WiseAcre Gardens

As I approached the river I found myself surrounded by the alien invaders. Thousands of them had colonized the banks of the Grasse River downstream of Morley.

Dame’s Rocket – Hesperis matronalis

Dame’s Rocket in the woods

As the opposite side of the river came into view it became clear that the Dame’s Rocket had claimed that territory too.

What wasn’t clear was the air. A smokey haze had settled over the area.

Smoke on the water – Fire in Quebec. The smoke has drifted about 250 miles south, southwest to here from fires burning through the Wemotachi First Nation lands in central Quebec. The smoke is predicted to drift as far away as Massachusetts and New Hampshire as the fires continue to burn.

I also managed to get one shot off at what looks to be another alien mutant. It’s often called a Hummingbird Moth but I prefer to call it a Lobster Bee since my wife ‘named’ it such when she excitedly called me to look at our very first sighting of one 30 some years ago.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth – Hemaris thysbe

Getting a photo of a Lobster Bee is tough, they don’t hold still for a second. Like their namesake the Hummingbird they don’t actually land and dart from one flower to the next, hovering for only the briefest time at each. I was so involved chasing that moth around I forgot to get any flower photos of the Dame’s Rocket. Since it’s raining today I figured a pic from last year would be appropriate to use.

It looks like Phlox but don’t let it fool ya. The leaves are opposite and the long seed pods are common among it’s Mustard Family relatives. You’ll also end up short if you start pulling Dame’s Rocket flower petals with ‘She Loves Me’ since there are only 4 instead of Phlox’s 5. So if you’re looking for love stay away from Dame’s Rocket and go look for something odd.

The siren song of honking Canadian Geese lured me down to the river. That and wanting to take photographs of anything but moss today. I was hoping to find happy signs of Spring. What I ending up finding was the cruel grip of Winter exposed on the bank of the Grasse River.

There were a few Canadian Geese swimming along the far side of the river. But what I ‘saw’ was the ice jam that had until recently choked the river had broken up leaving thick sheets of ice tumbled along the bank. Spring now rules on the north shore. Nothing harsh there – I have to agree with Martha Stewart. Breaking the back of Old Man Winter.
...’that’s a good thing’

The Grasse is greener on the other side of the river. Over on my side of the river a wooded hill shades the ice until late afternoon. On this side Winter still grips the river bank. It’s slowly losing it’s grasp but the ice still extends a good way into the river from the shoreline.

The following photographs are no more gruesome than Mother Nature herself. But your imagination may be. What happened here is anyone’s guess. I certainly don’t have a clue how this coyote got caught in this predicament. There is a run off stream that flows to that spot. Could the body been washed downhill? Or did the varmint slip into the river while crossing and pushed to this point by the ice?

I can’t be positive this is a coyote. I’m just guessing. It’s been ‘no more’ for a long time and is yucky looking. Besides that all the run off has left the coat caked in silt and grit. But whatever it is the image provokes some horrific thoughts.

Pleasant Dreams

Try not to think about it.

It’s fine to snowmobile but dammit if you get caught swimming here.

I was expecting to find more ice formations. The dam waterfall only had one good ice formation.

A bit hard to see but icicles are nearly horizontal on the back side of the ice formation.

This is a photo that would have been impossible to get last year. There used to be barricades on both ends of the bridge. I’d say the contractors did a great job of restoring the old stone arch bridge. About the only noticeable differences you can see from the side are the new guard rails and traffic on the bridge.

Other than the bridge and the lack of snow on the river ice there’s not much difference from:
Last Year’s Dam Post

Some pretty fowl pedestrians on Buck’s Bridge tied up traffic (me) on the way home. I had to stop while they waddled around in a couple directions before finally making up their minds of which way to go. And they had the nerve to honk at me.

These aren’t the only geese that hang around Buck’s Bridge. There’s usually some Canadian Geese among the domestic gaggle gang bobbing in the river. It’s a good place to go if you’re looking for a good goose, photo op that is.