Walks

 It is finally getting cool enough for some winter gear. A hat that covers the ears and a scarf for protecting the chin and face while in the wind.

In the woods and valleys the winds rarely blow as the land is steep and heavily wooded. So even on a cold blustery day a walk in the woods can be rather pleasant.

Hobby has switched over 
to her mild winter gear!

Look!

Moss under the skiff of

snow!

However, my walks have to be planned and short so that I can be back before the other half wakes from his nap. He still needs help switching his oxygen over from the CPAP to the concentrator. Last night was the first time in over a week that he attempted it himself when getting ready for bed.

I keep close by which isn't hard as we are surrounded by a forest.

But I do need my fresh air daily no matter what the weather. 

I went without Charlie on New Year's Day for a really hard and fast hike on my neighbor's land. One I wouldn't normally take any friends on. It is rough, gnarly, and hilly. There are two valleys to negotiate through and a lot of brush with thorns. Did I mention the creek hopping? 

I went to the back valley and followed the stream that empties into Black Bottom. If you grew up in the area you call the stream Black Bottom. If you aren't local, you call it Readscreek.

This part of the valley is landlocked. There are no roads into it, no easy access except on foot which makes it really unique.

The stream develops from several large springs up the valley and used to be rather wide and fast. With all the years of drought, the stream has shrunk to a mere creek, but it is still wild and beautiful.

In the photos below, the stream used to be much wider, covering all of the flat land. After flash floods all the grasses are washed away and one can find cool rocks that are left behind as well as car, tractor parts, and tires.

Years ago this 'dragon' tree fell across the wide stream. Now just the head of the dragon is left with a little creek under it. Where the dragon head is ... was where the stream extended to.

The only place I found any tiny 'waterfalls' over rocks was towards the east end of the valley. Here, the water moved swiftly which it used to do all along this valley.

I turned and climbed the steep deer trail out of the bottom and headed up the old logging trail to the ridge. Half way up the trail there is a rock shelter that forms an ice cave each year from the seepage of water and the runoff of melt water.

This year has been so dry and so has the winter so the seepage is limited and with the warmer than normal temperatures, the ice is not forming rapidly.

Below is what it looks like in a good year. This isn't the best shot I have of it, but I generally hike to this spot throughout winter to watch the ice grow.

and another shot from 
a very good year !

Our walk on the 2nd was much shorter and nearer the house. I had Charlie along and he and I followed deer trails.

We were mostly going for the exercise and the fresh air. We wound up exploring a run off ditch that had some interesting tree formations and roots. These things never cease to amaze me.

When there is a large snow melt or a heavy rain, these dry runs become flooded with rushing water. It washes rocks, soil, and other debris down the narrow run creating a unique area to explore when it is dry.

Otherwise? 

Not much going on here.

What should I search for in January? Odd trees maybe? I need a project!

My Little Rock Star!

 My little dog, Charlie can be either very active or totally the cuddler. Here he is negotiating a deer trail in deep snow. The snow is about 6 inches or so deep so he keeps to the trails that are already trampled.

He is wearing his Hi-Vis Vest which he absolutely hates but tolerates. When we were done with our morning walk I had to shake snowballs out of the vest from under his chest.

Being a low rider, he gathers snow easily in his vest. [10 seconds]

We went out a little later to enjoy a glimpse of sunlight and I didn't use the vest, it was still drying on a rack.

Charlie had his mind on hunting mice and voles.

Mice and voles make little tunnels in the snow and Charlie watches the tunnels to see if they are moving then dives in.

Tunnels in the snow:

Charlie in the snow, enjoying it.

And then he was too busy to pay attention to me, all of his attention was in finding the mice.

Charlie rarely gets cold, he has a very thick hound dog coat from his parents.

He does get cold on those below zero days, his feet get cold so of course we don't hike together on those days. He assists my husband in taking naps by burrowing into the blankets next to him when the weather is bad.

He is also a most excellent cuddler. He gets that from his mom who was a Pekinese.

