What the Walrus said . . .

Days like today are often quite nice. I woke up later than I intended in the hotel. A slight inconvenience, but getting a nice breakfast under my belt was definitely a plus. The drive was not bad, I am now out of Maryland and into Delaware, about nine miles from the New Jersey State border. I am at Lums Pond State Park and it is fairly nice with two major exceptions. First, it is in the flight path for a local air field so there is a disturbing sound of small airplane engines about every 20 minutes directly overhead. Plus I think there is a flight school at the airport which would account for the slow circling small planes. Second, the entrance road outside of the park is in a rural area, it is flat and relatively straight . . . and there are motorcyclist racing full bore uop and down the road. The roaring engines really make the tranquility of the park basically non-existant. Hopefully some of the audible onslaught will end as the sun goes down.

The weather was typical for spring, mid to upper sixties, great if you were in the sun, until the clouds moved in and the sun went away. Then the temp dropped about ten degrees and it was time to throw the fleece back on. Yet, today is without doubt going to be better than the next three days as a very large, very wet , cold front moves into the north east. I am hoping that as I move northwest towards the far upper corner of New Jersey tomorrow, that the storm crosses over me and I find better weather on the western side. If not, my photo shot at Lakota Wolves on Saturday may be rained out!!

Once again I discovered that another park has taken liberties with names used in their area of concern. Here at Lums Pond State Park there is a “Swamp and Forest Trail”. Since I arrived early this afternoon, I opted to go on a hike along said “Swamp and Forest Trail” to see what could be found. Lo and Behold . . . NO SWAMP!! Nothing that even resembled a swamp. Maybe in Delaware they have a different definition for a swamp, but most of the time it does require the forest be flooded, and there are no signs of there ever being that much water in the pond, or at least not for a very, very, long time.

I was not very lucky today with any wildlife photos. I also did not have much in the way of scenery to marvel at. What I did find was one new bird that I have never before seen.

Beside the Oriole, pickings were kind of lean with the exception of some new flora and fauna.

So . . . my day is drawing to an end. I am going to be packing as much of everything up into the car as I can before I get to bed. The rains may come early overnight and I do not want to be picking up and loading stuff that is dripping wet. Also, although my tent does have a rain fly, if the nylon walls have anything touching on the inside, the water will wick into the tent . . . and then what I have are soggy and wet blankets and a damp sleeping bag . . . I know this sadly from experience! No Bueno!! Especially since I may not see dry weather again for a couple of days!

Oh . . . and a last reminder folks . . . we are all entering tick season. If you have trees and brush where you live, or if you are going out into the sticks for any reason, wear your bug spray becuase I will bet the little bastards are there waiting for you! And when you get home, take a careful look for the little free loaders. They carry a variety of diseases, none that are good, and I found two on me today from just my short walk! Also, it is recommended that if you have a tick that is on you for over 48 hours that you should see a doctor to go on a regimen of antibiotics just to be safe!