Stid Hill North

This is the creek at Stid Hill North. I haven't posted much lately because our walks have been truncated due to extreme cold. Our walks have been about 200 ft then Grenville lifts his paw and points back to the car. In the past it was not a problem - only a day or 2. This year we have had many days in the single digits where the problem occurs. With short walks there are few photo ops. Ground hogs day is tuesday and we will find out if we have just 6 more weeks of winter or merely 6 more weeks of winter.

Ice and Water

Lots of water and ice on the stream flowing down Stid Hill after the warm weather lately. Just fun stuff especially when you have the tripod down low and Grenville comes over and gives you a big lick with his oversized tong just as you were about to take a picture. He is such a big help.

A local creek

We were going for a walk on a path which I discovered a couple days back. We didn't get very far before we came to this bridge. As you can see it is more of a dam. Exploring this path will have to wait.

We went to another trail that parallels the same creek so we didn't have cross it.

A rainy day in January

It has been above freezing for several days so we have lost all the snow and it has been raining all night. The water has ended up in Ganagaro creek which is flowing at just below flood stage.

Boyd and Parker Park

This tree has been dated to the Revolutionary times and as you can see is quite large in diameter. Even Steve and Deena together can not reach around it despite Grenville's urging.
The whole tree.

The countrry fox

Found this guy as he was just approaching a yard.
He turned an ran after I stopped to get his portrait. This is a country cousin to the fox I have shot earlier. He has a better diet and therefore does not show any signs of mange etc.

I am trying to get these pictures down to a size that will fit on the average screen when you click to enlarge, and these are more trials.

Pic size test

120 dpi

72 dpi

Bristol Mtn Ski Resort

Bristol Mtn. has been going strong since Thanksgiving on artificial snow. We have some natural snow but not enough to keep us from going to the top of Stid Hill.

A lite snow

We had a light snow last night which created a really great scene on the trail.
I have tried to use my Mac for this blog and hope it will work since using transferring the images to my laptop and publishing from there is a royal pain.

Hiking

Today we went to Stid Hill South looking for this type of picture but it turns out things have not thawed as much on the hill as I would have thought.

We went GeoCacheing along the Ontario Trailways trails on Sunday. This is 1 of the things left for exchange (take one, leave one). It is great fun!

Birds on a Sunny Winter day

It is a bright sunny and warm for January so the birds are out. The Red bellied Woodpecker.
A Blue bird
An American Goldfinch. This is really cool since I haven't seen much for most of the month

A great day for winter

This was the sunrise as I saw it. It may have been better but I missed it. If you are seeing bigger pix when you click on the image it is because I have been forced to use my laptop with the death of my mainframe and need to figure out where the changes needs to be made. Hopefully I can figure out how to use my totally new Apple Mac-mini for this, but a total re-think of the site may be needed. More to come.
I thought this was neat. The Liberty turned 55555 miles at the corner of county road 12 and SRT 64. It is one of those thing that should have some deep metaphysical meaning, but actually has not significance.

Fox and computer

This a pic of the inerds my former computer. After 7 yrs there is a small amount of dust and cobwebs. Since this guy ran 24/7 for 7 yrs I am really amazed. The future will be an Apple Mini which is somewhat foreign to me and will probably mean some disruption to my updates. I am currently using my laptop but it is only an interim solution.
This fox was on the golf course next to my community . I have taken his pic before a couple weeks ago and it is go to see he is looking active. He looks like he had a poodle cut leaving his back half almost bare. Despite his scroungy appearance he was moving well and hunting a mouse or something. Fun to watch, but traffic was starting to build up behind me.

A hawk in the swamp

It was a bright sunny morning in the swamp, but not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. Because it would have been dinner for this hawk. Actually this guy was feed on a deer carcase that some slob hunter had brought back and dumped in the parking lot. Grenville chased him away so he could nibble.

A bitter cold day in the park

I some how managed to trash my 6 year old main frame so I am putting my laptop into emergency duty. This is turning out to be fairly easy but when you have been using a machine for years even a different keyboard makes it a problem.

As you can see there is about 8" of snow on the ground and you can see Genville's reaction to this. He loves it and has been charging around.
It is so great at this time of year to not find people parking all over the place. Actually you can't drive back here any way without some one letting you in on a special permit. Just another funny sign.
I was on a well used path, but no one felt the need to sit.

This is a small contingent of the flock of Turkeys (or is that a murder, gaggle, or group ) which was out grazing this morning.

The geese have been grouping late in the afternoon. Notice the nice "V" formations. It is utter chaos, anarchy is rampant ... will the birds survive? We can only wait and see.

Pathways in winter

This the start of the Pathways headed back to Canandaigua, NY. It crosses the Flint Creek and continues south.
About 1/2 mile from the bridge is this cascade which is mostly frozen at this point. However, there is a lot of water running under that ice.

Signpost

This signpost is a bit hard to read today. We have had some snow over the last few days, but we had a light, fluffy snow last night. It stacks up nice but there is little there.

Snowman

I just had to smile at this snowman on the table.

Local Art Work

This is some of the art that is on an abandon building at the edge of the swamp and woods. Don't know what it represents, but I love the design and use of color.