We had gone to bed with the hopes of waking up early so we could enjoy a beautiful and sunshine-filled day at Poplar Stream Falls here in Maine. Well, that wasn’t the case. We had experienced some really heavy rainfall earlier in the night and well after we had gone to bed. Then the wind started. This was the type of wind that shakes the house violently and you think the roof is going to come clear off. It must have been some time in the early morning that I woke up to complete silence and darkness. The damage was done, our plans were off and so was the power. We wait patiently for these beautiful days to come to Maine in the spring. This means no mud, no bugs, and no humidity! We tried to hold out for the hope that the power would come back on soon, but as time marched on, things were not looking so good. With all the rain and wind we had, you have to know a bunch of trees was uprooted, branches had fallen, and were now most likely leaning on power lines all over the state. It was difficult to believe that a whole day would be wasted waiting for the power to come back on.
After a wonderful camping-like style breakfast of coffee, eggs, and toast, we decided to take a spin by the Double B Horse Rescue in Industry. It seems every time something like this goes down here, we all tend to convene there to get the scoop. Rumor had it, that the power was to return by 3:30 pm. In the meantime, we got to spend some time with the horses. We discovered that Piper the draft horse had been adopted and is now living in Massachusetts. We haven’t seen him in a while in his usual spot and we thought he had been moved to another stall, but in fact, he had found a new home. This was quite a bittersweet discovery. I’m glad he has found a new home but sad to see him go. Piper had quite a presence at the horse rescue. He would throw his weight around and was always the first and last in line for horse treats and apples. I’m very happy for him and he will be missed.
Piper the draft horses
The horse rescue has two new editions as well. First, Misty, a thirty-year-old draft horse from Pennsylvania, and second, Cadillac, a young Tennessee Walker. They are sharing the same area of the barn, because apparently when they were separated, Cadillac jumped the fence to get back to be with Misty. This must be true love! I also spent some time with one of my favorite horses, Little Ginger. She has had a not-so-great past but is very well taken care of here now. I didn’t get any great photographs of her, but I will include one from a few autumns ago. We also spent some time with the donkey and the mini horses. We also peeked in on Angel Marie, the celebrity of the mini horses. I didn’t want to disturb her while she was eating, so I just took a quick photograph of her. You can learn more about her story on YouTube.
Little Ginger, one of my favorite horses
Misty the draft horse
Another photograph of Misty
Cadillac the Tennessee Walker
A donkey looking out from its stall
A pair of mini horses
A mini horse
Angel Marie the mini horse
With some more time to burn, we decided to start our spring planting of herbs and vegetables. We picked up a bag of planting soil a few days ago with the goal of starting the growth of our seeds indoors. While we were in the backyard, I discovered an injured male Purple Finch on the ground. Nothing was broken as far as I could tell, but his left eye was injured. I was worried he would succumb to hypothermia sitting on the ground and he wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon, so I carefully scooped him up and put him in a cardboard box with some dried grasses and shredded-up napkins. The wind had died down from the night before but was still going strong. I’m not sure if he flew into the side of the house or if he was picked up by a gust of wind, but I knew he needed some time to recover from his shock. I placed the box inside the garage, so he wouldn’t fall victim to predators or be subject to more wind. I hoped he just needed time and rest. The box would provide a warm and dark place for him to do so.
An injured male purple finch Haemorhous purpureus
While the bird was getting some rest, I took some time to take a few bird and nature photographs around the yard. We are experiencing some more of our annual spring blooms here, so I wanted to get some photographs before they disappear.
Red trillium flowers Melanthiaceae
A decomposing birch tree Betula
A song sparrow Melospiza melodia
A mourning Dove Zenaida macroura perched on a post
A blooming trout lily Erythronium americanum
Later on, I checked on the bird and I could see his left eye moving despite his injury and he appeared to be much stronger. When I thought the bird could handle it, I had him perch on my finger and he flew into the trees. He perched on the same branch for a while and I left him alone. We decided to head out in the car to see if the power and returned elsewhere. We discovered a few houses up the street had their power returned and we kept our fingers crossed that we were next. The sun was going down at this point and we hoped we wouldn’t be sitting in the dark all night. On the way home, we stopped at the lake for some photographs.
A purple finch perched on a branch
Clear Water Lake In Industry, Maine
The sun going down at Clear Water Lake
Another view of Clear Water Lake
When we got home, I checked on the bird and he was gone. I hope he got off okay. We had a late dinner in the same camping-like fashion, but by candlelight this time, and then the power came back on around 11 pm. All things considered, the day turned out to be okay and perhaps it was a good thing, the day didn’t go as planned.
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