Wildlife at Work

One day last week I glanced out the back door of the building I work in. As I have mentioned in previous posts, it’s a house built around 1940 that we now use as an office. The scenery out back is constantly changing and because of all the rain we’ve had lately, it’s very green and pretty to look at. Every time I look out the window it seems I see something different, even within one day.

Out of the corner of my eye that day I saw something orange. It was the first tiger lily of the year!


The current owners of the building have done nothing except mow back there but when things start blooming, they bloom all over. Legend has it that one of the previous owners of this property had a very green thumb and would plant flowers all over. I am here to tell you that this legend has to be true because no fertilizing has ever been done since I’m there and the colors that come out of nowhere are beautiful.

Here is the one flower just growing out of the weeds. Next to it is another bunch of lilies ready to bloom very soon.


Being as I always have my camera with me I grabbed it and walked out back. I throw my used bird seed back here from my own pet birds. It attracts all kind of animals. I was happy to find a party of 3 squirds feasting.


What is a squird, you ask? It’s a furry creature relative to NJ that eats bird seed, as shown on the bottom of this blog. I seem to attract them everywhere I go.

Later that day, I noticed a new species back there which I was fortunate enough to capture with my camera. It’s the rarely seen Catird!

Six Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy

My blogger buddy Jenny has tagged me to participate in this fun little exercise. The rules are that you name 6 unimportant things that make you happy, mention and link the person who tagged you as I have skillfully done already, and then tag 6 other people. Since I don't really know 6 other people very well here I'll leave that step out, but I'm very happy to participate in the rest of this.

1. Making someone laugh. I love to make people laugh, whether it's from something I've said or written. I get such a great feeling from doing that. It lifts my spirits probably more than the person's who is laughing.

2. Coming home from work and seeing my dog's faces in the window waiting for me. Makes me smile and get the warm fuzzies every single time.

3. Being able to sit and close my eyes for a mini nap when I am exhausted. At my lunch break I am able to come home and almost everyday I just lean all the way back in my recliner for about 15 or 20 minutes and doze. If the dogs aren't playing with a squeaky toy at that time it's even better.

4. Being able to ride my bike. There's a feeling I get when on my bike that I can't explain. I'm out in the world and a part of it, under my own steam, and I can go anywhere I want to as fast or as slow as I want, as long as my legs and time constraints are in agreement.

5. Having people comment on my blog. I am a writer at heart and always have been from the time I was a little kid. I was writing short stories as soon as I learned how to read. I was once told that a writer is someone who absolutely has to write, and it doesn't matter if anyone reads what you wrote or not. I started blogging just to write, never expecting anyone would ever read what I wrote, let alone comment or even follow the blog. When I receive a comment such as the one Jenny posted on my last blog entry it's such a great feeling. What a nice thing to say to someone! I'm still blown away. You can't buy that; statements like that cannot be purchased and they are so meaningful. Makes my day, that's for sure.

6. Being able to write and take photos and put them together in one place. I love taking photos and capturing moments in time so that I can go back and remember those moments. Being able to blog has absolutely given me the chance to do that and it's free? Such a deal!

So Jenny, thanks for tagging me and for all the times your writing makes me laugh out loud. Honestly, yesterday I re-watched "The Look" a couple of times and each time, I know what's coming but I still guffaw each time! I think it was the swift, downward hunch of the shoulders combined with the furtive glance and retraction of said glance before the jogger was aware of what you were doing that is so hysterical. Keep looking!

Good Thing I'm Still Moving

Outside the back window of where I work during the daytime I happened to look up at the sky, just to see if it was ever going to clear up. This has been one gloomy, rainy week. I joke that I feel like I live in Seattle NJ. While looking at the sky I saw a big bird in the tree.

Usually big birds don't spook very easily so I went outside and got closer to the tree. It was a turkey vulture, commonly known as a buzzard. His feathers were absolutely soaked. It's a wonder he could fly. I am amazed at the wingspan of these birds; their wingspan can reach 6 feet. That's taller than my height!

Since no one lives around here I kind of told that bird that I was just passing through and was still alive and much too big for his meal. He just kind of looked at me. I know that look. It's the "what a stupid human" look.

So Stupid decided to just go back inside.

Better than Nothing

Sometimes you just have to take what you get. And sometimes it's really cool!

As I have stated previously, I work in a wooded area. I went out to my car for something and saw that I had a visitor. Talk about slowing down!

He was very gracious and obliged my photo opportunity. I did have to restain myself from pulling that wayward piece of grass out of his mouth.

I then relocated him to a safer area of the property.

Thank you, Mr. Slowsky. Comcast is looking for you and your wife, though.

Right Around the Corner

One day this past week I had gotten to work about a half hour early due to a before-work errand that took less time than I thought. I decided to just go for a walk, camera in hand. I left my car in the work lot and walked out the back dirt path.

The end of the path faces the rear of the town's library. The library was built on a sizeable parcel of land and the large, well kept field looked very inviting to walk through.

To the left sit a large group of trees. Where there are trees, there are birds so I headed in that direction.

I then thought I saw some kind of gap between the trees. I walked closer and to my surprise, there was a stream there.

