She needs my help by Morris

I was sleeping and doing my morning daydreaming on my couch when She walked by.

She said something like, "Well Morris what do you think about looking for Parsnips and Skunk Cabbage? Do you think we need to take a hike down into the valley to go find some?"

What I heard was, "Morris...blah blah blah HIKE blah blah..."

So I turned and ear and an eye to watch her. It was still morning and normally we did our hikes in the afternoon when He was taking a nap.

She went upstairs to where she keeps her camera stuff and started to rummage around. "HIKE" echoed in my little ears. We were going on a HIKE!

I hadn't been feeling too well the past few weeks and the doctor guy had given Her some stuff that I had to take every morning. I don't know what the 'stuff' is, but my appetite is back and so is my bounce. Apparently that makes Her a very happy person.
It makes me a happy dog because I can go hiking with Her.

I started to bounce and whine with great vigor. She gave me one of those looks and shook her finger at me. "Calm down Morris, yes you are going!"

Of course I heard, "Blah blah Morris, ... blah blah!" But I got the tone of the thing and although I don't understand much of what She says, I get Her body language very well. I was going with.

Off we went into the forest and climbed down into the creek. I ran ahead and then stopped and smelled the air. It was delicious and full of scents on the breezes.
I tracked deer and followed coyote scent among some other forest creatures.

The coyote scent was old. She stopped to check on the tracks in the sand and the mud of the creek.
I lingered here and there and She would have to call for me. Once I was confused, I had no idea where She went.

She stepped out from behind some brush and called me. I'm pretty much a sight dog so my nose, while not too bad, can't track Her like Dixie can.

She bent down and patted me on the head and then turned to show me what she found. Well, I wasn't really impressed. Plants are not interesting unless they have been marked by a coyote or another dog.

Apparently we were gathering some sort of plant. She pointed out the smelly Skunk Cabbage to me.
Not interested.
She pointed out the Wild Parsnip She'd dug up.
Not interested.

I ran ahead and tested the air at the Big Spring.

Now that interested me.
There were dozens of tracks in and out of the spring. She looked at the Marsh Marigolds and photographed them.

I stood guard and smelled the lingering scents of deer, 'possum, raccoon, coyote, and skunk. They must have all visited the Spring overnight and the damp air was still heavy with their smells.

She filled her bag with wild parsnips to cook as vegetables for supper and then we headed back through the Skunk Cabbage place.

We went upstream and headed home. I was muddy and happy. She was pleased with her wild vegetables.

Morris on Adventures

Well I knew she was going to take me. She put on my little blue collar with the jingly tag on it.
She says it helps her keep track of me because it makes a soft jingle noise.

I prefer going nekked without a collar. But She is the boss when it comes to hiking and I will wear a collar if it pleases her highness. 

I guess she felt that it would be fun to climb down the side of a steep hill on an itty bitty skinny deer trail.
Well, I took to higher ground to survey things.

Then I jumped down and decided to guide her to the bottom where we went into what we call The Back Valley.  It is hard to get to, but always worth the visit.
So many things to smell and mark!

She was more impressed at what the wall of water did to the creek.

It made the creek brand new again. There were big expanses of water here and there, little water falls, and even a lot of sandy beaches.

However the sand revealed that many coyotes had been travelling through recently. I'm happy that She keeps an excellent eye on me.
If I smell coyotes, I hurry up and get near Her.

She got busy with Her camera and I got busy checking things out.  The water was cold and very deep in some spots. She kept calling to me any time She thought I was a bit too far from her.
Sigh. Doesn't she know I am smarter than She is? I'm just scouting around for her own safety.

We found a place where the waters flowed slowly and covered a large portion of the valley.

She found a rock pile in the middle of the waters and set up her camera. She did a lot of muttering to herself. I know She was pretty excited over the view.
To me it was just...cold water, but it felt nice after that very hot hike through all those nasty weeds.

She even got all excited about some little water running over some rocks.

Tsk, tsk.
I was busy checking the creek.

We soon headed back. She had some farm work to do. I could tell she was sad about that. If She'd had her own way I think we'd have spent hours exploring.

She told me, "Morris...blah blah blah...we'll be back." At least I think that is what she meant.

Had She said Cookie, well that I would have that gotten right away.

We headed back up the ridge and She shouldered her backpack. We headed straight for home with a slight detour through a corn field. It was meant to be a short cut, but only was sort of a short cut.
It was really hot in there.

And then when we got to the first valley I turned and headed up the other creek. 
I've been doing these hikes for years now and it is a good thing I am there to direct Her.

She stopped in the creek with a big "Hello! Look what I found!"

A stupid boot sole. She laughed and seemed quite pleased.

Apparently this boot sole has been appearing in different parts of the creek this year. Since She first found it a few years ago, it has traveled half a mile.

Nice.
But not important to me at all. It had no good smells and it was not a cookie.

I was tired when we got home and full of dirt and mud. I had to suffer a quick rinse off in the tub before I was able to curl up on Her sweatshirt and a blanket on the couch.

Oh, you think I shouldn't sleep on the couch? I like it. It is one of my favorite places to relax. I can keep an ear out for most things happening around here.

Busy Day

Thor says....

Thor always has something to say when you walk past his area. He is one of the most vocal donkeys I've ever known!

Yesterday Mr. Morris and I went back into the valley to see exactly how much water moved around in the creek bottom.
We were pleasantly surprised at how many weeds got washed out and flattened.

These shots compared to a week or so ago, when we tried to go through the area...

Before:

After:

We walked down the valley to the snowmobile trail.

It looks like the folks who maintain this trail will have their work cut out for them.

The culvert they put across the little mild mannered creek is no longer working, the creek has moved its flow.
However it may go back to going through the tube once the water goes down.
That is unless we have another gully washer.

The trail is here somewhere, but no one has even driven a 4 wheeler down this trail this year.

Two years ago, the owners of this property have stopped mowing areas for picnicking and campfires. It seems that they aren't even willing to fence it and rent it out as pasture.

Being city folks and the fact that they inherited the land, I suppose they really don't care. I don't find hiking through 10 foot tall wild parsnips that much fun.

I do still have some trails that I have maintained and can follow, but walking through this valley will be reserved for this fall and after the first heavy snowfall.

Morris was a trooper, he struggled through the tall stuff after we left the creek.
We took the 'camp' road up and out of the valley instead of backtracking.

Both of us were hot. I wanted to walk to the end of the valley and take a look around. But Morris was panting and I felt I needed some more time to bush whack my way down the valley.

Morris was wearing his tags so I could hear him. Sometimes he is so quiet I lose track of him in the weeds.

Once we got on the ridge, it was much cooler and we hiked along the edge of the crop fields as the ridge road was overgrown.

Had I been riding Siera, I think my head would have been above the weeds.

The view from the top was absolutely stunning and made the rest of the hike worth it.

Surprisingly enough, I took this with my new Smartie-Phone.
I put it in HDR mode and took a pretty blind shot as the sun was so bright I couldn't see the screen.

Once we hit the 'driveway' Morris took off towards home, but kept stopping and looking at me as if to say...Hurry UP!

Even the driveway is showing a real lack of care. The brother of the owners who lives there used to keep it graded.

Now it is over grown and washed. 
I wonder what the future will bring.

When we arrived home, Morris immediately jumped up on the couch after we moved it. He went sound asleep.

Hubby and I began to pull the bricks off from the wall of the living room.

Part II of the remodeling begins!

HOT~and Humid.

I like summer, truly I do. But sometimes we get these streaks of Hot & Humid weather and I decide that I am not going outside again until...

It cools off a bit!

Morris and I did go for a walk the day before the heat wave struck. It had been so long since I'd gone exploring at the creek.

We crossed the fence into the neighbors pasture as our woods were so thick with growth past the mule's fence-line.
Note to self. When fall arrives we need to repair that one section!

We followed the creek and climbed rocks down into our bottom.
I had expected that the recent hard rains would have washed some of the weeds that are crowding the creek away. 

There is water under these plants! The bottom was covered in Jewel Weed. A quick word about Jewel Weed, the soap made from this plant will put a stop to most any kind of itch and is wonderful to use on bug bites too.

This is how the larger sections of the little creek looked.

And this is how it looks after some cold weather.

Morris and I got quite warm and decided to go home rather than explore anymore in the creek bottom. There was simply no air movement at all and we both were quite hot.

The only good thing I can say about all of this hot and humid weather [and the rain] is that cool fungi will be popping up in the woods here and there and it is rather fun to go hunting them with the camera.

However, our little 'hot' trip was not in vain.

Morris and I found dozens of places where Indian Pipes were coming up out of the ground.

