Garden Diary

Icy Walking.

2012-01-29T12:34:00.001-05:00

1-29-12 VERMONT: For January in VT, it’s not that cold at 32°, but with the wind feels colder. The snow surface is hard and icy and walking the pasture treacherous unless you stamp your feet with each step to break the crust. We have had snow, rain and more snow and the temperatures have been repeatedly above and below freezing. The surface has thawed and frozen over and over. Still, it’s not a harsh winter, yet.

All's Well That Ends Well.

2012-01-28T13:46:00.003-05:00

1-28-12 VERMONT: We have been here two days, both action filled. We arrived Thursday afternoon, turned on the water, but there was none. We usually turn off the water in winter when we’re not here to prevent the drains from freezing. I checked the circuit breaker—OK, I checked the valve again—OK, so I concluded that the problem must be the water pump.

A modern drilled well, our is about 180 feet deep, has an electric pump at the bottom to pump water to the house on demand. We called Valley Artesian who arrived quickly and confirmed that it was a problem down the hole. We used bottled water for basic drinking, cooking, washing overnight and in the morning.

The well guys were back early and had the pump out and found a frayed electric wire to explain the failure. Because our pump, at 25 years old, was over the usual llfe expectancy, we replaced it with a new version, and a few minutes later, had water. The first water was filled with sand or grit because the activity had disturbed the aquifer. A new water filter I had put in a month ago turned from white to black in a few minutes. We are still using bottled water for drinking and tooth brushing, but the well water works for showers, washing, dishwasher, etc.

Today the electric went out.

We had a bit of a snow to add to the five inches on the ground, then freezing rain to get everything icy. I feared we would get a lot of damage, but didn't.

Glazed Apple.

Today is partly sunny, the ice is gone and the view is back.

Sam 1997-2012.

2012-01-27T13:13:00.003-05:00

1-27-12 VERMONT: Our friend Sam, short for Samantha, a name that she never answered to, died in her sleep early yesterday. For the past year she had been losing her agility, her hearing, her vision and her stamina.

Once, she could run down the middle of a stream, without seeming to look for the rocks, and never get wet. She loved the car, and if you parked in the driveway leaving an open window, she would be in the driver’s seat when you came back. After an early career of car chasing, barking sprees and all-nighters in the pasture, she settled in a more sedate routine of only barking at trucks, especially ones with flashing lights.

She had an incredibly thick coat, much thicker than the goldens, and needed combing once or twice a month to remove the shed fur that was still on the dog. Each grooming would yield enough fur to make a whole new dog.

We adopted her at about age two, according to the vet. Since she came with no history other than stray dog, St. Huberts ID’d her as ‘border collie’, but that was no more than speculation. On two occasions, I saw very similar dogs, but neither owner knew what the mix was either.

Even thought she was sick, deteriorating and had no chance of recovery, it’s still a heart breaker. Even though it was her time to go, it never gets easier.

Dare I Say,"Mild Winter?"

2012-01-25T16:01:00.002-05:00

1-25-12 SHORT HILLS: A couple of warmish days after the rain and the snow is gone except remnants of the plow piles in the driveway. The forecast is generally mild for the next week but for a possible wintry mix later this week. We are more than a month past the winter solstice and this winter is so much milder than the last one—but there’s a month to go. Vermont tomorrow.

Snowy Owl.

2012-01-23T10:51:00.005-05:00

1-23-12 SHORT HILLS: Here’s more for the birds. The NYT has a story this morning about Snowy Owls moving south. It’s not another global warming story, but about hungry birds hunting for food. They usually live in the circumpolar, arctic regions eating lemmings, among other small animals, but the lemming population has crashed, as it periodically does. The birds have been seen as far south as Kansas and even Hawaii and across the US from Oregon to Boston. This type of occasional migration is known as an irruption.

Here in NJ, we had snow a few days ago, but it’s warmer today, and the snow is turning into fog. Rain is forecast for later.

Here's a link to the NYT article to the right:

Snowy Owl, from the NYT-1/23/12, looks like Hedwig.

The Enchanted Island.

2012-01-16T10:48:00.004-05:00

1-16-12 SHORT HILLS: On Saturday we saw The Enchanted Island at the Metropolitan Opera. The production is a pastiche, a new production made by stitching together music from prior operas, a tradition of the 18th century. In this case, Jeremy Sams and company used music of Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and a few other baroque composers and Shakespeare’s plays The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with new lyrics, in English, from Mr. Sams to create a feast for the eyes and ears embellished with electronic effects and graphics.

It is set on Prospero’s island and has ship wrecks, sorcery, storms, spells, duets, quartets, mermaids, animals, deep-sea adventures and everything else you expect in an opera.

If you can’t see it live, try the HD movie events. Clips below....

Galapagos-1983, Fernandina.

2012-01-14T13:28:00.010-05:00

1-14-12 SHORT HILLS: These pix are from an island in the Galapagos that we didn’t get to this trip. Fernandina is the westernmost island, the newest, with an active volcano and the youngest lava flows. This spot, Punta Espinosa, is on the northeast corner. The day we were there was teeming and foggy adding to the otherworldly look of the place. It’s all lava, black sand and surf with only an occasional, scruffy cactus.

Because of the rain, I had my Pentax SLR in a plastic bag with the corner cut off for the end of the lens. Focusing and adjusting the f-stop was difficult, and the footing was treacherous, hence the marginal quality of the images. This bleak spot seems to be paradise for the marine iguanas and the flightless cormorants. The cormorants are only found here and a few spots on Isabela and are vulnerable as a species.

Colony of dozens and dozens of Marine Iguanas, all black, enjoying the weather.

Another big bunch of iguanas.

Two Flightless Cormorants in silhouette, necks flexed, a common posture.

Cormorant with neck extended. The ship is visible beyond the surf, faintly seen through the rain and fog.

Black Sand, lava flows, sea lion or two in shallow water.

Flightless cormorant facing right with neck flexed and chin on chest, stubby, right wing seen on end.

Standing cormorant, flying pelican. The darkest masses on the far shore are bunches of iguanas. People on horizon.

Cormorant, same pose, facing left, wing folded. Iguana closer to the water.

Frigate Bird Gets Fed.

2012-01-13T15:19:00.009-05:00

1-13-12 SHORT HILLS: There are some good shots in the Galapagos-1983 Album. [The link is to the right.] I’ll post a few entries over the next few days using them, to supplement the stories from last week.

Here are a few. These big birds are Frigate birds. They’re so named because they steal fish from other sea birds by diving at them after they make a catch. The males have that red organ on their necks that they inflate during mating season. The females have a white chest. The immature birds have white heads. The immatures hang around the nest tree waiting for the female to return with fish. I don’t know if the males participate in rearing the young.

In this series the female returns to the immature bird with a fish in her crop that the immature gets for dinner. A second immature, either a sibling or a non-relative is on the far right in some of the pix, the second immature tries to steal the first immature’s meal after the female leaves.

"It must be almost dinner time. I wonder where Ma is?"

"Hi, Sweetie, I'm back."

"Have you been a good immature frigate bird?"

"Where's my dinner, Ma?"

"O, I see it now."

"Outta my face, bro."

"Wait for you're own fish."

Galapagos-1983.

2012-01-12T14:35:00.003-05:00

1-12-12 Short Hills: I looked at my slides from our March, 1983 trip to the Galapagos. They were, obviously, film, not digital, and somewhat deteriorated. The colors have faded, and the image quality was poorer than I remember. I took digital pix of some of them and edited, attempting to restore quality, with partial, at most, success. Some of them are up in a Picasa album, [Galapagos-1983] with a link on the right. I'll do a post with some of the images later in the week.

Galapagos Birds III.

2012-01-10T09:23:00.009-05:00

1-10-12 SHORT HILLS: Here are the last of my Galapagos birds. There are a few repeats. I think we saw, and ID’d, about half of the birds listed in the guide, Wildlife of the Galapagos, J. Fitter, D. Fitter and D. Hosking, Princeton Univ. Press, 2000.

I will dig out my slides from our previous trip and see if I have some different birds to add in another post.

Again, the captions show—Island, Species, resident status. I think some of the Plovers were in winter plumage and some in breeding plumage. Anybody have a different take?

Baltra, immature Egret, resident.

Santa Cruz, Smooth-billed Ani, introduced.

Santa Cruz, Wandering Tattler, migrant.

Isabela, Whimbrel, migrant.

Isabela, Semi-palmated Plover, migrant.

Isabela, Black-necked Stilt, found only in Galapagos.

Isabela, White-cheeked Pintail, found only in Galapagos, subspecies found elsewhere.

Isabela, Black-necked Stilt, found only in Galapagos.

Isabela, White-cheeked Pintail, found only in Galapagos, subspecies found elsewhere.

Isabela, Common Gallinule, resident and found elsewhere.

Floreana, Sanderling, migrant.

Galapagos Birds II.

2012-01-09T13:21:00.014-05:00

1-9-12 SHORT HILLS: The weather here remains unusually mild for January and dry. Here are more birds from the Galapagos. The captions show Island, Species, Native status.

Floreana, Lava Heron, found only in Galapagos.

Floreana, Great Blue Heron, found elsewhere.

Floreana, Semi-palmated Plover, migrant.

Floreana, Black-bellied Plover, migrant.

Floreana, Yellow Warblers in boudoir, found only in Galapagos, subspecies found elsewhere.

Espanola, Hood Mockingbird, found only in Galapagos.

Espanola, American Oystercatcher, found only in Galapagos, subspecies found elsewhere.

Espanola, Semi-palmated Plover, migrant.

Los Lobos, Small Ground Finch, found only in Galapagos.

Los Lobos, Yellow Wharbler, found only in Galapagos, subspecies found elsewhere.

San Cristobal, Galapagos Flycatcher, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, Wandering Tattler-winter plumage, migrant.

Genovesa, Whimbrel, migrant.

Genovesa, Ruddy Turnstone, migrant.

Galapagos Birds.

2012-01-07T10:16:00.012-05:00

1-7-12 SHORT HILLS: I have presented the journey, day by day, and won’t dicuss the ghastly trip home with canceled flights by LAN airlines, but we did get home, sort of on schedule, 12-31-11.

Since I have only shown a small fraction of my pix so far, I thought I would do more Galapagos birds. Not the iconic ones, boobies, penguins and frigates, that I have already shown, but some of the other ones that we saw. Many are found only in the Galapagos, some have similar relatives elsewhere. Like most of the Galapagos animals, the birds are much more approachable than they are elsewhere. You get better pix.

I have tried to ID them all, but it’s easy to confuse immature of one species with adults of another, and a lot of adults are similar, plus plumage changes with gender and season. So, I am quite willing to be corrected on IDs. I have noted the island, my species ID, and how unique to the Galapagos they are.

Santa Cruz, Brown Pelican, subspecies widely found.

Santa Cruz, Cactus Ground Finch, found only in Galapagos.

North Seymour, Western Sandpiper, migrant during Northern winter.

Genovesa, Galapagos Mockingbird, found only in Galapagos. [above and below]

Genovesa, Lava Gull, immature, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, Galapagos Dove, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, immature Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, related subspecies found elsewhere.

Genovesa, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, related subspecies found elsewhere.

Genovesa, immature Swallow Tail Gull, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, immature Lava Heron, found only in Galapagos. [above and below]

Genovesa, Large Ground Finch, found in Galapagos only.

Day Eight, Our Last.

2012-01-06T08:15:00.009-05:00

1-6-12 SHORT HILLS: This is our last day. I'm sad all over again about ending the trip a second time.

12-30-11 GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR: We’re back in this airport, our third visit in about a week, but it has Wi-Fi. We left the boat for a bus early this morning for our return to the airport on Baltra after getting up even earlier for breakfast. In the highlands of Santa Cruz, we were lead into a lava cave, twenty feet high and ten feet wide and mostly white from oxidation of the magnesium in the basalt. We went in about 200 feet, turned off the flashlights and experienced total darkness. The sides and roof are remarkably smooth and uniform.

Back in the daylight we went on to a highland farm, grasslands and forests, where the tortoises roam free. We saw a couple dozen, several occupying a shallow water hole. They were up to four feet long and three feet high and mostly stationary. I can see why the hare was over confident. After the tortoises, it was back on the bus to the ferry from Santa Cruz to Baltra. A hop, and on another bus to the airport for the usual pre-flight mazes. Hopefully home on schedule.

Lava tube forms when the outer part of a flow hardens, but the inner material continues to flow away leaving the hollow tube. The white coating is oxidized magnesium and the red-brown stuff is oxidized iron.

Glad to get out.

The highlands is much damper than the coast and, so, much greener.

Tortoise in the wild.

Swim period.

"Bye now. I'll be here when your great grand kids come by."

Day Seven.

2012-01-05T09:04:00.015-05:00

1-5-12 SHORT HILLS: It's back in the thirties here, and Vermont has snow flurries. In the Galapagos the low was 70° and the high 80° everyday. Here's Day Seven...

12-29-11 ISLA ISABELA, GALAPAGOS: Last night’s cruise wasn’t bad, like rocking in the cradle, almost. Isabela is one of the two youngest islands and, by far, the largest, with six active volcanoes. On the southern coast, where we are, in Puerto Jose de Villamil, there are two thousand residents, humans, badly out-numbered by the sea lions and marine iguanas. Our first jaunt was through a mangrove forest on a boardwalk, avoiding the sea lions and iguanas.

Next, after a short taxi ride to a lake in an old quarry, we saw birds, Galapagos ducks, some waders and other water birds, and the flamingos that were displaced from Floreana. There are less than there were, and the naturalists think the flamingos are leaving for the Caribbean, but have no idea why. We started walking back to town and went to Isabela’s tortoise preservation center.

