Life ~ By Charlie

Charlie! Do you want to go for a Walk???

Hmmm. Hmmm. I'm currently holding down the couch and thinking about my camouflaged look. Don't bother me.

Aww come on, it is your Birthday!

As if I would recall that! Still, not impressed lady human. Go away.

I have cookies AND it is SNOWING!

Cookies? Snowing? COOOKIES??? Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Cookies. Yes! Let's go you fool!

It is simply amazing the amount of stuff that a people has to put on for a simple walk in the woods. It would be so much easier if humans just had fur like me and could go right out. 

However I imagine her feet would get cold while crossing the creek and walking in snow and ice.

She is always stopping to look at things. Always. I sniff around to find what is so interesting and she will tell me things like: Look at that ice forming!

And I am like. Hmmmm, no mice and no vole in the ice. I don't care. Let's keep moving!

Can we GO now???

Can we keep moving please?

There are deer carcasses to be sniffed and mice to be found. Let's go!

OH Wait. Um. Hmmm. Well, Okay, NOW I will be carried. I smell a kitty that is bigger than I am. 
Nope. Not afraid. Um, well. I think my feet are getting cold.

Perhaps if I shiver and look pitiful, she will pick me up and carry me through all this dangerous stuff. I smell cat. So I shiver and shake and look up at her ...I put my paws on her snowpants and implore with big Googly Eyes.

Oh goody. Coyote ~ Big Wild Dog too!

Sweet! I got a mini cookie and a lift! Phew, sometimes she can be awesome for a human person.

In fact she gave me a lift out of the scary place where the coyote and kitty have trails. Finally when we reached a 'good' place, she set me back down and off I ran. I can pounce and it makes her laugh. When she is so good to me, I like to make her laugh.

If I get too far ahead, she beeps me and I return. 

I don't know, but I kinda like these birthday walks, maybe I can have a lot more. 

Best part of these walks? SHE takes me home and I can resume my duties as a lap/couch/supervisor dog with the Him Human.

Life is good when you rule the house. Even better if you have Big Googly Eyes!

Gone Hiking

Saturday looked like another dreary winter day. With very little snow and a 'brown' look to the frozen mud and woods, it wasn't exactly cheery looking.

I decided that it would be perfect for Charlie and I to head to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve to get my new yearly pass. Honestly, the $20 fee is reasonable as far as I am concerned. I don't mind paying it for access to about 8,600 acres of unique landscape.

I feel pretty lucky to live within a half hour's drive to get there and choose a good trail to hike. Last week the neighbors and I 'did' Warner Creek. This week Charlie and I were going back to Wiester Creek.

I just packed water and some emergency supplies. I wore a bright red cap too as there is public hunting allowed on the Reserve.

I am horrible at taking 'selfies' with my camera. However I thought it would be fun to see how Charlie's attitude about 'road trips' has changed over the past year.
I pulled over to snap this. Note that Charlie is indeed looking as if HE were the Navigator!

He now understands that we are travelling somewhere when I put his harness on. The past few times he has run to the passenger side of the Subaru and waited for me to set up his car seat.

I got to the little parking area and snapped the leash on Charlie. Off we went. I found it a bit unusual that the 'Ice' signs were not up, but it didn't bother me, I knew where we were going.

I let Charlie loose and immediately he took off following the tracks of a raccoon. I called him back and snapped up the leash. I doubted he'd find the raccoon, but I didn't want to take the chance that Charlie would corner him. Charlie is tiny and a raccoon...well, much bigger than Charles.

I wanted to head down Wiester Creek to the place last year where we'd seen what we dubbed the Orange Sherbert Ice Formation.

I took an old horse trail that ran just above the creek. The trail hasn't been used by equine in at least 20 years, but the indentions are still evident.

I think you can see why I like hiking in the winter time.
There is also the bug factor.
No Bugs!

Charlie suddenly stopped in the trail and stood as tall as he could.

Of course I expected him to say...'DANGER!' He didn't, he just listened and looked. Across the valley a combine fired up and started to work a corn field. No danger, just noise.

On we went until we came down to a draw with an ice flow.

Fresh tracks of raccoon among other kinds. They followed the ice flow to the creek.

Coyote tracks:

I stepped into the middle of the creek that had a little rock island.
And there was the ice in various stages of melting and forming.

Last year I couldn't get near to the orange looking ice because of the brush in the way and the shape of the creek itself.

Hopefully we will get some good weather for the ice to become 'more creative' and exciting.

Charlie and I hugged the bank and used an old trail to walk along the creek as far as we could heading back.

We found some interesting patches of ice hugging the crevices of the rock formations.

