Stirred Crazy.

...Or, how to warm up on a really cold day after feeling it was tooooo cold to go out.

The wind chill was below...cold. The temps were 'fresh'. Mr. Kind Neighbor stopped by to ask if he could cut up some of the trees we had chopped down and dropped in the pasture. 
Yep, he certainly could. He was also looking to make some posts for corners of a fence he wanted to make.

I took him around to point out some trees he could take down. Locusts are very good for making corner posts once they are de-barked. We have a few younger trees that would make excellent posts without much work.

He then offered to cut up the old ash trees that fell on the east fence. Nice, I can repair the fence this spring.

He also will be cutting up the other pile for his own wood stove. There is no hurry and he can do it at any time. 

He said he'd clean things up and burn the brush pile he makes. Huh. Go figure.

He is a Forester guy. He is the person that the state and county will send out to help you manage a better forest on your land. 

Plus he knows what he is doing and as a bonus...he is a neighbor that is nice. We also offered him hunting on our land next deer season. We've watched him for two years and he is quite skilled at that too. He doesn't just wound them and have to track them for hours.

I spent most of the very cold morning, practicing and engaging in photography skills for my 365 Toy Photography Challenge. It was a good morning to try new things for me.

This is the tavern and the shop buildings from the Medieval Town Square--> the project Rich and I worked on. I've never tried a 'full' scene before. Placing the figures in the windows and in front of the building took a lot of effort and time to get them just right.

Fun though.

Then I took some interior shots. One of my favorite ones is the sleeping female warrior, Tilla.

I enjoyed trying to use the kitchen of the tavern...I mean, it looks like the cook is going to make Lobster for breakfast???

Do you know that I can do laundry and this at the same time? Well, sort of.
With laundry done, I decided to go to work outside.

It doesn't look like a huge pile, but it is two years worth of sticks and branches. After getting that started, I added logs, long branches, and walked about picking up chunks of wood. I added the other pieces a little at a time. 

I never like a huge roaring fire.

To give you an idea of how much walking I did to pick things up and drop them on the fire.... my watch thingy said it was 5 miles. Whaaaat? I do know that I was bone tired by bedtime.

I got a great workout picking up log chunks and dragging long logs though.

By morning, the center had burned through and I was able to tip the unburnt sections back onto the hot coals and finish it off.

It is pretty nice to have such a nice neighbor. We don't see him or her and the kids often, especially in the winter. But they are kind people.

And, if you are wondering, while working in the nice fresh temps --> think 15 F -- I took off my coveralls and was toasty warm. Burning and piling brush piles is one of my favorite winter activities.

I know. I am odd.

Chicken of the Woods, pizza, and flying things

 Our first Chicken of the Woods this year. I've seen better, but these were delicious!

September 1st. 

How lucky is this? I noticed these yellow Chicken of the Woods growing on an old oak trunk not far from the porch! 

September 2nd, 24 hours later after a rain.
The dirt on top is really wood dust from the mud daubers that are nesting in the trunk above the Fungi.

September 3rd.
It is getting bigger!

I received a text from Olive. Would we like a homemade pizza with Chicken of the Woods from the other day? She'd deliver it as a 'take and bake'.

I never turn down food that someone else makes especially those that are much better cooks than I am. After all, she went to Culinary School! She then sends me a photo of the dough she is making.

You guessed it, from scratch!

Yes! Yes!

She and Aiden delivered it and I set it in the house to bake while I walked them back to their car. Aiden wanted to pet Little Richard and ran after Sven who was tied in the yard. I told her I'd be getting the Chicken of the Woods off the big trunk the next morning before the mud daubers woke up.

I did not get a photo of the pizza because when I got back to the house, Rich was digging into it. I told him I had to bake it to melt the cheese and he shrugged and handed me what he had left.

It was delicious and something I would never imagined to make. NOT only that, it was healthy! Zucchini, plum tomatoes, homemade sauce, kale, and other veggies from her garden. I didn't tell Rich what all was in it, he would have turned his nose up at it.

September 4th.
They look ready! I cut from underneath to avoid having to deal with all the wood bits that were imbedded in the fungi. Apparently a polypore will just grow right over the wood chips or dirt and be inside the fungi.

