Back to Tainter Land in the Moon light

I was prepared this morning. I woke up by accident at 2AM and decided not to get up.
I really did decide to sleep more.
That is until I looked out the window.

I knew that the weather was supposed to starkly change between Sunday evening and Monday evening. Cold, windy, and rain was forecast. Then a plunge back into December weather.
I wouldn't have a change at another full moon night for quite a while.
I also knew that the next moon shooting opportunities would not be until New Years almost.

I sighed. The moon won.
I heated up some coffee and checked the weather on my smart phone. 24 degrees and calm.
Hand warmers. Check.
Extra batteries. Check.
Flash light. Got it.
I used the remote to start the Subaru [dang I love that thing!].
Headlamp. Check.
Note to self, change batteries in the older headlamp.

I drove to Tainter Land. The moon was brilliant.

I finally got a good shot of the tree I wanted and decided to explore the other bridge.

And I was very happy that I did.

What a beautiful night in such an isolated area.

And my hands stayed....oh, so warm in the combination mitten gloves with hand warmers.

It was a wonderful morning.

Early to bed early to....what?

Rise?
I awoke at 3:30, that is in the AM. Morris woke up too and followed me into the kitchen. I checked the time and then looked out the window. The moon was not quite full but it was brilliant out.
I let Mr. Morris out and stepped onto the porch.

I decided to go back to bed.
As I laid down I thought about my drive through Tainter Hollow the day before while running some errands.

Lucky me, I'd seen an eagle perched just above Tainter Creek.
He/she stayed there long enough for me to take out my zoom lens and swap it out for the one I had on the Olympus camera.

I stopped at Tainter Bridge and admired the tree and its reflection. I thought it would make a nice subject for the black and white challenge I'd accepted.

As I tried to go back to sleep I wondered how things would look in the moonlight at Tainter Bridge. Could I get a shot of the same tree and the water? Would the moonlight wash out the sky?

The more I tried not to think about it, the more I thought about it.
Finally I got up and warmed up a cup of coffee.
I was going to go to Tainter Land.

There is a challenge to shooting in the dark. But the bigger challenge was to be able to take some shots while the moon still shone into the valley. The valley is very steep.
I got there at 4AM and set up as quickly as I could.
Finding the right spot was not too hard. I've photographed this same spot over the years during the daylight and sort of knew where I should put the tripod.

The next challenge was the cold. The temperature gauge on the Subaru said it was 28 degrees in the bottom. It had been 34 on the ridge. And my fingers felt the cold. Those fingers that had somehow aged on me and had osteoarthritis in them.
Note to self. Next time, bring hot hand packs!

As the moon began to sink towards the trees on the ridge, I pulled out my flashlight and took another shot...in the night.
I wondered if my light would be enough to help lighten the tree trunk as it fell into darkness.

It did.

And suddenly.
The lights went out and the valley which was bathed in moonlight was dark.

I stuck my hands in my pockets to warm them up and listened to the barred owl and the stream.

My moonlight excursion at the bridge had lasted all of 12 minutes.
I got back in the 'Ru and started it up to thaw out.

You know what? The moon is out again tonight. Moonrise tonight is supposed to be the Super Moon of 2017.

I'm going to pack some hand warmers and those hunting mitts in my bag.

I guess a day nap will be in order.
I hope the owl sings to me again.

Return to Tainter...Land

Tainter Hollow is an interesting area. It has more than one very steep narrow valley and a creek named Tainter Creek that runs through it.

The roads are gravel roads and there are many little bridges that cross Tainter Creek as it twists and turns.
There is Tainter Hollow E., Tainter Hollow W., and Tainter Rd. Tainter Rd is closed still.

I had a bit of time yesterday and it was gloomy and raining. I couldn't do garden work, yard work, and my shoulders and forearms needed a rest from all the weed whacking I'd done. I asked Rich if he'd mind if I went down to Tainter Hollow to look for wildflowers to photograph while he took a nap.

He shrugged.
I put some things in the Subaru and went to Tainter Land.
At one of my favorite bridges to stop and take photos, there were surveyors marking out sections on both sides of the road. Orange paint markings were in the gravel.
The floods of last year caused a lot of damage to our many 'Tainter Bridges'  [one of the reasons that Tainter Rd. was still closed].

