Out and About: Around the Village With Twenty-four Inches of Snow

A two day snow storm on December first and second with give or take two feet of snow, made for lots of shoveling, snow blowing, car clearing, plowing, sledding, fort building, and wet winter gear. On Tuesday morning the sun came out and under blue skies the Village looked beautiful covered, coated, and layered in white!

After Twenty-four Hours of Snow

Snowmobile

Tuesday Morning after Two Days of Snow

Alumni Hall and Baker's Park

Round Lake from Ames Avenue

Draped

Sycamore Sisters on South Lawn

Stream by Peck Avenue Woods

Peck Avenue Woods

Topped Off in Snow

Fanned

Snaking

Snow Swags

Schoolhouse Park

Looking Across Pat's Old Farm Field

Iced Light

Out and About: October Was A Treat

Mother Nature treated us to a lovely month of October! She gently brought the temperatures down to the sixties and fifties so we could make an adjustment from September's seventies. Then Halloween's forecast looked dismal but turned out to be a seventy degree night. The rain held off, the winds picked up, and leaves swirled and crunched underfoot making for a spooktacular time. I took advantage of the sunny days during October to see autumn color and finish hiking the Saratoga Plan nature preserves. November came in windy and colder zapping my pepper plants at last. We didn't get a coating to an inch of snow which was predicted for November seventh but likely will see snowfall on November eleventh through twelfth. Take a look at fall color in Round Lake and some views at Henning and Levine Preserves in the town of Providence and Rowland Hollow Creek in Milton.

Zim-Smith Trail

From the Pedestrian Bridge on the Zim-Smith Looking East

Beginning of the Connector Trail off the Zim-Smith

On the Connector Trail

Sunny

Red Colored White Oak Leaves at Baker's Park

Contrast at Coldrick's

Misty Morning on Round Lake

Ames Avenue

Cadman Creek at Henning Preserve

Henning Preserve

Fast Moving Cadman Creek at Levine Preserve

Copeland Covered Bridge. The only covered bridge left in Saratoga County

Copeland Bridge below Beecher Falls

Beecher Falls Town of Edinburgh

Dock Ducks

Great Sacandaga Lake

Under the Batchellerville Bridge. photo by Dan

Rowland Hollow Creek

Out and About: What a Lovely September!

I remember last year's September weather taking a nose dive after mid-month. Thankfully, this September had many beautiful blue sky and sunny seventy degree days which made us very happy. On September third while out in my garden in the afternoon, I came across two Monarch caterpillars munching on milkweed. By evening one caterpillar had attached itself horizontally to the back of the house. It was about two inches long. The next day the caterpillar was in a J shape on the house. They get into this position when becoming a chrysalis. I couldn't locate the second caterpillar and wondered if it had gone off to become a chrysalis too. On September sixth at 9:30 a.m. the caterpillar was still in its J shape but at 2:30 p.m. it was a chrysalis! I missed the transformation. That same afternoon Amelia Rigney found a praying mantis in the children's playground on the merry-go-round. It spun around with her and didn't seem to mind the motion. Its eyes and face made me think of an alien. Great find Amelia! So back to the chrysalis. I checked on it everyday and by September fourteenth  it was becoming clear and I could see the butterfly colors. The next day when I looked nothing was there not even an empty chrysalis. I couldn't believe it and was so disappointed. I hope the butterfly came out, dried its wings, went on its way and has a good trip to Mexico! Through the rest of September I had three or four Monarchs at a time taking nectar from the asters and butterfly bush in my garden. Painted Lady and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies were constant visitors too. My last hummingbird sighting was on September twentieth.  No frost yet. Fingers crossed that we don't get one for awhile because my pepper plants are still flowering and fruiting. That sums up September. Happy Fall to All!!!

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed

Attached to House

Munched Milkweed

Monarch Caterpillar in J Shape

Newly Formed Monarch Chrysalis

Monarch Chrysalis Day Nine

Praying Mantis

Alien Looking

Great Find Amelia!!!

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Painted Lady Butterfly

I O Moth Caterpillar on Cleveland Avenue

Nasturium. It was a nectar source for hummingbirds

Monarch Butterflies enjoying Asters

 I got out of town: Rocky Falls on Indian Pass Brook in Adirondacks

Split Rock Falls on Boquet River in New Russia Adirondacks