Trucks and road conditions

With the weather getting warmer the amount of water truck traffic seems to be increasing on Pigeon Hill and Button Hollow Rd. You can see from the first picture how many trucks are filling up with water to be hauled as far away as Mansfield.
The second picture shows me following the trucks down Button Hollow Road a slow process. I often see as many as six trucks on the one mile stretch. The traffic makes me fell like I live in an industrial zone, instead of being on a quiet country road.
The third picture is a logging truck heading up Leetonia Rd. This is the same guy I had to back up a mile and a half for when the road was snow covered and narrow. He was headed toward me at that time and loaded with logs. I can tell you it isn't fun backing up a narrow, icy, snow covered road a mile and a half.
The roads are for the most part around 90% melted even on roads not plowed. However, the 10% still ice covered can be tricky when the temperature drops below freezing. So my warning of having chains with you if you are going off the plowed roads still holds.
I still find it hard to believe it is March and I still have firewood on
my front porch. Looks like I will be in good shape for next year as I doubt I will touch too much wood on back porch to get through to summer.
Lee Anne came home yesterday from helping her sister who has a son with leukemia. Unfortunately, the prognosis for him is not good and it was hard for her to leave. It is hard to see a boy who is only 18 deal with his own mortality. On the selfish side, I am glad to have her back it has been a long lonely winter for myself and the dogs. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Unseasonable Weather continues

I took a walk up on the mountain today it was 45 degrees as I walked. The birds were chirping in the woods like it was Spring. Even the Chihuahua who doesn't care for winter is happy this year. There is still some snow on North sides of mountains and places on the road, which are icy, so having a set of chains with you is still a good idea.

I saw about a dozen deer together near my pond, a common thing in February usually because of deep snow. This has not been the case this year so I wondered if they would still herd up in groups. I seem to have my answer, yes. In reading it says deer prefer the evergreen browse in the forest during winter months and may congregate here for that reason. I always thought it was so as a group they could beat through the snow easier to find food. If you all know of any reasons deer herd up let me know. I think they will be coming through this winter in good shape.

As for me I am enjoying this weather, not sure it isn't spoiling me for an real winters to come. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Road Clarification

For all you coming up this weekend from the south. There is a sign on 44 saying road is only open to Waterville...IGNORE THIS. ROAD IS OPEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH 414! It is very confusing but there are no detours to Leetonia. Happy travels. Mountain girl, Paula

Morris Rattlesnake Festival

The 2011 Morris Rattlesnake festival was in full swing this weekend. It is always a treat for young and old to see a snake close up and touch it if they would like. I don't know what the longest snake brought in was at this point of the contest. They have categories for the longest yellow timber rattler and the longest black timber rattler. All snakes must be returned to the point they were captured by the hunters after they are released from judging.
People are still cleaning up from the memorial weekend storms and finding out what their insurance covers and what it does not. It is never nice to find out your coverage don't count during
tornadoes.
I noticed the Mountain Laurel is beginning to bloom on top Cedar Mountain. The Mountain Laurel festival events run in Wellsboro all next week and weekend. The blooming should be good for a couple weeks barring we don't have any more high wind storms.
The granddaughter went home Thursday so I will get back to work a bit more seriously now and try to make up for lost time due to weather and visitors. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Rain, rain, rain

April has been so wet it is hard to get a thing done outside. The daffodils are up down at Cedar Run and I have some tulips poking through the ground up here. The bright light on the daffodils is Sun something we haven't seen a lot of this month.

Tonight it rained so hard I thought the whole mountain might come down. Lightening, thunder and wind added to the drama. I won't be able to tell much about what it looks like until daylight, but I know Pine Creek will be hitting some high levels in about three hours.

Pine Creek is already high it was up around 5.5 ft when we drove by earlier today so this rain will put a few places in the danger zone for sure. It seems like any roof that is old is leaking and it is impossible to have a car or truck that isn't covered in mud.

Today they worked on Leetonia Road down from the Cedar Crest camp to try and keep it from falling in the creek. I am wondering what the rain we had tonight will do to their work. It is supposed to be a two day project so you can expect the road to be closed again tomorrow.

