Storm Destruction

Hours before finding these posts uprooted we saw what appeared to be a river of reeds, a few logs and some garbage floating by on the waves. We went for a walk and found this destruction not far from the Villa. The waves must have come crashing over that sea wall. On the right hand side of the picture is part of the wall which is made out of cement, beyond the wall and forty feet or so into the ocean are massive rocks placed in an attempt to keep the sea at bay (sea at bay...funny) The waves managed to take out a chunk of the golf course along with a few thousand pounds of sand and grass. The posts just tipped over without their sandy support.

Sunrise January 31st

Sunrise January 31st

January 31st Pre-Sunrise

The sun came over the edge without us being able to see it...

Water getting choppy as storm approaches

There is a storm coming across the states carrying ice, snow and rain... it is not supposed to make it down to Fripp... but we are certainly getting some side effects.

Clamming Day

Dad thinking about doing some "clamming"....

Hunting Island... One bird.

...Spanish Moss...

Hunting Island State Park SC

We went for a walk on a boardwalk that led to a tiny Island (as seen in the picture) another boardwalk leading out to a spot that in warmer weather must be alive with birds... with more marshes all around.

Fripp Island South Carolina January, 29th

Pre Sunrise, quiet waters.

Nests in waiting...

January 24th, 2010

The pond is open....Fifty degrees today!

January, 20th 2010

The past three days have been damp, cold and foggy and the pond remains frozen. But, the birds! The birds are on their migration back. I don't know where they go or where they are going from here. When it all sugars off we will have a nice selection of common little birds, a few woodpeckers, a rarely seen bluebird, lots of hawks, an owl (rarely heard-but sounds huge)morning doves, blackbirds, and cardinals.

Some of the migrating flocks have hundreds of members. The silver maples and high sycamore limbs are heavy with birds chatting loudly. Then an invisible signal, they rise up as one, swooping across the fields in great waves.

The apartment bird house on the pole in the back has had many visits from potential nesters in the last few days. One large cow bird came out of the small opening yesterday. It would be a big enough nest for her to "drop off" an egg as they commonly do.

I was checking out the birdhouse under the maple wondering if I should clean it out. I took my camera and pointed it right inside the opening to see if I could get a flash picture of the inside. Suddenly this small brown bird came flying straight out at me and off into the wilderness. Poor thing must have thought the sun had exploded.

"Old grapevine-still producing---Garden waiting"

Garden

Ancient Grapevine

A Taste of Vermont Winter...

That's Jessie, she is making her way through the twelve inches of snow before the next twenty inches of snow falls !!

...The "Before" shot of the Rock....

....if you look closely you can see the rock...somewhere in the middle there...

January Fog

It’s January 16Th, the day started in the mid thirties with a heavy fog rising from the cold land. I find it hard to focus on just “being” with how the land is now. I can’t help but dream about what is to come.
There is a big rock at the end of the pond… probably the only rock on the property that was not carried in… I want to clear around it and plant some kind of flowers there. It will be the only flowers out there that I know of.
There is very little bird song this morning. There was one single loud cry from a crow as he flew away from my approach.
Scott’s cat followed me out a short distance but so far is unwilling to move away from the edges of the pond. He waited until I circled back around, complained a bit and then ran ahead of me to the house.

Baki goes "Big"

Baki and his adopted siblings couldn't go out for two weeks while we travelled to Vermont. We had someone stopping in to check on them twice a day... but, Baki didn't get his usual exercise... and probably due to boredom he ate... and then he ate some more. Baki got huge !!

Friendly Possum

Miss. Possum came to visit below the bird feeder a few days ago. I thought we relocated her... over by Anderson Falls... a lovely little spot where many raccoons and possums find happy homes...

If you read about Possums you will find that they are "transitory" and don't bother relocating them as they will leave on their own in a day or so.

This does not seem to be so... unless... there are many possums in this country!