Happy December 1st

Don't mind me if I am all over the place today---> well yesterday.... a day late and a dollar short!!!!

That is how my brain sometimes works.

This is a table with a drawer that was given to us. I think originally it would have had a washbasin on it as the sides have places to hang little towels on. It finally made sense when I pulled out this pitcher and basin and decorated it.

Next up. My weeds!
Velvet Weeds, Grasses, birch branches that have fallen, and Milkweed Pods. The ornament is one of a kind and was made for me years ago. The weeds are temporarily in a copper coal scuttle I purchased at my MIL's estate sale. The Jay Potato chip can...does anyone recall these? I do!

It holds Charlie's dog food. My brother used his antique can just like this for his cat food. Great minds and all that!

This morning I realize that I hadn't been hiking in my favorite place since....November 13th. For me, that is an eternity.

I cancelled my morning gym plans and headed out the door at 8:30. The Wilds were calling. My feet needed to go go go....

I needed to Wander and Explore.

So...
I did.

...with my little Trail Blazer in the lead...

we headed out to parts unknown and places

were no human trails exist....

It was still in the 20 degree range when we hit the trails. Frost was on most of the plants. 

The Kickapoo River had ice forming on it.

As Charlie and I stood watching the river, we saw a Kingfisher diving into the water. It was too far away for me to 'shoot' with my cellphone so we just watched. My old camera was in my backpack and the battery for it was in my pants pocket [staying warm and charged].

Charlie and I got to the bluffs and walked out on the edge [carefully--it was safe!]. We heard the squeaks of an Eagle above us and Charlie dove to get under my feet. I've always made him come to me when we hear Hawks or Eagle calls.

The eagle was in a pine above and to the slight left ... but out of sight in the above photo. We could just barely see him standing in the top of one of the dead branches. What a majestic creature.

I pulled Charlie into my lap and sat with my back against a pine. We watched for a long time. Charlie shook and leaned against me hard. Eventually the Eagle flapped and took off. The sound of its wings was really cool to hear. I've never been that close to an Eagle before.

To young folks seeing an Eagle is no big deal. To me, it is a huge deal. In the 1970's the Eagle had only about 400 breeding pairs in the United States??? Yeah. It IS a huge BIG deal for me to see one while casually hiking.

We moved on and did some more exploring and wandering. 

We scrambled down the bluff and walked along the base. These pines are so incredible. Look at their wild root systems! The roots grow UP and along the bluff wall.

Isn't Mother Nature something cool?

Charlie was nervous when I stopped to exam some rock formations. 

I didn't get any good shots of the multitude of Lichen on these rocks, but I was fascinated with the intricate formations that nearly looked as if they had been carved by the Ansasazi. Well, IF they were super miniature!

I'd mentioned to someone that I was going to go search to see if I could find some 'ice' formations on the rocks. They said I'd never find them. 

Huh. 

👇

We headed back out on the paved trail to see if one of the ponds had ice on it yet.

The little pond did. The ice even had Ice Stars on it.

A light north west wind picked up and I headed back towards the car. 

We stopped at Campsite E and decided to sit out of the wind for a bit and munch on some pretzels.

Selfie:

December was starting off just fine in our book.

Manus Manum Lavat

This family of eagles with two juveniles and two baldies are still hanging out around our place. I guess I don't mind at all because they are such incredible looking birds.

I have to scan the trees each day before Charlie gets to go out and do his thing. 

Mica has improved immensely with her diaper padded/booted foot. She was trotting around in the farthest part of the pasture at feeding time last night. It doesn't seem to me that there is an abscess, but what exactly do I know? Perhaps she bruised her foot or something. All I know is that it makes me happy to see the old girl happy again.

I got Rich in for an eye appointment finally! He normally goes to the VA for his eye appointments, but getting anything done through their vision department is at best a bit difficult. I imagine it relates to staffing shortages. And who wants to drive 5 hours for an eye exam anyway? [Especially since I have limited distance vision now!]

Today is my consult with the cataract surgeon. While at the appointment yesterday for Rich I asked if they would be dilating my eyes at the consult/exam. The answer was yes. 

