Local Wildlife

Photo
This chipmunk was photographed by my friend Jon when we hiked Wolf Den in Pomphret. You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it in order to see the chippy.

Wildlife abounds
I have written a lot lately about the woolly bears, but they are not the only examples of wildlife around here.

When I went to bed after Game Four of the World Series I was sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep. My mind active with the joy of My Team being the Victors. Suddenly I sat bolt upright in bed. What. What was that? For the first time ever here at home, I heard coyotes yipping. It was hard to tell where they were—and there were more than one. I really think they were happy about the World Series results, too. I have heard coyotes on the Cape, but never here at home.

I also saw a robin the other day. I had been wondering lately if they were going to stick around this year as they had the last two. Since I had not seen any for a while I assumed they got the memo about the cold snowy winter coming and headed south. I don’t know what this guy was doing here. Maybe he stayed behind to pick off all the woolly bears that were predicting a mild winter.

Then there is that mouse in my house. I cleaned up mouse droppings on the ledge next to the fireplace and put down a packet of Tom Cat. That was before I saw the darned thing run first one way along the base of the sliders then a couple hours later hightailing it in the other direction. This is the time it ran over the packet of Tom Cat I had placed there, too. I might have seen it again the next night, but I’m not that sure. Darn thing moves so fast. I also saw something outside on the patio run past the sliders. Could have been the mouse. I have not seen it since and no packets of Tom Cat have been touched. If it doesn’t like living conditions here that’s just fine with me. It can get out and stay out.

We used to have a fox. That’s the one I saw being chased by the big butterscotch yellow cat. It may not be part of our neighborhood any more. Who would want to stick around with such a bully living in the area?

We also have an owl. This is the first time since we’ve moved here (14 years) that I’ve heard an owl at night. Not every night, but it will hoot two or three nights in a row then I won’t hear it for a week or so, then it comes back. Let’s hope the owl gets to meet the mouse.

I have a back yard chipmunk that lives in the wood pile and I have a front steps chipmunk that lives under the front steps and the front walk. In winter, when there is snow on the walkway, a melted spot will form. I’m guessing that’s where the main living quarters are.

Of course, because of the bird feeder I have lots of nut hatch, chickadee, junco, purple finch, tit mouse, gold finch, woodpeckers, blue jays and mourning dove.

Squirrels. How could I possibly forget the squirrels. They cannot get into the bird feeder, however. It’s the kind where the door drops over the seed tray if something heavy gets on the perch. Now that the squirrels know, they hardly ever try.

The mourning doves, however, will sit on each side of the perch staring at the seed tray that they can’t get into because they are so heavy the door closed when they landed on the perch! Mourning doves have to be the most unconscious of all the feathered ones.

Pests — Leaves and Mice

Photo
Rapids on the Scantic River, Enfield, CT. Click on the photo to enlarge and observe all the different ways flowing water can look.

Catching up
While the World Series has been capturing my attention (and yours I’m sure) other things have been going on.

I didn't post any photos when I put up the World Series scores. I don't have anything that comes close to Heaven.

Not only have we finally had fall weather, complete with chilly temperatures, rain and wind, all of which contribute to leaf fall, I HAVE A MOUSE IN MY HOUSE—I think. I’m pretty sure I saw it 2 nights in a row, I have put out packets of Tom Cat but they haven’t been touched. Saturday night I saw the darn thing run along the bottom of the sliding doors down stairs where I watch TV. It ran right over the packet of Tom Cat, which made a noise. That tells me I am NOT delusional. How do I get rid of mice if they won’t take the bait? Get different bait I guess. It will be worth paying for Decon if it will work. I don’t dare tell my mother about the mouse—she’ll freak out (like I’m not!). I can’t figure out how it got in. This house is tighter than Fort Knox—or so I thought.

The morning after the World Series we awoke to a thin film of ice on the birdbath. I would normally say summer has loosened its grip, however, we have milder than normal temps coming later this week. I’ll take it.

