Bluff Spring Journal
January 2010
A cold snowy day can't deter the dogs from having their fun. They loved romping around in the snow. Burying their noses through the white fluffy flakes like a ground hog. They were hilarious! But the thing they loved the most was chasing the Frisbee.
Sid had a great time also. He just couldn't understand why you couldn't eat all of this stuff.
The Boxley Valley Elk were out this evening. The lone bull with his herd seemed to be enjoy the fact that we were also paying him some attention.
We also came across a flock of wild turkeys. I have never seen this many together in one place. I counted 41 birds as best as I could make out.
A couple of them would occasionally strut their stuff.
The zoo swans were out also. This is a pair of what used to be four swans that were introduced to the Boxley Valley. We don't kown if the other two were away from the pond or if they might have suffered some other fate.
Jan. 17
We're off to find some waterfalls and check in on the swans again. After making our way down the Boxley Valley we spotted the swans in a smaller pond a mile or so north of their usual pond. Thinking that this might be the pair that we were missing yesterday we proceeded onto the Old Mill Pond. So swans to be found here, just a flock of geese in the water. Anita made a quick U-turn and we headed back north up the valley. We then stopped at the smaller pond and got out to check on the swans and let them have their usual conversation with Annie our smaller but older corgi. I swear the dog has something going on with these swans. We noticed it a couple of years ago when I spent a good 45 minutes in the freezing cold trying to get a picture of another pair of swans back at the Old Mill Pond. The swans were at the far side of the pond and even with a 400 mm lens and a 1.4 converter that puts it over 500 mm I couldn't get a good picture of the swans. Disappointed I headed back to the SUV where Anita and Annie were waiting. Anita said Annie was needing to potty so she got her out and let her proceed to do her thing. All of a sudden the swans started swimming directly at us from across the pond. I couldn't believe it but that didn't stop me from quickly setting up my tripod and taking their photograph. We could have set there all day with the swans a mere 15 yards from us. Fast forward to last night and the same thing happened. The swans were at the far side of the Old Mill Pond but this time instead of wasting 45 minutes we simply got Annie out and sure enough here they came. And this is a different set of swans. The first set were wild yet they both responded the same way to Annie. Of course we now refer to the as 'Annie's Swans'.
Here is a photograph of the original 'Annie's Swans'
Having checked in on the swans we made our way to Broadwater Hollow. This set of waterfalls is 8 tenths of a mile north of the post office at Comptons. Going north you turn to the right on a gravel road across from the local fire house. You then proceed for two miles until you cross the creek. You can either park up the hill before you cross the creek or just after the creek crossing. It's pretty muddy this time so we parked up on the hill above the creek and made our way down to the trails that go along the creek. The dogs had a great time. Running up and down the trails all along stopping to take in the multitude of new smells and sights. This creek flows down over a couple of falls. One where the stream splits and creates two falls. Then as today sometimes the creek simply disappears into the stream bed. You see this quite often but here in Broadwater Hollow you can hike another 200 yards to a very deep hole in the ground where you can't see the water but you can hear an underground waterfall. I vowed sometime to bring someone who can help me to rappel down into the hole and get a photo of that waterfall. Sssshhh. Don't tell Anita.
After going another half mile we found where the creek came back to the surface in a large pool that was deep aquas in color. It was a beautiful pool set at the base of a bluff where the creek turned to the right and headed down to the Buffalo. After a short rest we headed back up the creek with a couple of happy but tired corgis.
We were so engaged by the beauty of the day I didn't take one photograph. So here's one from my spring trip to this area. Notice the red columbines at the top left of the photo.
Jan. 18th.
It was a beautiful sunrise at the cabin. Can't say much more about a scene like this.
January 27th--Happy Birthday Sid! (corgi #2)
The 'Little Man' as we like to call him got presents and best wishes from several sources. He loves his new toys and especially liked his birthday cake. Yes, we are a little dog crazy and do give our pets animal friendly cakes on their birthdays.
February 2010
Freezing fog flooded into our area overnight and because of photos I have missed before I grabbed my camera and threw it into the SUV. Sure enough the scene below greeted my eyes when I approached this 90 bend in the James River.
