Meanwhile in the Nuthouse...Spring signs?

Just some random stuff from this week.

Canada Geese 
protecting the nest

Wood ducks!

Fresh fern
Young fresh Sporophytes

Last year's leaves
Maidenhair Fern

A symbol of Purity
and
Innocence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been waiting to use this Minifigure for a while. I wanted to go out and look for 'Spring'. It hasn't really arrived in our forest yet, but I keep hoping to find a sign somewhere. The Virginia Pinks usually arrive by April 20th and carpet the forest floor for about 10 days.

So I took this Mushroom Sprite [I call her Flora] and Hammie out for a walk with me when I went to check on the forest fencing yesterday afternoon. Once more I decided to experiment with the Lensbaby lens. I'm finally getting the hang of it...I think.

Since there are no spring flowers blossoming yet, I thought I'd try something different.

I wanted to create some flying Lego folks so I used wire to put these two in the air. I love the smile on the green guy's face.

Sunday came and with storms predicted, Jason and I decided it wouldn't be fun for me to go hiking in thunderstorms. He stayed home and after getting inside stuff done, I turned to some creative things.

It is amazing what a little light and cardboard can do! Of course Dr. Cob and his dog, Gear are collecting gears!

The shot and the result.

Later ~~ they are working in his secret lab???

And since I was doing spooky settings... I thought this was funny...

"Dude, I think you are in
the wrong movie set!"

Lucky for us! The day ended with a rainbow in the East!

 

Chasing ice

 

Thursday after lunch I took off to go look for ice along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River. I waited until after noon to head out as I was hoping for it to warm up above 10 F. It did, but the windchill was still at something like 9 F, if you were facing the winds.

I knew that hiking along the bluffs would keep me on the east side of the river with the forest and the bluff blocking part of the cool breeze. However, since the sun never shines on this section of the bluffs ... except on late summer evenings, it would be chilly next to the rocks.

That is perfect for the formation of little ice falls. Last year there was almost no ice or water in this area due to the drought we'd been having. This was promising sign to see. There is a small 'pond' under the rock that was frozen solid.

Light reflects strangely on ice and water which is why I took my Infrared Camera again.

I'm not sure why the mosses don't turn out with the same amount of colors. I suppose it is just how the light reached the moss and the ice in these two areas.

What the ice looks like in camera:

I channel swap, which means I swap the colors and blue can become pinkish, reddish, or with this filter more orange colored. The ice will almost turn blue with most filters [except the 850nm range which is a B&W filter...very useful for white fluffy clouds against a black sky]

Here was another unpredictable shot. I thought this would just turn out yuck with nothing fun. I wanted to see if I could differentiate the ice hidden inside this fern and moss covered area. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Some IR photographers call this 'Candy Colored' and I think it is! But the detail in the ferns turned out pretty neat. 

I did take some normal shots, but not many.

Hiking down Willow Trail.

Long Tall Shadows on old 131 Trail.

Charlie, the Explorer. 

Neat Ferns

Behold! 
The Cinnamon Fern!

I get excited when I see these guys as they are large and really stand out in the spring. So far in the past 28 years I've only found 3 places on our land where they come up. They like to grow near a wet area. Last year was so dry that I don't recall them coming up near our creek bottom. Or I missed this plant?

I just love how a fern comes up in a tight curl.
 

Close up of the same fern curl as above.
I've heard of people who look for these in the forest and collect the not so hairy curls to eat. They call them Fiddleheads.

I have not tried it as I'm still in the learning stage about fern plants. Plus there are not enough of these in my forest to harvest and eat.

Close up of the leaves inside the curling head of the fern. Ferns fascinate me as they have such symmetry to their leaves!

More Cinnamon Ferns found at
Duck Egg County Park
on 4 24

I found these on a south facing hillside
high above the water
but in a moist area.

The brown 'stuff' is supposed to 
be spores according to 
information on these ferns.

Another fern that I am very familiar with is the Maidenhair Fern. They are my favorite fern in the forest.

This group emerging from the forest floor 
looks like they are literally

dancing.

Maidenhair Fern, come up red
and turn green.
They spread out like a beautiful spiral
after they mature.

A mature Maidenhair Fern:

There are other ferns, but I don't know enough about them 

--> Yet <-- 

to put a name to them. But I do enjoy finding their beautiful curls in the spring and admire them through out the year.

Even in winter they add a bit of interest to the forest
Photo from the winter of 2011:

Chores are done! Yard is mowed!
And it look like I can go out again today and explore.

Who knows what we will find?

Goat Photo Bomber...

I was testing out a feature called *in camera HDR*. I put the camera on a tripod and set it up.
Sven managed to dart into the photo on one of the shots.

Now that the forest floor is springing to life, Sven is in goat heaven on our walks.
He nibbles and catches up. Today he learned a bit about soft creek banks as the dirt collapsed under him and he rode a pile of dirt and rocks down the ravine.

He shook his head and soldiered on.
Charlie kept a sharp eye on him.

We have been extremely wet this year. So wet in fact that when the township graded the road on the ridge -- they do this to fill the pot holes in with loose gravel -- ...and then it rained and rained more...
well.
When I went to town yesterday, imagine my surprise when I turned off our little dead end road and suddenly felt like I was in a road rally with slushy mushy gravel mud conditions. The Subaru handled it but it weaved and wobbled and bobbed side to side all the way out to the black top. The vehicle is now mud colored and no longer blue....

