Tent life [part II]

I've always wanted to stay out in the forest overnight. 

My parents did car camping when I was a kid. 

I recall sleeping in the front seat [the steering wheel was never in the way]. I think my sister may have slept with mom and dad in the back of the station wagon but I don't recall. Maybe I was in the back seat and parents and sister were in the back.

My brother slept on the roof I think. I believe it may have been our only camp out, but I can't be sure. I'm not even quite sure of the year we did it. 

However, I woke up thinking that this was the coolest thing ever.

Here is a shot that my dad took. I think we were at Arches National Park. [It was NOT crowded]

I don't recall if we parked and slept there or near there. All I know was the experience was amazing and I fell in love with rocks.

For reference, the station wagon was a 1965 Dodge. Mom is at the picnic table, my brother is running next to the car and I think my sister is sitting on a rock above the car in the bottom left partially hidden by a tree.

I think that this was my first camping experience and I fell in love with it 61 years ago. 

Rich and I would camp/sleep in the back of his truck and later in a gooseneck horse trailer [not fancy]. But the thrill of it has always stuck with me.

This year was my first time at camping with a tent.

[Last night, I took out the camp cot, it was too uncomfortable.]

Here is what it looks like with a 'dog pile' on a nice cushy camp mattress [3 inches thick!] and piles of blankets.

The dogs love it. I do too, they can sleep on the thin mat next to me or scoot in to keep warm.

I read until I was sleepy, then last night out we hit the sack.

The part that feels so free to me is the fact that I never checked what the time was. It was dark and the moon had not yet arrived.

Monday night we didn't have a fire because the smoke would have blown right into the tent. 

We heard much of the same serenades as we fell asleep. I woke up with a start as Hannah growled. 
I listened.
And then I laughed. There was a turkey not far off trying to roost in a tree and making clucking noises. A bit later I was awakened when I heard a mule softly snort not far off.

I thought, oh how nice, the mules are here.

Then I became fully awake. The mules couldn't get back by us!

The moon was out casting silver light. I peeked out the window and there was the shape of a deer standing not far off. I guess it didn't expect us to be there.

I got back to sleep rather quickly and the dogs crept under the blankets with me.

The dogs love pre-dawn. Hannah is the first to get up and annoy Charlie into getting up. In turn, they both annoy me to get up.

I open the tent flap and out they go for their morning duties. Both dogs leave the camp area to do their business. I like that.

In the predawn dark, we walked back home. I feed them and make coffee for me then head back out. I can have some quiet time with a thermos of coffee and watch for deer.

And....

 I'm successful. These two does come out every morning like clockwork when the sun just peeks over the neighbor's trees to the east.

I have my coffee and sit watching the meadows. One would think that this is the time of day where I think deep and poetic thoughts. The world dissolves into just breathing and being.

My mind is quiet.

I watch the day come alive and that is good enough for me. 
I watch. 

I see the fog, the morning light, and listen to the sounds.

I still pinch myself wondering exactly how lucky I am to witness this in the mornings.

When the coffee is gone, I walk back home and start my day.

And...

I know I can't wait to do this again.

Sometimes

 
Sometimes...

I just stay outside to drink it all in. I know I am lucky to live here -- far removed from busy places. 

I am still pinching myself about meeting Rich on the Wagon Train and becoming his lifelong partner in a slice of paradise like this.

He found this place on a Walmart pin up board in the early mid 1990's. For Sale: House on 25 acres, dead end road. 2 bedrooms. The original price? $25k.

He took the whole sheet down and found the nearest pay phone to call the number. He met Glen, the owner and builder of our cottage and they had coffee. With a handshake, Glen sold this place to Rich.

I think of that story often and just wonder how the stars aligned to make things happen for him and then for the both of us. 

Mornings like this I just stand in our meadow and have...a feeling of awe. I'm witnessing something that is wonderous, vast, inspiring, amazing, and mind-blowing all at once.

Before the sun hits the meadow to the east of us, I can smell the sweet scent of millions of Queen Anne's Lace Flowers in the heavy damp air.

Oh yes. And admire the thousands Orb Weavers who stretch webs between the plants.

Everything is wet with fog and dew. 

And then the sun clears the trees to the east, the area lights up with golden fog and dew drops.

I make my way to my where my 'campground' is and look back towards home.

I often wondered if this place would suit me when I lost my best friend nearly a year ago. As I walk through the wet grasses towards the house I believe that it will. At least for now. 

It suits me just fine.

