Wednesday before the 4th

I am posting a current photo of my little house so you can see how the plants have matured since last summer's photo. I have been building a low stone wall around the new flower bed on the corner of the house near the drive. I found that hefting the big stones is very hard on my back so I only do one load a day. We are going through a rainy patch now. It rains every day - the news said 8" in June. In May, we were in a rain deficit. That is the way of nature.

Yesterday, as I sat out on my porch eating lunch there appeared a large coyote trotting up along the hedgerow towards the road. He was obviously very nervous and was roused up from a noon-day slumber by the town bushhog mowing along the road and ditch. Seeing the coyote explains a lot about the tracks I saw in the snow and the bloody evidence that some creature had been killed for supper. I pray he doesn't get hit on the busy road. I see large domestic kitties all the time too. I have another very welcome and unusual visitor in the presence of a Kingfisher. I don't have a pond for fishing but I think the bird flies over to the huge marsh SE of my house and also flies to my neighbor's pond S of my house. But I am honored that one of my favorite birds has chosen to hang out on the light pole near my porch.

I spend a lot of time and energy creating this sanctuary for critters of all kinds and it is very rewarding when I see them here.

I just posted some photos of the giant dredging project taking place now in Ft. Edward on the Hudson River and adjacent canal. GE poisoned the river there for many years with their effluent discharges. It was all damned up and pretty much contained until the damn was ordered opened. Of course, all the toxins went on down the River. Now GE will pay to clean it up for the next ten years. It is a huge undertaking and is carefully monitored (we hope) to avoid poisoning the drinking water of people all down the River. They will dredge for 16 miles downstream. This clean-up site is the largest of its kind ever. I took the shots from the bridge and from the yacht basin.

I put this website on my Facebook so you should be able to access both.