New Jersey Porcupine

I have seen plenty of dead porcupines, after all they are nocturnal and slow, not a good combination for our fast paced world. But the only live ones I have seen were in Alaska. Imagine my surprise when I spotted one on Clinton Road early one evening.

I was creeping along with the windows down listening for birdsong from any early migrants when I drove past this porcupine along the side of the road. "Huh, porcupine, that's interesting," I thought to myself. I was less than a mile up the road when it suddenly hit me. "Porcupine! A live NJ porcupine!" I turned the car around and drove slowly back searching the roadside for it. I drove up and down several more times and was about to give up, when I finally saw it again. I got out of the car without closing the door, so as to not alarm it. As I approached, it raised it quills, then as I didn't come any nearer, lowered them again and continued munching on the tender shoots of wildflowers. It ambled around often aiming its prickly backside in my direction.

I often use Clinton Road because it cuts through the Newark watershed. It's great for birds and now porcupine viewing.

Winter walk on Clinton Road

I went looking for the White-winged Crossbills that were sighted on Clinton Road but did not find them. Instead I reveled in the beauty of winter. The snow lay draped on the green boughs and the ice coating glittered like a fairy land. It is how I would imagine Narnia to look.

Clinton Reservoir was completely frozen, but Mossman's Brook danced and sang as merrily as ever.

White-winged Crossbills eat the seeds from small cones like Hemlocks. Here...Crossy, Crossy, Crossy...Don't these look snacky?


Well at least something had been sampling the bittersweet.


I love the way ice looks on twigs and branches but I am concerned for the trees now that we have had ice for over a week and a deep freeze is coming from an Arctic blast.

My World--Dead Boy Bridge

Not far from my house there is a long haunted road that twists its way through the woods. There are lots of creepy stories associated with it, one of which is the dead boy that lives under the bridge. If you pass by and aren't careful he will come out and chase you. This has never happened to me, Thank God. I met a man at the hawk watch the other day who has lived on the north end of Clinton Road for 30 years. He said you are suppose to throw money into the iron-stained water for his benefit. The money disappears. I had never heard this twist on the tale. He also said he heard that it was a live boy living under the bridge. Either way, dead or alive, I would not be living under the bridge. It looks like it is about to fall down. Are there haunted parts of your town?

To see other part of the world check out "That's my World" meme

Clinton Road

She pushed my head forward, a drop ran down my cheek. I could feel cold steel against the back of my neck. She began to snip and little pieces of me began to fall.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” She asked.

“Why?” I asked

“Have you ever been down Clinton Road?”

“Yes, I go up and down it all the time. It’s a very pretty road through the forest .”

“It’s haunted, you know.”

“I’ve heard something about that,” I mumble.

“Listen.” She said.

One time, when my husband and I were first married, we were coming home up Clinton Road after a party. It was late. We were arguing. I made him stop the car and I got out, thinking I would walk home. He sped off. As you know Clinton Road has no streetlights. It’s just a twisting, road through a dark forest. There were weird sounds coming through the woods. It was creepy. I was beginning to regret the decision.

As I plodded along, stumbling in the pitch black, headlights suddenly came up behind me. The car slowed to a crawl and the couple in the car asked if I wanted a ride. I told them no and they drove off. The whole thing scared me. Shortly after they left, my husband came back to get me. I told him about the car that stopped. He looked at me shaking his head. He told me no car had passed him on his way back to get me. I insisted there was a car. He insisted that no car passed him. We were at a draw. If no car passed him, then where did it go?”

I glanced at her in the mirror.

“So what happened?”

“Nothing.” But let me tell you, I am glad I didn’t get into that car.”

She spun me around.

“What do you think?’

I looked in the mirror, shaking my new 'do.

Chilling conversation to be having with someone wielding a scissor and coming at you from behind.

Before moving north I had never heard of Clinton Road, or the strange stories and weird things that supposedly happen there. There are many weird tales of ghosts, demons dogs, murder, Satanism, even KKK meetings.

I can tell you that it a gorgeous ride in the fall with the sunlight turning the trees into a golden tunnel, but creepy at night. I drive through there with my windows rolled up, headlights on bright, music on the radio. I have never seen anything and I don’t want to.