Dog Day Morning

Animal heaven at the Nethermead today! Chewy and JJ and Loo and Nickleby and Mr. Cooper and dozens of others, leaping and running and enjoying the perfectly crisp morning. A pleasure to be surrounded by so much joy!

Went by way of Lookout Hill - 4 crack bags, 3 of them in one spot. I guess the crack in the park season is also starting. I realized that it was almost one year ago that I started this blog - March 10, 2010, to be exact, and next week will be my first blogiversary!! So, we have seen the cycle of a year in Prospect Park. I'm wondering if this next year's cycle will be much different.

The lake is pretty clear, with only a few ice spots left. Much earlier thaw than last year, but it may refreeze. You never know. We saw lots of ducks, not so many geese. One of the tagged geese, H974, was hanging out by himself near the rustic shelter in the SE corner. The phragmites are still in winter hibernation - no sign of spring growth yet. Really looking beautiful.

The "burning the candle in the can" person has been at it again. Frequently, it looks like. I hadn't been checking in that spot, but have started to do so again. I decided to leave the person a note, asking that he/she clean up. We'll see if it has any positive effect. I certainly hope so.

Thank you Channel 11!!!

The TV is out of the lake, finally. No thanks to the Parks Dept. but to Channel 11 and Greg Mocker, with whom I am suddenly deeply in love.  


Otherwise, it seemed to be Turtle Day in the park. In the Lullwater, by the duck beach, back at the burned phragmite area number 1, we saw 15-20 turtles sunning themselves,. Enlarge the pictures and see if you, too can spot them. One let Ber get VERY close.

Phragmites are now over 6' tall. We saw akll three swans. Nesting swans still look fine. She is lying so flat over the nest she almost looks 2-dimensional. Papa was busy hissing and using his wings to intimidate the geese.

Sad news: we fished a dead bird of the lake and laid it to rest in a trash can.

High water and choppy seas

It was a gray and overcast day in the park today. The water level in the lake is higher than I've ever seen it. Interesting, since the Parks Dept. claimed to have lowered the water level NOT to refill it before testing the water quality but to prepare for upcoming rains. Rains are upcoming this weekend, so why is the water so high now? Hmmm. Remember, all the water is artificially pumped in.

Anyway, the water was quite choppy and the wind was blowing. Vaguely reminiscent of Ireland in January. Still, there was a lot to see as we made our rounds. I managed to get very close to a red-winged blackbird hanging out in the phragmites. He obviously loves the spot, since he was chasing two other birds away from it as I approached.

We took our alternate-day picture of the phragmite growth after the fires. They're up to Ber's chest height. Ber is 6'1", by the way.

The plywood that Cayuga and entourage were using has made its rounds. It was seen all the way at the other end of the lake, and now it's been near Peninsula Meadow for a few days. Today, because of the aforementioned high water and choppy seas, it was right by the edge, so we took it out. Very waterlogged and extremely heavy. Hopefully the trash collectors will take it away. If not, it should dry out and weigh less, and we'll move it next to a dumpster that we have spotted. Hope it doesn't find it' way back in!...Of course, big pieces of wood seem to always be finding their way into the lake. Today it was a wooden box that worked like a real dock. Ber and JJ could both stand on and walk around! We suspect it might have escaped from the construction going on at the other end of the lake, but it was way too heavy to pull out.

The only swans we saw today were the nesting pair. She was busy picking branches and twigs from around her nest to build up the sides a bit, and Papa was being all protective and manly, watching out for possibly invading geese and ducks. They were all gathered on the shoreline, just watching.

I love how quickly the whole park is turning green. No longer are there just a few sp0lashes of green and pink and white - it's rapidly becoming lush and green and beautiful. Some of the shapes of the trees are quite amazing.

Live frog, dead turtle, another fire

Thia is actually a combination of yesterday and today. Is there anyone reading this who can enlighten me as to the protocol, if any, about blogging? Can one fudge the truth and attribute one day's actions to another? Or am I being ridiculously old school, caring about truth and accuracy and all those things that seem to have gone out the window lately? Anyway, yesterday we saw all three of the title things. Another group of phragmites, this time on the south side of the lake, was burnt. Could be deliberate or people partying. Don't know, don't care. Looks bad, smells worse. The dead baby turtle was nearby. The frog was on the other side of the pond. We weren't exactly sure if it was dead or alive, so I touched it VERY GENTLY with a stick, and he (she?) jumped about a foot, and startled the heck out of me. So good to see life!! Likwise, all the flowers in the neighborhood are blooming - the first red tulips are out, rhodies everywhere, and all the daffodils! Especially in front of the boarded up, foreclosed house - how poignant - life goes on.

In the park, we did see many live turtles besides the poor dead baby. There were five lined up, single file, on a branch in the water near the Lullwater Bridge. I got so excited! Made noise, scared them off before I could take a picture. I need to work on my "quietly sneaking up" skills.

Very exciting scene: Two park workers doing a great job cleaning up. Truly a start of spring! We chatted with them, told them I was one of those bitchy people who complained about the trash, and was thrilled about what a great job they were doing. I know this probably sounds disgustingly patronizing, but I really was impressed, as they explained the skill involved in doing it right.

Second hand notes

Miserable, rainy, windy - I slept till 10 and never went to the park. Ber and JJ are indomitable, however, and did go. Well, Ber is indomitable. He tells me that JJ objected until they got to the park, when she decided it was fun after all. This is Saturday, after all - the day of the big Farmers Market at Grand Army Plaza, the day we like to get special treats, like the organic, homegrown bacon from the Flying Pigs Farm people, and the herbed goat cheeses. Ber also brought home what was probably the world's most expensive liverwurst - absolutely delicious, but destined to be a rare treat. Long Meadow was filled with puddles, and the dogs were having a grand time jumping in them. This picture, by the way, is from a sunnier day - looking up the steps up Lookout Hill.

Big news: a stand of phragmites have been burned. Phragmites are very tall grasses that grow in clumps at various points at the edge of the lake. They grow thick, almost like small forests, and are quite beautiful, but invasive (meaning not native - invasive does not refer to their intentions) and give a lot of privacy once you're in the middle. The park mavens are abuzz with speculation - pyromaniac? plot to destroy the park? what? This particular stand had a path going into it - I went in about a month ago to check it out, and came out with two large bags of trash. This was before I decided to become a Bag-Of-Trash-a-day lady, but luckily, since we have a dog, we always have pocketfuls of plastic bags. Anyway, there were many beer cans, a few condoms (I wore gloves), empty DVD boxes that used to contain porn (cover pictures - very graphic), and some fabric stuff that suggested someone might have slept there at one time. My suspicion is someone was trying to keep warm, careless crack user, "concerned" citizen trying to get rid of the riff-raff, or local juvenile delinquents having a wild and crazy night. Any serious pyromaniac could have done a lot more damage. It looks disgusting, but I'm not seriously worried at this point. The very same stand burnt 4-5 years ago, and grew back by the middle of summer.

Crack bag count: only 2 + 1 used condom