Out of the loop for a bit

I am going to be even more out of the blog loop over the next few weeks than I have in the last month. Work and personal efforts are going to keep me pretty busy.

Please check back in at the end of July and I should be able to devote some time each week to writing and photographs of life on Coles Pond.

Thanks for stopping by...

jeff

Living in paradise....

I know that some people think I am crazy. I live on the edge of a vast forest, in the middle of no where. If you want to see me - you really want to see me. The last ten miles are dirt road all the way.

But when you get here... you understand why I want to live here. Life on the pond is a visual feast most days.

The weather is always changing. Don't like it? Wait a minute, it will change. Today the sky is blue between patches of steel gray cumulus clouds. There was a shower a bit ago that watered my tomato plants nicely.

I was working down on the dock today and the black flies finally drove me in the house. As long as there is a breeze they can't bother you. But when the air gets calm - be prepared for an attack. By the end of June they will be gone.

Late July, through August and September are some of the best days here. Warm days and cool nights.

Today it is 63 degrees. The sun is shining through the clouds. It is glorious.

Two Moose A Swimming

On Wednesday morning as I was getting ready for work I looked out the bathroom window to the pond and I saw the loons swimming in the distance. I glanced out a few moments later and I saw what looked like two kayaks moving across the water near the loons.

I thought it was strange for two folks to be paddling on the pond at 5:45 AM so I picked up my glasses and putting them on realized that it was not two kayakers. I reached for the binoculars and sure enough...two moose were swimming across the pond. Bulls, their racks were sticking up out of the water.

I watched them as they reached the opposite shore and wade into the shallows. Beautiful creatures.

Normally I would have been completely fascinated by the loons... but this was something special.

A Gentleman Farmer

There are lots of things to admire about Thomas Jefferson.

One of the things I am fascinated by is Jefferson's home, Monticello. I have been three times through the years and hope to return again some day.

Monticello has the most amazing restored gardens. Late spring/early summer is the best time to visit - flowers are in bloom and the vegetable gardens are started. Jefferson grew everything.

I spent Saturday morning planting blueberries (4), raspberries (10), elderberries (2), and lilacs. I felt a lttle of what Jefferson must have felt turning the wilderness of Virginia into a gentleman's farm.

It was a really glorious morning and I felt very fortunate to have been enjoying myself so much.

5:15 AM...Looking out the window...Where's my glasses?....What's that?

So I am looking out the window and I see the beaver cruising along and then he stops. Something has his attention... what is that out ahead of him? Hmmm.

It's an otter. An adorable, playful otter.



It was fishing, playing and having a ball.

Over the weekend I saw three white tail deer near the pond. On my way back from Burlington on Sunday I spotted a cow moose in front of the Ben and Jerry's plant in Waterbury.

Cinco de Mayo

According to a paper published by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture about the origin of the observance of Cinco de Mayo in the United States, the modern American focus on the people of the world that day first started in California in the 1860s in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico.

The 2007 paper notes that "The holiday, which has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863, is virtually ignored in Mexico."

I am not ignoring it...

Wild Blue Phlox

Botanical name: phloxdiva

Commonly called: Wild Sweet William