Break time from the UP

Wednesday night it rained once more, I'd had spent Wednesday catching up on house stuff. Boring stuff like mowing, moving the washer, dryer, fridge, and cleaning behind all of them. 

With all the essentials done including grocery 'getting', the dogs and I crashed early.

We woke to a wet and bleak morning. The dogs had a ton of energy and I was restless. I did some business that needed getting cleared up....

--- and we jumped into the car and headed out with rain gear.

Why not? 

It was a light drizzle with no heavy rain in the forecast. Think of the freedom of being able to comfortable walk on a rainy day. It wasn't cold and yes my hiking boots got soaked.

As did my pants up to my knees.

 

However, we had the Reserve to ourselves because no other sane person would go out walking in the light rain. [Maybe]

The wet trails were not really muddy except in some spots. The dogs loved the moist air as it accentuated the scents of the deer and other animals that had followed the same trail we did.

I let them lead the way, smell the smells. Both dogs were fantastic. Charlie stayed close as usual and Hannah raced forward and back. We may have only hiked 5+ miles, but Hannah surely put on at least 20 with her puppy exhuberance.

It was nice being back in the forest alone without others. Quiet. Nothing but the droplets coming off leaves and the sounds of footfalls.

[Don't get me wrong, last weekend's whirlwind adventure was incredible, but I'm used to quiet hiking]

We had some great fungi/mushroom finds 

I find fungi to be beautiful even in its ugly form of decay.

Their shapes are curious as they spore and then die off.

This minifigure👇👇 IS on top of an expired mushroom. I know where to find them each year but I've always been too late to find them in perfect form. I always find them in this just black nasty looking state.

Obviously fit for a Vampire Queen!

I found a wonderful variety of shelf mushrooms that were quite beautiful. Mini me and the pups decided to climb around on them. I think these could be classified as Artists Conks.

With the wet weather this fall, the fungi and mushroom are so abundant in the forests. Just call me happy. 

Friday night late we had a series of heavy downpours.

This afternoon after taking the dogs for another sloppy walk in our forest, I checked the rain gauge.

Tomorrow is another day. I haven't decided on trying to roam the neighbor's desecrated forest and save on gas to get my daily dose of forest or to use my car and take some great trails at the Reserve. I'm back to 'training' for the 20 or 30 mile hike next spring.

The weather has finally gotten out of the extreme heat and humidity, so I am ready to 'rock'.

I'm considering how to keep up my hiking without breaking the bank now that gas in our town has jumped to $4.37 per gallon.

A bike ride there would take me 2 hrs. 10 hrs for walking 27 miles. 

I'll see what my budgets afford me as gas continues to jump and winter heating costs are coming.

One of my gal friends has offered to go hiking with me at the Reserve and share gas costs. I'm very open to that as I really enjoy hiking with her.

My Opinion on Hannah Belle by Charlie

I'm pretty sure that no one asked me about bringing a kid into my house. Mom says she will be my baby sister. I didn't want a sister, I didn't ask for a sister.

Mom thought it might keep me from being so lonely. 

I'm not lonely. I'm stoic, I'm just fine with having the whole couch to myself.

I'm fine howling when she leaves the house and will continue to do so forever.

I'm fine taking up half the bed at night.

I'm fine with overseeing the yard and whining in my car seat. 

I'm fine with every toy in its proper place and not spread out like some hurricane came through the house.

This was my look after our first morning walk together. 

Mom said with that chipper voice of hers: It will be fun! We will be happy!

Honestly, do I look happy?

The chewing, pooping machine kept trying to distract me by trying to run up and grab my tail.

She did not chew on me and she was actually pretty respectful after I gave her low throated growl.

Mom didn't interfere, I give her that.

Mom calls her Hannah Belle.

I call her Hannibal Lecter. Though I do admit she isn't a serial murderer. She hasn't even been able to murder a toy yet. I can murder stuffies in seconds.

Maybe I should teach her a thing or two.

In fact, today I let her walk right next to me for a long time. 

I'm still undecided. Though I do like it that she goes choses to go in a crate at night and doesn't request a spot on the bed.

Perhaps I'll give it a few more days.

Signed....

Charlie

Hmmm? Master Naturalist Class?

 Opinions needed!

