First Days After the First Flood

July 14-22, 2024                                                            Most Recent Posts:
Moose River Campground                                       July Before the First Flood
St Johnsbury, Vermont                                             Second Flood is Worse

These rainy pictures hark all the way back to our first day back in site 15 after having moved twice because of the first flood.   These are taken out Winnona’s front window.  It’s raining again.  Gracie is the only car left.   Poor Gary is trying to repair the road in the rain.

Luckily this rain wasn’t torrential and the next day was dry.  After 5 days of being stuck and displaced  I was able to get out and do some kayaking.  No hiking – too muddy.

Can you even imagine what would possess someone to name a pond Ticklenaked?
I couldn’t either and was unable to find any research to explain it except the guess that it was an Indian word mispronounced by Europeans.   Not sure I could buy a house on this road and have to write it as my address on everything.

It was a nice morning on a small 55 acre pond.

There is a campground on the shore of the pond and it looks like all the rigs are permanent summer spots for people

As I paddled by two boys were fishing and another two were swimming.  It looks like a very nice family get away spot which will create great memories for everyone.

I didn’t see much wildlife, a kingfisher and a goldfinch both too fast for photographsI heard other birds and saw unusual for me pink water lilies.

The lilies I usually see are white.

This boat was under contract by the lake association to do  clean up.  I forget exactly what but algae I assume.   It was a big floating vacuum.

I saw the loons several times but they were up for 10 seconds and underwater for minutes.   After about an hour and a half I was able to get this one lone picture.  A morning on the water is always wonderful and excellent exercise but this is probably the only visit to Ticklenaked I will make.

Back home, the Moose River had calmed and was looking lovely.  This shot is taken from the top of the campground looking down toward my site which isn’t visible from here. As you can see the river is still at the top of its banks.

Because of the recent flood and all the roads that were out and the muddy trails, I mostly found ponds I could get to for kayaking.

On Thursday I went to Newark Pond.  The wonderful weather was such a delight.

 

Fishing is hugely popular on all Vermont’s lakes and ponds.   What a great painting on what I assume is a garage or shed at one of the lake front houses.

I wonder what happens to this house in all the rain and flooding.

At the beginning of my paddle several kingfishers were flashing by. Zooming this way and that.  I was surprised at so many and even more surprised that I was able to get pictures of them. In  this video I was able to float right by until he decided I was just too close and went flying of chattering.   Take a look and listen.

I like to hug the shore line on my first trip around a lake.

Later I often paddle non stop from end to end across the middle for the exercise.

I had several hitchhikers today.

For a dragonfly this guy was big.

Such a small island in the middle of the lake.

Around it the water is shallow and filled with rocks.  I wonder if they are all exposed in dryer conditions and you cannot paddle near the island.

On the way back from Newark I pulled over at this double free library with a convenient pull out along side the road.   This is the first one I have found outside of a town or village.

Both were quite filled with books.

My last stop was for an early dinner late lunch at Anthony’s Diner which is an institution in St Johnsbury to which I have never been.

Typical diner.

I ordered a mushroom and swiss burger with fries.  It was nothing special and I wished I had asked the folks at Moose River why Anthony’s was so popular.

On Saturday I was able to get back to the Farmer’s Market where I was saddened to hear that a number of the venders had been badly hurt by the flood.   Farmers are definitely at the mercy of the weather.

As you can read, this vendor lost most of their crops and today had only tomatoes.   Normally their stall is one of the largest with the most variety.

Smaller stands had a few more things.

Wish I had brought some of those cheery sunflowers home with me.  And look at those carrots.  I wonder if the flooding made them easier to pull and clean.

It always surprises me to find this Jamaican food stand in northern Vermont.  I’ve tried several things in the past and found it’s a bit too spicy for me but it is very popular.

From there I was walking to the Fairbanks Planetarium when I saw this woman pull into a parking lot and had to stop and ask about her fantastic motorcycle.

She told me it’s a Ural and they are the leading maker of sidecar motorcycles.  She also said there is someone nearby in New Hampshire who refurbishes them and she bought this for $6000. 

I’m in love.   She uses it for grocery shopping and taking her grandson hiking and to the movies.  Pretty sure she’s the most popular granny around.   What a stroke of luck to be walking by when she pulled up.

At the Fairbanks Museum, I took the beautiful staircase up to the planetarium and saw the first show of the day which was a nature program about Alaska.

Among the things they showed was this tundra buggy which I recognized from a trip David and I had taken to Churchill Manitoba Canada to see the polar bears.

The buggy travels over ice and snow but in Churchill nobody gets out of the buggy. Not in Polar Bear country.  But the bears often come up to it and are tall enough to look in the windows.   What a great trip that was.  So happy for the memories.

After the first program I went outside to visit the Butterfly House while I waited for the second Planetarium Program on tonight’s sky.

Butterflies and caterpillars were everywhere.

 

Back inside the talk on tonight’s sky was very interesting though I am not a person who has ever been able to connect these stars into anything that looks like a constellation to me.   The white cloudy area is the milky way.  How cool is that?

Not sure what the black thing sitting in front of our seats and sticking up into the picture is

On Sunday of the week after the flood,  I went up to the music program that Dog Mountain has every week.  These programs are free, very popular and draw big crowds which I’m not usually wanting to be part of but this group I really wanted to see perform.  So I went up early to hike the trails and get a parking space.

Wildflowers were in bloom on the trails outside the woods.

By 4:30 people had begun to fill in for the concert by  Albannach.  This Scottish pipe and drums band has played at Dog Mountain for the past several years and I had seen them last year though the concert had to be relocated due to last year’s flood.  This year it was held outside where such a group belongs.   If you’ve never heard them.  Click the link above to listen.

They make a BIG sound.  Perhaps you’ve seen them at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina or at Scottish Games.   I’m sitting about half way back.

The band consists of a bagpipe, 3 drummers and lately a digeridoo player.  The latter is a new and somewhat odd Australian addition to a Scottish “warrior” band.

The front man and personality of the band is bass drummer Jamsie Johnston on the right.

Jackie Holland is the bass rhythm drummer and traditional ballad singer.

They fill the mountains with sound.

I don’t think this is what is usually meant by the blue haired old ladies.

Albannach draws all kinds including those with Irish wolf hounds.

No wonder enemies of the Scotts were intimidated by the warrior bands even if they were smiling.   Jamsie is the leader of the pack and he makes everyone smile and have a great time.    Do go see them if you get a chance.

As you can see, I filled these 7 days after 5 days of displacement and confinement from the flood  with about as much as I could.