So spring has sprung and with it all of the wonderful things that come with it here in lovely New England...days and days of rain and doom and gloom with the occassional passing thunder shower. There are days where you are turning up the heat and days when you're stripping down to your shorts. It's crazy. But, it's good!

I have yet to catch a trout. It pisses me off to no end. I have lost more lures, basically gone up onto the bridge and put every lure I can think of in front of their faces and nothing. I dont feel bad though, they arent biting for anyone at this point. I will have to get shiners soonish and go with that is all. until then I am constantly restringing my line and hoping for a few minutes of peaceful quiet relaxation out in the woods with a nice stream running by and a soft breeze at my back. No ticks would be helpful in a glorious day too.

No deer seen for over a week. Where the heck did they go? I can't just be missing them. They must be hiding out or on vacation or something. Kinda makes me wonder. They'll be back though, I am sure.

I have seen plenty of other wildlife though. The turkeys are gobbling their little heads off in the woods and an occassional hen with waddle on through the yard. No babies yet but, it's almost that time, I'm sure of it. Can't wait to get shots of those so ugly they're cute things.

I put hummingbird feeders up last month and to my absolute joy and constant amazement..they're here! All day long they come visit. I am astounded by them, really. I never knew they just perched in a tree - or on a table in this case as well. I also didnt know they chirped their little heads off. Very Very cute little things. And standing out on the deck having them dive bomb me has taken a bit of getting used to but, I'm doing it. Otherwise the poor wee things might get a backhand.I would never want to do that. I guess that makes the bees more thankful as well.

The Bobcat finally had a nice long visit at the edge of the trees in front of the deck. I've got pictures!! He's strikingly beautiful and a wee bit scary too. Once he saw me in the doorway he left but, he didn't run like the wind or anything so, that's interesting. The fact that he was just hanging out 20' from the deck is pretty darn interesting too. I saw him run across the back field last week and with my previous sighting I'm guessing I'm in his hood. Her hood. Whatever it is..we be sharing the same place. Now we both know we're here and have taken a good look at each other so, we'll just go with that.

Mr fatty the groundhog/woodchuck had his picture taken today as well. I finally got a decent shot of him. All i've gotten before is his big behind. I can't imagine how big this guy gets if this is how big he is now. Everybody is all kinds of healthy around here. Must be the country air. Or something.

I also finally saw the giant Great Heron. Didn't have my camera. I know where he lives and where he fishes so I'm sure I will come upon him again. He's a dang big bird. Lovely stuff.

I've still got all the other birds as well. Had a big woodpecker here yesterday too. I never knew they could get like a foot long. That's a bird I wouldnt mess with. Ever. Glad I had the zoom but, didnt get the best clear shot of him so, hopefully I'll see him again.

The snakes are sunning themselves on the neighbors patio. She caught them doing the wild thing too. I'm guessing that pretty soon we'll have all kinds of them around. I'm glad they like her patio and not mine, really. I like snakes but, I like hanging out on my patio without them.

The most recent hike was through a small part of the Yale Forest. Basically my backyard extension. It's pretty nice. All of those unending Connecticut stone walls and old cart trails. Mark tried to catch a frog and ended up only getting all muddy. It was the most I've laughed in a while. With tears it was so funny. We also came back from that with two or three ticks a piece on us. We had covered ourselved with DEET and wore light colored clothes, long pants, etc but, didnt stop the buggers. I think it was when we ventured off the road into some old stone foundations but, it could have been just as easily when we went up through the back yard. Who knows. At least we found them before they dug in..thank goodness.

So, I'm going to add pictures to the galleries...enjoy!

YALE FOREST

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/yale-forest/

Nature in the Hood

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/nature-in-the-hood/

Even with the rain and the cold that moved in it was a very pleasant long weekend. The sun did shine, the rain did fall but then went away, and a few days off is good for everyone. Maybe by the 4th of July this place will be in some sort of shape for visitors after the hard work this weekend!

The box. The dang box. The 7 1/2 hour building of a box. Okay, we took a few breaks but still...when you're piecing together a box from various scraps of wood with limited tools or a carpenter well, the dang box may take a awhile. It's also a heck of a lot more than I bargained for. I wanted a box to put the wood in. For the fire pit. The wood now has a HELL of a home. All with big thanks to Mike for his wood and design of wood to make the box and as well to Mark for his building it with only help from me. I now have a wood box that anyone would be proud to live in. It looks simply fabulous.

Not many people having big gatherings this year but, lucky enough to have Reen and Mike to have a small cookout on my day off, Sunday, so that I could at least feel like I was having some Memorial Day gathering type fun. It was great. Nice to take the drive down and see them, and really nice to spend one on one time with them too. Mike's yard is looking lovely and I am adding some pics of us there. He's got crazy wildlife too. I saved some baby mice. Their eyes weren't open so, I doubt they'll make it but, Mom was busy trying. Got a shot of the eel he's got down in the brook. Crazy eels..iwww.

Mark and I did another little hike. It's right here in Eastford and it's the Boston Turnpike Trail. The map they provide is bad. We found it though, did it out to the 244 intersection and then did what I think was half of the loop back. The markings went away on the trees and up to that point they had been fading. It's not used very often so, not an easy one to keep track of but, an easy easy hike anyway. Luckily the State Forest Rd was right there so, we walked back up that to the car.

http://www.eastfordconservation.org/trails/trailsindex.html#turnpike

".........Welcome to Eastford's Boston Turnpike Trail! Here you will be standing on the ONLY remaining unaltered portion of an early road system that first connected our cities and town during colonial times. It was first established under King Charles II of Britain and followed trails laid out in much earlier times by Native Americans.

The Boston Post Road was not a single road, but actually a system of roads that connected the important cities of the colonies: Boston, Hartford, Providence, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Williamsburg and Charleston. The portion in Eastford was part of the Middle Route that ran east from Hartford to Putnam, then on to Dedham, MA and finally to Boston. The trip to Boston to New York via this route was about 225 miles - considerably shorter than the southern Boston Post Road that ran along the coast...."

Found out more about the snakes. They are Northern Black Racers. They are egg layers. Eggs are laid in June/july and hatch about August/September. Fabulous. Did I mention I saw 4 at once out there and one had travelled over to my side of the house? At least they're non venomous. Still thinking of putting up a snake crossing sign for everyone. Gotta give props to the guy who shared the info...knows his snakes and has some great wildlife photos:

http://www.ocoeesprings.com/wildlife_home.htm

www.snakesandfrogs.com

Mark also worked his butt off on the patio stones. The weeds just keep coming up. I need to get some gravel or something. It's coming along though. With the nice box for wood, the stones cleaned out, some hangers up waiting for flowers and some great wood in the wood box for the fire pit...it'll be nice once it gets better weather out. It got way too cold and rainy to sit out there. Plus there was the whole momma coyote giving out a holler about 20-30 feet from it. The next day I heard the pups...at least now I know where to NOT go in the near future. I shall not mess with a momma anything. I hope the pups come out and play though...it'll be nice to see them.

All in all it was good weekend with great food on the grill every night, some firepit time, some frends/family time and a couple of days off for me. Still no fish but, I've resigned myself to the fact that I will have to buy it or smash it in the head. Okay, so maybe I just need to try some live bait. Someday.

Pics in the gallery:

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/memorial-day-boston-turnpike/