Pounding Winds, Wading Pup

This is the moral equivalent of "Here, let me show you pictures of my grandchildren."

We spent a chilly hour in the Gateway area of the Chemung River yesterday. If you go yourself, you will especially want to watch for the tiny frogs that show up occasionally around your feet. It's amazing that they can be so perfect in such miniature.

In the back seat, on the way home, Ellie got a tad banged up during a sudden stop, and I myself am very sore in the knees. Rocky terrain and a cold wind combined to leave me lame enough to react a little too slow to a fast oncoming car. I carefully inspected all her bones and muscles and no complaints, but we are visibly affected.

Now we are both lame, and will not visit our beloved river today. We are staying close to home, with a fire in the fireplace and some catchup on our blogs.

pb
Little Pond

Danger!

Ellie's on shore patrol any day we go to the River. Usually the coast is clear.
Monday, though, there was danger in the water. A snapping turtle. This fellow must weigh at least as much as Ellie. I kept her out as soon as it was pointed out by a concerned fisherman.

pb
Little Pond

Stinky Chemung

Right now the entire area around Newtown Creek is intriguing-looking. It's covered in green.
The creek is very low, almost low enough to cross. But not quite. Ellie can wade and even paddle about.
The knotweed is totally overgrown, and quite messy.
With the river so low, everything stinks to high heavens.
Naturally, the animals don't care.
One could almost walk to the city, just along the shore. Inland is just overgrown with weeds.
On the other banks, however, the dykes are freshly mown. Perhaps the RiverHag will pay a little visit this week...

pb
Little Pond

A little less sucessful

because it rained like a son of a gun. Ellie got a toweling when we returned. She hates that, and does a strange, whiny, lower-leveled growl during the whole procedure.

And yet we got one unusual shot. If you click on the photo, you can pick out the individuals marking the top of the water. If it hadn't been raining so hard, I would have filmed their antics. They looked like teeny-tiny jet-skiers zooming across the water.

Note: if you slept through the rain that Saturday, you may be surprised we got wet at all. Here are some soaking wet shots of irises taken even earlier in the morning.

pb
Little Pond

Can you stand it?

One more baby picture? I'm sounding like a proud auntie or grammy or something.
These two seem to be guarding the nursery.
While this flock of extremely large geese are able to swim and dabble and simply ignore my dog and me.
Let's call this a thornapple for now. (Let's not; it is actually a wild pear or plum!) Looks like an apple tree, but has nasty thorns.

Overall, I am amazed at how quickly the Spring set in. Everything is very lush and green, not untypical for the Finger Lakes area this time of year. A fairly dry, warm April gave way to a cool, rainy May. Just the opposite of the usual.

pb
Little Pond

New Behaviors

I never thought about how different mommies are from everyone else.

This week the geese are showing off their new babies, and we are seeing a whole range of new instinctive behavior. The tiny goslings cause reactions we don't see the rest of the years.

Watch the goose instruct her littles ones on how to move on, sort of shooing them with her head and neck.

I love it. I'm becoming a bird nerd!

pb
Little Pond

Where in the Elmira Area...?

Strange things, indeed.

pb
Little Pond