Just realized I hadn't posted for a while. A year to be exact ;)

The signs of Spring are the same. However, this year, we have some historic flooding going on to accompany all that.

Signs of Spring in Charlestown

After 18 years away, my first Spring back in RI has been a learning experience. I forgot how long a Winter can last (about as long as a Summer in Tucson).

My checklist has been filled for it being Spring:

• crocuses are blooming
• daffodils are ready to bloom
  
• spring peepers are peeping
• redwing blackbirds have returned (almost a month ago)
• grackles have returned (today)

No pictures today, but check out the video above for the Spring Peepers (taken at the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge in North Kingstown, RI)

Turkeys and Timberdoodles

After a Winter that stretched on and on forever (at least compared to Tucson), our turkeys have returned to our yard and the Timberdoodles are doing their mating dance in the back field.

This was March 1st - hopefully the last of the snow this year


These are "our" turkeys, happily eating cracked corn


The Woodcocks, aka Timberdoodles, have also begun their mating rituals in our back yard, a hundred feet or so from our back porch. Dusk, for the month of March, will be "Timberdoodle Time"
Here are Woodcock pictures on Flickr

Remembering snow in the desert

A friend in Tucson mentioned that they are getting a Winter storm. I dug around and found this panoramic picture that I took 6+ years ago in Tucson from our rental house at the time. This is from the Grant/Country Club area looking north towards the Catalina's after an overnight snow storm. Enjoy.

Freezing rain is beautiful when you are unemployed

I had a great realization this morning while waiting to take the boy to the bus stop. His school was delayed by an hour due to the freezing rain overnight and this morning - everything covered in a layer of ice.

If I were currently employed, I would have been cursing the weather. Firstly, either my wife or
I may have had to call in late to work in order to get our son to school and, secondly, it would
have been a pain driving anywhere with everything so slick.

However, I didn't have to worry about that this morning and was able to fully enjoy the beauty of the world with ice covering everything.

It all really depends how you choose to look out from your eyes that makes all the difference in this world.

9-18-08 Fisher Cat in Francis Carter Preserve

The picture has a bit of noise, but the light was low and the action was fast. This is a Fisher Cat I surprised from about 12 feet away towards the end of my hike this past September.

They are fast!

Most unexpected thing encountered when going down to the basement

I'll start with this first entry, inspired by events last night...

I was going down into the basement to collect the laundry. From the top of the stairs, I saw something on a folded moving pad. I immediately thought "dead mouse" as we have three cats who allow us to share the house with them. After a second look, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at, other than it wasn't a dead mouse.


I called my wife to verify what my eyes were seeing and, after the amazement, this little guy had his photo shoot. We then put him in a hole in the dirt on the unfinished side of the basement and he crawled off into the darkness.




Apparently, Spotted Salamanders are not all that uncommon in basements, although this was news to me.

Wiki on Spotted Salamander