Lookout Hill off-limits today

So glad we made it up Lookout Hill yesterday, because there's caution tape there and it's off limits today. I wonder if it was my tales of the jungle jim hill that made this happen. Anyway, hopefully this computer is behaving better and I can post the photos today....Lake level down only slightly, loads of joggers in the park today.

Last day of Eid today - the end of Ramadan. Large crowd of about 99 men and 1 woman on near the mosque on Albemarle, all quietly and conservatively dressed. Another large crowd, very colorfully dressed in the Parade Ground, looking prepared for a very festive celebration. So glad the weather is so great for it!

Post Irene photos.

Lookout Hill felt like an old-fashioned Jungle Jim today, with all the downed trees and branches. Actually, only one tree down on the hill (just before where we go down on the other side), but a few big branches and a lot of small ones. Well, they probably would have felt large if they'd fallen on us. Great fun! Especially after the two day park closing and the beautiful day today. We became law-abiding citizens years ago, and stayed out of the park while it was closed. Unlike, for example, the two brave/idiotic/foolish/? people who decided to kayak in the ocean in the middle of a hurricane and had to be rescued. At least they got summons when they were rescued. Hope the fine is HUGE! Anyway, we got some nice pictures of the fallen green stuff. Actually, it wasn't as bad as we'd feared. Irene got calmer and went off to the west a bit before she arrived, and a lot of the really weak trees were blown in the snow storm of March, 2010.

And there were no crack bags!

Lake is a bit flooded, no more than during the big rain a couple of weeks ago. The birds all seem fine. Lots and lots of dogs out.

Wooden fences surround Nethermead, mostly still standing. they were put up last week in preparation for "an event." I looked it up - there was supposed to be a huge birthday party for Michael Jackson, sponsored by Spike Lee, yesterday. When the Mayor cancelled all Sunday events, it was moved to Saturday, which at the time had a 70% chance of rain and made no sense to me. then, of course the park was closed for two days. I wonder if the party has been cancelled or re-scheduled. I know it's a tight schedule for events in Prospect Park this time of year.

Having a computer problem. Will post more photos tomorrow.

Before the hurricane

Very busy in the park this morning - everyone taking advantage before the hurricane hits this weekend. Lots of dogs, runners, cyclists, etc. One man was carrying his large (c. 80 pounds) dog out of the park. The animal is 14 years old, and still occasionally pulls his way to the park to recreate the 6-mile runs he did as a puppy. Then his bad legs kick in, and the owner has to carry him home. Owner was very pleased to talk to me and have a little break from the heavy lifting. We probably won't be back till Monday, since JJ refuses to go in the rain. Who's the Boss? Certainly not me or B.

Last year's cygnets were not at the beach, but further south, at the very Southwest corner. We got a great view from the little path there that goes right to the shore. There are two benches there, frequently occupied by napping men, but not today. So we took a seat and watched, and all of a sudden papa Swan comes swimming along to them at top speed, then flies at them very forcefully to get them out of the way of the new cygnets. Quite impressive, the strength of his turf protection instincts. Later, they all seemed to be sharing the middle of the lake. Seems only the parts near the shore call for that kind of protection.

The lake level is well below it's normal height in preparation for the hurricane. I was kind of impressed with the small amount of flooding that resulted from the record breaking rain day, but I guess it was too much for some. The Mayor and his staff seem to be desperately making up for the blizzard disaster. They're (probably) closing down the subways for 12 hours or so, and evacuating everyone 24 hours in advance of the actual storm. Of course, the blizzard disaster happened mainly because they had fired 100's of sanitation works in the weeks prior, and didn't start any cleanup until the blizzard was well under way. Not really the same thing as a big rain with wind. So we're getting a big show that probably won't help much. Typical. We are putting the yard furniture in the garage and hoping that the renovation going on next store is tied down well.

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Not exactly park news, but there's a great fake car accident at Westminster and Albemarle. They're shooting a commercial that makes fun of insurance spokespeople. You can see Mayhem, Neanderthal, and the Progressive Lady hanging out. They put a fog maker under the cat hood to keep the engine "steaming" all day. I only wish I knew how to place photos near the captions in the blog. Oh well, it's not that long an entry.

Oh, Martin: the line is gone. Thank you. And we think you're a Martin, not a Marty.

Elegant Stinkhorns, continued

Well, now they have the gray/black caps and look like they're being eaten. The caps contain the new spores. Bugs eat it and spread the spores to new locations, so that we'll see them again. Next year? Next week? Next rainstorm? No idea. Unlike seeds, spores are quite unpredictable about how long they stay active, when they grow, etc. They haven't been studied as much as seeds have been studied, and they are more varied. A mushroom aficionado named Terence McCenna (sp?) spent years trying to figure out what the necessary conditions were - water? pressure? heat? - and gave up. Apparently each species is different. So, Mary, maybe we'll get a lot more when/if the hurricane hits and maybe we won't. Will definitely keep an eye out. I feel sure, with almost no factual basis whatsoever, that the glorious biggest-one-day-rain in history got water down to deep spores and encouraged this magnificent growth that we're now seeing.

