Camping at Meroo National Park

Birds on a line, sunrise

Outside our living room windows...

It rains so much....

Up here in the mountains of the Northeast it rains. A lot. And this is coming from someone who grew up in Oregon. Especially during the spring and summer months. This year from May through most of August it rained at least three days of the week. And not just drizzly, wimpy rain. This is crashing thunder, exploding lighting rain. This is inches of water in just a couple hours rain. So much rain in fact that the puddles in the drive way became permanent fixtures. And not only that, they have become eco systems! The largest of the puddles had enough aquatic life to call it a pond. We even had frogs this year:

This one with the car is just for size reference. Not really that big of a puddle, but it's never empty.


Just this evening we saw a couple frogs hop away as we returned from our walk with Asa. It may be the mountains, but it's a jungle out here.

Progress report

Oh how things grow in the wilds of the Catskill Mountains...
the apples are coming
and the blackberries too.
The nasturtium get even bigger
along with the pumpkins and
the grapes.
The peas are slow growers, but they are coming along nicely.

And there are wildflowers GALORE...

I am in floral heaven, bunches of daisies and irises and wild roses bless every table and counter in our home, dusty warm scents wafting into ever corner. It is summer bliss.
A garden update is coming soon....everything grows and grows in The Land of fast Moving Waters.

The mystery of Mrs Bird

...has been solved (thank you Bess and The North American Encyclopedia of Birds)! She is a Chipping Sparrow, apparently pretty common in these parts. And, whats even more exciting, is that her little blue eggs have hatched! They came out about a week ago, but its been difficult to get good pictures of the little guys...until today! I was patiently sitting in my little nook that spies right down into the nest when Momma came back. As soon as the wee ones heard her they threw open their gullets, hoping for something tasty.
Too cute!
Momma protects the nest.

In other news and happenings.....

The lilacs bloomed

and we found snakes that live under the front porch.

Ang enjoyed our fist real thunderstorm...in the buff.

We had our first house guest (hi Drew!) who found a friend of his own

On and on we roll...
...with Steve to point the way.

Birds, bunnies and butterflies (and Steve)

The wildlife that surrounds us...

Baby bunny came to join me near the garden yesterday. She sat and watched me water and weed and didn't move one tiny little muscle - even when I came closer for a picture.

The mystery of Mrs. Bird is yet to be solved. I still don't think she's a robin, she's just too tiny (and doesn't have the tell tale brown/red chest). She's about 4-5 inches long and her mate has similar markings only a yellow head. Perhaps finches or wrens? We shall see when the wee ones hatch -- I have a perfect bird's eye view of the whole Bird family.

The local butterflies come in for a drink in the diminishing spring rain puddles.

Steve enjoys a well deserved pet

...after checking to make sure the pantry was free of mice.

Bears in the backyard

Just moments after rescuing a hummingbird, exhausted nearly to death trying to find her way out of our enclosed porch (pictures and story to follow shortly); we spotted our first bear. He was slowly combing the back yard, presumably looking for something tasty. I had only a few moments to discover it's presence and then run inside to grab the camera....