We spent quite a while here just sitting.

I had a lot of things to mull over and this was the perfect spot to do it.

Around and About

The boys playing chase. I caught them as they came out of the woods and ran towards the meadow area.

Today I decided to take a l walk and see what stories the snow had to tell me.
I was not disappointed.

Coyote tracks in an unoccupied are of the gelding mules wooded lot.

Big Coyote.

Bird tracks. Probably a crow.

Rabbit tracks.

Above, deer trail towards the old oak tree.


And I just had to add this magnificent creature...

No explanation needed.

A Day Spent Tracking and Wandering

Small coyote track, my small hand for comparison.

On Wednesday I heard a lone howl of a coyote that would have sent shivers up my spine had I not been seeing this 'yote for a few months.  He/She has a trail that runs through my neighbor's cattle pasture and up into the woods.

I was hanging out laundry and caught sight of him trotting away.  I am assuming that it is a He because he is quite large and we watched him chase another coyote away just before deer hunting season.

I thought since we'd had a nice snowfall on Monday night, it would be fun to go out and see if I could track some coyotes and perhaps see what story the snow tracks would tell me.

I picked up the large coyote's tracks fairly close to our fence line and began to follow them.  Mr. Yote had a meandering track and it appeared that he was a lot more interested in rabbits than in any of my stock.

No, Morris did not go on this hike with me.  He gets pretty nervous when he smells coyote [smart dog] and he would run around and mess up the tracks I was looking at.

I followed several sets of tracks of 'yotes.  Most were smaller than this fellas tracks.

In some places the tracks were mingled with deer and rabbit tracks.  I lost the tracks in some of the heavier trafficked areas, but was able to pick them up again by carefully studying the snow.

Clever coyote walked right across this pile of downed limbs.

Interestingly enough, in some places, the tracks lead right across deer beds. I am sure they were not both there at the same time.

Nicely formed deer bed.

I didn't find any dens but I spent about two hours following tracks and I found a beautiful view of our place from the neighbor's pasture.

Our house and shed in the distance.  Coyote tracks in the middle of the photo.

I did a lot of looking and finally found The Big Boy Tracks!  He is huge, but he is not a wolf.

A wolf's tracks would be nearly as larger than my hand.

Big Boy Tracks

Wolf tracks for comparison

Later I did take Morris for his daily hike and he stuck pretty close to me in the creek bottom.

The trail we normally take was full of coyote tracks and places where the 'yotes had 'marked' their territory.

We are coming into the 'dogging' season for coyotes, so I imagine Morris will be spending less time with me in the woods and we'll do our daily walks on a leash on the gravel road.

The Tracks Tell Stories.

I took a short walk yesterday afternoon after our trip to town.

It was late in the day and the winds were not howling. The sun was shining.

Morris started leaping around as soon as I grabbed the camera bag.

I figured he'd be okay for a short trip so I let him come along.
I also figured I wouldn't need the snow shoes.  

Hmmm.  Shouldn't 'figure' like that!

The coyotes are busy this time of the year, it is mating season and we found plenty of tracks.  All the animals right now are keeping to well worn trails.

I realized quite a while ago, that I like to take the same trails that the animals do.  Well, it makes sense, it is near the water and the going is easier.

After all the creek is the life-blood of the forest and its creatures.

In this trail there was quite the mix of raccoon, 'possum, coyote, and deer.  The animals were walking over each other's tracks and drinking from the same open areas of water.

Morris was not impressed.  The 'yote tracks must leave a scent and he really kept close to me.
I normally don't take him for long walks during the Coyotes' mating season for this simple reason.

He gave me this look and kept shivering.  I picked him up and we headed back towards home.  When we got away from the coyote tracks, he ran ahead plowing through the deep snow and the hard icy crust.

When we got to the 'Merry Meadow', I stopped to take some photos.  He was clearly in a rush to get home.

I had to call him back a few times to make sure he didn't get out of sight.
Lucky me that he is such a good ol' fella and he actually will come back. 
That is, until he reaches the shed, then no matter what he is headed to the back door and will leap on it until you catch up and let him in the house.

The deer have been out browsing and digging under the scrub apple trees in the evening or early morning.  I found several deer beds in the Dexter's summer pasture.

I wanted to go to look at these tracks better, but Morris had other plans.  Besides, I really did need the snowshoes!

By the time I got home I was quite warm and even sweating from slogging through the crusted snow.  I kept cursing myself for not wearing my snowshoes.

Today is supposed to be bitter cold.
But it is sunny and I have goggles and a face mask.

I want to go back out and 'read the stories' in the snow.
I can hike so I stay out of the wind so it won't be too bad.