Morels, Mothers, Mules

Saturday promised to be a beautiful day.  After chores were done, I asked hubby if he wanted to take the 4 wheeler and go seek out some morels.
He thought the idea over.  
Our week had been busy between my work schedule and his dealing with the work being done on the house.

We had nothing going on for Saturday that was important.
We went searching for morels after chores had been done.

We used the 4 wheeler, not my first choice of moving around but Rich said it would be much easier for him to climb the steep trail out of the valley if we used it.

I agree, anything to make things a bit easier for him to enjoy the things he loves doing.
We rode down to our creek bottom and immediately ol' sharp eyes found morels!

I found ONE!  But it was the light colored kind.

However I looked for other treasures as well.  We found a beautiful tall wild apple tree with the sweetest of blossoms.

I also found a plant I thought I recognized but wasn't sure of what it was until I got home and looked it up.

White Baneberry.  In the fall it has white 'doll's' eyes.  

I ran across many Jack in the Pulpits, they are so interesting!

Our hike ended with just enough morels for a taste.  The forest was pretty dry and we needed rain.  Rain would be good for the crops and the forest, but not necessarily for our house remodel.

Sunday promised to be another nice day and I saddled up Fred and Siera.  I conned Rich into riding Fred.
He hadn't ridden since last year and had convinced himself that the stroke he had which affected some of his finer balance skills would mean that he could never sit on a mule again.

Well.
Pictures are worth a thousand words.

We rode Sunday morning and he said it felt a bit strange but it also felt nice.

After our short ride, I took Siera out again. I figured since she was already saddled, I may as well.

She did a great job.  We wandered the forest hillsides and deer trails without much of a fuss.  Annually she gives me a hard time about leaving home each spring, and as I ride her more often again, she settles in nicely.

And of course, when I got home I called my mother.  We had a nice long talk and she sounded wonderful.  

And that was my weekend of Morels, Mules, and Mothers Day.