over to a sign, where it landed and no doubt contemplated what other trouble it could cause. But there was still more to see, and I'll Post Part 3 tomorrow:

It's Autumn On The Farm

I went out to do the chores one morning and found this porcupine walking around the yard. It appeared to be limping and possibly hurt, though it was hard to tell because porcupines always walk funny. I got its photo and tried to shoo it off the property, but it just went up into the top of a thick bush. I left it alone and by evening, it was gone:

The New England Asters are blooming everywhere, albeit smaller than some years because there hasn't been much rain:

The fantail pigeons are happy, healthy and enjoying life:

One day my cows were mooing loudly, looking across the road, and I investigated. The neighbors had a new, borrowed, bull, a handsome gray fellow who was showing off to my cows. My girls were certainly impressed, but only for a day. By the next day they were ignoring him:

When I walked across the road to take the photo of the bull, I also took this picture of their pasture and barn. What a lovely scene on a beautiful autumn day:

I walked to the side of their pasture and got this autumn scene - A cornfield turning yellow and New England Asters:

One year the owner of the abutting field harvested great quantities of corn kernels from it and I suspect he will do so again this year. Last time, the workers spilled huge quantities of kernels which brought the geese into the field. The only problem was that all that shelled corn tempted my chickens to go into the road:

Another look at the neighbors' farm and the abutting corn field:

I walked back across the road to my own house, where the dogs were waiting anxiously for me:

I snapped one photo of this year's abundant and colorful crop of rose hips before I put my camera away:

Clear Pond In The White Hill Wild Forest - Part 2

The dogs and I were spending a beautiful afternoon at Clear Pond, in the White Hill Wild Forest (see Part 1, posted yesterday). Little Daphne braved the chilly water and splashed around like the silly dog she is, but could not convince Clover or Jack to join her:

Seamus and Fergus walked to the water's edge and looked across the lake:

Fergus got his front feet wet in order to get a drink of water, but that's as far as he would go:

We walked back into the forest and away from Clear Pond in order to find the trail again. Fergus watched me carefully, apparently to be sure I didn't do anything untoward:

We rejoined the trail and hiked briefly, but the lure of the water's edge was too great and, before long, we were headed back to Clear Pond:

We passed by the recently felled pine once again. Jack and Fergus again sniffed around, fascinated with the smell of beavers:

We continued on along the shoreline and then headed back in the general direction of our parked car. You can see here that Clover was still bursting with energy, leaping for joy:

Jack ran back and forth wildly, a streak of orange along the water's edge:

But the time came when we had to walk back up the bank to rejoin the trail:

We followed the trail back toward the car but veered off to visit this old stone foundation. Clover and Daphne ran right inside to investigate:

Just a short distance from the stone foundation was this larger, concrete foundation. It had cracked and moved in many places and what at first appeared to be acorns spilling out of the corner was, after closer inspection, animal poop. From its location, size and shape, I guessed it to be Porcupine poop. I'm happy to report that the dogs didn't run into any Porcupines:

We made it back to the car in fine shape and I snapped one final photo for the hike's finish. Alas, only Seamus and Daphne felt like sticking their heads out the window for the picture. But it had been a fun and scenic afternoon: