Of this and that

I have no absolute wisdom to offer on this Covid-19 issue, other than I wish to keep my husband from getting it. Is it getting it an eventuality? I don't know. But for now, we are able to isolate ourselves fairly well.

I am the only one that leaves the house. I'll go grocery shopping on Sunday morning.
It has been 3 weeks since I went to town. That is incredible. I don't think I can claim that I've ever done that before.
I did a hike with a friend last Friday and we stayed distanced, arrived in separate vehicles and enjoyed a spring day.

I've finally started to plan to extend my east garden. I'm hoping to get the dirt moved from the compost pile soon.

It sure doesn't look like much now does it?
From the downspout to the pail in the distance is all I am going to expand by. While mowing, this is always a pain to do, so I thought I'd make this a straight edge more or less.
Who knows what it will end up looking like?

I've gathered log chunks and odd looking roots to put in the garden. I intend on making a path down the middle of it and using these odd shaped items to decorate in some sort of Fairy Garden style. I tried drawing out plans but in reality, I really fly by the seat of my pants.

Everything will be moved around and changed anyway. I'm looking at what I have available from seeds last year that I gathered and some low growing sedum along with hen and chicks to add to the funky logs.

This will involve using the skid steer to move the dirt. I think I have Rich convinced that he can do the dirt work! I said I'd start and bring it out to him.
He seemed rather interested in that. He even talked about putting dirt in a few other spots.

I just have to get him on a good day when the weather is perfect!

To keep from going stir crazy...er, I do daily hikes. Sven has really been a good hiking pal. Yesterday I let Charlie be the leader and he followed a deer trail.

Along the trail I found Dutchman's Breeches just beginning to poke through the leaves!

After hiking for a while, I sat down on a log and enjoyed having a snack.

Note.
When hiking with a goat and a dog. Anything YOU eat must be good goat food or good dog food!

I did carry treats for both Sven and Charlie.

Yesterday I did turn off my smartphone and left it at home. I spent the rest of the day unplugged.

I think that is a great thing to do right now. Limit the news and limit the exposure to the Talking Heads.

Stay Safe.

Thoughts for today....

I really thought I'd have some fun Sunday while stuck inside while it rained/sleeted/iced and blew outside.

My husband thought I should be certified as nuts.

But the weather was nasty, the news sucked, and the day was so dreary that I needed something to be uplifting.
Thus the Toilet Paper soldiers!

I then set up both patterns of the face masks I'd printed off line and  cut out some fabric.

I made the two versions and decided that I liked the feeling of the one version much better than the other.
The flatter of the two versions was better for me. I made 3 masks total. When I go shopping next week [3 weeks between shopping for items] I will wear one as I did last time. I keep the bandanna one in my backpack as a just in case mask.

This face mask was for fun to wear with my Skunk Hat. It is very thin. However, I thought it was fun just to put on and take a selfie.

I haven't sewn anything since we were getting ready for our remodeling in 2014. So it was nice to see that I hadn't forgotten how to do it.
I may even do some of the projects I have all cut out and ready to sew in my kit...that have been sitting around for at least 6 years.

I couldn't help myself then...and got out some scraps of felt....

Well, I made masks for my toys I take out for posting to the Doe Story. Of course ... there is one in every crowd!

I had to think up how to make a mask for a matchbox car!

Oh the toys are not properly 'Socially Distanced' but I had to crowd them in for the photo.

My last thought. Are face masks going to be our 'new' reality for a long time?
No one really knows.
How long can one isolate?

My son says he is lonely.
I am lonely.

I have my husband, my dog, my animals...but I am yearning for that social freedom we used to have.
Meeting someone for coffee.
A hug from a friend.

Human contact. How will it change?

I don't have the answers.

Skunk Cabbage and other things

The Skunk Cabbage one of the more odd plants...

It took me many years to figure out exactly where these plants come up in the spring each year. 

This is in the valley floor where I first discovered them.

