A Day off the Farm!

I always start with a fence-pasture check and see how the elderly girls are doing. I went into what we call the Meadow to put an SD card back in the Trail Cam and came out of the forest to the above shot. I only had my cell phone with me.

I imagine the doe had run off while the fawn was sleeping and suddenly the fawn looked a bit confused.

I stood quietly and just waited.

I was able to switch to video ---> 28 seconds...

I ended up seeing 4 more does on my walk back to the house.

I did chores and got moving as I had a 'date' with my Grand daughter Ariel and a 2.5 + hr drive to her new apartment. This is not something I normally do. Travel that far, but I had two neighbors for back up and prepped lunch ahead of time for hubby.

I cannot believe she is going to be 21 years old in another month or so! OH MY! Where did the time go??? I'm sure her mom and dad are thinking the same thing.

She grew up under my nose! 

She is employed, owns her own vehicle, and now has her own place to live. She wanted me to come see her 'new' place and chill out with her. Here is a view out her living room window. She didn't give me permission to take her photo or to take and post photos of her place so I just won't do it.

Suffice to say, IF I'd had an apartment like hers, I would have loved it! She is in town and can walk all over and ... it is 5 minutes to work for her. Like most young folks she had parents and grand parents who helped provide her with things she needed.

I was so tickled to see one of my favorite shower curtains in her bathroom! Small things matter!

We went to a late breakfast then went shopping at JoAnne Fabrics. Ariel has taken up crocheting and is making soft fuzzy blankets for her relatives. She introduced me to the Big Fuzzy Soft Yarn she likes to work with. She studied all the colors they had to see if anything tickled her fancy. She asked the girl who was stocking the shelves if they had new colors coming out.

I know a lot of ladies who read this blog who love yarn and collect yarn! I could definitely see picking up crocheting with that fuzzy soft yarn. Ariel even showed me some loop yarn that you don't even have to crochet! Hmmmm. I could dig that! Might be something I could do at night while I sit with the other half and he is watching something boring!

We then parked in a public parking lot and took a tour of the town. We spent time in a bookshop that served coffee and sandwiches. We browsed and Ariel showed me the books she admired most.

We ended up at an interesting little shop that sold Geodes, candles, scented soaps, carvings, incense holders, and all sort of cool hippy stuff. I found some neat 3D printed dragons that would go along with my Lego People. I like dragons of all sorts.

They'll show up later in some Lego or Toy adventures.

Back at her place, we relaxed and chatted. She told me about her job and workplace and how she was doing. 

Again. Hard to believe I was sitting in her apartment with her as an adult. But there it was. When I was getting ready to go, she asked if I'd stop and see her brother who works at Culvers. He'd just gotten promoted to a supervisory position, and she thought we should say hi.

Another small kid....who GREW up!

He gave me permission to post his photo.

When Ariel and I started to walk out the door we turned and waved to Dennis and the whole front staff all hollered out "See yah Grandma!"

That was super cool.

I headed home to the farm with warm fuzzy thoughts and a huge smile on my face.

A day off the Farm! 

Me Time?

Charlie and I usually go out once a day to check on the fencing situation in the woods. We follow the path that was made by a dozer a few years ago. Since then, trees have fallen here and there across the trail and we either step over logs or go around the fallen trees.

The undergrowth is now in full force in places making it nearly impossible to just wander about off any path.

When we followed the mule trail to the creek, I saw a doe nursing her fawn. I stopped and told Charlie to sit. [Yeah, he just stared at me like I was speaking in tongues.]

The doe startled and ran off. Her fawn immediately dropped to the ground and became a statue.

Charlie and I headed off in a different direction so mom could come back and get her 'baby'. 

We eventually climbed down into the dry run.

This is what it looked like a few days ago with the heavy rains we had:

This is what it looked like when Charlie and I visited it yesterday:

and...

this is Charlie on watch, pretending to be my photography assistant. When in fact, he was just listening for his nemesis, the CHIPmunk. While I was setting up some Toy Photography, Charlie slipped away apparently on some sort of mission.

Imagine a dog who is 7 inches tall disappearing into the understory of the forest without a sound.

I couldn't hear his bell or see him. I called and called and hollered 'Cookie' as loud as I could, then I beeped his collar and buzzed him. I climbed up on rocks and took a plastic bag out and shook it [plastic bag noises almost always gets his immediate attention as that means Treats.]

Darn that dog! He is so bullheaded when it comes to the chase. He believes he is 7 foot tall and fearless. 

 After a few minutes of me thinking about freaking out, he came climbing up over the rocks and sat down next to my feet. He looked up at me with ... I swear... a grin on his face.

In the meantime, I had been setting up Homeless Joe and Dog. Looks like they are enjoying the nice weather also.

