Chicken in the Sky

Instead of ink blots, I am giving you all a Rorschach test with clouds. I see a big chicken stomping across the horizon. What do you see?

We have a conservation easement on our property that protects our 22 acres from any further development. This morning we had our Annual Monitoring Visit from the Otsego Land Trust. I planned on meeting them at the end of our driveway so that we could drive over to the far side of our land first.

They were late in showing up and that turned out to be a real gift for this snapping turtle who was slowly making his or her way across Rte 28. The speed limit is supposed to be 25 mph on our sharp bend in the road, but everyone does 55, the regular speed.

My Chicken Lady Friend Anita had pulled over to help the turtle make it across, or I never would have noticed it. I just happened to be standing out there with my big walking stick ready for my tour through the woods. I had never seen a snapper before, so I might not have been smart enough to go get a stick if I didn't already have one in my hand.

The OLT lady, May, who showed up shortly after, is from Tennessee and Mississippi. She said down South they say that once a snapper latches on, they don't let go until it thunders. Yikes...

And the last pic is from our tour of the even weedier back of our property. I thought this plant could have been Giant Hogweed, but some further investigating online says it is Angelica, a native non-invasive weed that can still cause burns like that evil hogweed. Yikes again.