Encountered a young chipmunk in my yard, apparently hoping to be eaten by a cat. It scrambled up my screen porch twice, falling to the ground once it reached the top of the screen. Wrapped it in a towel and released it in the crotch of a willow. Cute, but needs to pay better attention. Ran right between my toothless cat’s feet!

Gardening is really fun and rewarding! My garden now attracts many butterflies, bees (different kinds of them), hummingbirds, sparrows, and American golden finches. To see this hummingbird sipping the nectar from my canna flowers is heavenly!

Baby snapping turtles have started emerging from the nests around the property. These little guys were in the driveway and moved safely to the lawn to continue their trip.

Brandy Brook Flow on Cranberry Lake was my latest destination. This is a nice easy hike, a little over 7 miles round-trip. At one time, this was home to the floating camps of lore. There are several very nice campsites along the way. The trail has several intersections to other locations, and the Cranberry Lake 50 follows it for a ways.

Horseshoe Lake is a great place for an open water paddle, though it's big enough to get rough if the wind starts. Paddling around the shoreline was about 4.25 miles. It has several very nice campsites.

The lake is now open for the rest of the season. This is a very nice paddle, I loosely followed the shoreline, and racked up about 6 miles. The western end has some great bays and channels to explore, one of which is the beginning of the south branch of the Grasse River. Pay attention to the public use dates if you decide to visit- 9/1 thru 7/15.

Snowflake, heaven, and summer storm.

These leaves stopped me in my tracks while running one fall morning. It reminded me that although change can be hard, it can also be beautiful.