The mouse bait remains untouched.

I’m still hanging laundry out to dry. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to do this. With more leaves off the trees, more sunlight is coming through, but…as daytime temperatures go down, there isn’t enough time for clothes to dry. One big drawback to using the dryer (other than cost) is how everything is loaded with static electricity—even with the use of fabric softener. One of these days my clothes (fresh out of the dryer) will electrocute me! ☹

I look out at my yard and can’t believe how deep the leaves are now.

World Series Game FOUR

Red Sox 4 - Rockies 3

A clean sweep of the Rockies and the Sox are World Champions again. Twice in three years. I could get used to this. I'll be able to get bed at a decent hour again. In case you are wondering where my daily photo feature has gone, well, I don't have any pictures of ecstasy or heaven. It's difficult to even find words.

The news that A-Rod has told the Yankee's to take their contract and put it where the sun don't shine comes as a surprise (to me). The Yankee's payroll shows that you can have the best team money can buy—it doesn't mean they can win!

Tomorrow I'll get back to my normal postings, with pictures. But for now, I'm going back to bed! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

World Series Game THREE

Red Sox 10 - Rockies 5

World Series Game TWO

Red Sox 2 - Rockies 1

World Series Game ONE

Red Sox 13 - Rockies 1

Leaves & Woolly Bears

Photo
Fall foliage along the Air Line Trail looking east from the Lyman Viaduct.

Do you hear the leaves laughing?
I was going to take a picture yesterday of my yard after I cleared it of leaves, but by the time I got around to doing that, the ground was covered again. ☹ Today there are twice as many leaves as I cleaned up yesterday. I’ll wait until next Monday and attack them again.

More on Woolly Bears
As I blew away the leaves on Monday, I found several woolly bears. I should have gathered them for a group photo just to show you what their dark and light markings were. Every one of them had a wide brown/orange stripe in the middle, which means we should be expecting a mild winter.

It made me wonder if they were last year’s woolly bears that didn’t get this year’s memo.

Red Sox Win!

Photo
Leaves in my back yard.

Life is good
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.
Red Sox win.

Going to the World Series!
Going to the World Series!
Going to the World Series!
Going to the World Series!
Going to the World Series!

Will they freeze their butts off in Denver?

Weather or Not

Photo
Fall foliage seen in Wethersfield this past Thursday.

This fall’s weather
There is not as much color as usual due to the lack of rain we have been experiencing. The weather has been unseasonably warm. Daytime temps have been way above normal and our low temps, lately, have been what our highs should be. I’m loving it because I get a lot more bike riding in. However, the question is, will we pay dearly for this later on?

Rain and football
Yesterday we had a lot of rain come through. We needed the rain, but…. Most of the high schools in the area postponed their Friday night football games. Those who kept the schedule played in the mud. That’s the fun of it, right?

The UConn Huskies hosted Louisville in its water-logged homecoming game. ESPN broadcast the game nationally so there was no question the game would be played. When I went to bed the score was Louisville 17-UConn14, with about 8 minutes left on the clock. What a surprise to to wake up this morning and find UConn scored with 2 min. left and won 21-17. That is enough to make UConn Bowl-Eligible and might even lift them into the top 25 nationally. They are now 6 and 1 over-all and 2-0 in Big East play.

Yard work? Maybe.
Temps will be very mild today, 75°and windy. Good drying day for sheets and all the leaves on the ground. It looks like I’ll drag out the leaf blower on Monday, unless the weather is just too good and I go for a bike ride instead. The leaves can wait or they can blow into my neighbor’s yard. Bike while the biking is good! ☺

I'm Tired

Photos

Owl & Pussy Cat, Witchel Ray and Emeril LaGoulie, M. O. P. S. (mothers of pre-schoolers) but looks like the kids are beginning to disintegrate! ☺, and Super Star Singer.

