Thursday, May 03, 2007
May 2, 2007 Fiddling around with Fiddleheads
On Wednesday I went out for a classic hike around the Birch Hill area, especially on the Northeast side of the hill on the Milford/Hollis town line. By now, you can finally really tell that Spring has arrived. [I'm listening to Aerosmith's "Dude (looks like a lady)" right now as I post this blog, and I have to say that although I love Aerosmith and I've seen them several times over the years, this particular song, I think, is dumb, but anyway] The fiddleheads are out all over the place; below is a photo I took of a couple of them.
I like exploring new territory. I run into some pretty remote areas, where it's still all soaking wet and little ponds everywhere from all of the snow melt. I have to wear these gigantic Sorel boots to wade through all the water and mud out there, but I don't mind. Hey, below is a little remote beaver pond I ran into. They did a nice job on the impressive dam in the foreground. It is amazing that beavers are such...ahh...busy beavers. They alter their environments radically- to their liking. Hmmm. I thought we were the only species that did that.
Below is a really pretty apple orchard where I sometimes enter the woods. This was my entry spot on this hike. On the left side of this field below, along the treeline, you can see how it's kind of a path. I enter those woods up in the background of the photo below.
I saw this great blue heron (below) on another little pond. If you click on the photo below, you can see the heron, although it's a little out of focus or something.
I also saw on this hike loads and load of turtles, and ducks, geese, a variety of birds, and a fish. I guess it's official. Spring has actually finally sprung. And in my mind, this confirms it: Winter this year was time-shifted. I thought initially that winter was being cut short, because we didn't get a real snowstorm until mid February. In actuality, what has occured is that Winter was just as severe and long as usual, but the entire season was pushed back a month in time. Like, starting Jan 21 instead of Dec. 21. And ending April 21, instead of March 21. I wonder if it is just a fluke or if winter has permanently moved to a new time-slot?
I like exploring new territory. I run into some pretty remote areas, where it's still all soaking wet and little ponds everywhere from all of the snow melt. I have to wear these gigantic Sorel boots to wade through all the water and mud out there, but I don't mind. Hey, below is a little remote beaver pond I ran into. They did a nice job on the impressive dam in the foreground. It is amazing that beavers are such...ahh...busy beavers. They alter their environments radically- to their liking. Hmmm. I thought we were the only species that did that.
Below is a really pretty apple orchard where I sometimes enter the woods. This was my entry spot on this hike. On the left side of this field below, along the treeline, you can see how it's kind of a path. I enter those woods up in the background of the photo below.
I saw this great blue heron (below) on another little pond. If you click on the photo below, you can see the heron, although it's a little out of focus or something.
I also saw on this hike loads and load of turtles, and ducks, geese, a variety of birds, and a fish. I guess it's official. Spring has actually finally sprung. And in my mind, this confirms it: Winter this year was time-shifted. I thought initially that winter was being cut short, because we didn't get a real snowstorm until mid February. In actuality, what has occured is that Winter was just as severe and long as usual, but the entire season was pushed back a month in time. Like, starting Jan 21 instead of Dec. 21. And ending April 21, instead of March 21. I wonder if it is just a fluke or if winter has permanently moved to a new time-slot?# posted by chuck @ 7:03 PM 