No mice or voles were harmed in these photos. 😀

The allure of the open ridge...

 

Here is the view from our neighbor's woods. We share a driveway with them. 
The next nearest neighbors we have are much further up on the ridge.

Our 'hollow' generally protects us from the most cold north winds. The mules often enjoy laying in the snow and soaking up the sun. At night they move into the woods and hide from the cold drafts.

This morning we are sitting at something like -10. 

Charlie and I went for a walk yesterday after chores to get the mail. Mr. Short Stuff and I went through the woods to avoid the wind.

When we got to the road, Charlie sat down and waited while I did some photography.

One should not waste a trip to the mailbox by leaving a camera at home. Something might be interesting and ... something may not be!

Charlie hardly ever passes up and opportunity to pile into the snow and hunt for the ever elusive vole.

The sun was bright and the cropland just begged to be explored.

But first, I needed to take the mail home and drop Charlie off. I needed snowshoes and some different gear.

I wanted to try some 'stark' winter photos. Artsy Fartsy stuff. 

The deer tracks that lead off into no-where gave me an idea....

Stay tuned....

Forest Pasture and Wandering

My wild red heads. That is Sunshine in the front, she is 23 years old and some days acts like her young sister behind her. They are always ready for some fun. Which in Mule Terms means Bucking and Farting.

It was time to move them to the Forest/Meadow pasture. Without our regular rainfall, our pastures have really not recovered well. But the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, right?

I have a rotation that generally works fairly well. Mules love the grass. The photo below is where I concentrated an area for them to graze as they usually pass by this section and it gets tall and uneaten.

Turning them out to the forest means they have a meadow but will have to forage in the woods for more grass and nibble on briers which they will do. Often they are lazy and don't bother with the woods.

So far so good. They have all been put back together. Old Fred looks a bit rough but he is happy he is grazing with his girls. I have a lot of grooming to do to everyone who are shedding like crazy. The horse is just about shed out already. Mules generally start to shine around the first of June. Must be the donkey in them!

Sundance inspects an inner fence. She is looking into the Buckthorn Woods. Grass grows in there and I have some Burdock to clean up before they can enjoy that area. 

After 24 hours the little mule herd seemed to be at peace. They are back to being one unit. 

I decided to take a nice long wander about in PeeWee's. Rich wanted me to hunt morels and it was a good enough excuse to pack snacks and water in my little backpack and take off. It was Mother's Day and that meant I got to choose what I wanted to do ... sort of. 

I walked the south hillside of the first valley and found an old cow trail to follow. Weirdly enough I noted that someone had walked along the same route and marked some trees. Curious, I followed the trail to the fenceline and then headed up the steep hill we once called Mule Killer Hill. There was a steep and long hill that would take the piss and vinegar out of our young mules. 

I followed a narrow deer trail near the top.

I started thinking about the fact I hadn't seen or heard of the 4 wheelers in weeks. Then I thought about how much easier it would be getting around while riding Sunshine. 

I finally decided I'd had enough 'hunting' around. The only fungi I found was near the creek and those were pheasant backs. 

I toured the side of the hill and crossed the fence onto our land. Something caught my eye and I stood still.

An owl!

I only had my little red camera hanging from my side. 

The owl wasn't interested in me. But I watched it. I took pictures. It never turned its head to look at me until I made a kissing noise. Then it gave me the once over and continued to chirp.

I left the owl to its business and headed home.

Back in the woods I heard:

Who...who who...who cooks for you!

Trail Cam Shots

Meanwhile the trail cameras have been busy.

The first shot is of the twins this June. Since then I've been able to glimpse them often as they wander through the pastures. 

As of this week, they have been pushed away from the doe. It has been fun watching them grow all summer in the woods.

This is an old scrub apple tree near the end of our driveway. Most of the apples have fallen now but the deer still like to stop and browse.

I moved the camera to a new spot where I noticed a LOT of deer beds. So far this has been the best spot to catch activity.

This could be an immature eagle...but since my old trail camera no longer shoots in color...I can't tell.

