From our Swallow Falls Park trip this summer. Ok, you guys are just TRYING to give me new gray hair, now . . .

Augh! Don't!

[ID: Two photos of a large, eroded rock structure in the middle of a river. Two slim young men are halfway up, examining the rock for climbing holds. In the second picture, one of them is looking up at a rock overhang, thinking about climbing it.]

At one point I felt compelled to go over to another mom who was standing nearby and looking VERY stressed. "They're 22," I told her, "I just have to hope for the best."

Wouldn't it be nice to be twelve again? Tubing in a cool creek. Who can make the biggest splash.

Saturday at the Yock

Summer day, the kids (and Roommate) and I went to Swallow Falls State Park. It's one of my very favorite places, and we try to go every year. The Youghiogheny River (pronounced Yock-a-hay-nee) starts in West Virginia and flows north through Maryland toward Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The park has three sets of falls and, when the water is low and calm in summer, it is wonderful for swimming. The huge boulders and massive flat plates of rock make every inch of the river a playground. Climbing, scrambling, sliding down rocks, wading, swimming, and jumping in the water . . it is all fun. We had a great time, aside from the very tense time when Son and Roomate were free-climbing a huge stone 'island' with vertical sides that sticks up out of the river. Erosion forgot that part - it's just standing there.

Oh, and the river has old-growth hemlock forest on either side, which is beautiful in its own right. Just stunning. I'm so tired, but - what a good day.

Unrestrained summer fun

   Well, yesterday was a day and a half. One of my cousins made the trip to visit us, and we took him to Falls Cut swimming hole for a little cliff-jumping. Because nothing says “I’m over fifty, but I’m not dead yet!” like jumping off a rock face into deep water.

   The smallest ledge for jumping is about ten feet/3 meters, which seems more than enough when you’re standing on top looking down at the water. The higher ledges are WAY too much for me (and my cousin) but my son will jump off. In his ongoing twenty-year quest to give me a heart attack.

   It was fun, and the water was very chilly but not so much that we truly suffered. The sun warmed everybody up afterward.

   In the evening, after he left, the kids decided to go out for more adventures, and ended up at Kuhn Lake. The water level is very low, and they explored the ‘beach’ area that used to be several feet under water. The also found baby catfish in the shallows. Kittenfish? Way cuter than adult catfish, whatever you call them.

   They returned home with tales of fish, snails, and mosquitos, and the house eventually settled down for the night.

   Until a chicken started screaming at 11pm. I jumped up and got the the living room in time to see my son and Lady heading quickly out the front door. I ran to the back door to turn the floodlights on. When I got outside Lady was slinking back toward the house and my son was standing near the chicken run staring perplexedly at a heap of white/gray fluff. It was a possum, who had successfully tricked Lady by playing dead. However, it was a mama possum. And, with her lying still on the ground, all 7 or 8 of her babies had abandoned ship. They were toddling through the wet grass, “Eeeeep”ing like tiny car alarms. My daughter heard my son tell me there were babies, and came zooming out of the house. We all three had to capture soggy baby possums and put them back near the mother. And then - come up with a plan? If we just let her alone, she’d almost certainly be back trying to eat chicken the next night. It’s just too tempting. We ended up loading Mama and babies into a cat carrier and transporting them down the road about half a mile. Son left them in the cat carrier at the edge of a field and forest, and we’ll go back for the carrier this evening.

   Heaven only knows what the mother thought when she woke up. At least she’s far enough away (I hope) from the chickens to avoid temptation.   Good grief. It was not a restful night.

The Hottest Day

   Today was our hottest day of the summer. At least, I sincerely hope it was. One of my cousins visited and we took a trip to a lovely swimming spot with rocky cliffs.

This is an inexpertly stitched together wide view. The water is rather cold most of the time, and just about tolerable in a severe heat wave like this. Due to quarrying the deepest part is Very deep, and so cliff-jumping is safe. Safe-ish.

I was the designated picture-taker and filmed their jumps.

[ID: A swimming hole in a medium-sized creek with green water. The area has rocky cliffs on both sides and a railroad tracks and tunnel in the background. The second shot show the water looking down from the top of on of the cliffs.]

Strawberries and cicadas

   Yesterday (May 23) we saw the first large groups of adult cicadas and I picked the first ripe strawberries from my struggling strawberry patch. The strawberries were incredibly delicious. The chickens and turkeys thought the cicadas were incredibly delicious. Throwing a bunch of bugs or slugs into the chicken run creates a frantic scrum very reminiscent of “shark week”.

   Tomorrow I have to take my father to same day surgery to have his pacemaker battery replaced. I very, very much don’t want to have to so this, but it must be done. The thought of being ‘trapped’ in the waiting room for hours on end is just giving me the heebiejeebies.

   Also yesterday my son decided to take a trip to a lovely waterfall/swimming hole area in Pennsylvania. We got out the swimming towels from winter storage, put on an insufficient quantity of sunblock and hit the road. It was a beautiful day. The only way to get to the place is by walking through a railroad tunnel. I absolutely dread the though of being in there if a train came through, even though there is plenty of space to be safe. I always run awkwardly through, trying not to trip over the rr ties and large gravel. It’s such a relief to come out into the sunshine on the other side! The kids did the cliff jumping and I did NOT.

[ID: two photos of a medium-sized creek, rocky cliffs, and a deep hole full of green water. There is a very rusty railroad bridge and the area is surrounded by trees.]

May 24, 2021

   A couple more pictures from Falls Cut Tunnel. The deep parts of the water are SO deep that you can’t touch bottom even if you try. Deep water horrifies and fascinates me, but I did my best to keep up with the kids. Some time maybe I can go back with my paints!

  Western Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia are all a lot more like each other than they are like the more developed, urban parts of the states. It’s a lovely place to live.

Winding up the summer

   The last week of August is always fraught with back-to-school details and last-minute adventures we want to take before it’s too late. This morning  began with me canning one last batch of tomato sauce (8 quarts!) while the kids did some overdue yardwork. 

Then we grabbed a bite to eat and headed out to Falls Cut Tunnel in Pennsylvania. It is not that far from us, but on the other side of a large mountain - so it’s three times as far to drive there as it would be to sprout wings and fly. My son discovered it by a Youtube video, and visited with friends last week. 

   It was, simply put, stunning. To get there one has to park at the side of a winding country road, hike down a gravel trail, cross a railroad bridge, and walk through Falls Cut tunnel. The tunnel, I have to say, is one of the biggest optical illusions I’ve ever encountered. It looks so short! You can see the other side clearly! It isn’t until you’re hiking (and hiking and hiking) through the middle, praying a train doesn’t come, that you can tell how long it is. But on the other side:

   Just idyllic! We had a happy two hours hanging out, swimming, jumping (I did it once) and scrambling over rocks. The water was bracingly cold, but the rocks held a lot of heat and warmed us right up if we sat on them.

   A good memory for the colder days ahead!