Saturday -- April 1, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.95     Water Temperature: 56

We decided to close the ferry today. the river is not quite five feet but because of the the strong wind we thought that it would be safer to keep the ferry closed.

Judging by the river predictions, the ferry will be closed tomorrow as well.

Monday -- April 3, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 5.3     Water Temperature: 56

The ferry is closed. The prediction is that the ferry will be closed through Wednesday at least. You can check the levels at this site. http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=lwx

Let's keep our fingers crossed that we can still have the workfest on Sunday.

The cormorants are back and there are wood ducks everywhere. Back in the 1980's when I first started watching birds, it was rare and exciting to see a wood duck even in remote areas. So to have them abundant here inside the beltway is really cool. I just learned that wood ducks will commonly lay their eggs in another wood ducks nest. I always wondered why we sometimes see the mother wood duck with twenty or more chicks swimming behind her.

Wednesday -- April 5, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.8     Water Temperature: 56

The ferry is open.

Thursday -- April 6, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.7     Water Temperature: 58

The Wildflower Walk is on Saturday and it looks like the flowers are cooperating with the schedule. The bluebells are at their peak right now and the Island looks as if it is hosting a flower show. Most of the flowers that you'll see on the flower walk are here on the Island, like Dutchman's breeches, cutleaf toothwort, squirrel corn, sessile trillium and the spring beauties. Some flowers that you'll see, we don't have down here on the low-lying Island such as the bloodroot and the twin leaf. You will probably see some trout lilies but they will be yellow ones. Sycamore Island is the only place that I've seen the white variety of trout lily. Just another example of what makes Sycamore Island so special.

I'm not sure if they are considered wild flowers but there is a nice big grove of common blue violets near the bottom of the Island. They are not as showy as the bluebells but lovely just the same.

Friday -- April 7, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 5.2     Water Temperature: 58

Lots of rain yesterday and now the FERRY IS CLOSED.

The ferry will be closed tomorrow and Sunday as well.

Workfest postponed until April 23!

Monday -- April 10, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.8     Water Temperature: 58

The ferry is open.

Wednesday -- April 19, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.6     Water Temperature: 66

No baby geese yet. I thought that we would see some little feather balls walking around by now but nothing yet.

One of my favorite new waitlist- members was down yesterday. The last time Steve came down he brought us some gourmet salt. This time he brought down some new ping pong paddles and balls, little soccer balls for the foosball table and some chalk for the pool cues! Thanks Steve! I know some young members are going to be happy to see some real foosballs on that table.

I'm all ready for the workfest on Sunday. They are calling for rain so we might not get the painting and staining done but we can at least get those docks out.

I hauled a bunch of trash out to the dump the other day and I installed the plywood over the insulation under my living room.

Club Captain, Stan Fowler was here yesterday. He came prepared to redo the chains that hold the zip-line. He wanted to protect our trees from being damaged by the chains so he cleverly attached wood blocks to the chain to keep them from digging into the trees. He also cleaned up the cable and added new bolts and added tennis balls to absorb the impact. Nice work Stan!

Finally, make sure that you follow canalbycanoe.com and read about our trip down the Potomac River from Brunswick!

Sunday -- April 30, 2017
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.5     Water Temperature: 72

Mary and I got back from our vacation today, 65 miles down the Potomac in 11 days! We paddled up to the Island at about 4:30 after putting in on the canal at Swain's lock at 11:00 am this morning. Peter Jones was there to greet us, along with some other Islanders. It's nice to be back and the first thing that Mary and I noticed was how much greener the Island was after just a week. It was amazing to see the dramatic change.

Make sure that you go to Canal By Canoe.com and check out all of the cool pictures and stories about our trip down the mighty Potomac.