HATCHED!

On May 1st, in the wee hours of the morning, my husband noticed baby geese on the pond.  When all was said and done, those eggs that had been carefully tended for the past few weeks by mother goose produced six little chicks.  Yesterday, I was able to snap a few photos of the new family before they ventured off down Tom's Creek and away from the maddening crowd (my hubby and I and our daily walks around the pond).

A look at the empty nest revealed one lone, unhatched egg... just like last year.   I have no idea why all the eggs didn't hatch.  The full nest contained eight eggs, but I would say 75% is quite successful at that!  Most would agree in our area there are no shortages in the geese population.  It's just neat to experience their arrival first hand.

Our resident geese have a pattern of arriving in April, laying eggs within a week, hatching their young in about a month, and then heading down the nearby creek on their spring/summer journey in May to parts unknown.  Often they nest in exactly the same spot each year.  It's fun to ponder how they are able to find their way, or at least one of last year's geese if misfortune brings one of them a new mate, back here to our pond year after year. 

                            
Wood ticks are rampant now in our woods and yard!  We take a small empty plastic bottle (like a shampoo sample bottle) and fill it with cheap rubbing alcohol.  I like the wintergreen colored alcohol because it smells great.  This little bottle can be carried easily in a pocket and when we encounter a wood tick crawling up the leg we simply plop it in and shut the lid tight.  You can put over a hundred ticks in one bottle, and there is never an unpleasant odor.  Never flick a tick, it's easier to put it in alcohol than to crush it or burn it or scotch tape it, especially when you're outside appreciating the world around you.