Sunshine!...What a difference a week makes! April 27/28th, 2013

Well finally....some decent spring weather!!  The snow is gone and lots of wildflowers are starting to get ready to blossom - the early ones are already making a little show.

Siberian Squill - Wild Hyacinth

Hepatica

  

Pink Magenta English Daisies - Bellis Perennis

Chionodoxa Luciliae – Glory Of The Snow

Eranthis (winter aconite) 

Bloodroots - Sanguinaria canadensis

Rubber boots are required for these trail walks - mud is one of the scourges of spring up here, but well worth the "fashionable" look!

We find out that there is more wild turkeys strutting their stuff on the game camera as well as an amazing variety of birds - mating season seems to be starting up as well which brings us male and female goldfinches, purple finches  cardinals, cowbirds.  Also lots of singletons, including blue jays, tree sparrow, white crowned sparrow, junco, chickadees, red breasted nuthatches  - look for some great pictures on http://riverplacegirl.blogspot.ca/p/ma.html

We were also amazed and lucky to have a good sighting of a 'Northern Flicker' - from the woodpecker family, not lucky enough to get any pictures but here is an example copied from the web at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/id:

On Sunday we spent quite a bit of time dealing with the large logs that Paul had fished up from the pond (remnants from the flood!)  After lots of chain-sawing, we managed to fill up the wood pile next to the fire pit.  There is still one large log that had slid back into the pond and it was very water logged.  So that one got dragged out for drying, before we can cut it.

Paul managed to get out in the river a couple of times this weekend and even though the fish were jumping - there was no fish fry!!

Latest batch of pictures from the game camera - yes those turkeys get in on the act again, but also some mystery animal (coon?) that we can see on the picture but not very clear - your guess is as good as ours!

Now the mystery guest

Coon, rabbit, groundhog - somebody's cat????

Next time we are hoping to put the camera on the other side near the fishing pond - stay tuned.

Next weekend we will all congregate for Mother's Day - both sets of parents and brunch out - I will tell you all about it next time!
Ciao!

Desperately Seeking Spring! April 20/21, 2013

We decided to head up to Durham on Friday afternoon this time.  The idea was that we had to come back earlier than usual on Sunday and we wanted the extra time to enjoy the 'coming of spring'!  

We arrived late in the afternoon, and noticed that the water was quite high and running fast. Thankfully the snow had melted and it was finally starting to look like seasons were changing.

Rudy's Landing

River level with the bank - 4 ft. higher than usual

Overflowing on the other side!

On the walkway to the fishing put-in

The creek on the west side

It was nice to think that spring was finally on the way!  Paul took in the game camera to see if we had any luck with wildlife this time.  He has found out how to hook up the camera to the flat screen TV that gives us a much better view of the photo's (it makes it easier to scan the blank photo's!!).  We were successful again...we ended up with quite a parade of wild turkeys!!

Look way down the trail!

Two days later.......

Not the best pictures but what a parade!! Those were from the first week of April - here is the next batch (notice the snow is going, going, gone!):

Look closely down the trail!

Hey wait for me!

Last batch before we were to have arrived this weekend:

Ready for my close up!!

The next pictures in the series featured the turkeys' face or body right up against the camera.

Next morning - guess what.....we woke up to a snow covered scene AGAIN!  Could not believe it.  

Poor little violets!

What happened to spring?

One thing I did forget to mention was that we found another one of the bridges - the one from the trail over the creek at the back of the cottage - and here is where we found it...

Right across the pond.  Paul pulled it up on the bank in case the water got high and carried it away again.  So that makes 2 out of 3 found - silver lining I guess.

I spent the afternoon in Hanover shopping for Spring Garden items at the dollar store and doing a little grocery shopping.  Paul spent the afternoon doing a lot of brush clearing.  There was a lot of bird watching going on - the birds apparently knew that spring was coming, even though we were still uncertain!
Over the course of the visit we viewed a ruffled grouse, slate-backed junco,  female gold finch (yeah for the new finch feeder!!), chickadee's, red-breasted nuthatch (1st time since 2011!), blue jays and a huge heron flying over the property.

We had a fabulous dinner of steak, salmon, rice and broccoli with cheese and watched the movie called 'Hitchcock" which was quite good.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day all around, walking, bird watching, eating - all perfect things to do on a cold day at the property!

I hate to end with a disturbing note but....its become very apparent that the little bit of algae that I noticed in the little pond to the east that runs into our bigger pond somehow flourished in the cold weather and has grown substantially over the winter (under the ice!!).  SO now the big pond is very green in the bottom.  Here are the pictures...warning: not for the squeamish!

If anyone out there can suggest a remedy - hopefully non-chemical - please leave a comment!!