Groundhog day

The state is out verifying the wetland boundary we delineated eons ago at that big farm estate. Since a lot of time has passed, a bunch of our wetland flags are missing. They either got clobbered when the farmer mowed the fields or removed by others. I have a short list of suspects who might have removed the flags since I could see a large truck had ridden along the wetland boundary and now all the flags are missing. Coincidence, I think not.

So I'm back out there to find the old flags and replace them with shiny new ones and assist the surveyors in re-establishing the flags I can't find. Rain was predicted for most of the day so I was surprised when I got the game on phone call early this morning. Sure enough it rained intermittently all morning and the surveyors hunkered down in their truck because their equipment can't get wet. I got to head out there first since the surveyors first had to find some stake in the ground and wait for the rain to let up. Boring. A herd of deer ran across the field and the red tailed hawks were startled to see a human about. It's always nice to be the only person in a spot surrounded by wildlife.

I slapped on full rain gear and went on a mission to find the old flags and replace them with new ones. That took most of the day and the rain mostly stopped around noon. Good thing, because my maps were getting soaked and falling apart.

The half dirt/half gravel road quickly began to flood and the more dirt areas became mud pits. It was the most off roading I got to do with the RAV-4. Overall, the new tires worked well. It was more controlled chaos than uncontrolled madness. I did drive into a too deep muddy rut slightly off the road and had to back out. After that muddy ride, I decided to hoof it in the muddy spots. I really don't know how I'm going to get all that mud off my car. It's inside the door jambs too.

After the rain stopped, there still were a lot of clouds. It's that heavenly sky time with sunbeams poking through. Iin the far distance, one sun beam made it to the ground and was moving with the wind. It looks like an alien spaceship was shining a beam of light to earth in search of it's next abduction victim.

A rainy vaca

I just got back from another relaxaton in Vermont. It much needed as usual. Unfortunately, it pretty much rained the entire time. There were a few hours of non rain here and there but we only saw the sun once for about 5 minutes. That severely limited any sort of outdoor activities. There were more obstacles for horseback riding so I dragged my riding boots up again for no reason. Another snafu was we had no heat the first night. It was a cold night as well. When we pulled up at 1 am, there was already frost everywhere. It was not a good night for sleeping. I woke up early and started a fire in the wood burning stove and a few hours later the heat guy came and fixed it in a snap.

In the few moments of non-rain, we hiked up to the waterfalls and enjoyed the pleasant outdoors. I snapped these few shots there.

In the distance, you can see the mountain is covered in clouds and mist.

The dogs spent most of their time relaxing or playing. Two dog toys were sacrificed this weekend. They all sat down and curled up like this. It was too cute not to take a shot of the dog triangle.

The Yellow Room

Surfers have the green room. Well I've decided that I get a yellow room. It's when the sugar maple yellow fall foliage is in full yellow glory. There are parts of the woods where it's almost all sugar maple and everything is just blazing yellow. The forest floor is yellow and the leaves are glowing yellow with the sun peeking through. Pictures don't do any justice of course.

At the same site of the yellow room, there was a nice gurgling stream.

Natirar

Just some pics from my latest visit to Natirar. If I was a jogger, it would a great place to jog.

I took a zillion pics underneath this bridge and none of them came out focused. I guess the camera couldn't handle the angles of the bridge so that it just would give up.

Hacklebarney

It's nice to see after all these nor'easters and windstorms that there still are some leaves on the trees. The bf and I swung by Hacklebarney and area to get some apple cider (for me!!!) and to check out the trails. We went straight for the small waterfalls so he could take some fancy pics of the waterfalls. I played photo assistant and took a couple shots on my point and shoot as well. The waiting around proved to be good people watching as well.

Lakota Wolf Walk

Following our attempt to get to Raccoon Ridge, a diner run, and refueling, we headed to the Lakota Wolf Walk. The parking area was packed and we decided to walk to the Wolf Walk rather than being driven in the bus. In theory, it wasn't that far and was through the woods. We huffed and puffed our way up the hill. Mind you we just came from a long hike, so our legs and lungs were already burning. But we made it and the wolves were seen lounging about or occasionally running along the double chain link fence. There were four enclosures for each of the wolf packs/types. They had ample woods, a small pond and a water trough. The wolves knew that it was time for doggie treats and they headed to the fence. They were rewarded for their appearance with a doggie treat and a pet through the fence by the tour guide. I still can't pick my favorite wolf let along my favorite wolf pack. We then got to try to make the wolves howl. Of course, it didn't work. But our tour guide called forward his howliest wolf (a puppy) and then howled to the wolves. Howlie started right in and soon enough it became a case of the crying baby syndrome. More wolves chimed in (the other half of the wolves couldn't even be bothered to even sit up and continued with their naps) and just when you thought there were done another wolf started in and the whole cycle began again. It was very cool! Each wolf knows its name. I could've stayed there all day just watching them. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to take focused pictures through a chain link fence. The camera focuses on the fence and the wolves get blurred out.

Reluctantly, we left the wolf area and headed over to hear the fox and bobcat talks. The foxes were cute. I don't know why I didn't take any pics. I did have a bad vantage point (thanks to our late arrival) and was disheartened from all the blurry wolf pics. So that's probably why. But one of the foxes was super enchanted with the tour guide. He wouldn't leave her side and just gazed at her for at least 20 minutes. The promise of occasional treats and dinner! We heard a bunch of cool fox stories. I won't retell so you guys will have to go there and hear them for yourselves. Then the foxes were put away so the bobcats could come out. They were super cute and apparently are ferocious. More funny bobcat stories ensue. The entertaining part was watching the tour guide try to avoid being bitten by Cache the male bobcat. Below is apparently an action shot of Cache coming close to attacking. Did you know that a bobcat can take down a deer? Yes. It's true and crazy!