I tried this class in March of 2020. We had two classes and then the state was shut down during COVID. This was my first impression of the class....

This is copy and pasted from March 3rd 2020.

The classes run once a week, I think, from April to September with field trips in the KVR during the summer. It is similar to a college course but in all things regarding Nature. I thought I was out of my league when I signed up to do this in 2020. 
However, the opportunity has now presented itself and I have to keep checking for the sign up which starts in March. 

I do have a 2 yr college degree, but it was intimadating to be in a class with PhD's and Masters.
Though, I bet/hope that no one has spent as much time immersed in this area's forests as much as I have. Hmmm.

Whaddyah think? 

First impression of the Naturalist Class

Actually a Master Naturalist Class.

First impression.
5 out of 22 participants are under retirement age.

Most every single person in the room except perhaps 4 of us have had formal training in Biology, Ecology, or some higher degrees of study. Let's just say, as many listed their colleges and degrees and Masters degrees, I started feeling smaller and smaller....
wondering how I could crawl under the table when it came time to introduce myself.

Then I had to speak out to the others.
So much I wanted to say but after listening to all the degrees I just said:

My name is Val Ewing.
I came to this part of Wisconsin by accident. I met a fellow on a Wagon Train and fell in love and moved here.
I don't have a degree in any of this, just life experience.
Why do I have an interest in this class?
Hmmm, well the first year I had a tiny pocket camera I decided to go out and find every wild flower and plant I could daily and record where I found it, when I found it, and record what it looked like.
What was my inspiration?
[Goodness so many things to say but I picked the one thing that really stood out the most.]

My Grandmother Pearl was a Naturalist of sorts. She could hear a bird and identify it, she could walk past plants and tell you if you could eat them. She took us berry picking in the wild woods and we encountered bears. She knew her fish, and she knew wild life tracks. In fact, I was pretty sure she knew everything about anything in Nature.
I wanted to be like my Grandmother.

The fellow next to me didn't have a degree either but was eloquent in his little speech talking about how he liked to roam and stop to look at things and wonder why. [I wished I'd used that line!]

The binders we were given are worth the price of the class itself. But they are huge and weigh a ton! I've already found a hand out that I think Allison and I could really have fun with as a pocket guide.
Wonderful Wacky Water Critters published by the University of WI.

So it looks like I'm going to have to write a field journal. Most of the samples given are so dry.
Saw a Robin, 35 degrees out, sunny, ...date
and location...

Meh. You all know me. I just can't write like that.
More like.
I was wandering down to the creek when I spotted the first green leaves of a wild strawberry plant. I sat on a log to ponder it for a while and listened the the chickadee above me and I'm sure I heard a Robin. And of course I'd go off on a tangent regarding life in the forest and regrowth including wondering ...if the strawberries will be so sweet...and yadda, yadda....

Uh oh, I am in trouble!

The Hay Valley Adventure

Charlie and I took off to a trail I hadn't been on since 1996. Hay Valley Trail. It can be a very long trail, but if one watches for another trail called the Washout Trail and takes that, a loop can be made back to the parking area.

I also knew that skeeters were going to be an issue. 

Here we are at the trail head with a little pep talk from me to my Trail Leader. I've been wearing this net and have gotten so used to it that I forgot I had it on. I tried drinking from my water bottle with it on! That was hilarious. It may look stupid, but it is a life saver when the bugs are out!

I took my pocket camera and brought my Infrared camera with with 2 funky colored and cheap filters along. I chose the bright yellow and the blue.

I've seen others experiment with filters like these and yes, they are cheap and generally not very useful.

But, I really enjoyed experimenting.

This was the start of the trail with the Yellow filter on.

I took this same shot with my little pocket camera and it really did not pick up the nuances of the sunlight and path. It was green with dark areas and overly bright areas. This is one of the places that Infrared does shine through.

Off the trail I was able to spot a lot of small orange mushrooms. In fact if the bugs were NOT so bad I would have really had a lot of fun searching. But I didn't know how long the trail would take us to do, so I grabbed some shots with the little pocket camera and kept moving.

We found the foundation that was on the side of the trail. I do know the history behind the foundation. An old gent told me that this was part of the farm his parents had been removed from.

