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According to the fox, goslings are like potato chips.

Canada Geese are never welcome in the pond, but it’s hard to be angry with the goslings when they are in their maximum tennis ball phase. On Sunday, I looked out the kitchen window to see this fox stalking the goslings near the pond. If I hadn’t gone outside to take a photograph, the goslings […]

Jen stopped to smell the cherry blossoms on a crisp Easter Sunday afternoon. In less happy tree news, we had to take down the big maple in front of the sun porch. We’ll need to plant a replacement, perhaps a bit farther from the house. We spent Saturday in Saratoga, where Sarah rowed in the […]

A healthy complement of Ring-necked Ducks — maybe fifteen or twenty — has arrived on our pond, sharing space with the pioneer Canada Geese of last weekend. These ducks say it’s almost spring the same way the Salt Point Stewart’s says you’re almost in Rhinebeck.

Last weekend we had first-of-the-season Redwing Blackbirds, and today we had a pair of Canada Geese on the pond. Sadly for the geese, the pond retains its protective ice covering. They made a racket but they didn’t stay long. Similarly uninterested in a human encounter was this deer we spied while looking for owls.

Jen, braving frigid conditions, introduced some phragmites to the scythe.

Frigid weather without much snow creates the rare conditions necessary for skating on the pond. As you can, the rarity of these conditions leaves me without much practice.

The Ring-necked Ducks remain on the pond as we make the long transition into spring. There is still a bit of snow on the ground from last week’s squall, making it feel as if we have a long way to go. Other weekend events included an earthquake Friday and Daisy’s eleventh birthday Saturday.

Here are our steadfast avian harbingers the Ring-necked Ducks, on the pond at the start of March to signify the coming spring. They are camera-shy, and I scared them off, but they are back again this morning.

Daisy enjoyed what has become an unusual event: a foot of snow. She remains pretty energetic at ten years old.