I have tried to finish the outside of the schoolhouse all month and have pecked away at it one day at a time(for a total of three days). I have about one day left to get the last of the siding up around three of the windows. But when a dry day will be only God seems to know. The weather men throw in a day here or there, then at the last minute change it to rain. So if you are coming to camp bring rain gear and lots of cards. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Roads and snow

Yes, the snow is today! We got about 2-3 inches on top of the mountain. It rained down below. Temperatures are supposed to be in 50's tomorrow so it won't last long.
The road from Leetonia to Cedar Run is passable. There are many potholes and a few patches of snow and ice so go slow.
The second picture is out on 414 the narrows between Cedar Run and Blackwell. The State thought they could put in a new guard rail and quickly found out the road is falling into pine creek. So for now they narrowed it even more to one lane. No word on when they might do some real work on it.
It is hard to tell from picture put the road seems to have dipped even more off to the right then it did last Fall. I think if they had drilled in guard posts the road would have just dropped into the creek. It is at least a hundred foot drop and I don't think I will try my luck at surviving that kind of drop. Hopefully, no one else tries it either. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Gas Well expansion on Pigeon Hill Rd

I am not exactly sure what all the equipment and tanks are on Pigeon Hill Rd, but it looks like an industrial zone. Bravo Button who had a lease with the gas company and has three different well sites on his property said he had no idea they would build this. It has been a year and a half since they started drilling and it looks like another six months before any kind of royalty checks will be seen by most the local participants. Lets hope the checks make up for seeing this everyday on your once open cornfield.
They have started drilling on Thompson Hollow Rd. coming into the forest. So far a few local wells that I know about have been contaminated. One in Stony Fork can lite his water. Don't think it is good to drink do you?
Our creek water tables have been very low this year and we haven't had a lot of rain, but they are also taking a lot of water for drilling. How do you know what is causing the low water in Pine Creek? Maybe both things. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Rattlesnake Roundup

This weekend was the 55th Rattlesnake roundup in Morris, Pa. We went on Saturday and it was hot 90 degrees and humid. I am sure the snakes weren't liking the weather anymore than the people.
The largest snake they had caught was 53" and is the one in the video with Lee. She said it was very heavy when the guy let some of the weight into her hand.
The snakes are micro-chipped and released back were they were caught since they are protected. The Timber rattles for the most part are one of the most docile of the rattlesnakes, generally trying to stay away from people.
The event last two days and they give prizes out for the biggest yellow and the biggest black timber rattler as well as the biggest snake.
The kids at the event always get a kick out of seeing the snakes. People who are afraid of the snakes usually stay away. I know my daughter wouldn't go within a hundred miles of any snake.
Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Hummer time

Lee has pulled out all her hummingbird feeders to prepare for the hummingbird season. They using show up May 1st, but she has seen them as early as the 27th of April.
Lee starts with a couple of feeders partially filled for the early male arrivals. By the end of May all the feeders will be up and full and she will be going through that pitcher everyday sometimes feeding as much as a gallon of syrup a day.
Males come first and stake out the territory. The females will come a couple weeks later. The sound of them zooming past our heads like bottle rockets lets us know winter is definitely behind us.
Many of the camps have trouble with the bears stealing their feeders. I think the sound of dogs inside the cabin keeps that problem away from us. The bears are out catching up on eating. The bears love to get into any bird seed or garbage they can find. It seems when they find a good source of food they will often mark an area by scratching on a tree, post, or cabin. This doesn't make cabin owners too happy. I solved the problem at one camp by putting up electric fence on a corner the bear liked to destroy. Not feeding the bears or birds really cuts back on this activity. I will let you know when we spot the first hummingbird as two feeders are going up today.

Fran Wiegley(Ottman) memorial

This year brings an end to another Leetonia favorite of mine, Fran Wiegley. She passed on the end of March and even though in her late 80's watched the blog faithfully. If I went as long as I have this year without a post, I would surely be admonished and/or worried about by Fran.

Although, I never met her in person, the common love of Leetonia made for sad news of her passing. I have been looking for the picture she sent of me in her hunting outfit and have been unable to find it. But if I do it will definitely be posted.
This picture is of her mother in Leetonia, August of 1934 bottle feeding a bear. She was the daughter of Norman and Beatrice Ottman who moved to Leetonia after the crash in 29'. My understanding was that they lived in the "Square Camp", which I believe to be the older Cassel place which is Red. Her dad was able to live rent free and she believes he feed them mostly with free deer meat. Later on he worked at the CCC camp in a manager position.
Another soul is walking the streets and woods of Leetonia. I'm sure I will see her soon. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

I

4th of July Celebration at Slate Run

This year I drove down to Slate Run to check out their fireworks. It was a clear cool night and the turn out was good. The fireworks has a major benefactor, Mitch and JoAnn. It is Mitch's birthday on the 4th and he celebrates by contributing the largest part of the donation to buy the fireworks. The rest is given by public donation and money raised at the small stand selling roasted banana splits. The banana splits have mini-chocolate chips, marshmallows, covered in whipped cream. A real diet buster.
The show started around 9:30pm and lasted about 45 minutes of a
stream of light and sound. They sang the Star-spangled banner to start it and since they were standing on the bridge at Slate Run it echoed off the mountains. It was a very unusual sound effect. I am sure there was at least a hundred cars parked around with 300-500 people watching, although it was difficult to tell since they were spread out so much. I probably took 50 pictures of the fireworks, and I am sharing a few with you here. Hope you all had a great 4th. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Antlers,bear and Laurel Fest

A couple days ago Thor ran after a rabbit by our van. I didn't think much about it until he reappeared carrying a nice antler shed. There was four points on this side of the shed. The tips had been chewed up by mice a little and Thor had it in his mind to finish the chewing job for them. He seemed a bit disappointed when I retrieved his Pit Bull toothpick as a souvenir for me. I am sure he will find another one. He has quite a good nose.

