Where's the Squirrels?

9-27-21 SHORT HILLS: The Equinox has come and gone, but it’s still warm in the afternoon and cool at night with no AC or heat necessary. There are hints of foliage color here, but the big show is weeks away. We go back to VT for the first few weeks of October this weekend. Between then and now house painters will be here and maybe the basement contractor. 

For me last week was exciting. I had a stress test on the treadmill that was easy and stressless, except that it was positive, showing EKG changes that the cardiologist was concerned about. That lead to a cardiac catheterization. I was expecting to be stented, but the arteries were normal. I guess that’s the reward for decades of statins.

We have been walking a lot and went to the South Mountain Recreation Complex for a walk around the reservoir. It’s a flat two miles that we did with the dogs. There were lots of people walking, running, fishing, dog walking, boating and the kiddie park was full. Essex County did a great job with this park. We saw lots of turtles sunning on floating logs  and an egret. Yesterday we walked with Bebe and Ronnie in town. 

On our walk this morning we saw a few birds flitting around, but it occurred to me that we have no squirrels or chipmunks at all. Pesticides? Herbicides? Epidemic? 

A bunch of turtles and an egret at the resevoir.

There are fountains at the resevoir that keep the water aerated.

A flock of swan boats.

The Equinox Approaches.

9-20-21 SHORT HILLS: Nights are a bit cooler, but the house plants outside are still enjoying their vacation. We are having some inside painting done and will leave the plants until it’s finished. We are also going to have those basement windows removed, and the foundation closed up to eliminate any more flooding from that source. 

We did a walk at Loantaka Park recently and saw a blue heron and great egret in the pond. I only had the iPhone so the pix are poor. The bird situation here is distressing. There was an epidemic of some sort in the Mid-Atlantic states involving eye disease in song birds. It is apparently over, but our bird population is severely reduced. I don’t see but a few and don’t hear but an occasional peep, and the feeders have attracted almost no one.  

The Autumnal Equinox happens on the afternoon of the 22nd. There is a full moon to mark the occasion. In a few weeks the days will be noticeably shorter.

The covid vaccination center is open again, and I was there as a volunteer this morning. It was not very busy, maybe 75 people in 4 hours, a small fraction of the potential capacity of the unit.

Nice rose, the bush is recovering from the summer heat and deer browsing.

Blue Jay scolding me for being near his/her tree.

The house plants, on the left are the basil and rosemary from Vermont.

The pond at Loantaka Brook Park. The Blue Heron is on the left and the Great Egret on the right.

Great Egret.

Blue Heron. These last two pix could have been better with a real camera.

Fading Into Fall.

9-13-21 SHORT HILLS: It still feels like summer here, we’re in the 80’s today, but the calendar says Fall starts shortly, and the days are shrinking away. I’m a bit depressed by the prospect of winter and the short days and the cold. 

Leaves are starting to turn here, a few burning bushes especially, and a few maples. 

Our basement and garage are finely dry. We’ve decided to close up the basement windows, which were the source of the water we had. Those windows were done in past times but not necessary any longer, and really have no point in the age of electricity and air-conditioning. We’re collecting bids from contractors.

I filled the bird feeders when we got back here, but there has been very little bird activity as yet.

New blooms: white aster.

Rose-of-Sharon is another kind of hibiscus and looks like a smaller variation of the one I showed in Vermont a few weeks ago.

Caryopteris is another fall bloomer with clusters of blue blossoms that last into October.

Abelia, another deciduous shrub that makes a big mound adorned with white flowers in fall.

Lady Cardinal has been one of the few customers we've had so far. I did see a grackle yesterday for the first time this fall. Catbirds and robins are still here.

Everything is mostly green, but you can see some red starting to appear.

A Major Storm.

9-2-21 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ. Our arrival coincided with that of TS Ida. She was a storm of biblical size, dumping 4 inches of rain here before the rain gauge fell over. Nearby rain fall recorded amounts were closer to 8 inches, in just a few hours. Probably not so much for some areas of the country, but unheard of here.

This house was built in the 1940’s when foundations were made with basement windows. Outside the window are window wells. 3 or 4 feet deep to allow the window to open for ventilation, I suppose. We have seven such windows. Four of them leaked, letting water pour into the basement from the window wells that filled with the rainwater, in spite of covers that are supposed to prevent that. 

There was so much water coming into the basement that the sump pump was overwhelmed. It was working, but the water level was rising faster than it was getting pumped out. Out of desperation, I rigged up a tarp outside, nailed to the windowsill above the largest window well to divert the water away from the well. Inside the basement, I nailed another tarp under the window to steer the water into the old laundry sinks. Reducing the water flow allowed the sump pump to catch up, and then we were able to sweep the water to the sump to clear a lot of it. This morning I swept a lot more of it to the sump, and cleaned up the garage and driveway.  

There was no damage to the yard except a few small branches. There was not much wind, but there was  lots of L and T. There were tornadoes in some areas of the state. Downtown Millburn had severe flooding from the Rahway River.

In bloom: crape myrtle, white snakeroot, caryopteris, purple lamium, hydrangea, clematis, rose-of-Sharon, abelia.

Not as pretty as some of my pix, the driveway drain filled with debris from the storm.

The tarp diverted the water away from the window well.

The other tarp in the basement putting the water into the sinks.