RIP Buddy!

Posted on August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 by Dusty Roads

stray 002 copy Buddy arrived unannounced on the coldest day of the year in January 2013. He was fully grown, age unknown and he had cattitiude.

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With a little white tip on his tail he could take on the world. He made up his mind that he’d found his furever home and nothing I could do would change his mind. I re-homed him twice but he managed to get returned to me both times.

We had some fun time and he trained me well.

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He would walk on a leash just like a dog.

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He was so big that some of my neighbors thought he was a dog!

He was a very handsome fellow right up until the end.

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It came fast. One day he couldn’t eat, then he stopped drinking and his breathing became labored. We tried to entice him to eat and we ran loads of tests. It was finally decided that although they couldn’t pin point the mass there was cancer somewhere. Fluid was going into his chest cavity.

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Through it all he was brave and kept his sweet disposition. He took all the needles and poking and prodding with grace and dignity. He’s the only cat I have ever had that let me “pill him” without a fuss.

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The prognosis was grim and after an emotional discussion with our vet the decision was made to help him cross to the Rainbow Bridge.

RIP Buddy, you were a great cat! Love you much.

Lighthouses, Eagles and a Seal , Oh My!

Posted on July 31, 2016July 31, 2016 by Dusty Roads

As we headed out of the harbor into the Bay of Fundy we passed the first lighthouse.

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The 2nd one would be on Machias Seal Island. Both Canada and the United States claim sovereignty. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to staff a lighthouse on the island.

Machias Seal Island

The whole Island is considered a bird sanctuary so boardwalks have been constructed for the humans to walk on to avoid stepping on nests or baby birds.

On the way out of the harbor we spotted a pair of bald eagles.

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It gives me a thrill to see so many of these magnificent birds. It was hard to get a picture as the Barbara Frost was starting to pitch a bit as she picked up speed.

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We didn’t see any whales.

It was about an hour trip and it felt like it. It was cold even when we huddled near the cabin. Hard to believe that it was 90 + in Boston!

Our first indication that we were nearing the island was a raft of small black and white birds.

A raft of Razorbills

They are called Razorbills and also nest on the island with the Puffins. Right after the razorbills came in sight a puffin flew across our stern. These bird make me think of bumblebees. They have such round little bodies and stubby wings. Its hard to believe they can fly at all!

Bumblebee of the Bird World

Right after that we spotted the lighthouse.

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We were surprised to see some gannets mixed in with the razorbills on the rocks but the biggest surprise of our approach was the stranded seal!

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I mentioned the huge tides in a previous post. Well apparently this guy hauled out at high tide and forgot to leave when the tide receded.

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Now we watched in fascination and horror as he slowly (and painfully) worked his way down the rocks. He landed face first more than once. I mean, that’s got to hurt!

Still Going

Determination

Almost there

He was almost to the bottom when we got the go ahead to land from the coast guard and had to miss his big splash. It was time for us to start part 2 of our big Puffin Adventure.

3:30 am is sooo early!

Posted on July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Thursday morning it was time to rock and roll. Get out of bed, get moving. It was time to head to Marshfield MA where I would meet up with the Audubon Society for a tour of Maine’s Peatlands culminating in the PUFFINS of Machias Seal Island!

By 5 AM we were loaded into the Audubon van and headed to Ipswich River Sanctuary where we hooked up with another van. Altogether there were two leaders, Scott and Sue and 12 participants.

For the most part these are hard core Birders so I was about to be introduced to a whole new way of looking at birds. We were still on the road at lunchtime so when a Subway came up we pulled in and made the clerk’s day. The poor girl was faced with 14 hungry travelers and she was working all alone.

After lunch we all piled back into the vans and soon we were entering blueberry country. Our Birding stop was the Blueberry Barrens.

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The birders were looking for Upland Sandpiper, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow to name just a few species.

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We traveled on another long dirt road. It made me think of the time Sandy and I got twisted around on an Indian Reservation. We called it the “Longest dirt road in the world”. This one was a close 2nd.

Maine Dirt Road

The scenery was beautiful. The day had turned cool and damp and eventually it started to rain.

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We stopped to check out a marsh with a beaver dam. The birders used powerful spotting scopes and saw all kinds of birds.

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We finally arrived at our home away from home at about 5 pm. For the next 4 days we’d be staying at the Machias River Inn.

Dinner was at 6:30 at Helen’s Restaurant and then we wrapped up our day. We’d be up bright and early the next day. Breakfast was at 6 am!

Orca!

Posted on July 6, 2016July 6, 2016 by Dusty Roads

My neighbors and I were discussing my whale watch adventure and one of them kept asking if I saw any pretty black and white whales. I said not, Orca’s don’t come down to our coast.

That night on the news the headline was ORCA SIGHTING OFF CHATHAM, CAPE COD!

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Guess that will each me to say we don’t get killer whales around here!

A Whale of A Time

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Its the 4th of July weekend and I haven’t done anything that I wanted to do. I thought I had my former housekeeper coming over on Saturday to finish the paint job her son agreed to before he skipped town but she never showed. She finally Texted me late Saturday that she had to work but would come on Monday. I guess since she is from Brazil our 4th of July isn’t that important to her.

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I wanted to be here to keep an eye on the painting but I wasn’t going to give up my whole weekend either. Sunday I spent running around with my list of must-haves for the for the Puffin trip. so That just left today.

Capt. John’s posts to Facebook have been filled with successful Whale watching trips…calves, breaching and pods of over 100 whales. Amazing stuff. I decided to try the early trip. Maybe I’d be able to get back before they were all done with the painting.

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We were still quite away out from Stellwagon bank when I spotted a blow off out port side. I tapped on the glass for the crew and pointed. I got a nod and few minutes later the naturalist came on the speaker to acknowledge that whale but said he “wasn’t easy to watch” so we’d keep going.

The Captain played Sweet Caroline over the PA and encouraged everyone to sing along. That’s a great way to keep our minds off the whale!

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It was probably another 10 minutes when I spotted another blow, then another and wait. there’s another one! Pretty soon We had whales all around us and I stopped counting.

They were surface feeding and bubble net feeding. I had not seen that in years! I took over 100 pictures that I need to go through to share but here are a couple to give you some idea how close they came to the boat.

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