He'd buried his toys in a box not far from there and had always hoped to go back and retrieve them. This had been part of their Ice house where they kept things cold before electricity and refrigeration.

Foundation shots with Charlie - inspecting photographed in Infrared with the Yellow Filter on. 

Just when I thought Charlie and I had missed Trail marker 10, we found it.

IF you are on foot, YOU do not want to take the wrong trail in this section, well, not if you are planning a loop. The Hay Valley Trail or Bailout Trail will take a hiker far from the trail head at Camp U. 
Bringing a physical paper map IS recommended, do not depend on your cell phone for directions. Many areas have no coverage. 

I thought of someone who sees faces in trees when I saw this old oak. He looks confused about the trail signs too.

The tree on the left is dead, however if one looks down the valley past this tree, one can see the Kickapoo River. 

At this point the trail has made so many switchbacks and turns, a person can be completely disoriented. One needs to keep in mind that the trail stays on the west side of the river and in its twisted up and down way, it runs basically north and south.

This is on the Washout Trail where Charlie and I had a small break for eats and water. I also put the blue filter on for the rest of the hike. 

The Washout Trail is a hiker only trail. Aptly named as there are places that do wash out and water runs off down the middle of the trail. It is scenic and enters a majestic maple forest which stopped me in my tracks. 

There was no way that I could even attempt to catch the incredible greens and dappled sunlight.

I tried and failed with the pocket camera. However. I can really see hiking to here when the maples turn and bath myself in the golden Autumn light and leaves!

I knew from the map that the trail would connect back up to the Hay Valley Trail in the valley and I'd cross the new bridge back to campsite U.

When I approached the valley floor there was a trail split.

One went left and uphill, the other went down and around a huge open field and into the woods.

I swatted skeeters and opened the map. No such split was noted on the map. There was no markers and both trails looked used. I walked around the field trail for a few minutes and decided this one probably could be it, but it felt wrong. I could hear vehicles on Hay Valley road where I had parked.

I took a reading with the map and the compass and decided to take the other trail. Halfway through that trail I came across trees that had blown down and had not been cut up. At that point I realized I was not on the proper path but probably on a trail used by the reserve workers when they did work on other areas of the ridge above me. 
I muttered a word or two to Charlie who was now dragging his butt. I picked him up and went on. 

I ended up on the edge of a marsh that connected to the Washout Trial. My choice of going up and then down to the marsh worked out better. Less water to walk through and it was shadier.

We made it back to the car and then walked to bridge 6 and admired the quiet Kickapoo River. Just last week it had been raging over the road where I stood.

One last shot with the blue filter and the IR camera and we headed back for snacks in the back of the 'Ru.

We came, we adventured, we survived. And the skeeters never carried us off.

I will do this one again in the fall and in the winter. 

I doubt this trail is often used by hikers. Not because it is really difficult, but that it is a bit off the beaten track.

That makes it a Great Trail in my book.

Life and death and decisions...

Frightful weather!

Overnight it snowed again. More snow/drizzle stuff. I spent about an hour last night cleaning out certain areas with a shovel. I had everything exactly how I wanted it and then...
it snowed again...and drizzled.

I saw an electric snow shovel on another blog I follow and thought that was the cat's meow until I realized that I'd have to keep it plugged in and a cordless one would operate for 25 to 30 minutes.
I almost considered a snow blower but only for about 30 seconds when I saw all the instructions and gas mixing stuff.
Ok, not a choice for me.

I'm still thinking of a little plowing machine type 4 wheeler job. It would get all the flat areas I needed cleared and a tiny bit of shovel work would do the trick. IF there was a blizzard and a few feet of snow, well that is different sort of story.

The weather this morning is not good so I'm not going into town until it settles down. There is supposed to be an icy mix of 'stuff' moving through.

I spent the day at the hospital with my MIL again yesterday.
I discovered that I actually do have a heart in my body. I've been accused of being too unemotional in the past and I admit it. I usually don't let emotions get in the way of pragmatic thinking.
I put 'the job' in front of me first and don't get all emotional and upset as that doesn't help the thought process.
But yesterday I sat and watched the nurses and lab lady pull blood as MIL cried out and kept crying. I wondered exactly how on earth was modern medicine helping?

