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It’s been busy around the pond for the last couple of days. Most action has been on the deer front. Two does came by to introduce their fawns yesterday. A small buck came by at sunset to graze at pond side near the porch. They seem to like that area. Gotta try it sometime.
We came out to the porch for breakfast this morning and found a young doe giving her fawn its own breakfast in the front yard. Mom didn’t move a muscle for a good 10 minutes while breakfast was being served. Unfortunately, the little critter chose the spigot opposite the house. If you look very carefully, however, you can see it on Mom’s underside. So we didn’t get a good photo of the action side of the meal. Obviously one that was going nowhere. As we expected, this was precursor to nap time for Bambi. So she began preparations to hide it while she went foraging for groceries. Or whatever Mom deer do when they hide their offspring. I didn’t ask. The preparation for this process involves profuse licking. Especially around the–um, anus. Strange, but the fawn seems quite sanguine about the whole thing. Apparently it’s just another day at the orifice for Junior. Though most likely not something you”ll find in “Parents” magazine. For that matter, probably not the high point of Mom’s day. But, then, what do I know about the depths of a doe’s motherly love? Anyway, whatever works. As you can see from the photos, does can be very innovative in concealing their little people while they’re away. I’ve nearly stepped on a couple in the past while I was working around the property. Shari very cautiously took the following photo while she was out getting the mail. Incidentally, Mom came back for Bambi and everyone lived happily ever after.

Lovely, warm and sunny around the pond today. Life is good.

It’s been raining seeds all day as the hemlock cones have opened and spilled their contents. A light breeze has done the rest. A floating carpet of them covers one end of the pond.

The Chuck/Charleen (who will henceforth be referred to as “it”) sex mystery goes on as it comes and goes from under the porch. Today, it made so much racket down there that my lovely bride jumped up and stomped on the floor in the general area of the noise. It shot out of there like a scalded dog—woodchuck–groundhog–whatever. It ran until it reached the high grass at the end of the yard. I assume it will return. Hopefully with more sensitivity to the feelings of the upstairs neighbors. I may have to talk to the building superintendent.

One of Shari’s favorites, a very small bunny–little more than a handful–has just appeared. Barely visible above the grass, it has waged a daily assault on our front yard spring greens.

The deer have been regular company. The same three does have visited every evening and a small buck grazes on the pond side grass near the porch. In fact, about a half hour ago a doe shot by only feet from the porch where I’m presently typing this note. We watched it graze on the crabapple tree for a few minutes. It then strolled out the driveway, across the road and into the woods.

A bear dropped by yesterday. It nosed around the ledge for a while and meandered into the adjacent woods. Didn’t even say hello.

Birds have been the stars of the day. A great blue heron and a young eagle flew over the pond at tree top level. A very, very small hummingbird has been hitting the hanging baskets, peonies and last gasp of the wild irises. There may be more than one, as this little guy is clearly this year’s issue. We’re talking jelly bean size here. Anyone who has seen a humming bird egg knows what I mean.

The grand finale of the day was a scarlet tanager, one of the most beautiful birds in the Northeast, if not the world. And one of about a dozen that I’ve seen in my entire life. Brilliant, brilliant red orange with jet black wings. Ordinarily very shy birds, this one played around the island for a good half hour before leaving. We’re very flattered that his royal redness deemed to pay us a visit.

All in all, a very good day.

It’s been sunny and warm around the pond for the last few days. Both we and the local critters have enjoyed the welcome change in Mother Nature’s mood swings. Chuck/Charlene, the resident woodchuck, continues his/her mysterious trips in and out of the space beneath the porch. Not sure what the attraction is down there. Maybe we don’t want to know. We posted a reward for anyone who dares risk finger and forearm to determine Chuck/Charlene’s gender. No takers.
The squirrels have been mostly AWOL from the usual spring critter social scene. Must be tending to their new broods. A couple of chipmunks, little larger than golf balls, have been frolicking around near the house. So it would seem that mom and dad chipmunk have been well ahead of the squirrels in their springtime dalliance. The birds–cardinals, phoebes, robins and their avian friends have been in a frenzy fetching various wriggling critters for their hungry offspring. Some wood thrushes and owls have been sounding off in the nearby woods. Turtles have been sunning on the lawn. And the fish have been fish. How boring.
All of this changed early this morning. Shari and I had no sooner settled down for breakfast on the porch when two bears charged by so fast that we couldn’t possibly lay a lens on them. They paid us no attention at all. Their total objective was apparently to get as far away as fast as they could from whatever it was (and I don’t want to meet it) that had inspired their speed. Which, by the way, was awesome. Never try to outrun a bear, whether its intentions are aggressive or amorous. Well, maybe amorous.