While I was cutting them, I heard a loud buzzing noise and it sounded like a flying tractor of some sort.

An ultralight. 
Now the mules generally don't spook at the low C-130's as they fly at this level over our fields, but they were rather irritated by this BIG Mosquito.

I got a text from Olive.
'Did Dan just land in your pasture?'
Me: Nope, but the mules would have mobbed him if he did.
So it was Dan the Real-estate man that had a new toy. Well, his business must be doing well!

Olive lives on the ridge and I am jealous of her open sky view. However, I am not jealous when the winter winds blow up there and we don't have harsh winds.

This morning's end result is laid out on my porch table. 

I'll give Olive half and I will dehydrate my half.

Good neighbors are fun to have.

Fence War ~ I guess it's a feud.

My 5 little hanging ghosts I'd put out in the forest on Friday afternoon got a HUGE reaction! 

You know little Halloween decorations.

I went back Sunday with some Gnomes to take some Still Life photos and walk with Charlie.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the person bought 20 brand new yellow Do Not Trespass signs ~ and literally nailed one to nearly every tree around his stand for about 20 yards in either direction.

He also put up a camera on our/his fence line. 

I do not trespass period.
He has owned that land for 15 yrs and made it clear to all of the folks in our area that he would not allow anyone ever on his land.
I have no reason to go there, it is a large corn field and rather boring.

I would call his reaction to my little ghosts a bit over the top...I'll explain in a minute.

I have a trail cam set up next to one of the Halloween decorations. There is a nice photo of a small buck grazing not far from it. So yeah, it didn't bother the wild life at all. 

It was the Huge Purple/Pink Dildo that he strapped to one of the trees that I thought was in poor taste. I almost was offended, but then decided it was probably one of the funniest grossest things I'd ever seen. The guy's trail cam is aimed at the huge dildo strapped to the tree. I suppose he thinks I'd find it so offensive he'd catch me on camera stepping through the fence and removing it.

Tempted to make a sign and put on my side of the fence.

"Is your wife missing this?"

But then I'd stoop to his level. 

I didn't get up close to look at it, but if it is plastic or rubber, the raccoon will have a field day with it. I know, they've chewed up my dolls I had back there for Halloween past decorations.

Odd things happen to items left out in the woods....remember the Teddy Bears at the creek?

So just to be clear, I've decorated that area of my woods before with zombie dolls and skeletons so the neighbor kids could take a long walk and do a Treasure Hunt in that section of woods. 

Well obviously I won't have any Treasure Hunts back there for a long while now. At least until the forest creatures chew up the purple/pink thing.

Also...something I thought very funny. This fellow had to actually make a huge effort to go out and purchase the signs ... then spend a fair amount of time nailing them up.
He had to use a step stool or something as the signs are about 6 ft up...and god knows where he got that offensive huge Purple/Pink Dildo, but he spent a good amount of time NOT hunting.

Here is a view and I smudged the offensive Purply Thing. The flowers are on my side of the fence. 

I'm thinking of my next move.

This is starting to be really quite funny. However, I think my point was taken. 

Don't Shoot on my Land. Recovery yes. 

I am totally bored with this Isolation/Staying at Home situation. So I can have a bit more fun with this. 

Think Blair Witch Project? 

I am very creative. But I won't stoop to offensive behavior. 

Oh...

Here is the Gnome project I was doing!

That is all I have for today!

Have a great day. I'm going to be busy again!

And it was Friday...the 13th...

I went to my regular CrossFit time and was able to write up a warm up for anyone else who happened to show up.

So myself and my friend Bill were the only ones to show up. My membership ends on Monday so I figured this would be my last day in the Wellness Center.

The COVID-19 was splashed in the news everywhere. The amount of people on the other side of the gym was diminished greatly.

Our coach was in the process of renting a place for us. Everyone was excited. Me? Not so much. I told Bill that after this, I was not going to be around 'crowds'. Not so much for myself but I need to keep my husband safe.

I hit Walmart afterward and picked up some fresh lettuce and fruits and some pepper. I saw people with gallons of milk in their carts and signs up with limits on certain goods. The isle for hand sanitizers was barren. I know you can make that stuff fairly easily and I had everything at home in my bag of vet/human first aid things.

