Blog: 5/10/21 Hideaway Pond hideawaypond.com
Fickle Spring weather around the pond for the last month or so. Dark days. Racing black wind born clouds, low hanging fog and rain. Or clear cold flawless blue. And sun.
Leaves have burst their winter bonds and turned the Hideaway into a green cocoon. We’re almost hidden from all but the sky.
Hummingbirds are back!
And a Carolina wren has been exploring the empty hook on which a basket of tuberous begonias hung last year. We suspect that it’s the wren who nested and raised a family there. Shari picked up four baskets of begonias today. One now hangs on that hook in hopes that we’ll have a return tenant this summer. Rent free. An homage to single mothers.
Avian visitors are sparse compared to last spring when wood ducks and hooded mergansers were daily visitors. Still, we get almost daily visits by geese and mallards. Some of the geese go onto the island. A few loiter at the spot where one of them lost her nest to a nocturnal raider a few years ago. Same goose? Could be. Geese will mourn a lost family or mate for years. Bird critters fly in an alternate universe.
Speaking of birds, our duck and bluebird houses remain desolate and unclaimed. Avian upper crust are perhaps too effete to bother with our humble abodes. Humiliating.
Turtles have discovered the dead remains of a desiccated fallen tree on the island. About two feet of it extend into the pond. They’ve commandeered it as a sunning alternative to the lawn. Best they enjoy it. It will be gone with the next cleanup. Or after the log totally decays. I said nothing of speed
A very small woodchuck dashed out from beneath the porch a few days ago. A good hint at what Chuck and his marmotan paramour have been doing down there all winter. Having stressed our cerebral sinews to name Chuck, “Chuck“, we now commence the momentous task of giving this poor little critter an equally unique moniker.
Wild iris, a freebee from Poseidon. have thrust their green leaves up a good foot along the edges of the pond. They’ll bloom in a month. Ok, “Poseidon” is overdoing it a bit. But it’s wet. And our own little “ocean”. The “Hideaway Sea”. Fantasy is my “super power”.
Therein, fish are awake and active. Soon the dragon and damsel flies will return. Designed by the piscatorial gods to frustrate the most athletic of their finned fiefdom. A buzzing swarm will settle a few feet from the surface. And remain there until the first cool hints of autumn.
Deer make their daily visit, reluctant, yet, to shed their dark winter coats. Though they do look shabby. Embarrassingly so if you ask me. That aside, they’ll soon be proudly wearing the bright rust red of summer. And so it should be.
The Hideaway is a joyful verdant green. The crimson maples celebrate in deep burgundy. And azaleas are in bloom. Mother Nature has wakened and donned her beautiful vernal array.