Yesterday though, I took a reroute of trails and followed Charlie. Lesson learned  ~~ sometimes just wander with the dog to find new areas of interest.

I found a depression in the land above the Big Spring and creek that held more Skunk Cabbage than I cared to count. 
Bonus!

This was just a small sampling of the amount of plants that were there. I had planned on hiking all the way to the back valley to see if the Skunk Cabbage was still coming up in two spots back there. 

Marsh Marigold at the Big Spring!

I got sidetracked by looking for Hepatica and searching for Blood Root.

Charlie and I headed up the 4 wheeler trail that we used to call "Mule Killer Hill".  We named it as such as it is the steepest hill around and when we had rambunctious young mules that were acting out, we'd simply climb the old logging trail with them.

This hill doesn't look intimidating in the photo, but let me tell you, even a human in good shape gets challenged by this long steep hill.

Midway to the top, I found Hepatica.

It isn't easy to spot as it is so low to the ground. If we get a few warm sunny days the forest floor will be covered in various hues of pinks and purples with Hepatica and Virginia Pinks.

After a rest at the top and a couple of dog treats for Charlie and some water for myself, we headed across the 'old' section of the forest. It is on the ridge and doesn't have much undergrowth because of the heavy canopy of the old forest.

From there we went out to The Point. I have actually figured out how to use my smart phone to operate my little red camera. So I set the camera on a log and did this...

Yes I wear camo. It has great pockets and doesn't show dirt!

And there is my sidekick!

The view down below...

From there Charlie and I headed over to the ice cave. 

Here is where we hit the jackpot in Hepatica!

I could have stayed there forever....

I find these plants so beautiful. Perhaps it is because they brighten up spring and it is something I look forward to finding after a long winter.


However my Supervisor expressed a bit of boredom. I admit though, he has become pretty patient with me.

It was time I head back home and get busy making the brownies I'd promised I'd make Rich for his birthday.

I also had to call the nursing home for him so he could talk to his mom.

I'd seen enough to know that Spring was coming!

That is, until I glanced at my phone and discovered a Winter Weather Advisory had been issued for us.

And so it goes.

 And yes, ... I know how very lucky I am that I have this out my back door. It is a Naturalist's Dream come true.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Public Lands...

I went hiking....

with a friend and we practiced being 'distant' and hiking at the same time. Charlie led us and led the way most of the time.

This photo is from the top edge of this rock...points down....

and then since my friend is afraid of heights, Charlie and I went to admire the view and do a little dance!

After weeks in 'solitary' it felt like I had the whole world at my feet.
It was amazing how it felt.

There were actually quite a few vehicles parked at the trail head when we got back. 40 State Parks and Natural Areas have been closed by the Governor because of vandalism and trash.

I hope that our areas don't suffer the same consequences as we are far more rural. However I got messages from others saying they wanted to come...and I noted that if it was further than 30 miles or a half hour drive ...they really are NOT supposed to travel.

Now there is the issue. I feel for those trapped in cities and suburban areas with no outlet. Overcrowding, vandals, and general disrespect are awful things to do to your own natural areas and state parks. At one time this year I was considering myself too isolated from the rest of the world and thought about how nice it would be to be nearer my son in a more city like setting.

And today I wonder if our part of the state will see its public lands closed. Our County is taking it day by day. We have 4 county parks that are amazing for hiking, all it takes is a few bad apples.

I am ever so MORE grateful that I am not in the city or suburbs. I can walk out the back door and have peaceful moments in our creek bottom and hike a fairly large swath of unpopulated land. In the 20+ years I have lived here, I've only run across people twice. Both times it was because I 'let' them see me.

We must respect our lands for what else will we have left???

Life on the farm hasn't changed much...

There is the Burdock war...

And there was a way to get rid of them until the burn ban went into effect. Now I am piling them and trying to figure out how to get rid of them without breaking the ban.

