Changing of the Seasons in the Adirondacks

I finally got around to downloading the last two batches of pictures from the cabin so I thought I'd share them here.

The first bunch is from the weekend in October when my mom came up to spend the weekend. The foliage was still pretty good then so she got to see some of the beautiful leaves, although it had started to go by a bit.

The next several are from last weekend when we got our first real snowfall and we realized our weekends in the cabin had to finally come to an end until spring returns.

Below are two views of the pond, one from the other side looking across at the cabin, and the other looking away from the cabin.



Me and Mom on the deck of the cabin - first close, then farther away. And no, she doesn't always wear that hat. Ironically the pictures I posted from the Cape also had her in that hat!

Diva and me, ready to go for a walk, with me in my Red Hat Society hat. Since I dropped out of the Society after the first few meetings, I'm glad to have a new use for it - to show up in the woods so that hunters won't shoot me thinking I'm a deer. Knew it would come in handy some day.

Sunset at Hulett's Landing on Lake George.
A view of the snow-covered pine tree in front of the cabin during last weekend's nighttime snowstorm, and the snow-covered Adirondack chairs on the deck.


Dawn over the pond the next morning, followed by more views of the winter wonderland. Note the frozen pond.

Wouldn't that last picture be a good ad for Jeep?

So, we are now back to spending our weekends in New Jersey until, perhaps, mid-April. We'll see how the weather goes. We may spend a weekend or two over the winter at Starry Night Cabins in Schroon Lake, and take a drive over to check on the cabin, but until spring it is unlikely that we'll spend a night at our own place.

While I will be missing our weekends away from it all, at least we have something to look forward to in the spring. And in the meantime, it will be nice to finish putting away the summer clothes that are still lying around in the laundry baskets, hang out with our friends on weekends, and be able to have my family over for Sunday dinner again!

A Cat's Eye View

Well, they've gone and left Me yet again! I'm getting Rather Sick of it. Oh well, at least I'm inside where it's Warm and Dry. It seems to be Raining Once Again out there. Now that the Weather has gotten Cooler and the Humans have turned on that thing they call a Furnace, I like sitting on my Cat Perch over the Radiator in My Room and looking out the Window.

Did you know I have My Own Room? I do. It's one of the Bedrooms, and it's All Mine. (Well, my Female Human does have a Bureau and Wardrobe Closet with some of her Clothing in it, and there is a Desk full of Junk, but that's all). My Box and my Food and Water are all in here, and Best of All, there is a Gate attached to the Doorway that I can run under, but That Dog can't. So I am protected from her when she gets Frisky and decides to chase Me, and she also can't get in to eat My Food or, worse yet, forage in My Box. That would be Very Embarrassing.

So. Time for my News Roundup. I don't really know what the Chief Topic of Conversation should be today given it has been quite Awhile since my Last Roundup. But I do know they spent Way Too Much Time covering that stupid Balloon Boy story last week. And now they're saying it was all a hoax! It is Pitiful how the So-Called News Programs latch on to these Stupid Stories and cover them in Breathless Anticipation, as if they were covering a World Crisis. It's like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. When there is a Real Crisis, who will be able to Tell the Difference?

Speaking of World Crises, President Obama has now declared the Swine Flu a "National Emergency."

"Obama's action allows Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius 'to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements' to help health care facilities enact emergency plans to deal with the 'pandemic.'

Those requirements are contained in Medicare, Medicaid and state Children's Health Insurance programs, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy rule."

Of course, Conspiracy Theorists will be All Over this, saying this allows The Dreaded Government to Take Away Our Rights. I'm sure it is not anything That Sinister. The stuff that takes away Rights is usually done when No One is Watching, as it was during the Previous Administration.

One problem the Government is running into is not having Enough Swine Flu Vaccine! After all that Preparation you'd think they'd have Gotten it Right, but no!

