Deception

Waverly Road, along the Ohio River, in West Virginia, is a common route for me to travel.  Many of my posts for Beyond My Garden are inspired from experiences along this road. The Flood Begins was one such post. Today's is another.  In that link above, you are looking at a flooded field. A creek runs along the near edge of the field until it crosses it, emptying into the Ohio. If the river is high the creek backs up into the field as you see it in that post. Normally, though it is an inviting place for birds like herons, kingfishers and geese. 

My inspiration for today's post came from a day when the field was home to a small flock of Canada Geese.

The geese weren't very close to me but I decided to take a few photo shots anyway, knowing that I could zoom in later.

There was a big stump in the field, I supposed deposited by the receding high water.  There was something on top of the stump but I couldn't tell what it was.  I took the photo.

 

Later that evening I downloaded and zoomed in on the geese. I wanted to see what was moving on that stump!

Wait . . . is it waving at me?  Uh-oh.  I think I've been duped.

There was a man, dressed in camo waving at me as he sat in a blind among the Canada Geese. How odd.  Oops. Alright, there is a chance that I am stupid. Those aren't geese. They are decoys. 

Ha!    Well they sure fooled me.  He probably wondered why some lady was taking his picture. I wish I knew who he was so I could give him the opportunity to laugh.  I have certainly laughed at myself.

Just Me and the Geese

A retreat at Cedar Lakes near Ripley, West Virginia found me sleepless with a cough. My sleeping bag released its hold on me very early in the morning. After a shower, I quietly dressed so as not to wake a cabin full of middle school girls, grabbed my camera and stepped outside.

The day was beginning warmly and while it was still over an hour until breakfast, I soon realized that I was not alone. A week sun reflected gray against a dark lake, temporary home to about a hundred Canada Geese

Rain threatened but the geese didn't care.  "Ha-Ronk"s cut into an otherwise still morning as geese squabbled over mates and territories. The three below seemed to have come to an understanding as they peacefully picked at bugs in the soft dirt.

I climbed a dam behind the Dining Hall to find another trio of geese on the small woodland lake that was actually more like a pond. (I wonder at the definition - at what point does a pond becomes a lake?) The geese weren't keen on my presence and quickly swam to the other end of the lake.

As it would soon be time for retreaters to dressed and lazily leaving their cabins,  I turned to walk down to my cabin, passing a few more geese on the way.

Just before rejoining my cabin mates, I spied this young hunter sneaking up on a group of robins.  As soon as I took this picture a mockingbird flew at the cat causing it to flip in the air and quickly dash for the safety of a nearby shrub.

    

Deception

Lunch at the Landing in Marietta Ohio meant my lunch . . .

. . . though I'm afraid these geese thought differently.

The trio halted their riverside nibbling . . .

. . . took the water shuttle to exit in front of my car.  I stood there with my camera which must have looked like food that I might be willing to share.

Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you.

I hopped back into my car and drove away to save the geese from the long walk up the landing and that  chance of feeling unrewarded feeling goose-rejection.

(This add is for an old print of Marietta, Ohio. I almost bought it myself.)

Eyes Wide Open

With our eyes open we might see wonders that, otherwise, we would miss. A roadside pond fills with Canada Geese gathering before winter's cold sets in with a permanence that not long ago was not shared by these geese.

The geese were becoming scarce in many parts of the eastern United States. Once reintroduced, the geese soon prospered.  These were feeding and socializing only feet away from the pavement.  I was concentrating on the right side of the road waiting to see an historic site.  I almost missed the geese.

Once I saw them, though, I stopped the car to watch.  

The trees leaned perfectly over the mill pond surrounded by pale green shrubbery that could have been painted by Monet, had there been an arched walkway nearby.

Happy to have turned my head across the road, I watched, Thankful for Geese.

Many Drips a River Make

Yesterday was pi day.  That is because March 14 is represented by 3.14.  I guess that is pi.  I Don't know numerals.  They don't stick in my head. I do know pie. Pie are round. Pie sticks on my hips. Like I said, I don't do numerals very well.  That is different from numbers.  I have a concept of numbers.  Right now, the woods are full of many numbers off frogs.  The cry of peepers fill the dark with high-pitched "peeps"  as the fog sinks in to coat the woods with a creamy thick darkness.  I go to the compost pile at midnight and hear a "drip, drip, drip." from branches and briars.  The fog is so thick that I can't tell if the drips come from rain or fog. 

Yestertay it rained for much of the day.  Jeff and I took a walk out to the "coyote" dens.  He thinks they are probably too small for coyote.  I think coyotes squish up to get inside. I'll keep checking and see what I can figure out.  I checked the fruit trees and they are budding.  The trees won't mind the rain.  In fact they cling to every drop as it softly falls.

All this rain is adding to the snow melt from the mountains and filling up the river.  The Ohio is slowly rising and has already started flooding the low lands. This road leads across a soybean field to  a small campground along the river.  The signs say to keep out.  Okay.

I am glad to live up on my hill.  We get muddy up here, but we don't have to swim.

The Canada Geese didn't seem to mind the water.  they ignored the "Keep Out" signs, floating among the weeds thoroughly enjoying themselves.

I zoomed in on this group who were going almost too fast for me to keep my camera on them.  They geese are surrounded with last fall's corn stalks.  As the river comes up, it does a bit of house cleaning it trades field debris for river debris; large limbs and tree trunks.

Reports tell us that the water will continue to rise for a few days more.  The businesses of Marietta will closely watch the whelming Ohio as it creeps closer and closer to their doors.  I hope the swell stops before it comes indoors. Our buildings become puny when compared to the power of nature.