Doin's

 

These photos were taken when my Gang visited. We enjoy access to this stream in a few places.

My very own Awesome Creek empties into this stream known as Black Bottom by those who have lived here for eons.
Readscreek by those who are new or have only been here for one generation.

Odd how things are known to locals by one name and to older locals by another.

Saturday was HOT.
So Lil' Richard got a bath and I'd bought some temporary hair color at some point...yeah...

The result was a 'painted pony' that smelled like blueberries. After a few mornings of dew, the blue faded away. That is a shame, it was pretty neat.


I'd purchased some squirt guns at Wally World for a couple of dollars before the Gang came. Since it was so hot last Saturday, we made the trip to the creek. After all any visitor needs to check out Awesome Creek and the 'Beach'. The Beach is a new name for the area that was reformed by the bulldozer.

I'd done an experiment by placing two large Thrift Store Teddy Bears on a Beach Chair. I placed a Trail Cam facing the Teddy Bears.

These coyotes tipped the chair over and that night a raccoon moved the brown colored Teddy.

We went to 'The Beach' and the kids grabbed the squirt guns and the adults sat on rocks and chilled out. We watched the kids and the dogs play.

And the battle between sisters was on...

Sunday morning promised to be another scorcher...it was. We'd gone early to the Double J Bridge and enjoyed the cold water and the views.

And ... that is the rest of the Kenosha Gang weekend.

Polar Plunging in creeks

Okay, so I didn't strip down and jump into the waters.
Nope, too darned cold for that.

I call this activity "Creek Leaping".
It is an acquired skill set.

I used to do it without a walking stick, but since my good friend Daryl made one for me, I now use it.

Creek Leaping is an art form of its own. You have to be well balanced ~ not in the head though, as who in their right minds would jump from icy rock to rock in the winter? ~
Of course one cannot always leap over a deep section.  Waterproofed boots are a must. Neoprene Muck Boots that are tall, are even better.

I just love how this stream tumbles over the rocks and splashes water above it creating ice formations.

I went to two places along the same creek/stream. The old timers call it Black Bottom. That is the name I will use.

There is so much to see and explore in any weather.  This creek changes with each flash flood. But the beauty is never marred.

There are wonderful little spots to explore and photograph.
Or...just sit and watch for the trout.

I only had about an hour to explore, so I took a quick look around and hurried from interesting spot to spot.


So much to explore.
I do love these cold temperatures!

Another hand item to have is hand warmers and a pair of mitten/gloves.

Bridges and Streams

..and adventures ...

I woke up early Saturday and peered out the window. It looked grey and overcast so I fell back to sleep. I woke up a few minutes later and got up to go make coffee. I didn't know if my guests would have looked outside yet or not.
Our Sunrise Date for going to the ridge and perhaps to the M Bridge might not be very exciting after all.
However I did find one of my guests awake. Daryl was sitting at the kitchen table reviewing something on his smart phone.

I said good morning and made coffee. We both glanced out the window and remarked that perhaps the sky wouldn't be very exciting for photographs but perhaps the lighting would be interesting.

And hey, it wasn't raining like the forecasters had predicted.

As we sat drinking coffee, Daryl's youngest daughter came down the stairs and joined us. We sipped our coffee quietly as to not wake anyone else.
We all glanced out the window as the clouds seemed to give off some color and a promise of...something...

In a flash, we'd grabbed our stuff and deposited ourselves in Daryl's Subaru. His family had been here enough now, that he knew the 'good' spots by heart. We drove to Kolstad Road and pulled in at the cattle pen.

"What about M?" asked Daryl. I shrugged. One can never go wrong with the trout stream. There was always the chance of fog, sun, cattle, and beautiful reflections.

The views of Bridge M never disappoint. It is one of my favorite spots to see the landscape change with the seasons.

I just love that clump of trees. Daryl captured the water and the bridge with an incredible eye. It helps to have another person's viewpoint when doing photography.

He is more adventurous than I am.

We decided to meander up the road and check out another spot near the J Bridge.
It did not disappoint.