Found my limit
I wondered how much it would take to tucker me out. Now I know. Start with a super strenuous bike ride on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by a guided walk around Wethersfield (historic homes and holiday decorations central themes), followed by an evening of poetry listening and reading. Not much of the Red Sox-Indians game was heard when I went to bed with the game on the radio. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I did wake up in time to hear “and the Red Sox win 7-1.” I slept until 7:30 this morning. Half the day was already shot!

A word about the guided walk. I learned a lot about Early American/Colonial/Victorian architecture and the subtle nuances as the eras blended one into another. Will I retain it? ☺

What a great town
I may have stated this before, but it’s worth saying again. The residential area of Wethersfield around the historic district is ALIVE! In mid-afternoon people are walking around; sitting at the tables and benches in front of ice cream parlors and tea shops. Groups of older men and women are walking and having a great time just being out and about. Happy children (with their parents or grand parents watching) running around, playing and being kids. The way this section of town is laid out is conducive to this type of activity. It felt warm, hometown, friendly, alive. It felt good.

Today is a day of rest. Tomorrow – who knows. Sunday I want to go for a bike ride (on flat land this time).

Glastonbury Bike Ride

Photos
Decorated intersection on Chestnut Hill Rd., and the mice and "stonewall family" at Rose’s Farm in Glastonbury, CT. (Click on photos to enlarge)

Never believe what you read!
My friend Leslie and I took a little bike ride today in the town of Glastonbury. A description of the route says, “contains both gentle grades and a couple of challenging hills.” Anyone who knows Glastonbury should know there are NO gentle grades. Leslie and I did not know that.

Our bike tour of the town included a lot of pushing bikes up hills and time spent resting from pushing bikes up hills. What goes up does go down. Our route had some of the best down hills I’ve seen in a long time—our reward.

Along the way we saw spectacular scenery, open fields, huge boulders, endless stone ledges, and huge homes perched atop ridges offering what must be magnificent 360° views of central Connecticut.

We began our ride at the Rocky Hill Ferry landing and took the ferry across the Connecticut River to Glastonbury just for the fun of it. Our ride should have been about 18 miles, but we cut it short by two miles when we took a cross-country short cut. By doing this we found a great, back country road with lots of charm even if it didn’t have exactly the best riding surface.

Our pedaling time was 2 hrs, 10 min., while clock time was 3 hrs, 30 min. That tells you how much time we spent walking and resting! ☺

Our final take on the ride? It was fun even though it was grueling.

Would we do it again? NO! ☺ ☺

Woolly Bear Weather Prediction

Photo
A woolly bear.

Jeff Masters column on the Wunderground weather site offers this:
According to legend, the severity of the upcoming winter can be judged by examining the pattern of brown and black stripes on woolly bear caterpillars--the larvae of Isabella tiger moths. If the brown stripe between the two black stripes is thick, the winter will be a mild one. A narrow brown stripe portends a long, cold winter.

The Hagerstown, Maryland Town and Country Almanack has been publishing weather forecasts and weather lore for 209 years. The Almanack sponsors an annual woolly bear caterpillar event, where local school children in Hagerstown collect woolly bears. A panel of judges examines the collected specimens and issues a woolly bear forecast for the upcoming winter. Gerald W. Spessard, the Town and Country Almanack's business manager and one of this year's two judges, observed that the middle brown stripes on the 20 caterpillars collected this year were thicker than usual. "There's not a whole lot of black at either end, so we both agree this should be a fairly mild winter," Spessard said, according to an AP press release.

So it would seem that the weather at the Cape will not be severe (lots of brown in the middle) and here in CT it should be a somewhat mild winter (our woolly bears have less brown in the middle than the Cape Cod woolly bears). Come spring, we will have to remember to revisit the woolly bear prediction and see how well they did. The woolly bears do not agree with my predictions nor do they agree with The Old Farmers' Almanac. They do agree, however with the Maryland woolly bears. Have you had enough, already?

