November

Now I think I realize why people decorate indoors with lights and bright colors this time of the year.

It is dull and dreary outside. Well, at least in the Midwestern Climates it is. Dull with no snow, no leaves on the trees, no flowers blossoming...grey ... everything is slowly turning colorless...

However, once in a while at dawn or sunset, the sky will light up with color. But mostly.
Dull.
Boring.
Oppressive.

Sounds awful doesn't it?

So we try to find something pretty about November. I see stalks of old flowers in my flower bed. The Juncos like the seeds in them so I leave it messy.
The moles are having a field day in the yard that is going from green to brown...

By Thanksgiving I am tired of fall colors and orange. Really tired of orange. Blaze Orange in particular. It seems that the 9 day deer gun season drags on forever. I'm tired of orange so I take down all the fall decorations I put up which aren't very many.
I start to eye the living room up and think about some nice pretty lights to combat the dark evenings.

I sneak out during the day wearing that awful orange to hike down in the woods along the creek. My husband says I need to stay OUT of the woods during gun season.
I go crazy when stuck inside 4 walls all day. Especially after I've cleaned all the walls. I could do windows I suppose. I should do the windows.

Nah.
I'm going to sneak out and walk the creek bottom.

I take my teddy bear 'ornament' and clip the band off from his hat. This little teddy bear doesn't want to hang on a tree. Nope.
He wants to be out in the woods.

I stop hiking in the middle of my walk and sit down. As usual, I've brought all the gear necessary to take a little water 'fall' photo.
And I do....

It sort of turns out bland also.

I finally turn and walk slowly up the trail. I have to go back and make sure the mules have water. And then go back in the house to play cribbage. [I still don't understand that game at all, but Rich loves it.]

I hear bluejays and a woodpecker, I hear the water tumbling over rocks below me.
The sky is grey and yes...very dreary.

But it is okay because when I get home I can turn the lights on and be cheered. Even after it gets dark.

I may even take the rest of the day and do something 'crafty'.

Afternoon Jaunt

After my big adventure over the weekend, I ached for some more fresh air and hiking.
I like to hike.

I put together a few things and off Morris and I went.  Hubby went to take a nap and said he wanted me to wake him up in about an hour and a half.

I marched down the ridge road to the creek and started up our dry run.  It didn't seem to be much of a challenge after my last adventure with the kids.  However I did climb all the way to the ridge across mossy rocks and boulders.

Each year it seems another tree falls into the dry run.  There was a bit of crawling and scrambling to get through.  Morris however, took the easy way and followed a deer trail right above me.
I'm sure he wondered what was wrong with me.

This old oak will probably go with the next huge gully washer.  It has been hanging on for years and I am amazed that it is still upright.

We got to the edge of our land and watched through the trees as a huge combine picked corn.  

It is that time of year again, when photography in the woods feels pretty mundane and boring.
The landscape is not beautiful.
So I am going to try and find some photographic inspiration somehow.

Perhaps I'll have to dig into my black and white 'magic pouch' and see if I can come up with something worth looking at.

All in all, I hiked at least one mile with a change of elevation of 200 ft, which makes for a nice workout.
We found some deer trails, but nothing heavily used enough to clear the leaves off the path.

Morris and I made it home in time to wake up hubby and get chores done.

I found some wild parsnip and sauteed them in pesto sauce.  Wow, was that ever good!

Take a HIKE!

The temperatures are perfect for what I was looking for.
Morris and I headed out about 2 pm which was the 'warmest' part of the day.
We headed into the valley where the winds were not gusting.

Along the way we counted two herds of deer.  One set of 4 went up the north side of the valley and about 10 went up the south side of the valley.  From what I could see, they were all does.

We walked along the creek looking for ice formations and I was pleased to find them in the long summer grasses.

I found this near the snowmobile crossing.
The temperature of the spring fed creek is warmer than the air, in places that it splashes over rocks the water freezes onto grasses and other rocks to create incredible ice formations.

Morris and I walked further down the valley where Ariel and I had gone a few weeks ago and I found a cool spot where the water was flowing under the ice!

The creek was making beautiful music here.  The sound of the water going over the rocks and splashing was intoxicating.
I sat down in the snow and Morris climbed onto my legs.

He obviously needed some warming up.

After a bit we decided to head back home and follow the creek back to our fence-line instead of going up over the hill.

This portion of the creek is pretty deep, so I called Morris back and carried him over so he wouldn't get soaked.

I do love this time of year, things are so fascinating along the water ... the life blood of the valley...

Oh.
Morris the Camo Dog.
I think winter suits him!

We stopped at the Trail Cam and exchanged the cards.
The doe and her twins have been coming back to take a drink ...

And with that we headed home.
Happy and feeling refreshed.

Wandering along

Today was a day for wandering in the November fall air. It was warm enough that I didn't have to bundle up in multiple layers of clothing.

Morris and I headed for the creek bottom.
Seems we almost always end up there. Must be the soothing noises of the water trickling over the rocks.

My favorite shot of the whole day was the top photo.
Nightshade fruits, bright red against the backdrop of the inside of an old manure spreader that has been abandoned by the creek.

The winds were furious above us on the ridge ... Morris and I happily soaked up the late autumn sunshine and enjoyed our hike.

He is sleeping, a content Jack Russell [shhh, I think he is even snoring a bit...]

My mules are getting shaggy, putting on heavy winter coats and of course taking every advantage of muddy spots to roll in.

I won't get the pleasure of having free time to hike again until next week some time.

By then I'll be going bonkers to get into the forest and play.