Do you want to go for a...?

I know how the sentence is completed.
....walk?  with a little lilt to her voice.

Sort of how she asks when she is inquiring if I'd like to ride in the car with her!

Of course!

Time to bounce bounce and run around madly while she puts on her coveralls and gets the camera.

Oh and she takes her pistol too.  I know for sure that the walk is going to be good then.  Well, wait.  She always takes a camera and a pistol.

So after I bounced enough, she opened the door and all the hounds decided to bark.
I ran as hard as I could in a big circle to let them know that SHE had picked me to go hiking with her.

And things went pretty nice as hikes go.

She took some photos of frost forming on the grass in the creek bottom.

The snow and ice from last month is gone, leaving lots of great things for me to smell.

When we got further down the creek I sat down and wouldn't move.  I wasn't going any further.
My nose detected extreme danger.  And my nose doesn't lie.

She was wearing that 'thing' on her head and she leaned down to pick me up. Apparently she thought that I was reluctant to cross the creek and get my feet cold and wet.

Heck no.

She did pick me up and then she must have sensed the danger too, because she started to really look around.  She was very still and I was very still.

Finally I think she spotted what I smelled.

The coyotes had been busy near one of the creek crossings.

The doe must have been up on the ridge eating corn because there was fresh undigested kernels of corn everywhere...

The coyotes are messy eaters.

She tucked me up under her arm and headed me back towards home.  That was okay, I made a huge jump over the water and led the way.

I really didn't want to hang around that place. The scent of the 'yotes was really quite heavy and it sort of stunk.

I wanted to get back home where I could lay on my blanket with Wise Ol' Frog and take a nap.

And that is the end of my 'Do You Want to Go for a Walk?' Story.

She is Insane! by Morris

Any healthy normal human or dog would not do the things she does.

Really?

She got her camera, her pistol, and her coveralls on and added a bottle of water to her belt.

I knew it was going to be a great hike, so I jumped back and forth, up and down, and literally begged to go with.

Geesh.
Was I nuts?

She took the big lummox Dixie with us.

She said 'We are going to go find Deer Antler Sheds.'

Okay, I get that, we look for antlers in the woods, she collects them and brings them home.
Sometimes she even finds cool skulls and stuff.

So off we went, the unlikely trio.  The big lummox, me, and her.
Dixie ran willy nilly through the snow jumping and gallumping.  She is a natural at gallumping.

Me?
I'm dainty and swift.  Dixie chases after me, I make a 180 under her nose and it takes her about 5 feet to turn around.
The chase game lasted about 5 minutes.

Anyway I sniffed out something wonderfully disgusting upwind of us.  I was surprised that Lummox did not.  Is she NOT a hound?
Anyway I found the first Antler Shed.

SHE was very pleased until she found out that there was a whole bunch of parts attached to it.  A nice high 8 pointer, she said.

I thought the rotting icky stuff was good.  She mumbled something about coming back without dogs [hah-rumph] and getting what she wanted.  Like the intact skull. 

We then went on our merry way.  Dixie at this time had settled down and was running trails and circling around, leaping through the deeper snow while I kept close to her.

If nasty coyotes were around, let them eat Lummox and not tasty little Jack Russells.

We finally made it to the 'camp' road and walked down to the creek.  She looked up at the sky and said it was going to rain so we should head home.

Fine by me, I was tired of trudging through the deep snow.

Then when she saw that the creek was up and running hard, you'd have thought she'd hit the jackpot or something.  She got all happy and pulled out her camera.

 
She said something about the snow melt and the big ravine...and something about the big snow melt that she'd been waiting for.

Dixie didn't have a clue that we were in the beginning stages of a big rush of water.  I however did.  I stayed away from the running stuff as best I could.
Until.
I got caught up in midstream on a rock and water all around me.

Did she help?
No.
She took a picture!
Of course!
Little dog in need?  Take photo, then help.
Idiot.

She claims that I was not in danger of being swept away.  She did pick me up though and put me on the bank.
Okay, so she isn't that bad.

But then we got to the ravine.  Dixie decided to climb rocks with her.  Dixie is too curious.  I've done this many times before and the roar of the water is too noisy.
Besides, I know the creek can fill up fast and get wide.

However, SHE says she keeps a careful eye on it.  She says it is not like a flash flood, it is a snow melt run.
Okay, tell me the difference.  Water gets deep, it runs hard, and makes lots of noise.

I must say though she does not dilly dally.  She gets in, takes her pictures and gets to the other side of the creek.
Last year the one snow melt was so fast she nearly didn't get back across. 

So The Lummox and her climbed rocks and she took some really cool shots of the water running.  The colors are from the red clay in the soil and look cool against the snow.

I think she would have stayed for a very long time doing pictures.  But she was worried that it was getting late and that we had been off in the woods for a long time.

I watched the water empty into the creek.  It wasn't coming from upstream yet so we were doing pretty good.

We moved on up the creek to see if any other ravines were 'running'.

Oh goody, the last one was!
In fact we climbed down a muddy steep bank [did I mention ice too?] and then climbed up more rocks...
all for a stupid picture.

Okay, she didn't think it was stupid.
But she did have a hard time with the climb back out of there.

Dixie and I scampered up the muddy slippery hillside and went on to play a little chase.

The thing is, we all got back in one piece.
I must admit, I do like our adventures even if the Lummox comes along.

And she does pick me up and puts me over barbed wire fences so I don't get harmed.

I wonder when the next antler looking thing is going to occur?

Nature, Death, Coyotes, Beauty

All those words actually go together you know. Death occurs in nature. I'm not the sort of person to wonder why.
I know it occurs and accept it for what it is.

I was rather surprised though today to find a very fresh kill on my normal hiking route. A deer had been chased down and caught in the creek bottom. The photo of the skull has been toned down a bit in color, but what struck me was the bright red carcass against the stark white snow.

What I found amazing is that the coyotes had literally stripped the hide off in nearly one piece. It was fascinating to say the least. I'm not including photos of the carcass for obvious reasons.

But the tale was told in the bottom of the creek. I felt a bit strange, as though Morris and I were being watched while I looked around.
Morris was tied to a branch near me so he wouldn't wander out of my sight.
Note...
Scarves come in very handy.
Along side him is my camera 'hiking' bag [with trail mix!] and my varmint rifle. I had my pistol on my side.

I saw where the coyotes had left their trail dragging 'parts' with them. I decided our hike would take a separate direction this time out.

Yesterday, the deer carcass was not there. So the site is a very fresh one.

We continued downstream and Morris visibly relaxed but stayed very close to me. He kept turning and smelling the air.

I'm sure he is aware of coyote scent.
I won't be taking him with me tomorrow, it is mating season and small dogs...any dogs that get in their territory are 'coyote bait' so to speak.

The rest of our hike was uneventful. We rested on a rock and listened to the creek waters rush by.
A cardinal sang in and flew from tree to tree...bright red.
Morris and I shared trail mix.
Another reason he sticks by me I suppose. I'm a good source of certain yummy things.

An Easterly wind picked up and drove snow hard down into the valley. We decided to head towards home.
Both of us happy.

He is sound asleep as I type this and go through the photos from today.

Nature sure is interesting. Every day can bring some sort of adventure, death and beauty.