Cute dog and hanging out in the forest

Oh Darn.

This little dog.

Can that face be any cuter????

Did you know there is a study regarding Black Dog Syndrome?

Some feel that black dogs are adopted less frequently because they don't photograph well. [Apparently these are photos that are used to promote the dogs for adoption.] Other theories are that people just don't always like the color black. Or the color is associated with evil or misfortune. 

Clearly, I do not fall into that category. The color of a dog, cat, horse, mule, or any animal has ever made me consider anything different. The color of the animal isn't important. It is the character and temperament of the animal.

I will admit though, that Hannah and Charlie are a bigger challenge to photograph compared to Morris who was tri colored and easy to photo in any kind of light.

Our evening activities.
A little campfire, some lap time for the dogs, and time without distractions.

Here is the Killer Doe that the dogs saw. Charlie growled a warning to the doe and Hannah shook like a leaf.

Our little fire.

This space in the forest is so unique and beautiful. I am trying to figure out if I can mow the area with my little self propelled mower on its highest settings. It would be a shame to let it go wild again. 

I think Patrick is supposed to come and brush hog the meadow and hopefully this area twice this year.

The mules do go back here to get into shade and relax, but I am going out with the dogs any night that it is calm enough for a fire.

No. No terrible bugs have eaten us. Just Killer Deer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some photos from our day out working in the forest.

Have a nice weekend. Mine will be quiet.

Busy Day ~ Night Out

Another day with the scrappers, they filled the truck and the trailer from behind and in the little red shed.

The fella that sold this place didn't throw things away either. Imagine that. His old farm has old vehicles in the dry runs along with stoves, refrigerators, and various other things.👇

The scrappers felt they'd won the lottery. All those old mowers and mower decks... so many engines taken half way apart. 

All 'good' stuff. 

They actually dug down about 2 feet for some of the items. The sinks and toilets stayed.

 

Glen, the previous owner was a handy man that did remodel jobs as a business. 

Often the stuff he was to toss came home and landed behind the shed. I'm sure my husband did not collect over 40 mowers! Most of them were hidden in the dirt.

They found mowers, bed springs, couch springs, and buckets of big heavy bolts along with tranny covers and a few transmissions. Don was in heaven when he found a nice Pepsi sign and some 40 yr old truck plates. He will decorate his shed with them.

I worked around the house while they were mucking around in the old garage and the red shed. I did stuff that is boring but necessary to keep the house clean and clothes for me to wear.

The guys left around 12:30 and I decided to take the dogs out to stretch their legs. We hiked through our woods. 

We found that the wild geraniums were beginning to bloom.

I took these with my Lensbaby lens. I love the softness it produces.

Oddly enough, I did enjoy the little hike, but also didn't enjoy it. For years now, I've had low back pain on the left side. It is due to arthritic spurs on the spine. Normally I just get a bunch of twinges, but Wednesday it left me a bit breathless while standing up from bending over.

Hah.
I know better than to do that. I have to squat to avoid irritating that Uncle Arthur spot. Bending is not a good option ever for a back.

I hobbled home and got an ice pack out. The dogs and I sat on the porch bench and watched birds for a while.

I was surprised and please to see Siera following the red headed mules at her slow pace [she never really is in a hurry]. 

I called the Vet Clinic [this is a different one. Dr. Anderson had seen Siera years ago when she was not herself]. 

The receptionist said Dr. was pretty busy and I said it wasn't life or death, I just thought she should be looked at as she is not herself and either pulled or strained muscles and perhaps we'd need to give her some Bute if appropriate to help her move better.

Dr. Anderson saw Siera in 2014 when she 'tied up'. 

He is an excellent Vet. We had him out in 2009 when we nearly lost Cheyanne. He and his daughter treated her for dehydration with fluids until midnight. You can read about that here at: She's worth it. 

After all of that, we made out suppers. I wish I was like a dog who could just eat something simple like Kibble and get on with my day.

I made veggies with chicken and had ice cream for desert. Nothing fancy. Just eatable stuff.

I asked Charlie and Hannah if they wanted to go for a walk. They eyed me like...mayyyyy beeee....

I put their beeper collars on and we hiked out to where I am making my campsite.

We gathered sticks and made a little campfire. Charlie has been at a campfire before, but Hannah hasn't. 

This was a trial run to see how they liked hanging out with me in the forest.

Sniffing and digging seemed to be the most fun for them. The found spots nearby and dug. Hannah collected sticks to chew on. 

After that, they both wanted to sit in my lap.

Well. I will need a bench or a much larger chair. I think there is a folding camp chair in the trailer, so I'll grab that next time.

After much sniffing around and checking things out, they both wanted to sit in my lap.

My lap doesn't have much room for them.

But they were pretty content to listen to the birdsong, coyotes songs, owl calls, and hang out with me.

Smelling the forest in the evening is much better when you are on your master's lap apparently.

I intended to stay out after dark, but released that I had two black dogs that would be invisible on the walk back to the house.
Next time, I'll bring their collar lights.

This was probably the nicest evening I've had in such a long time.

The video is about 10 seconds long and includes the Eastern Towhee

singing its evening songs.

I ordered this for our next excursion into the woods to watch the sun fade and nightfall. 

This way, I can just use this pop up shelter to sit in with the pups. It is really for a beach or sitting outside out of the sun, but it is a pop up shelter. 

I think this will be easy to put up and take down. I even have a spot I can hang it from a tree limb so animals won't mess with it.

I am so incredibly happy that I had this Forest Mulching done. I plan to maintain the area. The mules can get to the pasture when the dogs and I aren't there. 

