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Showing posts with the label groton

Revisiting Some Old Photos

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When I awoke this morning, a photo from the lake that we have hanging on our bedroom wall caught my attention.  As I laid there assessing my health, I was also thinking that I should go back to the file folder that contains the photos from this particular morning on the lake in 2013 to see if there was anything else that was worthy of hanging on the wall.   Although this first photo wasn't what I had in mind when I went looking for this file folder containing old photos, this photo is a rare photo...  a photo of Sheila and me!  In this photo, we are on the summit of Owl's Head Mountain at Lake Groton.  Adam shot this photo... The next few photos are actually the photos I was searching for this morning.  On this early morning in 2013, I had ventured out on my kayak just after dawn, as usual, to capture some photos in the still of the morning.  Everyone was still in bed but this is perhaps my favorite time to be out on the lake.  The lake is always mirror flat with a bit of fog t

Lake Groton to Woodsville

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Although the lake house is fairly close to our home (only an hour away), it is still a bit isolated. Being isolated means that we must travel over to New Hampshire to do our food shopping. This is only a half hour away but it is still quite different than our usual five minutes to the market from our home in Waterbury so , whenever we are at the lake house, we plan a trip to Woodsville, NH before and after every weekend so we can refill our pantry and refrigerator.  Woodsville is a nice little town so we actually enjoy making this food run twice a week. Plus, the prices in Woodsville are only 50-60% of the prices in Waterbury where we usually shop and the quality of the produce is far better in Woodsville! So we actually enjoy this little excursion from the lake house. Here is a short two minute video of the kids in the back seat of the car on the way to Woodsville... it is abundantly clear that they really do enjoy this trip to Woodsville... no fighting (okay... there is a little

Sailing With Papa

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Lukey really seems to enjoy sailing and I definitely enjoy our time out on the boat together. We went sailing a few times this summer, as always, but this summer I managed to capture some video of one of our outings with the intention of sharing it here. Well... okay... the real intention was to add this video to my large collection of videos of the grandkids. I did, however, want to also share it here. I shot about 30 minutes of video on this particular outing but I miraculously edited the video down to about 12 minutes so it is a bit more bearable to watch... especially for those of you who aren't Lukey or me! It is still a bit long but I wanted to keep all the minutes of footage that showed some interaction between the two of us. There was plenty of time when we just enjoyed the sailing in silence but, as Lukey gets older, there is more and more talk between the two of us when we are on any of the boats. We both had a great time... Lukey was a pleasure on the boat and it

Tracking a Bald Eagle for Miles

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We hadn't seen the resident Bald Eagle pair in a couple of days so we were wondering where they were hiding. We also hadn't seen any other significant wildlife such as bobcats and bears so I was feeling I needed to wander out to find something worth photographing. Sheila and I headed out on our kayaks yesterday morning. I had three cameras in my kayak... a Sony action video camera, a Sony full-frame camera with a 70-200mm lens, and a Sony crop camera with a 400mm F5.6L lens which gives me an equivalent of 600mm. I also brought along a wide angle lens for any landscape photos that may present itself. With these cameras, I was confident I could capture photos of loons, Bald Eagles, bears, bobcats, turtles or whatever wildlife appeared.  About a mile from our lake house, I pulled to the shore to check a nice sandy beach on State land for any tracks... I saw none. We continued on down toward the dam at the end of the lake.  As we approached the end of the lake, I noticed a r

A Few Photos from Yesterday

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Yesterday was perhaps one of the most beautiful days we've had at the lake. The visibility was noticeably crystal clear... the sun was bright... it was warm... the water was warm... it was quiet... and I was in very nice company! Today, weather-wise, was fair but both Sheila and I were exhausted. We ended up sleeping away most of the day. I had some health issues last night too and that always has a tremendous bearing on the days afterward. Today was no exception. We pretty much just slept and rested all day.  This evening, however, I had some time to sort through some of yesterday's photos... At this point in sharing these photos here I must ask, "Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Sony cameras, microphones, stereos, mp3 players, and televisions?" These photos here remind of just how much I love Sony electronics. It is a joy using cameras which produce such beautiful tonality and color while also providing the fastest and most accurate au

