Bad Bad DOG! by Charlie

 NO, not me. I am a delightful dog. A loyal dog. 

I believe in "Make Naps/Not War!"

Cookies and Laps! Not growlies and bities!

Mom took me for an afternoon walk. She said we would go look for bugs and icky things like that. I sometimes like bugs to smell and see if they taste good. She said we'd go on the road and not the deep woods. 
I was happy and carried my rope up the hill. I was all in!

When we got down past the place where the people and kids live in a cabin, mom waved to the Mom that had little children. Their dog Kettle was next to their car and had on a cone thingy and its whole body was all wrapped up. 

Mom said 'Hi' and we kept walking. 

Kettle dog must have been in a very nasty and surly mood. She came out snarling and growling with her teeth gnashing. Before mom could pick me up out of harm's way the Kettle came at me with fire and ugly in her eyes. 
I lay on the gravel road and started screaming in terror.

The Kettle dog kept raising her voice and getting nastier. I crawled between mom's legs to hide and the Kettle dog pushed the cone into the back of my mom's calves. I think I peed myself and I think mom wanted to pee herself.

She said very calmly to the other Mom that she would NOT reach around or move until other Mom had control of her dog. The Kettle dog's teeth were clashing and making noises. I thought mom's legs were getting torn to shreds as Kettle dog was pushing the cone against her legs and trying to reach me. 

I kept screaming and squeaking. I couldn't help it. I was so afraid.

The other Mom's Man Person starting Yelling too at the Mom person. It was a mess. The only one not yelling was my mom who stood absolutely statue still. 

The Kettle dog was retrieved and my mom said nothing. She picked me up and walked down the road. She was thinking.

She had never had trouble with the Kettle dog before but I could tell this really troubled her a lot. She checked me all over. I was clinging with my paws to her forearms. 

Then I sensed mom got very angry. She doesn't get angry very often or very fast. 

She put me down and told me how much she loved me and how she was so sorry and she had been scared too as she'd been bitten more than once in her life by a dog on the back of her legs. She said she was thankful for the cone on the nasty dog's head.

She fingered her pepper spray and smiled a very nasty smile. Kettle would learn NOT to approach us ever ever again.

See? I am a happy dog. A lover and snuggler. I have never even growled except at lightening bugs.

I do NOT like Bad Bad Dogs.

Mushy Mushy & funny signs

With temps rising into the 40's I knew that the snowshoes would collect snow pack as I walked. Lucky me, however as the guys with the 4 wheelers had been out tearing things up on the neighbor's land. See the oldest brother says it is trespassing and gets upset. The oldest brother lives 4 hours away. The younger brother that lives there lets his work pals [some who are of dubious character] take their UTV's and 4 wheelers out and rip up trails.

The local law says if one brother says they can be there, it is not trespassing. I've talked with the UTV dudes and they know I am out there most of the time. We've run into each other a few times. [Only because I allow them to see me.] 

We talked on Sunday while I was out walking Charlie. I was happy they worked up the trails in the woods. Charlie and I could walk in packed down snow.

Charlie was ecstatic. He ran like the dickens up and down the slippery mushy trail. We hadn't been on a long hike since the cold spell. I walked along trying to ID trees and just watching out for coyotes. 

When we finally got down to the creek and valley, Charlie took off like a bullet and charged through the creek and scrambled up the opposite bank. He was chasing a turkey. 

Tiny dog on top of the stream bank. One of the places where the 4 wheelers have damaged the soft bank of the stream. I'm the shadow. Charlie spent a long time watching the turkey as it flew across the valley.

We headed upstream back to our land. The going was easy along the creek and got harder once we headed up my old snowshoe trail which was pure mush now. 
Step, slide, step, stumble, 
it was like an incredible work out. CrossFit had nothing on deep mushy snow! Balance and leg strength!

I thought we'd have it easy peasy when I reached the summer meadow. Alas. Not so.

Poor Charlie. Being a Low Rider presents issues in deep snow. But he went snow swimming.

He was still hunting turkeys. He'd pause every once in a while and scan the trees. Or perhaps it was squirrels he was watching for.

He was dragging butt by the time we got home. And I was tired of walking like a drunken sailor. 

I'd taken my little red pocket camera and for some reason I'd bumped the tiny switch on it to log my gps coordinates. I never do that . However, it was interesting to find out that the elevation change from the creek at the muddy bank to the house was 323 feet in elevation change. 

Lastly. I got bored and decided to order a couple of signs of my own.  Back by our fence line where the not so nice absentee landowner put up his signs. He also has a deer stand setup to shoot on my property. I will re-string the barbed wire and have a few more tricks up my sleeve to make deer hunting awful that little section.

One should not piss off an 'old' lady who has nothing better to do than think of creative ways to subtly get back.

And yes, I do carry a pistol.
And no, I never intend to hurt anyone. This person invites friends to hunt and they set up their stands to shoot on other's land. The whole group is disliked intensely by our ridge community as they 'think' they can do what they want. This land is really quite remote so I bet they think I wouldn't notice their stand OR their arrows on my land.

Today? I'm going hunting some ice caves on KVR. 

Hiking and new stuff

 

After 4 months, my friend Bill was able to feel up to hiking again. So I took him to the Ice Caves. The ice isn't well developed but I though it would be fun just to show him where they were in case he wanted to take his wife or grand kids there.

Covid raged through his house. His one son lives in the lower level and was sick for 4 weeks but finally was able to get back to work after testing negative. Bill said he went in because he couldn't breath and his test was a negative and the diagnosis was acute asthma attack. Phew. His wife is a nurse at our local hospital, she was home for 10 days with exposure and tested negative. She is back working long hours with our little overloaded hospital.

