Fall in the Wings.

8-27-12 VERMONT: It rained today after about ten dry days, around the area, shrubs and lawns were turning brown. I checked the gauge during a lull and there was 0.4 inches with more since, just what we needed now. Earlier today I finished the mowing I wanted to do, pulled the syphon hose out of the pond and put it all away, did a bit of weeding and watering before the rain.

Yesterday we canoed on Miller Pond, found on Miller Pond Rd., in Strafford, VT. It’s a small, round pond, big enough for a camp, a few houses and a fair amount of natural shoreline. There seems to be good fishing. It has been known as a loon nesting spot, and some years ago, when we were last there, there were several. Yesterday we saw one, busy diving over and over and baring posing on the surface long enough for a picture. There were several human fisherfolk as well.

We are edging into fall. Trees are beginning to turn, the ashes are dropping leaves from the treetops. The birds are starting to form flocks before migrating. Berries are ripe. The days are noticeably shorter. We have almost no apples this year because of the early thaw and later freeze.

Our pond clarity, so far, has not improved much. After four weeks of draining 90 gallons per hour, which is 12 cubic ft/hr or 8000 cu. ft. for the month, which should be the bottom two feet of the pond water, the yuckiest stuff. The pond is down about four inches, less after today’s rain. It is, perhaps, less brown than it was. When the weather cools, algae growth stops and the clarity will be assessable.


Early aster, these volunteers are in all the beds after a little encouragement.

Miller Pond, Strafford, VT.

Loon, the only one we saw, was doing a lot of diving.

Back on the River.

8-26-12 VERMONT: The weather has provided a series of cookie-cutter days with no rain, sunny skies, and pleasant temps, I’m not complaining. Two days ago I finally repaired the DR Trimmer and did the rest of the mowing and then some weeding. I checked the burdock that I had sprayed with Roundup, they were all nicely dying.

Yesterday we were back on the Connecticut with Ken and Jane. We motored from the mouth of the Ompompanoosuc River to Gilman Island, AKA Pirate Island, locally, very locally. The new log cabin on the island is beautifully done, complements to the DOC who did it. The trip is six miles and took exactly an hour, both down river and back up, which tells you about the current in the Connecticut at this time. We saw dozens of mallards in family groups, but no unusual birds.

New blooms: mystery plant [more about that one later].


Mallard chicks and mom.

Mallard male, immature.

Occasionally trains still use the tracks along the Connecticut R.

River Trip.

8-23-12 VERMONT: We took the boat, The Chelsea, out on the river, the Connecticut, putting in at North Thetford and motoring up river to look for the green heron and then downstream, south, for more adventures. We didn’t see the green heron, but we did see a blue heron, a much commoner sighting. We also saw what I have ID’d as a double-crested cormorant. The hooked beak is distinctive, and the double-crested is the only eastern cormorant found inland. I considered a female merganser, because of the reddish color, but the eye/beak relationship is different and the orange chin and the swimming depth favor a cormorant.

The bottom of the pond has been draining for three weeks now, and the pond really looks no different except the level is down about two inches because it’s been dry. After another week, I’ll stop draining and wait for a frost to kill any algae and see how it looks then.

New blooms: bottle gentian.


Double-Crested Cormorant. The only eastern, inland cormorant as far as I know. Anyone?

Cormorants swim with the body deep in the water, unlike a duck.

Great Blue Heron stalking the shallows.

The admiral takes the helm.

Butterflies 2.

8-21-12 VERMONT: Happy Anniversary to A & D and V & S, it’s very convenient for me that you all used the same day. Here, the weather remains great, and dry for almost the first time this summer. I spent another couple hours yesterday wandering around in the waist-high mint and found a few new visitors, some of which are below.

New blooms: autumn sedum.


Viceroy, a Monarch mimic. Monarchs grow up on milkweed and retain some chemical from the plant that makes them distasteful to birds, who know to avoid them. The look-alike Viceroy profits from the same appearance without that chemical.

Orange Sulfur, it takes a lot of patience to get these guys, they're always on the move. Mint.

Another beauty-White Admiral. Mint, milkweed.

Butterflies.

8-19-12 VERMONT: The last couple of days have been cool and dry after a brief shower two nights ago. Last night was down to 50° and today was quite cool. I noticed leaves turning today, really. I was out in the pasture with the camera. The mint is covered with butterflies and other pollinators. The mint is a nuisance because none of the animals for whom the pasture is intended will eat it, but it’s great for butterfly watching, as are the other flowers in the pasture and garden. I posted some of them today after an hour with the ID book.

New blooms: turtle head.


Monarch, those two raised dots on the hind wings mean it's a he. Echinacea.

Common Ringlet. Mint.

Silver-bordered Fritillary. Aster.

Cabbage White. Mint.

Common Wood-Nymph. Mint.

Aphrodite Fritillary. Mint.

Painted Lady. Mint.

Foggy Day.

8-17-12 VERMONT: Well, we got the rain, another 0.75 inches worth on the night before last. We had dinner that night with Roger, Ann, Melissa and Dick at Ariana’s in Orford, NH.

Lily and her friend José were here overnight at the end of their counseloring tours, I guess that should be Josée. They have now moved on.

We were fogged in this morning. If you looked up, there was blue sky, but everything else was grey and obscured and strange.


Ligularia dentata. This plant is mostly for foliage with large purple leaves that take a mounded shape, but the flower is OK too.

Foggy morning makes the familiar seem exotic.

I saw this chart on Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Blog, found in the online NYT. The blue line represents Industrial Production over time, and the grey bars are recessions since World War II. Look at the length of the recent recession and the steep and deep drop in Industrial Production, far worse than any of the other recessions, and which has not yet returned to pre-recession levels. Employment can't improve further until Industrial Production does. Obama deserves credit for dealing with this whopper of a recession as well as he has.

River Paddle

8-15-12 VERMONT: We went canoeing again, this time on the Connecticut River. We put in at the North Thetford boat launch and headed up river and then back down. For the most part, it was just exercise, but we did see a Green Heron, the pic is mediocre because I had only an old camera. The bird is north of its usual summer range, but with warming climate change, species migrate to higher latitude and altitude for an agreeable habitat. On the drive home we did a few back roads and saw a flock of turkeys, three or four hens and a bunch of chicks, now half grown.

We have had no real rain here for a few days, but elsewhere in the area there have been heavy showers.

New blooms: ligularia dentata


Green Heron, sorry about the quality, shot with an old camera.

Turkey army.