Not Fun.
My doctors and physical therapists told me that walking was one of the best exercises to avoid a recurrence. As I lost my job in April I now had plenty of time to walk. So I did.
The road we live on passes through wooded areas and is lightly trafficked.
In the morning when I do my walking I might have a dozen cars pass. I mostly have the road to myself.
Well, me and the critters. Like that White-tailed Deer down the road.
See. Much too common in these parts, deer were a daily companion on my morning saunters.
And even with the limited traffic, deer still get hit, damaging to the car and fatal to the deer. But as can be seen, from death comes life. Damm flies (deer are just all around bad (well, except for the meat, which can be tasty)).
Eastern Cottontails we also frequent companions.
Birds were plentiful, but as I had but my phone hard to image.
Wild Turkeys were numerous. This female Wild Turkey was very agitated at my passing. So much so she forgot she could fly.
Here we see why she was so concerned. There are eight poults down there.
Keeping Chickens is popular with my neighbors all along the road.
I saw plenty of birds on my walks, but the only other 'bird' image from my travels was of an eggshell, the species it belongs to I know not.
I only saw Eastern Box Turtles on one day, but that day I saw three individuals.
Sadly, the only other reptiles I saw were dead snakes, like this Rough Green Snake. It is cool to know that they are in the neighborhood.
There were also many squished frogs on the road. But there were plenty of live ones in the roadside ditches. As well as other places were the next generation was on the way.
This puddle was fun of tadpoles. Curiously, those on either side were not.
And then one day they were gone. All that remained were the tracks in the mud.
Even bigafied, it's not obvious that this is a state forest sign on the tree. This tree is behind the tadpole puddle, and the state forest extends behind and beyond our place.
Across the street was this sign.
Which means that a good portion of the headwaters of the South Branch of Rancocas Creek are protected. Very cool.
One morning I saw this, and 37 others, along my three mile stretch of road (yep, I was walking six miles every morning*). That's one every 428 feet. And many were along wooded portions of this low traffic road. And then the very next day they were gone. All of them. So I figured the dog had been found and the owner was conscientious and cleaned up. Good on them. There are other such signs that have been up for months.
And then on the third day.
And on the fifth day all gone once again. I've not seen them since. I hope Buster is home safe and sound.
Not far from the sign above was a flower now blooming in our yard, Maryland Meadow Beauty.
And this one is nearer to our place, Swamp Azalea. We've planted them in our yard, but they've not done well. Damm deer.
There were several patches on Prickly Pear nicely in bloom.
And one patch of Milkweed, far enough from the road to avoid the monthly township mower.
Much to the delight of Monarchs and this Monarch fan.
Other caterpillars included this Green-striped Mapleworm, which will eventually dig into the dirt and emerge as a Rosy Maple Moth.
These two road warriors have so far eluded identification.
If you know what species either (or both) are please let me know in the comments.
And as another example of death leading to life, I doubt we'll ever know what caterpillar these parasitic wasps have sucked dry.
Adult Lepidoptera included this Greater Grapevine Looper moth.
And this Spring Azure butterfly.
In addition to those dammed flies other insects I encountered in my jaunts included this Horned Passalus beetle.
And these Pleasing Fungus Beetles.
It wasn't all a nature walk. Humanity had left its mark. From the artistic (although I actually liked it better rusted).
To the asinine. I've never understood the rational behind dumping along the road (or even stranger, deep in the forest) in a place with weekly trash removal. All of these discarded bicycle tires, as well as the other trash, would fit in a regular sized trash can. WTF?
There was this small pile of trash, which would again easily fit in a trash can. We've put out as many as three trashcans of stuff, along with an old bed including mattress and frame, and they've always taken everything. It was the arrow which caught my eye here. What I didn't notice were the deer bones, a couple of which are visible (sorry Bernie, no skull).
We live thirty or so miles from the ocean. So it is not unusual for people to own boats. But why pick this neighborhood as a boat graveyard? This was shot through a fence, and I couldn't get past the locked gate, but there are another six or so boats just rotting away back there. Huh?
But the WTF Grand Prize goes to this place. There are not one but two dumpsters outside this 'house' and right in the center of the image is a solid wall of trash. Really a solid wall of trash. It is at least ten feet deep. Up until a week before this shot people were living there. How can you live like that? And again, the township collects trash every Wednesday.
Every single Wednesday (except holidays; and then they come by the next business day).
The property was recently sold at auction, and one morning I met the fellow who bought it. He plans to fix it up and move in. If it were me, I'd raze it and rebuilt. I can't imagine how filthy the conditions were inside.
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Iceland. It worked. And the trip, except for one absolutely miserable day, was awesome.
Maybe I'll blog about it some day (of course, I still haven't blogged about my Uganda trip, so it may be awhile ...).
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* I started doing just over four miles, from my house to Route 70 and back. And then upped it to six by adding the distance to the Beagle Club and back. And I admit, some mornings were just too hot, so I slept in those days.
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