Bill also got a double whammy with Sciatica. He is just now getting back to walking. So we took it easy.

The 'cave' formation he is standing in will have 3 foot thick wall of ice formations this winter, depending on the weather. He will actually be able to get behind the ice...thus the name Ice Cave.

The photo above is his reaction to seeing 'the bowl' of ice for the very first time. There were all sorts of WOWs.

I explained how the ice formations developed. North hillside, no sun, sandstone caves...and seeping water...and very steep hills! 

The ice will continue to develop in areas like this all over the Reserve so I have routed short enough walks to many spots where Bill can enjoy the ice too. I generally time those hikes and walks to be about 3 hours which include driving there and back.

Another short jaunt took us to Weister Creek and the mini ice wall.

I led Bill on an old equine trail that we used to ride on 30 years ago. Bill keeps telling me he'd get lost out there and many people would unless they understand how the land lays. 

He commented that he'd need another few trips to the caves before he'd dare take the wife or grands. He wasn't comfortable to try and explore on his own. Smart fella to admit that. 

I've hiked all the horse/bike/foot trails this place offers with the exception of one trail. That is almost 50 miles of trails and about 50 miles of ones that are not official trails [ones I hiked and rode before it became the Reserve].

On another note!

~~~~~~
I got weary of the winter shower curtain that I just put up. It is pretty but just looks cold. I've had it for a few years. I have a few of them. I have a summer one of a photo I took and made into a curtain. I have one for fall with pretty leaves on it, and the winter one...plus a white lace one.

I told Rich that I wanted to spruce up the colors in the bathroom after Christmas to a bright and cheery curtain. I wanted something to remind us of things to look forward to in the bleaker parts of winter.

This will be the mat to step out on:

This will be the curtain:

That should brighten things up for sure. I think this will be our Christmas gift to ourselves as it is slated to arrive after Christmas.

Sunday afternoon Charlie and I went out back for a check on the neighbor and his camera. Since he had pointed the camera to view my side of the fence, I'd attached silver garlands to branches to wiggle in the wind and set off his motion detector.

The camera was moved to view only his side of the fence.
Hmmm, I wonder if he enjoyed the thousands of photos of the garlands waving in the breezes?

Good Neighbors Good Fences.

Mostly I have really good neighbors. The ones that are not 'good' neighbors are those that don't live on their land.

Our 25 acre tract is narrow but long. I love our little place. The land is unique and there is always something to explore. The creek runs through it.

There is the Buckthorn Forest where the deer and so many other animals like to travel through.

Coyote, deer, raccoon, and of course the skunks and possums.

I can roam during every season and find something wonderful. Even in the brown season.
The doe below is in a thicket of prickly ash. Is that a real tree? I think so. Charlie and I watched her today just before the sun broke out.

Then I walked up to the back corner of ourland...Oh that purplie/pink thing is still there...and to think that the land owner is a 'well respected business owner' in town! 
Whatever. 

I posted about it in The Fence War...
I went out today and moved things around while staying out of the other person's camera range. So when dude comes back things will be moved around on my side of the fence.

I did it more because I was still in a Halloween Mood and wanted to try a photo with some cool effects.

Ghosts at night
[shot in the daylight]

The Blair Witch Project
[Twanas Stickmen]

I wanted to create from scratch something creepy and beautiful at the same time with a hint of movie fantasy to it. I have not seen The Blair Witch Project but found it fun to make a 'stick' person out of sticks, twine, and damp grass which I tied around the sticks.

It looks kind of cool and a bit creepy... slowly twisting back and forth in the breeze. 

I'd made two and set them down to rearrange my little ghosts.

Can you believe I spent about 20 minutes trying to find them again? They blended so well into the forest floor I had to really search for them.
I was sure I lost my mind. And if anyone had been listening to me, they would have heard me asking Charlie to find them. Charlie was searching out deer pellets and really had no interest in what I was doing.

I had a lot of fun after I found the stick people. 
Imagine morning light and some fog in this photo. Now wouldn't that be cool?
I just have to wait for a snowfall for these to be seen easier.

I built the little hanging ghosts out of balled up plastic grocery bags and duct tape, then took pieces of old white rags and some Sheer Voile Fabric scraps I'd picked up in a scrap bin. They make these little 'ghosts' seem to float in light breezes.

To me they are more like silent wind chimes. 

When I got home I looked at all the photos captured on the Trail Cam. Yes indeed the fella was facing our land with his bow. Now I do not mind harvesting or hunting. But I do mind hunting our land when ... well, this fella has 200 acres of his own land and 100 that he leases...so why bugger up my little back corner? 

Hubby said to take the camera down, he would rather I take more photos of the fine large buck that keeps meandering through the pasture up the hill from our house.

I think he is afraid that the guy in back would be dangerous. 

Though Rich had a funny thought. He said if he was still able to hike, he'd go back there and pick up the offensive object and mail it in a gift box to the landowner's wife with a note asking if she wanted her husband's toy back. I admit, that was pretty funny.

The camera goes back up next week before the gun season starts. I won't go back there for a few days, but I do want to see what goes on during opening weekend, if anything.

In the meantime, I'll have some more fun sorting through junk piles in the sheds and creating more figurines. I mean after all, I'm staying at home now and don't have places to go.

May as well have some creative fun. I'm going to hang out my zombie dolls I made for the neighbor kids when we were doing Treasure Hunts this summer.

Last thought. I sure can't wait to see what the raccoons do with that Purple/Pink thing. They sure love to chew on plastic!

Parting shot. More Gnome Photos.

I'm hoping for a bit of snow so I can do a new photo for Christmas cards this year.

Spring? Guess what! I am going to put the poor busted up barbed wire fence back up. Nice and tight. That is one thing I am good at, rebuilding fences.

Toodles.