June normally is such a beautiful month that brings pretty sunrises and sunsets, the mating of animals and display of their young that follow, blooming Lupines, and calm warm days. This was not the case for 21 of the 30 days of June; those 21 days consisted of rain, cold cloudy days and thunderstorms. The 9 days that we experienced Summer were great though; and those are the days I will focus on.
On the 2nd; after work Robin and I headed down to the nearby stream to take part in its calming beauty. On our way, Robin noticed a rabbit eating grass in the ditch, I promptly said, "Pull over!" We parked on the opposite side of the road and watched the Snowshoe Rabbit eat the grass and clover all the while it twitched its nose and flapped its ears in the warm breeze as the sun shown through its skin ignoring our shutters, clicking frame after frame. After a few minutes, another rabbit hopped out into the road and ran past us only to stop in another area that instead of eating grass it ate Dandelions. A few minutes later we put in and leisurely kayaked down the bends of the stream taking in the warm sun and the sounds of life that the setting sun always awakens. I can't help but look at even the most simple life and photograph its beauty. I noticed that the sun licked Dune grass resembled a field of Wheat. Later on we came across people fishing in their kayaks, one lady had two fish strung up on the side of her Old Town Otter when suddenly a Loon popped up in front of me and beside her, and tempted to grab one of the fish. I believe this is the same Lone Loon that Robin and I saw last month. One of the fisherman said that a Beaver had slapped its tail against the water nearby so we set out to find it, however the hunt was unsuccessful, but we did get to explore a portion of the stream we normally don't traverse. On our way back to the car, I looked back at Robin photographing something- I couldn't help but take a photo of her as she looked cute.
We decided to head up to Dad's camp on Roach Pond in Kokadjo after Church on the 7th. The weather was nice off and on; when we first arrived the skies were blue and the sun was out as you can see here at 1st branch. We decided to put in at 2nd branch; the weather started out fairly decent, however as we started to progress across the pond the wind picked up with a strong steady gust on our backs. We explored a small stream and ate our snack in hopes that during that time the wind would die down, but to our dissatisfaction it did not. We fought hard to paddle against the wind and splashing waves for about 25 minutes until we reached the shoreline- at that point the wind died down. We did spot our Siggs in the wild. On our drive back through the campground Robin spotted a Partridge. We sat in the car watching the bird kick up dirt; I believe it may have been building a nest.
Second half of the entry:
Half way through the month we visited Field's Pond Audubon; walked through its trails in hopes of spotting young wildlife, however we did not spot anything but plants and flowers. We chatted with one of the volunteers about Turtles for awhile and on our way we spotted a very vocal Yellow-bellied Sap Sucker. I decided to take advantage of the weather and visit the wild Phlox growing near Sedgeunkedunk Stream on a hill. The flowers were lit up by the sun, their whites, and two shades of purple were enhanced by the rays all the while the breeze drifted their sweet aroma around us. While walking around the foot of the hill I happened to look up and see a Woodchuck curiously peeking out of a hole at me. I continued to watch in hopes of spotting more chucks when I noticed to the left out of the corner of my eye that what appeared to be the mother rummaging in the Phlox; I thought to myself what an excellent photo it would be if I could just capture a Wood chuck in the flowers and what do you know, God said, "Here you go" and I was able to capture such a sight.
Later on that evening we kayaked Segeunkedunk Stream; I came across a Painted Turtle sunbathing on a boulder. Later on in the evening we spotted Sparrows hoping from Spatterdock's lilly pads to pads eat the flies that were eating the Spatterdock's fruit within the yellow flower. We paddled back in near darkness as I wanted to stay out on the water as late as possible, leaned back in my seat, legs stretched looking up at the cooling of the sunset as the sun sank below the horizon.
Three days later the sun appeared again and we decided to kayak the other side of Segeunkedunk Stream. This side flows from Field's Pond and is much more thick with Dune Grass. We explored little areas here and there and once again I found myself photographing plant life, bugs and Robin. After awhile we decided to head back and call it a day as there was not much excitement. Even though the paddle didn't reveal wildlife I still enjoyed spending time with Robin and watching the underwater community of fish, Waterweeds, Curly-leaf pondweed, Hornworts, Water mill-foil, Water star worts, Mare's tail, Clasping-leaf pondweed, Bladderworts, etc.
The last week of the month had two great days of sunshine. An evening after work Robin and I headed to Pushaw Lake, many people were out swimming at Gould's Landing. We put in on the other side of the peninsula and explored the marshy shorelines. Robin spotted a large female Painted Turtle basking on a log, a sight I have been wanting to capture for awhile now. Later on we came across the largest Beaver house I have ever seen in person, it must have stood 8 feet above the water and 35 feet in circumference. We continued on making our way through twists and turns, lilly pads and other plant life when Robin was slightly splashed by a beaver eating some form of cattail like plant. I spotted a female Canadian Goose with her chicks swimming along, teaching them how to dive and avoid danger (presumably creatures like myself). As the sun made its decent we kayaked towards an island in the middle of the lake to watch the setting sun. During that time a platoon boat sailed past us, a man on a cell phone stood outside of what appeared to be a camper on the platoon boat- I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to have this boat and to be able grill while sailing across the water."
On the 30th, the weather was very inclement during the day, however when we got home from work, the sun was out and gleaming across Brewer Lake outside of our apartment. I asked Robin if she'd like to kayak out to the island; she said yes. On our way out we came across several Loons, boaters, jet skis and any other type of camp- like activities. Our first Loon sighting of the evening met Robin with disappointment as her camera batteries went flat- I felt her pain as a similar situation has happened to me in the past. We continued on when we spotted a few more pairs of Loons. We reached the island, paddled around it, talked about swinging on the rope swing but decided against it due to the shallow water. As we made our way around the island, Robin spotted a Loon that popped up in front of me, I slowly turned to it in surprise that it was so close to me. It swam near a shallow area with boulders and nice lighting, it fished for a few minutes and continued on its way. We stayed in the area in hopes more would come back, while waiting we watched a man on the island photographing it, presumably the owner as it is for sale ($99,000). I looked over at Robin and another Loon popped up within 3-4 feet of her kayak; it swam around, just as curious as Robin. At the same time another one popped up beside me and swam towards the island, an area where the lighting could not have been any better. All I could say to myself was, "Thank-you Lord" over and over as opportunity after opportunity appeared.
