Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 193

Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 193

This week was a February thaw most of the time with rain and wet snow and then Friday night we did get two inches of nice snow to start the weekend and Old Forges Winter Carnival. About the only time I got outside was to feed the birds and get the mail as the ankle is still not up to par. The cold I had I passed on to Karen and so far, we have both survived it. Got tested for covid and strep throat, had neither, just a good old fashion cold. Alka seltzer, cough drops and many naps for the cure.

I did catch a few more Evening Grosbeaks a couple of mornings and am still feeding about fifty. I had a window hit this morning but got out and picked up the male bird. I warmed him up for a few hours before I banded him and released him. The White Throated Sparrow went into hiding for a couple days and I thought he might have perished, but he was back yesterday and today fending for seeds among the grosbeaks. When he gets one, he heads back under his brush pile to pick it apart, then comes back out to get another one, he may make it the whole winter. When I sent it in on E-bird they questioned when I had two, but have not questioned one. They have not questioned the numbers of Evening Grosbeaks, even when I had one hundred. Now I have banded well over two hundred and only one return a month ago. 

I keep getting pictures of some of the Christmas gifts in bloom, many amaryllis, and a few other plants. Karren’s amaryllis has put out its second bloom a real deep red with four blossoms. I brought in five from the garden bulbs from last year’s plants and they are showing lots of leaves and only one looks like it will have a flower. I let them rest in the cellar for five weeks before repotting them and some had super root systems. Last year I had two hold over bulbs that bloomed. Most of the new plants this year had super blooms, taller than any I had ever seen before. Most had double stems with four flowers on each stem. 

The crisis in Turkey and Syria is not getting any better with the death toll at over 33,000 now and growing daily. They will not be pulling many survivors out of the downed buildings now, as it’s been over a week. Some of the builders are now being held for bad construction. An earthquake is estimated to release a hundred times more energy than nuclear bombs, particularly the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.  

Last week, I didn’t mention the ice storm that had crippled Texas for almost a week, leaving thousands without power in freezing temperatures. It did warm up toward the end of the week, but the cleanup of all the downed trees was a major project, then rehanging all those power and phone lines. Maybe they will learn to put them underground after a while. My 950-foot underground line to the house from the road would have been out several times in the twenty-three years we have lived here from downed trees. 

The ice anglers are about the only ones who are having a fun wintertime experience. This coming weekend, Saturday and Sunday, the 18th and 19th, are free fishing days in New York State, with no license required. If you have never tried ice fishing, you might want to contact a buddy who has done it and he might have all the gear for your first try. You may like it, or then again, you might hate it. Weather could be the key factor as standing out in the middle of the lake without any protection could turn anyone off, especially if they are not catching any fish or even if they are. These new portable pop-up shanties are great, but they need to be anchored down or your cover could be on shore in no time if the wind blows. When we used to fish Saratoga Lake in winter, we had a well-built ice shanty which we had anchored in the ice on two corners. Most times there was no snow on the ice, so if a shanty broke loose, it would blow the entire length of the lake and when it hit the east shore there wasn’t much left. Our shanty was on the ice from Christmas vacation until the end of February. Now you are lucky if you can even get on the ice there until mid- January.

The Chili Bowl is coming up on Saturday, the 18th, from noon to 3pm at the View Arts Center in Old Forge. This is a major fund raiser View and I hope to see you there picking out some of the great bowls made just for this event. 

The following weekend, February 25, is Inlet’s Frozen Fire and Lights. For a complete schedule of events, check out Inlet’s Frozen Fire and Lights.com. Some of the favorites are the cardboard sled races, Kite flying, and new last year, the outhouse races. I’ll see you there!

I never did get in those dam beavers that were flooding the Matts Snowmobile Trail, but here they are all flat and happy and that’s not another story. See ya. 

 Photo Above: Two stretched beaver-blanket and 55 inch

Amaryllis