We found this critter while checking for water after Hurricane Ida drenched the area:
It’s on the outside of the vent screen and we have no objection.
We should put up a bat house to encourage more of its friends to hang out with us …
Category: Oddities
Who’d’a thunk it?
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The Patience of Trees: Guide Rail
Found behind a store in Red Oaks Mill, overlooking the Mighty Wappingers Creek:
Tree stump around guide rail The old rail fell off its (long gone) post before the tree grew around it and the newer rail (upper right) definitely isn’t fresh from the factory, so this tableau has been on display for quite a while.
The tree’s growth rings have pretty much weathered away.
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Red Oaks Mill Dam: Flood Stage
The remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped half a foot of rain in our area, so we walked to the remains of the Red Oaks Mill Dam to see the water:
Red Oaks Mill Dam – 2021-09-02 The white water crests stand in place over rocks in the stream bed, with hypnotic flowlines.
The concrete abutment over on the left is now completely submerged. It was more conspicuous in May:
Red Oaks Mill Dam – 2021-05-17 Surprisingly, most of the tree trunks and debris collecting over on the right remain jammed in place, as seen in March:
Red Oaks Mill Dam – 2021-03-19 For completeness, the scene in February:
Red Oaks Mill Dam – 2021-02-25 The USGS has a hydrology station just downstream that reported about 10 feet of water, the “moderate” flood stage, around the time I took the first picture. The normal level is 3 feet.
The “major” flood stage is 14 feet and, back in 2007, this is what it looked like at 15 feet:
Red Oaks Mill Dam – 2007-04-17 Our reference point is a drain pipe on the retaining wall behind the hotel: when the Mighty Wappingers Creek covers the pipe, it’s well and truly flooding.
Searching for “red oaks mill dam” will surface more pix and stories.
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No Dumbing
Spotted on a walk around the neighborhood:
Private Property – No Dumbing If only it was a sign of the times …
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Guten Tag, Deutchland!
Mostly, this blog ticks along with 400 to 500 page views per day, with 300-ish visitors looking at a page or two each.
This week, something happened:
Blog Stats – 2021-08-28 Both of those spikes came from Germany:
Blog Countries – 2021-08-28 Traffic spikes generally come from a single post getting fifteen minutes of Reddit fame, with a zillion visitors hitting a specific page.
In this case, a German “visitor” read nearly all of my 4461 posts on two days: 822 + 3561 = 4383. I’m reasonably sure no human finds my writing that interesting, so it’s likely a scraper capturing my text for the purposes of spinning it into a blog-like site with “unique content” for the purposes of SEO.
Perhaps the first traffic spike was a targeting run?
I’ll never know the rest of the story, but if you happen to stumble across a blog with an uncanny resemblance to this one, written by something with a wide vocabulary and no techie knowledge, let me know.
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Soldering Iron Spider
I noticed something out of place when I fired up the soldering iron:
Soldering Iron Spider It’s not obvious in a flat photo without depth perception, but here’s a closer look:
Soldering Iron Spider – detail A tiny spider had set up shop just over the tip cleaning port, with a delicate web linking the sponge to the iron holder.
I tried to deport her outdoors, as is our custom with helpful critters, but she jumped off the web and scurried to an unknown spot on the bench. She’ll surely rebuild in an equally productive spot.
Obviously, I’m not soldering enough electronic gadgetry …
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Tree Frog Redux
Mary found another tree frog while picking Savoy lettuce for breakfast:
Tree frog on Savoy cabbage They’re much better camouflaged in their (more or less) natural surroundings, so I didn’t spot it at first, either.
They really are cute little gadgets:
Tree frog on Savoy cabbage – detail This is only the fourth tree frog she’s seen in the last two decades, but the second one in a month. It may be the same frog as before, although the garden now has a rather husky resident snake who seems to be eating well.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 