Oh. Crap.
When Olive came over to help me with Mica and do a quick walk before she went to pick up her son, she decided that she would drive me to the appointment. I was shocked but pleased at her offer.

I figured I'd have to sit in the waiting room for hours to get some eyesight back from being dilated.

I told her I wouldn't want to impose on her. She laughed. Of course just this week she announced that she was pregnant and I offered my services to help out with anything she might need. Someone to play with her 2 year old if she was tired, or whatever I could do.

She quipped, "Don't worry! There will be times I call on you to come keep an eye on Aiden while we go for baby scans!"

Yep, that sure sounds reasonable!

I got a text from my neighbors at the top of the hill. Would I feed and walk their dogs this weekend when they went out of town? They hated to impose...but they would compensate me.
I replied that there would be no compensation, I'd be thrilled to do it.

There is an old Latin saying that I learned in my first year of  High School Latin.

Manus Manum lavat.
"One hand washes the other."

It certainly works in rural areas with good neighbors.

Birdy Birdy

Hey you in the house!
Fill the feeders!

Eagles just hanging out.

At first there were two....

And after I got done putting sand, grit, and hay chaff on the driveway and up the hill...

There were three!
[Two were close together]

I sent Charlie into the house. He'd be just a nice snack for these beauties.
They stayed for a couple of hours and then flew off. 

I was pretty happy.

Earlier last week I went to the creek for a walk and saw dozens of Cedar Waxwings eating on what I think were either dried up cherries or Buckthorn berries.

What an incredible site they were!

Yesterday while spreading some chaff near the house [due to the icy driveway], I heard a Robin! I wonder if he/she were lost. 

Two winters ago I did spot a small flock of them in the valley where I found the Cedar Waxwings. 

I had one of these guys land on my mitten and grab feed. It took me about 20 minutes of standing absolutely still with a mitten full of birdseed before they came. Twice a Tufted Titmouse landed on me and took feed.

Hubby got to watch from inside the house. He though it was pretty cool.

Cold Day ~ Warm Porch Observations

When we remodeled our house, we added a porch on the south side of the house. It has a sloping roof and a concrete pad. It isn't fancy but extends out 10 feet and runs the width of the house.

In the summer the sun is high enough that I can sit in the shade shuck corn or clean veggies and enjoy being outside at the same time.
In the winter the sun is low and shines on to the porch and sunlight fills our house.

Yesterday with the temperature hoovering at 5 degrees F, I was able to sit out on a stiff back chair in my insulated coveralls and furry hat and be warm! The light wind was from the north. I had to wait for a delivery anyway, so I thought fresh air would be nicer than sitting in the house listening to the TV.

I decided to grab my camera and the binoculars and watch the birds. They weren't really bothered by me sitting on the porch and after I settled in, they resumed their activities.

I was surprised by the visitors I was able to see. The fawns below have come up to the south side of the old red shed to avoid the cold north breeze and graze in one of  Lil' Richard & Sven's summer pens. The other fawn decided to browse through my shady perennial garden for things to eat.

The north hillsides are deep in hard crusty snow and so the deer need to find south facing hillsides to graze. I was very surprised to see them in the middle of the day until I checked the forecast. When the barometer moves, so do the deer.

The mules took naps as did the horse. Some stretched out on their sides. Siera is in this shot below. A dragon Mule! 

She got up and shook. No, she is not pregnant. She is fat. She is such an easy keeper, I think if she looked at hay she would gain weight. I used to ride her nearly every day, but this past year, she has pretty much just been a pasture decoration.

The visit by the crows really surprised me. They are such interesting birds. 

This is a terrible shot, but this is also the reason I went out to sit on the porch. The Titmice birds were absolutely fun with their antics flying to and fro from the pines to the feeder. I wanted to 'catch' one with its wings open.

I kept trying but I kept missing her or his flights to the feeder. I tried rapid fire and always seemed to miss them taking flight.

I did learn that the Titmouse grabs a mouthful of seeds and takes it to the tree branches to eat. As does the Nuthatch.

Twice the Big Birds came through. 
Eagles.

We have two pair that hang around here and have a nest about a mile away [as the crow flies].

The Juncos and Titmice seem to get along just fine, except when they want to fight over the seeds on the ground.

