Hummingbirds are back

Well, the hummingbirds came back a couple days ago. There are only a couple right now..the males who stake out their territory ahead of the females. Lee half-filled the feeders on May 1st and by the next day one was at the feeder.
Rain continues to be the normal. In fact, people are now counting the hours it doesn't rain. It makes for good canoeing, but little else. Most the fisherman had to fish on smaller streams last week as the water in Pine Creek was too high.
My pond in the back in nicely full. It is a shame that it leeches through the soil when we don't have rain. The only ways I know to stop that is

with an expensive liner made of rubber or clay. So for now we just enjoy it when it rains so we have enjoyed it a lot this month. I took the picture of the pond during a few hours of sun one day.
Trying to get the dogs and myself a nice walk everyday has been a challenge, but I squeaked on in today between showers. Speck, the Chihuahua is 2 for 2 on walks as far as finding nasty things to roll in. He is fast about it too. So he is also 2 for 2 walks on getting a bath. A much easier job on a 10 pound dog than a 100 pound dog like Scooter.
It is funny how even though the dogs are outside when we are here...they still want you to take them on a walk.
The bears are out and getting into things so watch your garbage. Lee Stover left his in the back of his pick-up and the bear redistributed it all over the mountain. I saw a second year cub along Leetonia road coming down Cedar Mountain yesterday. The first one I have seen since winter. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

March ... Let the melting begin.

March is the month of extremes. The month of the meltdown. The South facing slopes of the mountain melt off quickly in the warm sun, while the north facing slopes easily hang onto their hard packed and icy snow. Every year at this time people come up and get stuck on the roads. The reason for this is almost everywhere else the snow is gone and part of the roads up here invite you to take the risk.
The mud covered parts of the road led you to believe you are safe then when it is too late to turn around you will hit several miles of icy snow packed roads, which send many a traveler into the ditch. Walking requires cleats such as the rubber slip over ones in the picture below, without them constant slipping and falling is inevitable. The dogs seem to do fairly well with the soft part of their pads acting as slid resistors and having four legs helps when one of them slips. Thor the three-legged dog slips a bit more, but not as much as I expected and he would never miss out on a walk.
Even though the temperatures were in the teens as I took my walk today, the sun felt warm and there was a hope of change in the air. The days are stretching out a bit more and the sun feels warmer daily. The meltdown from the mountains filled the pond and it gurgled a pleasant sound overflowing into the stream. These are the rewards of living in the woods; the walks, sounds, and constant changing of the seasons. The countdown to April is on. When April comes the woods will surely be past the worst winter has to offer and we will again have the freedom to go anywhere on the roads without worry of deep snow. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out and Marching forth.

Its movie time in the Mountains

I didn't think this would work its my first attempt to upload video to this site. Lee shot this during her walk with the dogs. There was a lot of wind interfering with the sound. We got about 3 inches of snow last night and they are promising more guess we won't know until morning what the damage is. If this works well it will bring a whole new dimension to the news from Leetonia. Seems most of the hunters left today and there are only a few people up here this Sunday. The cold is a bitter reminder of how much winter we have left. Officially winter doesn't even start until Dec 21st. and last a very long three months. We don't have an extremely fast internet connection so loading a lot of video probably won't happen but it is nice to see things in motion every once in a while. Mountain Girl, Paula, logging out!

Heavy rain fills pond

For the first time in over 30 years the pond is full. We received enough rain last night to take the pond from 1' deep to 8' deep. After a summer of drought Pine creek is up to 4.5 feet and rising as well.

If everything holds during the winter there might be a little ice skating at Camp Eaglebear this winter.

Mountain Girl, Paula, reporting from Leetonia.

Pond Restored

The first two pictures were taken in 1956 when my grandfather first built the pond in the back of the property. It was constructed by damming the valley between the two hills.

It is interesting to notice the lack of trees on the side of the hill behind the car. My grandfather's luck with the pond was not good. I don't remember the first time it broke, but I do remember the second... the hurricane, Agnes, which hit soon after he reconstructed the dam. The dam didn't have time to settle and washed away easily. That was the last time any amount of water was in the pond and the last time my grandfather tried to fix it.


Fast forward two generations to me. Something always eats at you when you see something your grandfather wanted so bad to work fail. I have had the desire to restore the pond for a long time. I have been nay sayed by those who would like to give it the same fate as my grandfather's attempts, but silly me I thought it could still be done.

I did a little research and have incorporated a few things my grandfather did not. After living here for five years I have noted how much water flows during our worst storms. It looked like enough to fill a 2' diameter pipe....so I put in two 2' pipes. I also
offset them to one side and allowed and emergency overflow towards the tree side of the pond.


With that all said until the dam settles and the seed I planted gets a good root it is in the danger phase. I will breathe much easier if I make it through the end of May with everything intact an growing. Since this year is the driest we have had for a long time, I am hoping it is a good time to try.


So far the little rain we have gotten has barely moistened the pond, my grass is sprouting and we are off to a good start. I will update you on any changes and show you pictures of any water I get. If everything holds stocking it with fish won't be far behind.

Mountain Girl, Paula, logging out!