August 1

August

 

The ponds and lakes have changed notably these past few weeks since I last visited. Even the two-track access road is showing late summer’s untidiness, with tall grass everywhere in seed and dead falls here and there which have been left uncut. Most of the wildflowers that line the sides have gone, save for the wild carrot that thrives in the few sunny spots where the canopy thins. The fall asters are bidding their time.

Just before the road ends at Asnebumskit Pond, tucked to the side and slightly within the low area of woods is one of Paxton’s few certified vernal pools. Last time I was here, the water was seeping from the pool across the road via a small ditch that had been created by erosion. (The dogs are used to this obstacle when we walk in the spring, and I smile at their steeplechase leap across to avoid getting wet.) Now the pool itself is nearly dry, which is the norm for August. The teeming sounds of spring peepers and wood frogs we enjoy so in early spring have receded, yet there are crickets in full.

There is still an abundance of life to be explored, and on occasion I’ll take a small vial full of the remaining pool water home to put a drop on a slide. A microscope reveals a complexity of plant and microorganism life that is simply wondrous. There are creatures here that have intricate adaptations for survival.

Asnebumskit is showing its late fall appearance. The reed grass and rush sedges are tall, as are the cattails and golden rods that line the northern shore. Though it is called a pond, it must be deep enough; plant growth goes out only so far, and the deep water areas are free of both plant and algae. Shallow ponds, like that of Thompson Pond or Streeter, are filled now with a mixture of water lily cover and duck mill, and algae bloom. The latter seems thicker in Thompson, I suppose on account of the fertilizer run off from the houses that border its edge.