"'We are nowhere near where we thought we would be,' Frieden said, acknowledging that manufacturing delays have contributed to less vaccine being available than expected. 'As public health professionals, vaccination is our strongest tool. Not having enough is frustrating to all of us.'

Frieden said that while the way vaccine is manufactured is "tried and true," it's not well-suited for ramping up production during a pandemic because it takes at least six months."

Another News Story this week was the Famous Case of the Northwest Airline pilots who forgot to land in Minneapolis as scheduled, and No One could get ahold of them during that time! As the Humans might say, WTF? One of the pilots said they weren't arguing or sleeping during that time. They were also not Drunk. So what else does that leave? Hmmmm. The Mind Boggles. It is truly a Mystery.

My Female Human went to Minneapolis on Northwestern a couple of weeks ago. She is Glad that didn't happen when she was On Board.

In News from the Animal World, a Russian Bear killed a Circus Hand while he was Ice Skating. The Bear was Ice Skating, that is. For the Details, go read the Article here. It is Very Sad that the Circus Hand was killed, and another injured, but perhaps it's because Bears generally don't Ice Skate in the Wild, and perhaps it's not The Best Thing To Do with Them. Sadly, the Bear was shot and killed as well.

On a More Positive Note, I will End with some Pictures my Humans took Last Weekend up near that Cabin they go to. If you recall, Last Weekend was Very Rainy in New Jersey. Happily for Them, it was Very Nice near Lake George!

Here is a Picture of the Scottish Graveyard in Argyle, New York. Seems to Me this would be a Very Scary Spot on Halloween. Look at all those great Leaning Headstones! The Graveyard includes a lot of very Early Settlers - many date back to the early 18th Century.

This Picture is a Lovely View of Lake Champlain.

These are the Woods near The Cabin.

A view of The Cabin from Across the Pond, and below, the Interior with the Propane Lights on and my Female Human sitting in a Chair Keeping Warm by the Woodstove.

That's all for Now. My Female Human will be Back Shortly. She has received an Award and will be Excited to pass it on to Others!

Till Next Time, keep your Catnip Dry and Enjoy Your Week!

Interesting Wildlife Sighting in the Adirondacks

Will write more later now that we're back from our trip to the Adirondacks. And of course, it's Baxter's turn to do a news update. But I just wanted to show you what we came across right on the side of the road that goes past our property up near Lake George.

We first came across him while we were walking the dog and saw him when he was coiled up and he looked mostly black with a few goldish X's on him. But later we drove back to take another look, and he had uncoiled. And you can clearly see, on the end of his tail...a rattle. Yes, he (or is it a she?) is a timber rattlesnake.

They are supposed to be endangered. Apparently not in our neck of the woods. We read that their range extends up into the southeastern Adirondacks - which happens to be where our cabin is located. Looks as if we'll need to be a little more careful when we walk around in the woods! We had tromped all through this area a couple of months ago putting up "Posted" signs. Luckily we lived.

Back From the North

Sorry I haven't been out and about in the Blog World this past weekend. We spent the weekend up in the Adirondacks visiting our cabin and dropping off a bunch of appliances we bought so the contractor can have them installed for us: a propane-run instant hot water heater, a propane wall heater, propane lights (they're like gaslights, and will likely be a good way to get light without needing electricity), and a shower apparatus to install in the bathroom.

When we first made our way up the gravel road to the cabin, we were surprised to find that a fairly large tree had fallen across the road - directly before the driveway to our property. So we had to cart all the heavy boxes up the side of the hill to reach the cabin instead of parking directly next to it! It wasn't until we'd gotten everything up there that we realized the obvious solution: We should have driven the Jeep up the hill. Sure enough, it went right up with no problem, even though it was a steep hill and had no gravel or anything to make it easier. We are still not thinking like Jeep owners, I guess!

