Drew constructed a new bridge!

With my knee instability and Toby's blindness, Drew decided to construct a new bridge over the creek. Here, Drew is inspecting the old bridge that he put in place 15 years ago. The goal is to move that bridge to another location and replace it with a bridge that is 6" wider. In the foreground, you can see that Drew carried the boards from home using a firewood hauler.

Drew decided to construct the new bridge at the creek because it was to be made from super heavy, recycled, pressure treated wood from Ernie's old dock and our old front deck. Drew had to make several trips from home to the creek to haul all the materials there. By the way, the air was a frigid 15F feel-like temperature!

After watching big bridge construction over the years, Drew remembered that the old bridge would be moved off to the side and the new bridge would be installed in its place. So, that is what Drew did. He moved the old bridge to the left (and tested its capability of keeping stable,) hauled the new bridge up and slid it as far as he could across the gap. The end of the new bridge ended up in the water. But, Drew just walked across the old bridge, to get to the far side of the creek, and pulled the new bridge up into place. You can see him hauling the old bridge to its new location. Super genius!

And, voila! Both bridges are now in place and ready to use. Drew pounded a couple of rebar rods into the ground, and fashioned some wood stakes as well, to hold the bridges in place in high, rushing water. Now, we can keep our feet dry and neither Toby nor I will fall into the creek!

Longish walk in the woods

Whoooeee! I took the longest time yet to traverse the woods! We took 112 minutes (almost 2 hours) to walk 1.37ish miles. Poor Drew and Toby... I am such a slow poke.

But we had uneven trails to walk, mud to slog through, ice to navigate, a creek to cross, brush to remove from the trails, photos to take and Toby with his blind dog stand-up strikes because he didn't want to go where we wanted to go! 

Here is the old county road where water has iced over a bit in the tracks of the ATVs that traverse it.

I took a photo of the edge of the track where you can see the frost crystals that have formed.

Drew's bridge is still standing after all the rushing water from the rain, wind, and snow melt.  

You can see the rushing water under the bridge. It took me a few tries to cross it as I got a bit of vertigo from the motion of the water. But, I figured if Toby could do it, so could I! It is a bit skinny for the unsteady of foot, and for a blind dog. Toby fell off it several years ago, but was successful at crossing it today as he took it very slowly. Drew is so great at guiding him. 

Further up the trail, I found more crystals and ice to photograph. There were lots of wet areas and lots of drainage from all the melting. I love this photo as you can see layers of ice and crystallization patterns. And, the sun was hitting it in such a pretty way.

I also love this frosty ice on a tiny puddle. So pretty...

Happy Winter Solstice!

 

Snow Day # 1

The table shows the last 8" of snow in the afternoon as the snowfall was just about done.

 We got 15 inches of light, fluffy snow today! It was easy to shovel and was so pretty.

Here is a photo of the bird feeding area after the first 7" of snow had come down. There was double that amount at the end of the storm.

I love mourning doves, and this one spent a lot of time near the feeder station

Drew took the screen out of the guest room window so that I can have an unobstructed view of the outdoors for photo purposes. All I have to do is bundle up and open the window to the snowy world!

I took this photo through the kitchen window in the morning.

There were a lot of bluejays at the feeder today. This bluejay was patiently waiting his turn.

Once I went into the guest room, I could get closer to the birds.

It was nice to finally be able to photograph them without a dirty window between me and the birds, and they didn't get spooked.

First measurable snow of the season

 We got 7" of snow from this awful storm. First it rained, followed by snow, followed by rain, followed by snow. By the time we got around to shoveling it, it was hardened like a brick. This was by far the heaviest snow we have ever tried to move around.

Crazy Warm November Weather

 WHAT??? NOVEMBER???

Hix Small Cemetery to Gordy's woods walk

Today, we maxed out my knee! First, I did a slow mile on the elliptical machine. Then, an hour later we drove to Hix Small Cemetery Rd. and walked over to Gordy's property via the old county rd. This walk challenged me to new levels as I haven't gone down as steep a slope as I did, on part of this walk, since before my first knee surgery 15 months ago. I had to zig-zag down the slope and be careful of every footstep. As it was, my knee gave way just before crossing the creek near the last 1/4 mile of the walk (thank goodness I was using my walking poles as they saved me from face planting.) I really pushed it today. Each time I go out, I push myself a bit more. Hopefully, by next summer I will be able to walk small hills and not think of them as insurmountable mountains. Everything I do is magnified in difficulty at this moment. I always feel sorry for the people who choose to walk with me as I am agonizingly slow...slow...slow...

Maine Foliage Report

Autumn color change in Maine is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule due to the drought that we are in, as well as cooler temps. and frost in the inland and northern reaches of the state. Read the entire story on the Maine Foliage Report.

Autumn colors on the way to work

My outdoor time is so limited, due to my incredible school hybrid classroom workload, that I have taken to enjoying the autumn colors as we whiz by in the car. Our bit of the planet is a riot of reds, oranges, and yellows.

Snapping Turtle Hatchlings and False Alarm

Sort of false alarm...This morning, we spied the nest hole opening to the turtle nest and expected to see an exodus of baby snapping turtles during the day. This seemed to be right on schedule at 95 days from being laid. Strangely enough, that did not happen. Drew saw three tinier than usual turtles that had emerged, but when he came back to check a little later, they had disappeared. All I can think is that those three were able to crawl under the fencing and escape. Since then, the fencing has been secured and there has been no activity.

So, Drew put an endoscope into the nest cavity (about 3.5" under the surface) to see what was going on down there. Not much as you can see. There were at least 30 eggs laid, and you can see some of them poking up through the sand, with the rest still completely covered.

Check out the rounded bumps of the eggs under the sand. Cool! I expect lots of activity by the weekend and into next week, but never have I seen just a few hatchlings and then nothing...