These aren't in order by date, but just thought they were fun.
The bucks are different ones. There is this one below with a little fork in one of his points!

This trail is used often by the coyotes also. I never thought much of this section of the woods because it has such a heavy canopy of Buckthorn and Box Elder, not much grows underneath it. However, upon close inspection, the trails look like mini highways.

The next photo...are these the twins?
I'm going to pretend to know better and say they must be. 

This next one was taken on the 19th of October. It appears that one of the fawns is nursing. 

I enjoyed getting a good look at this fella. I've seen him before and failed miserably with my regular camera.

Good thing I have a trail cam!

Yesterday Charlie and I worked up a surprise for the fella that put his tree stand on the edge of our land so he can shoot into my woods. Nothing drastic. 
This fella has 200 acres of his own land and 'leases' another 100 acres, but is compelled to sit on top of my fence.

Tsk Tsk.

Of this and that

I have no absolute wisdom to offer on this Covid-19 issue, other than I wish to keep my husband from getting it. Is it getting it an eventuality? I don't know. But for now, we are able to isolate ourselves fairly well.

I am the only one that leaves the house. I'll go grocery shopping on Sunday morning.
It has been 3 weeks since I went to town. That is incredible. I don't think I can claim that I've ever done that before.
I did a hike with a friend last Friday and we stayed distanced, arrived in separate vehicles and enjoyed a spring day.

I've finally started to plan to extend my east garden. I'm hoping to get the dirt moved from the compost pile soon.

It sure doesn't look like much now does it?
From the downspout to the pail in the distance is all I am going to expand by. While mowing, this is always a pain to do, so I thought I'd make this a straight edge more or less.
Who knows what it will end up looking like?

I've gathered log chunks and odd looking roots to put in the garden. I intend on making a path down the middle of it and using these odd shaped items to decorate in some sort of Fairy Garden style. I tried drawing out plans but in reality, I really fly by the seat of my pants.

Everything will be moved around and changed anyway. I'm looking at what I have available from seeds last year that I gathered and some low growing sedum along with hen and chicks to add to the funky logs.

This will involve using the skid steer to move the dirt. I think I have Rich convinced that he can do the dirt work! I said I'd start and bring it out to him.
He seemed rather interested in that. He even talked about putting dirt in a few other spots.

I just have to get him on a good day when the weather is perfect!

To keep from going stir crazy...er, I do daily hikes. Sven has really been a good hiking pal. Yesterday I let Charlie be the leader and he followed a deer trail.

Along the trail I found Dutchman's Breeches just beginning to poke through the leaves!

After hiking for a while, I sat down on a log and enjoyed having a snack.

Note.
When hiking with a goat and a dog. Anything YOU eat must be good goat food or good dog food!

I did carry treats for both Sven and Charlie.

Yesterday I did turn off my smartphone and left it at home. I spent the rest of the day unplugged.

I think that is a great thing to do right now. Limit the news and limit the exposure to the Talking Heads.

Stay Safe.

Hide n Go Seek?

When is the last time you played hide 'n go seek?
Well I will be 62 this year and it has been a while. When we were kids we played many versions of hide 'n go seek on my Aunt and Uncles' places. The woods were our playground in the summer.

One cousin would be it and the others would hide. One time we used the pony to ride through the woods and seek our hidden cousins.
As we were older we'd ride horses together and end up having to 'hide' from people. It was just a game.
I can recall once being with a cousin in his car and he said he had to hide from the local constable. We took dirt farm roads.

I shouldered my back pack and put on my .22 pistol which I always carry. I grabbed my camo jacket [Camo is the best color, when you get it dirty or muddy it isn't so obvious. Mud stains look natural on them.]

Dixie whined. I had taken Charlie in the morning to get hay from our farmer friend and he's spent an hour playing with the farmer's kids. He was one tuckered puppy.
Dixie came along. Big lumbering, gallumphing Dixie. She whined and ran ahead and then back to me to check on my well being.
I wanted to go to the far end of the valley in PeeWee's to see if the skunk cabbage was poking up yet.

