We need rain!

I walked down the valley today with Charlie and Sven. 

My hiking pals in the summer meadow. Sven is easy to hike with. He never gets far behind and basically is a pain in the butt if I squat down to look at something. He likes to pull on my hoody or nibble the back of my baseball cap.

He is sure I have dog treats in my hair.
[Yes, he loves tiny little dog biscuits. A way to a goat's heart is through his tummy.]

His coat looks pretty rough because I used scissors the other day to cut out the burdocks he had stuck in his coat. He looks better once he sheds out.

Charlie and Sven have been best pals since Sven was born. Sven turned two years old in February and is achieving full size now. He is a La Mancha goat that was orphaned at birth.

Here is Sven at my neighbor's house when he was two weeks old:

Sven always cries out when he sees Charlie and I heading into the woods. He is a pain if I am working on fencing. If I set a tool down, he'll pick it up.
However, he is really nice to have along while hiking. He continuously checks in with me. Oddly enough he never wanders away.

But...he has no sense of Personal Space! 

The moss I'd photographed 3 weeks ago was turning brown. Brown enough that at first I didn't understand what I was seeing. Brown moss? I took a few shots of it so I could record it in my Naturalist Book. April 21st ~ moss going dormant from lack of moisture.

The skunk cabbage 20 feet from the creek was brown and the leaves stunted. Was this from the cold snap or the lack of rain? Questions I don't know if I can figure out. Perhaps it is a combination of both things.

The skunk cabbage was doing well in the Big Spring. But the water was notably lower in the spring than it had been weeks ago. The vibrant green moss on the logs was dry in places.

The marsh marigold was sparse. 

Our meadow pasture is dry and the grass is not coming like it normally does. 

I should just fence off the yard which for some reason is looking lush and long in places.

Then I remind myself that this is April still and that normally things are still brown and fairly dreary. Those warm days confused the trees and the plants. 

I looked back on past years and see that the pastures really don't get going until May so I remind myself to be patient and hope for some nice easy rainfalls.

Charlie and I are going on an adventure today. It is time to take the Subaru in for some work at the dealer. They welcome dogs at the dealership and even have a little dog park for pets. It is not unusual to find customers with their pets in the waiting room or walking with their pets to look at new 'Rus on the display floor.

Last time we were there together, one of the sales people let Charlie onto the sales floor from the dog park. I didn't have him on leash. Before I could grab him, Charlie followed the salesperson into a room where they were closing a deal.

The buyers asked Charlie if he liked Subarus. Charlie gave his opinion by squirming and looking cute.

I think everyone at the dealership also carries dog treats in their pockets!

Quiet time

I'm trying to carve out a bit more time for walking Charlie and Sven together.

It was a nice quiet walk with Charlie and Sven playing on the trails. Charlie would stop and listen to a chipmunk in the woods. Sven would stand by him and browse on berry briers or some other leafy bush and then they'd trot off together.

It appears to the casual observer that these two are pals and have a very close bond.
I know Dixie was very fond of Charlie but Sven seems totally attached to his dog pal. He cries when they are separated, yet if I tie them up in the yard where they can be near each other. They will actually lay down so that they are touching each other to nap in the sunlight.

Sven is like a rather large dog that is even better mannered than most dogs on the trail. He doesn't eat deer poop, he doesn't roll in stinky things, and he comes instantly when I whistle or call him.

He still has some of his light colored 'baby' coat left. I imagine as his winter coat grows in it will fall out. I like the funky colors it gives him right now.

Charlie still wears his little beeper collar on hikes. He rarely gets separated from Sven when we all go together. But it is nice to know I can 'ring' his bell if he gets into the thick underbrush and I can't find him.

We walked to the back of the property and I had some fluorescent spray paint I wanted to spray on the line fence. That is my next project is to fix the back fence. It is an old barbed wire fence, some of the posts can be reset and some of the wire may still be usable. I'm always up for a project.
I used the green paint to mark areas.
Sven decided to try and taste the paint on the posts. Silly goat. He has fluorescent paint on his nose now.

