ABC Wednesday: D is for dog

A desperate dog dropped through the icy lake not too far from the shore and began shivering drastically. I took the shot from a distance and realized the dog was in trouble so I headed down to the bank to help. My idea was to drag a log from the bank and push it to the puppy but a quick thinking young woman sloshed through the ice and scooped up the darling dog who was shaking uncontrollably. I donated my jacket to be used to wrap up the freezing dog. The dog had run away from home but his collar had his family's phone number and his human mom came and picked him up. He continued to shake uncontrollably and I hope his family took him to the vet if he didn't get better quickly. The day before this happened the dog could have probably walked along on the frozen lake but he picked the day when the sun was melting the ice and the temperatures were rising which resulted in him falling through the ice. That said, the lake was still very cold a fact that the daring young woman who went in after him attested to.

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for dusky

Dusky, darting, daring, delightful, dazzling, deftly, ducking, drying, duck

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for Ducks

I dug through my archives to find some duck shots during winters when Shelley Lake was frozen.

The ducks don't seem to mind walking on the ice.

 

So far this winter the lake has only been frozen in the shallow parts during some mornings. The past two winters have been fairly mild. I'm sure the mallards (ducks) are happier with milder winters.

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.  

ABC Wednesday: D is for Drip Drop

Drip drop falls the rain but the berry holds onto a few drips that can't make it down.

A drab and dreary day at Duke University in Durham, NC.

The shots in this drip drop post are from different seasons.

Sometimes dreary days create an atmosphere I like.

Part of Duke University has the Gothic style architecture which lends itself to dreary days. 

 

The rain drops still linger on my storm door but the rainbow shows up beyond it.

Watching the rain drop down from a Durham, NC office looking out on the site of the old Durham bulls ballpark.

Last, a deluge of a downpour of rain dropping on my deck.

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for Daffodil

Definitely the earliest I've seen daffodils bloom in my neck of the woods.

Dreamy possibly dumb daffodils having a dalliance with winter in 2012.

Daffodils in my part of North Carolina frequently court disaster with a few early blooms in late February but early February is without a doubt reckless.

There are only a few blooming in my yard (the ones above are from neighbors and the ones below are all from my yard) but even the buds are too far along for daffodils this time of the year.

The shots above were all taken of daffodils this February 2012. The shots below are from my archives and they were taken of the daffodils in my yard in March of 2009.

Looking back through my archives we had at least a little snow in March for several years in a row but 2009 was the only one that was deep enough to weigh down the daffodils to the point they didn't bound back up. Even when the snow melted the daffodils were droopy that year.

This has been such a mild winter that the daffodils may end up being alright even though they are so far ahead of schedule.

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for Dirt

Dirt so dry even rain doesn't penetrate, running off instead.

More dry dirt and a dugout too.

Dry creek bed where no water drips at all.

Click for the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for Dam

When you're ready to drop from fatigue at Shelley Lake, you can rest on the bench on top of the dam and look at the lake.

Down below the dam, water from the lake drips and gushes into a pool and then it floats into the stream.

In the winter the dam is brown and in the summer it's green. The Shelley Lake dam frequently has geese waddling downhill searching for dribs and drabs of nourishment.

Dams are diverse in design and size and diverge from each other based on what they are required to do. Shelley Lake Dam is relatively small (53 acre lake and park land - I think that's a combined figure). The next Dam (Falls Lake Dam) is a man made reservoir which covers approximately 12,500 acres with water and is surrounded by 25,000 acres of public land.

The Falls Lake dam has information about how it was built and what is does.

If you are interested in the Falls Lake Dam and can't read the information in the photographs of the signs, you can click here to visit its website.

For other takes on the letter D, please visit the home of ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: D is for Durham

D is for Durham, NC, U.S. and also for Durham in England. As you can see below Durham , NC, U.S. is 4119 miles away from Durham, England.

The Durham Bulls is a baseball club in Durham NC which was first formed in 1902. Downtown Durham is filled with Bulls in their honor (hopefully not too much bull ---- is spilling out onto the streets).

The movie Bull Durham was filmed in part in Durham and the game scenes were shot in the old Durham Athletic Park.

The original Durham Athletic Park burned to the ground in 1939 and was rebuilt.

The old DAP is the one I'm using for this post although the Durham Bulls have a new DAP which was completed in 1995 and was expanded to 10,000 seat capacity in 1998.

I think the old Durham ballpark has more romance to it although the new stadium allows for more spectators.

The Durham Bulls bike racks scattered around downtown Durham, as well as the baseball inspired art, are fun.

A Durham Bulls baseball obsession is certainly better than the days when big tobacco dominated.

In the late 1980s American Tobacco left Durham and by 2004 the Historic American Tobacco District included mixed shops, businesses, restaurants, Durham Bulls Baseball, music on the lawn, Durham Performing Arts Center, and WUNC Radio Station. The area continues to undergo renovation and will include residential units.

By the way, if anyone is interested in shots from Durham's Historic American Tobacco District, I did a post about that on my other blog a few years ago and you can click here for that one. To visit other posts about the letter D, please visit the home of ABC Wednesday.