Another Six Weeks...

 Well it's been a couple weeks since Punxsutawney Phil declared six more weeks of winter weather.  At least I think he did?  I figure it's pretty hard to pop your head out of a hole in the ground when that hole is covered with three feet of dense snow.  So I'm just going to assume that by the presence of snow on the ground that he made his decision remotely this year.

I've lived in the northeast my whole life and this is the first winter like this that I can remember.  There have been many, many storms and they've been big storms, often with a foot of snow falling over the course of the day.  Jacob's had three school cancellations (unless it was 4.  We lost count) and at least three 2-hour delays.

 I'm sure I've lived through winters like this before, but I don't remember them like I'll remember this one.  Usually snow falls, then it melts, more snow falls, that melts to reveal the still-green grass, and the cycle goes on for a few months.  When I was a kid, adults were always telling me I hadn't experienced a 'real winter' because you don't usually see the green grass in between snowfalls.  Well now at least my kids have experienced a real upstate winter.

12/22/10 - the first accumulation, though you can see it wasn't really enough to cover the unraked leaves.

 

12/27/10- now that's some snow

 

All covered up - it's been a COLD winter too!

1/1/11 - sleigh riding on New Year's Day

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Day 93: Apple Picking

We went to an apple orchard one day last week after school. Jacob was so excited to go apple picking; we go at least once every fall. We were admittedly going a little early in the season, but this year's crop isn't a great one and isn't going to last a very long time. So there were only one kind we could pick on that particular day. And the pickings were slim. We had to get creative and climb the trees in order to get any apples.

Zach was with us this year, and he's the one who actually started the climbing method. Jacob followed his lead. Click on the picture to see Zach in the tree...

Day 81: The Bathing Eagle

This is the juvenile eagle whom I think I wrote about earlier in the summer. We saw him (I'm just guessing at the him thing) out many times on this visit up to Camp. On this day I was alone at Camp with Jamie and my two kids. We watched the eagle just sitting out there on this stump for the longest time. He'd go off the stump onto the sandbar in a few inches of water and roll around taking a bath, then back onto the stump to dry off.

After a while I couldn't stand not getting closer so I hopped in the canoe barefoot and paddled closer, but not really in that direction. The wind and current, however, carried me right to the eagle and before I knew it I was too close for my own comfort and the fact that the eagle was not flying away freaked me out. By the time I decided I needed to head back, the wind had gotten much stronger, as it tends to do in the middle of the lake and the rain started pouring down. The only choice I had was to go with the wind and the current (of the river that flows through the lake) and wait it out on the opposite side of the lake. I was camped out for at least half an hour on someone's dock, and then it was at least another half an hour of hard, meaningless paddling back home before I finally got the right idea and sat in the middle of the canoe to get back.

It was worth it though to get this cool picture. In a couple of the pictures when I was actually closer than this you can see that the eagle is tagged on one leg, which for some reason makes up hopeful about the eagle population, like someone is looking out for them.

Day 73: Mini Lifeguards

Actually, Cousin Jenny, I already had this photo in line to be the photo of the day for today, so good call! I pre-set the Cape May photos to publish one day at a time. This was one of my absolute favorites. There was one night where Jacob and I snuck off and watched the sunset on the beach. Didn't have my camera with me that night, so I said we had to get back there for sunset one more time.

We were all there this time, and Zach sat the kids up on the lifeguard chair. A beach vehicle started to come along and Jacob joked with Sabine that they were coming to get her for sitting on the chair. She got so freaked out and wanted to come down. That was a nice night on the beach,
we watched some dolphins far out in the ocean playing around. I wish we'd gone to the beach more at night instead of during the day when it was hot and crowded.

Day 49: Grasshopper on my watering can

This guy here hopped onto my watering can while I was watering the flower boxes the other day. He wasn't there, and then all of a sudden, he was right there on the tip of the spout, less than a foot away from my hand. Creepy. One would think I'd be happy to have a beautiful creature such as this to grace the day with is presence, but I screamed and nearly dropped the pail. I am fascinated with insects and their tiny, intricate details, but that doesn't mean I like them. On the contrary, they freak me out. After I get in close like this to take a picture, my skin starts crawling and the next hour I keep thinking bugs are crawling on me. But I am always drawn to taking their pictures as detailed as I can. Is this normal? Does anybody find themselves fascinated, yet freaked out, by bugs like this?