Cooler morning, lots of exercisers out, taking advantage. Geese looked like they were playing baseball in the Parade Ground. Also, a great soccer game going on. Usually, there are some pick-up soccer games going on, using half a field each and little portable goals. Today there was one game on the whole field,with uniformed players and some great kicking going on. Also head hits, chest hits, etc.

Fishing line hanging from a tree into the water, near the beach where the Swan family now resides. We were concerned about their getting caught, but saw Martin from the Prospect Alliance and told him about it. Next thing, he's out in his boat, waving the line at me! Well, I think - we'll check tomorrow, since there were several lines, only one hanging into the water to be dangerous.

Fungus Among Us

delightful sprouting of mushrooms on the way to and in the park the last couple of days. Meema beat me to the first reporting of this invasion in the Ditmas Park ( http://ditmasparkblog.com/green/fungus-among-us#disqus_thread ) Blog - nice going, Meema! I thought I'd post my pictures anyway, since I love the way they're in so many places. Actually, they seem very ghost-like to me, since I'm sure they are growing on the roots of the treese that were planted 100 years ago when this neighborhood was built.

Besides the usual big white mushrooms, we saw some long pinky/orange ones in the Peninsula. Did some research. I believe they are Mutinus elegans [elegant stinkhorn!]. What a great name!
They could also be mutinus ravenelli, not such an interesting translation. I think it's someone's name. It's also called the Devil's Dipstick, which sounds more like a rock band than a mushroom to me. We'll keep an eye on them, because I think they'll develop a kind of disgusting gray slimy bit at the top, which provides the spore and gets eaten by bugs. But right now they look so pretty!

They are also described as "edible in egg form but not recommended." Give my imagination a lot to work on.

The new swan family has completely moved to the big lake, at the beach. They've chased last year's three cygnets over behind the Peninsula. Seems there's not much connection between each group of siblings in the swan world.

Healing

That's what it seemed like in the park today. The Lake's water level has gone down some more, gradually approaching it's normal level. the storm last night brought down many, many branches. How nice that these possibly risky branches came down at night in a storm, when there was really no danger to anyone. I know that some people think these "problems" should be prevented, but I really like seeing them solved on their own. A little flooding in the park is a delightful novelty, unlike street flooding, which can be so damaging to homes, cars, people, etc. And of course, the night storms only serve to remind me of Camelot, where it only rains at night - the perfect weather situation, according to the song.

The geese seem to be always having breakfast in the two grassy fields at the Parade Ground, before going over to the lake. Probably saving the city a bundle of money in mowing costs. And Mama and Papa Swan are now in the big lake. The cygnets are probably there too, but we didn't see them. They are still a solid gray fluff, and hard for us to see. Remember, we are the ODD (Observational Deficit Disorder) people. Papa did spend some time chasing the 3 nearly grown cygnets from last year.

Beautiful but wet today

We finally got back to the park today - JJ has refused to go for 3 days because of the rain. Not sure exactly when she became the ultimate boss, but she sure is. Anyway, it was beautiful today - clear, cool, and not too humid. Up Lookout Hill, around the Nethermead, back to Peninsula, the usual route.

I still pick up and count the crack bags on Lookout Hill, but haven't been listing them. It's between 5 and 10 every day. When its zero or a huge number, I'll mention it.

The geese were all feeding in one of the Parade ground baseball fields this morning. 35 of them. I guess the Lone goose has rejoined the rest of the flock.

Prospect Park Lake is now extended 3 to 5 feet outside its wall, depending on where you are. it was Sunday's record breaking rainfall that did it. I hear it was even worse the last couple of days. It is completely artificial, and someone could have gone in and drained it a bit, but they didn't. I took a picture of the ducks sitting on the actual wall, looking like they're out in the lake. Anyway, I kind of like it when Nature reminds us whose boss. there are so many people who want to control nature - killing wild animals, building in flood zones, making walls to keep out water and high tides, etc. Nature's response only gets worse when there's no room for it. Look at all the flooding along the Mississippi and Hurricane Katrina. Many of the land masses in the delta are gone now - to improve shipping, I think. So the full flooding of Katrina came into New Orleans, not stopped or slowed down as it would have been. You'd think people would be humbled by Nature's forces. Some are, but most of them just want to fight harder and deadlier to overcome it. Oh well. I've always been a believer in cooperation, not competition, and am in a tiny minority in this country.

