Gardens at the University of Maryland

I don't remember the name of this park, but it may well be my favorite.

As opposed to the above which is a little out of the way, this statue is in the heart of campus:

 

This shady rock garden is known as Woods Hall Garden:

 

 

I'm very fond of the Chapel Garden:

 

 

The next three are outside the Rossborough Inn, the oldest building on campus.

This final shot is near the Armory:

 

...and there are many other gardens on campus.  The landscaping crew does a nice job.

 

 

Bluegills are spawning

Their circular spawning beds were quite distinct on the west side of the pond on the far side.  I was a little surprised because it's later than usual, but it probably wasn't their first spawn of the season.  Caught a few then decided to leave them alone.

Farmers' Market

From Spring until late Fall, I routinely go to a number.  Last Sunday, it was the Takoma Market Farmers' Market where I bought some sausage for the grill.  Also put some tomatoes and green peppers on the grill that afternoon because I'm interested in cooking more vegetables outdoors.

Night baseball

Considering how much I like the game, I've been to too few baseball games in recent years, but I hope to correct that this season.  Last night I enjoyed watching the Nats beat the Reds.  The food, beer, and being with friends added a lot.

Prior to this game, Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto had been the most effective in MLB.  Here he is warming up in the bullpen before the game:

He pitched well until the 6th inning when the Nats jumped all over him for 7 runs.

 

The presidents' race is always popular with the fans:

 

 

 

Star-of-Bethlehem

 Genus Ornithogalum, but I prefer the biblical common name.  Although they don't last long,  I look forward to seeing them pop up each Spring.

The sky and the water

Because multiple lines are used for spring trolling in the Chesapeake, you spend a lot time watching the rods for a strike, and your field of vision includes a lot of sky as well as the water.

Here's Capt. Billy Pipkin assisted by my fiend, Capt. Dave, setting up some of the 16 rigs we used yesterday:

We left the dock at Ingram Bay at 6 AM and immediately headed north up the Bay.

We turned into the Potomac and spent most of day opposite Georges Island on the Maryland shore.  We returned to the dock 8 hours later having caught our limit: 

Seven fishermen and seven good fish.

First trip on the Bay this year

After having a couple of trips cancelled because of stormy weather or boat repairs, I finally got out on the Bay today.  As well as myself, Kenny Wells invited Donna and Kirk who are old friends of his:

The weather was nice and some good rockfish fell for Kenny's trolling rigs:

 

Kenny and his 25 foot Parker fish out of Chesapeake Beach. 

 

 

So far this season

More or less in this order, I've caught the following species of fish:

Blue catfish
Striped bass
Brown trout
Bluegill
Crappie
Rainbow trout
Largemouth bass
Hickory shad

The last one came from a trip to Fletchers Boathouse on the Potomac last Friday where I hooked about a half dozen shad in two hours of fishing with a spinning rod and landed all but one.  One of the fish was quite large and may have been an American shad rather than a hickory.  I should be better than I am at distinguishing between these species just as I should have been able to determine whether the crappie was a white or black crappie.  When I'm releasing the fish, my priority is getting it back in the water without harm rather than close examination to determine exact species.

"Did you have a nice time?"

As long as I've fished, the most common question one local fisherman asks another has been, "Have you done any good?"  As I was leaving the Patapsco River downstream from Daniels Friday, I passed another fisherman who was just arriving, and he asked, "Did you have a good time?"

The only other person who often asks that question after I've been fishing is my wife.  It could be that I was sullen long ago after an unsuccessful outing and responded angrily to an innocent inquiry as to whether I caught anything, and she decided asking if I had a good time was safer.

At any rate, it's a better question and yes, I done good.  Caught a nice rainbow trout on a yellow crystal bugger.

Greg in concert

He moves too fast for a slow shutter available light shot.  His band, Burning Shadows, sounded good tonight at the University of Maryland.

Insect Order Plecoptera

Commonly called stoneflies, these aquatic insects spend most of their lives underwater in what's called the nymph stage.  To undergo their metamorphosis to the adult stage, they make their way out of the water onto rocks or trees where they sprout wings.  For mating, the males make a drumming noise (the beat goes on) by pressing their abdomens against the leaf or ground or whatever they're standing on in order to attract a female.

However, sometimes they find themselves perched not on a rock or a leaf but a fisherman who is standing in a stream near the shore in search of trout.  Such was my situation on Friday on the Little Patuxent.  The momentary annoyance about having a bug crawling on my chin was offset by the realization that this stonefly hatch would be of interest to hungry trout, and sure enough I soon spotted a rising fish feeding on them. 