Dang. I felt too self conscious to share the bridge with them, so I drove on.
Up the road a ways there is a dairy farm pasture.
Here I found Besse and Wilma, they looked a bit perturbed that I'd interrupted their "udderly" fantastic conversation.

Harriet and Fern, meanwhile were looking rather sneaky about something. I wonder if the girls were planning something, or just really curious about the lady in the muddy Subaru.

I circled around back to Tainter Hollow E. and headed back to the Public Land entrance.

I'm not sure the bridges will do very well if we have any more flash floods.

Tainter Rd is closed due to the culverts being washed away and the road being destroyed in one section. The other bridges all suffered damage from log jams last September.

I parked and walked the footpath through the tall grass along Tainter Creek. In the early spring this is a nice walk. Starting in May or June, the grasses and other plants are nearly as tall as I am and can make for a less enjoyable hike.
However I found two nice places to admire Tainter Creek before I turned back.

Give me a whole day and another person to go with and I could really have fun exploring. Tainter Hollow is in such a place that there is no cell phone coverage and a GPS won't get satellite reception. Not an issue for me unless my husband needs to get hold of me.

I headed out and passed a residence on Tainter Hollow W. This person's house/cottage is built on the hillside and has stilts supporting part of it. I often wonder how it stays on the hillside.
Anyway this was parked on the road next to the creek.
I shot it through my review mirror.

Sort of overkill for a trout creek right?

My time was up, I needed to head back home.

I got a peek at a few critters along the way.

When I got to the top of Hinkst Hollow, I did pull over and compose a shot. This is one of the straightest roads in our township. And the view is always amazing to me.

Normally you don't get such vistas where I live. But there are a few to be found.

I didn't get the wildflower shots I wanted. Nope, not at all.
Instead I had a very interesting drive.

It was nice to have a small break.

Here is hoping that the rain and gloom ease up. Notice that most of the fields are not worked up. Our farmers are way behind in planting. And those that did plant corn have some very yellow sickly plants coming up.

Finding Spring Wildflowers

Oh how I love searching for the very elusive Blood Root! In the surrounding woods they are sometimes very few and far between.
On my way to town yesterday I took a back road and a wee detour to Tainter Hollow where Tainter Creek runs through Public Hunting and Fishing Land.

When I pulled in I didn't see much to look at. I decided to get out and take a good look around.
There they were dozens and dozens of Blood Roots covering a fairly nice sized area.

I danced a little jig and got down on the ground.

The Blue Bells were just emerging in different areas and not flowering yet. Cowslip dotted the area as well.

Wild White Anemones were scattered and soon would also cover the area with their bright white little flowers.

These little flowers are smaller than a pencil eraser. If one didn't look hard for them, they would be missed.

I saw the leaves of Trout Lilies dotting the undergrowth too. I made a mental check to go back today to see if they have flowered.

The ferns are beginning to emerge also in certain parts of the forest. I hiked along the top of the hillside near the house yesterday and didn't find anything popping up until I got midway down the hill.

I don't know all of my ferns, but these were coming up. Morris and I walked around them and several mayflower plants that were just poking their tips up.

I even found a spot where Trillium leaves were coming up.

The bright green leaves belong to the Trillium plant, the other leaves in the photo are Virginia Waterleaf.

Even though the fern is not really a flower, I love finding them too.
This one is a Maidenhair Fern, I know this because in the spring time they have dark red stems.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the conventional spring garden flowers. I have daffodils and tulips beginning to flower in the yard and hostas emerging along with irises and other flowers.
But finding the wild ones seems to be my favorite thing to do.

It is always some sort of adventure finding them.

Tainter Hollow

After my haircut yesterday I decided to go to the Tainter Creek Public Hunting and Fishing area. There is a small parking area just past this sign.

For a while the area was trashed with remnants of little campfires and beer cans. After this sign was erected, I made sure to visit often and pick up trash.
Whoever was partying here has moved on and the parking area has been pretty clean for the past couple of years.