I learned to recognize the Downy Woodpecker by the sound of its wings as it raced from one tree to another and swung low in front of the porch.

I finally decided to just close my eyes and listen to the sounds around me. I was warm, the sun was bright and the noises of the forest were pretty comforting.

I started to wonder why I've never been interested in birds before. I mean, I sort of was. But not like this.

I guess this is a good consequence of being sort of home bound.

Maybe learning more about birds and observing them isn't such a bad thing.

Nature seems patient, it seems I could learn this too.

Old Harrison Trail + More KVR Trail Challenge

I decided that this hike should be shown to my son who says I cannot take a hike without stopping numerous times to take photos.
He is absolutely correct. I am trying to develop an attitude that while on these hikes I bring just a small pocket camera to carry plus some food and water items.

I've been working with Dixie to see if I can get her to climb into the dog kennel in the back of the Subaru. She can.
So yesterday was her maiden car ride and she did pretty well. Lots of whining but she didn't use her loud hound voice to bark in protest.

I started this route at the Visitor Center. I followed the Old Harris Rd Trail to Old 131 and headed north to Star Valley Trail, I peeked in at the 4H trail and headed east.
Star Valley to Willow Trail.
Willow Trail to Old 131.
Old 131 south to River Crossing Trail to the Kickapoo River crossing and backtracked to Old 131 again.
I headed south through the ponds and headed back to the Visitor Center. I completed 8 segments in one fell swoop.
However, the segments were not hard and only had one elevation on Star Valley so it was pretty straight forward and flat.

Back tracking can't be avoided in some instances because the trails aren't laid out with loops so you have to create your own 'loops'. I really like this hike as it was swift and I was surprised at how much I saw and how beautiful it was.

Harrison Road Trail:
Shadows of Dixie and I

 Pretty straightforward trail with some interesting landscape.

Old 131 Trail headed north towards Star Valley:

Some 'lovers' kissing on the side of the trail. I thought they might stop and look at us while we walked by...but they were too busy.

Dixie was off leash for most of the walk. We stopped at the Memorial at Star Valley Trail.

We must never forget these people. I like that.
I can't imagine how life must have been in this area. The land is very fertile and the river floods here often. I do love this area.
I had some water and a snack while sitting on a bench near this memorial.

We then headed up Star Valley Trail:

At the equine campground we found the trail head to Willow Trail. I am glad we chose to go this way because the trail sign was missing at the other end on Old 131.

Dixie was very curious about my finger puppet buddy. I set Stinky down to take his picture and she came and nosed him over into the dirt a few times before I finally got a shot.

Later we played "Where's Dixie!"

Dixie kept 'photo bombing' most of my shots.

But that was okay because she kept checking in with me all of the time.

I went to Campsite "G" and followed the horse trail.

~~ Nearly the same spot in the beginning of December ~~

At that point an Eagle flew over us and we watched him glide to the dead trees in the ponds.

I was excited and Dixie wasn't.

I finally checked my cell phone and decided to head straight back towards the Visitor Center.

Some pretty birch trees:

Dixie had her first real bridge crossing and she suddenly did NOT like it!

I had to lead her across and then she was okay with it.

We headed towards the Visitor Center and went up the stairs.

I leashed her up and we found the Subaru.

She was pretty sure that she didn't want to get back into the crate. But I asked her nicely and she did.

Our first 'doggone' adventure went well. Dixie settled in and quit whining. When we got home she jumped out of the car and trotted around as if nothing ordinary had really happened.
I'm wondering if she'll want to go next time.
I figure it will only take a trip or two for her to figure out how much fun we can have together.

This was my 3rd hike out. The logistics of the trails will now be a bit more difficult. So I need to sit down and figure out how to do them.

My neighbor has offered to follow me out and let me drop a vehicle off at the end of a trail and then she'd drop me back to at a starting point.

I am having a blast.
I'm loving this challenge.
And I am really getting to know the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. There is nothing like hiking all the trails to really get to know a feel for the land.

This route was rather easy, the footing was good and there was only one hill to really walk up and that was a rather easy elevation from Old 131 up Star Valley. There was more to see than I thought there would be even with the dull landscape of February with very little snow.