I've caught trout on this and other streams in early Spring in exactly these circumstances, but not this trip.  I tried three or four casts to the spot before the fish stopped rising and I had to head for the car to travel home to get ready to go out on the town with my wife.   Even though I didn't catch anything, it was worthwhile to witness again this natural cycle.

Last snow of the season?

Hope so.  Hell, it's supposed to be Spring.

A black wooly bugger

That's what I used to catch two trout on the upper Patuxent yesterday.  Started the day going downstream from Howard's Chapel Road, but got caught in the rain without my rain gear.  Walked back to the car to get the rain gear and eat lunch and decided to drive further upstream to Hipsley Mill Road.  Both fish were brown trout, one six and the other nine inches long.

Water level was 2.5 at the Unity measuring station.

The confluence of two streams

The Little Patuxent is on the left and the Middle Patuxent on the right.  I took this picture on a hike Thursday.  On my doctor's recommendation, I try to walk at least a half hour daily.  Because of bad weather I've missed some days recently, so I got in a lot of walking that day to make up for the missed days.

First fishing trip of 2014

On Saturday, Col. Andy, otherwise known as Ski, and I booked a trip with our friend Capt. Mike Starrett for some cold weather fishing on the Potomac River just downstream from the Nation's Capital.

The main catch were blue catfish:

 

But we also caught a few rockfish:

 

Here's the big guy,  Andy, pulling in the best fish of the day, a 40 pound catfish:

 

 

 

We got in the trip just in time because it snowed again  Sunday night.

Positive end to a frustrating basketball season

Watched Maryland end 61 years in the ACC with a win over Virginia who was ranked number five in the nation.

Before the game, some of the big names in Terp basketball history were available to sign autographs, but we didn't feel like standing in the long line.  However, I did sneak through to get a shot of Gary Williams:

 

I was happy for the victory and also that the students finally got an excuse to storm the court when the overtime ended because they had been waiting for a big win all season.  I didn't wait around to get a picture though, because we were eager to eat.

 

 

We're all expecting more wins like this next year.

 

 

 

Tiefest 2014

Coming to the end of a long, hard winter, I'm looking forward to warmer weather and fishing.  One annual break from cabin fever is the local fly fishermen get-together, Tiefest.

Fly fishing legend Lefty Kreh is always a big draw.  I've watched his casting demonstrations many times but never tire of them and always learn something.

He often remarks that women are much easier to teach than men.  "I can teach a woman to cast in about a third the time it takes to teach a man," he says.  Then he adds, "As long as it's a woman I'm not married to."  At 89 years old, he's truly amazing.

 Lefty's especially eager to introduce children into the joys of fishing:

Another celebrity in the fly fishing world is Bob Clouser who invented the famous Clouser Minow:

 

Most artificial flies are tied not as exact imitations of natural foods but as impressionistic depictions that fool the fish because of their life-like appearance and behavior in the water.  These salt water flies depict baitfish:

 

 

I'm tired of snow pictures...

...I say as I post some more.

 

This main purpose of this blog has always been as a journal of what I do (and sometimes what I think), and snow has been dominant in my life for the past few months. Ironically, last year I realized that in documenting the looks of the house and yard in various seasons I was lacking in snow scenes.  In response, I made certain to get out and take some photos the next time it snowed because it may be our only snow off the winter.   Well, we had a few other minor snows that winter, and each of them was diligently recorded.

 

This year has been quite different.  I've lost track of the number of snows and have felt no such responsibility to photograph them since the blog no longer lacks snow scenes.  Nevertheless, snow has been what I see, so inevitably snow has been what I photograph lately.

 

 

 

 

So much for Spring...

It has snowed off and on all day but there really wasn't any accumulation...

...so I took a walk in the park.                     

First Sign of Spring?

Crocuses in our yard:

 
 

                                  



 (Croci is also acceptable as the plural form.)

Snow again

About 10-12 inches Wednesday night and then a few more last night.

 

Went for walk and surprised a deer in the woods.

 

 

Of course, I really didn't need to walk to the park to see deer.  A few of them have been hanging out in the side yard lately.

 

 

Not too visible in that picture, so here's a closer look at one of them:

 

 

We're supposed to get a little more snow tonight.

 

 

 

Cold Winter

Temperature hasn't been above freezing since Monday, and most nights have been in the single digits.  Still walking in the park every day though.

In the center of the picture above, the Canada Geese are swimming in a circular area of unfrozen water.  Below is a better view of that area.  A few days ago the surface was completely frozen over, and I'm uncertain about what caused this part to open up.  It hasn't been because of any warming trend because there hasn't been one.