An addendum to the previous note: 
Since the bear scare, things have continued to liven up around the pond. For a few days, the irises were the noisiest things on the property. Three does have visited every evening at sunset. A young buck dropped by yesterday. In fact, they’ve arrived again as I type. A buck on one side of the pond and the does on the other. It’s encouraging to note that all were wearing their rust red spring garb. Be it noted that our critters are always among the most sartorially up to date in the Catskills. 
Two turkeys wandered by yesterday. A female and a male in that order. My discerning eye always on the lookout for vicarious joy, I noted that it looked like he was stalking her. Well, wouldn’t ya know, his tail flared out and they wandered together into a remote part of the yard. Your place or mine? Who cares? We had to avert our eyes. To our surprise, two mallards splashed down this afternoon. Apparently undeterred by, or perhaps because of, our growing reputation for wanton bird sex. 
We may be on the verge of solving the Chuck/Charlene sex mystery. He/she waddled out from under the porch this morning looking either very fat or very pregnant. Stay tuned.

It’s been very busy around the pond, lately. A mom deer dropped by to show off her new fawn at sunset. Our first of the year. This one couldn’t have been more than a couple of days old. I mean new. It was still wearing a price tag. Mom was in a celebratory mood. She was wearing her beautiful Spring wardrobe of tawny red. Good to see. Most of the deer we’ve seen lately are still in their drab winter gray, Jack Frost having been so reluctant to yield his cold icey grip on the area. Sadly, both mom and fawn were too far away and concealed by trees to get a good photo. Later. They’ll be back. She won’t want to wander too far until the little thing’s legs are up to it.

There was lots of noise and action on the pond yesterday. The island got a thorough haircut. One day with a bush hog and hedge clippers and it’s a thing of absolute tonsorial beauty. The pond being so full due to recent heavy rains, it appears to be floating.

The migratory season seems to have waned. Most of the ducks that have dropped in have done so just to grab a bite, poop and leave. Guess that comes with the territory. Offloading a little weight no doubt lends to their aerodynamicy. Nice to know that we’re on their preferred list of pit stops. Is there such a thing as a bird Zagat?

Aside from the random chipmunk, squirrel and, of course Chuck (Charlotte) the groundhog, that’s about all of the recent excitement around the pond. Soon as I catch my breath, I guess I’ll turn in.

A beautiful breezy sunny morning on the pond. Breakfast on the porch. Adding to the decadence, a wood thrush just began to tune up in a nearby hemlock. Shameful.

Chuck, our resident groundhog has apparently taken up residence under the porch. We have seen him/her coming to and going from there during the last few weeks. No sign of small woodchuck children yet, so the jury’s still out on the sex call. Nobody here wants to pick him/her up to find out. Chuck (Charlene?) and its relatives are known to take painful and sometimes bloody umbrage to such abusive and humiliating treatment. (ref. Missing digits from avid [mindless] PA woodchuck hunters of my youth).

Several woods turtles have already hauled out onto the edge of the pond to warm in the sun. A large snapper has just surfaced and is floating aimlessly near the island. It showed brief interest in a passing grass carp. Brief, because a 2 ½ ft. grass carp is too much of a mouthful for even a large snapper. Speaking of grass carp, they meander their sexless way in search of their normal prey, the ever illusive clump of pond grass. It must be discouraging to awaken in the morning knowing that the highest point of your day is going to be a mouthful of grass. The bass await the arrival of dragon flies.

Three mallards visited the pond yesterday. After a couple of hours they took off and joined their siblings on the avian interstate to Canada. High point of the day was the arrival of two young bucks, a button and a spike (reference to their not having yet developed a fork in their antlers). They grazed for a while in the front yard and past the porch, finally disappearing in the woods beyond. They still wore their dark winter coats, apparently in response to the cool late winter and early spring.

All in all, a beautiful beginning to the Memorial Day weekend

Someone once asked me, during our discussion on the subject–it must have been at Thanksgiving–what the things were for which I was most grateful in life. This, for what it’s worth, is the note that I sent in response. I stumbled upon it during foraging around in my history file while looking for something else. I was ready to blow it away when it occured to me that it’s appropos to this coming Memorial Day. Without the sacrifices of the time and lives of the men and women of our armed forces, these things would not be what they are today. To them, I’ll be forever grateful.

I’m grateful for the Universe because it contains all things material, without which there would be nothing–no Earth, no sun, no moon, no stars, no flowers, no birds, no fish…..no life……………..no us…………..none of the beautiful and marvelous things that we cherish and enjoy ……….nor even those things that we dislike or fear………The universe is, after all……..universal.

