Lifespring

The early spring weather was beautiful today with temps in the 70s so I donned neoprene and paddled about 8.5 miles on Little Seneca Lake - 10 minutes from home. This is the water I normally paddle first in early spring and the last place I paddle in late fall/early winter before the yak enters winter hibernation - as the lake is close to home and if something goes awry its a relatively benign setting.

In order, the snaps below are: 1) the Clarksburg Bridge; 2) one of many beaver lodges on the lake; 3) 10 Mile Creek section of the lake; 4) the dam; 5) another beaver lodge with a visitor, and 6) the visitor center. If you enlarge it and look closely, in the 5th photo you can see a great blue heron standing atop the beaver lodge near the water. All in all a fine first paddle.

On a bike trail in Black Hill Park this view presented itself. Seen is part of Little Seneca Lake near my home.

At present there are four remaining fords through which run public roads in Maryland. This is one that affords a crossing of 10 Mile Creek while driving on the Old Baltimore Road, near my home. There are plans to build four bridges where one now simply crosses by driving into the water and across. This first time I came this way I had no idea there was a ford and as I drove around a bend there it was - what a surprise - now what!?

A snowshoeing article with slides in the NY Times this a.m. inspired me to hit the trail. The melt helped forward progress, i.e. not too deep, but I was able to generate a good sweat for an hour.

These snaps were taken at the North Germantown Recreational Park. The footprints in the snow are likely fox and the large structure is the indoor aquatic center where I swim. The last snap shows the top of Sugarloaf Mt. on the horizon.

Not much new here - snow, snow and more snow. After shoveling out my car and a neighbor's a fellow clearing sidewalks took a snap of me. Yestereday the winds of 30+ mph shaped the icecicles leftward.

This was shot about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Forecast today: blizzard warning, gale force wind, 1 foot additonal snow.

Sent from Ron's iPhone

These were taken in the morning at the park where I swim. The pool opened this morning for the first time in 4 days.

After digging-out my car yesterday I felt like a denizen of New York City today, i.e., I didn't want to drive anywhere for fear of losing my parking space. So, I hiked a short distance to the grocery and took these snaps along the way.

Sent from Ron's iPhone