Wet and wild

This has been our world for the past week. Rain. Repeat.

Rain, dangerous winds, tornadoes, hail, more rain.

Repeat.

Fog.
Fog.

Rivers and creeks over their banks.

Below. Our creek and my boots.

The rain has been coming in the late afternoon and evening. 

The dogs and I [of course!] have been out to explore our creek. 

After years of drought, we now have water flowing again.

In the shot below, I'm standing in sucking silt and sand. Like a kid, I enjoy playing in the mud and muck.

After all. I'm still just a kid at heart. I enjoy a good rainfall and I enjoy puddles.

I felt it was a great time for my Mini-me and Mini-dogs to enjoy an adventure too.

Believe it or not, I finally found a Lego boat that actually floats!

The mini black dog with the red hat is Charlie. The other mini black dog will be Hannah. The current here was enough to move the boat and twirl it around while I squatted above the mud and took photos.

That may sound crazy to you, but play is how I relieve stress.  Hiking, Gardening, and play are the things that keep my mind safe and sound. 

Another nice thing for this week is that it is TOO wet and rainy for the scrap dudes to show up or to have any more landscape work done here.

I haven't been diligent about recording the rainfall amounts. Let's just call it ... A LOT.

My yard squishes in many areas right now and low lying areas have standing water. We've had so much rain that I don't have to fill any of my water tanks for the mules. The grass is growing like crazy and I can't even think about mowing unless I have 'water wings' on the mower.

So, we go hiking, do errands, and seize the day. 

False Morel
Gyromitra caroliniana

Multiflora rose bush leaves
sharp pointy stems!

Flat backed millipede
[recommended to leave it alone]

Cool places to wade in and get muddy. 
This is our valley which is very steep.
You can see the trees above in the 

reflections.

Frustrated Mini me who is not quite tall enough 

to get a nice shot of Spring Beauties.

Some of my favorite spring
flowers.

Spring Beauties.

Last night's storm front coming in. It is a time lapse 38 seconds long. Just sort of fun to watch the clouds and how the mules enjoyed rolling in the mud to help their coats shed.
This is the view from my porch facing south west.

The dogs were rather tired last night... and it is sort of nice to see them asleep together [which was by accident].

Wednesday deserves another Uffda. At least no tornadoes or dangerous hail happened, but we got....

this.................

Uffda may be used in Norwegian as a response when hearing something lamentable (but not too serious), and can be translated as "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that".

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.