We got to the east end of the valley and I was mildly surprised not to see any skunk cabbage poking up anywhere.
I was also slightly surprised to see all of the 4 Wheeler tracks. Thirteen years ago on Good Friday the man who owned this land died in a 4 wheeler accident. It wasn't actually a 4 wheeler but I think a 5 wheel utility type vehicle.
Anyway, aside from the influx of hunters each deer season, there hasn't been any human generated traffic other than myself for the last 13 years.

The land has grown up in berry briers, multi flora rose, and parsnip. I follow the creek and some of the old cattle trails that are now mostly deer trails.
I'd thought I'd heard 4 wheeler vehicles on the last few Saturdays, now I saw that indeed they had been driving around.
I patted Dixie on the head and told her that we had easier trails now.

We searched for Skunk Cabbage and didn't see any. In a few days I expect they will pop up. Hopefully the people with the 4 wheelers won't crush them on their next foray through.

Skunk Cabbage

We made it to the end of the valley and I paused long enough to take some shots of Awesome Creek running over the rocks.

As I started to walk up the creek with my camera in one hand, I heard the revving of engines somewhere on the ridge above me. 

I felt pretty irritated even though this is not my land [I have the owner's permission to wander wherever I want and whenever I want on this acreage...].

I felt a bit as if I'd been intruded upon. Someone had gotten permission to run their 4 wheelers here. I immediately put away my camera gear and 'tsked' to Dixie. We set off for trails where we wouldn't run into the new comers.

We crossed out of the valley and ducked onto a deer trail that led up the south hillside above the valley. From that vantage point I could see through the trees and a good portion of the valley floor.

Dixie ducked under some multi flora rose bushes. It was a thorny tunnel, I got down low and made it through. Some thorns grabbed my hat and pulled it off. We sat next to a huge old oak and relaxed while peering down the valley.

Two of the guys on 4 wheelers wore helmets. Somehow that made them seem more sinister.

I could hear their shouts as they stopped their machines in the swampy portion of the valley. They revved their engines and held them in the muck while their wheels dug holes and black sticky mud sprayed high into the sky. With shouts, they spun and made donuts and then took off to challenge the stream bed.

I heard one guy shout he'd gotten 'air' and the others followed him.

Soon they took off again, so Dixie and I headed down another trail alongside the valley towards home. I thought they'd gone up the snow mobile trail and towards the cropland.

Imagine my surprise when I heard the machines growling in front of us somewhere. Back into the brush I went, ducking thorns and briers. Dixie trotted behind me. I heard a loud shout and then the engines quit.

I stopped and sat down on a log, pulling Dixie next to me. I commanded her to sit and wrapped my arm around her. 

Just below us the guys were discussing something. Apparently one of them had broken his 4 wheeler. 'Good' I thought. And then I reminded myself that this was NOT my land.

They had a long discussion about tools, shocks, mud, trails, spare parts, damage to their machines...

I decided to move quietly up the hill to the ridge and cross over to my land. I let go of Dixie and started winding my way through the narrow trails. I have to admit it, I was enjoying myself. I felt like a kid in one of my childhood games of Hide 'n Go Seek. Where we would hunt each other as kids in my Uncle's woods. 

Dixie heard the voices below her and I don't know if she found a hot scent or what, but she started trotting down through the brush. I called her quietly, she didn't listen. I couldn't whistle or shout.

I went "tsk tsk tsk cha cha" loudly and started to pat the log next to me. I have no idea why it works, but Dixie turned around and came at her rambling trot to me.

I loved her up and we wound our way up to the wild berry patch.

I know this land like it is my yard. I've wandered on it for 22 years. I passed the patch and headed under the giant oak, through the fence and on to our land.

We made it home without incident.

I heard the 4 wheelers fire up in the valley and about an hour later I could see hear the diesel engine of the truck coming on the road above our house. I glanced up from my yard work and watched through the bare trees as the shape of a truck with 4 4 wheelers turned the corner and headed out.

Hide 'n Go Seek.

It still was a good game.