Phone calls and walks

The Ghost Plant or Indian Pipes are coming up! I love these things!

The shot below is 4 days later:

After leaving an early morning message with the Tree Trimming Service, a message with a neighbor, and calls to the VA, emails to one doctor, and re-scheduling appointments...and a run to town for groceries...

I decided to take out the dynamic duo.

I really don't like to wait around for return phone calls. However, I was smart enough to leave my cell phone number as an alternative to the house phone. I wonder? How many folks still use land lines? We decided to keep ours basically for 911 calls. I don't have to describe where I live, the dispatcher knows immediately because I am calling from a land line.

Anyway...

Sven deferred to Charlie, following him all over. He took turns between coming for a neck rub down and petting to trotting after Charlie. Sven is a great hiker and because he was bottle raised he is very attached to humans. The two of them are great friends and practice grooming each other. Sven will nibble around Charlie's shoulders and Charlie will lick Sven.

Below, Fleabane flower with a crab spider.

It was just one of those hikes where I walked the trail and basically followed the dynamic duo allowing them to pick the way.

I was trying out my converted IR camera and the 550nm filter. The filter works better with sunlight, foliage, water, and sky as elements in it, but I had to test it out in the woods of course. And why not?

The spectrum of colors comes out incredibly different than what a person could imagine.

Well this was not much of a shot...
But it turned out better in black and white...

and the Indian Pipes didn't reflect anything as they don't have chlorophyll in them so black and white was the way to go. They would have appeared blue otherwise.

After Rich's PT and the Nursing Home visit today, I think I have some free time.
I think I will head out on the bicycle and see what I can come up with.

The yard work is done and I have a lot of other small odd jobs that need doing, but for a most of them I need some help from the neighbor to get started.

I'm going to take the metal tracks of the skid steer and send it in for maintenance. I won't put the tracks back on as I don't anticipate driving through the soupy quagmire that Rich used to. But it may be handy to move some dirt for me!

Have a great day.

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!