A Day on the River.

8-8-20 VERMONT: We got a lot of rain from TS Isaias, 1.75 inches, with moderate winds, only enough to shake a few small branches loose. Last night we got another 0.15 inches of rain with a little L&T that got Kaley upset. The grass is greening up, but we still need tons more rain.

Scott finished the drain work in the swampy area, and I did grading and seeding and watering of the raw dirt patches. I also cleaned a lot of mud out of the brook and filled in open spots with rocks. All the left-over gravel filled holes in the driveway. Today I propped up an old, original supporting post in the old house cellar that will need replacing. Yesterday I had put my hand on it for a moment, and it moved—not good. 

I also found a water leak in the corner of that cellar under the kitchen and where the refrigerator lives. I pulled the fridge out of its spot in the corner and saw water dripping from the connection for the ice-maker. After a quick trip to Home Depot for a replacement brass fitting, things seem dry, and we’re getting ice.

Yesterday we went canoeing on the Ompom, short for Ompompanoosuc River, near where it drains into the Connecticut River. There are muddy deltas in the Connecticut and mud flats on the Ompom. We went out to the CT under the Route 5 bridge and the railroad bridge as a train was headed north. We saw ducks, Blacks and Mallards, all females and ducklings. A Blue Heron, a Kingbird, a Raven and a flock of smallish, gray birds that flew by. On the way back in we went past the landing and up the Ompom and under the I-91 bridge. There were lots of ripening cattails.

The daylilies are finished as we get closer to mid-August and the days are noticeably shorter, but next week we’re back in the 90’s.

New blooms: tree hydrangea, black-eyed susan, echinacea, lily, helenium.

Lily, true lily, not daylily.

Judy and Brady and, I think, Maizie amid the goldenrod.

Two frogs on the water lilies, there were several basking, as well a small turtle, who was camera shy.

Indian pipes lack chlorophyll. They are parasitic on fungi that grow on tree roots. The fungi are saprophytic with the trees.

Two Great Spangled Fritillaries on an echinacea flower.

Canoeing on the Ompompanoosuc River, locally referred to as the Ompom, we got a long toot from the engineer.

American Kingbird on an island in the Connecticut River.

While we were on the Connecticut, we got some nice reflections.

Great Blue Heron at work in the shallows.

Black Duck, female, with friends or duckings.

Raven on mud flats caught a snail, but where will he get the garlic and olive oil.

Phlox are all popping out.

Black-eyed Susan from the garden not the smaller, wild ones in the pasture.

Morning fog and rain, it all cleared by afternoon.