There are five species of tortoises on Isabela, each on its own volcano. The tortoises are endangered by mammals, grazers trample the nests, mice and rats eat the eggs, dogs and cats kill the new born tortoises and goat compete for their food, cactus and grass. Adult tortoises are safe from such predation, but no eggs or young survive in the wild. The preservation center staff gather eggs laid in the wild, as well as the eggs laid in the center, allow them to hatch as if they were in the wild, and oversee the development of the newborns and juveniles. The adults are re-introduced to the appropriate habitat in the wild in successive stages. The whole operation seems to be successful.

We returned to town on a walkway through treed areas and wetlands, colonized volcanic flows. There were lots of water birds and waders and iguanas. Then came lunch on the boat and after rest period, some of us went snorkeling and others napped. In the late afternoon, we did another walk on an island in the harbor, Las Tintoreras, covered with aa lava, large, rough cindery chunks with sharp points. The name is Hawaiian and comes from what people say when they walk on aa lava with bare feet. The lava is splashed with white lichen.

The island is home to scads of marine iguanas, the adults may be the largest that we have seen. They’re black with yellowish tint. A narrow crevasse on the edge of the island is open to the ocean and filled with fish, including white tip sharks, and a large sea turtle.

There were plenty of shore birds also. On the way back to the boat in the zodiacs we saw one penguin, perhaps a juvenile, standing on a guano covered rock having a stare-down with a blue footed booby. We thought it ended in a draw. About four adult penguins were swimming and diving nearby. In the water they look like ducks. As soon as we were back on the boat, the crew set sail for Santa Cruz and Puerto Ayora.

Tomorrow we explore the highlands of Santa Cruz and wend our way back to Baltra for the return flight to Guayaquil and, eventually NY-JFK.

A mangrove forest from the inside. These forests provide protection for the near-shore habitat and are filled with wildlife. See the bird top center?

Mangroves from the outside at low tide. Sea lion and crabs on the rock in the center. The Galapagos tidal excursion is four to six feet, as you can see, depending on the phase of the moon.

Flamingo in a lake in an old quarry. The lake is enjoyed by lots of water birds.

Flamingo landing, the black feathers disappear when not in flight.

Tortoise on the move.

Tortoise yawn, perhaps it's a boring meeting.

This lava flow is pahoehoe lava. It has a smooth, braided or ropy look. This area is undergoing colonization by the plants.

White-tipped shark fairly deep in the water. The dorsal fin and tail have the white tips.

Sea turtle near the surface of the seawater-filled lava crevice.

This island is a breeding ground for the marine iguana.

This is aa lava. When the lava cools, it breaks up into cinders, each with dozens of glassy, sharp points. The name is from people's comments while walking on it with bare feet.

Galapagos penguin.

Blue footed booby intruding on the penguin's space precipitated a debate between the two parties.

Day Six.

2012-01-04T09:50:00.013-05:00

1-4-12 SHORT HILLS: It was 11° this morning. A week ago we were warmer...

12-28-11 ISLA FLOREANA, GALAPAGOS: This morning we had a wet landing on a dark sand beach of volcanic origin. Looking down the beach, it had a greenish tint, due to particles of olivine, a basaltic mineral. At the back of the beach was a wall of tuff, volcanic ash lithified, and now weathering into coarse sand at the base of the wall and lower down the beach, the finer sand. Resident on the beach the usual herd of sea lions and a great blue heron.

Walking inland, we passed a brine lake, with a cracked mud shoreline and busy piper-like waders. This spot used to be home to the Galapagos flamingos, and we saw them on our previous trip, but the recent Pacific tsunami destroyed the habitat that the flamingos needed, krill, and they’re gone. Moving on across the neck between two volcanic hills, we came to a white, fine sand beach. About six inches down below the white sand was the coarser, darker volcanic sand. Above the tide line were turtle nests and turtle tracks leading to them and, then, back to the sea. In the surf, there were about ten turtles, frequently on the surface. Their shells are four feet long and black. We saw another blue heron on that beach.

After the hike, we snorkeled at Devils Crown, where I had snorkeled years ago. This snorkeling was excellent, zillions of fish and shear rock walls. Watching the fish, in huge schools, they would suddenly all scatter, and a moment later a sea lions would flash through the scene. The water had decent clarity and wasn’t very cold.

After lunch we had another wet landing on Post Office Bay and saw the post office barrel. It is a relic of the whaling era. Outbound ships would leave letters for home in this barrel, and home-bound ships would stop there, check out the mail and take for deliver anything addressed to their home states. The tradition continues, and we picked up mail for Hanover, NH and Thetford, VT.

Later we watched the crew of our boat play soccer against the crew of another boat, assisted by Joey and Jon. Tomorrow—Isabela.

We landed first on this dark sand beach. Can you see a greenish tinge? It's not algae, but olivine, a mineral from volcanic basalt. A volcano, inactive, is visible in the distance.

At the back of the beach is this wall, the source of the beach sand. The wall is made of layers of volcanic ash. There is coarse sand at the base of the wall and finer sand on the beach.

This lake between the two beaches used to be home to flamingos, but the tsunami flooded it and destroyed the krill that the flamingos eat. Flamingos have gone, some to Isabela.

The second beach, across a neck of land and past the lake, is a favorite of the sea turtle. This one is returning to the sea, probably after laying eggs.

Turtle trail, back and forth, to and from the nest, on the left the flipper marks slant toward the water and indicate the upward trek to the nest.

One of several turtles near the beach.

Great Blue Heron working the beach looks just like the ones at our Vermont pond.

Under the fine white sand is coarser, dark sand of basaltic origin.

Crab shoveling in the algae.

Devils Crown is the remnant of a volcanic crater and a great snorkeling spot.

A carpet of fish.

When they all suddenly disappear, look for the sea lion.

The P. O. at Post Office Bay.

Day Five.

2012-01-03T09:55:00.009-05:00

1-3-12 SHORT HILLS: We've caught up on sleep and chores and our tans are fading. Here's Day Five...

12-27-11 ISLA ESPANOLA, GALAPAGOS: After another rolling sail to Espanola during the night, we spent the morning on the beach with the sea lions and lots of flies and the marine iguanas decorated in red and green on black. We saw turtle tracks in the sand back and forth to nests high on the beach above the high tide line. Later we saw four or five rays in the surf near the shore, and then, six or eight turtles near the shore. Some of us swam and snorkeled with the turtles.

Later in the morning we went snorkeling, at two different sites, neither exceptionable, with the water sometimes clear, lots of fish, sea lions occasionally zipping through the scene. When we were all back in the zodiacs, we went into a cave with some sea lions. At the back of the cave was the bottom of a blow hole.

After lunch, we did the four km hike on the main island over weathered lava rock and boulders. The island is at sea level on the north side where we landed, gently rising to cliffs on the south side. When we landed, there were lots of sea lions, which we saw everywhere, and lots of the red and green iguanas, the juveniles are only black. The mockingbirds are totally aggressive about seeking water, pecking at water bottles tops and buzzing people drinking. We are not allowed to give them anything.

Later on the trail we saw lots of Nazca boobies, mating, nesting and with eggs and newly hatched young. Blue boobies were also there and immatures of both boobies. The excitement on the walk was the albatross, immatures, and adults in mating mode. Like the boobies, the albatross engage in beak clacking with each other after he presents her with a stick as a nest starter. The other find was two Galapagos hawks, both perched on vantage points scanning for prey. On the cliff side of the island there is a crack in the lava near the shore line that is a blowhole, performing about every sixth wave. We also saw finches and yellow warblers.

After dinner there was another pitching trip to Floreana.

Mockingbird, they are brazen and clever, one tried to open a water bottle by pecking at the top.

Baby sea lion, cute, but you're not allowed near them. If you touch them, it changes their scent and they will be rejected by their moms who rely on scent to ID their babies.

Turtles near the shore have been laying eggs above the high tide line, a multi-day process.

On land the sea lions appear ungainly and clumsy, but in the water they have the speed of torpedoes and agility of a trapeze artist.

The cave can only be entered from the water.

Marine iguana catching some rays. They warm up lying in the sun on baked rocks.

Nazca boobies are named for the tectonic plate under these island. They are also called masked boobies.

The first of two Galapagos hawks we saw.

No basic black here. On Espanola they go for Christmas colors.

The blow hole fires about every fifth or sixth wave.

Albatross in mating ritual. They are turkey-sized, but, unlike turkeys, are great fliers.

Albatross showing some of that seven-foot wing span. Too big to get it all in the frame.

The second hawk, both were perched on the highest local spot and busy scanning the neighborhood.

Day Four.

2012-01-02T12:24:00.008-05:00

1-2-12 SHORT HILLS: We are slowly catching up on sleep, bills, laundry, news, and the dogs are happy to be home. The weather is beginning to act like January. Below is Day Four.

12-26-11 ISLA SAN CRISTOBAL, GALAPAGOS: The winds calmed down during our trip here, and everybody felt better. This morning was typical, cloudy early and cool, turning hot when the sun burnt off the cloud cover. The wind picked up in the afternoon, but was gone in the evening when it cooled down.

In the morning we went to the interpretive center for lessons in Galapagos history, geology and biology, and then a walk on their trail to a scenic overlook and a visit to the Darwin statue. After the lessons, we recessed in town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the Galapagos capitol, for Dramamine, sun screen, tees and hats, and ice cream and drinks.

After lunch on the boat, we were joined by two new passengers for the one empty cabin, and we all went to a nearby island, Los Lobos, for a hike and snorkel. This little, flat island just off shore of San Cristobal is, like every other island here, volcanic. The volcanic mountains are still present on San Cristobal, and the main crater is a fresh water lake.

Los Lobos is a sea lion rookery with three dominant males, dozens of females and dozens of pups. They are sprawled on the weathered basaltic rocks, the sand beach, under the shrubs and swimming in the water. There are scattered dead pups, lots of fresh poops and lots of barking, and lots of flies, the first time we have seen more than a random bug. Marine iguanas are draped over the rocks and leaving their trails in the sand from tail dragging. There are frigate birds and blue footed boobies, finches and warblers and shore birds and lots of sally lightfoot crabs. The shrubby vegetation is often washed with guano.

After the hike, we snorkeled in colder, but tolerable, water between the Los Lobos and San Cristobal. Two big finds were a moderate sized, ray and a big sea turtle, plus lots of fish. I got underwater pix of both. Tomorrow—Espanola.

Cacti seem very happy with the climate on this corner of San Cristobal.

Darwin and sycophants.

Occupy San Cristobal in action at the waterfront gazebo of Peurto Moreno.

Frigate birds escort us to Los Lobos.

Sea lion action shot. That mom on the right is nursing her baby.

Iguana drawing a line in the sand.

Camera shy ray.

Sea turtle. They swim with the front legs, back legs for steering or balance.

Turtle, center, eating algae and looking like a rock, with finny friends.

Day Three.

2012-01-01T10:54:00.008-05:00

1-1-12 SHORT HILLS: We have washed up, rested, and are beginning to feel human again. We stayed home, had king crab legs, drizzled onions, peach melba and a carbonated beverage. Judy made the food, I opened the bottle. We were both asleep by 10:30. Here is the next day of the trip.

CHRISTMAS DAY, 2011 ISLA GENOVESA, GALAPAGOS: After an Ecuadoran Xmas Eve dinner, last night, turkey, and a cake for dessert labeled, ‘Feliz Navidad’, we motored on to Genovesa, arriving at dawn. It is an older volcanic crater, blown out on one side to leave a big-horseshoe shaped island. It has cliffs on the inside and outside and circumferential fissures and clefts, markers of the, now extinct, volcanic activity.

It is home to the red footed booby, on their nests in the shrubby trees. The Nazca booby, that used to be named the masked booby, is in mating mode, a pair clack their beaks together to seal the deal, if the female is happy with the twigs offered by the male as the beginning of their nest. They nest on the ground. We also saw the Galagagos owl, which is diurnal, lava gulls, herons, petrels, shearwaters, red-billed tropic birds, lava gulls, mockingbirds, finches, including the vampire finch. The outer cliff faces in the prevailing wind and serves as a flight school for all the new birds, trying out their wings as parts of huge swarms. We watched one booby make a short, low flight and a rocky landing.

On the way back to the boat in the zodiacs, we saw fur seals and some new birds and a sea turtle. We snorkeled after the walk, with good fish and warm, fairly clear water, then lunched, and then did another walk and some more snorkeling.

This walk was around a white sandy beach with remnants of coral indicating that the island had been uplifted. There were more birds, including new gull chicks, and a booby egg. We also saw albino boobies a variant of the red-footed boobies, not true albinos. The snorkelers saw fish and swimming sea lions.

We left in late afternoon for San Cristobal heading into strong winds and fairly heavy seas. Much Dramamine was consumed. All the sea trips have had rocking and rolling.

Nazca booby, used to be the masked booby. They nest on the ground. The other boobies nest in trees or shrubs.

Red footed booby manages to look like a cartoon bird.

Goofiest booby.

Albino booby is not a true albino, but a variant of the red footed booby, and interbreeds with the more numerous brown colored red foot.

The flight school for immatures of all species. The cliff is on the outer side of the island with south wind blowing in from the sea.

Galapagos short eared owl on the edge of a lava fissure.

Nazca boobies building a nest.

A young male fur seal, on the left, challenging the alpha. From the look of his neck he has been in a few fights. He was driven off this time.

Snorkeling, tons of fish, clarity fair to good, little coral, rocks aplenty.

Lava gulls.