Day 48: Proof that wasps are not vegetarian

On Marisa's birthday earlier this week, she and my sister stayed late and had supper here. Since we're a non-meat-eating household, my sister had gotten a little chicken (whose parts I couldn't even stand to look at) for the omnivore crowd. We ate outside, as do the wasps. Long after Marisa had given up on her meal, this little guy kept coming back for more. He'd sit there and nibble for a minute, and then fly off with the piece of chicken. I don't know where he'd go with it, but he (or she) - or someone that looked identical (I don't know, do wasps do the waggle dance too, or is that just honey bees) kept coming back for more. Must have been some chicken.

Day 43: Cannibal Ants

Jen and I were on our way to bring water to the kids, who were playing outside at Camp, when I came upon this sight. I was totally transfixed, as was Jen. I was so happy to have company while I observed the tiny insects because usually no one else cares. Jen is a science teacher so I think maybe that is why she took more of an interest.

We watched these guys for 15 minutes or so - there were two pairs of ants. In each pair there was an aggressor and a victim. The aggressor was tearing the shit out of the victim. For what reason, I have no idea. I don't even know what kind of ants these were. They'd fight for a while and then the meanie would go off and lick his chops for a bit, then come back for some more brutality. We were totally enraptured by this and couldn't figure out what was going on. I told Jen, "See, if we were somewhere with the internet, I'd be all over this." So now that we're back home I think I should go try to figure out what was happening here.

In the meantime, if you know anything about ants and why they might commit such an act against one another, please enlighten me!

Day 42: Red Lady

This little lady was spotted along the old railroad bed up at Camp last weekend. I don't know much about ladybugs...like for instance, are they really all 'ladies'? And there are a bunch of tiny creepy crawlies on the plant next to her (seen on the left in this photo). Are those perhaps ladybug nymphs? I have no idea. Also, is the saying about the number of spots they have true?

Taking photos of things in nature like this inspires me to learn more about them. So off I go to read about ladybugs.

Day 41: Inch Worm

While we were picking blueberries in the woods, Jen found this little guy and pointed out the eggs on the back of him - I guess I should say her? I don't really know much about the reproduction of inchworms. Look how cool that is! He/she was kind enough to stand still for me so I could get this nice photo. I just had my regular lens on so I couldn't get in as closely as I wanted, but it looks pretty good up against the dark polo shirt Jen was wearing.

Day 40: Damsel in Distress

So we went to Camp again for an extended weekend . This time our dear friends, Jen and Dan, and their two boys came with us. It's always more fun when we have company. I ended up taking more pictures of the kids and all the playing around, than I did of the bugs this time, but I couldn't resist this photo. It's a damselfly caught in a spider's web and the spider is getting ready to chow down. It's not that I like looking at dead bugs about to have their guts eaten out, it's just so fascinating that I can't look away - like a gory accident on the side of the road - until I at least get a picture. For this angle I actually had to get into the bottom of the row boat and get my face real close. I should get bonus points for that. Though I love this photo, my main reason for posting it is because I couldn't wait to use the perfect title I came up with!

Day 35: Yellow Fellow

I took this photo back in the spring out at 'The Farm', which is what my mother has taken to calling the land where they're planning to build a house. I was taking bluebird pictures that day, and this little guy, an American Goldfinch, was flying around too. This yellow fellow was easier to get close to on account of the fact that he didn't have any young ones back at the nest like the bluebirds did. I got some really good bluebird pictures that day, but I think this bird is just so beautiful.

Day 29: Paper Wasps

This nest is attached to a little shed that we keep on the side of the house. Last week it was on the other door and was only discovered when Harry got stung. I had to sneak out at night while all the little waspys were sleeping and knock down their home. Ever determined, they just picked up where they left off, but on the opposite door. I've opened it all up and have been gently taking everything out with the goal of dismantling the shed for the season. I find that I can't knock the nest down; for one, I'm the never-hurt-a-fly type, and honestly, the wasps haven't done anything wrong. They've just as much a right to live here as we do. Secondly, I find them fascinating - that's an understatement.

I go out there everyday with the excuse that I'm checking things out, seeing about a humane method to getting rid of the nest. I just end up watching them up-close for a time, getting the camera and getting in close to take some photos. I can't get close enough with my macro lens cuz about a foot and a half away from them, they start to all look up at me with a mean glare. I've tried the telephoto lens but it can't focus that close. This photo is the best I can do. I love it though; my favorite is the guy on the top left looking right at me, daring me to get closer.

Day 24: Lunch on a Leaf

Here's another damselfly. I took this photo at 'the farm', which is to say, the large expanse of land my mom and Jamie have yet to build on. A lot of activity goes on out there, just no house activity yet. This year we've put in a good sized garden with them, making it officially a farm, or something to that effect.

We were out there a couple days ago watering the vegetable garden and I spotted this guy chowing down on a moth. While the part of me was fascinated by this brutal act of nature, the better part of me wanted to toss my cookies watching the moth struggle to escape his fate of being eaten alive. I kept snapping pictures, in the name of art, until they flew away and now I have all kinds of questions about damselfly behavior and diet.

