pussy willows exploding, gray birch party hats, and big news

You can't always be fluff.

You gotta speak out at times.

Like, say for instance, this pussy willow. 

Ta-da! Goodbye, fluff...hello, delight. 

oh god, this makes me so happy.

I wonder if the southern sides tend to ripen up more, as would be suggested here:

Meanwhile, along the side of the road, near the edge of a former-and-soon-to-be-future beaver pond, we have speckled alder beginning to rock out. 

See the one in the middle, at the top, starting to expand?

BAM, I'll tell you wut.

I really, really, wanted the Nikon and its zoom lens today, but I hadn't used it in a while and the battery needed to be recharged. I can't wait to get all up in this alder's grill with it. Right now it all just looks like a confusing mess.

Not a great great shot, but I'm starting to remember there are little individual niblets in there. I'm guessing anthers, again?

Back to the gray birch's party hats:

Once you've noticed these, you can't un-see them. If you know you have some sorta birch with catkins happening in your world, go take a look and see if any of its buds are exploding like this. 

Sometimes you get lucky and see two right up next to each other. I'm not sure how they avoid reproducing with themselves. 

In other news, THE BEAVERS ARE BACK. Ever since That Bitch Irene blew out the dam on our pond, we've had...no pond. The beavers never really left left, they just went a little upstream for a few years and then a little downstream for a few years. A few days ago our neighbor noticed some activity and lo, he told me about it today. 

Hallelujah. The pond's coming back.

insert creative post title here. or not.

Long time blog readers will know I went through a complete phase of infatuation with dandelions over the summer, documenting every micro-stage of their going to seed.

I got a whiff of that project this afternoon. This here beaut is that tall blue lettuce I just posted on the other day – the one that grows up to 15 feet tall, but is named for its teensy blue stamens.
The seeds of the lone fertilized jack-in-the-pulpit left to me – the others were destroyed by the Irene flooding – are ripening.

July 13

today, August 31

Here’s some trippy aster action for you. In this one, the outer flowers (remember, this is a composite flower – there are numerous flowers inside that circlet of white rays) are open, but the inner ones are still closed.


This one has been at the party a bit longer. All of ‘em are open.

I don’t know what kind specifically this is - – there are many to the nth kinds of asters. Some day!
No clue who this next one one is. Stay tuned. Behaves like an aster, but suspiciously yellow.


Here’s a common evening primrose – the petals are the ones who look at their watches and leave the party at 8:45 pm.  The stigma and stamens are going to be up all night:


I came across a Virginia creeper-type vine that I’ve heretofore ignored (so don’t quote me on that ID), much to my chagrin, because look what it’s been doing lately:

I’ve seen this strategy before, in the anemones. Little spiky clusters.
Some of them are dried up already. How did I miss this? I guess because it’s over by the pole barn – there’s a lot of stuff over there I’ve missed.
One last burst of purple – gentian – is going to be opening up soon:

What a treat.
A tiny mystery blob on a log, 1/32” across:

fungus?
I surprised what I think might be a pickerel frog in the grass

I didn’t want to disturb it by getting too close, because by now both the cats were following me around. Nothing like a little frog appetizer.
Here’s Maggie messing up my attempt at getting a shot of the underside of this mushroom.

This led to some hilarity.



Ah, there we go. Damn cat.

you can’t get there from here

…to be uttered, ideally, in a northern New England accent, thusly: “You cahn’t get theyah from heyah.”

These are the road closures in southern Vermont, as per VTrans. The bottom line? I’m not sure there’s a way to get to my dad’s house from our house. (My sibs and I inherited my dad’s house and we’re trying to sell it. ‘Tis a lovely house. Big. Old. 180 degree view of the Green Mountains. Interested?)
Now, if you really wanted to nagavitate something (that’s not a typo, I like that word better, thanks), you’d need way more detailed info. What does the GoogleBorg have to say about it? Well, check this out:

Sadly, this apparently all-too-accurate assessment on Google Maps is not integrated with the “get directions” feature, though, so I don’t know just how far up into Canada or down into Massachusetts I’d really have to go in order to make the trip from here to dad’s house. You think I’m kidding. I’m not.
No flower pictures today! But the enslaved plants garden situation is great!

Irene stole our pond

Yesterday, Sunday – the day Irene hit – after I went out to see just how flooded the brook was, I ventured down the shared driveway to the view of the pond. I was wondering just how huge it would look with all the rain.

Pretty huge, was the answer.
Today, the pond is gone.
Evidently, the force of the flood waters knocked out the beaver dam. So long, pond!
This has happened before, although not so dramatically or quickly. Eventually the beavers, like the humans, rebuild critical infrastructure.
Today, the newly-created mudflats had a visitor. I got into quite an argument with the Lumix about this.

“You want me to focus on those stems of grass? OK.”

Oh, for heaven’s sake. Focus on the BIRD, you fool.

GOTCHA! Yellow beak, not-yellow-legs = great egret. We watched it hunt for a while, and then made our way back down the Vermont Great Lakes, otherwise known as, The Driveway.


A red eft wriggled along the margin of the driveway pond.
By the way, I have no idea what the delay factor will be in publishing this post. (I am THRILLED to report we have power again, but we still don’t have the interwebs.) UPDATE! We have the interwebs!

goodnight already, irene, you bitch

We’re fine. Without power or cable, which means, no internet or phone. Yeah, we’re dumb people without a regular landline – particularly dumb because we’re lucky if we can get one bar on our cell phones. This post comes to you courtesy of a bagel shop w/ free wi-fi. Now for the pictures:
yesterday afternoon


that’s our bridge to leave our property


“the field” = flooded


yesterday, a few hours later. see the burn pile, out in the field? it’s an island at this point.


kevin standing in the field. these are cell phone pix and hence crappy.

but he’s still cute, obviously.
that’s the bridge at the far end; this is normally a gravel road


brook, upstream, yesterday

heartbreak = wondering how all the jack-in-the-pulpits are doing. gulp.
by comparison, same view, august 16:


brook downstream, yesterday: note how it’s jumped its banks on the left


by comparison, same view, august 16th: