A walk

 You could technically call it a hike, but we weren't putting a lot of effort into it. The hardest part was the mosquito-y portion right by the river with a muddy path flanked by waist high weeds. 

The new management has had a shortage of people working for them in this year and it shows in places where they used to do some weed management. I imagine with the 69+ miles of trails, it is not an easy job to keep things trimmed back.

Anyway, we made it out to the first set of ponds and there really wasn't much going on in the ponds themselves. 

Charlie chose little trail that heads off to the bird blind area. I wasn't going to take it as I was sure I'd be carried off by giant skeeters.

But in the end, Charlie made the best decision. Sometimes you just need to follow the dog!

There was a pair of swans at the other end of the pond where I'd take a photo of a pair this spring. I think they may have nested there, I can't be sure since I couldn't get back to this part of the reserve for the past 6 months.

The surprise however was this! Is it a young mute swan? I don't know. I will look it up. However, I didn't get a close up shot so I could see its face. It was too far off. 

It just means I'll have to come back one morning without Charlie so as not to alarm them. Yes, he is small but his dog tags alert birds to his presence.

We walked along the paved bike/hike/cross country ski trail and admired the fall beauties we found. I think these are white prairie asters. The bees were having a great time with all the fall wild flower choices.

We stopped after a couple of miles and decided to hang out on the floating dock that has a bench to sit on. Charlie needed the rest and a big drink from my water bottle.

I think we sat there a good long time just watching the scenery around us and the changing light and the moving duck weed.

Charlie had a great time. He sat quietly next to me in his 'car seat' and rested up on the way home. All afternoon we worked on weeding out my flower patch to the outhouse.

Some things I have decided to get done to assist myself with the empty house syndrome.

I started to look up state parks in my general part of the state. I've actually found 3 places I have been to long ago but want to go back and explore to them intimately.

Governor Dodge, Perot State Park, and Wyalusing State Park are all about an hours drive from my house. State Natural Areas are also on my list.

I checked out what the cost would be to camp in my car or get a room (dog friendly).

Now, instead of listening to the roaring silence in the house, I have some goals for exploring.

This week I am adding a little dog tailer to my bicycle. I think Charlie would like to go with me when I am biking on those nice flat railroad bed trails.

Cheap affordable hiking is what I need to do to start feeling like myself again, I think. It feels weird to expand my hiking area to an hour travel time away. Once I conquer that, I could go futher!

Charlie this evening, we've been getting rain for hours along with nonstop thundering [which he hates].