Little Things

Assunpink Lake

7 September 2025

With Our Jeff on the disabled list, I volunteered to lead his Labor Day All-Paces ride to Assunpink Lake. Heddy rode from her house to mine, and we rode to Mercer County Park together. 

There were a lot of rides going out. Jeff's was a late addition to the list, so there were only five of us. That was fine with me. The smaller the group, the better. 

The weather was perfect again. When we reached the lake, I went to the shore, hoping to photograph some dragonflies.

There weren't as many this time, and the few slaty skimmers that did pause on leaves all came out blurry. I really need to have my cheap reading glasses on when I'm out on my bike doing things like this. I carry a pair in Janice's pack, but I never remember to pull them out.

I walked to the dock and sat with my legs dangling over the water.

While we were all milling about in the parking lot, I saw a bald eagle over the lake. A few of us did our best to get it in focus. It was circling high over the water. I aimed and snapped, figuring I'd zoom in on the in-focus ones when I got home.

Can you find the eagle in this picture?

It's in the red circle.

On the ground,  little yellow butterflies paused long enough for a photo or two.

There was a black wasp near our feet.

Our Jeff was seated with his left leg up, his lower thigh all the colors of bruise, when we got back to the park. 

Over the weekend, Heddy had discovered a monarch caterpillar on her milkweed plant. She named it Munchie. Munchie reappeared among her tomato plants, where he settled in, upside-down, ready to pupate. Heddy contacted a friend who does butterfly rescue. "She says he'll pupate this afternoon." I wanted to meet Munchie, so I followed Heddy to her house.

I took this picture at 12:51 p.m. I left her house maybe ten minutes later and made the 1.6-mile ride home. While I was putting my bike away, Heddy texted me. She'd gone back to check on Munchie and couldn't find him. He'd pupated! It was 1:25 p.m. We missed it!

I contacted a naturalist friend who said the whole thing takes about ten minutes. Heddy arranged for her butterfly rescue friend to retrieve Munchie later in the week, to keep the chrysalis safe until hatching, which would be in 10-15 days.

Meanwhile, in my own yard, Neoscona crucifera season was drawing to a close. These are the biggest spiders to show up in my yard. Usually there are only a few over the course of the season. Last year there was one, which must have had something to do with the drought and heat waves. This year we had a lot of rain and I found more than a dozen. Now I was down to two, one of which decided to build her final web across one of the two doors of our screened patio.

Labor Day was the last day I saw her.

The other one I'd been tracking was spending her days embedded in a stalk of dead butterfly bush flowers. 

This species eats their web at the end of the night; it's a way to save nutrients. At the end of the season, they leave their webs up and sometimes sit on them during the day, to save energy and maybe catch a meal while they're making eggs. 

She was in her hideout on September 4, at 7:30 p.m., with her web still up between the bush and the neighbor's fence. 

When I went out again at 10:30 p.m., she and her web were gone. I never see them leave. I don't know where they go to lay their eggs.

There are other orb weavers in the yard who last until late October, though. They're Araneus thaddeus. They start off in the spring as tiny yellow dots. Over the summer, their legs darken. By September, their legs are bright orange and their bodies become mottled. The males get a butterfly pattern on their backs. The females end up with a black ring around their abdomens, and they slowly get darker and darker as the cold weather sets in. I found one in a convenient spot last week. She lets me photograph her, which is nice, because these critters tend to be skittish. 

She's starting to get her black stripe. I hope she stays up in this leaf so I can watch her turn orange.

I posted a ride at the last minute for Saturday. The forecast was calling for afternon rain. Not knowing when the front would arrive, I didn't share a link to the route. I also didn't realize that there was a big event going on in Cranbury, and the fastboys had changed their starting location to Twin Pines, where I'd listed mine for the same time. There's been some road construction in Pennington for the last three weeks too. Fortunately, Pete was my scout.

We let the fastboys fly out first. Then Pete, Rickety, and Blob followed me towards Sergeantsville. We made the route up as we went along, with the goal of avoiding the fastboys and the rain. The sun was out when we reached the top of the Sourland Mountain, so we kept on going. 

We chose Runyon Mill Road for our descent. Note to self: avoid this road until it's reapaved. It's more pothole than blacktop near the summit. I think I made that note to myself a few months ago. Whoops.

On Wertsville Road is a hand-lettered yard sign that reads, "Hey, MAGA! Nice job, dumbass!" Next time I'll remember to get a picture.

I picked the long slog of Rosemont-Ringoes Road from Ringoes to Sergeantsville. We were into the wind or in a crosswind the whole way. It's a pretty road, though, with expansive farmland on either side sometimes, and under a canopy of trees at other times. 

Close to Sergeantsville, I passed a sign I had to double back for:

I don't even consider the general store for a rest stop anymore. The Covered Bridge market is our go-to spot now. We're not the only ones. When the next cyclists arrived, it was our cue to get going.

Our path back needed to get us to Pennington from the east to avoid the two sections of closed roads in town. Rather than double back, I attempted to go where we hadn't already been. I almost made the wrong choice when we reached Lambertville-Headquarters Road; I almost sent us back to Sergeantsville. As I wrote in my previous post, my knowledge gets fuzzy around there. 

When we reached the top of the mountain again, I decided I didn't have the paitence for Snydertown Road. We stayed on the ridge and took the dirt section of Stony Brook instead.

When we reached Twin Pines, the fastboys had already left. We ended up with the advertised number of miles and a bit more climbing than I usually aim for. But we stayed dry.

The rain came a few hours later. As the thunder rumbled, Heddy sent me a photo from her butterfly rescue friend. Muchie had been transported and was safe.