Back in the Saddle

Misty Pacific Northwest

View From the Apple Tree

A Great Blue Heron (Not THE Blue Heron)

Best Grass Mower Around

Male Hooded Merganser

Male Red-Wing Black Bird

Big Basking Turtle

Not Happy to See Me Return

Mist and rain shroud the pond. Like getting bucked off a horse, I'm hesitant to approach. It's a silly feeling, really, but true nonetheless.

I peer through the veil of rain but I can't see anything--no Blue Heron, no ducks. Did they all leave Elmira Pond in my absence or did I lose my ability to see?

The apple tree, my favorite view of the pond is so overgrown, that I stay behind the fence.

Then the clouds part and I climb back in the saddle for a fair-weather ride around the pond and I remember how to see again.

Blue sky, white clouds and a great blue heron flying overhead. Not my Blue Heron, but kin. I haven't lost my sight.

Next, I employ the best mowers in town to crop the grass around the apple tree. It will take a week or two, but the horses will get the grass under control.

Sun shines warm on my face and I sip coffee outside. Really that was all I needed to do--just sit outside. In such moments Elmira Pond comes to life.

I catch movement on the waters that are deep blue today. Two bufflehead hens paddle the shore and two ringed-neck ducks still occupy the waters.

Another sip of coffee and I catch a blaze of white. There's the hooded mergansers! A couple--last year the male was picked off by an eagle so this is a new delight to see a merganser pair.

The red-wing black birds have multiplied. Though I find them annoying neighbors--alarmists--the males are beautiful when they hunch their red shoulders like bodybuilders flexing biceps. They even chase Blue Heron who pops out of the reeds long enough to glide to another patch of reeds.

He ignores the birds and watches for frogs.

I've not heard any bull frogs, yet but at least one big turtle is sticking close to the pond log. Once the bull frogs start up, I'll wonder why I waited to hear them. Loud and proud is their song.

As if not used to my presence, the tree swallows dive-bomb my head. I'm surprised as this is a first.

We all just need to get reacquainted now that I'm back in the saddle, riding over Elmira Pond.