When I sat on a log to let my two companions walk around in the area, they both came and tried to get my attention. So much for sitting and mulling things over!

I walked down the hill back towards the creek. I'd told Rich I'd only be gone for an hour so I couldn't go exploring. Sven and Charlie trotted on deer trails and I could hear their bells. The bells are a stroke of genius. I can hear what they are doing all of the time without watching them.

I noted that there were a lot of maple leaves down with colors on them and some of the ironwood trees had leaves that were turning. Some of the black berry bushes had a tint of red in them.

Fall is coming.
Lucky me!
In one week, I've arranged for my winter hay, arranged for trees to be taken down... and while in town I even ran into another neighbor who said he'd come out with his chainsaw and truck to take firewood and help.

I found some very pretty white mushrooms at the creek bottom.

Well, let's say that getting down on your knees and scooting low is not always the thing to do with a Hiking Goat along.
Mr. Hiking Goat decides that he will practice Goat Yoga with you and that your back makes a perfect place to put his hooves while he nibbles on your hair and ears to .. let you know how much he cares about you.

I gave up taking macro shots and we just continued to walk slowly towards home.

When back on the big trail, Sven and Charlie played chase.



One thing I can say for certain. They wear each other out playing.
And that was the purpose of the walk, to give them some time to play and exercise.

I took a video with my phone but ... well for whatever reason, it won't download.
Suffice to say that it shows Sven and Charlie racing up together and back on the trail with their little collar bells merrily jingling away.

And that was my quiet time. Peaceful and full of smiles.

My Gal Pal ~ by Charlie

"Let's go for a walk Charlie," she said grabbing my ringy ding ding collar. Yes I wear it. She makes me.
She says it keeps me safe.
Whatever, I don't care.

Off we went, her walking up the driveway and me trotting ahead of her watching for birds to chase. Perhaps I could chase a squirrel.
One can hope.

To my surprise we went to Basil's house. Oh what a delight. There are chickens in Basil's yard, I like to chase chickens. I caught a chicken by the neck once before SHE came screaming after me. Something about "NO Charlie NO NONO...and the little girl crying out too. Gosh I sorta felt bad. But I love to chew on feathers. I love to chase birds.

So I was almost to the back door when I saw the Chickens! Oh Oh! I trotted towards them and ... my collar started to shake and buzz. Dang. No chicken chasing. I gave them a backward look when SHE opened the back door and let out my bestest little friend.

Basil.

Isn't she just adorable? Cute? Feminine and sweet?

And then...we walked back to Sven's pen and let him out so he could join us.

And the walk was on! We ran down the trails while Sven trotted and stopped occasionally to eat things like sharp pointy bushes.

SHE was looking for something. She kept looking at things on the forest floor. Bending and looking. Then kneeling and looking. When Basil and I found deer and raccoon poop She scolded us to wanting to eat or roll in it.

Sven was boring. He'd discovered that the forest was full of stuff a goat could eat. Any time we got to far ahead She would whistle and he'd come running.

Boring. Except that he can poop tasty pellets.

Alas. Poor Basil and I couldn't take this nicey walkie thing any more.

Wrestle Time!

We just played and chased and wrestled and tumbled and played.

She watched with the Goat.

We played all the way back home.

Then after She toweled Basil off and let her loose in my house...Basil did something very weird.

She seemed to 'dry' herself off on the carpet...or she really liked the carpet???

What a gal my little Pal!

Treasures of the Woods

It's time again to start hunting for treasures in the woods. The mayflowers are just coming up in some areas and in others...

They are opening wide. I came across a wide expanse of them in the upper part of our forest on the hillside across from the creek.

The woods are roaring to life and I feel like every moment I am not out there I am missing something wonderful.

Oh to be able to spend all of my waking moments watching the forest floor come alive!

I just have to be happy enough to grab the moments that I can and share them with His Highness...

Charlie...
The Overlord of the Creek