Storms and smoke

About midnight the storms that were supposed to go around us hit and hit hard. The lightening was so often that it looked like a weird SciFi daylight film. 

Charlie had a conniption fit. The nonstop thunder unnerved the poor fella. I got up and comforted him as best I could. Rich got up and Charlie decided he was his savior. 

We watched the storm as best we could and at times we couldn't see past the porch either from the rain or a fog. Or was it both? We had winds.

7 22 

garden

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the garden :(

So the damage around our place was mostly to the trees. I'd moved Lil Richard and Sven out of one of the little paddocks I have for them to the Shed Pens. Sven can get into his little indoor area through a large 'goat'/doggy type door. And Lil Richard can maneuver around to get out of inclement weather. 

[He is the only equine that will behave inside a stall in the winter..the mules try to tear the indoor pen apart]

Seems the dead ash trees to the northeast threw their branches at Lil Richard. He showed me the tiny mess when I checked on him. Sven was still sleeping.

The pen that I moved them out of had a new tree top in it.

This was Thor's old pen and the tree to the right was the one that was struck by lightening a few years ago. 

I spent an hour or so just picking up branches and debri to toss over the fence to the mules and even to Sven. They all eat the leaves, so they do a pretty good clean up. I just have to pick up the branches later and toss them on my fall burn pile.

There was actually more than anyone could eat so I dragged them off the hot wire and just left them be.

I grabbed a hand saw, a machete, and the heavy duty loppers. Off to the woods I went to check on the rest of the fence. One nice thing about this rope hot wire is that it is a cinch to fix. It generally doesn't break, but will sag and just needs tightening. I usually have to replace the plastic insulators that will break before the wire.

This box elder and another locust split and fell in the forest pasture. I'll let the mules eat the leaves off of them if they want to and then this fall hand saw it up. No chain saw for me and I know my neighbor would help, but he has had a stressful year at his work. I won't ask for help.

It will be good for me to have a late fall project.

I went all the way around the whole fence and chopped weeds off from some places and stopped to eat black berries! It started to get 'close' and I could feel myself heating up. Long sleeves, long pants, boots, and gloves... phew...

I found cool fungi and wondered what these were. I will try to ID them at a later time.

Ohhhh! And next to the top of a split oak, I found this on a log. I can't wait to get back to the woods and explore instead of checking fences!

Who doesn't love the brilliant colors of slime mold!

I got back to the house just in time to have lunch. I got an alert on my phone regarding Air Quality. They were not kidding. Cell Phone photo of what we first thought was fog. I went back out and man...IT smelled like burning plastic and wood.

And...

It did get much worse.

This was at 2pm when I went out for a few moments to pick some Queen Anne's Lace and Fleabane for a wild white bouquet.

That air was bad and I stayed in until late evening.

I worked on a project of dying Queen Anne's Lace and trying to figure out how to dry them for this winter. 

The haze and smoke let up a bit before sunset so I spent a little time watching the birds.

This morning there was nothing but an orange haze that turned into a grey overcast sky with another Air Quality Alert.

I'm bummed. 

This weekend it looks like I will spend my hours mowing. According to the NOAA we are to experience times of heavy smoke. 

So I'll mow and stop and do something crafty? The garden is toast so I will let it be, the squash and cukes can grow without much more help from me.

My flower garden took a huge hit too. The rain decimated most of my petunias and the winds flattened my 4 o'clocks. Once it dries out [2.5 inches of rain] I'll see what I can do to revive it.

Pfft.

Onward.

Teddy Bear ~ Percy

"It's hot and muggy," my husband said. "It's awful out there."
I nodded and shrugged on my backpack.

Indeed it was. Hot and terribly muggy. Too hot to take a dog with me, so I stuffed a second water bottle into the side of the pack.

I really didn't need to go out hiking. I was sure the fences were okay. I'd done quick check during morning chores while it was raining and everything was working as it should have been.

We'd had about 3 1/2 inches of more rain overnight and somewhere around 3AM, I'd awakened to lightening, thunder, and the sound of heavy rain pouring down outside.

My only thought was that of Percy, the Teddy Bear, the Creek Bear. Was he high enough? I left him out of flood range, but...the sounds of the pounding rain on the steel roof left me full of doubt. Stupid me and my fun ideas of having toys sit and watch over the creek.

But really, I just couldn't help myself. I like the forest, I like the woods. I like wandering with a sense of freedom. If I don't get to wander for a few days, I begin to feel like a trapped animal and get snippy and snarky. The walls of the house are nice to keep out the weather, but dang, don't let it keep me in!

Besides, I wanted to try something I'd read about. Instead of using an ND filter to 'shoot' scenes of water, I'd try a different method. No filters. So I took my Olympus camera with the broken lens thread. I couldn't add a filter if I wanted to.

And off I went into the heat "to check on fences" of course. And...to check on Percy of course. If you haven't guessed it by now, I have an affection for toys and photographing them in nature.

I found Percy safe and sound sitting high up on the bank. I plucked him off the blue plastic chair by his ear and took him along. He was wet, soggy, and still rather muddy. I was beginning to like this Teddy Bear. He had character.

I stopped in the shade to set up a shot of the 'beach'. The new flash floods had changed the creek flow and washed away a lot of sand and silt. I noted the new face lift and liked it. Mother Nature had re-arranged the bulldozing work to her satisfaction and mine.

 3 bracketed shots merged

I took the shots and then moved on. Water dripped down my face and into my glasses. I stopped to put on a sweatband. I picked my way upstream to the middle dry run and stopped.

Water was still flowing from the ridge top above and emptying into the creek.
I set Percy down in the water flow and watched curiously as the mud from his backside rinsed off and clouded the creek.

f22 @ 1 second

The sun had disappeared under a cloud bank and I shot this without bracketing.

No matter, Percy was now wetter and heavier, but I picked him up and continued upstream. I considered setting him down and just grabbing him on the way back.
I even tried it but picked him up again.
I don't know why.

By the time I picked my way over the slippery rocks and got to the where the fence-line is supposed to be. The sun was out strong and hot. I had finished one water bottle.
I sat down on a mossy rock and decided to just sit for a bit. Water dripped off my chin and dropped onto my lap.

Oh wait. Wasn't I supposed to be checking fencing?

I pulled off my boots and socks and put my feet in the creek. I tried to sit Percy up next to me, he kept slipping sideways. Maybe he just didn't want to sit there.

I thought about checking the time on my cell phone in the backpack, but I let it be.

I decided to try the merge method of shooting the little pond and the tiny waterfalls over the rocks.

I packed up and headed back. I started in on the other water bottle and carefully picked my way back to the trail with Percy in tow.

I kept trying different spots to photograph the Teddy Bear, but none seemed to fit.
Until I got back to the rock where I'd set him a few days ago.

More rain was predicted for the overnight hours and I wasn't going to loose any sleep over a Teddy Bear, so I took Percy with me.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir