Just fun stuff ~ Rains!

This past week....

We got so dry once more. But that was good in a way as the farmers got most of their crops planted and I put off mowing the yard a few extra days.

I decided that a shaggy yard was okay since the price of gas was so high, I could mow it a bit less and not worry about how pretty it looked.

Now we are in a cycle of rain and rain and rain. 

Friday night we had close to an inch of rain with some incredible lightening.

Saturday was supposed to get up to 83 F and be hot and icky. So after sunrise, the dogs and I took a 'field trip' to our creek. There was a dual purpose to it. I could do my daily check on the mules and get the dogs some exercise before it got hot.

I made one more discovery. Hannah loves, loves, loves water. She paws it, walks in it, jumps into it, and plays in it. If I toss a rock into the creek and it splashes, she pounces on the splash.

Our creek is not deep in places there might be pools of water about 6 inches deep, but that it is mostly about 3 inches of water that tumbles over the rocks.

Alas, the creek is full of weeds and grasses from years of dry summers. It used to be a nice rock bed that one could pick their way through. Not any longer.

This is a photo of the creek in 2019 before years of drought.

And what the area looks like now.

I've watched the valley change over the years. 

I now fight through thigh high garlic mustard and in June, I stop going through the bottoms because of 5 foot tall parsnip plants. I have spent hours and hours clearing paths along the creek in my favorite spot.

The runoff from the fields around us drains into our valley and we get all the nasty weeds from our neighbor. The deer and other wild animals spread the seeds simply by walking through these patches.

Garlic mustard

The cattle from the two farms on either side of me are gone now and the lands around us have turned into 'wildness' and weeds. 

However, I still go out and enjoy finding amazing plants and scenery. The dogs don't care about trails, weeds, or flowers. They enjoy the smells and adventure.

I have to assist Charlie through some of the places now as the plants are up knee high to me or thigh high. I used to take a corn knife and cut a trail through the difficult parts. I may have to do that again this summer. 

This is part of the reason why I go to the Reserve or our county parks. The trails are mowed and we can walk on them.

But I do love our forest.

I'll keep exploring it as long as I can. The hillsides and upper forest have so many amazing things to see all year.

Maidenhair Fern

Golden Oyster Mushrooms

Reflections of the tree above in a small creek pond.

Mini-me and my backpack and camera

always searching for the next

shot.

This week we are predicted to have accumulated at least 4 inches of rain since Friday evening. Perhaps the creek will have plenty of water for Hannah to play in.

Play time is required

I got a nice reminder the other day in the comment section from DeniseinVA regarding my toy photography which looks like I had abandoned lately. 

I sort of had in a way as my mind has been hyper-focused on taking care of business at our place and hunting for spring plants. I decided that even though the day was cold and overcast that I'd leave things for a little while and take some items out for 'play time'.

The dogs and I ended up in one of the dry runs exploring what the latest heavy rainfalls had done to the area.
The water had rushed down from the ridge so hard that it removed all the fallen leaves and cleaned some moss off the rocks.

The creek and this spot are some of my favorite places on our land.

I really wanted to try some shots in the creek with toys. I enjoy trying to get reflections in the water.

The ducks kept floating away too quickly. There is actually some flowing water in the creek this spring!

Oh hello.

Shark Duck?

To do some of my playful toy photography, I generally load up a backpack and ... well, you guessed it, the dogs come along. They like inspecting my work. 

I had to stand in the creek [rubber boots on!] and stack tiny rocks up in the water to set the Lego kayak on. I must have done it a dozen times or so. The kayak kept tipping over or sinking. [It doesn't float]

Twice, Hannah jumped in the water and knocked them over. 
Patience is the key. Hannah will learn to just observe.

I didn't have the best light and I didn't have the best angles, but I shot these anyway. Just to enjoy the challenge of it.

There is mini-me in the middle and the two dogs. My Life in Legos.

This is the final shot. It is okayish, but at least I have the reflections in the creek.

The fun shot I took of the day was the one below of the Titan 13 'action' figure and his robot dog jumping the creek.

Hannah is starting to figure out I don't want her to knock my toys down.

She will get it eventually. Charlie was the same way when we started doing things like this together.

The difference between these two dogs is that Charlie is focused on everything else going on in the forest.

Hannah is always watching me.

I often wonder what Hannah is thinking. 

We spent the early chilly morning exploring and the afternoon doing yard work.

I can be so stupid!

It started out like any other day. 

 I did a bunch of 'stuff' after chores and then decided to take Charlie for a nice little walk down to the creek to see what the warmer temps did to spots in the creek bottom.

I took along a Lego build in a plastic container. I had some ideas that jumped into my head but hadn't figured out what I was going to do yet.

I'd just built a Mythical Creature called Qilin that is a so beautiful in its colors that I felt I needed to have it and display it. It is from a Lego kids' animated series called Monkey Kid. I did look up the series and made it through one 30 minute show. I wanted to see what it was about. Very easy. Good vs. Bad. Good always wins in the end.

