The day the Internet died

Or night actually...last night Frontier net went down in two area codes, including ours. It was still out this morning so... no Farm Side this week, among other things. However, here are some pictures from yesterday's road trip, which would have been yesterday's post, but for fatigue and technological failure.

A beaver house in a swamp on Corbin Hill Road.
There are two of these within perhaps thirty feet of each other.

Left side of Goldman road

We call this Lyker's Pond, although it probably has another name. The two sections of the pond are connected by a large culvert under Goldman Road. As I stood looking for nice shots (and praying against ticks) there came from behind me a booming sound, like someone heaving a bowling ball through the bushes and onto the ice. I must have jumped three feet. It was a BIG boom. I crossed to that side of the road and peered down into the woods. No bears, no maddened lumber jacks. No teen-aged mutant ninja deer ticks. Nada. I went back to taking pictures. (I love this place, so close to farms and houses and yet so remote-seeming and lovely. I will try to stop back as spring shows up, hot on the heels of all those geese (we hope) and take more pictures. It should be interesting to watch the ice melt and the plants green up.)

Then the booming erupted from the side I had just left. What the heck? It was an elusive sort of sound...seeming to come from everywhere and yet nowhere at once. Then it arose from UNDER the road. That is when I figured out (I think) what was going on. The ice itself was making those thunderous sounds as the sun rapidly warmed it after a night in the low teens...There were certainly pressure lines scored across it that weren't there the other day when I visited (You can see them in the right and left photos if you click). And if there were bears or bowling ticks or a train going off the tracks, I, at least, couldn't see them.

Right side of Goldman Road, where the first bowling tick sound originated

We were inspected yesterday and I guess we did okay, although we will probably never know. Liz was there when the inspectors came for which I am very thankful. That way we at least know they have done us and moved on to other victims.



The low tech method of gathering maple sap. This is adjacent to the big sugar bush we pass and is probably part of it. This is the hard way of getting the job done, but these pails seem to be nicely full of sap.

*****If you want to get a look at the incredible goose invasion that is sweeping over New York, visit my other blog, where I dump photos that don't fit here.
****