Trailhead at Donker Farm now marked!

You can find the trailhead at Donker Farm now, as the sign is up!

Snowy Sunday

I suspect we won't be in sitting these again for awhile.

Cooks Pond Madness!!

4.5 hrs.
10 Volunteers
42 Bags of brush
Including Bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, Norway maple, and Black locust, among other invasives.

Thanks to the Tatnuck/Cooks Island Cub, GWLT Volunteers, for an EPIC cleanup, IN A SNOWSTORM no less!

We started with a few flakes on the ground and ended with a full snowman out on the ice! It snowed A Lot! The whole time!

Fall brook

Here's the Cascades Brook this morning, running at about two inches. As you can see, the swamp maples have turned and are losing their leaves now. On an overcast morning like this one, they glow.

At nine am, it is fifty degrees and steady under overcast skies. The barometer is at 29.41 inches of mercury and steady. The fire danger is back down to LOW. 

Falling leaves

Fall is really here!

The rain has cleared out, 'though we still are seeing some cloudy skies here. The barometer is at 28.97 and steady.

We've got a brisk wind right now--the latest gust was up to 16 mph. The fire danger for this morning is NONE, but we're watching it closely, as that wind is going to dry things right out. We'll probably be back up to LOW by this afternoon.

At 9 am the temperature is 55 degrees and rising, 'though slowly.

The brook is running, as are the Cascades! 

Mailbox being reclaimed by the forest

We have an enthusiastic grapevine trying to take over the mailbox.

I also realized today that we have chipmunks living under the front steps. Periodically, one stops on the porch and squeaks at us.

We made it!

We are finally back down to a more normal "LOW" fire danger level today!
At nine am, it is 44.2 degrees and steady.
61% humidity and steady.
The barometer is 28.67 and steady under overcast skies.
Light wind of 3 mph
There is a high pollen alert issued for today (though I suspect that will not be news to some of you!).

No, really: VERY HIGH

When we say the fire danger is VERY HIGH, it does mean even at the location below.
No burning in the woods, please.
Yeah, I'm sure you thought you put it out. Any of those embers given a breeze, or one of the burned sticks you left on the pine needles, could have gone up. Fifteen gallons of water later, it's out now.

And with thanks to the Rileys for reporting it.Please do if you see something similar!

Hike through the Cascades

A few photos from a walk back from West Tatnuck School yesterday...

This first is actually in Cascades West. There's a little corner of Cascades West that you cross when you go from Worcester Public Schools property (which much of that red maple swamp down the hill is) to Cascades Park.

Here's that stream you cross on rocks:


Here's the top of the Cascades

And the shot you're more used to, from Cataract Street.

Cascades West sign

Colin, Tyler, and William braved the cold and got the new sign up. Look for it at the property bound with Boyton Park on Silver Spring Road!

Hard rock

What happens when you get two feet of water in a stream channel?
It can be tough on the stream gauge. This rock is probably 8 inches across, and there was enough water running down the channel that it got smashed into the gauge and bent it out of shape.

Our stream measurements may be a little off for awhile!
This morning, while everything is a bit muddy, most of the water is back in its normal channels.
It is 98% humidity under the trees.
It's 64.9 degrees and rising.
The barometer is 20.09 and steady.
We've gotten no rain since midnight; yesterday's total was an impressive 3.11 inches!
Dry off!

Stream photos

A few photos from 8:30 am.
Here (with rain falling in front of the lens)  are the Cascades. If you've been there, especially during flooding, you know it's basically impossible to get a photo that represents how impressive they are. They're in full spate now.












And this is the source of the flooding. This culvert goes under Cataract Street. As you can see, at 8:30am, it was full. By 9, it had overflowed the basin, run across Cataract, and down the hill. By 10, the Lodge driveway was gone.

Another sign complete

The outside frame for another sign was completed today!

This one will be going up on Olean Street on the Cascading Waters property.

Repair underway! UPDATED with photos

And if you're local and have any construction-mad little people in your house, come hang out on the lower end of the Cascades trail this morning. We have a dump truck (and loads of gravel are NOISY!) and a backhoe working here.

 As of 4 pm, they were gone for the day, but they'll be back tomorrow to smooth things out a bit more.

From 8 am this morning

Noon update!

We've just shoveled out the end of the driveway. It seems the city is doing its utmost to be sure the road to the water plant is open; it's very busy on Olean Street with plows. As you can see from the sign (above), the road has been cleared a great deal overnight and this morning.

There's about a foot out there now, more in the drifts. We've also had the wind pick up a bit.
At noon, it is 26.2 degrees and rising.
77% humidity and falling
28.61 inches of mercury and falling
Snowing steadily.

Visitors

Nothing like a squirrel landing on the windowsill to give you brief heart failure.

Outing club reporting in

Turns out one of the bloggers over on Clark Diaries went on the Outing Club trip to Cascades. Excellent!

Woodland Asters in bloom

Prior to the rain, we were a bit concerned about the woodland asters all over the property. They were drooping badly.
Well, the rain of the last week was plenty, and by a few days in, they'd not only perked up, they were blooming.

Fox on Goddard Memorial Drive

This was an honest-to-goodness Jeff Barnard Wormtown Fleet moment. Heading up and over Airport Hill from Main Street to Tatnuck Square, what do I see on the side of the road but this guy? A young fox, just standing there, staring into the weeds by the side of the road! A closer look (after I took this, I pulled around the median again to to get a closer look, but he ran off before I got a closer photo) revealed that his eyes were all squinted up, as if he wasn't well somehow. I don't think he was rabid--he was together enough to run from the car--but he was a bit dazed.
Anyway, Jeff, you may have forgotten your camera today, but I didn't!