It has been rainy the past few days. I'm happy padding about in the wet grass especially in our back yard. Sometimes, it takes a little reminding for Oom to remember her top priority, outdoor explorations with the cat, right after the morning cuppa.
This morning it was grey and cloudy, but I was looking forward to catching up after a few days away from dedicated perambulating.
The Juncos are here and many a nattering Nuthatch.
Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees already. They are fun to chase when they are dry but also provide amusement when wet. Clumps come along that just seem life-like to the paw...so they must be neutralized - rumpled up and battered about a bit. It keeps humans in a good mood too when you've drug them out on a rainy and wet day.
So we strolled out to our bench. The brook has been loud since the long rains of the other day and I knew it would be worth checking out, but it was fun to see how high and how fast.
Here's the view from our bench...that's my usual mid-brook meditation rock on the left there and the path I usually hop along (from the tree trunk on the right) is, as you can see, inundated.
Nevertheless, undaunted, I went to to make sure. Nope no crossing here.
Nevertheless, undaunted, I went to to make sure. Nope no crossing here.
And look upstream...this is usually pretty tame.
Nevertheless, I puttered upstream along the bank and found a nice little tree root sticking out that allowed me a good perch for looking into the water and catching a few tasty licks.
Afterwards, I tried to talk to one of the little White-breasted Nuthatches scolding me from the fine pine tree. He wasn't having any of it and wouldn't even pose for a photo.
But we did think the lichen on the pine was quite lovely.
I still have not yet scaled the big pine...I did a run up today but instead chose to tackle one of the lindens overlooking my brook. (Be patient.)We've included my aborted first set so you can see the careful head-bobbing motion that takes place from launch and all during the climb. Even when I chose to not climb at the last minute, I always continue this scanning motion as it is critical to measuring trunk girth in relationship to grip and velocity. In the end, that was a pretty low climb for my standards but, given it was a new tree - single trunk, no branches, I was pleased with the effort (though the cameraperson still faces a learning curve...perhaps a little advanced technology would help?)
Not bad for a rainy weekend.