Sea lion siesta.

Swallow tail gulls with baby.

That bright 'star' is Venus.

Day Two.

2011-12-31T15:27:00.007-05:00

12-31-11: SHORT HILLS: Our trip home was hellish, but more about that later. Here's the second day, our first full day of adventure.

12-24-11 ISLA BARTOMOLÉ, GALAPAGOS: We left Santa Cruz after bedtime and motored around the island to the fueling station on Baltra. We left the boat on zodiacs while the crew serviced the boat and went to North Seymour Island with our guide, Christian. North Seymour is a flat, weathered volcanic island where we walked the trail seeing land and marine iguanas, frigate birds nesting, immatures and males frigate birds with their red pouches inflated, blue footed boobies and their immatures, sea lions, mocking birds, lizards, the usual set of creatures. Then we snorkeled from the zodiacs. There was a bit of surf that carried us along the rocky beach, seeing tropical fish.

We motored on to Bartolomé, chaperoned by an octet of frigate birds and a pair of dolphins. We lunched on the boat. Bartolomé is a younger island with lots of uncolonized brownish-red lava fields. After arriving, we spent a few hours on the beach by Pinnacle Rock, some of us snorkeling. That rock is the iconic image of the Galapagos. On the beach there were trails left by female sea turtles laying eggs. Some of the snorkelers saw a shark, everybody, including the shark, swam off in a different direction. They also saw a swimming penguin. We share all the beaches with sea lions. We all saw a skate, or manta, platter-sized, in the shallow surf.

In late afternoon we zodiaced around Pinnacle Rock and saw a pair of the Galapagos penguins and then climbed the resident volcano on a set of steps that weren’t there on our last visit 28 years ago. There were lava flows of pahoehoe lava, lava bombs and lava tubes, mostly unroofed, and lots of parasitic, tuff cones, little secondary sites of eruption, and a nice sunset. The island is barely colonized by tequelia, a small gray shrub, and a few cactus and a few lizards.

This male frigate bird was giving us the eye, checkin' out our boat before either of us had breakfast. That red thing on his neck is inflated during mating season and is attractive to the lady frigates.

Oops, land iguana on North Seymour, we did see some in the wild.

Blue footed booby. Now why did they call it that?

Baby blue foot.

Ladies, here he is.

Snorkeling-North Seymour Island.

Small ray in shallow surf near Pinnacle Rock.

Galapagos penguin, male, also near Pinnacle Rock.

The flank of the volcano on Bartolome, sparsely covered with first colonizers.

Pinnacle Rock is the root of a volcano remaining after the rest has weathered and eroded.

We're Back on Line.

2011-12-30T15:38:00.007-05:00

12-30-11 GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR: I have pix and insightful analysis [?] of our trip, and I'll also tell you what we did. I'll post one day at a time, to build the suspense-like a TV serial. Anyway, It would be a massive up-load to try to do it in one shot.

12-23-11 ISLA SANTA CRUZ, GALAPAGOS: We had an airport delay of about two hours this morning in Guayaquil, but everyone dealt fairly well. Eventually we landed at Baltra, went through customs and baggage inspection and started on our journey to Santa Cruz harbor by bussing across the island over the highlands to Ayora, a city of 20,000 on the south side of Santa Cruz, home to the Charles Darwin Research Station that is charged with protecting the tortoises.

The vegetation on the island changes with every hundred meters of elevation, going from dry to lush. Ayora is also home to souvenir shops, bars, restaurants, galleries, hotels, dive shops and the harbor where our boat, Estrella del Mar, was waiting. After settling in, we did the Darwin Station and then some of us did a lot of shopping. Before we saw all the tees, we saw sally-lightfoot crabs, sea lions, marine iguanas, tortoises, land iguanas, lizards, finches, pelicans, cactus, in flower, and, of course, dozens of the tortoises at the preserve.

Sea lions are everywhere. They're like deer. They climb up on anything to sun bathe and warm up. Any dock, boat, rock or town square is fine with them.

The marine iguanas are almost as ubiquitous as the sea lions, soaking up rays everywhere. We hardly ever actually saw them in the ocean. They vary in color and size from island to island.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs are also omnipresent, on every near-shore rock.

The Galapagos tortoise gets as bigger than a wheelbarrow and lives 150 years.

The land iguana is rarer than the marine iguana. We saw none in the wild. This one is from the Santa Cruz reserve.

Cactus in bloom, being explored by a cactus finch.

Guayaquil Airport.

2011-12-23T08:56:00.004-05:00

12-23-11 GUAYAQUIL AIRPORT: We got here at 7 AM for our 9 AM flight to Baltra, the airport in the Galapagos, which is now delayed until 10:45. Bummer. At least there is Wi-Fi here, so I will be able to post on the way back.

Blue Snail in Guayaquil.

2011-12-22T22:11:00.004-05:00

12-22-11 GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR: We all, fourteen of us, flew in last night, arriving at different times, ended up at the Oro Verde Hotel for a day before going on to the Galapagos Islands. A bunch of us, defying the need for a nap, walked around the city waterfront and marketplaces. Many souvenirs were purchased. Most of us spent the afternoon in the sac or the pool, or both. After dinner at a local restaurant, Blue Snail, translated, it was time for bed and the flight to the islands tomorrow.

I’m not sure whether or not there will be internet available after today, so all subsequent posts may have to wait until after the vacation.

Some random scenes from Guayaquil, a bustling, gritty, fume-filled city.

Solstice at JFK.

2011-12-21T17:30:00.002-05:00

I couldn't let the solstice past by without a mention.

We, all fourteen of us, leave for the Galapagos Islands this evening. Tomorrow morning we will, hopefully, be in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The next day we fly to Baltra in the Galapagos.

I suspect posts will be infrequent, but the diary will be kept and pix will be taken. All of them will be posted at some point, but that may not be until our return.

Have a good holiday.

Lincoln School Xmas.

2011-12-19T15:16:00.003-05:00

12-19-11 SHORT HILLS: Today Judy did, what is becoming, her annual Xmas visit to Lincoln School second grade, Ms. Catalano’s class, to bring the dogs, Nick and Gus, and presents for the kids. I tagged along to help with the second dog and to help with the heavy lifting. I was pleased because Ms. Catalano served rigatoni in tomato sauce with meatballs, sweet sausage and garlic bread to the class and visitors. All the other teachers in the school seemed to find a reason to drop by her classroom today.

Judy goes there twice a month to help with reading lessons, the kids read to the visiting dog, which makes the lesson more fun. Presents from us were little framed pictures of the dogs and bookmarks of golden retrievers to help with the reading work. Each kid also got a stuffed animal, mostly from families in Thetford and Norwich, VT that had out grown the toys. Fuzzy creatures also went to the other second grade, pre-K, K and first graders.

Second Grade at Lincoln Elementary School, Newark, NJ with Ms. Catalano, Nick and Gus.

Hard Choices.

Everyone seems happy with their new friend.

APHC and BXL-2011.

2011-12-18T18:20:00.001-05:00

12-18-11 SHORT HILLS: We heard the DiGiallonardo Sisters do some great carol, modern revisionary, renditions in three part harmony. I especially liked “five onion rings”. We loved them and everyone else on “A Prairie Home Companion” on Saturday night with Bill and Lynn and Roger and Leeza. The evening has become an annual event for the six of us, followed by dinner at BXL, next door to The Town Hall on W 43rd.

We are all pleased that Garrison Keillor is not retiring at the end of the year. The other guests included Joel Grey, Klezmer Conservatory Band with Itzhak Perlman, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, and all the cast regulars, including Richard Dworsky and the Guy’s Shoe Band. The two-hour show flies by.

Carol Sing.

2011-12-15T12:03:00.003-05:00

12-15-11 SHORT HILLS: We have visited cathedrals, churches, temples, mosques, synagogues from Quito to Tbilisi over the years, including St. Peters, St. Isaacs, St. Pauls, Chartres, St. Marks, Notre Dame but just as impressive as all of those is The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ. Newark? Yes, Newark, beset with a variety of problems, and working through them, it, nevertheless, can boast of a world-class cathedral.

We were there for their Choir’s carol sing yesterday, accompanied by their Chamber Orchestra and Organ. Judy and I both love the music, if indifferent to the expressed sentiments, and the show they put on. They do all the old favorites, as well as some less familiar songs from Spain, Italy, Poland, and well known French and German carols. The soloists were magnificent. I must say, sometimes, for a moment of two, the organ sounds like cats fighting it out.

It’s open to the public, obviously, and they’re doing it again tonight. We recommend it.

Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ.

Nave.

View from our seats in the west transcept.

Choir at work.

Concert and Play.

2011-12-11T11:25:00.001-05:00

12-11-11 SHORT HILLS: It’s turned a bit cooler, seasonal really, but we are not yet adapted. Today is sunny, in the low thirties and no wind.

Friday we heard the London Philharmonic at NJPAC do the ‘Emperor’ Concerto with Emanuel Ax and then Brahms Symphony 4 [E minor] conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, a great program beautifully done. But there’s more…

Saturday we saw ‘Cinderella’ , the Rodgers and Hammerstein version, presented by the Packer Collegiate Institute Middle School. The evil stepmother was portrayed by Lucy Rosenberg.

In the yard, I found some more storm-related pruning to do yesterday.

Theatrical Faces.

Don't Slouch, Tree.

2011-12-08T22:24:00.002-05:00

12-8-11 SHORT HILLS: The sycamore tree, damaged by TS Irene, that I wrote about in September was never removed by the power line people. Even though damaged by the storm, pushed about 20° to the north, it kept its leaves through the rest of the season and shed them in normal fashion in October. The tree seemed to be healthy even if tilted. I decided to see if it could be saved.

I used a ‘come-along’ to pull it back to vertical, anchoring the lines to a sturdy beech that was in the plane of the tilt. The tool is a crank with a big mechanical advantage to pull heavy stuff, like trees. After I straightened it up, I set three anchors in the ground on the south side of the tree and tied lines to them from about ten feet up the trunk. It is once again upright.

The big question is whether or not the root system was too damaged by the manipulation to function. I’ll try to remember to mention it in the spring.

Lazy Tree.

Now standing at attention.

Pool Clean-up.

2011-12-06T13:53:00.004-05:00

12-6-11 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been back in NJ for a couple of days, it’s warm again, in the sixties, but raining today, so I’m in the house.

Yesterday I got to look at the pool cover after the tree limbs that filled the pool were removed by the tree people. They didn’t get to the pruning of the broken and hanging branches in many of the trees, and will need to come back for another day. With the big debris out of the pool, I was able to get the accumulated leaves and small debris off the cover and onto the pool deck. The yardmen showed up for the last clean up at that time, and they removed all that debris from the pool enclosure, and spread the leaves on bare spots in the yard. The branches went to the dump this morning, another carload.

Unlike our neighbors, I don’t see the fallen leaves as a clean up problem, but as an opportunity to build up the organic layer at the top of our soil column. Our soil is a mixture of glacial till and weathered basalt and needs the organic contribution of the leaves. By mid-spring they will all have disappeared.

We saw “Hugo” last night, and both of us loved it as a touching tribute to the early film maker Georges Méliès and story of Hugo Cabret, the orphaned boy clock winder of a Paris railway station. It is done in 3D which seems unnecessary. On the way home, through the fog and rain, we admired the seasonal decorating on a house in town enough to take a picture.

Pool cover resembles a sieve. About half of the 28 panels have been punctured.

Nicely done trimming.

Decorated Trees.

2011-12-03T08:48:00.004-05:00

12-3-11 VERMONT: It has gotten colder, down in the twenties at night, and the pond was frozen over the last two mornings. Coming home from the tree lighting last night there was a brief snow squall. Before that we had dinner at Yama with Denny and Laura-Beth. I have re-discovered the secret of surviving in the cold—dress with many warm layers.

The Glee Club caroled at the tree lighting, singing all the usual suspects. Hanover is decked out for the Holidays with lights and more carolers on Main St. All the stores in town were open late last night to take advantage of the tree lighting crowds. The Hanover Inn has a huge model train display that was packed with kids.

Tree lighting in Hanover plus carols from the Glee Club.

And another tree....

self decorated.

Beginning of the Cold.

2011-12-01T15:11:00.002-05:00

12-1-11 VERMONT: Now it’s beginning to feel like December. We drove up yesterday through the end of the rain, and woke this morning to 30°. After a week of sixties, it felt colder than it should have. I did a few odds and ends outside and had to come in to warm up. We are totally non-acclimatised to the cold.

Things are still wet here with puddles in the pasture and yard and the ponds full and draining. It is an almost cloudless day with a slight breeze and got up to about 40 this afternoon.

With the leafless trees and empty beds, everything has a neat and orderly and inert appearance. All our herbaceous friends seem to be sleeping until March.

We have dinner tonight with Debbie and John, tomorrow, after the tree-lighting/Glee Club, with Denny and Laura-Beth and Saturday with Ken and Jane.

Evening sky yesterday.

More Mud.

2011-11-29T19:59:00.001-05:00

11-20-11 SHORT HILLS: We’re getting more rain. November is already above average for rain fall, and our very wet year continues. It is still quite warm, in the sixties again, but a colder, seasonal weather is due soon. We go to VT tomorrow.

Warm Spell.

2011-11-27T14:58:00.007-05:00

11-27-11 SHORT HILLS: It’s been at or near sixty for the past three days and very pleasant. The yard is still muddy from the rain, but the warm spell has resulted in a bunch of wild strawberry flowers and a dandelion opening up in the lawn and a few, scattered forsythia blooms.

