From Maine to Texas in One Sitting....

I've gotten a couple of messages lately wondering if we're still alive and kicking....  so thought I'd put together a post to let y'all know that we certainly are.

Since I've slacked off on blogging, I'll quickly recap the summer...  We arrived at Aroostook NWR near Limestone, Maine on May 21.  It was a cooler and wetter summer than any we've had there before, but that didn't stop Bill from playing on the big toys.  I did some mowing this year, but a local volunteer who works year-round has found his niche mowing and maintaining the trails, so I just mowed around the visitor center and the maintenance shop.  That took only one day a week, so I worked the visitor center at least 3 days a week.  We both kept busy and the time just flew by.

Of course I spent a lot of time roaming around the refuge with cameras in hand.  Below are my favorite photos of this summer.  Some are favorites because of the critters, but a few are just because they kind of remind me of the "essence" of our time there....

 Mama Bear and her triplet cubs...  watching me as I'm watching them on a foggy morning.

 A young bear watching me take his photo

 Mama Moose with her twin calves....  at the edge of the lake.

 Bill taking a break from work.  He spent many hours digging up old culvert and making a gentle slope out of a steep hill.

 Did I mention we had a lot of rain?  There are even hail stones coming down here.

 One of the Cedar Waxwings that like to hang out over the lake.

 Another shot of Mama Moose and her twins...  Early morning with dew and fog...

 Not the clearest shot, but I caught this Yellow-rumped Warbler stretching to reach a morsel on this spruce tree.

 Here's lookin' at ya, baby...

 Bucky Beaver Pond...  early morning reflections.

 An Eastern Kingbird with a dragonfly...

 More landscaping...  

 A Tiger Swallowtail on a flower.  (I can't remember what)

 We had several porcupine sightings...  a couple of times one wandered right through out yard.

And what would a summer be without at least one sighting of a skunk?  

 The Lupines were gorgeous this year!

 A Mama Moose with her calf....  another early morning shot.

 Mama Merganser with a whole herd of young'uns.

 Another bear checking me out...

 A loon on the lake....  I'm still hoping that someday a pair will nest there.

Bill and Kirk discussing refuge issues... sitting in the visitor center.  Note that there is a jigsaw puzzle set up here.  Lots of our visitors will stop and try to fit in a piece or two while browsing through the exhibits.  Sometimes folks who don't feel like hiking the nature trail will hang out and work on the puzzle while their family goes hiking.

 This young bear found my bird feeders one day....  he knocked down the hummingbird feeder and the sugar water just coated him.  He sat down to lick it off.  I chased him off before he did more damage.

 I thought I had a scratch on my camera lens.  See the spider web on the lichen at he end of this twig the Kingfisher is sitting on?

 Another early morning, very foggy shot of Mama moose and her twins.

 Kirk erected this stand for an eagle nest years ago.  While this guy does stop by and sit there for a while, so far there's been no takers to build a nest.  Maybe one of these days...

 Yellow Lady Slipper....  I know a couple very special places to look for these and am never disappointed.  They are gorgeous!

One of my favorites...  that Great Blue Heron fits right in with those old weather-beaten trees .

We left Maine on August 13...  headed to NY to visit our daughter and family, then on to Ohio where our son and my sister live.  We were there just a few days then on August 21, headed to Texas.  We were going to leave the day before until we realized that we'd be very close to Nashville around 2pm on Monday and we didn't want to deal with that eclipse traffic.

We did see a partial eclipse...

I took this from the RV window (no filters, no special settings) as we were heading down the interstate.  Not sure what that crescent is above the sun...   but I think this is a good time to end this blog.

We're got to our daughter in Texas' house yesterday and will be here for about a month before heading on to Mexico.  I just might get ambitious and get another blog together before then.  

That's All For Today!