Turtle love?

Were they having a friendly conversation?  Facing off ready to fight?  Flirting?  Who knows with turtles.

 

Boardwalk

The pond boardwalk across the Yates millpond.

 

Mill

Another view of Yates mill across the millpond.

 

Anole

This little anole friend was hanging out on a barrel.  He slowly turned from brown to green.

 

Yates Mill

Yates Mill Park preserves a working grain mill complete with mill pond and mill.  Several times a year, the mill is put to work and actually grinds corn.  It is the last working grist mill in Wake county.  

 

Old cabin

This cabin has been preserved near the Yates Mill.  

Here's a picture from the Library of Congress from 1938.  (see here)  Is it the same building?

 

Turtles

It was a chilly day, so the turtles weren't exactly basking in the sun.  

 

Clouds in the pond

Sky reflected in the pond.

And here's the sky above.

 

Yates mill again

Another view of the Yate's Mill from across the millpond.

 

Beaver chew

The beavers must have worked hard on this tree.

But they left the tree in place.  A lot of work for nothing.

Ducks in a row

These mallards were huddled against the wind.  

 

Kingfisher

We could hear his laughing call for a long time before we saw him. This male kingfisher just wanted everyone to know he was there.

 

Millstone

The idiom: to have a millstone around your neck, means to have a responsibility that is hard to escape from.  And here is a millstone.  You would not go far carrying this one.

 

Mill Pond

The mill pond at Yate's Mill is not a small puddle.

 

Yates Mill

Yate's Mill is the only operable grist mill in Wake County.   It began operation in 1756 and continued until the 1950's.    (see here)  It doesn't operate often, but once or twice a year they grind corn at the mill.

 

Grindstone

Keeping your nose to the grindstone doesn't seem like such a good idea when you actually see one.  Even worse would be to have this millstone around your neck.  This huge stone was used to grind meal at the Yates Mill.

Theme day: Sensual

This seems like a strange theme to me.  But sensual means using your senses.  All pictures use the sense of sight, so that leaves the other 4 senses.  To me, this picture of the joints of a log cabin at Yates Mill depicts the sense of touch.  

boat ramp

You can tell this boat ramp hasn't been used in a while, you'd have to fight your way through the cattails to get to the water.  It goes into the mill pond at Yates Mill. 

Never give up

I'm always amazed at the life force in trees.  This tulip poplar must have fallen years ago.  the original trunk on the ground has pretty much disintegrated.  But it sent up four shoots that turned into trees in their own right, out of the trunk of the fallen tree.  

Great Egret

The Great Egret is hard to see in the picture, but his reflection in the water is easier to see.  He was hiding out on the edge of the mill pond at Yates mill.