Hmmm. I would like to say...why doesn't that happen in real life?

Only in Fantasy?

Anyway, I digress. I took my Mythical Creature [I like its name Qilin, I won't change that] down  to our icy creek. 

In my head the brilliant colors vs the ice would be beautiful.
It was.

I love my Lego creatures. I like dragons and mythical creatures, always have. 

I also had a Wizard and a Tetradactyl in my tote. The wizard will enter into the Princess Sara stories somehow, I just haven't thought of it yet.

I came up with this. The magic here is that the Tetradactyl has a wire attached to it which I stuck in the tree so it looks as if it is flying.

I would hesitate with that beast flying towards me, but the wizard must have it under control. I believe he is going to ride it!

Charlie and I did our rounds of the creek and stopped by the ice wall before heading up over the hill to the ridge and back home. I gave Charlie a lot of dog time to sniff and explore.

A happy dog is a dog whose owner takes time for them to enjoy themselves also.

The ice wall over the past week it has expanded quite a bit with the melting during the day from above and the freezing at night and cooler temps on a shaded hill over the cold stream.

That was the end of our morning walk, we crossed the field on the ridge and went home.

I had things to do like fold laundry, change the sheets, do some book work, and make some calls. I fixed a 'well' balanced lunch of eggs, bacon, strawberries, and oranges. 

Charlie was enjoying the warm weather on our south facing porch when I decided to make a 'walk' out of getting the mail on the ridge. 

I put on my light weight coveralls and grabbed my little backpack. I put my cell phone in a sleeve at the backpack and immediately thought. 

That is a stupid place to put it. 

OHHH, I'll be so careful!

Famous last words.

I picked up my mail and a book I ordered. 

More about this book after I do some work in it. I can see that it will be helpful to me.

Soooo. As I stuck the package into my backpack, once again I thought, that is a very stupid place to put that phone. Surely though, I can be careful, it is just a walk down the gravel road.

I walked about 50 feet from the mailbox and spotted an empty can of beer on the edge of the woods. An idea popped into my head and I decided to push my way through the brambles and pick it up.

I grabbed it and walked along the opposite edge of the road and set my idea up. 

[I use these two characters in a series of toy photos. They collect metals they find.]

Balancing the little guy was quite a feat. However after a few trials and errors, I got what I wanted. These guys are always in a grubby type setting and the dirty snow was absolutely perfect.

We walked on.

Charlie chased a 'possum which ran over to a pile of wood where it flopped to the ground. Charlie poked it with his nose and the 'possum never moved. I went to grab my cellphone to take a photo.

Um.

It was gone. IT. WAS. GONE!!!!

So I retraced all of my steps over and over and over again. For a 1/2 mile walk, I managed to do 2.5 miles to the search. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find it. The phone was still recording my steps so it was somewhere nearby. 

I went home and charged up my old phone and then Googled *Find my phone* Google showed me where it was located on a map. I went up and looked. 

NOPE.

Then I went back home and clicked on *ring the phone* or some such thing. I jumped in the car and drove to the general area and turned the car off.

I could hear my phone! I have a chicken ring which is loud and obnoxious. It lead me right to my phone which was exactly where I missed it in the briars just past where I picked up the beer can.

What lesson did I learn? Put the phone in a secure place! 

What an idiot.

Pow! Surprise ending to the day.

I had all sorts of good intentions of finishing up my new minifigures 'portraits' yesterday. But best laid plans ... and all of that.

Charlie and I went for our afternoon hike and checked on the ice in the creek. There still was some! I didn't take pics of it.

While we were in the dry bed part of the creek, I did some rock hunting. I didn't find anything special but I always look just in case. The rock below had moss and grasses on it this past summer. I just thought the patterns were interesting.

I found a lot of places where the moss was sending up shoots of sporophytes for this year. Of course I brought the wrong lens to work with that. But a challenge is a challenge no matter what!

...and then I found old sporophytes with their tell tale color of orange glowing in the sunlight on a log. One can sometimes get pretty decent macro shots even if they are not using a macro lens.

The rest of the afternoon was spent building and sorting while hubby was awake. I'm almost sorry this project is almost complete. I had to laugh on Monday when the Hospice nurse came by. Rich was deep into sorting Lego pieces and just waved at the nurse until he sat down. 

Then as I was getting into bed, I decided to peak a look at social media. A friend had posted a photo from his cell phone about the Aurora Borealis in the sky.

Well, off I went in my coveralls into the summer pasture to take a gander myself.

 The show was just bright enough to see pink with the naked eye, but the camera really picked up the colors along with the stars...oh and a stray airplane flying through the frame.

I did a star trail shot of 15 minutes for fun. I just love the stars swirling in the colorful sky!

It lasted only about an hour and by 10pm it was fading fast.

But I got two last shots in before my camera battery died.

Over the pasture...

and then over our shed.