The forsythia are the last ones to dump their leaves, at least in this yard. With all the other deciduous plants bare, I have found lots more dead fall from the storms lying on the shrubs. The town finally got to our street to pick up the huge pile of branches, but we are still waiting for the tree people to get here for the big clean up and pruning.

New blooms: dandelion, wild strawberry, forsythia.

Forsythia always puts out a few after a warm spell in the fall.

Forsythia is one of the last to go bare and demonstrates the yellow pigment in the leaves that it shows in the flowers.

Witchhazel is a late bloomer. These small flowers become noticeable when the leaves are down. It has a cluster of three flowers, each with four petals and four of crepe-paper tentacles.

Times Square.

2011-11-23T15:08:00.004-05:00

11-23-11 SHORT HILLS: More rain for the past three days, and it’s pretty soggy in the yard. We are still waiting for the clean-up of the broken branches. All the leaves are down, and the gutter have been blown out. I have done a bit more pruning.

We were in the city Saturday to see “Relatively Speaking”, the show with three one-act plays by Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen. The tunnel gods were in a benign mode, so we flew in and had time to kill in Times Square—a show of its own, including, that night, a wedding.

We enjoyed all three playlets. The Woody Allen was the funniest, a succession of one-liners, starting from the point, in a way, where “The Graduate” stopped, but with a few twists.

I got a few emails about a nice article in the Valley News about the Geology web site, link to the right.

Times Square, NYC. Noisy, Glaring, Garish, Crowded, Glitzy, Vibrant and totally Over the Top.

Perfect Place for a Wedding?

Outbid.

2011-11-18T09:25:00.004-05:00

Laurel, a friend from the SC coast, saw my picture of the stag and raised me by three bucks.

Velvet covers the new antlers.

And a pair of bobcat kittens with three deer makes a full house.

Near Deer have no Fear.

2011-11-16T12:39:00.005-05:00

11-16-11 SHORT HILLS: Yesterday’s sprinkles have turned into steady rain today with more rain tomorrow. It’s warm, in the fifties, the weather gods seem contrite after inflicting that disastrous storm on us.

Speaking of the storm, we are still waiting for clean up and removal by the tree care folks of the big, huge, branches in the pool, and pruning of the traumatised trees. I have removed all the stuff that I can handle and created, in the process, a huge pile of debris in the street waiting for the town to collect. Many similar piles are waiting for pick up all over town.

Our roses are still turning out red, white and pink flowers, and there are still little yellow flowers of wild strawberry in the lawn. The birds are back at the feeders in full force. We have had lots of deer activity in the yard which keeps the dogs alert.

Copper Beech turned to gold a few days ago, now the leaves are cocoa brown.

This doe was actually lying down and eating ground cover, perhaps ivy.

The stag was in the same area as the doe the next day and appeared to be eating pachysandra which would be very unusual for deer. That night I startled another deer in the same spot, but that one didn't pose for me.

Yard Work-NJ.

2011-11-11T10:07:00.004-05:00

11-11-11 SHORT HILLS: I came down on Wednesday and spent yesterday dragging broken branches out of the yard and up to the street. Judy pitched in with the schlepping. We have an immense pile now waiting for the town to pick up or the tree folks to chip up.

But there’s more—now I can continue to cut down broken branches that I can reach and add to the pile. I sliced up a downed medium sized wild cherry yesterday. Each pruning takes broken wood off some smaller tree or shrub that has been bent over and damaged by something bigger leaning on it.

Yesterday was warm and sunny, last night cold and rainy and today cold and sunny and windy.

Burning Bush and Black Chokecherry make and red and orange sandwich.

The row of Burning Bush are quite dramatic, even to Nick.

Yard Work VI.

2011-11-08T19:40:00.004-05:00

11-8-11 VERMONT: It was even warmer today, in the sixties. I had windows open and worked in shirt sleeves. We had sun in the morning, but it was overcast by afternoon.

I finished walking the property line and replacing ‘POSTED’ signs, while wearing my red hat. In the woods, there were hundreds of moths, I guess they were moths, that were small, light grayish-brown in color, fluttering around in swarms near the ground and seemed freshly hatched. That’s what a warm day can do. A buttercup was so pleased with the weather that is put out a couple flowers.

After the signs, I worked on the pasture fence, straightening out tired posts. I had previously cut, with the table saw, a pressure treated 2x4 into wedges. With the ground soft from the warm days, I could straighten a leaning post and hammer one of the wedges into the ground next to the post to keep it upright. It worked pretty well. NJ tomorrow.

New blooms: buttercup.

Another attempt to show the trees, fence, road and wall. Imagine that the wall will be between the trees and fence.

Buttercup liked the day.

Yard Work V.

2011-11-07T20:32:00.004-05:00

11-7-11 VERMONT: Today started like the last two days, sunny and cold, but warmed up a lot and became partly cloudy. I was working without a jacket and only light gloves in the afternoon. The pond was completely frozen this morning, but is now completely ice free and it’s still in the upper forties.

I finished the beds, they’re all clean and put to bed, so to speak, and waiting for that snowy blanket to come, but not tomorrow when it might get to the sixties. I put the reflectors up around the driveway to guide the plowers when that snowy blanket arrives. After that I went about halfway around the property line refreshing, restapling and replacing the ‘POSTED’ signs. This is Vermont, and it is November, and every day the hills are alive with the sound of gunfire.

The road, the tree line, and the fence line. The wall, under renovation, is between the trees and the fence, but doesn't show well.

Yard Work IV.

2011-11-06T18:10:00.004-05:00

11-6-11 VERMONT: Today was a re-play of yesterday. The pond was almost completely frozen this morning, but again melted back during the day, although only a third of it. Tonight will be cold again.

I finished the beds behind the house and started on the beds adjacent to the porch. I had to clear the snow free beds first and move the snow piles to the cleared beds to do the beds that had been snow covered. I figured out a way to move the frozen snow by breaking it into chunks and tossing them aside with a pitchfork. That was fast and my hands didn’t get cold. I generated another three cart loads, which seems to be my limit. I should finish the beds tomorrow.

Scott has been working between the pasture fence and the road to rebuild the old wall there. That wall, as they all do, had fallen apart, mostly from time and neglect due to freeze-thaw cycles, truck traffic, tree roots, etc. Lots of rocks are there, many have rolled down the slope toward the road. Since Josh and Kolbi brush-hogged that area and the wall is re-appearing, there are four parallels—the road, the line of old sugar maples, the wall and the fence. I guess I need a picture.

The pasture looks good with brush cut down and a fresh mowing.

Frozen pond, that red tree in front of the house is the apple, laden with fruit, which the birds will eat.

Yard Work III.

2011-11-05T18:49:00.002-04:00

11-5-11 VERMONT: It was cold last night. This morning the grass was frosted, and the pond had ice at the north end, where the drain is, the icing continued until about 10 AM when the pond was about one-third frozen. By mid-afternoon, all the ice, and frost, was gone.

Today was cloudless, windless and cool. I got another batch of beds done. I have been avoiding the beds with a lot of snow in hopes that it will evaporate, at least partially, on these dry days. I finished most of the beds on the east side of the house, that’s the pond side, and the pond beds and the day lily bed by the wall. That work generated another three cart loads of cuttings. I have been dumping them on a wet, soggy area in the pasture.

Chloe in the glow of evening.

Frost on the grass and ice on the pond.

Yard Work II.

2011-11-04T21:13:00.001-04:00

11-4-11 VERMONT: Today was colder, sunny in the morning, then overcast with a north wind and even a brief snow flurry. I did the terrace and the beds at the north end of the house because they were snow free. I cut down all the dried stalks and dormant perennials, carefully avoiding baby biennials for next season. Then I rake it all out of the beds and haul it away. There were three cart loads today.

Some of the beds on the east side of the house, facing the pond, are almost snow free, and I can do those tomorrow. We’re predicted to be in the twenties tonight.

A cautious apple snitcher at dusk.

Yard Work.

2011-11-03T18:40:00.003-04:00

11-3-11 VERMONT: It was overcast and in the forties today with no wind, and that made it a good day to work outside. I pulled all the bed barriers, made repairs, labeled them and stored them in the barn. The ones that were snowed in required chopping out to be removed. I also put the barn windows in the window frames. They come out during the summer for ventilation. I put the small pasture gate away in the little barn. A couple of walks around the pasture with the ladies, and it’s a full day.

Sam pokes around, sniffing everything and ambles at her own pace.

Chloe runs here and there, herding airplanes, warning away trucks and chasing birds.

Vermont aviation is technologically far ahead of the rest of the world. For example, this plane has two wings.

Halloween and Vermont.

2011-11-02T20:41:00.004-04:00

11-1-11 SHORT HILLS: Halloween on Garden Place, Brooklyn was the usual craziness. We sat on Val’s brownstone stoop from 5 PM to 6:30 and gave out 1500 tiny tootsie rolls—that’s not a typo. At 7 PM the downstairs neighbors took over and were just as busy. I was pressed into last minute pumpkin carving duty. For the most part the costumes were the traditional heroes and villains from movies, nursery rhymes and TV. There was a family, a school, of fish and SCUBA divers, a refrigerator, cars, Roman litter bearers, Snookis and angry birds. Also a pair of Walk, Don’t Walk signs, and a black-clothed pogo-sticker hopping down the street with ‘Stock Market’ on the T-shirt. The block was in its usual eerie, scary incarnation with pumpkins, spiders, webs, skeletons, ghosts, witches observing.

Today I did more clean-up, pruning of storm damage and have accumulated a sizable pile on the street. The pool is filled with wood, huge maple and elm branches. Frank’s Tree was here to assess the damage and add us to the clean-up list.

11-2-11 VERMONT: Sam, Chloe and I came up today to close up the garden beds and generally winterize. Winterization cannot proceed with snow on the ground which is what we found, paradoxically as that may seem. Hopefully some melting we let us proceed. Brady the horse has returned home for the winter. The ponds are full and draining. Late monkshood is still in bloom. We did get a nice sunset.

The work of the master carver entilted 'Ambivalence' elicited several comments.

Sunset as advertised.

Berry Quiz-Part II.

1. Easy for iMac users.

2. A low-growing evergreen.

Answers: 1. Apple [duh], 2. Cotoneaster.

Unseasonal Storm.

2011-10-31T10:55:00.008-04:00

10-30-11 SHORT HILLS: This weekend storm has been a disaster for us and worse for others. We got five inches of heavy, slushy snow after an initial hour of rain. The trees that had given up their foliage—ash and walnut were fine. The trees that were still in leaf took a beating. Our elm lost several large branches as did the sweet gum, Norway maple, red maples, oaks. Some of the broken stuff is still hanging on the trees. Smaller trees are bent double. Shrubs are flattened and broken. Most of the evergreens had only minor damage, but the driveway junipers were again badly beaten up. it wasn’t that the storm was so intense, but that it happened in the wrong season. In January, it would have been ho-hum because the trees would have been leafless, and the cold would have meant dryer, less damaging snow. Other parts of NJ got as much as 19 inches.

We were actually down the shore yesterday, in Lavalette with Bob and Chris to see their new beach house. It was raining in the morning when we left Short Hills, and the snow wasn’t supposed to start until evening. At the shore it was all rain and wind. Our dog sitter called in mid-afternoon to say that he couldn’t get to the house to feed and walk the pack so we left immediately to return home. About halfway up the Garden State Parkway, we were in the snow, thicker and thicker as we went on. There were trees down, cars skidded off the road and accidents, but we made it back without incident. [Subaru rules.] Short Hills has many trees down, wires down, roads closed, schools to be closed. We have power, but no phone, cable or internet. Climate change, anyone?

I did some pruning in the driveway this afternoon, but decided to wait for the snow to clear before doing any more clean up. Today was sunny, clear and in the forties, and snow began to melt.

10-31-11 SHORT HILLS: It’s sunny again and supposed to be in the mid-fifties today. That would be great. There was actually some melting yesterday. We still have no Comcast connection, so no internet, no TV, no phones. Judy tried four different books last night, found them all wanting and declared that she was addicted to TV. I am trying to post from Starbucks—thanks for the wifi. Halloween tonight, if anyone forgot, some local towns have postponed it due to the downed wires, etc. We are supposed to go to Garden Place for the festivities.

Blowin' sand, blowin' surf.

The mess in our yard. The bamboo will bounce back, but the sweet gum tree took a mauling.

Lots of damage around town.

Leaves + snow = problem.

'The Big Year.'

2011-10-27T11:19:00.003-04:00

10-27-11 SHORT HILLS: We have another rainy day and frost warnings in NJ for the first time this season.

I saw, by myself, ‘The Big Year’, that movie about birding with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. I loved it. The movie has had mediocre reviews that complained that it wasn’t funny enough and that the plot was predictable. While that may be partly true, the point, for me, was about the great shots of the birds and the remote places one may go to see them. I thought the compulsive, competitive behavior of the birders was secondary to the gorgeous cinematography. The reviewers missed the point. I give it two talons up.

The still photos in Rotten Tomatoes, 14 of them, show none of the birds, only actors. What's up with that?

Hedera helix Redux.

2011-10-25T15:59:00.005-04:00

10-25-11 SHORT HILLS: We had a brief shower last night with only trace accumulation, maybe we’re returning to a more normal precip pattern. I have been busy at garden chores, pruning, straightening flagstone paths, weeding.

Bette responded to the English ivy, Hedera helix, post and recounted her adventures pulling and sawing to get it off her fence and house. It is considered an invasive nuisance in lots of places. In Oregon it’s sale or import is banned.

The flowering is still going with lots of busy bees buzzing the tree and ivy. The dark blue berries won’t ripen until later in the winter when the berries will be enjoyed by the birds.

