Walk over to the Skunk Cabbages

March 24, 2010.  Wednesday.

Situation:  Moi is working in western Pennsylvania this day and the next two.  The Boy has gone back to Jennifer’s.  I work tonight, and have to leave around 4, so I take Mway out about 2:30.  It is cool enough to wear my denim jacket.

State of the Path:  When I step outside, I don’t see the fetching stick on the bench.  I’m considering what lesser stick I might use, when finally I do spot the one I’ve been using on the ground by the wood pellet pallets.   The chickens gather around me looking for a handout.  Mway ignores them, and follows me to the walled garden.  I chase a bunch of redwing blackbirds from tree to tree through the old orchard, scare up a couple robins along the hedgerow, and flush out what looks like two mourning doves from out near the cedar tree.   Much of the path now has green grass growing in it, usually with a strip of mud down the center.  Down past the wigwams, the path, though, is still mostly mud, with water still trickling ever so slightly into bug land.  Just before the creek, where there are seeps, the path spreads out wide with soggy ground.  As I’m walking by the creek, a big bird soars over the vicinity of the skating pond – at first I take it to be a hawk, but now (having looked through my Audubon) I think it probably was a turkey vulture.  I don’t hear any peepers until I’m down by the creek, then I hear them good and loud in the pond between the ridges.  There’s still water in the drainage basin to bug land, and in both feed channels of the skating pond.

State of the Creek:  Because the water looks low enough today, with a couple stones actually out of the water and dry on top, I decide to cross the creek to look at the skunk cabbages I saw yesterday.  Unfortunately, the stones are small, and I still get water in my boots.  I have to duck under the wire fence, which fortunately is not electrified.  Later on, since my feet are already wet, I decide to cross the feed channel to the skating ponds, using both sticks to keep me propped up as I negotiate the muddy foot holds.  I don’t see any colt’s foot growing yet.  But walking by the skating pond, I hear a high-pitched croak that seems to be coming from the pond and seems to be different from the sound the peepers make.

The Fetch:  7 fetches today.  I think Mway has a sense that I am the only one she has to account to for the next couple days, and puts her full effort into my walk today.  Back in the house, I fill her dish with dog food.