I’m grateful for Time because it contains our past, present and future. Without these, time would be eternally empty……..no rise of civilization, no wonderful scientific discoveries, no great past or future explorations……there would also be no disease and no war nor other evil or unfortunate things…….. Time is impartial.
Physicists tell us that without time there would be no space, and that would make things quite crowded, wouldn’t it? Then, there are those who laughingly say that without time everything would happen at once. For whatever reason, I’m grateful for time.

I’m grateful for Thought because it is the wellspring of so very many of the wonderful blessings of life. Without thought there would be no music, no art, no great books or poems, no dance, no comedy, no great religions, no innovation…………none of the many other things that nurture and give us pleasure.

I’m grateful for Love because it sustains and fulfills us. Love is, in fact, one of life’s blessings that often involves little or no thought, whatsoever. Those whom we truly love we love unconditionally.

That’s beautiful………….

.

This morning introduced a lovely, warm laconic day around the pond. The turtles hauled ashore and sunned themselves all afternoon. The fish continued to salvage what little detritus remained on the surface from the recent lawn mowing. A mallard dropped in, loitered around the island for awhile, then took off for some far away Canadian province. Rejected again. .I suppose it’s character building. Our duck and bluebird houses remain empty as well. Our erstwhile foes, the goose family dropped in for an afternoon splash when another pair arrived. Being highly territorial, both families decided that there wasn’t enough room in this small pond for both of them and a goosian gunfight ensued. High noon on Hideaway Pond. It ended when both pairs flew away. Peace reigned again. During late afternoon it began to sprinkle. This apparently inspired the frogs, as they began to tune up and launch into their daily amphibian aura. A bit early, it seemed to us.
Further proof of the prescience that animals seem to have for approaching storms. By the time we retired for dinner, the sky had turned an ominous black. Shortly afterward, the red ribbon of death blasted across the TV with an announcement (at a decibel level no doubt heard in Topeka, KS) that a violent storm was on the way. Here in our little green enclave, we lucked out. Just wind and heavy rain. We hope that neighboring areas are equally fortunate. Mother Nature can be a mean old broad.

Well, things around the pond have recently maintained a steady hum of moderate activity. Ducks, mostly mallards, have dropped in throughout migration season. However, their visits have dwindled slightly since last year. Don’t know what that means. We keep things as clean and avian friendly as we can around here. Humming birds, robins, flickers and other winged critters have issued not a whine. Though our wood duck and bluebird houses have had “For Sale or Lease” signs on them all spring. Another story. Even the fish are quiet. Perhaps they fear another bruin ruin. A few years ago a bear joined them for a swim and consumed a few of the poor little critters in the process. They didn’t like it.

if things weren’t bad enough for them, a heron (Harry to us earthlings, at the insistence of my lovely bride who thinks that all of Mother Nature’s creatures deserve the dignity of a name) dropped in. Its first visit of the year. It settled in for a late morning brunch. Piscatorial panic.

There is a bright side. The lawn was mowed once again today. This always inspires a regular fish bacchanal as they follow the mower alongside the bank. Really. The grass carp scarf up all of the grass that is thrown into the pond. The bass do a coup de grass on the unfortunate crickets and grasshoppers that go along for the ride. The fish are actually getting pretty smug about all of this. I’m sure they think that the mower is some kind of robotic slave that they’ve programmed to serve in this process.

The rest of pond action is pretty much as usual. Chuck, the resident groundhog romps around at will. Or at anything that catches his fancy–or whatever. Squirrels abound and field mice scurry around in the rock garden. Isn’t that what field mice do? Scurry? A small herd of deer (Or cull, according to Webster. Did you know that? You’re welcome.) drop in every evening.

Which is is now. Where’s my Scotch?

Well, It’s been gloomy and damp around the pond of late. Nonetheless, the fresh new colors of spring promise brighter days ahead. The local critters have taken the weather in stride. A small cadre of deer make a daily foray through the front yard. No doubt casing my lovely bride’s budding azaleas for a nocturnal raid. They reduced these to pitiful stubs of their former glory during the winter. Much to her dismay. An annual phenomenon, I might add. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The leaves have come out in full force and the mountain views have disappeared. We’re now enclosed in a cocoon of verdant green. The mountains will turn green from bottom to top as spring makes its gradual way. The pond has had frequent visits from ducks, mostly mallards. They observe the damp weather with utter disregard. Nor have I heard any complaints from the fish. The bird feeder has been retired for the summer since Smokey burgled it. Arrogant cad. We miss the birds, but it’s time to send them on their own now that food is ample. Chuck, our local woodchuck (you can see that we really strained to come up with a name) has been busy, rain or no rain. He’s probably happy to leave the confines of his winter lair. Me too.

A little critter for our Hideaway Pond critter collection.