Here is the trunk of the black pine and the 'trunk' of the ivy embracing it.

The whole pine and its companion. The pine seems none the worse for carrying the ivy.

Sun Sinks South.

2011-10-21T15:03:00.000-04:00

10-21-11 SHORT HILLS: The last rain left us with another 1.15 inches. Today is overcast, in the fifties with little wind. It’s supposed to be dry for the next few days.

We are now about one month past the Automnal Equinox and the sun is halfway, almost 12° south of the Equator, on its way to the Winter Solstice when it will be 23.5° south of the Equator. From the northern hemisphere viewpoint, the nadir of its excursion from Tropic to Tropic. Two months ago, August 21, or so, the sun was 12° north of the Equator. This dramatic N-S change contrasts with the long dwell time in each hemisphere, N in summer and S in winter, that lasts four months each. That’s why it’s getting cold and dark.

The Ivy is at It.

2011-10-19T12:56:00.004-04:00

10-19-11 SHORT HILLS: Another rainy day, they just keep coming. We had dinner with Anna and Dylan at L’Absinthe on E. 67th St last night and afterwards walked over to visit their sub-let. A nice post-prandial jaunt. The trip in was hellish—the GWB was backed up so drivers diverted to the tunnels to cross the Hudson, and the tunnels got backed up as a consequence. At the restaurant, the decor and food were excellent, but it's a bit pricey.

Tonight we’re taking Soibhan to Ninety Acres in Peacack-Gladstone, NJ. She is here on business for J&J.

The other day, while emptying the rain gauge once again, I noticed a swarm of pollinators buzzing around the upper reaches of a black pine. The tree is swaddled in English ivy, and the ivy is in bloom. The ivy, a common, evergreen gound-cover, spreads itself pretty quickly, especially in shade and will climb trees. It doesn’t like drought, not a problem this year. Unfortunately the deer eat it.

Seeing it flower is a relative rarity and only happens when it is established on a tree. The flower is totally non-descript, but attracts loads of bees and other flying pollinators, although I can't smell anything. The fertilized flowers will produce berries. The leaves lose their familiar, pointed lobes and become oval when in reproductive mode.

New blooms: English ivy.

Two pix of the buds, flowers and developing berries. Note the oval shaped leaf and lots of pollinators.

The round buds, at the top of the pic, open to flowers with stamens, middle and lower.

The fertilized flowers lose the stamens and petals and will become berries.

Contrast the leaf with pointed lobes on the ground with the oval leaves above.

Berry Quiz.

2011-10-17T16:23:00.004-04:00

10-17-11 SHORT HILLS: We had more rain, but just a trace, it’s sunny and windy today. So many of the shrubs and trees have berries this time of year. I started to count the ones in the yard, but decided to make it a quiz. The pix are numbered and the answers are listed at the end. Other berry formers have finished during the summer like most viburnums, dogwood, spice bush to name a few.

1. An easy one to start, notice the foliage.

2. An evergreen.

3. Another evergreen.

4. A little harder. Deciduous shrub.

5. Another deciduous shrub, notice the leaf color.

6. Deciduous shrub with thorns.

7. Also deciduous, and dramatic color.

8. Again deciduous, orange leaves in a few weeks.

Answers: 1. yew, 2. Asian holly, 3. English holly, 4.winterberry holly, 5. burning bush, 6. barberry, 7. pretty berry, 8. black chokeberry. Tell me how you do, I'll list the winners.

The High Line.

2011-10-15T15:38:00.004-04:00

10-15-11 SHORT HILLS: Yesterday and the previous night had all the dogs in a panic as a series of electric storms swept past us bringing us tropical air and 1.1 inches of rain. Today it’s cool again, sunny but very windy.

We went to NYC to walk the High Line. The High Line is a section of abandoned elevated railway that serviced the west side of Manhattan before trucks took over the transporting work of running the city’s business. As it fell into disuse weeds, grass, shrubs and finally trees grew up along the route and neighborhood folks used it as a traffic free walkway. When it was scheduled for demolition, local activists intervened to get it designated as a park and refurbished. Now there are walkways, restaurants, overlooks, several entries, great views of the west side and Hudson River, bird houses, lots of native plantings and lots of people. It runs from about 14th St to 34th St west of 10 Ave. An extension to about 40th St along the river is planned. We breezed in and out of the city and walked the dogs on our return.

New blooms: witchhazel.

Grasses and Peoples.

Railroad tracks still there.

Skyline with the ESB on 34th St.

Hudson River and NJ on the other side. There's a sail boat out there.

Plants, people and building co-existing.

Occupy Wall Street.

2011-10-14T09:38:00.002-04:00

If anyone is looking for a demo op, here's the map for today's events. It's raining in NYC, but must be sunny enough other places. The police intervention in NYC was postponed! Effect of the Move On petition?

Pick your place.

The Rains Are Back.

2011-10-13T12:05:00.001-04:00

10-13-11 SHORT HILLS: The rains are back. We had 0.3 inches yesterday with more to come after a dry week. A brief and much needed dry spell.

On the trip to NJ from VT, we decided that the color was peak in southern VT and almost there in northern MA. The maples seem to be turning earlier than usual even here in NJ.

We brought the bumper pumpkin crop [try saying that three times fast] to NJ for the customer to pick up. Customer, you know who your are. I anticipate bowls of salted, roasted pumpkin seeds.

Bumper Crop.

Road Trip.

2011-10-10T19:04:00.004-04:00

10-10-11 VERMONT: Another gorgeous, warm day. This morning I painted the new trim and most of the old trim around the back door of the old mudroom. Changed the water filters, turned off the outside water and did a few other seasonal chores.

This afternoon we went looking for color. We drove north on I-95 to Peachum, VT, about 40 miles. Peachum is a beautiful small New England hillside town with all the usual features—white church, cemetery, general store, farms, fences, dirt roads, cows. The color was good on the highway, but past peak at Peachum. We headed west to Danville, Cabot, Joe’s Pond, Plainfield and Montpelier, then picked up I-89 and came south to Sharon and then home. The color is peak here now and heading south. And we go south tomorrow, too, to NJ.

Ryegate, VT with Mt. Moosilauke [NH] in the distance.

Peachum, VT past peak color.

Norwich, VT at peak.

Sunshine.

2011-10-09T15:43:00.005-04:00

10-9-11 VERMONT: Four days in a row without rain. The ground is still soggy and wet. The water table is probably up to the grass roots. The fall color gets better every day. It was in the eighties this afternoon.

Travis finished on Friday—great job. Saturday I re-built the field stone steps and cleaned the clapboards and base board trim with bleach to remove all the mold. Today I stained the clapboards with the grey stain that Judy likes, and tomorrow I’ll do the white trim. Judy and I also put away all the outdoor furniture and the boat.

I have to thank the dogs for getting me up at the COD this morning, about 6AM. If they hadn’t, I would have missed a nice sunrise.

Sunrise. Thank you, dogs, for getting me up so early.

Our red maple has gone from mostly green to mostly red since we've been here.

We have color in the pasture....

.....and on the hills.

Mallards in the Morning.

2011-10-06T16:43:00.004-04:00

10-6-11 VERMONT: We came up yesterday. It was an easy trip on a rare kind of day—sunny. There has been a north wind blowing and gusting making this cloudless fall day seem colder than it is. The north wind means the high pressure system is still to our west. The air circulation around a high is clockwise. When the high is off to our east in a few days, we will have warmer southern winds.

Travis Keller was here all day replacing rotted wood around the back door of the old mudroom. That corner is a wet spot that never dries out. We are using PT wood to replace everything coming out. The whole door and sidelights unit is out and the hole covered with a tarp for tonight. The job should finish tomorrow.

I spent the day in the veggie garden doing winter prep. I took down and put away the electric fence, pulled up tomato stalks and put the tomato cages in the barn. I harvested the nine pumpkins destined for carving, and pulled up corn stalks. I also did some weeding in the terrace beds.

New blooms: boltonia, cimicfuga, witchhazel, red asters.

Boltonia-a late bloomer.

This apple is covered with small fruit, too small for us, but just right for the birds, especially robins, who carb load before their fall commute.

Mallards visited the pond today. The one in the middle is not a female, but an immature male just getting his adult plumage.

Where are the birds?

2011-10-04T13:26:00.005-04:00

10-4-11 SHORT HILLS: It continues to rain almost daily, but has cooled off. With lower temps, the air had been wrung out, and the humidity is lower. I have been able to close all the windows and cabinets and doors. In a normal year, we should have had less than 36 inches of rain to date, but we are at 57 inches. September totalled over 8 inches, more than twice normal.

Bird feeder activity is down, both NJ and VT, since the hurricane and other storms. Have they moved away? Have their food resourses been damaged by the storms? Were the new fledglings killed? Or the adults? Anyone have any thoughts?

My geology site describing the geology of several popular hikes in the Upper Valley of the Connecticut River/Dartmouth area has finally debuted. Check it out. The link is to the right.

I have been trying to ID this shrub, growing in Zone 6 [NJ] under shade trees. It's 7-8 feet tall with 4-5 grayish trunks with stipules. The leaves, flowers and berries are shown, the leaves are a bit fuzzy underneath. Anyone? I used the Virginia Tech dendrology site and think that it's 'Ilex verticillata - winterberry holly'.

Natirar Park

2011-10-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

9-30-11 SHORT HILLS: Yesterday we had T-storms with T & L in successive waves. After the last one, temps and humidity plummeted. Today was dry and cool, prototypical fall, but tonight, guess what, it’s raining.

A few days ago we went to a memorial service, in the rain, of course, for a friend of Judy’s at a beautiful park in Somerset County. Natirar Park has over 400 acres, mostly mowed, of trails and lawns and trees with a branch of the Raritan River, which was near flood stage. We had never been there before and were very impressed. It was an oil sheik’s property either before or after it belonged to Richard Branson, but now is the county’s. The manor house is being converted to a spa and/or hotel, and there is a new hot restaurant on the site called ‘Ninety Acres’ where we will eat on Tuesday. On the way up to the restaurant to make a res, we saw turkeys and deer on the lawns, all busy eating.

There were several deer, but they bolted away as we slowed except for the young stag as rear guard.

The turkeys most always head away from you. They keep eating as they amble on.

Nabucco at the Met.

2011-09-28T21:25:00.001-04:00

9-28-11 SHORT HILLS: When it rains, it pours. That old saying and one-time jingle for a table salt company, is happening here. We have had yet more rain last night and today, along with more fog, mist and humidity.

We got to the city, NYC, last night, had dinner with Ina at Cafe Fiorella and went to the Met for the first “Nabucco” of the season. Maria Guleghina, one of my faves played Abigaille, the villianess of Verdi’s opera. She dominated the stage, she was great. There are a number of Choral arias in “Nabucco”, but ‘Va pensiero’ is the highlight of the evening. Most performances, it’s played twice, if there is enough applause, but not last night to our disappointment. People were humming it as we shuffled up the aisle after the last curtain call.

And—it didn’t rain inside.

Sticky Doors.

2011-09-26T17:05:00.002-04:00

9-26-11 SHORT HILLS: The weather continues to be humid to the point that doors and windows are hard to open and close. It’s warm, sticky, muggy, muddy, buggy, dank and dark. Rain or T-storms are predicted for most of the upcoming week. In spite of the summery weather, leaves are turning—the ash have started to drop, dogwood is reddish. The trees seem to be responding to light period rather than ambient temperature, which only makes sense, if you’re a tree. Day length is totally predictable but, cooling is irregular and unpredictable.

The roses continue to bloom. This one has a visiting friend, some sort of small wasp, perhaps.

Back in the Rain Forest.

2011-09-22T13:03:00.003-04:00

9-22-11 SHORT HILLS: Our flirtation with freezing is over. Today dawned hot, muggy, humid, overcast and foggy. There was some rain last night, and the ground was wet and the leaves were dripping—NJ rain forest. The air is heavy, visible and totally still. The ‘squeeters are quite active.

I’m back in shorts and tees, I always say, “Dress for the thermometer, not by the calender.” I did some clean up in the pool area and was soaked after a few minutes of raking up branches and soggy leaves.

A few weeks ago, I rescued a butterfly bush buried by an aggressive hydrangea, and now it’s busy blooming again.

Tomorrow morning, 5:04 EDT is the moment when the sun sinks below the Equator, day and night are of equal length, although the day seem longer than the night because of twilight after sunset and before sunrise. That passage marks the beginning of our fall and then winter. Our falls and winters may seem longer than the spring and summers, but are actually a few days shorter.

Add up the days: September-7 + October-31 + November-30 + December-31 + January-31 + February-29 + March-20 = 179. [The Vernal Equinox is March 20th.] Next year, a Leap Year, will have 366 days, so 366 – 179 = 187 days for next spring and summer—8 days more than the upcoming fall and winter. Now, don’t you feel better about winter?

Dark, dank and muggy morning.

Butterfly Bush looks cheery even on a dull morning.

Chilly NIghts.

2011-09-20T11:02:00.003-04:00

9-20-11 SHORT HILLS: We both drove down Sunday through moderately heavy traffic. The yard is finally drying out here, but it’s supposed to rain for the next several days—more mud on the way.

The last two night in VT were cold. The temperatures were down in the mid-thirties. We didn’t get a frost, but a few of the low lying more northerly spots did. Even in NJ, it was in the forties.

I mis-dated the last post as the 17th instead of the 16th, sorry, I hope no one was misled. Tell me you didn’t miss a wedding or funeral, if that’s not attributing way too much importance to my postings.

In bloom: hosta, rose-of-sharon, lamium, roses, butterfly bush.