Congestive Heart Failure along with Kidney Disease progresses to organ malfunction, fluids in the lungs, and a rather long list of probable outcomes. Death is the last outcome and it is unavoidable.

MIL struggled hard for air and she literally sounded as if she were gurgling.

Two members of the family had been asking if they should come. One is further away and would require a flight.
They didn't ask me though as my reply would have been 'I am at a loss as to why you haven't already come before?'

So I struggled with being the only relative there and I was the daughter in law.

I fetched a warmed blanket after the gals had gone, a CNA said she could put it on MIL.
I said, "No! I'll do it. This way she can feel me tuck her in and put my arms around her. I'm family, it is much nicer to have a family member tuck you in than a stranger."
The CNA smiled and handed me the blanket.

And as I tucked my MIL in and she groaned with delight, I felt my heart fall to pieces.

I was grateful that there was no one else in the room to see my tears or feel my heartache. Me, the ever stoic person.

And I felt anger at the daughter who had said that she didn't want to see her mom until after she had passed because it was too stressful for her.
I thought of the opportunities that the family members had passed up in the last 8 months of seeing MIL happy, clean, well fed, and chipper at the nursing home. I thought of the funny things that MIL and I have been sharing. And I was very angry and then very sad.
And then I felt grateful that I had taken the time to be with her. That I had visited.

And then I thought how much I would miss her too.

I sat back to watch her fall into a much more comfortable sleep.

And before I left for the day I wondered this awful thing.
How we as a human race will let our pets pass on when they are so ill and in so much pain.
But we won't/can't let our chronically ill people go ...or just keep looking for treatments to prolong suffering?

I'm really not a cruel person. I just can't see going through momentous efforts that cause pain and only have the same result in the end.

I am so very glad that Rich and I put together Advanced Directives and Living Wills in place. I know my son will make sure that they are carried out if I am not able to implement them.

Decisions .... Decisions...

Afternoon light in the creek. Taken with my aged Olympus DSLR.

Just tiny stuff I found yesterday afternoon while Charlie and I were hiking.

My first digital camera was an Olympus Stylus which hooked me on taking photos of very tiny things.

Here are some samples:

This tiny camera went literally everywhere with me. In a pocket or in my cargo pants pocket. I'd hike with Morris or ride Badger and find neat things large and small to photograph. In fact, this tiny camera produced more than one cover to Mules and More Magazine back in the day.

2004:

I do love hiking. But I don't like carrying a lot of 'stuff' while hiking. My current little point and shoot just doesn't measure up to most of what I'd like to do. It doesn't take very good macros, and it's sunsets literally are flat. However, since it is 'weather/water resistant' I take it out during snow storms while skiing cross country or snowshoeing.

And it is handy to have a good solid weather proof camera when out doing chores in the worst of weather. So much to see!

The saying is ... "The best camera you have is the one with you." That rings true with cell phones [I don't dare take mine out in the rain/snow/sleet and freezing cold] and with pocket cameras.

After the first Olympus Stylus, I went through a couple of Pentax Optio cameras, which I promptly destroyed after a year or so. Drops and just over use. I've always tried to keep a pocket camera around that was weather proof and took great macro shots.

I haven't been able to find a decent one until just lately when I was looking at the new all weather resistant Olympus OMD EM5 Mark iii. I have an old OMD EM5 that was weather resistant and I am still using it but it is wearing out. I can use it for both infrared and regular. I rarely take the Nikon out any longer. It hates cold and humid conditions. I only use it on 'nice' days and this past year have only used it to take family photos.
The Nikon is like carrying a few concrete bricks compared to the Olympus which is lightweight and compact.

The new Oly OMD EM5 Mark iii, is what I want with so many features. But I can't justify the expense until my aged one makes its last gasp. But. I love the new features it has. The new camera is pricey. I could get the older model for much less.

Enter the next best thing.

This tiny pocket camera IS waterproof. It has 4 different macro modes. My heart BE still!
And it has all the features and the same processor as the high end Olympus cameras.

I could carry this with me all of the time. My back pack wouldn't be full of camera stuff. I could carry just snacks, water, and treats for Charlie. Hmmm. Perfect for those hikes that I want to just get out and go.

Decisions, decisions.

What to do?

I think Charlie should put one in one of my UnTree Boxes.