I spent most of the weekend building a more erosion resistant spillway for the lower pond. Given the recent flooding (6/28 and 7/12) we have experienced the pond has done quite well. The overflow is quite broad and new grass has started, although it doesn’t have a great root system yet.

This weekend I dug a shallow trench and then smoothed and broadened it with a garden rake – about 2 hours work. Then I picked rock, helped on Sunday by Billie Jo and filled the shallow trench – about 7 hours of rock picking. The product needs some cleanup and fine tuning, but largely looks like the picture below.

Tuesday night I was mowing my pasture between the two ponds.  I was on my 2nd pass around the section when a young otter ran out of the tall grass headed to the stream flowing out of the pond.  He was sleek and a dark, seal brown color.  I am sure he thought he had hit paydirt when he found the small pond stocked with small bass and minnows.

This past weekend sister Barbara joined Kathryn, Eric and I in our camper at Soft Maple.  Billie Jo, Billy and Dakota brought their tent and joined us.  Eric enjoyed the trip as there were several other kids camping this weekend as well.  On Eric joined them in burying a brother.

Saturday evening we hiked to a nearby gorge/waterfall.

Sunday morning after breakfast there was a wild game of campsite bocci.

The bass that we previously stocked in the ponds have demonstrated their predatory nature.  There were a lot of frog eggs and tadpoles hatching in the ponds – due to the lack of predators.  Recently that has changed as I have observed the small bass prowling along the banks to catch bugs and tadpoles near the edges.  The other night I watched three bass seemingly hunting in a shallow area as a pack.  I can’t say they were working cooperatively, but I was reminded of the raptors in Jurassic Park.  Needless to say the tadpole population is greatly reduced and very skittish.

Our 4th of July holiday included several family gatherings. Barbara brought Mom & Dad to our house for a Friday picnic leaving Mom for a couple days “vacation”. On Saturday Ed, Kelly, Phoenix and Izzabella joined Billie Jo and Dakota for a picnic at our house. Unfortunately, I never gathered everyone for a group picture. Below is Ed, Jim, Billie Jo and Mom.

Below are Billie Jo with Dakota, Ed with Izzabella and Mom.

Ed holds Izzabella in preparation for lunch.

Izzabella enjoys Eric’s swing.

Dakota checks out the photographer.

Kelly holds a council with the kids: Dakota mets Izzabella while Eric and Phoenix look on.

On Sunday we joined the Hay family at their “Big Land”. We took our camper and stayed overnight. Eric was non-stop playing with his cousin Nathan. They had their own picnic table for breakfast. Below are Nathan and Eric at breakfast.

This past weekend Kathryn, Eric, Trey and I took the pop-up camper to Soft Maple Reservoir for an overnight camping trip. We packed and loaded up on Friday night and hooked up on Saturday morning. We were at Soft Maple by noon, set up and had sandwiches for lunch. We took Eric to the beach to play for a couple of hours before returning to the camper for a little shut eye. Before dinner we took Eric (and his new fishing pole) below the dam, but didn’t have any luck.

After dinner we tried again on the main lake and Eric caught a 12″ small mouth bass. It fought so hard that he panicked and gave his fishing pole to me to land the fish. He was so excited that he was jumping up and down and calling his catch “The Largest Bass In The World”. Later we had a fire and toasted marshmellows turning in around 10pm. Sunday morning Kathryn and Eric went back to the beach while I packed up. We returned home by 2pm.

I typically take a multi-day May canoe camping trip. Previous trips included the Unadilla/Susquehanna Rivers, NY http://www.npmb.com/cms2/content.php?article.510 and Clarion River, PA http://www.npmb.com/cms2/content.php?article.635.

A few years ago we did a day trip starting at Earlville and going to Sherburne in fairly high water. There were a lot of strainers and we had some concerns about having adequate water levels. This year we chose the Chenango River going from Sherburne to Chenango Forks NY.

The Chenango River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately 90 mi (145 km) long, in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissected plateau area in upstate New York at the northern end of the Susquehanna watershed. It rises in Madison, approximately 20 mi (32 km) southwest of Utica. It flows generally past Sherburne to Norwich, where it turns southwest, flowing past Greene, and Chenango Forks, where it receives the Tioughnioga River. It joins the Susquehanna from the north in downtown Binghamton. Flooding can be a concern during the spring and fall. The river basin is sensitive to rainfall run off so check the water levels before your departure.

We received rain early Saturday morning which stopped before we launched. There are water gauges at both Sherburne http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ny/nwis/uv?01505000 and Chenango Forks http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=01512500. We were fortunate the Chenango River was running a little higher than normal with the gauge at Sherburne recording 250cfs and 1100cfs recording at Chenango Forks gauge.

We departed 0930 Saturday morning and quickly found ourselves stymied by deadfalls blocking our route. We pulled our canoes up a muddy bank (a common occurrence on the Chenango River), dragged them across a field and re-entered down another slick muddy bank. There were about 6 new trees in the river that appeared to have been recent (2006) additions. None of these caused any problems, but we did get dumped by a strainer just before our lunch break. Skip & Bob dodged a bullet getting through the strainer and we hoped to have enough momentum to get the nose of the canoe past the strainer, but to no avail. Our only casualty was Steve’s hat which never re-appeared. After our dunking we pulled out on one of the few rocky beaches, had lunch and dried out. We paddled through Norwich and took a short break in Oxford for an ice cream and fluids. The towns of Norwich, Oxford, and Greene all offer convenience shops for picking up snacks, drinks or ice. We stopped for the night around 7pm at a large island below Oxford near Warren Pond and Twin Bridges Road.

Sunday we paddled below Greene and camped up Genegantslet Creek, a small clear tributary. As the temperatures climbed in the mid-90s we shaded up and splashed around in the stream. The only drawback was the number of nettles blanketing the terrain which we had to flatten to make tent sites.

Remnants of the Chenango Canal were evident below Greene as laid stone walls. In the 19th century the river furnished a critical link the canal system of the northeastern United States. The Chenango Canal, built from 1836-1837 between Utica and Binghamton, connected the Erie Canal in the north to the Susquehanna River. The canal was rendered obsolete by railroads and was abandoned in 1878.

Monday we paddled during the morning and exited at fishing access located at confluence of the Tioughnioga River. We retrieved our vehicles and packed up before light showers began.

Along the upper searches we saw a lot of ducks and recent hatchlings; along the lower portions we encountered more Canada Geese. We also heard and saw a lot of kingfishers, cardinals, catbirds, orioles. While we didn’t fish along the Chenango we saw carp spawning and a few local fisherman reported catching small mouth bass.

The National Weather Service Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service offers a wealth of information on the current water levels for the Chenango River. http://newweb.erh.noaa.gov/

A few pictures from the trip are posted at http://www.jimmuller.com/Trips/Chenango River/

Jennifer, Billie Jo and Dakota Marie enjoying a Dakota’s eating style.

Dakota Marie giggles

We went to Kelly’s sister’s house for Izzabella’s 1st birthday party.  Below is a picture of Kelly & Bella posing with her cake.

Kelly, Ed, Phoenix and Bella

Ed and Bella are below.

My sister and brother-in-law returned from a trip overseas with a present for Kathryn – a stuffed Bernese Mountain Dog.  It was one of the more realistic stuffed toy dogs I have seen.  Trey liked it too.