Pale jewelweed is a lovely flower! Later on, ripe seed pods are fun because they explode when touched, leading to another name "touch me not." Oh, and they are useful. If you are afflicted with poison ivy rash, mash up some leaves and rub it on the rash for some relief. And the seeds are edible, though really small. They taste kind of like nuts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_pallida

If a rolling stone gathers no moss those larger turtles don't get around much!

Just stay a respectable distance from this end of a snapper!

Great shot of that huge snapper and all the painteds! They do get big. Largest freshwater turtle in the state.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/55703.html

Painted turtles.

https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-reptiles-painted-turtle-chrysemys-picta.html

Thanks! It's the only one I own, but one of my more comfortable jerseys.

Nice RAGBRAI shirt.

I might have let them have a blast of my ear-splitting whistle... Been known to do that with ignorant clods. I actually enjoy seeing some of the more obnoxious ones jump.

Took desensitization shots for about 15 years. Still carries a pen... since the event in 1991.

Wow, that's scary! Hopefully, she started carrying an Epi-Pen after that!
I found the yellow jacket that I grew up with in Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_squamosa
The nests were always in the eaves of the house, had combs like honeybees (but no honey!), and mean as hell if you disturbed them.

Huh. I've heard of chicory all of my life, but had no idea it looked like that.

I forgot to say that until that attack, I hadn't heard of Underground bees either.

Great couple of pages so far, Mark. I biked the Erie Canal trail from just outside of Buffalo to Troy while on my MN to MA tour. I liked it. Similar to your experiences, I met some interesting characters and geese definitely came into play.

I think I use pretty much the same "wants/needs/weight/volume" system for choosing gear as you do, but I've never carried a lawn chair. I get it though, we have at least one little luxury item. (I assume it isn't one of those bulky, aluminum-framed things that fold out to support your body with wide plastic-y straps.) The totally unnecessary luxury I've been carrying recently is a Bluetooth loudspeaker.

I've always disliked gardening, but one day my wife asked me to dig a few holes in her garden. Being the good guy I am, I agreed to help. It turned out to be one of my greatest "no good deed goes unpunished" moments. I struck one of those underground bee's nests and they swarmed both of us. Luckily, we escaped with only a couple stings each. My theory as to why they gave up chasing us after only about 30 feet is that it was late in the year and they were still sluggish from being in the cold ground for a while. I'm sure it could have been so much worse on a hot mid-summer day. Anyway, the end result is that now I dislike gardening even more.

Chicory. Edible greens and dried, roasted root can be used as coffee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicory