Spring has sprung

We got up this morning after 3.5 inches of rain overnight and had to unclog our backyard drainage system. Norris wore tall boots and unclogged the storm drain while Cheryl broke the logjam that had formed around the stepping stone bridge.  The overflow design our landscaper engineered did the job and we have only some erosion under the deck to repair, with no water threat to the basement windows. A couple of hours later when the sun was out, we took a few photos - this is the swale that runs down the mountain right outside our kitchen.

This evening the flow is much smaller, but we are expecting more rain tonight.

While Cheryl was out of town last weekend, Norris finally filled the hummingbird feeder which had gone dry even though no hummers had been spotted.  Eventually he saw at least one male, and today we have seen possibly three coming and going.

After being in Chicago, I can't help but notice our spring is much father along.  This picture was taken in an attempt to capture the hummingbird sitting on the wire of the deck railing, but it's nice just to show how beautiful the new green leaves are in the fading evening light.

A short trip to the High Country

On one of our early trips to North Carolina, we hiked at Linville Falls then headed north, passing  briefly through the area of Blowing Rock and Boone, but didn't spend much time. On Wednesday we headed up to enjoy the region.

As we got closer to our destination, it seemed like every bend in the road had a waterfall.

After lunch in Blowing Rock, we went to the Moses Cone Memorial Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside of the town. Moses Cone was an American textile entrepreneur, conservationist, and philanthropist of the Gilded Age. Cone's factories were a leading supplier of denim to Levi Strauss.  He and his wife had no children, and donated Flat Top Manor to the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, which later passed it to the National Park Service.

You can enter the house only to visit the gift shop area run by the Southern Highlands Craft Guild. The estate has 25 miles of carriage trails, which are wide with gentle slopes, making for pleasant walking among the towering rhododendron, not yet in bloom.

The landscape at this elevation still appears very much like winter compared to our house, just 500-1000 feet lower. We strolled about three miles along the trails.

On Thursday, we headed to Grandfather Mountain.  The view in the next photo is from the environmental habitat area for the wildlife, just outside the Nature Museum about half way up the mountain.

The park keeps deer, river otter, eagles, black bears, and cougars in 1-2 acre enclosures. All the animals are unsuited for life in the wild on their own. This is Yonahlossee, a female Black Bear, trying to nap while we took her photo.

The park formerly allowed visitors to purchase food for the animals, but for the past few years, the staff does all the feedings. They schedule periodic "enrichment" sessions to stimulate the animals and entertain visitors. We got to see Yonahlossee work with a treat-puzzle toy, much like we are advised to use with our indoor cats. (The large white obstruction is the concrete wall separating the visitors and bears.)

After getting her favorite treats out of the toy, Yonahlossee let us admire her beautiful white blaze while she studied her audience.

We did not get to see the river otter, but did enjoy the two eagles - flightless Sitka from Alaska, and one-eyed Griffen from Nebraska. I think this is Sitka.

Cougars have been declared extinct in this area but used to inhabit the Appalachians. Grandfather currently has two. This is the male, Aspen, anticipating the enrichment he obviously knew was coming.

Aspen and the smaller female Nikita checked out the "scent" enrichment - shedded snake skins tucked into PVC pipes tossed into their enclosure.

It's always interesting to compare the behaviors of large cats with the ones we live with.  This is Nikita, soaking up the sun. 

Here is Nikita again, on her way to get a drink from the pond that formed a moat between the cats and the visitors. There was also a large concrete and glass wall.

We left the animals and headed up to the famous Mile High Bridge. We took the steps up to the bridge from the nearby parking area.

The bridge is at 1 mile above sea level, but only about 80 feet above the gorge at the ridge top. After crossing the bridge, we walked over the rocks to enjoy the 360 degree view. 

 

 We took many pictures but will share just a couple of them here.

As we descended back to the parking area, Norris got this photo of the "flagging" trees - growing on only one side to demonstrate the direction of the prevailing winds.

We think we'll go back to Grandfather to hike some of the trails from the State Park.