Promised Land State Park

Today, Leo and I went to Promised Land State Park to check it out. Impressive doesn't even describe the place. We went to one of the lakes first. This appears to be the main area of the park. There is a beach here with a swimming area. There also was a boat rental place where you can rent canoes, kayaks, rowboats, and paddleboats. There were plenty of picnic areas plus some pavillions. There is also a snack bar. Then, we went over to a nature viewing area. There weren't any large birds around when we were there. We drove up the road a little trying to find the village that is in the park. We didn't get to the village, but we went on a nature trail that was a nice short hike that had another lake you walked around. There were plenty of benches to sit on to take in the scenery if you wanted. There are also plenty of other trails here that we didn't do. There are also campgrounds and what looked like some very nice cabins that people can rent. In the winter, the park has snowmobile and cross country ski trails. It was very nice.

Who Needs A Park

Who needs a park when you have this in your backyard? The three does and two fawns were back tonight. I didn't get any pictures of the fawns. The ran up the hill to play, and they were too small to be seen where they were located. The other three were eating up the berries in the backyard. They eventually worked their way all the way up, and disappeared over the hill. I am sure that they will be back. They seem to be coming regularly.

Dog Fun

This is the dogs having fun tonight playing in the backyard. They really enjoy being able to run around and play in a real backyard. It is nice to be able to wear them out, and have them calmer outside. We are taking them out before it gets dark, so we don't have to worry if the bear is out there or not. Tonight we had to wait for a few deer to get done eating and out of the yard before we let them out. Figured it would only be nice to let the deer have their dinner in peace.

Not Dog Print

This would have been left behind by a certain black animal that has been seen in the area. This time, instead of staying at top of hill, the said bear came into yard. Now, the yard wasn't good enough that it had to come up and unto back deck and play with the grill cover which now has a puncture mark in it. We had heard a weird nose, but thought that it was the cats playing downstairs. It was until the next morning that the evidence was found. I guess it liked the smell of the burgers that we had made for dinner.

Dog Print

This is Wrangler's print.

Adventures and Deer

For the past few days, we have had deer in the backyard eating our berries. Yesterday it was three does and two fawns. The deer around our house tend to be pretty tame. There are some that are real skittish, but there are other that will let you watch them and come up pretty close. I was sitting on the swing on our back deck and one of the does came up and actually stuck her nose through the bars on the railing to look at me. Tonight there was only one that came and she didn't seem to mind me watching her. Wrangler hasn't been happy about the deer in the yard. I had to put him in his crate yesterday because he kept jumping up against the sliding glass door. Today, my sister, Kelly, came with her niece. Her nephew had open heart surgery last week and she has been watching his sister. Kelly took the wrong road to our house. She is now swearing that is where Jimmy Hoffa is really buried. We took the road after lunch to see where it led. Kelly had turned around the first time. Well, we went from being 2 miles away from house to ending up on the other side Hawley. It was quite the ride, and for those of you who think our road is bad, we found that was by far worse than anything we have to drive on regularly.

bear

Here is the larger picture. It is blurry because the bear was moving faster than Leo changing the setting on the camera. It is one of the reasons that I used the smaller collage pictures. I guess I forgot that some of the readers require the larger pictures.

Backyard

Leo and I were on our back deck this evening. We had gone out earlier because there were some deer eating in the backyard. We were sitting on the glider when there was some rusling. Leo said he thought he saw a deer, but the trees were blocking the view. Then, he said he thought that it might be a bear and that was exactly what it was. We had seen the deer from earlier running at the top of the ridge like something had spooked them. I guess they also ran into this guy. It was a nice sized bear. Not the biggest that there is but it was a pretty good size. This is definitely something that we wouldn't have seen at out townhouse in Jersey.

Welcome from Blueberry Hill

Well, we finally got our phone hooked up today. Verizon didn't come yesterday as scheduled, nor did they call to tell us they weren't going to get to us. Leo had to travel down into town to find out what was going on. He was treated with a nice oh well attitude. Problem with some companies today is that you are talking to someone with a fake american name living in India who can't help you and since they don't live in the US have no idea what kind of customer service skills they should be possessing. Leo got this firsthand. If that wasn't bad enough, first Indian person he spoke to that set up service didn't tell him that he needed to call a special number and department to set up our DSL being turned on. That wasn't done today, but Leo got a Netzero CD to use until it is, but it is dial up so it is real slow. Needless to say, he wasn't happy about any of this. He started biking yesterday and is back out today. The weather has been nice. Only the male turkey was around for most of the day. Haven't seen any deer since the last one we saw when Leo parents were here. I do have some pictures on the other computer to put up once we get real internet. If anyone wants blueberries, feel free to come and pick you own. There are plenty here for you to get and even more to come.