Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 108

Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 108

We got much needed rain this week. Still not enough to bring us up to normal, but it sure helped the flowers and garden plants. Most flowers need some water during this dry period, as they wilt down during the hot days and recover overnight. This stresses these plants to do this every day, so watering does help if you have water enough to do it. Any shrubs and small trees you have just planted, they need some water also as their root system has to support more green leaves up above each day. Looking at some small trees they have put out new growth already that is more than a foot long off each branch. 

The fruit on some trees and shrubs are covered with berries, cherries and apples. Some were hit by the late frost and have spotty fruit. One that grows along the Moose River Area roads is Common Chokeberry and they are covered with fruit. This fruit ripens late in the year and many migrating birds feed on them. This fruit is fermented by this time, and you see several birds that fed on them drunk along the road. They seem to recover, but are very susceptible to predators when they are drunk. The blueberries are spotty, so some of them got frosted and you might have to hunt for a good patch with fruit.

I didn’t get to the Remsen Bog on Father’s Day, but Judy Thurber sent me some photos that she took on Friday, which shows the showy lady slippers doing ok this year. I should get there one day this week, as I pass by going to Utica. I checked out the bog in the Moose River Area where I found over ninety showy lady slippers a few years ago, but they weren’t even showing yet this week. I did see some white and green bog orchids and a few other plants that grow in that bog. These showies are usually a couple weeks later than the ones in the Remsen Bog.  

The heat here has been up in the eighties several days, which isn't normal for the Adirondacks, but it sure isn’t the temperatures over 100 in several western and central states across the country. Nebraska had temperatures over 110 with roads buckling under those temperatures. Forest Fires have started out west with over 20,000 acres already burned. Reservoirs are only half full of water, with many less than that, and we aren’t into July yet. 

If you travel up to Lowville on Route 12, you can watch the corn growing daily in the fields. The sun and rain have been just enough to bring this along. I finally got all my plants in the ground and gave them some water just before the inch of rain fell the other night, so they are good for a while. It looks like we will be getting some rain this week to keep things green and the lawns growing. These lawn mowing crews must be having a hard time keeping up. I know some have been mowing in the rain. My grandson Jake (The Yardist) included as he is doing something like 60 lawns plus landscaping in several places south of Rochester. 

Hurricane Claudette went right through some southern states from Alabama to North Carolina and exited into the Atlantic Ocean. Leaving behind 12 inches of rain in most places, causing flash flooding and power outages. Thirteen people were killed in the storm and, in a storm related vehicular accident, 8 children were killed in Alabama as two cars hydroplaned into each other on the highway. 

The Forest Rangers were doing rock rescue training up at the top of Rocky Mountain for two days this week. They never know today when it will be needed and many of the skills are used when getting injured people off mountain tops. They use hauling and rappelling systems to help carry people off Rondaxe Mountain nearly every summer. 

Along with the little fawns that are popping up all over town and out in the woods, the birds are fledging some of their young also. If you see some of these young animals and birds, just leave them where they are unless they are in the middle of the highway. Mother is not far away and she knows where she left her babies. Take a quick photo and leave them be. 

If you are taking your garbage to the transfer station, secure it in your vehicle or bed of your truck so it doesn’t blow out while traveling. I pick up something nearly everyday along the Limekiln Road that someone has lost out of their vehicle.

Everyone is here in the Adirondacks for a good time, but respect the highways, land and waters you are traveling on so others can enjoy them also, but that’s another story. See ya. 

Photo above: Showy ladyslippers by Judy Thurber

Painted turtles sun bathing