The Buck Moon provided

The photo above was at 3:30 in the morning when I had to get up and help hubby with a few things.

I went out just before dawn to check on my mules and see if there was a fog moving in. There usually is after a hot humid day and a cool but damp night.

I think the Buck Moon was tired, so it rested on my dead pine tree.

The sun is still blood red in the mornings or orange depending on the smoke, clouds, and haze.

But the valleys provide for mists and fog which make it interesting.

And then...

This Buck showed up as the fog began to move across the pasture. Another young buck wandered into the area too, but I couldn't get a clear photo of him. They look like the ones I've been catching on the trail cam.

A doe jumped the line fence and stopped. She obviously saw me but it must not have bothered her much as she went on to graze and wander off into the woods.

I glanced towards the woods and...
there was a hawk watching over the meadow.

I had promised to let my neighbors' dogs out into their fenced yard for a potty break. I walked up there and took another walk out the ridge.

I guess it was my morning for wildlife.

I watched the moon fade away to the western sky and headed back home to start my day.

That's it. 

The Buck Moon.

Making excuses

To get out of the yard and into the woods.

Hubby decided to take his afternoon nap.  I nodded and said that I'd go look for some wild parsnip to dig down by the creek. I gathered a bucket, a shovel, and off I went.  Morris stayed home although I should have taken him with.

It was a good excuse to go wandering in the woods with my camera.  I found some really beautiful things.

Spring Beauties

The Spring Beauties were really abundant on the north east side of the hill not far down from the top of the ridge.  Of course I had to stop and look at them.  These plants are no more than a few inches tall and the flowers are smaller than a pencil eraser.

I walked further down the trail and then stopped and looked back at the top.  I sat down on the 'sitting' rock and decided to just sit for a moment and listen to the sounds of the forest.

I heard the Cardinal singing, off in the distance a Bluejay called. There were the regulars like the Sparrows, and the Robins had been in the forest for a while now.

I listened closely and off in the distance I could hear a Wood Thrush. There is nothing more beautiful than the Wood Thrush's echoing in the woods.  Just my personal opinion.

Hear it here:

Wood thrush song

The Trail view from the sitting rock, looking towards the ridge.

I grabbed my shovel and bucket and headed down the steep hill noting how dry everything looked and how crunchy the leaves were under my feet.  Even the squirrels sounded noisy as they chattered and ran.

I wandered around the creek bottom and stopped here and there with the shovel to remove some pesky plants that were coming up.  Wild Parsnip, although tasty are not plants that you want to get involved with in mid summer.  It's juices will give you a “phyto-photodermatitis”, which happens when the sap of the plant, from broken stems and leaves, touches the skin and is exposed to ultraviolet light (whether cloudy or sunny).

 Source: Wild Parsnips.

I don't want these plants in the areas that the kids and grand kids will hike with me.  We often go to an area called 'The Beach' which has very a very nice area of sand and the creek bottom is sandy as well.  It is withing hiking distance and makes for a fun place to cool off in the summer.

This is as bad as getting into poison ivy in my opinion or even worse.

Near 'The Beach'

The good thing is that the roots are tasty and edible.  I love cooking them flavored in pesto sauce.  It takes work, but it is well worth the taste.

When I got to 'The Beach', I found Horsetails coming up through the sand with wild parsnip.  

Horsetails, Mare Tail, Scour Reed, Pipes

I dropped the bucket and got to work, looking for some nice sized parsnip roots.

Nice sized roots got tossed into the creek so I could wash the sand off from them, others got carefully laid out on logs so the would dry up and die.  I stayed for quite a while digging and just being busy.  I was enjoying myself and thinking of hot summer days and dangling my barefeet into the cold creek.

I noticed as I started back towards home that it seemed time had gotten away from me.

The creek is so magical that I tend to get lost while there.  Lost in thoughts, memories, and the beauty that surrounds me.

However, I had the Val Barbie with me and thought I'd best get a shot of her and Doe for the next part of The Doe Story.

Val Barbie holds Doe close and gives her a hug.  Doe promises to come back to her friends before her birthday.  Something special will happen on that day assures Val Barbie.  "You must be with friends!"

Doe agrees.

However...

...all stories need a villain and here is the Villain Fox who overhears the conversation.  I think he plans on something evil.

Well I got home and back to reality.  I finished putting the mulch around the pine trees near the house and decided that I needed to go back to town and get some more.

I wonder what excuse I can make for getting out in the woods today?

Searching for Doe

I have no idea why I keep having fun with these toys.  Okay, let me say that I do have an idea!
It started with an idea between my Grand daughter Ariel and I.  We would take toys out and photograph them and then caption them with a little story.

Well that grew and I added Trolls that I found, and a Skunk, a Dinosaur, a Buck, and another Doe. 

I explained one day to my new neighbors about the ongoing Toy Saga of Doe.  Val Barbie ended up at my door one day delivered by Carson.  

Next I borrowed a Poison Dart Frog from the kids. This week another toy was 'donated' to the cause.  Carson explained that he felt this Koala bear would be nice because 'it was realistic' and he knew that I liked those kinds of toys.

Friends of mine from Kenosha have also participated in the fun.  So, this story goes on and on with no particular end or direction.  It just happens with no plot.
And so it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#SearchingforDoe

Val Barbie was getting concerned.  She called a secret meeting with her Secret Agents.
Kola the bear, Venom the frog, and Dear who has gotten close to Doe but hasn't convinced Doe to come back to her friends yet.

Dear, Kola, and Venom meet in the Dynamite Box with Val Barbie

Their mission should they accept it:  Seek out Doe, make friends with her and bring her back before the Maypoles come up!

Venom decides he won't use his Poison Darts on anyone.  He runs out to the creek to begin a search.

Checking the Creek, Venom sees no sign of Doe

Kola decides to do what he does best.  Climb something and watch.

Kola observes from a Gooseberry Plant

Doe spots and odd looking Bear in the woods.  She isn't afraid and walks right up to him.

Are you a bear? A real bear? asks Doe.

I am, says Kola.

Do you eat Does? asks Doe.

I only eat veggies. Says Kola.

Wow, I have a Dinosaur friend that only eats veggies too! says Doe.

Let's do lunch! suggests Kola.

Doe and Kola collect some maple tree buds and sit on a stump in the woods.

Doe and Kola meet up with Dear and Venom to eat maple buds.

Doe likes her new friends. Venom and Kola are nice. Venom doesn't spit poison darts and Kola doesn't eat deer.  

Even Dear likes them it seems.

Doe thinks about her other friends, Dino and Bo.  What should she do? She misses them.

Kola smiles so nice at her and says Maybe you can introduce us to your friends Bo and Dino sometime?

Doe does something she doesn't do very often.  She thinks about it.