Happy International Zebra Day!

Also known more prosaically as January 31st. 

And to celebrate, here are some images of Common Zebras.

Enjoy!

Taken in Kenya on our trip in 2015.

🦓  🦓  🦓  🦓  🦓

You can learn more about January 31st, aka International Zebra Day at this link.

Yard Critter of this Past June

A critter native to Northwest Europe which is now found throughout eastern North America, including our yard.

The Dusky Arion, Arion subfuscus.

Most of the slugs around here have a mottled brown coloration. So this one really stuck out. Bright orange yellow. So you'd think it would be easy to identify. So did I. You, and I, would not be correct in that assumption. There is a paucity of info for identifying these critters, either online or in print. If you do know a good slug ID resource please let me know.

So back in June I tried and failed to ID this critter. But as it is cold outside, and we have no where to go anyway, I've started going through my backlog of images (perhaps you've noticed?). And I gave it another go. And this time I got lucky.*

But now I do not remember what it is is on. And that is really bugging me ...

🐌  🐌  🐌  🐌  🐌

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

~~~~~~~~~~~

* I used the Seek app and took a picture of the picture of the slug on my computer screen. And that pointed me in the right direction. 

Wait Til Next Year!

Covid-19 has delayed or canceled pretty much all group activities. And one such casualty was the annual First Day Hike. 

A tradition where a group, sometimes large, sometimes not so large (seems to vary with the temperature), gathers for a pleasant (again somewhat temperature dependent) morning stroll.

This particular New Year's Day, January 1, 2018, found us at Whitesbog.

It was sunny but cold. The bogs frozen over and snow covered. It did make a convenient shortcut for some critter, a deer perhaps.

We passed some ruins ...

... Rome or Florence ...

... I don't recall which. Fanciful names for where the farm laborers lived back in the day.

The Lichens caught my eye.

My to do list has a "learn local lichens" entry on it. Still unchecked ...

This pretty much summed it up.

Here's hoping we can get together  and freeze our butts on January 1, 2022.

Those Were The Days

At the end of the Before Times, just about a year ago, a group of us went to Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont. Home of the Lake Morey Resort and its 4.3 mile ice skating trail.  

Patty, three of her ice hockey friends, and I had a very cold yet very enjoyable weekend, although we stayed at a nearby AirBNB and not at the resort.  

Very, very cold.

Me, I don't skate. I fall. So while they were on the ice, I wandered about in the snow.

I found the overhanging roof snow fascinating.

The icicles, originally formed pointing down, now point up.  

And colorful clouds.

We had planned to stay at the Resort the year before, albeit a smaller group, but a blizzard put the kibosh on those plans. So with a larger group we opted for different accommodations, within comfortable walking distance.

The cold was good for something.

In addition to skating we did a bit of hiking.

The Palisades Trail was between the Lake and our weekend abode. Alas, one of the group, Ginger, had taken a nasty spill on the ice, and decide to sit this hike out.

Fortunately it was not breeding season, so we were good to go.

And up we went. And yes, it was a bit of an adventure coming back down.

The trail was well marked. For now.

The view from the top. You can see our domicile from here. It is the place with the light green roof and two dark windows (and not the one with the green sides).

The sun sets early up north, and it was getting dark as we headed back down. As a preemptive measure, I sat and slid part of the way. No falling for me.

In addition to skating, hiking, and drinking, and of course eating (we always have way too much food!) we went cross country skiing.

At the Strafford Nordic Center.

The trails were nicely groomed. And we had a map. 

But we still somehow wound up on the Kamikaze Trail.

We all survived, although I did fall. More than once. And we all had fun. And I would do it again.

❄️  ❄️  ❄️  ❄️  ❄️

This was last February. And not long after everything shut down. It would be our last trip for some time.

Right about now this same group had planned to be in Lake Placid, enjoying similar activities. 

F*#@*#g Pandemic.

On the Water - Oswego Lake

Back in August, when we humans had figured out how to safely get together with friends while socially distancing, Patty ...  

... our friend Terry (yep, that Terry) ...

... and I ... 

... went kayaking on Oswego Lake.

The scenery, like much of the Pinelands, was gorgeous.

And as a bonus there were nice Sundogs on both side of the Sun (the left dog can be seen in Patty's picture above).

We went in the early evening, after Terry and I finished working for the day. And enjoyed the sunset while floating. (Patty, as a teacher, had the summer off.)

In the midst of the pandemic it was very nice to get out and enjoy an activity where social distancing is built in.

Trash Pickin'

Some years ago, I forget the actual source (perhaps NPR?), I heard a story about a couple who went for regular walks in a local park. In which there was a section which had become overgrown with weeds and was a magnet for trash. And each time they went by they agreed that someone should do something about this. And kept right on walking.

And then one day it dawned on them, they were somebody. And they cleaned it up.

Patty has decided she is somebody (something I had realized long ago). She decided to clean up our street.

Recall the town had decided to 'enhance' our roads (enhancement not included). As a result of the non-enhancement enhancement, all of the trash which had been hidden was now exposed and chopped up. 

Image Courtesy Patty Rehn

Her first haul was two bags, one, the clear bag, she found on the side of the road.

Her second effort, using empty bird seed bags (yes, we have a bird seed addiction) resulted in nine! 

I'm sure the trash collectors love us.

A couple of years ago we visited Rwanda. Where the third Saturday of every month is clean up day. Everyone, from the Prime Minister on down, cleans up the street in front of their home. Rwanda is a very clean country. (We also visited Kenya on that trip, plastic bags everywhere.)

I was more Rwandan than Patty, with my road clean up efforts restricted to our property's frontage.

When I was out of work, and walking most everyday, Patty got me this for my birthday, to take along on my walks, for trash picking. It is quite a handy tool for this task.

So, get yourself a picker upper tool and realize that you to are somebody. And help to make your part of the world a cleaner place.

Fungi Web

In the Flat Red Bark Beetle post, you may have noticed the dark webbing where the bark has fallen away and exposed the tree trunk.

This:

Fungi.

Most fungi is like this, webs in soil or wood or other substrate. The fruiting bodies, mushrooms, puffballs, and the like, are a small and transient part of the organism.

But those are also the visible parts. The webs are rarely seen unless one goes looking for them.

Or an infested tree falls in your yard.

.... Gonna Have Myself A Time

Going down to South Park gonna leave my woes behind.

The mostly dirt South Park Road, through a bit of the Pines, as noted in this post. 

And the reason we were there was, in these Covid times, to get out of the house. 

And to leave those woes behind.

The road is open to the public. Both sides, the semi-wild hunting preserve.

This mouse better watch out.

Although I guess it isn't that easy to spot.

Although once upon a time it was owned by the Birches Cranberry Company.

Perhaps one of their buildings?

And I wonder if this hollow was once a building site?

It would be cool to explore the place, go off roading, but as the sign says, that is not allowed.

"Strictly Forbidden" being the operative phrase.

And as the South Park Hunting Club does not appear to have a web presence, I've found no way to ask for permission to go exploring, outside of hunting season of course.

I guess we'll just have to continue to observe from the road.