Cape Cod Bike Riding Weekend

Photos
Cranberry Harvest, Hinkley Pond, Harwich, MA on Cape Cod

Friday
Kathy and I headed for Cape Cod in pouring rain. Our bike saddles were covered with plastic bags (for waterproofing) plus a canvas bag over that (to prevent the plastic from ripping to shreds). After a very bad meal at Jason’s Tavern & Pub in South Dennis, we started our ride on the southern end of the Cape Cod Rail Trail about 2 p.m. By that time the rain had stopped, but the wind was blowing pretty hard. Our first day of riding was 22.5 miles with 50 mph wind gusts with a mile to go back to the car. Fun! Somewhere on that trail is a squirrel with a bad case of jangled nerves. It was sitting on a fence as we rode by and Kathy yelled “BOO” at the poor thing! ☺ As we came past Hinkley Pond in Harwich we saw cranberries ready for harvest and had to investigate. They told us the harvest would be the next morning. We decided to come back to watch. We proceeded to our motel in Provincetown and after checking in went into town to George’s Pizza for supper where we watched the first couple innings of the Red Sox game.

Saturday
Had breakfast at The Fairway Restaurant (next to the Hole-in-One Donut shop). Our waitress, Melina, was from Brazil and the sweetest, best, most attentive waitress. Next we drive to Hinkley pond for the cranberry harvest. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Today’s ride took us from Nickerson State Park north to South Wellfleet. After a brief rest, we headed back. Instead of going to Ben & Jerry’s on Bracket Rd., we kept going to Arnold’s, just before the Route 6 tunnel, and had ice cream there. To our surprise we found an air hose, bike racks, 2 porta-potties and a larger (way more expensive) choice of meals beyond ice cream. Most businesses along the trail cater to the trail users. Today’s ride totaled 24.5 miles round trip. Wind blowing, but not quite as bad as yesterday. On the way back to the motel, we stopped at the National Seashore Visitor’s Center where I bought a couple of books before we checked out the beaches. Saw seals swimming just offshore. Dinner became interesting as we were unable to be seated at Napi’s or the Lobster Pot because Provincetown was rocking! Hundreds of people clogging the restaurants and streets. We were able to get in at the Mayflower Restaurant, which always has good food. Our lobsters were delicious! Watched the Red Sox game at the motel. Fell asleep and shut the TV off at some point. Glad I didn’t stay up to watch the end of that one!

Sunday
Slept late – 7 a.m. As usual, I rode my bike into town to get coffee and tea. There’s a great coffee shop on Commercial St. called the Wired Puppy. The coffee and tea are super good. They also have two computers for customers to access the internet. They will serve anyone, but from their name you can guess they cater to people who own dogs (and in Provincetown who doesn’t?). Back to the Fairway for breakfast and were lucky to have Melina wait on us again. We decided not to ride today, but walk Coast Guard Beach instead. We walked south to the inlet for Nauset Marsh and back—about 3 miles round trip. Along the way, entertainment was provided by a pod of at least 9 seals all floating and cavorting just 25 feet offshore. After a brief stop at The Birdwatcher’s Store in Orleans, we were headed home by 1:15 p.m. Arrived just in time for the start of the Patriot’s game (which the Pats won). Perfect end to a perfect weekend!

Woolly Bears
Just a side note: on the Cape I kept seeing woolly bear caterpillars that were ¼ dark brown at the head and just a smidge of brown at the tail. The middle was the usual dark orange. Here at home, the wooly bears have been ¼ dark at head and tail with the middle half orange. I will have to go on the internet to research woolly bears and report back. Sounds like a difference in weather between the two areas.

Get-away

Photo
Rock Harbor Marina, Orleans, MA on Cape Cod

We are off!
At least we will be tomorrow morning. Kathy and I are headed for a weekend on Cape Cod. We are leaving Friday (tomorrow) morning and will be back sometime Sunday. We plan to do a lot of bike riding, but it looks like it’s going to be pretty windy. Bike riding and windy do not mix.