Early fall color in NH. Every year a few early trees lead to the assumption that it will be an early fall, but the main event is always at the same time, just after Columbus Day, at least in the mid-upper Connecticut valley.

Close to Freezing.

2011-09-16T18:12:00.003-04:00

9-17-11 VERMONT: We have had more rain, two showers, each delivered 0.2 inches. The big weather news is a cold spell. Last night it was in the mid-thirties, today was cool, windy and partly sunny, tonight is again predicted to be in the thirties. Brrr. We have had fires in the evening. I put up the storm doors and put the screens away today. One of the outer doors was coming apart at the bottom from all the rain. I took it down, removed rotted dowels, let it dry, replaced the dowels, glued it and clamped it together. Tomorrow I’ll rehang it and put the glass in.

We brought in more tomatoes today, another big basket full. We have six big, ripe pumpkins and three more still green. The corn was disappointing this year, about half the stalks were stunted and produced only small, deformed ears.

There are mushrooms everywhere. Big cup shaped ones in white and brown, yellow domes, yellow cocktail tables, red frilly ones, white clusters, and more—all due to the monsoon rains.

New blooms: another hybrid day lily, clearly the last just opened.

Apple trees laden with red fruit.

Here are some of those spider webs I mentioned in the last post. All those grey things are invisible when dry.

Misty Morning.

2011-09-13T18:50:00.003-04:00

9-13-11 VERMONT: Everything was grey this morning. Visibility was maybe a 100 feet. Looking up, the sky was blue indicating a nice day to come. When the dogs and I walked the pasture, I needed a jacket and my Wellingtons got wet to mid-calf. There were thousands of spider webs about a inch off the ground, visible because they were filled with dew. By mid-morning the mist was gone, and it was sunny, warm, dry and hazy.

The apples from the grandchildren trees, one planted on each natal occasion, are delicious this year. Usually the unsprayed and untreated fruit is small, lumpy and scarred, but, for unknown reasons, this year is different. Anything that falls in the pasture, of course, belongs to Brady the horse. He won’t need to see a doctor for at least a decade.

Where's the yard?

Joe Pye Weed and Asters.

Muddy Waters.

2011-09-11T20:35:00.002-04:00

9-11-11 VERMONT: It’s the tenth anniversary of the horrible terrorist attack on NYC and Washington, but I won’t comment other than to note that the Ground Zero Memorial looks beautiful, restful, reassuring and serene, and I look forward to visiting it.

As I drove to VT today, I noticed that the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers were both brown as were the Deerfield, Black, Green, White and other smaller rivers in MA and VT. All the water levels are high, and the rivers are flowing fast. We had another 2.65 inches in the rain gauge from the last week or so. They’re all caring a lot of sand, silt and mud that will end up in the Atlantic on the ocean bottom. Someday that mud and sand will be new sedimentary mudstone and sandstone deposits. Ordinarily those rivers have low flow and clear water at this time of year.

All that mud was eroded from the washed out river beds, roads, farms, fields and hillsides, and it is one step in the on-going process of leveling and flattening of New England. The Appalachians were once as tall as the Himalayas, but hundreds of millions of years of weathering and erosion have reduced them to what we see today—by events like what we have just experienced. We are seeing Geology happening, and, let me add, it is no fun being part of the action whether hurricane, flood, earthquake or volcano.

New blooms: more hosta, more asters.

The gardens have enjoyed the rain.

Perennial Chrysanthemum.

Knee Deep in Rain.

2011-09-08T21:03:00.002-04:00

9-8-11 SHORT HILLS: More rain and more rain, it doesn’t stop. There’s another round of flooding for all those soggy, low-lying communities that have been so hard hit this year. So far in September, we have had over 5 inches of rain, more than a month’s worth, and, for the year, we have had 53 inches. Our usual total for the year as of this date is 32 inches. This last round has the yard wet and squishy again. Being on the side of a hill, thankfully, not at the bottom, has cost us some of the little topsoil that we have, or had.

It cleared late this morning, and I got out to do more trimming, pruning and weeding, and I found more downed branches from Irene and hauled them up to the street and added them to the pile waiting for the town to collect. Usually I take it all to the dump, but they want it left on the street now.

Tomorrow’s forecast? Fifty percent chance of rain.

Knee Deep in Weeds.

2011-09-06T18:31:00.001-04:00

9-6-11 SHORT HILLS: We are getting heavy rain from TS Lee, and the sump pump is sloshing away in the basement. Franks Tree took care of the red maple crown, but we’re still waiting for the electric company to do the sycamore laying on the power lines. I have done some weeding yesterday and the day before, but there is a ton to go. That’s the consequence of not being here for most of the summer. I bought a Black and Decker cordless weed wacker to help with the weeds when I’m not trying to save any plants under the weeds, so far, the battery life seems pretty short. Before the rain, it was hot and humid, muggy and buggy. We’re debating when to bring in the vacationing house plants.

Fall in the Future.

2011-09-02T19:17:00.004-04:00

9-2-11 SHORT HILLS: We have been back in NJ for a few days. The boys and Siobhan are on the way back to California. We had more damage here from Irene here than in VT. In the house, the basement was wet, but a couple sweepings cleared in out, and it’s almost dry now. There might have been a inch or two of water at some point because the power was out for almost a day, and the sump pump doesn’t run without electricity.

The yard was littered with leaves and branches, big and small, that the lawn care guys and I cleaned up. There is a huge pile of debris on the street waiting for the town to collect.

One small sycamore that I planted about thirty years ago, as a two year old sapling, was partially uprooted and is leaning on the electric wires. The power company is supposed to take it down. About half its root system is intact, and I wonder if it might send up new shoots. One other tree, a red maple, lost almost its entire crown. Two huge branches are laying in the neighbor’s yard. That tree also has a chance to survive.

Almost all the spring plantings look OK. One of the five cherry trees is marginal, but the others will make it.

In bloom: roses, rose-of-sharon, foxglove, lamium, hosta, fall wildflowers.

Signs of Fall-Asters.

Bottle Gentian. Those are not buds. That is as open as the flowers get. How are they pollinated?

Sedum.

August Ends.

2011-08-30T21:12:00.003-04:00

8-30-11 VERMONT: We did have more of storm after my last post, another 0.9 inches of rain and some gusty winds, the electricity did go out that night and the next morning the phones also cut out. Both were back by mid-day, unlike the eastern parts of the state that were severely hurt by the high water and will have no power or phone for weeks. Many bridges and roads are out. [Check out VT storm videos on YouTube.] We were lucky to only have a wet basement floor and small branches down in the yard. The last couple days have been beautiful, the boys have been back in the pond, and we have been doing clean up and close up. We go back to NJ tomorrow. Rain total for August—11.9 inches by my gauge, I put all the hoses away for the season.

Morning After. Irene fades away.

Tomatoes keep coming.

Goodnight, Irene.

2011-08-28T20:53:00.006-04:00

8-28-11 VERMONT: Irene seems to be disappearing over the northern horizon and not a moment too soon. It started raining late last night with some gusty winds, but it has been a rain event with, at most, minor wind problems. We have not lost phone service at all and the electricity was out for only a moment or two. That has not been our usual experience here.

About four o’clock neighbors from down the hill stopped by to say that the road had washed out. At that time the rain had stopped, and the winds were calm, perhaps we were in the eye. We all put on foul weather gear and went to look. The roadside ditches were roaring and water was pouring down the embankments into the road. Where Lord Brook usually meanders under the road through a culvert, an eight foot in diameter culvert, there was standing water pouring off the down-stream side in a vigorous waterfall and an impressive whirlpool on the up-stream side. The whirlpool was water still going down the culvert at maximum capacity. At 8 ft. in diameter the culvert has an area of 50 sq.ft. The water was traversing the fifty foot length in about a second for a velocity of 50 ft/sec and a flow of 2500 cu ft/sec, [area x velocity] not counting the water flowing over the culvert. That CFS is probably 100 times normal flow.

On the way home, I checked the rain gauge. The top measure is 5 inches and it had about a quarter inch over that. By the time we got inside the rain had started again. At 9:30 PM we still have light rain and more gusty wind even though the radar shows it to be gone.

Storm Trackers.

New Boston Rd. has become New Boston waterfall. You can see the overwhelmed culvert pipe ridges which is usually three feet below the road surface.

This whirlpool is the water that is still going down the culvert.

New Boston pond.

County Fair.

2011-08-27T20:11:00.006-04:00

8-27-11 VERMONT: They’re running us ragged. Friday they spent in the pond, in and out of the rowboat, playing with inflatables and body boards and radio-controlled boats. Our new stove was delivered by Home Depot. The first time they delivered the wrong one and had to come back to exchange it for the proper one and take away the old one which had been disconnected by the propane serviceman who also installed the new one.

Today was the Caledonia County Fair in Lyndonville, VT. We did rides, ate fair food, saw a high wire motorcycle act, an escape artist, trained bears, border collie herding, checked out the draft horses and oxen. After we got home there was more pond time and tomato picking and corn from the garden, mac and cheese, and hot dogs for dinner. A few of us had different courses.

Tomorrow we expect an Irene visit and indoor activities. We had another 0.2 inches of rain to add to the soggy August total.

New blooms: bottle gentian, turtle head, more asters.

Hopefully all the frogs survived their inter-species congress.

A boy, a dog and a boat.

Notice that there are no grandparents in that car.

Gentle grizzly bear.

Hummingbird Moth. This guy looks like a small hummer and flits from flower to flower with high-speed wing action. It also has a 'beak' like a hummer.

Jersey Shore.

2011-08-25T21:07:00.008-04:00

8-25-11 VERMONT: We’re back here with the boys after a trip up today through the rain and traffic. The dogs and boys were well behaved on the trip.

Yesterday was exciting—a trip to the Jersey shore, specifically, Seaside Heights. Seaside is a fairly typical shore town, a bit more garish than some others, and now famous for the cable TV hit ‘Jersey Shore’. Val, Steve, Maggie, Lucy and Annabelle have been there vacationing, and we met them for the day. We walked the boardwalk, played arcade games, had candy apples, rode, some of us, the roller-coasters and the log flume, then had lunch including pizza, sausage and peppers, fries, fried oreos, fried chicken and other health foods. In the afternoon we hit the beach and the gorgeous white sand. The ocean was pretty warm and the surf a bit on the rough side which made it that much more fun jumping over, diving under and riding the waves. We all learned to deal with the choppy surf.

We assumed the surf was up from the impending visit of that windbag, Irene.

After showers at the motel, we went out for a Tex-Mex dinner back on the boardwalk and a chance to experience the flashing neon. As the sun set, we left for home after good-byes and thank-yous to Val et al. The one thing Seaside lacks, as far as I can tell, is anything in a pastel shade.

Back in VT, I can report there was 1.75 inches of rain plus a shower while the boys and I were picking corn and tomatoes for dinner.

New blooms: chrysanthemum.

Seeing Seaside Heights Sights.

We racked up high scores and won thousands of points which were redeemed for a few toys.

The rides were a trill and damp.

Some of us worked harder than others.

Nice sand.

Most of the time there were waves.

Return to NJ.

2011-08-22T19:42:00.001-04:00

8-22-11 SHORT HILLS: The trip to NJ yesterday was uneventful except for a few rainy spells, one was quite hard and heavy. Our cars spend the summer in VT living with us on a dirt road. Cars don’t get washed because the first time out of the driveway, the car looks just as it did before the washing. Back in NJ we live on pavement, of course, but another trip to VT is always imminent so there’s no point to washing other than a hosing in the driveway. Anyway, that rain storm on the trip left our cars cleaner than any other time this summer.

Here, the yard is soggy in spots, and the sprinkler system is now off for a few weeks. Almost everything in the yard looks good except one of the five new cherry trees. There is a healthy crop of weeds and vines so I won’t be idle.

We came down early because the boys from California are arriving for a long week. We will probably take them back to VT.

In bloom: foxglove, roses, hydrangea, rose-of-sharon.

High Tide on the Red Sea.

2011-08-20T15:42:00.005-04:00

8-20-11 VERMONT: Oops, time slips away, sorry, dear reader. Judy and I just celebrated our, gasp, fiftieth anniversary, talk about time slipping away. The days have been pretty, and we had a bit more rain last night. Alison is here to pick up Lily, whose camp counselor session has ended. The four of us had dinner with big sister, Anna, last night. Anna is finishing her summer term and looking forward to a fall internship in NYC.

Tomatoes fill the kitchen, big, little, in-between, red, orange in baskets and bowls. We started harvesting and eating corn. We shuck the corn in the pasture because Brady the horse loves the shuckings.

I got the chain saw back from a servicing yesterday and sliced up an aspen that had fallen into the pasture from the adjacent woods. The newly sharpened saw cut through the tree trunk like a hot knife through butter. Today I did a little more work on the culvert. NJ tomorrow.

New blooms: ligularia dentata.

Lobelia, also comes in red and is called Cardinal Flower for reasons unknown to me. The buds on the stalks open from bottom to top.

This bumblebee is chest deep in the lobelia cup, getting his nectar treat and spreading pollen.

I believe this is a honeybee, a rarity this year, on the clematis.

Monsoon.

2011-08-16T21:14:00.003-04:00

8-16-11 VERMONT: Since my last entry, it has done nothing but rain, for almost 48 hours. This storm was the one that dumped up to 10 or 11 inches on the NYC area. We only got 2.65 inches, but that was enough to fill the pond which was down about 2 inches and soak everything. We will be sufficiently soggy for up to two weeks. When the rain stopped this afternoon, it went from cold and dank to sunny, hot and muggy in a twinkling.

