RED-BUDS - Harbingers of Spring

click on photos to enlarge

Shade and I drove into the wildlife management area at Buffalo Springs this morning and I was immediately impressed by the gorgeous pink and magenta colors that surrounded the area.  I had to stop the truck for a moment and just take it all in.

 Red-buds, to me, indicate that winter is over and spring is present.  That's how I see it anyway.  They are among the most beautiful visions indicative of the end of cold weather.  When the red-buds are out you can bet the woods are becoming alive with wild flowers.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.

Red-buds seem to "just appear."    Its a sudden occurrence.  I think that folks take the red-buds for granted down here in Tennessee because they are so common in the springtime.  They occur yearly and are as reliable as time itself.  Being from Pennsylvania - I am impressed every spring with their beauty and am constantly dazzled by their beauty.

The Eastern red-bud, Cercis Canadensis, grows from the Great lakes down through Alabama and into Florida.  It even resides as far west as Texas and Oklahoma.  An interesting thing about red-buds is that they seem to grow with other species of trees.  It sort of mixes in with them and often time intermingles with and among bushy, shrub type plants.  The blossom's colors range from pink or blue to magenta.  The blooms usually appear around the second week of March depending on the weather.

 The sky was overcast and I knew the colors would be vivid when photographed.  Its hard to believe but, I have not photographed any red-bud trees since moving to Tennessee.  

I took a short walk with Shade to enjoy the colors.  Things seem more joyous when surrounded with color.  We are scheduled for some heavy rain over the next two days and that will make the wild woods flowers pop out instantly.  My mind drifts to Calderwood Lake and the gorgeous spring shoreline colors.  I gotta get up there fast.

I had to run some paperwork over to the Region IV TWRA Office and it was time to get on the road.  "Shade - get in the truck."

I always hate leaving the forest and lakes to drive to town.  Sometimes its necessary but, I don't do it very often.

The lobby at the office in Morristown contains some stuffed animals that were hit by cars.  Shade has been here before but, today she took special notice to a stuffed fox and a coyote.

"Good to meet ya buddy.  What's your name?   Hey - I'm askin ya something here."

"So, what's your story?  How'd ya get this easy job?  Ya don't say much, do ya?

"Hey, Whitey - what's with Foxy over there?  What's wrong with you guys?  Can't ya all talk?"

"Come on Shade - lets go."


I looked across the yard when I got home and was pleased with what I saw.  Not being a domestic person - I overlooked the flowers and beauty in my own yard.  

Note the little white bouquets of button weed in front of the flowers and to the right side of them.

I don't know the names of all these flowers.  I simply enjoy them tremendously.

My attitude toward flower identification reminds me of my feelings toward states and countries. The lines that separate states and countries are imaginary - they exists on paper only.  Flowers are beautiful and I enjoy them as if they were fine paintings. They're Latin names have been assigned to them by ancient admirers.  New species are assigned Latin names also, for some reason.  Its nice to identify them and call them by name but, I am frustrated to no end with the current ilk of flower field guides and I have no patience to pour over them only to find that I "can't" find what I'm looking for.  So, the heck with it.  I admire them for what they are and that's good enough for me.

Confederate Violet - I think.

These flowers and red-buds make me feel good.  This is going to be a wonderful summer full of discovery and interesting adventures.  I love Tennessee.


I wish you could be here Douglas.  I really do.

CANOEING FOILED AGAIN

Click on photos to enlarge

An hour and a half drive to Tellico Lake found the water blown by wind.  I can't win.  There wasn't a breeze where I live, East of Tellico Lake, when I drove away from the house.  The goal was to paddle across Tellico and enter Citico Creek and photograph wood ducks.  This is the second foiled attempt to paddle a canoe over there.  When I lived in Greenback I was only 15 minutes from the lake and if conditions weren't good - I would simply drive back home and load up the dogs for an outing at the ruins.

Chilhowee Lake

I live so many miles away, now, that the day is over by the time I drive back west to my favorite lakes and return again.  Its almost too late to start a new outing after returning.  There's no place to take the dogs over here anyhow. Chilhowee and Tellico Lakes are in series - that is to say that Chilhowee empties into Tellico Lake.   I left Shade home and had no other motivations without her.  I turned around and drove back to Jefferson City where I live.  What a let down!  I'm of a mind to hang the canoe under the porch and forget it.  Everyone says to me "Cherokee and Douglas Lakes are two miles from you - just paddle on them.  