We will be staying in Provincetown—the greatest town in all the world even though it’s looking more “rubber chicken and plastic” all the time. The plan is to ride the Cape Cod Rail Trail from South Dennis to Nickerson State Park (and back) the first day and from Nickerson to South Wellfleet the second day. On Sunday we’ll do either the Provincelands dunes trail or the Cape Cod Canal.

See you Monday.

Bird Feeder Frenzy

Photo
Bird feeder

They were waiting for me
I finally went to Ag-Way and bought the sunflower seeds for my bird feeder. It looks like our weather will be turning a little more seasonal and the birds will be needing something to eat. It didn’t take them long to find the feeders.

I put the feeders out first, then went to buy the seed. When I came home, the chickadees were already hovering and the nuthatches were clinging to the tree. As I reeled the filled feeder out toward the tree (I hang it from a clothesline) the birds immediately swarmed it and were feeding before I could get it all the way out. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you will see the chickadee on the right perch. Another is on the bar above the feeder.

I wish I could have captured the scene later in the day when a half dozen goldfinch were lined up on perch, feeding. Waiting in the wings, I should say on the perch extensions, were several titmice, nuthatches and a Downey woodpecker. The blue jays were around, but only to harass.

What kind of winter?
The yellow feeder contains thistle seeds for the goldfinch, yet, this year, I see the chickadees eating thistle. They aren't supposed to like it. Observing the feeding behavior of the birds, the greatly increased activity of the squirrels, and noting the abundance of fall berries this year, it all seems to point to a severe winter. What do you think?

City Architecture

Photos

There are many examples of beauty in Hartford. They are best seen when walking or biking. These two lovely old buildings are on Wethersfield Avenue, more or less across from Armsmere, the home of Elizabeth and Sam Colt.

A funny thing happened……
On my way to the grocery store this morning I observed a healthy young fox run across the road. That’s not the funny part. In hot pursuit was a huge butterscotch colored cat. That’s the funny part. I have never heard of a cat chasing a fox, and apparently the fox hadn’t either. He wanted no part of this chase or the cat. I can only guess the cat thought the fox was just a bigger cat and was protecting it’s territory?

Busy Day

Photo
Flower garden at Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, CT.

THE RED SOX ARE IN! Just waiting for the Indians to knock off the Yankees.

Busy day started with a bike ride
Yesterday started off with a bike ride on the Windsor Locks Canal with Bonnie. The geese were abundant and very vocal on the water and in the air. The CT River was quite low with a lot of rocks and sand bars showing.

Finished with a hike
From there I went home to drop the bike and change my clothes before heading to Colchester.

The Colchester Land Trust sponsored a walking tour of the Cato Corner Farm, one of the last working dairy farms in Colchester. Liz MacAlister, the owner, has protected the land so it will never be divided up and developed. Over 100 people showed up to walk the land. Being a farm, there were fields and pastures along with the milking herd, heifers, and calves. In some places our walk was more like a dance - jump and step from side to side quickly. Remember, this is a working farm with cows that do what cows do.

We had a 4-H Club with us that brought their goats along for the walk. Some of the wooded terrain was easier for the goats than it was for us humans. We had some good climbs up and down ridges. Because the foliage was still pretty thick, any views from the highest ridges was obscured.

It was a great day for a walk. The weather was cooler than we’ve been having, yet the humidity was still there. All of us worked up a sweat.

The CLT sponsors various hikes in Colchester on the first Sunday of each month. Go to their website for more information.

The next hike, Nov. 4, will be on the Air Line Trail from Bull Hill Road to the commuter parking lot at Route 2. The last time they walked back towards the Lyman Viaduct, turned around and walked to the parking lot - about 4.5 miles. Shuttle vehicles gave us a ride back to our cars. If they don't do the Lyman Viaduct the walk is only 3.5 miles. I’ve done this walk before and I will seriously consider doing it again next month. I usually bike this trail and it is amazing how much more I see when I walk it.

Heritage Day