The landscapers were here again doing more pasture trimming and inadvertently cut the invisible dog fence wire. It was easy to find and repair, and I found two more broken split rail fence rails to replace. It was good to escape the house after the rain. We had a pretty sky at sunset.

August gardens: black-eyed susan, echinacea, helenium, daisy, yarrow and white star clematis hanging from the deck.

Red cloud.

Fence Mending.

2011-08-14T20:04:00.002-04:00

8-14-11 VERMONT: Yesterday was another beauty, I finished the re-do of the cutting board that had been in the kitchen for years, but had developed a bad case of mold growing between loosened wood strips. I took it apart, sliced off the edges and bottoms of the strips with the table saw, re-glued it together using a biscuit cutter and clamps to make three pieces and then one piece. Then came a lot of sanding and new bread board ends again using the biscuit cutter and the clamps. Then more sanding and finally oiling.

Friday Lily called from camp. She and her friend Jesse had the evening off from counselor duties so we brought them here for pasta dinner with crepes for dessert. We all had a good time.

Yesterday evening, Judy and I gave a dinner party for Anna and Dylan, Ken and Jane, Steve and Diana, John and Gretchen, and Ann and Roger. We were all outside on the deck before dinner watching the day darken and then had buffet dinner inside.

Today I was back in the pasture and replaced five broken fence rails.

New blooms: globe thistle, late phlox, early aster.

Full Moon rising behind our barn.

Moon and Lake Fairlee.

What Happened to the Summer?

2011-08-11T20:41:00.002-04:00

8-11-11 VERMONT: We had more rain, another 0.8 inches. We’re good for a week or so. Today was beautiful, seventies, breezy, clear skies and low humidity. Our landscapers have been here parts of the last two days working on the pasture which has been invaded by trees, white pine and aspen, various shrubs and weeds—mint, thistle, burdock. They are cutting down all the invasives so the whole thing can be brush-hogged to try and get it back to mostly grass. Brady the horse just eats grass where he finds it, but none of the other stuff. I was inspired by their efforts and the great, cool day to get out the DR Trimmer and go around the barns, garden, roses. I had to repair it twice, a loose screw on the clutch plate and then an oily air filter, caused by the first repair.

On that point, land here wants to be mixed forest of evergreens and deciduous trees. Pastures, gardens and yards, if neglected, gradually turn back into forest.

Usually I mow a few times a summer, but this year has been so busy with other jobs that I haven’t gotten to it. It occurred to me today that I have been doing a bunch of non-recurring projects—pumpkin cart rebuild, benches rebuild, cellar door rebuild, kitchen cabinet rebuild [with the soapstone sink installation], and even splitting the downed maple tree wood. They’re not regular, yearly jobs. Well, there’s always next year. Oh yeah, has anyone noticed how it’s now dark at eight instead of nine. The summer is slipping away.

New blooms: star clematis.

Does that flag look off? You can't tell, but it has 15 stars and 15 stripes. It's the flag that was flying at Ft. McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote the 'Star Spangled Banner', and accordingly, is known by that name. Thirteen of the stars and stripes are for the original thirteen colonies, and the other two of each are for Vermont and Kentucky. This is why we fly it at our 1791 farm house. You probably thought we lost the other stars in the stock market. Later, when more states joined up, Congress decided to return to thirteen stripes and add only new stars for new states. Rarely has Congress displayed such good sense since.

Tomatopaloozza.

2011-08-08T21:11:00.003-04:00

8-8-11 VERMONT: We got the rain, 0.35 inches, enough for a few days. Yesterday was dead calm after the rain, but muggy and hot. Today was breezy and not so hot.

I foamed all the gaps in the new cellar door frame today and dug out the culvert again. The road grader was here today and my culvert wall needed a few repairs afterwards.

More tomatoes are ripening everyday, more than we can eat. Blueberries are still here with lots of unripened fruit for the next few weeks. The corn will be ready next week.

New blooms: black-eyed susan.

Now those are flowers.

Back in Thetford.

2011-08-06T17:14:00.005-04:00

8-6-11 VERMONT: We’re back. Yesterday’s trip was uneventful, long, with a stop at Bob’s, but uneventful. The dogs were glad to be home from the kennel, as usual. Things here are dry. I watered a few yesterday and filled the feeders. Judy picked tomatoes—the tomato torrent has begun.

The heron, ho hum, was back today. It’s hot, overcast and threatening to rain more than the brief shower we had this afternoon. If we don’t get rain today, I’ll make it rain tomorrow by watering everything.

Lily and three counselor friends are visiting on their day off from Hive. Maggie has returned from Thailand exuberant about the trip.

New blooms: indian pipe, lobelia.

Here's another from MDI.

Stormy sky+ocean+islands+pink granite+spruce+wild rose=Mt. Desert Island coast

"I was here all week, where were you guys?"

Southwest Harbor and Mount Desert Island.

2011-08-03T21:44:00.006-04:00

8-3-11 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, MAINE: We drove down east yesterday, stopping only for a lobster roll and fried clams in Kittery, ME at Bob’s Clam Hut which I consider worth the journey. We arrived at Ken and Carol’s beautiful house here in time for dinner and a refreshing beverage. This morning we hiked with Audrey, Virginia, Caroline and Hazel at a part of Acadia National Park called Ship Harbor. It is a hike through the woods, mostly evergreens covered with mosses with an understory of blueberry and bunchberry and the like, ending at the ocean shore of a red granite pluton dotted with tidal pools. Their two dogs, George and Teddy, were with us also. It’s hard to say whether the beach or the woods is the more beautiful.

After another seafood lunch, we went sailing in light air on Western Way, an arm of the Atlantic between Southwest Harbor and Great Cranberry Island.

The gardens around the house are flourishing, and my only problem was which pix to post. We had a spicy dinner at XYZ, a Mexican restaurant and watering hole in the neighborhood.

Hikers on the beach. Wait a few million years, and this will be soft pink sand.

Gardens, terrace and ocean.

Schooner on Western Way.

Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

Birds and Bees.

2011-07-31T16:50:00.003-04:00

7-31-11 VERMONT: The cellar doors are finished, the project turned out fine. I will need to use a can of spray foam to plug all the holes and gaps between the cinder block irregularities and the new wood. Yesterday I was back to pruning and weeding. We had a rain Friday night that gave us exactly one inch, a much needed inch. Since then it has been gorgeous.

Alison and Dan left this AM with a quart of newly picked blueberries. The bushes are so productive this year that I picked another quart for us afterwards. Some of the apples are ripe enough to eat, Brady the horse has been eating them for weeks. We have had tomatoes every day, but no flood of red as yet. The corn has tassels and silk. There are about six soccer ball sized pumpkins in green stripes.

All our guests have commented on all the bee activity on all the blossoms. I haven’t seen any honey bees, but there are lots of different bumblebees and a variety of other, smaller bees. Wikipedia says there are 20,000 species of bees overall, and 250 species of bumblebees.

Yesterday Judy and I both saw two turtles in the pond at the same time. Also yesterday there was a blue heron here for second day in a row. When you’ve been looking at chickadees and robins all day, the heron seems enormous. There was a kingfisher here for a few hours also, but he/she was camera shy. Maine Tuesday.

New blooms: monkshood, goldenrod.

Bumblebee and echinacea.

Heron cleared for landing.

Where's the frogs?

Hammering in the Cellar.

2011-07-28T21:06:00.004-04:00

7-28-11 VERMONT: We ended up with 0.8 inches of rain from the last storm, and every thirsty plant was sated, but now, it’s almost time to think about watering again.

I have spent two days in the basement, taking the doors off. In VT all doors are paired to keep out the cold, cutting out the rotted wood which is always ten times as bad as you think it is, making concrete footings for the new door jambs. The original situation was, untreated wood set in dirt, duh, it rotted out? Today I removed the forms around the footings that I had poured yesterday and put in pressure treated replacement jambs, for the lower two or three feet, glued them to the cinder blocks. The cellar is half original field stone and half replacement cinder block. Remounting doors is a struggle, they weigh much more than you think when off their hinges. I used a lever to get it into position and re-attached the hinges. The door works, but is not in quite the same place that it was before. That’s because the new wood is in the usual standard sizes, and the old wood was probably locally milled and non-standard size. Hopefully, I’ll finish it tomorrow.

New blooms: another Asian lily and more daylilies.

More daylilies, this one is called fire alarm or fire engine or something that suggests redness.

I remember this one-'Blueberry Breakfast'.

Back on Four Wheels.

2011-07-26T20:17:00.002-04:00

7-26-11 VERMONT: We got that rain last night and today, 0.5 inches so far. Now it’s cold enough for a jacket. I knew if I watered, that it would rain.

I finished that wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart and mounted it. It will need painting before the cart comes inside for the winter. Onto the next project—repairing a rotted door frame in the root cellar. Does that sound exciting?

New blooms: goose-neck loosestrife.

Spokes and rims pegged and glued by, ahem, the Gardener.

Real Vermont Weather.

2011-07-24T20:27:00.002-04:00

7-24-11 VERMONT: Today was gorgeous, it didn’t get out of the seventies, low humidity, blue skies, sun—what a pleasant change from the past week. Still no rain and lots of plants starting to wilt, so I watered all the beds, which took four hours. Paying attention to every individual plant is good once in a while, I found lots of weeds and plants that needed staking. What we need now is a nice soaking rain, without electricity.

Lots of guests for a few days—Alison, Dan, Lily, Steve, Val, Lucy and Anna yesterday. The house is noisy with laughter and everybody getting corrected by everyone else, the usual chaos.

New blooms: liatris, ligularia, coreopsis, soapwort.

I realize this is getting to be a Daylily Only Blog, but here is another hybrid in white.

...And another in pink.

Cooling Off.

2011-07-22T20:19:00.003-04:00

7-22-11 VERMONT: Yesterday was up to 94° and today hit 95°, that is as hot as I remember it getting in twenty summers here. Tonight is cooler and the humidity has dropped making it so much more comfortable. Usually in VT, the nights are cool, if not very cool, and sleeping is fine, occasionally with a window fan to clear the room of the midday heat. Last night it didn’t get below about 80° and was not so nice.

We all, Judy, Val, Steve and I, have been hiding in the shade for two days. I did do a bit of veggie garden work yesterday and was drenched in moments.

Camp visiting tomorrow for Lucy, and later, Alison and Dan arrive for college parents weekend.

New blooms: helenium, joe-pye weed.

Helenium, aka Sneezeweed, for its appearance with late summer allergens.

Another true lily.

Hotter Times.

2011-07-20T20:55:00.003-04:00

7-20-11 VERMONT: Ninety degree heat continues, but I guess most of the country is hotter. I’m busy doing the usual chores, but not too busy to admire the blossom parade.

We have been studying soapstone, as in counter tops. Soapstone, it turns out, is mostly talc, the mineral of talcum powder. The chemical formula, Mg3Si4O10(OH)2, shows magnesium, silicon and oxygen. The rock is a metamorphic shistose product of silicates altered by heat and high pressure. Talc is the softest mineral, 1 on the Mohs hardness scale [diamond is the hardest mineral at 10]. Soapstone, because of the softness of talc, is easy to carve and has been and continues to be a favorite of sculptors.

New blooms: queen annes lace, echinacea, phlox.

Daisy. I love the spiral patterns in the center, either from the right or left the spiral from the outer edge curls into the center pit.

Hot Times in Vermont.

2011-07-18T18:55:00.004-04:00

7-18-11 VERMONT: July is slipping away, just like June did. We are almost a month past the summer solstice, and the sun begins to noticeably retreat from the north.

We’ve been back in VT for a day. There was 0.35 inches of rain in the gauge when we arrived, and we got another 0.3 inches today. It has been so hot, however, that I watered the new grass and veggies yesterday. Today I went back to work on the wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart.

Speaking of veggies, the corn, some of it, is as high as a gardener’s eye and starting to form tassels. Some of the tomato plants are that tall as well, but none of the fruit is ripe yet, but the blueberries are. Our bushes are lovin’ this year, lots of new growth and lots of fruit. I picked a pint for dessert tonight.

New blooms: shasta daisy, first asian lily, more hybrid daylilies, summer azalea.

Hybrid Daylily.

Another one.

And Another. Not only are the colors different, but the petal size, shape, length and frilliness vary. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I don't remember the names of the varieties.

Birthday Extravaganza.

2011-07-16T22:10:00.003-04:00

7-16-11 SHORT HILLS: I have weeded, weeded and weeded, watered, cut up a big fallen ash branch, and pruned during the days. I found more stuff eaten by deer—red twig dogwood, english ivy, euonymus, spice bush, some rose-of-sharon.

At night we did the high-end restaurant circuit—Wednesday was Julio’s in West Orange with Bette and Lonnie, Thursday was the Gotham B&G with Alison, Dan, Steve, Val, Bill and Lynn, Friday was only us at Chez Napoleon on 50th St. and then Peter Brook’s “A Magic Flute” [loved the Queen of the Night], and tonight, Serenade in Chatham, NJ with Ronny and Bebe. Do we need to diet, or what? A week of salad coming up. All the meals and company were great. VT tomorrow.

Big, Big Birthday Dinner.

2011-07-14T13:11:00.005-04:00

7-14-11 SHORT HILLS: We arrived here mid-afternoon yesterday. A quick walk around the yard showed the new plantings mostly fine, tons of weeds, deer damage to the vacationing-outside hibiscuses, lilac, a small pear tree and hostas [that might be woodchucks]. The California live oak seedlings have vanished, their site is full of vole holes.

