Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Monday's Meanderings

Monday afternoon, as I was headed back home from The City, I saw this strange creature trundling along the side of the road just outside Minerva.

"What in the world is that?!?" I said to myself. I slowed down, and as it came closer, I saw it was a porcupine! Walking along the road at 4 o'clock in the afternoon! I breaked, backed up, and fumbled for the camera. The porcupine kept walking, oblivious to my excitement. By the time I got my camera and got out of the car, a string of traffic arrived. After they passed, I looked to see the porkie had decided to get off the road and was disappearing into the vegetation.

"Wait!"

I ran across the road, calling to the animal to stop (yeah, like that was going to do any good). I fired off a shot as soon as I could:




It turned sideways and continued deeper into the vegetation:


In moments it was gone:

Porcupines can move quickly when they want.


Later that evening, while Toby and I were on our walk, we had some more encounters.


Wood turtles were out all over. We saw four, but I suspect it was actually just two individuals. These are really very placid animals and make good subjects for photography.



She looked right at me. Contemplating the camera?
Wondering if I was going to attack?



She took exception to things when Toby decided to walk behind her. Perhaps she found the leash threatening (you can see it passing over her carapace).



Suddenly she decided to cross the road. Must be she got tired of having her photo taken. She picked up her shell, extended her legs and hoofed it towards me and right by my leg.



Hm...something must've grabbed her by the tail at some point!



Always look both ways when you cross the road.



Toby says farewell.




Bye-bye! Live Long and Prosper!


Meanwhile, down at the river...

Things are very dry! These are July water levels.


Here we are at the new stairs. It's a bit of a drop to the water. It'll make putting in a boat interesting. With the old stairs, it was fairly easy for Toby to get to the water to get a drink. Not now. I had to jump down and balance on the rocks to scoop up water in my hands for him to slurp.

They sure look like they might have rain.
(In the end, we did get rain during the night
and the next morning - 0.62" - hooray!)

2 comments:

  1. I am SO jealous! I keep seeing porcupine scat and porcupine dens and porcupine pee and dead porcupines, but I have yet to see a living one close enough to photograph.

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  2. It has been dry dry dry here too. The river is lower than I've ever seen May. Wishing you lots of rain!

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