I saw a long-haired chihuahua in the park today. So cute! And it really looks like it has hair, not fur!

Tony got his truck back and was at Peninsula with Fannie and Jupiter. Yay!!!

Mohawk Dog

Poor JJ was not dealing well with the heat - her coat was growing in so fast. So on Tuesday we got her shaved again, b ut thought it might be fun to give her a Mohawk/racing stripe. She looks fabulous! And feels so cool and is much happier in this summer heat. Hard to get good pictures, with the black on black thing, but I keep trying.

I was just calling it a racing stripe, but yesterday two men passed us on their way to their fishing spot. One said to the other, "Oh look, there's that Mohawk dog we saw at the store." And on Wednesday, there were two French women at the Nethermead, looking at JJ and chattering away in French far to fact for us to understand, except for the word "Mohawk."

So it's Mohawk dog now.

Daughter and son-in-law came over and taught me how to get photos from Facebook to my computer - here's the ill goose being driven to the Sanctuary in Riverhead.

We also seem to be starting a Canine Cafe on a park bench on Prospect Park West. Here's a photo of the happy patrons!

The Park geese seem to be happily needing in the Parade Grounds - 34 of them, plus there's the one lone goose near the swans.

Zoo thoughts and park observations

I need to come with better titles. I hear that the headline writers at the Times are better paid than the reporters. Don't know if that's true, but it makes a good story. And makes sense. Facts are just there, while headlines need to attract people to actually read the facts.

Anyway, two big boxes on the beach. Not empty, but with rolls. I dumped the rolls and put the boxes in the trash. Note: NOT feeding the animals, just dumping the rolls. Interesting that although the geese came over, they had very little interest. Many little birds started to happily peck at the rolls, while we wandered up Lookout Hill. NO CRACK BAGS TODAY! What is going on? Have people stopped doing drugs? We did see some interesting monkey graffiti on the sidewalk, with rude comments suggestive of drug advertisements.

Tony and Fannie and Jupiter were in the Peninsula, having taking a few days off to avoid stepping in the poisons. His dogs are 12 and 15 years old - caution is recommended.

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about yesterday at the Zoo. The zoo no longer has any big, dangerous animals. That stopped in 1987, after 3 11-year old boys climbed into the Polar Bear area to tease them, and one of them was bitten by a bear and died. They closed the zoo, killed the 2 Polar Bears, and got rid of the rest of the dangerous animals. Sent to other zoos, not killed. At the time I was not really into animal rights and still thought that was wrong. I was sorry about the boy, but the bears were just acting normally and naturally.

Anyway, it has since been reopened as a mild, gentle zoo. Great for educating small children and very pleasant. But I was there a couple of years ago with my class, and now it doesn't seem to be doing so well. The cafe is gone, replaced by a vending machine room. Only 2 machines with actual food, one of which was broken. No special arrangements to take care of them on Sunday, the "day of 1000 visitors" so most of the machines were empty Similar story with the gift shop, or "gift closet" as I'll now call it. Small, few things. I was talking to the girls running it. I think they're young enough to be called girls. They said there had been financial cutbacks. So, why did they cut back on money-making activities, I wondered. So did they. I said they probably could have at least made a call and gotten some hot dog trucks for the hungry children. They had such things 2 years ago, but eliminated them, I was told.

To be fair, the Wendy's down the block was equally unprepared for the numbers that came. Although they didn't run out of food, they did run out of straws and ketchup packets. It was a nice salad anyway.

I did get two really cute snake bracelets, will send them to my grand-nieces.

If the zoo fails, will Bloomberg sell the location to condo-builders? One wonders.

Free Park Day

My daughter had called to tell me it was going to be Free Park Day today. The Park is always free, I said. No, not everything, she says. But it is this Sunday. So off we went. Miniature Golf by Grand army Plaza, and the zoo was completely free, including the training show with the sea lions. We had a wonderful time, and took pictures of lots of animals we don't usually see. Geese with fringe, a four-horned sheep, llamas, and a red furry thing whose name I can't remember right now.

Of course, as a resident of the "primitive" side of the park, I was most impressed with the digital bathroom they have over there. We're begging for more port-a-johns, and they have luxury modern conveniences!! Note how I am posing outside of it, in stunned disbelief of what "the other side" has.

RESERVATIONS???????????

So here was something new for us, back in the park after the spraying of the poisons: Signs in BBQ Plaza reserving a table and BBQ pit for the afternoon. Is this allowed? Legal? Following some hitherto unknown park rules? Arrogant and self-promoting people too lazy to do the usual thing of sending a couple f people to the park to hold a spot? Inquiring minds want to know, and probably never will.

Other than that, the weed whacker nests in its spot across from the very tip of the Peninsula and the flowers are beautiful.