Toad Island is a beach on my favorite river that has become a tradition on our kayaking adventures.
It is my idea of heaven on Earth.
It's sandy and rocky with access to a perfect swimming spot.
In the spring and summer wildflowers bloom along the edges of riverbanks. The sands turn to rock and dirt leading into the shady canopy of woods.
Pollinators, amphibians, birds, and mammals alike forage these banks and enjoy it's waters.
Once a year during early summer, if we're lucky, we come across frogs and toads of all shapes and sizes. Not only that, but Toad Island has hidden treasures of geode rocks if you look hard enough.
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| Toad Island with Toad Eggs |
Toad eggs, unlike frog eggs, are found in long strands that are clear with black bead like eggs.
Check out the good vibrations this tiny toad is putting out.
Respect the Water and maybe you can catch some good vibrations too.
Here are some of my favorite photos on the Mackinaw River, along with some of the friends we found along the way.
Drinking waters are contaminated with organic compounds from popular herbicides and pesticides. Our lab reports hits for herbicide analytes such as atrazine, simazine, and metolachlor often.
What do you suppose would be found in waste waters, farm creek run-off, and industrial rivers?
He says it so much better than me I'll leave these John Prine lyrics as a lasting note.
Hopefully you can find a river to love and cherish as much as I do.
John Prine: Paradise
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.
Respect the Water and maybe you can catch some good vibrations too.
Here are some of my favorite photos on the Mackinaw River, along with some of the friends we found along the way.
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| Action shot of dragonfly and snake |
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| Canoe Dogs |
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| Goose nest |
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| Softshell Tortoise |
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| Luna like a cat in water |
Drinking waters are contaminated with organic compounds from popular herbicides and pesticides. Our lab reports hits for herbicide analytes such as atrazine, simazine, and metolachlor often.
What do you suppose would be found in waste waters, farm creek run-off, and industrial rivers?
He says it so much better than me I'll leave these John Prine lyrics as a lasting note.
Hopefully you can find a river to love and cherish as much as I do.
John Prine: Paradise
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.
