Tracking Spring

April 23, 2013 By Jodi

Isn’t it strange how we never really notice the leaves on the trees? I asked Hubby the other day. I mean, you see the little buds one day and the next thing you know, Shazam, there are leaves on the trees.

Sure enough a couple of days later I’m driving down my street and I notice some trees have their leaves!

When the hell did that happen? I thought.

I better start paying attention I told myself, otherwise I’m going to miss this amazing transformation entirely.

I made sure to be observant as I walked the dogs on Sunday.

The first thing I noticed was the little yellow flowers. I don’t know what they are called, I’m pretty sure they’re not Forsythia.

I also noticed a few trees on the edge of the field were beginning to sprout, but I avoided the area because last week when we walked over there, the bumble bees were out in force. While I’ve been told they don’t sting as aggressively or hurt as much as yellow jackets, I prefer not to find that out for myself.

Sunday

I scoured the woods on our walk searching for a tree with buds and finally right near the top of the trail I spied it!

Monday

I decided I’m tracking spring this year. I took a picture of the bud on Sunday and then another one yesterday. This year I’m not going to miss this beautiful transformation.

Delilah here: This shit’s lame, I can’t believe she’s resorted to writing this dribble. I mean really, dogs pay attention to these things without having to be told. Do you not understand the beauty of this world we live in, are your lives so busy that you really need to be reminded to enjoy the beauty around you?

This is spring people, spring! The time when the world wakes up from its winter nap, when everything is fresh and new, go out and use your nose! Smell the air, smell the flowers, take some time to enjoy the rebirth of the land.

Now please excuse me, I have some Pee-Mail that requires my attention.

Peace out.

The Heart of Spring

March 3, 2013 By Jodi

Ask any New Englander, spring is in the air.

It’s not just because it stays lighter longer. (Although that does help our spirits.)

We’ve had some 40 even 50 degree days. Yes it’s true we do have 40 and 50 degree days in winter. But a 40 or 50 degree day in January is still cold.

No, the sun is definitely warmer.

The birds are singing. And yes it’s true we do have year round birds that do sing. But their song is sweeter.

Yes there is definitely a different sound to their trilling.

And it’s not just because most of the snow we received three weeks ago is almost gone. Yes, those 40 and 50 degree days have gone a long way to melting that snow. In fact, there are patches of earth with no snow on them at all.

Maybe it’s a combination of the above or a change in the air, but tt’s true, if you’ve lived here long enough you definitely know when spring is on her way.

Did you ever wonder where spring started? Where exactly the heart of spring is?

Yesterday on our walk I made a startling discovery. Spring’s heart is living right in our little patch of woods. How do I know this?

I saw it on a tree.

Fall Foliage

October 20, 2012 By Jodi

I sat at this computer last night struggling to 1) finish my Michael Vick post 2) come up with a different post. I couldn’t do either.

I’m a little under the weather right now, nothing major, just a cold but it’s making me feel pretty yucky. I’m a big germ-a-phobe and am very careful about cleaning my hands after touching anything. The office I work in shares a lobby with a Pediatrician’s office so you can imagine there are always sick kids running in and out of there.

The bathroom is in the lobby and I’m extremely careful about using a paper towel to open and close doors on my way back from the bathroom.

I have hand sanitizer in my car, my purse and a big ole industrial size, wall-mounted beast close to my desk.

I take germ fighting seriously.

My boss came in on Monday with a cold. I remember saying to him, stop touching everything, you’re sick! But when you work closely with someone I guess it’s inevitable, I must have missed a key sanitization moment, because here I sit, whining about a cold.

Pre-cold symptoms I did spend some time this past week taking pictures of the beautiful area I live in, I shared some of those photos yesterday but thought I might take an opportunity to put some more up here today.

All of these pictures within a couple of miles of our home. Pre Delilah we walked here a lot, post Delilah, not so much. I do hope we can get back to walking in some of these areas again.

I’m using the Gallery feature that 2 Brown Dawgs turned me on to, so I can fit the pictures here. Hopefully this is more convenient than getting tendonitis in your finger from scrolling too much.

The Gallery option for inserting photos will only allow me to install one gallery, so while these are four different locations, unfortunately they are all lumped together.

A quick index.

Valley Falls (indicated with a (VF) in the descriptions) is a park which Sampson, Delilah and I can access from the trails in our woods. There is a pond used for swimming in the summer (no dogs allowed) and a beautiful trail system.

Risley Dam (RD in the photo descriptions) is actually a reservoir (no dogs swimming) about a two miles from our house. The photos I shared yesterday were taken just before sunset on Wednesday evening, while these photos were taken from the other end of the pond on Thursday afternoon.

The Tankerhoosen (Tank in photo descriptions) is a couple of bodies of water that pool in one area, turn to running water and pool in other areas as well. I guess you could say it’s a series of small bodies of water. We’ve taken the dogs swimming here last year, but there was too much goose poop and I had a hell of a time keeping Delilah out of it.

Finally Bell Sanctuary (BS in photo descriptions) is another series of walking trails not far from us. We have yet to thoroughly check this area out, although Sampson, Delilah and I have explored it a bit.