On Opperman's Pond : 18: Mud Season and 1 Year Anniversary

On Opperman's Pond : 18: Mud Season and 1 Year Anniversary: March 23rd  Last year around this time, we began our journey as Pond Keeper. That 1st Post had crayfish, turtles and a general feeling o...

18: Mud Season and 1 Year Anniversary

March 23rd 

Last year around this time, we began our journey as Pond Keeper. That 1st Post had crayfish, turtles and a general feeling of new life. This year it was only one week ago that OP was still surrounded by snow. Now it is surrounded by mud. So it was time to check out how things look after they've been thawed and for any signs of life.
From a distance we were excited to see what appeared to be a huge snapping turtle swimming close to shore. As we got closer, we realized it was another sign of Springtime...the throwing of the garbage pail into the pond.  If you've been following On Opperman's Pond, you'll recall (basically meaning I recall) that I've caught more garbage pails than fish. I will wait until it gets a little warmer before I wade in to get this one...unless someone else gets to it first. Which would be OK with me.    
The only other signs of life were the ever-present Canadian geese. They are always here! I've never seen one in Canada...are they really Canadian?
Anyway...a little trash pick-up, sadly some dead fish and the effects of the freeze/thaw cycle on the wood stepping circles. It blew the bark right off! Pretty cool.  

March 28th

The OP Monster

Blown off bark 

What makes them so Canadian?
They aren't clean or polite

On Opperman's Pond : 17: Lots of Wind

On Opperman's Pond : 17: Lots of Wind: Scout and I were on our way to the gas station to fill up the car before heading north for the Adirondacks. We drove past OP as we do and sa...

17: Lots of Wind

Scout and I were on our way to the gas station to fill up the car before heading north for the Adirondacks. We drove past OP as we do and saw that the recycle bin had blown over with bottles and cans strewn about. My initial reaction was keep on going, fill the car and get on the road for the 3 1/2 hour drive. My conscience got the best of me, so after filling up we turned around, went home to get Pond Keeper tools and returned to OP. The main reason we delayed our trip and conducted a pond-side intervention was to prevent the material from being blown into the pond - a water rescue is always more complicated.  

High winds tossing more Starbuck's cups
around than free trade beans in a roaster  

  

Oh! The humanity! 

Easy clean up...sorry for the drama

 After the clean-up, Scout and I took a stroll around the pond and managed to fill a small Home Depot shopping bag with artes' de garbage. We ran into Andy (human) and Lucy (dog) from the neighborhood also on an OP stroll. Lucy and Scout conducted a back-end hello...Andy and I said, "Hi." He mentioned he usually walks the pond with a 35 gallon trash bag while disdainfully eye-balling my paltry bag-ette. I said, "Excellent! The pond is looking really good." Andy said, "You're welcome," and removed Lucy from Scout's nether regions to continue their walk.
It was a good quick stop and we saw our 1st Painted Turtle getting some sun which, as you know, turtles are a good sign of pond health! Now we were a little later getting on the road but felt good about why were delayed.  As we got back in the car, Scout's gaze said to me; "My Human, you are a good person." I said to Scout, "Puppy Girl, I'm only an OK human but I am an excellent Pond Keeper." Scout also said, "NO WAY is Andy cleaning the pond!"  Me, "We'll see."  Scout's a bit of a hothead.        

1st Painted Turtle sighting!

Post 16: January Storm Surge

The, so far, only nor'easter came through on January 26th with lots of rain. So in honor of that it was time to check the water levels at OP and introduce Scout to her 1st clean-up visit. Usually Scout's visit to the pond is a scoping exercise - she sniffs while I take note of things I want to do on a later, solo visit. It's time this pup earned her keep!

The first thing I wanted was to compare was how much the rain impacted the water level at the pond. After a very dry summer, autumn and winter 2016 the pond's banks were widening. On a positive note, this gave me the opportunity to clean up hidden debris but at the same time the pond was giving up some life as I found dead fish for the 1st time (no photo out of respect for the next of fin).

.            

August 2016

January 2017

 Now, I know the perspective in the photos from August 2016 and January 2017 isn't great so trust me - the water level is higher than it was. So...better!


As we patrolled OP, we encountered a pretty big Snapping Turtle that was awakened from hibernation. It was no Punxsutawney Phil but there is no global warming (heh, heh) - either way it didn't look happy.  Even for a Snapper.

Opperman Olaf

Scout after seeing Olaf

  ...I think future clean ups will be solo adventures. 

On Opperman's Pond : 15: The Day was as Cold and Gray as Yesterday's Wh...

On Opperman's Pond : 15: The Day was as Cold and Gray as Yesterday's Wh...: The other day Scout came back from the OP woods with a souvenir. I originally posted this on Face Book because I thought it was cool in a gr...

15: The Day was as Cold and Gray as Yesterday's Whopper

The other day Scout came back from the OP woods with a souvenir. I originally posted this on Face Book because I thought it was cool in a gross way and Scout gave it to me without any territorial behavior in exchange for a handful of kibble. She's a good pup. I have roughly 180 "friends" on Face Book (hey...no brag) and usually get 18-30 likes (again...no brag just fact). Note: this includes family and terrestrial friends. This post got 5; 7 if I include my wife and one of my children .
Karen (Opperman's  Pond Keeper's Keeper) informed me it was possibly, "too graphic."  "Bu-ut," I said, "I also included a cute picture of Scout! That's usually good for 10-15 alone!"
Karen, "Get a job."    

A deer leg. And my foot

Scout knows there are more bones out there 

I don't have a job so my big concerns were; 1) coyotes, 2) the rest of the deer, 3) will Scout bring any more home. I saw the general area where Scout found the 1st tasty piece which was halfway down to the OP in a cluster of fallen trees - ideal coyote cache. The first Google was the NY Wildlife site to see if there are any particular steps for the disposal of carcasses or do the Fish & Game people want to examine deer eaten by coyotes. For those of you who may encounter this situation (you never know...I didn't) the answer is: 1) don't call us unless it is rabid (but it's dead); 2)  shovel it into a big bag, 3) put that big bag in another big bag, 4) dig a hole 2 feet deep, 5) throw it in, 6) cover it up, 7) don't forget to wash your hands (what about my memory!).    
I took Scout to puppy play time because I didn't want to test the kibble vs. wild meat again. She's a good pup, not a stupid pup.

Remember, there is a possible pack of coyotes lingering about looking for the rest of their lunch or something fresher. I was really a little worried. I remember what it was like going for that last slice - not proud but I have to live with that dark side. The equipment was chosen to be functional and survivalist:

 

Cache area in background 

1. A big stick to beat back the coyotes 
2. Gloves...and I would still wash my hands
3. Tape measure...these things could be big and I wanted to measure 2 feet
4. Big bags
5. Shovel
6. Pocket knife in case I had to cut my arm off to survive      

With heart pounding (it is really easy to build this up) and equipment in hand, I headed down the hill and started poking around the dragon's lair. Listening...Looking over my shoulder...Damn squirrel! Nothing! A little disappointed...only a little. Now back to Kathie Lee and Hota and I used the word "cache."