Giggles over at Wits and Wiggles was talking about getting back in touch with her inner "nature girl" and I must say that I am feeling the same way whenever we go up to the Adirondacks. When I was young I was very into birdwatching and my mother was always showing me wildflowers in the woods. Living in semi-urban New Jersey for my whole adult life, it was harder and harder to find anything worth looking at. Now that I'm able to go to a location that is rich with wildlife, I'm getting back into what I enjoyed so much when I was younger.

This was another good visit in terms of seeing and hearing interesting wildlife. On our way up the main road, we saw an actual porcupine waddling along the side of the road! He looked up at us and started to head into the woods before I could get out my camera. He must have been somewhat alarmed by our presence because his quills started to rise on his back. Neither of us had ever seen a real porcupine before!

Then while we were sitting out on our deck having lunch we heard a strange call in the woods. It went on for quite awhile. We couldn't tell if it was an animal or a bird. After Googling "coyote calls" and "wolf howls" on the Blackberry I decided it was neither of those. When we got home I was able to do a more thorough search and found that the spooky sound was a Barred Owl. Go here to listen to what we heard. (Go to the Barred Owl and click on the link called "typical"). I was surprised because it was still daylight and I didn't realize owls were out during the day.

I also came across some great wildflowers - I saw a Jack in the Pulpit and also a whole bunch of Trillium. I even managed to take some pictures of it without them turning out all blurry. Here is one of them:

Here is another attempt at nature photography - the new ferns popping up among the leaves around the pond:

While I was walking along the roadway, I saw an Ovenbird, but didn't get a picture of that. I am amazed that anyone can manage to get great pictures of birds. It is a real skill. Of course, they probably have better cameras with very close-up lenses, unlike my point and shoot variety.

Speaking of Nature, we discovered that Something has been destroying trees around our cabin. Check this out:
This was a perfectly good tree. Now it has three huge holes in it. There are also several farther up in the tree on the other side. After seeing this, we noticed a bunch of other trees in the woods with similar damage, some done recently and some that was obviously from previous years. We can only conclude that it is caused by our friends, the impressive, beautiful, Pileated Woodpeckers, which I decided after Googling "Pileated Woodpecker Damage." (See below - note pile of wood chips like ours).

I was so thrilled to see them when we were up there last fall. Now I'm starting to think of them as a menace to the forest!

So much for Nature! Now I'll move on to our other adventures.

During this visit we also put the Jeep to another test. First we took it around to the other end of the Jeep trail that runs past our cabin again. Since we'd done it last time, I was feeling very brave. I even got out and took a picture of one of the somewhat challenging parts of the road. Here is the stretch of road, followed by the Jeep making its way up:

We then decided to do something even more daring. We turned down a side trail off of that road, and headed toward Lake George. We didn't even know whether it went all the way through. As we went along, it got less and less like a road and more and more like a bunch of rocks strewn along a narrow ledge; the hill sloped steeply away from the edge of the trail. At any moment I expected the trail to end abruptly with a bunch of trees and couldn't even imagine trying to back up! I also envisioned tumbling over the side of the cliff to my right if the Jeep tipped too much going over a rock.

I didn't get any pictures of this road. I was too busy holding on for dear life, closing my eyes and calling on the Diety to protect us. Even Diva was nervous - she was panting the whole time!

We did finally make it through to the road that goes along Lake George - and lived to tell the tale. And, the Jeep made it through with no problem! I guess that's what they're made for! I even made up a new motto for Jeep, based on the fact that the GPS map was showing no road where we were driving. "Just because the road ends doesn't mean you have to stop!"

I'll end with a few more pictures of the cabin and the surroundings. It was wonderful to be away from it all. We didn't even watch television while we were up there this time. However, we still got our newspapers and learned that Souter plans to retire from the Supreme Court. In the next post, it is Baxter's turn to do a news roundup so we'll get back into current events then.

Here is the cabin with its new green metal roof:

The new slate underneath the woodstove, and the new pine flooring that was installed. Now it just needs to be stained.

Birches reflecting in the pond.

Scenery along the Jeep trail.Views of Lake George.The little public beach on Lake George that is nearest to our cabin.