Piperbarb's 2013 Project 365

[piperbarb]

8-17-13:

Okay, enough of birds at the feeder for a day or so. Here are two quick shots I took today. The first one is Jenny, our Lab. She lives with four cats, one of which constantly terrorizes her. When I took this photo, Jenny knew Creature (the 6 pound, long-haired snotty cat) was walking behind her. Poor Jenny, she never knows when Creature is going to spring an attack.

I Don't Have a Good Feeling About This



I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to take this photo this afternoon. I think I wasn't but I did have fun.

Green-on-Green

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I like the picture of Jenny. I also know how she feels. All cats are evil.

 

[piperbarb]

I like the picture of Jenny. I also know how she feels. All cats are evil.

Jenny would agree with you, especially because of Creature. That little cat is evil demon kitty spawn, but she is so cute, she gets away with it.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Jenny would agree with you, especially because of Creature. That little cat is evil demon kitty spawn, but she is so cute, she gets away with it.

Cats are actually pretty good if you marinate them first.

 

[piperbarb]

Cats are actually pretty good if you marinate them first.

HaHa! My husband has said the same thing, especially after some of his belongings have been the subject of cat entropy.

 

[piperbarb]

8-18-13:

Nothing too exciting but I did get a couple of basic bird photos.

I think doves are greatly ignored. They may not be colorful birds, but they can be funny. I saw one chase away a whole group of young blue jays. Anyway, this guy was just checking out its surroundings.

Surveying the Scenery



This young sparrow kept watching me, so I decided to take it's picture.

Watching the Watcher

 

[piperbarb]

8-19-13:

Today's photo is in response to Don's comment the other day about looking at things differently, so, here goes....

In the Round

 

[piperbarb]

8-20-13:

Nearby is a creek, Choconut Creek, that overflows its bank frequently. After the flood of 2008, the town widened the creek from the NY-PA state line all the way to the Susquehanna River. A distance of about 10 miles. More recently,we had two 100-year floods that made the one in 2008 look benign. The town highway department has been working on widening and deepening the creek bed, starting at the Susquehanna River end. There are a lot of small runoffs and smaller creeks that flow into Choconut Creek. Those cause a lot more water to end up in the creek than one would normally expect.

The highway department has finally reached the outer reaches of the town and started working on the creek closer to where I live. Fortunately, I am not anywhere close enough to get flooded by the creek. Below are some photos I took today of the work they are doing. They just started working on it last week.

You will notice some large stone in the middle of the creek bed. They used those stones to rebuild the bank after the 2008 flood. So far, they have re-channelled to one small portion of the creek bed, and are using a pump to keep water from flowing to where they are working. The last photo shows how they have created the temporary channel for the water. Hopefully, we don't get any torrential rain before they are finished.

 

[piperbarb]

8-21-13:

Not too much exciting, but this is a scarf I finished the other night.

 

[Marilynne]

8-21-13:

Not too much exciting, but this is a scarf I finished the other night.

View attachment 48877

Take a shot without the scarf. That looks like a nice piece of furniture. Is that a chair?

 

[piperbarb]

Take a shot without the scarf. That looks like a nice piece of furniture. Is that a chair?

Marilynne,

Thanks. No, it's a church pew. My grandfather got it back in the 1950s. If I remember correctly, it's late 17th Century or early 18th Century. Yes, that old. I love it as a background for taking photos of my finished knitting projects. For some reason, when I photograph things, the colors remain true. No shifting red or blue, which does happen when I photograph outside at times.

 

[piperbarb]

8-22-13:

Today is a hodge podge of summer flora in and around the woods.

With all the rain we have had all summer long, the local fungi have been having a field day. This shelf fungus grew considerably compared to how small it was at the beginning of the summer. It was all around the tree trunk like a spiral staircase.

Fungal Field Day


I saw this very dead, very well rotted tree trunk. It was the texture intrigued me. Not only did it have termite holes, it was covered in white fungus that looked like snow from a distance.

Tree Rot



Finally, something still living. These are white baneberries. Very pretty but I bet they are not very tasty. Somehow, I don't think they are edible.

Berries, Berries Everywhere But Ne'er a Fruit to Eat

 

[Marilynne]

8-22-13:


Finally, something still living. These are white baneberries. Very pretty but I bet they are not very tasty. Somehow, I don't think they are edible.

Berries, Berries Everywhere But Ne'er a Fruit to Eat
View attachment 49043

You're right - leaves and berries poisonous to humans.
Actaea pachypoda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[piperbarb]

You're right - leaves and berries poisonous to humans.
Actaea pachypoda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marilynne,

Thanks. Somehow, I figured they were. I'm not one to just willy-nilly eat stuff that's growing without checking.

 

[Carolina Photo Guy]

Marilynne,

Thanks. Somehow, I figured they were. I'm not one to just willy-nilly eat stuff that's growing without checking.

That's usually a self-correcting problem! :stupid:

​

 

[piperbarb]

That's usually a self-correcting problem! :stupid:

​

Yup, and one I am not willing to have to solve.

 

[piperbarb]

8-23-13:

Took a walk this afternoon to see how things were going with making the creek more floodproof. I ended up talking with one of the engineers overseeing the job. It seems they have to shore up the bridge supports because they are eroding. It's nice to know that a bridge I cross at least 10 times a week is considered one of New York State's unsafe, ready to fall bridges. Instead of replacing the bridge, the State suggested they use double layers of huge rocks, 8-10 tons each, around the bridge supports, then shore up the sides of the creek with more big, flat rocks. Anyway, according to the engineer, that's what the State wanted. They should be done by the end of next week.

Here are today's photos of bridge fixing and creek correction.

They pump the water away from the bridge supports and into a series of lagoons which are used to settle out the silt and stuff so it doesn't go downstream.




Here's a photo of the diesel pump that does all the work.




I guess they need to get the big backhoe into the creek and made a temporary drive to get it to the opposite side (that side is way too steep for the backhoe to go down so it has to go across the creek bed). The water still needs to flow, so they put a big piece of pipe under the stone and dirt temporary driveway.




This view of the creek, upstream (but south, weird, I know), shows how they plan to place the 2+ ton stones to line the banks of the creek. These were put in after the flood of 2006. They have survived 2 more 100-yr floods since then. So much for the concept of the 100-hr flood.



Another view of the lagoons and creek downstream of the bridge.




On the way home I saw these and just had to get a photo.

 

[piperbarb]

8-24-13:

Ant hills! Yes, even in upstate New York we get pretty big ant hills. They don't occur all over, but there are a few places around here that can get some rather substantial-sized ant hills. No matter what people do to eradicate them, they come right back in the same area. Typically, the more established ant hill colonies are at least 18" high. Here are some that I photographed today. These particular ant hills were nonexistent at the beginning of the summer.

I never noticed these two colonies before. They seem to be relatively new. You can get an idea about how big they are by the vegetation around them.

They come in Pairs


These three ant hills are new this year. The ants in these colonies moved from the three colonies that are about 500 feet down the road.

Suburban Sprawl


Check out the many entrances/exits these hill have. I was rather surprised to see that many.

More Than One Way Out

 

[Rick M]

Wow, those are huge ant hills!

 

[piperbarb]

8-24-13:

After getting the ant hill photos, which I had planned on, I came across members of the local vulture squadron. I really think these guys are getting tired of seeing me, that's for sure. They were chowing down on a very dead deer in a field near the side of the road. I will spare you the sight of the deer. It was pretty gross and smelly.

Hey Guys, She's Back!


Ready...


Set...


Go!



This next photo shows, that with practice, panning the flight of very large birds actually works!

Up, Up, and Away