Steven Helmer Publications

This is what happens when you get a lot of rain while the ground is still frozen. With the exception of a small strip up by the house, my entire back yard is currently a frozen lake. Hopefully, the yard itself will bounce back. I am, however, concerned about the stuff in my shed since I'm sure some of that is currently under water.

We've had quite a bit of rain dumped down on us since yesterday evening and, since the ground is still frozen, there really isn't any place for it to go. As a result, I'm getting a fairly deep puddle of water where my back yard used to be. On the bright side, I don't have a basement so I don't have to worry about water in that. However, I am a little concerned about my mower and everything else in my shed since the water is right up to the door of that.

Nothing overly special about this photo, it's just one I took while on top of a hill overlooking the marshlands. I'm still watching out for that deer I saw drinking from the pond a couple months ago, hoping it will pop out again.

I was on my morning walk by the lake and saw something that was a little concerning. There was a thick layer (it almost looked like a sheet of ice) of a bluish slime covering the water of the tributary connected to Beaver Dam Lake. I'm not sure what it was exactly. I'm guessing it was some sort of algae. But, it had a nasty smell and there were dead fish floating in it.

I didn't get an opportunity to take a walk yesterday because of the rain/storms that went through. So, I decided to at least stop by the lake on my way into the office to try to get some of my steps in. As always, I had my camera with me and got some photos. There were quite a few geese by the lake this morning and, since they decided they didn't want to move, I had to walk around them. The water was pretty rough this morning and was pushing these young ducks around. In fact, I got a video of it: When I first saw this duck, I thought it was dead. All its friends took to the water when they saw me. This one just continued to stay in the one spot and didn't budge. She, later, got up and walked away. A picture of a gull as it stood by the water looking for food.

It was kind of cool outside the past few times I went for a walk and I didn't see too many turtles out as a result. It was warmer today, however, and I did spot these three on a log.

It was still very overcast this morning and, with the rain we've been having, I decided to keep my walk short and went by the lake. Here are some of the photos I was able to get, despite it being kind of dark out. There were quite a few geese at the park this morning. This, of course, meant I had to watch where I was stepping out of fear of getting something smelly stuck to my shoe. But, at least they were cooperative as far as photos are concerned. The lake was really choppy this morning. I know there have been concerns about the rising water levels and those waves were actually pretty scary looking. Even the ducks were afraid of the water. They were all hanging out on shore or on some of the boat launch platforms rather than trying to swim around in the lake.