An important part of canoeing for me is the scenery as I paddle along.  The expectation of seeing wildlife to photograph is also part of the purpose.  No matter how hard I try I can't force myself to paddle on either Cherokee (rock and stone quarry) or Douglas (mud bank city).  To me they both are depressing places.  

Douglas Lake yesterday.  Note the debris floating.  Sweet!

They are good for fishing and that's about it.  I find absolutely nothing beautiful on either lake.  Even the black vulture population is small as there isn't anything on either lake to die for them to eat.  People, people and more people.  Bass boats, pleasure boats and jet skis.  Yes, they have a few bald eagles that can be seen from time to time but, the sightings are rare.  I believe the Gheenoe is going to get a workout this Summer.

"I told him not to go without me today but, he wouldn't listen."

"Its OK Dad - I understand and I love ya."

"Love you too, Shade."

TARGET BALD EAGLE

Above:  Baby bald eagle

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/15/feds-grant-permit-to-kill-bald-eagles/?hpt=hp_c2

Here's a total BS reason to kill eagles. I never thought I would ever see the day when bald eagles could be legally killed for any reason. When are these people "Indians" going to traverse the time barrier from 1755 to the current age of 2012? This is ridiculous and nonsensical and for the federal government to grant permission to kill the representative of our nation over some religious right is preposterous! Indians are supposedly educated now and absolutely know better. Most tribes have cannibalism in their tradition and heritage but I don’t see the federal government granting the taking of heads and eating human flesh. And furthermore - who the hell is the federal government to give "our" eagles up to anyone?

Not that my sentiments matter but - I will enthusiastically voice my written opinion to the federal government about this absurd ruling starting tonight. This is outrageous and I'm appalled that an American Indian would want to end the life of one of these majestic birds. I'd think they would be proud and protective of this magnificent eagle.  Rulings such as this are made by bureaucrats and  politician idiots who never set foot off the parking lot in front of the white house and could care less about two bald eagles.  Spineless, dangerous morons is what they are.  The story continues below with further examples of special consideration by American Indians:

Co-management is a term used to describe the government-to-government relationship between the state of Washington and the Indian tribes whose rights were established in treaties signed by the federal government in the 1850's. It is also used to describe state-tribal management of salmon, steelhead, groundfish, and shellfish in the Northwest. After nearly a century of conflict and litigation, the rights of Columbia River Indian tribes were re-affirmed in a 1968 federal court case (U.S. v. Oregon) by Judge Robert Belloni. In 1969, the court ruled that the tribes were entitled to take "a fair and equitable share" of the harvestable portion of the runs. The court also held that the state could regulate tribal fisheries only for the purpose of conservation, and that those regulations cannot "discriminate against the Indians". The rights of Puget Sound Indian tribes were re-affirmed in a 1974 federal court case (U.S. v. Washington) by U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt. The order determined, among other things, that the tribes have a right to harvest up to 50 percent of the harvestable surplus of fish within the tribes' usual and accustomed fishing areas. http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/constraints.html

The idiocy and hypocrisy of the eagle situation can be see in two news clips, one proclaiming how they are protected and the other explaining that the Indians are being given special permission to kill some:

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/2012/0112_bald_eagle_shooting.html

The next one tries to downplay it, with the bulk of the article saying how concerned the government is to save the eagles. But it finally says they're letting the Indians kill two of them for feather waving practices. The article takes us all for fools: http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/eagle_statement.html  Furthermore - there are two dead eagles shot by morons in the freezers at TWRA.  Why not give them to the Indians?  They're already dead.  This is all nonsense!


Bald Eagles belong to me.  Yes - Me!  And you.  The Indians don't have a monopoly on them.  They are OURS, Damn it!  And I don't want them killed for any reason!

FORSYTHIA AND CHILHOWEE LAKE

click on photos to enlarge

The water of Chilhowee Lake is bordered by the extravagant colors of spring.  Rich blues and bright yellows are predominant with a smattering of pink and orange.  The entire glorious vision is sprinkled with bright, rich green with the browns of winter diminishing.