I don't think Dog likes this puddle of water. Joe seems distracted by something.

Thankfully, I can still get to parts of the creek without a machete, but it might be a good idea to take one along next time.

I decided to take this shot and call it--->

Me Time.

My walks in the woods in the mornings are my quiet time, my me time, and a time to regroup and get ready for the rest of the day.

Dang its gonna be HOT

 When the weather sucks, 

I like to divert my attention

to other fun things.

So I'm going to catch up with what's up with Squatch. Sometimes things in my imagination get side tracked ... and sometimes I go off on a tangent.
Well here it is:

Squatch was feeling pretty down. All the hiking an hunting for relatives seemed fruitless. So he decided to take a nap in a bird nest.

"Hello, there! What are you? You certainly are not a fledgling bird!" a voice said to him.

He woke up and was staring at a tiny fawn.

"I'm a Squatch, not a bird."

"I see that. You are hairy too. I almost didn't see you because your camouflage is better than mine! My name is Fawn."

Squatch sighed, "Well, I came here looking for others like me. I was hoping to find some but so far I've been out of luck."

Fawn said, "Oh golly, can I help? I can ask my mom, Doe, and my pop to keep an eye out for your kind. There's lots of my kind in the forest. I can't imagine being without family!"

Squatch said, "Well, I've had my friend Hobby out looking and she just can't seem to find any trace of them."

"Oh," said Fawn, "I know Hobby. I see her in the forest a lot, but most of us wild critters avoid anything that resembles humans. I mean, we know she is supposed to be harmless and...but we still hide from her."

"Wow, that would be helpful. Hobby is a nice person, she has been very a very kind friend to me. You should meet her," Squatch replied.

"Ahhh. Well. Hmm." Fawn thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, we can arrange it but I hear she shoots..."

"That is just a camera, not a gun!" Squatch said.

Fawn nodded and then ran off. 

Squatch sat in the birds nest and wondered again...

would he ever find any of his family? What an odd little creature Fawn was could he count on Fawn's help? 

To be continued....

Side note:
when I was a kid we used to make up stories for our toys. All toys had a story. Imagine making up a story about a yellow rubber eraser dragon who became friends with a pink kitty eraser.

I imagined that my stuffed animals that lived on my bed came alive when I was at school and had wonderful adventures. The six foot stuffed snake would watch over the kangaroo and the zebra. I was sure that when I slept, they watched over me or went on magical trips.

Toys without batteries was a rule my father had. The toys had to be operated by imagination.
I think it was a wonderful rule.

And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Hot and Humid

Hot 
Humid
Wet
Holiday Weekend

That is the weather this week which is good for the crops and not so good for mowing or enjoying the outdoors. 

I did spend a whole day though cleaning up the upstairs of the house. Both the East Wing and the West Wing [ ~~ tiny little rooms in our story and a half cottage ~~] got deep cleaning. 
I did some purging while I was at it.

My walks have been short and after Charlie nagged me one morning, I decided to take him along with my long lens on a walk to the mailbox. 

This wren kept chattering at us so I stood still and waited for her to land on something. I was pleased that she was singing her morning songs. 

We got to the ridge and I grabbed the mail which was just junk mail. It was a flier advertising a Huge Sale! All mattresses must GO! Store Closing!

That store has been closing for about a year now. 

I tucked the ad under my arm and decided to look at the weeds along the ditch to search for insects.

I was so pleased to find this beauty. I think it is a Spotted Skipper, however I am not sure as the wings in this light almost appear blue tinted.

This one could be some sort of Spotted Fritillary. I call it 'little brownish spotted butterfly'.

However, my buddy didn't think too much of our little side trip.

I wanted to just walk down a ways and look a tiny bit more... and so I called Charlie...and got this...

I agreed with him and turned around to take him home. Once he got in view of the house, he trotted the rest of the way to the porch door and stood looking at me. Little dogs get the heat from the ground and his short nose doesn't allow him to cool off very well. 

My morning walks are the highlight of my day right now. I do it early as the weather is hot and mugg--ly.

This is from my morning foraging walk. Oops! I should have left my camera sitting in a bag on the porch for a while before taking it out in the extremely hot and humid climate.

[This was one of those days where the dew point and temperature were just about the same degree!]

Stupid me. But there it is:

I'd stopped here to photograph a fawn laying down in one of the mule trails but got a fogged lens instead.

I did see this fawn on the way back though!

My morning foraging looked very promising.

This is my creek or was the creek until the drought hit. For the first few years I lived here, it was like this. Then we had some flash floods and for many years water always flowed over the rocks but no more than a few inches deep.

It is almost moist and cooler in this bottom. Beware though, the rocks are like walking on marbled ice.

