Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 377
Well, I didn’t have to water my flowers or garden again this week as rain kept coming. Just last night while I was at the program at View something rolled through at home with wind and a half inch of rain that put the power off for a while. My pond was covered with leaves and debris when I fed the trout plus debris in the driveway and path to the pond. I sprayed the plants that the deer love to eat and ate while I was in Alaska. They ate the roses off Karen’s, only what I call tame plant in the flower garden by the house. But it regained enough strength to bloom again with several nice flowers.
Hawaii again got the rain 3 to 5 inches from Tropical Depression Moke which traveled a little further south than Hurricane Lala a week ago, but it did drop 15 inches in some places already soaked by Lala.
The folks in the western states could sure use some of that rain as the fires are still raging out there. The Hawk Fire in Nevada near the California border has burned more than 10,500 acres and it is still moving with no containment. Six volunteers fighting the fire have been injured. Several homes burned, 42,000 evacuated and 45,000 additional people were in the adjacent evacuation warning zone. Authorities urged people to be prepared to stay away for several days, because shifting and strengthening winds were expected to make the fire even more unpredictable.
Locally Craig Streeter, 72 years old and is from Putnam County has been missing in the Moose River Plains Area where he was camping. No one has had contact with him since August 2. Forest Rangers, State Police and several volunteer searchers have been looking for him for over a week with no leads and nothing found. Anyone with information is asked to contact DEC Ray Brook Dispatch at 518-897-1300 or 518-408-5250, or New York State Police at 518-897-2000, or the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office at 518-548-3113.
My grandson Jake and I fished at Woodhull Lake on Saturday, and it took a while before we even caught one bass. We saw a pair of Loons and family of Common Mergansers fishing, and I don’t know if they were catching or not. We finally found a spot where they were biting, and we caught a few fish that were not big but feisty. We saw another bigger family of Common Mergansers fishing and a couple Belted Kingfishers who were both catching fish. The mountain ash trees along the shoreline were covered with fruit so the birds and animals who eat them should have a treat soon. Coming back down the lake we found a juvenile Loon that was fishing by itself with no adults around. Jake took a couple photos of this bird as it dove by us and gave us a wing flap. Looking at the pictures, I think this bird could fly as its wings were fully developed. There were two juveniles in this area of the lake this year.
I have a program for the Woodgate Library on Friday the 28 at the old School House on Bear Creek Road at 7PM on my winter trip to Yellowstone Park.
The fire tower lighting will take place on Saturday September 5 from 8:30 to 9 o’clock. It isn’t a hiking event, but the lighted towers can be viewed from different places in the area. Towers to be lit in this area are Rondaxe, Stillwater, Woodhull, Blue, Wakely, Owls Head, Snowy and Goodnow Mountains. If you do hike up to these towers, be prepared to hike out in the dark with head lamps and not your cell phone.
The red maples are changing so fall can’t be far away but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Karen Rose