W went to the Laurel Festival in Wellsboro yesterday. As I walked down the street a man stopped me saying he had been reading all the blogs with great fascination. He has a camp up on West Rim and I wish I could remember his name, but alas I have lost it. So you know who you are and it was great to meet you. It is nice to know that people appreciate this little connection to the back woods.
The Laurel Fest was a wet muddy affair, many people were there, but it didn't seem as many as in past years. I made one purchase to add to my Native American flute collection. I bought a higher pitched flute tuned to an A. Now Lee and I both have a flute and we are anxious to play them together on the mountain for the entertainment of the animals.
We returned around 8pm to the cabin and the dogs immediately found a bear close to the house. I should know better then to let them out the front this time of day. They chased it out onto the road; it didn't seem to be running away and was turned towards the dogs as they approached. I yelled at them to stop and come and thank goodness they listened. Perhaps it was the fact the bear was not running that slowed them. The bear was a good 300 lbs and was about 200 yds down the road from the house.
After I got the dogs inside I listened to my phone messages and was glad the dogs had come back. The next cabin up from me(Hookes) had left an urgent message for help with an injured bear. It appears the bear had most of its nose torn off and was near their feeder. I realized this might be the same bear the dogs just chased, since I couldn't see the details of its face from the distance and the amount of light it was standing in.
In talking to them more it sounds like a horrific injury, probably from fighting with another bear. They said the bear isn't moving very fast and just licked up the food with its nose hanging to the side. Brenda from the Hooke Cabin said she was horrified to see the bear get it nose caught on a branch as it moved around. She said the nasal cavity was exposed and it was still pink inside the gash. They contacted the game commission who told them they would try to tranquilize the animal and have it treated if possible. I am not sure how they will get here in time to do this as any call to them is a minimum of an hour or more to respond. This leaves us with a large hurt bear roaming around.
A injured bear is a dangerous bear and the dogs are now in lockdown until the situation can be resolved. If any of you see this bear call the game commission immediately. I will post further updates if there are any. I hate to see an injured animal suffer and it will be difficult not to want to shoot the bear if I see it has a fatal, suffering wound. However, I have been warned by Lee not to intervene so I am also stuck calling the Game Commission. Nature's way is often not pretty or easy and living here in the woods we see the hard tough things as well as the magnificent beautiful things. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off, and looking out for the bear.

Mountain Girl takes a tumble

Well friends I have had a major adjustment to my life. I suffered a major car accident Sunday June 29th. My car fell off a 100' cliff and landed in the creek. I was in a spot unable to get cell reception and invisible from the back road I traveled. I knew I had hurt my back, but also realized unless I left the vehicle I may never be found. I was able to get my seat pried down and climbed out the back window. As my left hand touched the ground I realized I had broken the shoulder and had no strength. I had to lower myself on one arm down to the creek bed."Thank God for all the pushups!" At this moment a truck passed by I yelled and waved, but they were unable to see me. Now I faced a climb up the side of the mountain. Every step set excruciating pain up my back. The bank was about a 50 degree angle. I got on my hands and knees and looked for anything to grab with my right hand since this was all I had to pull myself up with. I just prayed every root would hold and when I got to the last 10 feet, I didn't slid back down.
We don't get much traffic on our road, but since it was a Sunday and many people were leaving their camps someone came shortly and I was able to connect to the assistance I needed. Here is the first picture of me trussed up before my air flight.
Two of my vertebra are broken one in 4 places the other in one. I also broke my left shoulder blade. I am just asking for all of your prayers making it through rehab and the financial stress will be my biggest challenge.
I will try to keep you all updated in the blog. I am having a hard time looking at anything for any length of time because of nausea.
Mountain girl, Paula, still loving Leetonia and logging out!

Galeton Renovation?

For those of you who haven't been to Galeton for a while you won't recognize it. They decided to do a city renovation project. Which means they took out most of the old building along Hwy 6, widened the road and added a few street lights.

My personal feeling is one of loss for the old structures and a sort of death of the look of Galeton. Now the road way is bare except for a few surviving structures and the town has effectively been moved to the other side of the creek. Without business or a source of livelihood for Galeton I wonder what the next ten years will bring?

Mountain Girl, Paula, logging off!