Storms, Rain, Crazy

After a night of heavy rain Monday evening, the sun started to peek through the fog. 

The weather service warned of afternoon storms in our area once more on Tuesday.

I took the pups for a very early morning walk down to check out our little creek. I wanted to see if there had been damage to the forest fences. Thankfully, there wasn't. The forest around us had heavy fog lifting from the cool streams.

Everything was soggy so I started to clean a flower bed up. I gave up in playing in the mud.

Hannah had an afternoon Vet appointment to get her second booster for distemper, parvo, and hepatitis. I thought about taking them to the Reserve, but decided to stay close to home.

We went to some DNR land close to home. It is public land along the stream called Tainter Creek in Tainter Hollow.

It is one of those cool places to find spring ephemerals.

We found several patches of Blood Root that had their flowers damaged by the rains overnight. Of course,  Hannah had to checkout what I am photographing. Miss Curious is getting better about staying close while I am doing photography.

Her recall is getting much better.

Wood Anenomes

Trout Lilies not blossoming yet

I also found dozens of patches of Virginia Bluebells emerging! 

I found one plant of Dutchman's Breeches that actually had flowers. Others were just emerging.

We walked along Tainter Creek which was swollen just over its banks.

There are no buildings in this very steep valley. If there is rain, the creek floods. All of the water from the ridges around here run into the creek.

Our morning ended up being quite pleasant.

By late afternoon I was tired from the intense storms we'd had Monday. I don't sleep well during storms. 

The dogs and I took a short nap. There is peace in the house when both of them are tired! 

Somehow, they have both become Velcro dogs.

While I was at the Vet's office, Tuesday afternoon for Hannah's updated boosters, NOAA came out with severe weather warnings 3 times. They warned of a severe thunderstorm producing Giant Hail and a Tornado just miles from the Vet office. 

Wait, What? Giant Hail??? Never heard that term before!

That eeee eeee eeee noise kept going off on the radio in the office along with notifications on my cell phone. We skedaddled home to get things put away before the storm hit our place.

I came down the driveway and looked up at the sky. It was wicked looking but I was ahead of the front.

I hustled and put Little Richard and the car in the shed. The mules were eating grass but looked up when the front arrived and disappeared into the woods.

The storm that arrived at 5ish PM decimated a whole town and so many vehicles. Friends of mine said it looked like a bomb went off. Even wildlife was affected by the baseball and softball sized hail.

Photos from locals posted on FB.

Thank goodness that storm went around us.

However we did have some hail and torrential downpours around 9 PM. Very scary stuff. I heard things hitting the house.

Lucky for me, I found no damage this morning. We had over an inch of rain in the rain gauge. That made for fun exploring in the creek this morning.

The dogs and I got muddy and enjoyed every moment of it.

There is another round coming through this afternoon.

As we say in Westby and Viroqua.

Uffdah.

Well

Hmmmm hmmm, hmmm. 

I've had an amazing week with so much taken care of! I checked off gobs of things I needed to have done here. I even built a paddock in an area for the mules in the winter to have another choice of hiding in the woods and brush. I may not let them be in there for deer gun season, but it will work out nicely if we have one of those easterly winds that come with bad ice/sleet events.

Here is a couple of leftover shots from the previous day's walk.

Friday night's sky made me feel calm and relaxed. It was stunning.

Saturday morning's drizzle ended and we had thick fog.

The neighbor's meadow developed fog that grew and changed and moved across the ground as well as rose through the trees in the valley.

Foggy mornings are amazing for Infrared Photography. So, I carried that camera with me also.

The Chrome Filter in IR turns leaves and any plant that have chlorophyll in them to a reddish hue depending on how much light they are absorbing and reflecting. The skies generally stay blue and the highlights can get very tricky.

However, a lot of trial and error can produce the results above. 

An acquaintance of mine via Flicker has lenses he uses to attach to his apple iPhone to take IR shots with it. It is a combination I think of a lens filter and perhaps an app? I don't know, but I know he prefers that over carrying his camera these days.

The things you can do these days with a cellphone camera!

Ariel came on Saturday morning and we are going to do some craft shopping. We watched some videos last night about acrylic paint pouring for Christmas Ornaments. We may try it, it sounds like a fun experiment to do. 

I like the abstract designs that pouring creates. Making a mess might be fun.

Michaels is having quite a sale on some items, so we will take the drive and do some girl shopping together along with a lunch date. Ariel is preparing supper so we'll have a nice evening doing fun stuff to celebrate her birthday.

