Tag Archives: Nature

February 29th. Leap Year. I had no idea this year was a Leap Year. I don’t tend to follow that kind of thing. I’m so out of the loop when it comes to that, that at first, when I saw February 29th on my calendar, I actually thought it was a misprint! [^_^] I fail.

Happy Leap Year, and Happy Birthday to all the Leap Year babies out there!

Anyway, I went hiking a while ago, as I tend to do, and on one of the trails, there’s a bog area. The bog was still covered in a layer of ice even though a majority of the snow in my portion of Maine is already gone. I kept hearing these funny sounds radiating from under the ice. I can’t even describe the sound, it was so strange. But, it’s not the first time I’ve heard it. I’m assuming it was the result of a beaver family moving around and calling to each other under the ice since there was a beaver den on the far side of the bog. Sadly, I didn’t see any of them. I’ve never been able to catch a photo of a beaver in the wild (or, anywhere for that matter). It’s on my photograph bucket list along with several other animals (a moose being one of them).

But, I did manage to take a kind of artsy photo of a group of branches from a downed tree sticking up from the ice. The way the sun was shining and with the coloring of the ice and branches, it looks like the photo was taken in black and white, but it wasn’t.

Until next time…

[^_^]

~A.M.

Where last time I won where trails were concerned, this week I failed.  I’m not sure if I can blame it on the trail or if I should blame it on the day/circumstances.

Recently, I checked out another new trail (again, one I’ve driven right past for several years and never knew it existed).  This time it was the Norse Pond trail between Cutler and Whiting.

First of all, it was an extremely hot and humid day.  Strike one.

Second, there were several people on the trail behind me.  Strike two.  (I always feel like I’m being pushed down a trail when there’s someone behind me)

And third, the black flies were relentless even though I nearly drown myself in bug repellant (the strong DEET stuff, too).  Strike three.

For as sucky as the experience was, I won’t write the trail off completely just yet.  I’ll wait a while though, put it in the archives, and try it again later on in the fall when it’s cooler, the bugs are less prevalent, and the kids are back in school.  Who knows? On a better day, under better circumstances, I might actually like the trail.  It did have a nice little patch of beach after all.

I did happen to see some HUGE prints in the mud which I can only assume were from a moose.  I’m talking HUGE!

Here’s to hoping the next new trail I explore will yield better results!

Until next time…

d_[^_^]

~A.M.