David's Images of the Day Photoblog
The water was still running heavy in the nearby Rock Brook. A tree had fallen into the stream and got caught by the bridge. The Dogwood trees were in bloom, and the Carpenter Bees were out looking to drill holes into the wood exterior of my house. I’m not sure what type of tree or shrub it is where the leaves appear to be emerging from a pod. Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
I have two sycamore trees that frame my backyard. Theses are a few shots of the sycamore seed balls (pods). One by itself, one that a squirrel is checking out, and the final one of a black crow watching me from the tree. Unfortunately, the limbs on these trees are pretty brittle, and every winter more branches come down. I will see how much they block the solar panels on the south side of the house later this spring as the leaves emerge.
Unlike the nor’easter today with lots of snow. Seven-years ago the ground was saturated with water, and I lost several trees due to wind. This was before Hurricane Irene or Sandy. The power was out for several days and I ended up living in my RV (that had a propane generator). I was fortunate that none of the trees that went down hit the house.
The temperatures dropped from nearly 70°F (~20°C) yesterday to below freezing most of today. It was sunny most of the day, so the solar panels were generating electricity (50.3 kWh). Later in the afternoon some clouds rolled in, and we had a quick snow storm. I went out to get some pictures of the flowers that recently bloomed across the street with the recent snow before the sun went down. I also got some pictures of a turkey vulture soaring above my backyard in the late afternoon sun.
Although my neighbor got lots of maple sap from his trees this year, the tap he put in my maple tree didn’t produce much. Since it did get cold again, I will drill a new hole and see if I get anything. Maybe, my maple tree feels it already gave too much to the cicadas that live for 13 or 17 years under the tree.
After the storm passed, some clouds lit up as the sun went down.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” A winter walk at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 90 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec).
