Rain and More Rain

A "Low Front" has come through giving us lots of rain (one and a half to two inches) but in spite of the weather, we headed off to northwestern Connecticut to inspect five RV parks in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and see such cleverly named facilities as "Chipmunk Market" and "Hayloft Lounge" at a particularly beautiful park called Lone Oak Campsites in East Canaan, CT.

We passed the Connecticut River near Middletown as we headed north amid morning rush hour traffic.  The river was beautiful and quite high on its banks.  Here we saw a ribbon of Canadian geese winding its way above us in the sky in the vague shape of a huge "V" and heading northerly.  We have been hearing them where we are staying and frequently seeing them resting in fields when we are out and about, so this must be the prime time for them to migrate.  They mate for life with a very low "divorce rate" and the pairs remain together throughout the year.  Usually they form stable relationships in their fourth year and start producing offspring thereafter.

Connecticut River

Churches, clock towers and cemeteries along with town commons and historic houses capture my imagination as we pass by them and I can almost picture the Colonists walking here among the tree lined streets.  In settling this area however, I am told that the inhabitants almost completely deforested the area for farming and killed off almost all of the wildlife.  An interesting book I have been told about that describes this phenomenon and the subsequent comeback of both trees and animals.  It is called "Nature Wars" by Jim Sterba.  He describes that the pendulum has swung the other direction now with many wildlife species becoming pests as their populations come back.  An interesting animal called the Fisher Cat is one of these.  Connecticut had traded wild turkeys with Maine in exchange for Fisher Cats in order to import the Fisher cat back into the area.  They thrived here, but now this animal is falling into the pest category also I'm told.  These mammals have fluffy tails almost as long as their body.  They are tenacious hunters and will even kill squirrels and cats (Snoopy is not allowed outside, so no worries there!)  Beavers, deer, and Canadian geese are all pests to some degree now also due to their numbers.

Only one of multiple churches.

The "Town Clock Tower"

A "Town Square"

Cemetery

We went down everything from paved roads to dirt roads under construction to find our parks.  Another park of note was one where the late owner had two "pumpkin chuckers"-a large one and a small one for tossing pumpkins hundreds of feet into the woods or across fields.  Once I saw the competitions for this in Burlington, WA and it was absolutely amazing how far a pumpkin will fly through the air.  Certainly you are aware of a television show that airs annually covering these competitions.

Dirt road and under construction!

The smaller of two "pumpkin chuckers"

The larger of the "pumpkin chuckers"

We headed home in even heavier rain-tired from experiencing our first intensive day of work.  We are satisfied that we have begun this work journey in earnest conquering the multitude of forms and criteria enough to do the job while committing a mountain of initial details to memory.  We found our way to places remote and some not so far off the beaten track.  With all, we met interesting people and saw the good that people are doing with their little part of the world.  It is a good thing.

A rainy trip home...