I usually don't look for them until the second week in August, but there they were!

Hopefully the weather will cool off enough so that I can go out this weekend and find some more!

So today, after chores, it looks like another day of working inside on pulling down the old dark paneling in the living room.

The animals all have nice cool shady spots to get into and plenty of fresh cool water. 

Morel Madness!

About 20 years ago my husband said to me, "Let's go Morel hunting!"
I'd never heard of a Morel and thought it was some sort of joke.

"No," my wise woodsman husband said, "Morels are wild mushrooms that only come up in the spring and are delicious when fried in flour and butter."

I wrinkled my nose and thought this whole idea sounded disgusting. However, if it meant that we'd be out in the woods during early spring, I'd go.
We found these terribly ugly but cute mushrooms that looked like brains.  They were hard to spot and fun to find.

It was even more fun when we saddled up and hunted Morels.  Badger was always the patient mule and never in a hurry.

Rich cooked the first morels I ever tasted.
I was certain that I was going to die from eating them.

My grandmother always cautioned me against mushrooms when we were out foraging for things like lambs quarters or other wild foods.  "Most mushrooms are poisonous," she'd say.  I believed her.  Mushrooms and fungi were fun to look at but don't touch and definitely do NOT eat!

But.
I tried morels.  And they were so good!

And besides, hunting morels is just another great reason to get out in the woods during the spring time and explore.

Why yesterday I spotted one right away when I got near the creek bottom.  I was so excited.  No matter how long I stared, I couldn't see any more.

Until, I decided to set up Doe and Dino for some fun shots.

I thought this would be funny.  A Dinosaur holding a morel mushroom.  These are the early ones and they are so small!

However as I leaned in and set things up on this creek bank, my eyes spotted a pattern under the gooseberry bushes.

My assistant patiently waited while I leaned under brush and searched out more morels.

I probably missed quite a few, but I tried to be thorough.  I stopped to admire some Bishop's Cap and ...

found some more!

I was also very glad to have brought my Nikon with the micro/macro lens.

After searching some more, I decided to head home with my bounty.  It was warm in the valley and I had forgotten to bring some water along.

Besides I was anxious to show my goodies to my husband and see the delight light up on his face.

What is the secret to finding morels?  Good eyes.  I've read that you are supposed to look for dead elms, but I've found them growing near apple trees and pine trees.  I think the secret is just patience and persistence.

And knowing your morels.  Don't hunt them without an experienced person getting the wrong mushroom could be a mistake.

Trying to keep it together part two

Ariel and I sat in the ravine for a while enjoying the cooler air.  

Amazingly the day had really turned quite warm.  She mentioned that she was glad we started our hike so early.
It had been rather cool in the morning shadows along the creek itself but now we were in a steep rocky area and not a lot of air was moving.

Morris ran up and down the rocks and the hillside.  He'd stop every once in a while and look around the woods.

Morris stands above the rocky ravine and peers over his 'domain'.

He enjoys being out with us and even seems more overjoyed by having Ariel around.  He just loves kids.  Of course when a turkey hunter let loose with a shotgun it turned Morris into a Sticky Glue Dog.  He didn't wander very far.  Most of the time he was nearly underfoot.

The hillside was dry and proved to be quite the challenge in more than one way.  I am used to steep hill climbs.  I live in this hilly area and have done this particular hillside more than once.  It is actually a bit scarier going down than up.  

It had so many interesting distractions.  Like Hepatica.

This is mother nature's short lived little flowers, along with the Blood Root which we also found.

I was surprised that I hadn't found more, usually these are the first flowers to find in the woods.  But it had been awfully dry so far and perhaps the roots were awaiting some rain.

The walk home was fairly uneventful and we just enjoyed each others company while we walked.

After the grand kids left I felt like I'd lost my adventure 'buddy'.  It sure had been fun.

I'd promised to take care of our neighbor's dog Dexter, or as they call him 'Dex'.  Perhaps not to confuse him with the show Dexter.

We took an evening walk together to watch the sunset.  Monday was going to be busy perhaps. 

The excavator was supposed to show up along with some more folks to begin the Little House Remodel. And I had a night shift. 

But, it was nice to take some quiet time and enjoy the evening colors.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the whole remodel, dig a basement, add on .. thing.  Oh but wait, that is a whole different blog!

So many things going on at once.

I think I'll go sit with Dex and watch the woods.