Our house sits about 600 feet off a country road and is bordered by trees and woods.  I can, however, see the roof of one house from my porch.  This bothers me.  I have thought about this all winter and have decided to plant a wall of shrubs and fast growing pine trees to block this bit of litter that falls under my eye on a daily basis.  I have already planted eight Thuja Green Giant pine trees with four foot spaces between them.  Those went in last fall.  They are supposed to grow one foot per year.   However, I would like to add color to the place and additional screening from the outside world.  That job would fall to Mr. Forsythia.  I love forsythia (yellow bells).  The bright yellow flower makes a dull, dreary day seem just alright.  As you know by now Scona Lodge holds a place dear to my heart but, shes been buried and there is nothing left.  I noticed large quantities of forsythia growing near the water at the edges of the now defunct golf course below the ferry landing.  This offered me an opportunity to bring a part of Scona home to my place and to keep her legacy alive, if only in my mind.  Shade and I left early this morning in the pouring rain for Scona on Chilhowee Lake.

Route 129 (The Dragon) has sustained yet another rock slide and is closed down.  We had to drive to Townsend and get on the Foot Hills Parkway and follow it to Chilhowee Lake.  We were in no hurry and the mountain road was welcomed.  I didn't take pictures as the rain was incessant.  We pulled into the boat ramp parking lot and the rain stopped.  This was a change.  Maw Nature is cooperating with us for a change.

The temperature was right at 75 degrees on this cold lake and the surface was smooth as glass.  This would have been a fantastic canoe day.  I can't do it all at once.  The canoe is coming out next week for sure though.  We turned toward the far shoreline and followed it closely to enjoy the scenery provided by the bright colors of the flowering red buds and wild flowers that bloomed close to the ground.

The scenes before us were a delight, very welcome and are a contrast to the dreary, brown, baron mud banks of Cherokee and Douglas lakes.

A canoe paddle trip is definitely called for while all this wonderful color abounds.  I would like to skim along a couple feet off the shoreline and get right in "it".

I noticed a movement just ahead under some red buds that were hanging over the water.  I had hoped for an otter.

They were what appeared to be blue winged teal ducks.  They broke out of the cover far ahead and swam toward the center of the lake.  I kicked some speed into the boat to close the gap a bit.

They were making me shoot straight into the sun.  No luck.  I made a quick camera adjustment and hoped for the best.  Then they took flight.

They went right into the sun.  Arrg!  No luck.

They turned and flew parallel to the shoreline.  They put distance between us but at least they weren't going into the sun.

For some reason my thoughts went to wood ducks on Calderwood Lake.  They are my favorite duck.  These teals, however, would do nicely for today.

The Scona ferry landing could be seen in the distance.  I moved the camera over and grabbed a shot with the 500mm lens.  The shroud of kudzu that covers the mysterious lady lends a sinister aura over the place.

We would search for a safe place to bump against the shoreline and tie off the Gheenoe.  That isn't an easy trick as the shoreline at Scona is bordered with rock and boulders.  I wanted to beach at the lower end of the Scona grounds which lays downstream from the old slate house that stood just below the lodge.

The forsythia was everywhere.  It would be no problem to dig out a few plants and be on our way.

This spot would do fine:

The yellow flower was everywhere.

I had ten plastic shopping bags and a cardboard box with me.  The idea was to dig out as much root with attached soil as possible and put the root system into the plastic bag - one plant per bag.

I pruned the stems down to about a foot above the root mass.  This would allow for easier transportation.  The plants were put into the plastic bags and then into the cardboard box.  We got back into the boat and were off.

I wanted to get these plants home and in the ground as soon as possible.

I wanted to get back to plant the roots but I didn't have to "hurry" back.  We enjoyed the views along the shore at the brisk speed of 5 miles per hour.

If I can get a day like today next week I'll return with the canoe and just ease up this lake and soak in the views.  Today is spectacular!

It doesn't get any better than this - unless you're on Calderwood Lake.

Great Scott!  Calderwood is probably in flower also.  I have to get up there.  Its imperative!

We could see the boat ramp coming up and the little ride would soon be over.  I love it down here on Chilhowee.

.

Once the boat was on the trailer and tied down, I doused the plants with water.  They should keep well until we got home.  Once home, I drove to the area where the forsythia would be planted.  I wanted to get it in the ground as soon as possible.  I dug the holes and carefully placed the plants inside.  Water was added and it was done.  I hope they root and grow quickly.  I now have a little piece of Scona Lodge in my yard.

There is another tale to tell that isn't very happy, I'm afraid.  I'll save it for another blog entry as I'm not sure of the outcome of an event that happened here only yesterday.  I hope you enjoyed the boat ride today.  Be kind to a dog this week.  They need all the help they can get.  Remember - its not their fault.  Nothing is their fault.