Spring?

Most of the snow is gone, and it's officially spring, but there's still not a lot of green up here. Here are some photos from down at the reservoir a couple weeks ago.




Raccoon? Skunk? Wompus Cat?


Reeds (Phragmites communis).


Waterbury River.

Here are some recent pictures from the backyard.

The small pond a few weeks ago.


Witch's butter? (Tremella mesenterica)


Pussy Willow (Salix discolor).


Thorns on a Hawthorne (Crataegus sp.)


Male catkins on a beech or maybe alder sapling.


Some sort of fungi on a dead birch limb.


Close-up of fungi.


Lipstick Powderhorn lichen (Cladonia macilenta).


Common Greenshield lichen (Flavoparmelia caperata).


Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericia).

On my recent work trip to Tennessee, I stopped by Ford's for a quick overnight visit. We wandered around the land a bit to see what there was to see...

Brand new strip mine on a nearby hillside. That sort of crap has got to stop, or at least be reclaimed afterwards.


Ford by the barn on the upper flat. I had a little hand in building this. It looks like it's been forever!


Amanda with some baby clothes Chrissy and I got her!

Then, it was onwards to Tennessee for a couple weeks of work. The site was in a soybean field and a couple days of heavy rain turned it into a big mud bog and ultimately shut things down (since we couldn't move equipment around).

The mess around the drill rig and back of my truck.


Me inside the truck, covered in mud. Hooray for Grunden's rain gear.


The drill rig stuck in the field after trying to drag it to the next hole.

Last but not least, I had a tiny bit of down time, and I went out in search of critters. Came across a pool in a field that was full of frogs. Never actually saw any, but they sure made a racket.

Best RV name?

"Intruder" is certainly one of the most appropriate names I've seen given to one of these hogs...

View Stone Environmental - Field Work in a larger map

Ignore this, I'm testing something for work.

We went down to Boston this past weekend and had a good time (as always) with Chrissy's family. Went to a shooting range with Chrissy's brother in law's best friend, had some yummy Italian food downtown, and kept it low key. Wandering around Quincy one morning I noticed a peculiar tree. Kinda looked like Tamarack, but they don't have needles this time of year. I took a sprig of it home to identify and the best I could come up with was Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica). The book I've got says they are non-native ornamentals, which would explain why I've never seen one before. There were a couple of them growing in a small patch between the sidewalk and an office building. Maybe about 25' tall... Any other guesses?




The other day, I waxed my skis for the first time ever. I've had these skis for 6 years, and since they're "waxless" I always assumed I didn't need to wax them. Well, a coworker of mine showed me how it's done and man what a difference! I've never been able to push myself along a flat with just my poles before, but now I can fly. Wish I'd done that years ago! The snow was total crap, but it was still pretty fun. Here's a couple pictures:

Poplar Sunburst lichen (Xanthoria hasseana) and Star Rosette lichen (Physcia stellaris).


Down by the riverside.


I learned from a coworker who worked on the dam for this reservoir that they lower the water level 40 feet in the winter. I could have been skiing way out on the lake and been over no water at all. Ah well, next year...


In the summer, the water is right up to the banks and this stretch is slow-moving and deep. Always see lots of fish here when I'm canoeing. Right now, it's less than a foot deep and eroding the streambed.


Is that a glimmer of sunshine on the water??

I leave tomorrow for a 2.5-day drive down to Tennessee. However, I'm leaving early and stopping by my brother's place in Kentucky. My older brother happens to be in town as well. Should be a good time. Then it's 2 weeks or so of work and a long drive home (towards the end of March). Maybe it'll be spring when I get back.

Likin' Lichens.

Right about the time things started getting cold and the bugs were getting hard to find, I started getting really interested in all the different plants and critters to be found in the yard. Unfortunately, the snow hit soon after. In the mean time, I've been gathering a small library of field guides so I'll have lots to look at and identify when spring/summer rolls around. One group of organisms that I've found surprisingly interesting (and conveniently as identifiable in winter as summer) are lichens.
I'm learning to recognize some of the more common ones. It seems like the prettiest ones are the rarest though. Here's an attempt of some photos of them with Chrissy's camera (which is no good at macro shots).

I think this is Lipstick Powderhorn (Cladonia macilenta). It is growing on an old fence post.


Though this is out of focus, I'm surprised this photo turned out at all. I took this through a 10x hand lens. The yellow lichen on the left is Poplar Sunburst (Xanithoria hasseana). The whitish one on the right is Star Rosette Lichen (Physcia stellaris). They are both growing on a dead grey birch branch.

Camels Hump in winter.

Got the itch to hike a big hill, and went up Camel's Hump (Vermont's 3rd highest peak) on Friday. Gorgeous clear day for a hike. I was the first one up from the east side in probably a week, so I was breaking trail the whole way up. The first half was packed firm enough to skip snowshoes, but I had to strap them on the rest of the way up. I haven't done much winter hiking to bigger hills, so I was surprised to see just how much snow there was the higher I got. However, once I got up near the bald and windswept summit, there was hardly any. I was able to snap a few photos when I was still in the trees, but by the time I was above treeline, it was so windy and cold that Chrissy's old camera froze up on me. Take my word for it though, the views were gorgeous.
Also was surprised to see some birds pretty high up too. Some sort of woodpecker. Mostly black and white, maybe a Black-backed woodpecker (Picoides arcticus)?
Here's some photos:

Into the fir zone...


Looking back at the beginning of the firs...


Lots of snow up here, about 6" of fresh.


Clearing near the summit.


Side trail to the summit, last picture before the camera froze.

By the way, I finally ordered myself a new camera. Latest generation of the waterproof Pentax's I've had for the past 5 years or so. This will be my 3rd one. Can't wait, I miss carrying a camera everywhere I go.

Winter Fun.

I've been doing a good bit of XC skiing lately as a substitute for riding the trainer (which I've also been doing a bit). Actually, it got warm enough the other day to ride outside (and trash my drivetrain with salt and road grit).
Anywho, yesterday, Chrissy and I took a walk down to where I usually XC ski, at the Waterbury Reservoir. Obviously, it's frozen now. I'm not brave (stupid?) enough to actually ski out on the lake, but there's a peninsula that goes a ways out into it that's fun to go to. That's what we did...

Yours truly.


Chrissy...


My ski tracks from the previous day. Skating yo.


Out onto the lake.








These pictures were taken with Chrissy's old camera, which eats through batteries. I really need to get another one...

Well, we finally got reliable internet at the house. I haven't had good internet since I left Mississippi, so it's been a long time coming. Anywho, here are some pictures from summer and fall. There are some others from our Washington trip I have to track down, but these are some from around Vermont. Unfortunately, these will be the last photos I'll have for a while since my camera got stolen...


Apples from the back yard...

...turned into delicious apple sauce.

Chrissy and friends atop Camel's Hump. And some dogs. Yes, the daschund made it.

Canoe on the Waterbury Reservoir.



Tamarack (yellow) around Zack Woods.

Aspen in fall.

Back yard pond with fall foliage.

Front yard fall foliage.

Early fall ride in the woods.

Chrissy and I at Moss Glen Falls.

Jack-o-lanterns. Chrissy's on the left, mine on the right.

Chrissy on the bridge I built over the little creek in the yard.

Teal in an old cellar hole.

Teal the morning we found Moss Glen Falls.

Atop Mt. Hunger.

Benchmark on Mt. Hunger.

Some of the yard... love it!

Milkweed letting the seeds go.

More to come...