12 April 2021 Last Look at the Mergansers

 I was traveling to Indiana for business, but needed to spend part of the day at my local office.  I was able to enjoy a large gathering of mergansers for one last sighting before they moved on.  With a little luck a few will stop by in the fall and maybe a few will be imprinted for a spring visit next year.  They were a pleasure to watch.

11 April 2021 Metzenbaum Wildflowers

Metzenbaum Park is a quiet small park of about 65 acres.  Most of the visitors spend their time near a childrens' playground and the picnic area or walking the paved trail.  For a few weeks each spring the ground is covered in leeks and wildflowers.  Wildflowers were plentiful everywhere on an early evening walk.

10 April 2021 North Chagrin Wildflowers

 A late fall wind storm followed by an early ice/wet snow storm left us with a very large pile of material to shred for mulch.  I took advantage of a mild spring day to work on the yard and the wood pile.  Afterward we relaxed with an early evening walk in North Chagrin.  The wildflowers were just opening, but those that were made for a pleasant trail walk.

9 April 2021 Meganser Parade

The office pond has attracted a few interesting birds over the last five years.  Earlier I had spotted a pair of mergansers on the water.  They left before I had my camera available.  Today, it was a flotilla.  They were plentiful and swimming around the pond.  It was a wonderful site.  Mergansers are amazing and look like the are going fast when just floating on the water.

6 April 2021 Second Vaccine Day

 It was another day of excitement for us.  The date for our second vaccines had arrived.  We were surprised to not recognize any of the people standing in line with us, but very happy to be two weeks away from full vaccination.

After the shot we made our way to Cascade park and enjoyed a walk together.  They day just seemed brighter.

Not knowing the extent of possible reactions we might have we didn't want to stay out too long.  After leaving Cascade Park we drove into Cleveland for a brief visit to Wendy Park for bird watching.

As we were getting ready to leave for the rest of our drive home, the freighter Sam Laud passed by the old Coast Guard Station.

For any trivia buffs who read this, the Sam Laud was the freighter shown in the opening for the movie Major League.

3 April 2021 Forest County ANF Walk

By the time spring arrives I am often willing to believe cold days are pleasant.  It is all about perspective.  Blue skies can make the day feel so much warmer.

The icicles still forming where the stream passed over rocks gave a better idea of the temperature.

Skunk cabbage blossoms were barely visable inside this common wildflower.

We spotted multiple sets of turkey tracks.

The signs of spring were there.

When we reached the end of the journey Phin and Liz were both tired and ready for a night's sleep.

31 March 2021 Backyard

 The bird feeders are winding down.  We will run out the last of the feeders and clean them one last time until the weather gets rough again.  Enjoy a few recent images.

28 March 2021 The Cold Returns

 Phineas needs to be dapper even when "helping" us change the cover on the futon.

It was a blustery day so we weren't inspired to do much outdoors, but we walked a quick loop on our main trail and spent a little time looking for things in bloom.  Our miniature iris looked great even in the rain.

On the way home we stopped for a cache near the site of an old iron bridge.  The bridge is long gone replaced with a guardrail.

It has been 15 years since we last stopped to look for a geocache at the old iron bridge.  The 1893  bridge was closed to traffic at that time, but open for pedestrians.  It was raining that day too as we walked the bridge.

Bridge in 2006

I always notice the cache by the small railroad park in Meadville.  It isn't an easy park for us to reach as we rarely go by the right-turn only to enter.  Today we were in the right direction.  Ali stopped for me to find the cache and take a few images.  My dad would have loved this visit especially the Conrail caboose fitted with a snow plow.  He was a train fan until he passed.