Ambulatory Andrea. SHE WALKS! 6-11-2023

With the crutches gone, Andrea was walking with just the boot. She wanted to go on a hike, so we picked a relatively flat place where we could see stuff without a ton of work. We chose a place that I'd pushed her in the chair a few weeks prior. Now, we could get to a few better spots, even knowing we'd be cutting it short. It was sunny and nice and things seemed pretty OK.

Our first secret place paid off with a Water Snake basking on the edge, right next to the water. Upon closer inspection, this guy has a bum eye so the Vitamin D will do him a lot of good.

Much to our dismay, a lot of the place was set up for a disc-golf tournament. Teams of kids and adults, 99% male, of course, were cutting in front of Andrea, seeing her limping along in the boot. The game was obviously more important. So we moved on. The peninsula, a great place for frogs and Water Snakes, had a tarp over the water to catch stray discs. I got super passive-aggressive to the guys working there and we moved on.

The next inlet was beyond the stupid tournament so I went in and looked. Nuthin'. Then, heading back up to the trail, a massive Nerodia skittered away. How I'd walked right past her, I'll never know.

She was a beast, despite a stub-tail, impressive enough for Andrea to come down the sloping path. It was worth it. She was ready for her close-up.

We made our way to a vernal to see what was happening there. It had gotten a bit smaller since our last visit but it was teeming with tadpoles. Toads? Woods? I really can't tell.

This Green Frog was also there. Could they be Green tadpoles? I don't think so. Maybe.

Sit-downs were going to be plentiful. We grabbed a shady bench and sat there for a bit, looking out over the pond. This Eastern Wood Pewee (#69, dude) was sharing the space with us, hunting flies. At one point, he flew right at Andrea and grabbed a fly right in front of her. It was a huge treat to watch this bird just doing its thing, unphased by our presence. This shot makes me laugh.

Turtles were tough this time out but we finally found a Painter being fabulous.

In the bird blind, this spider was keeping us company. It is a Leucauge venusta, an Orchard Spider.

We did what we could but didn't want to overdo it. Heading back, we rested on the Pewee bench for a while. He was still there hunting. Andrea is a badas

The pond had some (in)action this time around, too. Some distant Painted Turtles were up.

Walking back, Andrea pointed out a Garter that I'd just walked past. While trying to get a pic, he curled up into a nice coil.

I contributed with a little guy that was slithering next to the path. Like the massive Water Snake, this guy was a stub-tail.

I couldn't resist checking in on the big gal on the way back. She was still there, folded neatly into a comfortable coil.

Back to the beginning, a group of hey-brahs were playing disc-golf but there was a Water Snake posing nicely so I got my shot.

One dude said that they were playing, insinuating that I was in their way. I said, "I just need to photograph this Bullfrog first, then I'm on my way." Not as passive-aggressive as before. I'm learning.

I peeked into the secret place where gooey-eye had been earlier. He was gone but nearby, this Water Snake was resting in the dappled sunlight.

I flipped many a stone heading back to the car in hopes of a Ringneck or a salamander. I came up empty. While Andrea visited the facilities in the visitors center, I ambled out back to a disc-golf tee that was unoccupied. There were rocks along the steps. Finally flipped my Ringer.

Oddly enough, it was another stub-tail. Not surprising considering the boy-men playing disc-golf couldn't care less about anything but their game and never even consider something might be living under the rock. I gently grabbed it and saved it for Andrea to see, then released him under the same rock.

So, She hoofed it for just under 3 miles in her boot. Hot damn, that's good. And by doing so, we saw some great animals. I don't know when our last 3 snake species hike was but it was definitely before the accident. 

We left and got ice cream. We earned it. Andrea did, anyway.