Now somewhat excited, I walked around to where the bank was and edged my way down closer to the water. What a pretty place.

I heard a sound and apparently I had scared a frog into the water. I looked down and even saw a school of baby fish.

I stayed there for a few minutes before I realized it was getting late. As I walked back I heard an insistent, urgent chirping from the tree above me. Then I saw a movement on the ground. Apparently a young robin was being told to scram because I was approaching. I was almost next to him before he figured out that he should probably leave.

Then I was serenaded by a female cardinal.

You can be sure I'll head back here from time to time. It'll be interesting to see the changes from season to season. What a great little excursion this was.

Returning

A few days ago I had the opportunity to drive someone to an appointment where the destination was in a wooded area and it was then that I realized how long it had been since I had been in the woods. I guess I've been concentrating so much on work and trying to ride my bike that I kind of let the other love in my life slide by.

So yesterday I went back to Eno right from work. It's less than a mile away and always good for a walk when I don't have a lot of time. I always have my camera with me so even though I didn't have my binoculars I was fine.

Once you start into the trail area there are picnic benches and barbecue grills. These barbecue pits always scare me. These woods are so full of leaves that if anyone would use one, I would truly be afraid of a spark flying.

I made my way down to the marsh area and saw something white out of my peripheral vision. It was a snowy egret. I love watching these birds. They are so huge and beautiful.

I kept watching and the egret made its way over to almost right in front of me. He or she plainly saw me and I was amazed it wasn't afraid to come this close.

On the way out are the remains of once was a house. Since I love local history I have asked around but all anyone says is that the Enos once lived there. But I want to know more-What did the house look like? Why did it disappear? When did it disappear? What did this area look like then? Where are the children, if any, that used to live here? I hope one day to talk to someone who can tell me more than it was just a house. I can't imagine how wonderful it must have been to live here, except for the summer. There must have been a ton of mosquitos as it is so close to the marsh.

It was so good to be back. I can't let that much time go by again.

It felt like coming home.

Sugar Sand Is Not Bland

The other day I decided to walk in a local area I hadn't been to in years. It's inaccessible by car; you have to walk or take a dirt bike or ATV. The paths are all sugar sand. There is dune after dune and it's been a hangout for kids for years. The lake, which is referred to as the 4th lake, is pretty clean and I used to take my dog swimming there.

I headed out to the beginning of the trail. I parked my car and climbed over the guardrail in a somewhat ungraceful manner for a 50-something year old, but I did it anyway. Of course, later I was to discover there was an easier way to gain entry. Story of my life.

It had recently rained and the sugar sand was sugar mud. Then I came across my first obstacle. You see, I had never gone in this way before. There used to be a sand road into the dunes from another area but homes had since been built there and a large fence had been put up blocking off the old entry. So I really didn't expect to see this.


It's hard to see in the photo but the left side is a bridge made entirely of litter. Old wood, discarded boat parts, old decking; some kids must have put it there. Well, it was the only way across unless one was wearing waders so that's how I crossed the water. Not so pristine anymore, I was thinking.

Once I had safely (and dryly) navigated across, which I was surprised to have done without at least one wet shoe, I walked on and at a crossroads (or crossdune?) I went to the right.

The sugar sand was challenging to walk on. I was guessing as to where the lake was. There was a good amount of litter around and I sadly thought about how the area was being used. My way of thinking is that yeah, kids always have partied and always will party. But if they do, I wish they would at least bring a garbage bag or something. I know there's something exciting about that time in our lives when you do things you're not supposed to, and that seems like a rite of passage for most, but it's so sad for me to see empty bottles and cans strewn around in such a beautiful area.

Just past the path shown above, to the right, I found the lake. Now I know it's hard for someone to actually lose a lake, but hey, it's me we're talking about here.

Just at the beginning of the water there was a massive abundance of empty cans, bottles, plastic containers and wet clothes. I kept walking and the litter seemed to abruptly stop. Of course, I thought to myself. No one is going to want to walk any farther than they have to just to get drunk. The lake curves to the right and I had never walked to the other end of the lake before, so that's where I headed. It's a gradual curve and at one point I turned around to see where I was and was surprised to see how much of a curve there actually was.

I kept going and found myself at the end of the lake. There was a slight trail that went to the left. I had about another half hour that I could use to keep exploring so I followed the trail. I saw a little more water but when I got closer I realized it wasn't a puddle. It was a body of water I had heard about for decades but never knew where it was. The locals have referred to this as the Hidden Lake.

I think I actually stood there with my mouth open for a minute. The water was very clean and you could see that people had been there but had taken a bit more care in keeping the place clean. A lone beach chair sat in one area but beyond that, the area had been respected.

At that point I decided to turn around. I hadn't heard any birds before but now I heard them Some titmice were flittering back and forth in the scrub pines.

In the distance I heard an ATV. If I owned one I would probably be tempted to ride here too. But actually, even I wasn't supposed to be in here.

Oops.

Finally I crossed back over the man-made, or kid-made bridge, with dry yet sandy shoes and a happy heart. Why a happy heart? Because THIS time I knew what the red thing was in the distance.