recent findings

A lovely viewpoint from a trail in Thacher State Park.  It is so lush and thick right now.  I could almost imagine I was overlooking a jungle or rain forest.

northern ringneck snakelet - not quite the width of a pencil yet

Admiring the various colors in Tim's beard during a rest from our walk.  He's not so happy about the grey ones.

Storm clouds above us on a walk to Lock 8 on the Mohawk River.  We watched three boats pass through the lock and then got absolutely soaked on the walk back to the car.  It was worth it.

 

the first of the roses in a local park

Okay...what the heck is this, you might be thinking.  That is exactly what we were thinking.  Are those eggs?  Broken balloons?  Why are they near what seems to be a burrow of some kind?  Why do they feel leathery (Tim's description after I coaxed him into touching one)?  Did something hatch or did some critter dig up another critter that lives and lays eggs underground?  What lives around here that would lay eggs in the ground?  After thinking it through, spotting several areas just like this, and realizing they were all neighboring water - part of the river, a small pond, a stream between two ponds - we figured they might be the broken eggs of hatched turtles.  We've seen many painted turtles and one rather large snapping turtle on past jaunts.  Some later interweb investigating revealed this to be the case.  How I wish I could've seen them breaking open their shells and scurrying off to the closest water source to begin their little reptile lives!  Learning more about their life cycle will suffice, however. 

I like the striped leaves on this Solomon's seal plant.  Made me think of paintbrush strokes.

Penny nestled into her favorite place - Tim's lap.