I picked up veggie seeds and an extra bag of food for Charlie.

Then I headed for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

And we hiked the Wintergreen Trail.

There I am a rare photo thanks to Bill of me after climbing a hillside to 

show Bill one of the ice caves.

Pictures from our hike.

Bottom of fern leaf on the bluff

Infrared shot from the lookout

And of course our pace setter...Charlie...

When I got home I opened my emails.

Banking should be on line or the drive up.
Master Naturalist Class was now cancelled.
All WI schools were cancelled as of Wednesday.
The VA had procedures for appts. Line up to get in the parking lot to get screened. Telehealth.
The nursing homes instituted more severe restrictions.
Local restaurants asked patrons to 'order out' and not eat in.

I spent most of the night awake even though I was tired.

How was our life going to change?
I didn't have to really wonder very much. Things were going to be a crapshoot.

I felt pretty lucky. Spring was coming.
Foraging in the woods would be a wonderful way to get exercise and fresh wild veggies.

~~~~~
And as always. Things are rapidly changing again today, Sunday.
The schools are closed now and won't extend until Wednesday.
A tent is being set up to triage people in the hospital parking lot.

I am done being a part of the madness. I am going to actively become isolated for my husband's sake.

A bit of fun x country skiing

A snow storm was predicted to dump 6 to 8 inches on Wednesday and over night it did snow. By about noon the next day it was sunny and bright.
The kids' schools had cancelled out due to the predicted weather.

I felt lucky because the kids wanted to go cross country skiing and I jumped at the chance to make new tracks in the snow.
We all felt it would be wise to take advantage of the sunny day.

The weather service predicted an ultra cold blast with winds beginning on Thursday.

How could I pass up going through the 'tunnel' again. This time I could see clearly.

The skies were bright clear blue and amazing.

And then we settled into the deep freeze.

Best Morning ... Ever!

I received a text that asked if I could watch Logan for a couple of hours while mom took a nap. 

Let me explain something. Mom works from her home office teaching English to Chinese students via the internet. She works up lesson plans and works with so many students

She had an overnight presentation [I'm sure that I am not getting the details right] and was wondering if I could spend a bit of time with Logan while she took a power nap to compensate.

I jumped at the chance and texted back "YES!"

Logan is 5 and full of surprises. I had some pumpkin projects to do and said that we could paint pumpkins and decorate them.

I went downstairs and retrieved the wooden blocks I'd saved from the house remodel. I'd sanded and painted them just for the purpose of having little people come to the house and building with them. I've got very fond memories of my children playing with blocks from my mother's house that she and dad built....and memories of playing with a box of odd wooden pieces that my Grandparents put together from the building of their house.

I dug out some acrylic paints and a few tiny pumpkins.

As a second thought, I gathered all of my acquired toys in a basket and brought them downstairs too. Many of the toys were those that Logan had given me over the past two years to 'play' with and take home when I'd watched him at his house.

I was ready when I got the text: "We are on our way."

Pumpkin painting is serious stuff when your pumpkin needs to be black.

While the black pumpkin dried enough to tip over and get painted on the bottom, Logan decided to use some red paint and then red glitter glue to decorate the second pumpkin.

While the projects did some more drying we decided to explore the blocks and toys.

And I learned how to build a proper castle.

And we filled it with Dinosaurs, donkeys, skunks, My Little Ponies and trolls. However the Soldiers were the favorites.

Charlie inspects the toy basket and then sits on the couch to watch...

And a huge battle ensued.

Toys got waylaid all over the living room floor. The castle seemed to get blown up from the sound effects...

And we went back to the kitchen to check on the pumpkins while the toys recovered...

This is a proper 'scarey' pumpkin with red diamond eyes, nose and mouth.

After Logan returned home and I came back from walking with him, my husband quipped:

It is a good thing you have someone your OWN age to play with.

I grinned. I had such a good morning with Logan! Rich enjoyed watching and talking with Logan.

See?

Best

morning

Ever!

I hope we get to play again. 

Spring and Kids...puppies and all that!

Kid goats that is!

Every play room needs kid goats right? Well, they were born early in the morning outside and were shivering. So they were brought in the house. Mom will be a milker.
These are LaManchas, those fun looking goats with 'no' ears.