Here we are enjoying the evening. I set my little camera up with a self timer for this.

We are enjoying a bit of heaven in this world's chaos.

And yes, if you look, my hair is colored wild, just like me. I felt like doing something weird and unusual, so I did it.

We all fell sound asleep by 9:30. Hannah snuck onto my old jacket I'd dropped onto the bedroom floor. I let her sleep there. She surely is coming along nicely. I'm so very lucky to have these two friends to keep me company.

Goats, Campfire, and Cotton Candy

Saturday morning Daryl and his youngest daughter got up early and headed out to bow hunt.

Rich was sleeping, and the rest of the house was quiet so I grabbed my Nikon and headed out the door. I did have to go pick up milk at the little local gas station before the rest of the house appeared.

And why not enjoy the morning sunrise at the same time?

The photo is looking east from the ridge top across the Kickapoo River valley. New cell towers seem to always be popping up. I think they sort of ruin the pictures. I can easily erase them. However, they they are.

We eventually all gathered for a quick breakfast of 'whatever you can find to eat' and headed out to go to the Vernon County Fair.

As usual the last county fair in Wisconsin was packed with locals and visitors. There was the usual fair food that delights yet causes intestinal distress later. I didn't participate in the photography show this year. The time to organize my photos just wasn't there and my heart wasn't quite in it.
I did enjoy looking at the fair displays though. My favorite displays were those of flower arrangements, potted arrangements, and crafts.

I mentioned that I'd wanted to have a campfire in the evening. We could sit on chunks of wood and watch the full moon come up along with a nice small campfire.

The dogs and Sven joined us. It was an experiment which worked out very well. Charlie stayed very close and kept trading laps. Scout decided he wanted to go back to the house when the coyotes started to sing.

Sven hung out after he inspected the flames and decided they were not Goat-Worthy of tasting. One of the kids had a bag of Cotton Candy and Sven sought that out, grabbed it and walked away.
It led to a lot of laughter and the kids got it back.

They asked if Sven could try a bite. Yes he could. And Charlie wanted in on the action.
Sven's reaction was hilarious. He loved it. Of course! Who wouldn't like pure spun sugar?
From that point on, he kept circling and begging for candy until it was gone.

Sunday morning we took the dogs and Sven for a hike to the creek. After all, my friends can't seem to spend a weekend without going to the creek to check it out.

Apparently, Sven thinks that Charlie is HIS personal pal and other dogs need to leave his little buddy alone.

And of course, everyone including Sven enjoyed the creek. See him next to the Grace watching Daryl? He is a curious and fun companion to have along.

Sven browses as he walks and then trots up to the next person to see what they are doing.
Amanda set her waist pack down on some rocks.
Sven calmly walked over and picked up the pack by its strap then began to walk off.

A shout of "Sven! No!" doesn't faze him at all. He just gives you the Goaty Eye and continues.
I think the souls of goats are lovable imps.

How are the ribs? Wow, they were still terribly sore all weekend. Laying down to sleep and get comfortable is a challenge.

However.
I need to get over it and back into the swing of things.

I think I need a bit of goat 'lovin' and another campfire....

[taken by Grace]

The Visit

Last week we retrieved a special visitor from Wausau, WI.  Our grand daughter Lily.

Even though I've had to work a full and crazy schedule we have been getting in some great quality time and fun.

I awakened her one morning for the traditional PJ Sunrise Shindig.  Well, it was just her and I of course, but she sure took to it.  She took some amazing shots with her camera phone.

She expressed an interest in learning how to ride, so we have been working on it a bit every day when time allowed for it!

She has found a balanced seat and graduated to the next step.  Learning how to use the reins.  It is confusing at first and very easy to over steer or over 'do' anything.  Fred was very patient and good.
After about an hour Lily was able to guide Fred over logs and in patterns in the yard without being on a lead line.

And she was pretty darned happy about it.

We had to take an unexpected road trip to the VA clinic for Grandpa, but we made the best of it by going out to lunch and then stopping at a neat wayside along the Baraboo River for a few photos.

Then Lily had an idea.  She dropped to the ground and yelled..."Hey Grandma!"

She stayed there until a Daddy Long Legs crawled onto her!

Last night we thought we'd try sleeping in a tent with Morris and it worked for a while!  We chatted and then started to fall asleep until we heard the echos of a huge thunderstorm.

We could see it above the trees on the western horizon.  Quickly we grabbed our stuff and took it all back to the house.  We settled on 'camping out' on the futon instead and the both of us plus Morris settled in and quickly fell asleep.

The much needed rain and storms stayed south but we could hear the echo of the thunder.

Lily has learned how to identify poison ivy, trillium, wild strawberry, nettles, Blood Root, and wood sorrel.  She is a quick study and eager to always learn.
We may go back to Wildcat Mountain State Park and take the Pisgah Mountain Hemlock Trail on Tuesday so she can look for more plants to identify.  

She enjoyed our hike to Ice Cave and then our jaunt into Billings Creek, where the water was ice cold and very refreshing!

So far I think the visit has been wonderful.  We've enjoyed so many things together.

She has kept these too old 'farts' hopping!

She even got Grandpa to make a small fire to cook hotdogs the other night.

And we topped the evening off by watching the fire.  We put a package of 'stuff' in the fire to make it turn colors.  It was pretty.

And today I have to work 12 hours, so Grandpa and Lily will do chores together and perhaps go visit Great Grandma.

Another full day!
And...sadly we all know the visit will end on the 12th.
But until then we will make the most of it!