Yep, marbled ice is a good description. The bruises on my gluteus maximuses will be a good judge of that. 

However, I was more interested in getting some delicious oyster mushrooms for supper and some to dehydrate.

On the way back home with my goodies, I found some chicken of the woods...I think. These did not look appetizing at all with the amount of icky looking gnats and bugs on them. 

But the blaze orange color is hard to miss.

And then more cool bugs. A Hover Fly and an inch worm on the head of a yarrow blossom.

So what is this hot and humid weather good for?

Well.

It is good for short excursions into the woods to find neat insects, wild flowers, and wicked cool fungi and slime molds while picking black raspberries!

Free entertainment

It is fun to have coffee and be able to peer out at the neighbor's land where they used to have goats and see this occurring. Two fawns had been staying where their moms had put them. 

The moms would feed them then the fawns would lay still in the tall grasses near some brush and stay until their moms came to get them.

For the first week, all we could see was just the tips of their ears when the twitched them. 

Since the goats left we see the deer making good use of the woods and field. 

I was cleaning out some weeds next to the outhouse when I got buzzed by a hummingbird. So I decided to take a break and sit on the back step with my camera and Charlie in the shade.

Hummingbird in my Siberian Iris? 

There was the friendly wren flitting about and alternating between scolding and singing! 

 

Here is a mule pile up under a box elder tree. They adore standing in the shade under the tree using the low branches as fly deterrent.

Fly season has arrived as well as bot bees that get the mules running and diving into underbrush to get the biting insects off from them.

Our not so brilliant horse that is named 15, came into raging heat. The red headed molly mules decided it would be fun to nibble her flanks and get her to squeal. 

Imagine horse squeals echoing in the woods. It almost sounds like something bizarre is happening. Thank goodness it only lasts about one day.

Sven, the goat loves to be with his pal Little Richard. The goat stands with his head under Little Richard's tail to keep flies off his head.

I thought the goat was really taking a chance of getting his head dumped on by pony poo. Apparently, he darts out before the pony drops a load.

So when the Firestick TV remote died a severe and unfixable death for the 3rd time, hubby had a melt down.

I tried to explain to him that he could find all sorts of free entertainment out doors.

Alas. 

Poor hubby. Did you know there was an app for a smartphone just for these emergencies? Oh yes! Firestick TV Remote app. Thank goodness, the world will not fall apart while waiting on a replacement.

However, since I am the only one who can operate the smartphone, it seems I need to be present any time he wants to watch the TV.

Come on new Remote!

I'm my own Hero

 Ahhh, the skid steer saga once more. I am mechanically dis-inclined. If things don't work, I toss up my hands and walk away. An engine is a mystery to me that I'm not even curious enough to investigate.

Since we had the episode last week of the skid steer not starting again, hubby said that he wanted me to go out and put the battery charger on it and to hook up the engine heater thingy.

I did find the battery and I did hook it up though it was a scary place inside the battery compartment. It is hard to see in there and basically I'm rather afraid of batteries.
My father always told us they'd blow up. Guess that stuck with me.

I recall the tech guy saying that I should charge it on the slower setting rather than the fast one.  I should put it on a maintenance trickle charger or just make sure to use it every so many days. All this I explained to hubby who said I was full of bunk.

So I went out and did it the way the tech told me to. It took two days [I didn't leave it charging overnight ~ it is parked near our huge bales of hay]. 

I got it started! I let it run long enough to warm everything up and then shut it off. I plan on using it this week to fill the bucket with manure from the two nights Little Richard spent in his stall and to fill it with the goat's old bedding. Once the driveway is no long mud-mush, I'll dump it in the huge compost pile.

I've run this thing before but it has been a while. I'd rather hubby feel good enough to use it. I really think it is too much machine for the piddly jobs I have around here. 

However, getting it running was a huge relief and I crossed off one big worry for the moment.

To celebrate, I put on my YakTraks and decided to see what the rain, snow and freeze did to the creek area.

The water did flow from the neighbor's pasture and run into the creek. In some places small dams were created by dead leaves.

I decided to sit and listen to the forest. What could I hear? I heard a chickadee, a bluejay, a hawk, and something walking on the land above the creek. It wasn't a human, perhaps it was a squirrel, coyote, or deer.

I just waited.

Now I should have had a long lens, but I didn't. But there was a deer! 
[Click on the picture to enlarge it]

Can you see the doe? She is almost so well camouflaged that I put an arrow on the photo pointing to her face.

It was a doe and a yearling! They must have smelled me or seen me move and off they went.

So happy little dance for me. I got the scary machine started and I saw some wildlife.

I think I need to make myself a superhero cape.
 

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.