"Nemo" Blizzard of February 8, 9, 2013

 "Nemo" Blizzard of  February 8, 9, 2013...

    I thought I'll share my adventure that millions of other people also had. Nemo The Historic February Blizzard.  The storm started on Friday and went well into late Saturday afternoon at least here in  Southeastern Massachusetts.  We went for a nice hike Friday, in the morning before the storm hit. As it started to snow, I spent most of the day (every hour or so) keeping the doorway out to the pen cleared for the boys and also a small area of their pen. At one point (evening) I went out and was surprised to see about 5" had fallen and or wind blown. By this time, I was overtaken. I gave up trying to say on-top of my snow-removal idea.  I prayed all night not to lose power for myself and millions of others. The temperatures were in the low teens and the high's in the low 20's.
    I slept maybe an hour and Hikah woke me to go out. My first thought was... I still have power!  As we approached the door I noticed we had a problem, I was barely able to open the door, Hikah  "bless his heart" plowed right through the snow and very windy conditions to go do his business, what a trooper! At this time 10pm, I decided to go back to bed. I woke up at 3 am and first thing I noticed was that I had power!!! I was so happy and thought to myself...your not in the clear yet! I was just so grateful!!! I had hoped that others fared as well.
    Just before daylight I decided to get started on clean-up. I decided that I would have to do this in small segments, there was a lot of snow!  I started with the door leading out to the boys pen. I  barely squeeze through it, I was so happy I was able to get out. Once the boys area was taking care of I took a break. Then came the front door and steps leading up to the drive way. Early afternoon I started snow-blowing the driveway and was able to get out if needed by 2 pm, although vehicles by the state were ban from using the roads until 4 pm. We never lost power and I was truly grateful. 

 Enjoy the Pictures!

                       

The Hike before the storm

Gaige waiting out the storm

As it began to snow, 11 am Fri

The door out to the pen, Sat am

Front of the house, Sat am

Pathway on the deck, Sat am

Backside of deck, Sat am

Out the front window, Sat am

Out the front door, Sat am

Stairway cleaned-up, Sat late am, still snowing!

Boys waiting for clean-up to be done

Boys playing while waiting

Nemo, two lows join

Finally

Finally...

 On February 7, 2013 I found my first  Hawk nest while out hiking. It was near a swamp which we had been exploring. As I noticed a huge blob in a tree, I thought it was to big for a squirrels nest. As I got closer and by my surprise, the Hawk leaped out onto a near by branch checking me out. As it took flight I tried to id it through my binoculars and the forest trees. I made out a tinge of red on the side of the tail feathers. It was a Red-tailed hawk. 

Nest from a far, blob in center of pic.

Nest from under tree.

Nest at a zoom.

Hiking on and around frozen water

Hiking on and around frozen water...

Today we ventured off to find a pond and to check for bird nests and whatever else we came upon. As we're getting closer to the  pond, we noticed a trail that headed off to the east, so of course we had to check it out! It led us to an old camping ground with a few buildings and fire pits.

We checked the buildings out for any life (like I had any other choice with these-two being search dogs). They were cleared by both dogs and we carried on... back on task, to the pond.

The pond

Gaige at the pond

As we walked around the pond on the ice, please keep in mind I take into consideration a few safety checks before going out onto the ice. 

1. How cold the temperatures have been over the past couple weeks. 

2. Has there been any ice-fishing recently. 

3. Knowing where the water inlets and outlets are to the pond.

I also don't venture off to far from the banking. Hikah joins me on the ice however, Gaige doesn't take to lightly of it, especially when it starts to make cracking and popping noises (ice does this when it contracts and expands during temperature changes).

Hikah with me, Gaige on banking.

Water inlet to pond, unsafe here.

    

     

After making our way around the pond without much to report other than the pond having two inlets about 200 feet away from each other, we started to head back.

Water inlet to the pond.

On our way back, Gaige found and item which I allowed him to carry back and nibble on. It was a fresh deer leg. He was in his glory!

Gaige's find!

Gaige enjoying his find.

CAUTION: Safety first when it comes to walking on frozen water. If your unsure, stay off the ice!

Always something different

Always something different...

Today on our adventure we decided to check out a trail and investigate a swamp on the other side of a hill. Now is the perfect time to stroll around swamps. With temperatures in the teens and below zero at night for the past week or so, swamps are for the most part safe to hike around and most importantly, the ticks are dormant! You should know a little more about hiking around swamps, so just don't go out and hike around one because it been cold enough.
Although we couldn't follow the trail all the way around, we managed to bushwhack up and over the hill.


 Can you spot Gaige at the bottom of the Hill?

 

                  

Looking up the hill after hiking down.

As we continued we found a trail that led us up the outlet from the swamp, so we followed it. As we approached the swamp the first thing I notice is that there were no Great Blue Heron nests, or at least I thought!

I decided to walk around the swamp and look for animal sightings. As we approached a safe place to enter I noticed Gaige was air-scenting in a around a small embankment. I let him work it out and it led his nose up into the trees. That's when I noticed two fish skeletons hanging high in a tree.

We continued on and made our way around the swamp. On the other side, close to the edge and high up in a dead tree was yes! a Great Blue Heron's nest. It was a small one but just the same, there was one here.  Once we made our loop we ended up at a long beaver dam, this is where Hikah laid down some nice track for me to get a picture of.  

From here we headed back to the car. Hikah was at his limits so we found the trail and kept moving or at least I thought. Well you see Gaige... yes Gaige, he started air-scenting again so I asked him to work it out and once again it led his nose up into the trees. This is when I spotted animal legs (deer).   Someone threw out these parts along the side of the road after cleaning up their deer. This got me thinking back when I did roadside searches with Hikah looking for clues on searches. You just never know what's been thrown out on a roadside and what can get caught up in the trees.

Thinking today was going to be a non-eventful day, we left it all up to the trees and Gaige! Always something different...

Finding Our Way

Finding Our Way... 

It all started this morning with a forecast of sunny, 10 degrees with a wind chill below zero. I decided we were going to find an unnamed pond that I wanted to explore. We would be going off trail and doing some bushwhacking in-order to get there. On our way, we came across a couple of obstacles. One obstacle, which from a distance looked like a fuselage hanging in a tree, turned out to be a huge piece of material from an industrial building, part of the fall-out from a 2010 tornado in the area.  

 

After investigating the area, we moved on to find our unnamed pond (which I named Hikah-Gaige Pond). Once arriving at the pond, the wind was so constant and making it feel like 20 degrees below zero. I took a few pictures and quickly ducked back down the hillside and out of the wind, burr!

 

We then proceeded to transverse the hillside and eventually came across a trail. Upon exploring this trail we came across a RTH (Red-tailed Hawk) screeching at us. It then flew off and I was able to ID the bird. It landed once again and gave off another loud screech. It then flew off out of sight. I have never heard a RTH screeching live, that was pretty neat. I decided we needed to head back so we followed the tail back down the hillside to Dean Pond. While doing this, I though I heard a couple grunts and sticks breaking behind me so I picked up the pace.The dogs were also air-scenting  into the area. One day I would like to go back and check that out (signs of track). 

We crossed over the pond and returned safely.

 

Map of the area with my track in red.