Day 23A: Oops & the last of the Camp pictures

Well I completely messed up on day 22 and I don't want to cheat and make it look like I didn't miss a day by retroactively posting, so I will just do two for today and call it even. It's been a very, very busy two days. Big playgroup gathering here Monday afternoon, Cousins Party on Monday night, appointment this morning, followed by another playgroup here, this time with my former high school friends, who are all grown women with their own kids - which means I must be a grown woman?

It was pointed out to me by my mother today that I didn't quite finish the text that goes along with the forget-me-nots. I just got around to visiting the page and I'm cracking up at myself. That's what happens when I stay up waaaay later than I should in an attempt to finish up any given computer-related activity. I keep falling asleep, keep waking up long enough to type a word or two, then fall asleep again. At some point during the typing of that post I must have decided to publish it already, photo explanation be damned. I'm going to leave it the way it appears because I think it's hilarious.

What I wrote is: "These forget-me-noys ran all along ty" What I meant to write is that those flowers run all along the edge of the lake, etc, ect.

Anyway, I have so many more awesome pictures from Camp, but I'll just post this one here and save the others for some time in the future.

I've got more pictures of the bald eagle, some cool dragonfly pictures, and lots of photos of us on the lake, but I'm going with the blueberry because that represents the camp experience for me the best. They don't usually ripen until early August, but it's been so hot this year that by the end of our trip Jacob and I were able to gather enough ripe ones to make pancakes with and a batch of muffins. I can't wait to go back up later in the summer and get more berries!

Day 21: Forget-Me-Nots

These forget-me-noys ran all along ty

Day 19: Devil's Paintbrush

I took a series of pictures of Jacob picking these flowers for me just before I mowed. It was hard to pick my favorite because they were all so natural and peaceful looking. I took this at the same time I shot the mushroom. The lawn hadn't been mowed yet this year and all sorts of beautiful things had taken over. I hated to mow it all down so I asked Jacob if he'd pick some flowers for me and he was all over that (just as I knew he would be).

The 'flowers' he's picking, I'm told by wikipedia, are considered 'noxious weeds' in several parts of Canada, the US and Australia. They have always been one of my very favorites, I just think they're so beautiful mixed in with all the wild grasses. For most of my life I actually thought they were called Indian Paintbrush and it wasn't until I was taking a plant biology class in college that I learned they're not. I still think of them as Indian Paintbrush in my head though because that sounds better to me. Also, I've also just learned from Wikipedia that it shares its name with a type of machine gun, and there's the whole invasive species aspect too. So Indian Paintbrush it is.

Day 18: Mushroom

This little guy was on the lawn at Camp and I just had to take a picture of him before mowing the lawn. I have a thing for mushrooms, they're just so cool looking.

Day 17: Bald Eagles

We got back from Camp late yesterday afternoon. It was a really great trip, with lots of cool things happening all around us. One of the cooler things to happen on our stay at Camp was that we got to see the bald eagle. We've seen the eagle up there before, and while it's always exciting, this time we spotted the adult with an (good news) immature eagle! Jacob actually spotted these guys first and called our attention to them.

The eagles were sitting atop a couple of trees on the island that's in the center of the lake. I was able to take a bunch of pictures from land of the two of them, and then some more of the younger eagle after I got in the canoe and paddled a bit toward the island. I'll post some more of these as the week goes on.

Day 14: The Jellyfish

The jellyfish exhibit was one of the last things we did before leaving the aquarium, and then leaving town. I thought it was awesome and wanted to stay longer, but by the end Jacob was just going nuts, running around and dying to get out of there so I only had time to get a few photos. But it's definitely worth the trip to the aquarium because the pictures I got don't do them justice.

I tagged this post, as well as the alligator post, 'nature'. I realize an exhibit is the exact opposite of nature, so I've added an 'animals' tag.

This was our second family trip to Baltimore and I think that firmed it up as one of our favorite places; we'll definitely go back regularly.

Day 12: A Frequenter of My Dreams

This is at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, as are the next two pictures I'll post. I've been dying to show off this picture but never got around to posting about our trip, nor did I ever post about our trip to Myrtle Beach around Easter time. I'll do a photo series for that when we go on our next big adventure.

I love this photo of the alligator (or is it crocodile?). I do know the difference between the two, but I can't tell from this picture, and I can't remember now which it was. I just think it's so cool with its eye sticking up above the water and a hint of the snout. Creepy. I often dream about alligators. They're usually in the lake up at my camp (in my dreams, I mean).