I call this area *Tainter Land*. There is a Tainter Hollow Road, a Tainter Hollow East, Tainter Hollow West, and a Tainter Road. These back country gravel roads all come in contact with Tainter Creek at some point.
Tainter Creek is fairly well known locally to trout fisher-people.

I like the area because it is so unique.
In the early spring the flowers near the parking area are amazing...

Last spring I found Trout Lilies along with the bluebells and other flowers.

Since it is early spring and the snow is gone, I decided to see how far along the creek I could walk.
There is a path that has been mowed, but it ends. I instead just made my own way along the creek.

The creek is clear and cold. Which I imagine makes it perfect for trout. In this shot you can see the tufts of debris still left on trees and brush from last September's floods.

I found a rather beat up soccer ball wedged in the roots of a toppled tree.

There was a beaver dam in this area last year, I don't know if the DNR removed it or the flood waters did.

I will let you enjoy some of the views I did.

 Oh yes...Val-Barbie shared the adventures!

I followed Tainter Creek until I came up on Tainter Hollow West at the bridge and then walked the road back to the parking area.

In the hours that I was there, I saw one vehicle. I think that must have been the mailman/woman.

Mostly House Stuff

Right now our lives are being taken over by the finishing work in the Tiny House.
Walls of plastic are everywhere, the scent of drying drywall mud has permeated the house.

During the day the house is a literal dust bowl. Sheets of plastic cover some rooms and linen sheets cover as much of our belongings as possible.

Yesterday though I took some time 'out' and had a side trip to Tainter Hollow for some photography. 
It seemed to be a perfect day to practice with the infrared filter.

I could have spent the day doing photography but alas, Rich had run out of clean jeans and our laundry situation was desperate.
So sadly I left Tainter Land and traveled home.

Then I went to my neighbor's and did 3 huge loads of laundry.

Can't wait to have a washer and dryer at home again!

More on the remodel at:
The Little House Remodel

Spring blast & Tainter Hollow

It hardly seems that Buster could grow so fast but he has.  In 7 short days he has grown so much!

Bonus!  Buster has not been an escapee as of this blog writing.  He has been easy to catch so far also.
He should be banded this weekend.  At least that is on my list of to do's.

On the 16th I took an early morning walk and to my delight I found the maidenhair fern just curling up out of the moss in the rocks.

The photo to the left was taken on the 16th and the photo on the right was taken on the 18th.  The ferns are really trying to take off!
Again these below were taken on the 16th.

Same ones on the 18th.

I should have thought ahead and tried to get the same exact angle but alas this is the first time I've tried a comparison photo.  
I doubt I can get the same angle every time.
However tomorrow morning I hope to try and see what another two days along with some light rain has done.

Yesterday I thought I'd take a drive down to Tainter Hollow and take a look around at Tainter Creek and the DNR land that is located there. 

It is a very unique piece of public land.  The valley is very steep with a beautiful trout stream that runs through it.
However if there is a heavy rain, Tainter Road always suffers washouts and sometimes closures.

The above photo is Tainter Hollow Rd after a 6 inch rain in 2014.

When I pulled into the little turn around I stopped the Jeep and literally jumped out.  I saw Virginia Bluebells, Wood Anenomes, Trout Lilys, and Dutchman's Breeches.
All are ephemeral flowers.

Ephemeral means short lived.  In other words, you have to keep an eye out for them in the Spring because they blossom then are done. 
I've never been to Tainter Creek at the exact right time before to see the expanse of these flowers until yesterday.

I was totally floored and in awe.  
Trout Lily:

Virginia Bluebells on the left Wood Anenomes on the right:

A sea of Anenomes:

Dutchman's Breeches:

When I got home from Tainter, I called my new neighbor and told her about all of the wild flowers I'd found.  She asked if I'd show her where they were and if we could do it when she got home from picking up her kids from school.

I guess my enthusiasm was evident in my voice and did take them to Tainter Hollow.  The children got to see a Great Blue Heron fly right over us, they got to explore and find beaver dams, and we even saw a pair of Canada Geese.

I was so happy to share this place that rarely gets visitors.

I hope to get to Tainter again this weekend to see if I can catch the bluebells  and the Trout Lily fully open before they do their magical disappearing act.