The 'kids' will be bottle fed so my neighbors are learning a new skill. Goat milking and bottle feeding the kids. I know that bottle feeding kid goats makes them much easier to handle and they bond with the humans much easier.

I'd show you the human kids and the goat kids together, but I don't have any photos of that yet!

However, I can show you a photo from many years ago...

These are my sons who are grown now.

I can't wait to see more of Lily and Sophia. I have a soft spot for new born anything!

Yesterday was a busy day. Off to the nursing home with edema slippers for mom in law. Eeeks, they had triple wrapped her legs and feet so the slippers ... almost fit but not quite.

Early afternoon was farrier time. Sundance behaved like a charm. She has been a bit 'bouncy' in the past. I am hoping that all the extra footwork I did with her loose in the pasture has paid off.
Sundance will start her training as soon as the large square bales are out of the round pen.

Hank is now a steer. Next week he and Stella will move into a pasture next to the other Dexters so they can become re-acquainted through the fence before putting them back together.

The cattle and the equine are starting to shed. Who would have thought that Stella would love to be curried?

Charlie is doing great. He had no hikes yesterday but we did play fetch in the yard and he got to meet the farriers. They liked him.

Dixie and Charlie helped me on Friday afternoon while I cleaned up one of the pastures and had a very small brush fire to burn up burdock and branches.
Dixie showed her good temperament again by being docile and patient when Charlie annoyed her.

After our busy day Rich and I had waffles for supper and then relaxed and were in bed early.

The daffodils and hyacinths next to the east side of the house are starting to come up and open.
It is only March, but things feel like we are whirling towards spring at a high rate of speed.

Night Stalkers of Ice

Our fearless co-leader, Daryl walked ahead of our night hiking group.
My neighbor, Lauren met up with us at 8:30pm. Her kids were asleep and her hubby watching live stream video.
Daryl and Amanda's girls were watching a movie.

All was peaceful as we headed down into Awesome Creek. Well. Peaceful as can be with three women gabbing and hiking through the snow.

We got to the Ice Wall and I set up a tripod and the camera. Daryl used his flash light to light up the ice wall from behind the ice.

We used a red light for a bit of drama.

Then he lit up the wall for me.

And...how could we not resist us three gals lined up at the wall with funny faces?

Daryl set up my camera...

And took the shot...

The Night Walkers!
Okay, the three of us gals hamming it up in the dark next to an ice wall in the dark...in a creek.
Being goofy and letting our hair down was the whole point of leaving the kids behind.

We were all surprised with the speed that we could accomplish with just the four of us. I made a comment that sometimes having Morris along was like taking a 2 year old on a hike. I constantly had to keep an eye out for him and keep him under close watch. Morris always has his own ideas of where we should go.

In no time at all we'd reached the crossing.
I set up my camera and we took some amazing night shots.

The shots with the DC 2017 are from Daryl's cell phone. Some cell phones today are incredible and amazing aren't they?
The shot in red was ice lit up by a red light.

We spent a fairly long time experimenting and looking at the ice.

I decided to take them back to my 'office' chair in the woods and see if we couldn't get a group shot.
We had fun trying to get this shot to come out okay. This time, I remembered to bring the flash for the Olympus.
However, I'd left the spare batteries at home. So this is nearly the last shot I got before the battery warning light came on.

Daryl used a flashlight to light up his beard nicely, don't you think?

We went to the 'Curve' in the creek past the campfire ring, picnic table, and grill. Yes, there is about once or twice a year that someone actually comes to this spot and camps or cooks out.
It is pretty rare though.

I explained that we could go down further in the valley but it wasn't quite as interesting as this part of the valley.

We decided that it was time to lighten the load and have our adult beverage.

I mean, who can resist a Spotted Cow on a cold winter night while standing on a rock island in the middle of an icy creek?

Really?
We even had the smart brainy idea of trying to chill one of the beverages... a bit more...but it nearly washed away as it was partially empty.

We decided to try a group selfie and then head back up stream to explore the eastern part of the creek.
And have more fun adult time.

And...
we did.

Late that night after the goodbyes were said on the porch and we all went to bed...
I lay awake and thought to myself.

This was one of the most interesting and fun events I've had in a very long time.
I was happy.