Bald Eagle Hunting for Lunch

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Today was a rather lousy day for shooting photos of wildlife. We sometimes go through spurts of seeing absolutely no wildlife. One year, we didn't see any wildlife for almost two weeks! Today was just one of those days... quiet. Instead of shooting photos today (although, I kept my eyes open in case something appeared outside our lake house windows), I sifted through some of the photos I've shot thus far and I found another Bald Eagle shot worth sharing here...

Our Perch Friends

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For a long while, we had a school of friendly Perch swimming around our beach and dock. There were twelve of them to be exact! It was really nice to see them because that is a sign of a healthy lake. Plus, it is nice seeing all sorts of wildlife no matter which direction you turn your head! These very friendly Perch were always hanging around our beach and dock, that is, until the kids insisted upon fishing and our little Perch friends immediately abandoned our beach and dock area for safer waters after Lukey caught one of the twelve. They left, obviously annoyed with us and terrified, and they haven't been back. "Post Edit - June 22, 2017:  For days, I've been thinking about this problem of this school of Perch being run off due to fishing. There is now a new rule in place for the lake house...  " Absolutely no fishing from the property. If you want to fish, get in a boat and fish near the State land or out in deeper water away from the house."  The fi

Bald Eagles Now at the Lake

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People seem to get excited to hear that the Bald Eagle is making a comeback in the northeast after being almost extinct. Personally, I find these birds to be an annoyance equivalent to a seagull and seagulls are something I always refer to as a rat with wings. The Bald Eagle is an aggressive predator preying upon other birds, wildlife and disrupting the life cycle of other animals already on the endangered list so I really do not look upon this nasty bird with affection at all. One of the things we always loved about Lake Groton is the amount of active loons. There is even a healthy dose of transient loons who come and go. I've learned a lot about loons and their quirkiness by carefully observing them over the years including all the difficulties this endangered bird has with effective reproduction. Having a monstrous predator hovering over their heads, harassing them, agitating them and trying to eat them is of no help to building the loon population. I'd rather see the loon

An Action Packed Day

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Today was an action packed day at the lake house! The grandchildren arrived today with their great-grandparents in tow.  They were supposed to be here on Monday but a last minute appointment near home kept them from visiting us until today.  After Monday's appointment, they had school on Tuesday and they have their last day of school tomorrow so that left today open for a quick day trip and they'll be back on Friday to stay for close to a week. After canceling their visit to us on Monday they were itching to get here today! The weather was rather chilly and windy this morning so we decided it was a perfect day for hiking to the summit of Owl's Head Mountain overlooking our lake. It was sunny and clear but a bit too chilly for swimming on the beach. This worked out well because when we arrived back at the house after hiking it was definitely warm enough for swimming and a little kayaking. The hike was great! The views were spectacular and, although we (the adults)

A Mix of Weather Today

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Up until this afternoon, we've had some brutally hot and humid weather with temperatures nearing triple digits and the same for the humidity. Since my health does not do well in warm/hot environments, it is fortunate that the weather changed this afternoon. Now we are experiencing rather cool weather with some scattered showers.  The skies appear to be clearing up again and the warmth is returning but it is significantly cooler than we've experienced thus far. I think we are supposed to have some clear skies through the night tonight so, if the biting flying insects are a bit more mellow tonight, perhaps I can capture some photos of the starry night sky. This morning we arose at 5:30am and were out on the kayaks by around 6:15am. The lake was placid and the temperature was comfortable for a change.   By mid-morning, the wind had whipped up to be perfect for sailing. Adam spent a little time on the sailboat skimming through the white caps. I haven't found the energy to