4/28/12 Bangor

Cold (30's)and quite windy but the sun is shining. Kelley was happy to be out ( we had a late start because of seedlings to deal with and waiting for a little warmth) and there were a surprising number of people out and about so Kelley had her social needs met. There were lots of flowering things but the harsh light and the wind made it difficult to photograph them. I seemed to end up with lots of windows.
I did get my first bee of the year

A nice outing in spite of the cold.  1  1/2 hours

4/26/12 Walden

Lawn needs mowing and seedlings to attend to so Walden which is close.Pretty nice day and we tried to find trails we had not been on before. Lots of water around for Kelley and she seems to like being in different trails.

   A pretty good two hour hike until I got home and  discovered a tick on my arm ( not yet attached) - took off my shirt and found another in the shirt- over the course of the day and next morning found three more. In all hiking in past have only found one so guess this is result of mild winter

4/25/12 Petit Manan

Possibility of rain later so we thought we could get in a hike early. When we got to Petit Manan it was a mix of sun and clouds but no rain and it remained that way through the hike.

Low tide

There are fresh water ponds and pools which Kelley prefers to the ocean.

When we got to what we had thought was Big Pond we met some local people who told us it was actually about a half mile further- so we continued until we reached it- Kelley liked it 

 

A pleasant hike - a bit breezy but no rain. 3  1/2 hours

4/24/12 Walden - City Forest

Yet another rainy day. When it stopped and looked like it was clearing we headed over to Walden to see if we could get a hike in. Kelley was happy to be out in the woods and off leash and, because of all the recent rain, there were pools of water for her to get into everywhere.  As soon as we arrived ( about 10 minutes away) it was completely clouded again and started to sprinkle. I had a coat to cover my camera and plastic bags if it rained harder but it did not so we got in an hour and a half of pleasant walking. It was quite breezy so the things I was interested in were hard to photograph.

4/23/12 The hood

Raining hard all morning with Kelley looking at me with that, "why are we still here" look. Ok - put on a rain jacket and grab an umbrella and off we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Kelley was excited to finally be moving. She has an Airedale friend named Sarge and when we walk in the neighborhood she insists we go by his house ( she knows the turns and it's about 1/2 mile away) . If Sarge is not outside she plants herself on his front lawn until I convince her that he's not home. Luckily, today, he was out in the rain too and they got to play together - they do this very well and Sarge is very good about sharing his toys. I didn't have my camera with me today so these pictures are from last April on a sunny day.

Sarge


Destroying a toy


Taking a break

4/22/12 Downtown Again

Another rainy day (and now cold too). When it let up to just a drizzle we went downtown for an hour. Kelley was more interested in sniffing around than she was in walking and managed to find a few tidbits. I was having a hard time seeing anything interesting and only took three pictures before my camera ( the small one so I could keep it dry under my coat) said the batteries were depleted ( I had taken them out of the charger this morning). We have two more days of rain predicted- not a happy thought.

4/21/12 Bangor

Rainy day so we just went downtown for a brief walk

4/20/12 City Forest

Garden work to do so we went over to City Forest for an hour and a half. Another beautiful day.

Today there were two geese in the pond. Again Kelley ignored them.

New growth!

 

 

 

 

They have changed the format and the blog is much harder to work so it's not as I would have it.

4/19/12 Little long Pond - Harbor Brook

A beautiful sunny day in the 50s We went to one of Kelley's favorite spots. Started from the parking lot and walked the Friends Path down to the pond where Kelley quickly got into the water and then met another dog and two people- great fun. We then followed the pond to Jordan Stream > carriage roads > Asticou Trail > Harbor Brook Trail > back to the road and that back to our car. Kelley was in the water a lot and even walked along side me in the stream for a small section. I only took a few pictures and none of them were satisfactory but still a very nice outing. 2 3/4 hours

4/18/12 Sunkhaze

One more attempt to get to the Buzzy Brook Trails. Coming down the Stud Mill from Rte. 2 we found the gate open but the closed sign still in place. We drove further down the road to the other gate and found it still locked. Afraid they might relock the first gate, and since it was only 1/2 mile from the gate to McLaughlin Rd. we decided to park outside the gate and walk the road.

Don't know what kind of bird this came from.


The North Buzzy Brook Trail was quite wet in places but it usually is.There were buds on the trees at the brook but it's still not very spring looking.


We started back down the trail and found a trail to the west that is not on the map and that we had not been on before. It led to another trail that did look familiar and we took that.


Which ended at water- we think the Little Buzzy Brook


Kelley thought it was a pretty good spot.


We back tracked to where we had turned off and that eventually led us back to the loop trail


Which we took back to the trail head and on out to the road and back to our car

Where we found the gate locked- we were glad we were on the other side of it.


A pretty nice hike. 3 hours