Good Looking Ducks

Oops! Hahaha. Obviously, that's not a duck, good looking or otherwise. That's a dead raccoon that has been gracing the entrance to the dirt road. Further along is a dead skunk. Of course, I suspect rabies and called the animal control officer here in town. She was mighty unconcerned and mentioned that they "probably wouldn't do anything about it". I reminded her that the rabies virus remains alive for something like 48 hours after the animal dies and while I may know enough to keep Jules the Dog (or myself) from touching it, some unsuspecting kid may wonder along and think it would be fun to mess with the dead raccoon. Whatever! Just trying to do my civic duty. (Don't worry: I took this picture with a zoom lens).

Of course, I really have been seeing good looking ducks. Here on our own pond, we've had hot three way duck action, with lots of excited wing flapping and crazy mini white caps appearing from all the froth cooked up by two male mallards and one lucky female. I thought we had a rogue whale loose in the pond with all the splashing. And there have been mallards on the pond further along the dirt road, too, but do you think they'd oblige me by making an appearance when I think to bring my camera? Nope! So the bird book picture will have to suffice.
Ditto with the American Merganser:

He was quite the stunner but a dramatic no-show when I come equipped with a camera. (He and his female counterpart were there today when I was camera-less. Along with the mallards... maybe it's a conspiracy!) Maybe I'll remember to bring the camera and the ducks will appear and I can replace the lame illustrations! Here's a shot of the pond that all those absent ducks sometimes hang out on:

But here's a cool wild flower:

This is Bloodroot. It's growing abundantly at the side of the road. Along with Anemones and trout lilies, there's a bunch of wild things blooming now. Jules is unimpressed with the flowers I point out to him as he's way more preoccupied with all the exciting things to smell. It's a very active time of year!

Missed Photo Op: The Southbury Police to the Rescue

What was I thinking? We had a close call yesterday and tremendous excitement and where was my camera? Upstairs sleeping. Here's what happened:
Bob went outside to saw some boards under the carport (home of my Future Studio). Our neighbor was outside and warned Bob that a suspiscious racoon (as in staggering as if drunk, out in daylight- possibly rabid) was roaming around and they had lost track of it. Bob promptly went back to sawing. A few minutes later, he comes in to tell me that the racoon was hiding behind some plywood, under the car port, just feet from where he was working. We called "the authorities" (local police) who dispatched a cruiser. (We watched as he drove up to the wrong house. That was funny; Bob had asked if they wanted directions...) Anyway, the policeman called the Animal Control Unit who helped flush the animal away from the house and the BOOM they shot it. So there's the officer with a smoking pistol, the heavily made up Animal Control Unit person (more eye makeup than even me!) with no gloves or eye or face protection and this dead racoon being boosted into a garbage bag by a neck loop device of some kind. And I neglect to photograph this???!?!??? What was I thinking?
Anyway, here's a picture of Jules who had to stay inside during all of this and seems to be asking, "Why don't I ever get to have any fun?"