A Whopper of a Thunderstorm

 We just had a whopper of a thunderstorm overnight. It is crazy to have a storm like this in April. It dropped 1.12" of rain. In fact, this last week we have had a total of 1.9" rain total. Since we are still in a severe drought from last year, we are in need of as much rain as we can get this spring.

2026 Maine Big Night #4

 Maine Big Night # 4. We had rain from 6pm-8:45pm.

LH1Bowd (This year's participants are me, Paul, and Caroline. Kathy will join us periodically.) Lauren Leclerc is the official adopter of the site.

April 14, 2026.  Start time 7:45pm - 9:15pm

Certified Volunteers - 2 (Paul) (Laurie)

Uncertified Volunteers - 1 (Kathy)

Starting Temp: 56F.   Ending Temp.:  55F

Precipitation: Rain

The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  21 vehicles

Species Live:  3 Pickerel Frogs, 41 Spring Peepers, 4 Bullfrogs, 2 Green Frogs, 1 Leopard Frog, 4 American Toads, 1 Four-toed Salamander, 6 Spotted Salamanders,  4 Newts

Species Dead:  2 Pickerel Frogs, 1 Red Eft, 4 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: 

NOTES: 

2026 Maine Big Night #3

 Maine Big Night # 3. We had patchy rain during the day that stopped at around 5pm.

LH1Bowd (This year's participants are me, Paul, and Caroline. Kathy will join us periodically.) Lauren Leclerc is the official adopter of the site.

April 13, 2026.  Start time 8pm - 9pm

Certified Volunteers - 1 (Paul) 

Uncertified Volunteers - 

Starting Temp: 50F.   Ending Temp.:  50F

Precipitation: Misty

The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  6 vehicles

Species Live:  15 Spring Peepers, 2 Wood Frog, 1 Spotted Salamander, 1 Newt

Species Dead:  1 Spotted Salamander

Species Injured: 0

NOTES: 

Tick Check Lab and Maine Cooperative Extension Agency

 The Maine Cooperative Extension Agency checks ticks for disease that have been embedded in you. It is worth the piece of mind.

Flora and Fauna Investigate Mushrooms

My purpose for this video on mushrooms is to inform young children to leave mushrooms alone when they visit the woods. Kids often put their hands in their mouths without thinking and since some mushrooms are poisonous, we don't want anyone to get hurt. Additionally, when young children see mushrooms they literally dive bomb them to pick them. We are trying to teach responsibility and stewardship as well. Anyone who sees value in this video is welcome to use it. I volunteer with a local elementary school's kindergarten classes, for Woods Wednesdays, and it is the best fun I have ever had.

This was my first foray into the world of AI. Since my level of drawing ability is that of a kindergartener, I developed this video using the Gemini app, Lyra3Pro, and iMovie. Drew was kind enough to get me started as he has some great skills. The music and all the scenes are AI generated. This is not just a process where you make a statement and "voila" your scene is created. In order to get consistency from scene to scene, you have to have very specific prompts and reference pictures. When I wanted specific mushrooms, I used the scientific names for them in the prompts. And, trying to have Gemini create scene animation was another level of frustration as anomalies cropped up that were hilarious at times with the inconsistencies. Hence, the still scenes. I did the narration, which is not exactly great, but it was the best I could do as I am not a professional.  I hope you get some value from it. Enjoy!

Our last snowfall, I think...and hope...

 SNOW TOTAL FOR THE 2025-2026 SEASON = 80.25"

The overnight snowfall totaled 0.25". The overnight temp. was 23F. I am thinking that this is the last snowfall of the year since the weather is warming into the 50's after today.

The Mud Season Blues

Drew has created a fun song and photos through AI. He used Gemini and Lyra3Pro, along with iMovie to create this video. The vocal artist is also AI, not a real person. Enjoy!

Ice Out Has Occurred on Caesar Pond

South side of the pond is now ice free!

I call Ice Out when the south cove is navigable by boat, and with the wind blowing at around 16mph today, the ice has melted and been pushed back far enough that we can now go boating over the entire pond. AWESOME!!!

View looking north along Caesar Pond. The wind practically took my breath away! The feel-like temperature was around 37F and it really felt cold over at the pond, which acts like a wind tunnel.

2026 Maine Big Night # 2

  Maine Big Night # 2. We had rain all day long that stopped at around 5pm.

LH1Bowd (This year's participants are me, Paul, and Caroline. Kathy will join us periodically.) Lauren Leclerc is the official adopter of the site.

April 5, 2026.  Start time 7:10pm.-8:10pm AND 10pm-11pm

Certified Volunteers - 1 (Paul) (10pm-11pm)

Uncertified Volunteers - 1 (Kathy) (7:10pm-8:10pm)

Starting Temp: 43F.   Ending Temp.:  42F

Precipitation: Misty

The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  5 vehicles

Species Live:  12 Spring Peepers, 1 Wood Frog, 3 Spotted Salamanders, 1 Pickerel Frog, 2 Newts, 1 two lined salamander

Species Dead:  4 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: 0

NOTES: Kathy only saw one live spring peeper during her hour. Paul found the rest of the amphibians. He also met the woman who adopted our site and she does wetland surveys for a company. She had made the site private as she thought that her kids wanted to be involved, but they are not interested.

The dock is in the water!

We popped on over to Caesar Pond and found that the area in front of our put-in was ice free, so we called our neighbor to come on over and help put his dock into the water. Yay! Let the boating season begin!

Then, I took a panorama of the pond. I should be able to call "Ice Out" as soon as the south cove is open in a few days.