What does she think she sees?

Helloooo, Doggie!

Who's calling me? Do they really know me? Well, no, Sweetheart... The HuggaMutt doesn't like being paged by strangers. She came back to shore, to GrammaDog, for safety and assurance. Fierce on land, vulnerable in the water, and much happier close to me.

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Little Pond

It's tough to visit the ducklings with Ellie.

Mama Duck takes her babies well out of harms way as soon as we exit the car.

We can see her profile, though. She's a proud Merganser Mama.

Her babies look so little compared to even the tiny waves on the waters.

I love the Chemung River in the Spring.

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Little Pond

Ellie and the River greet spring

This uprooted tree is one of many moved by the flooding river.

Ellie enjoys mucking around in the water front.

The flood plain is finally turning green!

The rushing river has scoured the woodlands clean. We look forward to visiting when it is just a touch warmer.

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Little Pond

Dogs don't mind the almost-spring chill.

Our river is gearing up for spring. The trees are beginning to show buds.

I don't understand the greenness of the water. Is it reflecting greenery we just don't see?

Must be. A most welcome color, green.

After all, ochre is the dominant neutral right now. This stump got a bit of a makeover this winter. One would almost guess a bear tore it open.

And Ellie finally took her first swim of the season. She didn't linger in the water long enough for me to frame a shot. In. Out, pretty damned quick. A good, satisfying shake.

And that was the official start of spring in Little Pond

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Little Pond

Warm winter mornings

We have the sort of midwinter days that allow us to stay out long enough for plenty of exercise, but everything looks wintry. Foster Island is still snow covered, but the Chemung is flowing. For Ellie it is a time to check out tracks and scent something in the air.

Funny dog! She like the doggies' tracks as much as if they were deer's. These two shot were from the mouth of Hoffman Creek, completely bereft of all animal wildlife.
The river isn't ice-clogged, but many of the "bergs" are still extant. Double click the picture and check out the river in the upper left.

Those yellow things signal intakes for our local drinking water, and I suspect the attached tree isn't doing any good. Something that size could conceivably cost a fortune to remove.

If it were not for Ellie's pink outfit, every picture would be brown and white...

Little Pond

Our Playground was covered in ice--again!

This is the Grove Street Fishing Access Site on the Chemung River, February 21, 2009.

This is a feeder creek, with the huge ice floes positively back up into it. No way are these from the feeder creek itself, I don't think.

These two gulls are visiting right on the river channel itself. I was very tempted to walk out on the river with Ellie, but, because there is so much flowing water, decided against it.

Just downriver from Elmira the water is completely free. The birds are congregating there, these days. We saw ducks, geese, crows, hawks, and even a harrier. Never saw one of those before, so it will be weeks and maybe months before I ever get a shot of those speed demons.

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Little Pond