Up the Creek

After completing a variety of house projects Tucker and I slipped away for a trek around the upper reaches of Red Creek.

Upper Red Creek

Tucker

Tucker on Watch

Tucker on Hunt

Monarch

Elderberries

Bottle Gentian

Cotton Grass

Harbinger of Fall

Bugs and Weeds

A collection of butterflies and such that inhabit the milkweed and thistle plants along our road.

Monarch Caterpillar

Monarch Chrysalis

Monarch Butterfly

Wood Nymph

Fritillary on Teasel

Milkweed Bug

Honey Bees

Fritillary and Bee on Milkweed Blossom

Black Swallowtail

Weary and Worn Fritillary on Thistle Blossom

After the Storm

The sun broke out following late afternoon storm. I ran out to grab an image of the sun reflecting off a stand of trees.

After I took the picture I turned and saw the mist rising out of the valley below.

All Decked Out

Apologies for the boring nature of this post, but an aspect of this blog was to document how some of my time has been spent this year in Canaan - and this was definitely a time commitment.

There is about 1,500 sq. ft. of deck surface surrounding our home. Every 3 to 5 years for the past 15 years I have cleaned and treated it. In the past, given my limited amount of free time, I accomplished this by pressure washing the surface and applying a waterproofing agent with a sprayer. This approach could be accomplished in less than 2 days....given acceptable weather.

This year we undertook a different approach. Rather than pressure washing - which does damage the surface - we used a mild oxygenated wood cleaner (Defy) which did a fine job. For stubborn areas a more aggressive deck cleaner followed by a brightener worked well. The cleaning process took about 10 hours. To treat the deck we chose a relatively new product from Olympic which is an oil/acrylic mix suspended in water. We had it tinted a light grey and applied it with a brush.

I had my concerns using a water-based product, but the clean up was easy. Application by brush was laborious. The railing required 3 gallons of material and took two of us a total of about 10 hours to apply. Another 5 gallons was required to coat the deck surface and consumed another 12 hours. Here's a before-and-after shot. Actually an after-and-before shot, but you get the idea.

The material dried well and gives a nice look. Of course the real test will be how well it stands up. The manufacturer claims 5 years on horizontal surfaces and 7 on vertical. Here are a few shots of the finished project.

Water beads nicely on the surface creating some interesting photography opportunities.

Heat Wave...sort of

I know this borders on being evil, but I can't resist.

The southern states and east coast have been suffering under a series of oppressive heat waves. Temperatures today in New York, Philly, D.C. and points south were headed towards triple digits. Up here in the mountains we've been feeling the heat as well with temperatures reaching well into the 80's. What to do?!!!

A couple of days ago Deb, Tucker and I invited another family to join us on a hike along Otter Creek. As we trudged along the trail under a canopy of oaks, maples and birches listening to

the creek running alongside the trail we found ourselves drawn to the stream on several occasions to simply sit on a cool rock or take off our shoes and splash around in a small pool.

That evening another friend called and asked if I'd like to go for an bike ride in the morning. So, I dragged myself out of bed early enough to join him on a morning ride through the Wildlife Refuge in the north end of the Valley. We endured the humid morning air, occasional stream crossing, and open areas where we had to battle the soft morning breezes. More than one occasion we were forced to lay our bikes down in the damp dew and pick handfuls of plumb sweet blueberries in and effort to lift our spirits.

If you look back to my Feb. 14 post you'll find a similar view across the Refuge under somewhat different weather conditions.

Yet another friend called me this past evening looking for a means to escape this terrible weather we've been having; so this morning he, Tucker, and I headed up the Red Creek Trail in the Dolly Sods Wilderness to find some relief. More hiking and cool stream pools to endure.

I sure hope this weather breaks soon. I'm not sure how much more of this I can stand!

Blueberries

Our recent spell of hot and dry weather has negatively impacted this year's blueberry crop. Where we typically find bushes dripping with berries, this year the picking is noticeably sparser.

No matter... It just allows more time for gazing at the scenery and enjoying the sunshine.

35th Wedding Anniversary

It is hard for me to grasp the fact that we have been married thirty-five years. It truly seems like - well maybe not yesterday - but certainly not like we're in our 4th decade together! Living in Canaan this past year has allowed us more time together on a daily basis than probably any other period in our marriage - and it is proving to be a fabulous experience.

Admittedly there are certain shortcomings to living in a remote rural area. For example, the local stores do not have the broadest selection of cards and due to poor planning on my part (Be nice, I've only had 35 years of practice) I ended up purchasing an anniversary card at the local Dollar General. What a deal! I got the card and an ice cream bar for the grand total of $2.08.

According to an Internet reference, the traditional 35th wedding anniversary gift used to be coral. Of course, in this day and age giving gifts made of out of coral is considered inappropriate because of the damage it promotes to precious coral reefs; however in honor of that tradition we did the next best thing - we went for a riverside picnic.

The weather was hot (almost 90 degrees!) and dry, but the Dry Fork still had a nice flow. We chose the spot where the cold waters of Otter Creek blend with the Fork allowing for wading between cool and warm zones (kind of like most suburban pools - but without the kids). Just upstream from this location the stream flows through a sandstone cobble bar before flowing over a ledge of Mississippian Greenbrier limestone which was deposited some 350 million years ago (kind makes the 35th anniversary pale by comparison, eh?). The following images capture a few moments from our visit (clicking an image should expand it).

Downstream view showing suspension walking bridge.

Greenbrier Limestone. Potholes are formed by pebbles being swirled around in the river currents.

Tucker explores the unique geometric limestone patterns on river bottom.

r

Rusty the Wonder Dog.

Debbie. She wears her 35 years of marriage well, no?

Follow the link for a bit of river magic. The Dry Fork