After hiking and helping me with Burdock, raking leaves, cleaning up gardens, transplanting perennials and moving hostas...Charlie decides to nap on the Mulewings bench on the porch.

The bleeding hearts are emerging, along with the red sedum ....

And the green sedum!

The oregano is coming back too!

The Virgina Blue Bells are emerging!

Lil' Richard will be assuming his duties as trimmer and fertilizer along the fencelines and in different parts of the yard along with Sven as things green up.

The daffodils are about to burst forth with their yellows as the crocus flowers finish dazzling one area of the yard.

This photo, edited in a paint program....

Today Charlie and I are taking a break and will go to Kickapoo Valley Reserve and hike one of our favorite routes to Black Hawk Rock.
Today will be the only sunny and nice day until the next cold front passes and sunshine returns on Tuesday.

Back to cold for this next week!
It will slow the plants from emerging, however, that will give me a bit more time for my war on Burdock.

Stay well and safe.

Upstairs and experimenting

I really didn't want to move the bed in the tiny tiny room because to vacuum under it requires jiggling, lifting, this way and that and then moving the heavy bed a bit more one way and then the other way just to get under it and kill the dust monsters that lurk on the carpet under the bed.

While I was at it, I washed the walls down and changed the bedding.
It was snowing outside and it sounded like hail at the same time.

The weather was nuts. High winds, snow, then sunshine with snow and sunshine with glorious light.
And back to snow.

I stopped and looked through a forgotten album that had photos of my boys in it. It was a mix of dates stuck in a book so that I wouldn't lose them. The photos brought a smile to my face as I sat cross legged and looked through them slowly.

I eventually got back to work and had another bag of 'stuff' to get rid of. If I haven't used something in a long time I need to move it out.

I found a cheap piece of black plastic that I'd used a few times to make reflections with Still Life. I noticed that my hands actually were reflected when I reached for something.
And then I thought.
I wonder if I could take a photo of the reflection of my hands??

There was enough light coming in through the window to give an eerie glow to portions of my skin.

Remember, this is a reflection of my hands palm up towards the window.

So I liked this in a way because it was so different.

I decided to start trying different things with it. I discarded what I was working on and made my own texture and added text to it.

This was the end result of messing around.
I got to here and stopped.

I sat back and then closed the program.

I was done and the image stuck with me. It invoked something I couldn't quite describe, but it felt right.

It was a good experiment for how I'd felt off an on for the past couple of weeks.

An Un-day

I woke up to a second day of incredible fog. I thought it would be fun to see what the infrared camera captured in the thick fog.
I was surprised at the amount of light I did get!

The bark of the trees actually reflected an unforeseen light back to the camera.

The green pine needles turned white in the black and white version of Fred in the morning paddock waiting for his breakfast...the yard reflected white also.

When the sun broke through just before the rain started...

the whole winter pasture and sky looked amazing!
I took a similar shot with my regular camera and it did not pick up the sky detail like this did.

The rest of the day was dreary and grey with about 1/2 an inch of rain.

Neither Rich or I slept well the night before so we took naps. I don't often do that, but Charlie convinced me that taking a day nap while reading a book with him cuddled on my legs would be perfect.

When I woke, I really wasn't in the mood to do anything at all and the day was still quite dreary. I decided to let my list of to - do's wait another day while I took a day off.

I think my mistake the night before was reading an article about a doctor in Chicago and his account of putting people on ventilators. Of trying to calm them, to suit up and do so many procedures each night. And then watch them on monitors as they respond or don't.
The story was sobering and gut punching. Just the sort of thing I like to read.

But I shouldn't...not ever...ever read something like that before going to bed.
I didn't sleep and when I did it was fitful with dreams of breathing machines and doctors with face masks...
of never being able to touch or hug someone again if they got sick.

Of how this virus has de-humanized us in so many ways. I did finally sleep towards morning. But the night was a nightmare.
I finally found a good book and dove into it until my eyes were too heavy.

Tomorrow is another day.