Mini Road Trip

Well. Saturday morning I wanted to get out and go to the ponds where I'd seen the Swans. I brought my long lens along and a different one in case things didn't quite work out.

They didn't.

The Kickapoo River Valley had decided to fill with fog.

I could see this from our ridgetop when I got to it. The valley and low areas were filling in with fog. I decided to go and explore anyway.

The drive along the highway in the valley was slow because of the fog. Well, the fog and the deer. 

Taking that drive near dawn on a Saturday morning meant that I wouldn't see a lot of traffic. I could take my time and stop if the mood overcame me.

I pulled over in the low lands. I've always wanted to stop and 'shoot' as it looks like something out of a movie. It reminds me of the Swamp of Sorrows in the Never Ending Story movie.

I couldn't decide if this should be in color or black and white. I am actually leaning towards the color version which shows the bright yellow grasses as they are fading. But the black and white version is the mood I get from passing this wetland on foggy mornings.

I hoped that I could get above the fog at Warner Creek and look down from the small bluff that overlooked it. Maybe if I waited a half hour or so I could have.

For fun I tried out my ND built in filter to take a 1 second exposure of the creek. I set the camera on the bridge railing and held it still. In the fog and rising sun, the colors in the weeds and brush along the creek shone with colors of fall.

Charlie was happy to get out of the car and take a little walk with me. 

My inner clock of 10 years said it was time to turn around and get going. I got in the car and we started back down the road. Fog had cleared in parts of the area, but when I went over Jug Creek Bridge, I saw something amazing with fog and light.

I was going to pull over but thought better of it with a truck that had come racing up my tail. So at the next road, I signaled and pulled off to go back. I'm glad I did.

Jug Creek was the winner of the amazing views of the day.

This shot was looking east on top of the bridge and down at the creek.

I walked across the bridge and took this shot. The shadow of the bridge darkens the bottom of the photo.

In the distance are the hills and bluffs that I have climbed to watch the sun come up.

I looked down at the creek and took this next shot. There used to be an equine trail that crossed the creek so that no equine had to come up on the bridge and deal with motor traffic. I'll never forget the time we rode with a group and a gent's horse decided that the creek was a great place to cool off.

The horse laid down in the creek and the fella jumped off. His boots still had water in them when we got back to camp. There are fond memories way down...there....

By this time the traffic was picking up and I decided to find another spot to turn around. I went down Jug Creek road and was presented with some more glorious fog opportunities.

I drove up to the next intersection and turned around. The fog was lifting.

Oddly enough, the fog remained pretty thick on the drive back home along the river. 

But I didn't stop or take any more detours as it felt odd to be away from home. Plus I had chores to get done, a cabinet to finish, and paperwork to fill out.

End of July

What does the end of July bring? Well, lots of flowers are blooming all over my yard. 

The hummingbirds and humming bird moths are crazy busy sucking up that nectar.

I put morning glories in several places this year. I put one right outside the porch door and let it climb up a shepherd's hook. 

Most of the flowers in front of the west porch area were variations of blue this summer. Of course, the Morning Glories take the cake!

 

July usually gives us a rest from mowing with a dry spell. Not this year. Mowing has to be done every 5 to 6 days. Maybe that is why I feel so behind on things. Days of wet, days and days of rain. No dry spells for the farmers to make hay.

The sunflowers are blooming too along with my Brown Eyed Susans. This is the first time I've grown them and they are doing so well.

In fact, they have been home to some elusive Crab Spiders. 

They hide under the petals of the flowers and wait for a meal to drop by. They are ambush spiders that don't create webs to catch their prey. 

August will bring the Orb Spiders out in force in the Meadow just east of us. That will be incredible to see again this year [hopefully]. Thousands of Orb Spider webs sparkling in the morning dew.

Air Quality was a huge factor on and off for July. Well, for this summer. Wildfires in the States and Canada are obviously contributing to the horrid atmosphere. However, the mules are pleased to be wandering a clipped pasture. The blueish haze is smoke.

We got a trip in to Cabela's yesterday and drove through driving rain. Hubby looked at the fish in their giant fish tank and was not impressed since he couldn't have any to eat.

On the way home, Steve as always took the scenic way home which includes as many back roads as possible.

This was a shot I took of the ridges above Prairie du Chien as we headed home. Shooting out the back window of a moving car is pretty challenging.

That's smoke too.

Today is much worse as the sun looks brownish and the haze is thick and smells bad.