Anyway back to the goat adventure. Sven was ecstatic about being out with us and ran up and down the trail doing goatie things like bouncing, running, leaping, and doing sideways jumps. He even got exuberant enough to come up to me and try a head butt. His head met my stick and he decided not to mess with me.

He stopped often to nibble and experiment on different flavors that the woods offered.

I can see where goats would be incredible for cleaning up forests. They will eat the unwanted plants. My Dexters did the same thing however they left larger poo piles.

Donkeys did much of the same thing, but they and the Dexters cost much more to feed in the winter time.

Anyway.
We had an excellent walk about the land. I went into different sections of my property that I don't normally get to because by mid summer it is just too overgrown.

These were pretty neat and very different than the other ferns on our land. I think they may be Cinnamon Ferns. Not sure, but now that I know where they are I can make my way back to see them as they unfold.
Sven didn't eat them.

However, as I knelt to take some shots of Anemones ...

And then sat back to adjust my settings...

A curious goat walked up and stared at me then proceeded to eat all of the blossoms of this plant. I swear he winked at me as I moaned to him.

Later on I set up the tripod at the creek. Charlie wandered around and then sat on a rock next to me.

I set this shot up and took a few versions of it.

Next thing I know, I feel the gloves being pulled out of my pocket. Sven. He then reaches over and starts to nibble on the camera strap.

SVEN! NO!
He was unimpressed and very goat-like. I bonked him on the nose and he just shook his head.

I can say this. I am having fun with both Charlie and Sven and going on our walks. It sure kept my mood upbeat on a dull dreary day. I started my day with CrossFit learning a new skill and got to enjoy time out in the woods.
Even IF I had a Goat Photo Bomber/Pest along.

Friday is a new adventure. I'm going to be a *guide* for another photographer and take him to a few different spots so he can enjoy what our area has to offer.

Today? Off to the VA after CrossFit this morning....

Trying to keep it together part two

Ariel and I sat in the ravine for a while enjoying the cooler air.  

Amazingly the day had really turned quite warm.  She mentioned that she was glad we started our hike so early.
It had been rather cool in the morning shadows along the creek itself but now we were in a steep rocky area and not a lot of air was moving.

Morris ran up and down the rocks and the hillside.  He'd stop every once in a while and look around the woods.

Morris stands above the rocky ravine and peers over his 'domain'.

He enjoys being out with us and even seems more overjoyed by having Ariel around.  He just loves kids.  Of course when a turkey hunter let loose with a shotgun it turned Morris into a Sticky Glue Dog.  He didn't wander very far.  Most of the time he was nearly underfoot.

The hillside was dry and proved to be quite the challenge in more than one way.  I am used to steep hill climbs.  I live in this hilly area and have done this particular hillside more than once.  It is actually a bit scarier going down than up.  

It had so many interesting distractions.  Like Hepatica.

This is mother nature's short lived little flowers, along with the Blood Root which we also found.

I was surprised that I hadn't found more, usually these are the first flowers to find in the woods.  But it had been awfully dry so far and perhaps the roots were awaiting some rain.

The walk home was fairly uneventful and we just enjoyed each others company while we walked.

After the grand kids left I felt like I'd lost my adventure 'buddy'.  It sure had been fun.

I'd promised to take care of our neighbor's dog Dexter, or as they call him 'Dex'.  Perhaps not to confuse him with the show Dexter.

We took an evening walk together to watch the sunset.  Monday was going to be busy perhaps. 

The excavator was supposed to show up along with some more folks to begin the Little House Remodel. And I had a night shift. 

But, it was nice to take some quiet time and enjoy the evening colors.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the whole remodel, dig a basement, add on .. thing.  Oh but wait, that is a whole different blog!

So many things going on at once.

I think I'll go sit with Dex and watch the woods.

Road Trip

Off I went. Morris scrambled and barked in his crate as I shut the door and got into the car.
The rain was spitting down and the temperatures had suddenly become very fall-like.

Here was my 'big' trip to go see Lily and the rest of the gang.  I promised myself that this time when I crossed the Wisconsin River on Highway 21, I would take the time to pull into the wayside and get a shot of the river and the bridge.
The leaves have gone but the pines still are brilliant green against the dull backdrop of dormant trees.  Most oaks still have their leaves and the wild clouds all made for a fairly good photograph.

Although as I knelt by the river a very cold wind blew into my face. And I decided not to spend too long of a time there.

My real intent had been to go back to the Subaru and get a ND filter so I could have a long exposure of the sky, bridge, and the water.  I decided to heck with it and packed up.

I went to use the restroom and decided against that also.  The smell of the toilets were ripe even with the winds.
Note to self, the place is worth stopping at, but get a whiff of the bathrooms!

I headed east towards Coloma and stopped at the Ship Rock Wayside.  There are a few tables there and the garbage cans have been removed for the season.
I got out and was surprised that I was not cold.  In this area I was somewhat protected from the winds by the surrounding forest.

 

I went around to the backside of the 'rock' and found some exotic looking fern growth on the side of mossy rocks.

Leaves had blown into a dip in the rocks and were the nearly the only fall colors left.

I stopped for coffee before getting on the interstate and headed to Wausau to meet with my son and see Elena and Sterling before he had to go to work.

After I checked in to my motel I got a text from Lily.  Her mom would drop her off with me after she finished her CCE classes!

When Lily showed up we headed to the motel pool.  I sat on the edge of the pool .... note to self... get a swim suit!
We talked and she swam and played.
By 9pm we thought we should retire.

We watched it snow outside for a bit and tried to thing of cool things to do while I was here.  Rib Mountain State Park or Dells of Eau Clair?