Happy New Year!

We are into the new year. I had very ambitious plans when I started this blog but I never did write about most of the events that occurred in 2016 that provoked me to start blogging. Irritatingly, I've spent more time fiddling with formatting this blog than actually writing. And, I'm not sure if I like the way it looks currently but I'm afraid of trying to "fix" it since it may end up looking worse. I've also tried different ways of getting the photos on my phone to this blog. All this to say, even though I've spent some time figuring out Blogger, the content of this blog thus far is not what I had in mind. I do think it's an useful way to keep track of our weekly activities. But enough of this.

There was a light dusting of snow in the early hours of New Year's Day. Jim and I met at 10, an hour later than usual, and walked through the park. We started on the Trail of Cedars and the arcs of the salmon berries were nicely frosted.

We went to the Southern Forest. The gully has a fair amount of water in it now. I'm not sure how John created the side trails but it seems to me that where the trail from the Trail of Cedars meets the trail from our Jobox, is a natural continuation of the gully and so that junction is quite soggy right now.

The gully near the Southern Forest.

Jim and I looked at our recent work removing blackberry canes and discussed the possibility of doing more in the area. Also, Jim would like to tackle some of the young black locusts that are cropping up. After this short visit to the Southern Forest, we took our usual trail back to Meridian and walked once again on the Trail of Cedars.

We looked at the puddles on the north side of the trail. Diane Brewster, who delineated the wetlands, concluded this area is not a wetland. It is close to the stream buffer (for Meridian Creek) but the puddles (I don't know what else to call them) are actually closer to the trail than to the stream. Judging from the maps, I think these puddles are outside the stream buffer.

I did notice some bulbs are coming up.

Below are more views of the puddles. We had planted some ferns in the area in the fall of 2015. Obviously, a few are now submerged.

This last photo below is taken from the trail, to give you a sense of how close the puddles are to the trail. The ground does dip down, so perhaps the area just collects water and the puddles are nothing more than that.

We then looped around the ponds to the north, where we again looked at the oil absorbing fabrics in Thornton Creek by the north parking lot. They had been changed but we don't quite understand their purpose now. We didn't see oil and the fabrics appeared to be just picking up mud. We walked on the east side of the ponds, noting locations of ivy, particularly when they are climbing up trees. We then went to the arboretum. Someone has been yanking off the lower branches of the redwoods. It appeared that there was a "fort" or shelter in the making using both redwood and cedar branches. I don't know where the cedar came from. Jim speculated this was more of a kid activity than a "camper" seriously trying to create a shelter. But even kids should not be breaking off branches. Would signage help? I don't know.

We ended the day in the Arboretum Annex. It was nearly noon.