I did some weeding yesterday and again the morning. I had brought a bucket full of variegated bishops weed down from VT and planted them this morning. I put some between the magnolia and apple in the back yard and the rest in spots under the rose-of-Sharon/viburnum cluster. Later I pulled up hundreds of small grape vines and several large ones.

Wild grape vines are all over the yard. Birds eat the wild grapes from the neighborhood and return to our yard, where many nest because it is semi-wooded, and a day later, poop out the grape seeds in a little dab of fertilizer. I pulled up 58, by actual count, grape seedlings under one bunch of tall junipers.

Big dinner tonight for Judy’s ## Birthday. It’s a round number, but I daren’t say what. We have a table for eight at the Gotham Bar & Grill.

In bloom: rose-of-Sharon, rhododendron, lamium, spirea, roses, hydrangea.

Rose-of-Sharon. A mid-summer bloomer related to hibiscus.

Hydrangea.

Another Hydrangea.

And One More Hydrangea.

Triple H.

2011-07-12T20:07:00.005-04:00

7-12-11 VERMONT: The last two days have been hazy, humid and hot, nineties, unusual for here. We had a couple of brief showers today, but no accumulation, as yet.

I did some trimming yesterday as well as the usual weeding and pruning. Today I started rebuilding the wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart. It’s wooden with ten spokes and an iron tire. So far, I’ve used the jigsaw to cut five arc segments and the table saw to make the spokes which actually fit the metal hub, lots of trimming and rounding with the router and pegging, drill press, to go.

NJ tomorrow for a long weekend.

New blooms: more delphinium.

A bunch of astilbe in candy colors and a sprig of delphinium trying to escape from its family.

A double hollyhock in shocking pink. Is that still a color?

Camp Visitation.

2011-07-10T19:57:00.005-04:00

7-10-11 VERMONT: The benches are done, three rebuilt and repainted, one only repainted. They are all back in their usual habitats and looking parkish. We had another late night rain, 0.65 inches, to which, I was oblivious until I saw the gauge in the morning.

I have kept up with weeding, pruning, staking and veggie, mostly tomato, care. The Swiss chard looks ready, we’ll need to find a recipe. Lots of green tomatoes and the tallest corn is now hip high.

Today we went to Aloha Hive Camp with Anna and had a pizzanic, with brownies, with Lily and Lucy. We met Lily’s campers and Lucy’s cabin mates and counselor.

New blooms: hollyhock, monarda, mallow, yarrow.

Gorgeous bench, delighted with its make-over.

Another daylily hybrid, with pollinator.

Pickerelweed, a water plant with arrowhead shaped leaves and bluish flowers. The leaf shape shows better in the shadows on the water surface.

Bench Player.

2011-07-08T21:34:00.002-04:00

7-8-11 VERMONT: We had a T-storm the night before last and got 0.25 inches of rain in about an hour. The previous storm, on 7-3, gave us a nearby lightening hit that knocked out the garage GFI outlet that I had to replace. Yesterday was beautiful, but today a bit cool and overcast.

I have been working on all the benches for a few days. The hardest part, so far, was getting the rotted wood slats and rusted bolts off the metal frames. I have ripped new slats from wood stock, but re-used some decent wood also, edged with the router, sanded as needed, drilled new holes, cleaned up the frames, painted them flat black and painted the new slats dark green. Today I got one partly re-assembled.

I kept up with the weeding and veggie care. The tomatoes have shown signs of blight with leaves at the base of the stems wilting and turning yellow with dark spots. I cut them of and throw in the garbage, not the compost pile. The plants still look fine, and most have developing fruit. The corn is thigh high.

New blooms: hydrangea, clematis, pickerelweed.

Clematis climbing up to the deck.

From the Fourth, Strafford, VT green. between the meeting house on the hill and the tent, there's a tug-of-war being waged. Ultimatetly the team in the foreground lost.

In answer to a recent question, I use a Canon SX 200 IS camera. I like it because it has a 12X zoom and is pocket size.

Summer Swirl.

2011-07-06T10:27:00.003-04:00

7-6-11 VERMONT: Well, I meant to post on the Fourth and then on the fifth, but here we are on the sixth. It feels like summer now, hot, humid and hazy—love it. We have had a few sprinkles with, at most, 0.2 inches of rain.

I have been busy with garden work and yesterday started on the bench repair/rebuild. Phil Serlin was here last night after finishing a Spanish immersion course at Hanover. Today Lily visits on a camp day off. Tonight we have dinner with Dave and Gail, and tomorrow Ina comes here for dinner. It’s not a social whirl, but whirlpool.

New blooms: astilbe, filipendula, delphinium.

We spotted these night lilies on the Fourth, they seem to be a short-lived species.

Daylily Days.

2011-07-01T17:40:00.003-04:00

7-1-11 VERMONT: Wow, four days, no post, sorry about that reader[s]. I have been busy and may be able to remember some of what I did. The weather has been fine, a light shower every day or so with less than 0.2 inches of accumulation.

I finished the downed maple tree site, seeded, spread hay, and started watering it. I filled a bunch of holes in the yard, finished splitting the wood pile and ended with about a half a cord, stacked and drying. I expanded the bed at the north end of the pond adjacent to the rock ledge, made a rock border, and moved a random bunch of volunteers, distressed, or thinned out plants into it. They include a nice hosta that was covered by bigger hostas, thyme moved out of the old herb garden, a joe-pye weed and a chunk of lamium. We’ll see what works and re-arrange as needed. I removed bottom leaves from the tomatoes that were yellowing and spotted, perhaps, indicating early blight. The usual pruning, including apple trees, weeding here and there. I planted the cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum var. striatum, in the porch bed.

Val and Steve were here to drop Lucy off at camp and traded in their ancient Volvo for a Forester.

New blooms: more hostas, Stella De Oro daylily, first native daylily, more spirea, Russian sage.

Stella De Oro daylily blooms a bit before the native daylilies.

Native daylily, what's prettier than this?

Well, maybe this peony.

Sunny and Warm.

2011-06-27T20:09:00.005-04:00

6-27-11 VERMONT: It actually did rain again last night, but only a trace accumulation. Today was beautiful and summery. I was outside all day. The corn looks fine, and I went ahead, a bit early, and thinned them down to one stalk per hill. All the tomatoes are growing nicely, but not much fruit yet, the nights may be too cool.

I planted the new day lilies, ‘Grandmothers Love’, ‘Blueberry Breakfast’, ‘Pale Peach’, and ‘Summer Wine’ in the day lily bed. The bed is next to an old wall and digging there means pulling out rocks. The rocks end up as a bed border. I also planted two Hepatica americana between pavers on the terrace. I cleaned up the spot where the maple tree came down, graded the area and put down some sod, that I had banked last year, around the remaining maple roots. I’ll seed the rest.

New blooms: ‘Purple Rain’ salvia.

Have you seen this guy at your feeder?

Or this one?

Probably not. They are from Botswana, part of Ken and Carol's pix from their recent safari. They and other pix are available at the web site below. See lions, leopards, jaguars, hyenas, hippos, giraffes, zebras, cape buffalo, lots of antelopes, elephants, spectacular birds and more. The picture quality is excellent.
http://kenweg.smugmug.com/Nature/Bowswana-2011/17731916_RwP2cZ#1353700019_Smd9t59

The Rain Stopped.

2011-06-26T19:19:00.004-04:00

6-26-11 VERMONT: So far today, no rain. There was another 0.2 inches in the gauge this morning. The fog and clouds gradually cleared this afternoon. I have been splitting a half-dozen logs a day and am about half done with the pile.

We went to Cider Hill Gardens in Windsor, VT today. The stock is beautifully displayed in their own gardens, and they have more in those gardens than they have for sale. We bought four hybrid day lilies to add to the day lily garden, a couple hepatica and an interesting pink-orange geranium. It's worth a visit even if you’re not in the market for plants. They also have a gallery with, what else, garden art.

In an attempt to get some wild sedum to bloom, I alkalised half the bed near the propane tank and acidified the other half to see if pH change has an effect.

Last night Judy [and I] gave a dinner party for three couples on our road, Ken and Jane, Donna and Bruce, and Katie and Andy. Many important issues were discussed at length, and they actually stayed until 10 PM.

New blooms: campanula.

Thyme taking over the terrace.

Roses at their peak. They continue to bloom all summer, but not in such profusion.

Plenty of Puddles.

2011-06-24T22:02:00.004-04:00

6-24-11 VERMONT: Yesterday it rained most of the day, and I was outside for only a few minutes between showers. I split a few logs and emptied the rain water out the boat. Today the rain stopped, except for an occasional drizzle in late morning, and I got most of the flower beds weeded and pruned most of the shrubs around the house. I cleaned out the culvert again, staked a few plants, cleaned up the trimmings before the rain started again. So far we have had about 1.6 inches, but more is falling.

It has been cold, foggy, clammy, wet, overcast, soggy and, of course, rainy. I was working in Wellingtons, a jacket, heavy shirt to stay warm. We have had fires the last two nights.

New blooms: summer sweet, more spirea, feverfew.

Luna Moth. A bit bedraggled, but still impressive. Moths rest with wings spread, butterflies with wings together and upright. Moths have fuzzy antennae as seen here in yellow.

Abracadabra, No More Tree.

2011-06-22T19:32:00.004-04:00

6-22-11 VERMONT: After a few dry days, it started raining about noon today and hasn’t stopped, no wind, no lightening or thunder, just rain—so unusual.

Yesterday Chippers was here and made the downed maple vanish. Some splittable wood was cut and stacked by the garage for me to split. but nothing too gnarly or large. All the smaller branches were chipped and the big parts of the trunk and stump were left on big pruning pile in the woods. I used to burn that pile every year or so when the ground was snow covered, but I have decided to let it all decompose on its own, a greener approach. The pile is so big now that I may have to rethink that plan. Some of the chips went on a wet spot behind the big barn. I still have to regrade around the hole where the stump was.

Otherwise, it’s been more of the same, weeding and pruning.

New blooms: rhododendron, first hosta, tiarella.

June favorite, Peony.

Another June fav, yellow flag iris.

Busy Days.

2011-06-19T19:45:00.004-04:00

6-19-11 VERMONT: Yesterday we had more hail, this was marble-sized, bigger than the pea-sized from a few days ago. Today was a high pressure, clear blue sky, cool day with a nice breeze. Tonight is jacket or sweater cool. The rain has dumped another 0.2 inches on us.

Neighbor Melissa dropped off a perennial foxglove yesterday which went into one of the holes in the gardens. She declined a columbine or bleeding heart in return. Yesterday, otherwise was more W & P, catching up with invaders and runaways.

The day before yesterday I worked on the downed maple cutting and pulling one section of roots using chainsaw, sabersaw, shovel, pick and bar.

Today I took down two small trees that had grown near and encroached on the dawn redwood. One was an apple, and I saved some firewood. Before that I weeded the terrace and old stone steps.

New blooms: [forgot to mention last post—clover, vetch, cinquefoil, yarrow] peony, knapweed.

I was up early the other morning and caught this sunrise over Mt. Moosilauke.

Pink Knapweed, Centaurea dealbata 'Rosea'. Looks like its relative, Bachelor Button.

Evening Grossbeak. The grossbeak part of the name makes sense.

Good News, Bad News.

2011-06-16T20:32:00.005-04:00

6-16-11 VERMONT: We both came up yesterday, struggling in an unending odyssey of construction delays and lane closures, it must be summer. When we got here, we found the two trees blown over by a viscious T-storm last week. Now we haven’t had house damage, or a tornado, but this makes about a half dozen trees we have lost in the past few years.

One tree, an ash, fell from across the road into our driveway, taking out about a quarter of a big honeysuckle bush. Our neighbor, Steve, had cleared the ash tree in the driveway and told us about the maple. It was a red maple, usually with gorgeous fall color, growing on a rock ledge behind the pond. It glanced an even more important maple tree as it fell, as well as a big pine, took out a bench, and landed in the flower beds behind the pond. I got the chain saw started and trimmed the tops of all the branches reaching the pond and the flower beds, cleared the pine branch pinned down by the maple and freed a small maple and a blueberry bush. Back in the woods, I found a downed pine that took out a maple and another pine as it fell.

Mark from Chippers came by today to discuss cutting the maple up, chipping debris, leaving wood that I can split for the fireplace and removing the stump. Scheduled for next week.

Otherwise I pruned the honeysuckle, did a bit of weeding, repaired the culvert, and cleaned up the damaged flower beds.

The veggies are doing fine. We have a grape sized tomato that will be full sized in a few weeks. The corn shoots are up. I plant three seeds in each hill. Several have only two shoots, a few only one and one had none. Did they all fail, or did I forget to seed it? I put three seeds in it today for the second time, or first time. The plantings from May are all doing fine. There was 1.95 inches of rain in the gauge.

That included a heavy downpour with hail yesterday as I was finishing the work on the downed maple.

In bloom: Diablo ninebark, lilac, roses, viburnums, stephanandra, cotoneaster, spireas, weigela, lamium-pink, purple and white, columbine, buttercup, daisy, geranium, cranes bill, meadow rue, forget-me-not, iris-siberian, bearded and water, baptisia, rogersia, jacobs ladder, alkanet, thyme, veronica, bleeding heart, centaurea, ground sedum, coreopsis, hesperis, apricot day lily, trascantia, tomato, water lily, lupin, indian paint brush-red and yellow, ladys mantle, valerian, celandine, raspberry, blackberry, jack-in-the-pulpit, bishops weed, solomon seal, rhubarb.

Downed maple missed the important stuff.

Yesterday, on the way to dinner, we had a surprise.

Can you find Chloe 'midst the buttercups? She's black and white.