We spent a good deal of time exploring and decided that we needed to come back and check it out with Daryl's wife and other daughter.

However, we first planned on visiting Jersey Valley. Those who wanted to hike could hike, those who wanted to fish could fish. It is just about the perfect Vernon County Park.

And of course we found more bridges...

Well, and parts of what used to be bridges. These trails were devastated in one of our 3 floods last year. The trails now circumvent these broken bridges. Except for the brand new snow mobile trail that goes over the South Fork of the Kickapoo River.

Fishing proved to be plentiful at Jersey Valley and ...

we got fish to eat!!!

Our photography group's theme for the week was "Bridges" so indeed we decided to explore more.
JJ Bridge.
Bridge Out.

Never underestimate the power of a flash flood. This bridge was nearly destroyed by the flash floods of last September. The rest of the bridges along this stream have also been compromised again and again over the past 10 yrs.
We just passed our 10 year anniversary of the August 2007 floods.

This bridge has been closed since last year and there is no funding from FEMA in sight.
In a way that makes me look upon Hurricane Harvery with a different set of eyes.
FEMA?
For the past 10 years FEMA was full of promises and slow to react.

However this area is so unique and I don't think I'd want to live anywhere else.

For me it is a hiking a photography paradise.

I wonder how many bridges and streams I can photograph?

I won't run out of choices very soon.

Weekend

Here is a shot of my husband and a pal of ours, Daryl. Rich supervised the farm workings and we did the work.
He was able to get in and out of his skid steer safely and operate it.

I think some things are so routine for him that he doesn't have to think about it at all.
Our 'crew' put up insulators on the line fence that is an old barbed wire fence and we ran electric line through the woods.
The fence will keep the Dexter cattle in an area previously only grazed by mules. The Dexters are much better foragers than the mules, and now we have another space for rotation.

This is generally at least a two person job. We had a good crew and once we got the lines put up we were all done in from the heat and the prep work.

I have one dividing fence to put up and then we hopefully can start moving the cattle and mules.

Rich has decided to downscale drastically. Little Richard, four riding mules, and our project pony 15 get to stay along with one donkey...Bob.

The Dexter herd will be culled and we will keep the best of the herd. I don't imagine this will happen swiftly as each step has to be according to Rich and I respect those decisions.

Some of the work will require hiring help as I can't do it all. But that is okay. The grand plan is to get things to such a place that we can do some other leisurely things without worrying about the chores all of the time.

This week is a revolving door of VA appointments, Speech Therapy, and ... Rich's summer haircut.

Yesterday Daryl and I got up early and went to watch the sun rise over Black Bottom Creek.

We arrived in the valley and watched the fog roll across the Kickapoo River. It was quiet except for the mud swallows who were busy under the concrete bridge building their nests.

When the sun peeked into the valley we took a round about way back to the farm and took another look at the creek.

Our company left at noon and we promptly took naps. It had been a productive weekend and we were tired.
The next three days were going to be full of appointments.

It was a great weekend.
Good laughs.
Lots of hard work.
Cooling off in the creek.

And good friendship all around.
You can't beat that!

Busy as a bee ... I think.

The Garden is going crazy!
Of course 4 inches of rain last week probably contributed to that aspect.

It appears that I'll have a good crop of squash again this year...that is Winter Squash.
I have been picking an ice cream bucket full of green beans almost everyother day now.

The sun and heat last week between the rains burned the lettuce and a few other plants in the garden.
The cosmos is growing tall above the Squash plants.  The sweet corn? I don't know, this is my first time at doing that. I am told by a neighbor who fences his in and electrifies his patch that I should expect the ravages of raccoon.

We'll see what happens right?

Yesterday we had the farrier came and worked on the donkeys. We put everyone in a nice shady area so he and his son would not be in the hot sun.

The donkeys were extremely good and that pleased the farriers to no end.

This morning I was up very early. I decided to brave the fog and make a trip to Black Bottom Creek and take a few shots.

And I stopped at an oat field on my way back home.
The oats are ripe!