It was worth losing some sleep over.  All my flubs and practicing night/star/Milky Way photos have finally paid off because I can remember how to set this up quickly and get the job done.

I get by with a little help...

 my friends....

Wednesday was multiple errands day. Jason the Geologist showed up Tuesday afternoon with his fluff balls Piper and Felix. While Rich napped, I took the fluff balls, Charlie, and Jason for a walk down to the creek.

Jason immediately started to look for cool rocks and started giving me a lesson on geology and held up different rocks that he named. 

He has a Masters in Geology . He did teach for a while until politics of Governor Walker introduced Act 10 which removed significant rights for state and local government employees in 2011 by removing their ability for collective bargaining. Jason is an activist and protested at the capitol. 

He seriously believes in people's rights and has gone to bat for veteran's rights and other rights. 

Jason was chatting on and on when I walked up to him and told him to be quiet. He blinked, he looked at me and then I said:

Shut UP!

Stop Talking

 Shut your eyes...

Hear the Quiet!

.....and

he did just that...

I watched my friend who 

suffers from anxiety

suddenly sigh with his eyes closed.

We stood for a bit and then just before we turned back to go up the hill, we were serenaded by Barred Owls calling in the valley. Their calls echoed through the hillsides.

You'd think with 3 dogs in the house it would be chaos. However, it wasn't. 

Jason cooked supper [a vegetarian supper] and cleaned it up too. Rich chose to eat pizza. We chatted a bit and it was time for bed.

I was able to run several errands on Wednesday without worrying about Rich being alone. He didn't have to transfer to the bed from his wheelchair without someone close by. His abilities are better than the first few days home from the hospital. 

Jason's photo of my foot, Charlie, and Piper who was snuggling me on the couch.

 Wednesday afternoon while Rich napped we took another walk with the dogs to burn off their energies.

We had mud puppy tumbleweed dogs who were thoroughly happy. Felix and Piper both wore jackets so we could see them clearly in the areas that were colored just like them.

The weather was beautiful and we spent another quiet afternoon with Rich. Chatting until he needed another nap. 

I had a second meal of Kale chips [yum] and a vegetarian bratwurst. I can say without harming anyone's feelings, that I'd go for the real deal from the grill any day. Something about that juicy and slightly burnt brat makes my mouth water a bit more.

Thursday was the Home Health Aide visit. Rich enjoyed seeing Allie. She really knows how to make an old fart smile as she gives him a bath in his wheel chair.

I finally received the updated reports through MyChart on Rich's ER visit and his stay in the hospital along with his blood tests.

I'll probably update that on The Long Road later.  I can say this. Hospice was really the only choice and the best choice.

Jason's photo of Felix on the porch,
Charlie on Jason's lap, 
and Piper in out there blending
in with the brown grass.

I can't say enough about my good friends and neighbors. 

Ruff Stuff

The photo above is part of where I hike through our valley. Over the last winter and summer, these trees have fallen across the creek bed. Yesterday was warm so I grabbed my little chainsaw and hiked down to the bottom to carve a way through that mess.

If you are a contortionist, you can make it through rather easily but it requires squats, high steps, and a lot of twisting. I thought I'd make it easier on myself with a bit of trimming. The after shot never got taken, however I can walk through without playing Twister right now.

My little saw can take on a lot. But the large trunk of this old oak was still too solid for me to cut through. I cleaned the area up so now I don't have to go around this obstacle any more. The tree toppled in 2018. A 'friend' offered to clean it up. He did a fairly poor job at it. But I beggars can't be choosy. 

So for the past 6 years, I've rerouted. However, now I can just step over the log on the left side of the trail.  It is only about 18" tall.

Now I can go straight down the old trail that was put in years ago instead of detouring. It was originally put in with a bull dozer in 2007 and then again cleaned up in 2016. I don't know if I'll pay to have it done again as I am the only one that uses the trail. I imagine I'll let the next owners take that expense when I sell the place.

At one time my husband used it so he could drive the 4 wheeler down through our land and also use the skid steer to pick up a deer he got in the valley. I use the 4 wheeler, but don't need to drive down into the bottom. I prefer to walk.

I was having so much fun at trimming, that I stopped in the summer meadow on the ridge and knocked off some overhanging limbs on these box elders.

When good spring weather comes back, I'll grab some chains and ropes and drag those large branches into a burn pile with the 4 wheeler.

While I was clearing another bunch of snags by my favorite cottonwood tree, I had to stop and admire the deep reflections from the trees above me. The ice is hard and there was about a quarter of an inch of fresh water on the surface.

This too is part of my daily walk. I just felt like clearing a path along the steep bank that would make it a bit easier to hike through.

Mother Nature will have to break down the big logs. Flash floods will move them to another area. The creek in this narrow valley often gets changes. That is one of the reasons I find it so fascinating.

Below...The Old Man Cottonwood and my shadow.

Today or Saturday I hope to take a hike on groomed trails at KVR to give myself a break from the rough stuff. 

We are so dry, we could really use some nice snow or even rain.