Fat Bottomed Girls

 ...you make the rocking world go round...

I have no idea why that came to mind. Do you ever get a song stuck in your head?

This tune did and I hummed it while getting Sunshine ready for a forest adventure.

That butt! It makes me laugh! Sunshine inherited some of her mom's body shape and most of her Dad's common sense. 

I pulled the britchen over her butt and started humming about Fat Bottomed Girls. I kept it up throughout our adventure into PeeWee's Woods. 

At one time it was a breeze to ride through my neighbor's land. There were great cow trails and the underbrush was grazed by his wild and crazy beefers. His cattle were experts and jumping barbed wire fences or ducking in between the wires.

For about 5 years after my neighbor died and they removed the cattle..., I was still able to ride the old trails. 

Then the 4 wheelers came and made some nice trails but they were not supposed to be ripping up the property. I gave up a lot of riding because their load machines were out there so often. However, I road at dawn when I knew they wouldn't be out.

Now those guys were kicked out and Mother Nature has been wicked at taking over.

I thought Sunshine and I'd take the driveway out to the snowmobile trail and head into the valley.

In the shot below there is a young doe eating in the soy bean field. She is on the curve so the photo probably won't show her. We nearly walked right up to her before she bolted.

Sunshine saw her before I did. Love those large ear signals.

I didn't take any shots going through the cropland because it was tricky enough to avoid the plants. The 'snowmobile trail' was somewhere under Parsnip plants that were as tall as we were. 

We made it to the woods 'entrance' where the cattle gate used to be. 

Sunshine is not a mule to hurry along and frankly I wasn't in a hurry. She knows this trail by heart. We've been travelling it for nearly 20 years together. 

She is watching a buck that was watching us.

We headed down the long hill.

I'll stop for a moment and take a trip back in time to 2008. My husband is riding Sunshine with 2 yr old Dennis in front and I am on Badger with Ariel behind me.

We are in PeeWee's valley.

Here is what it looks like today.

However, Sunshine knew where the trail should be so she didn't hesitate except to shoulder her way through the tall weeds. I totally had a minor freak out because I was slapping Parsnip with my shoulders.

The creek appeared to us when we stepped down into it. Well, I should say, SHE knew it was there before I did. We had an awkward moment where her front end was in the creek and the hind legs were on the bank.

She had a notion that the grass that was in her face was worthy of her attention.

Tilt! So glad for the britchen.

Once we got back into the forest, the trail was a bit clearer except for the downed trees.

This was the best part of our ride. We were in the dips and doodles section. We had two dry runs to cross and a steep climb. True to her mule-ness, she just did her thing. 

I was so tickled with her performance after her butt-headed-ness the other day.

We got into the oak/maple forest section and went hunting for mushrooms or other cool stuff. I took her to the Hugging Tree for this  cell phone shot:

We then headed back out to the gravel road to get the mail and go home.

Sorry if this sounds like I am bragging on my old gal, but she lifted my heart and made me sing.

I'd figured I'd have to give up riding, but it seems that maybe I can eek out some nice little rides to warm my soul. 

I know for sure that the valley trail along the creek is out of the question at least until there has been a killing frost.

My other Fat Bottomed Girl will be taking me out later this evening for a stroll. 

Afternoon Adventures!

I got a chance to get out with young friend, Briar, who is the son of my ex-neighbor.

We decided to get adventurous and explore uncharted territory in the Reserve. I say uncharted because this area doesn't have marked trails anymore. 

Did it matter that there is a 55 year difference in our ages? Nah, well. Sort of. I can drive. I'm supposed to be the adult. But the both of us were eager to explore some uncharted territory.

Once we got to our destination, Briar informed me that his class had been there two years ago in the winter. They'd gotten to climb up and down and ice formation and explore the rocks.

The area is unique in that the cliffs and the river combined with a heavy forest canopy create a special environment for cold weather plants that generally are not found south of Canada. This I learned from my young friend.

Just below this bluff on a deer trail, we found Mother Nature's version of the Lily of the Valley. Not an invasive species! However it loves damp cool forests near water. 

We went on to discover more incredible rock formations and incredible tree roots!

The rock ledge with Briar on it for comparison:

We spent a long time in this area so Briar could explore only in the way a lithe and nimble young person can do. We did some crevasse climbing and exploring. Charlie checked out tiny rock 'shelters' that were like miniature caves.

Both Briar and I marveled in the beauty of it all. 

While climbing, Briar often stopped and looked at me and said, "Don't worry, I am being careful." 

When we return, we will hike up from the bottom of these bluffs and explore the little rock caves and crevasses.

As we headed out along another trail that took us to the highway, we stopped to say hello to a woman who was picking garlic mustard and stuffing it into a bag. 

We talked a bit and then she asked how we got on this trail as it wasn't on any map. She emphasized THIS trail and NOT on a MAP.

I smiled and answered simply that I used to hike here 25 years ago and I knew the old trails.

Briar piped up and told her that his class had taken a field trip here two years ago in the winter. 

There is a reason the trail is not used any more and not on any map. I'm pretty sure that there are some plants that are pretty rare that grow in that area. It wouldn't do to have bicycle and horse traffic tromping all around on sensitive soils and plants.

The location of area is safe with me. It is hard to get to and the trails are so faint in most of the area that it takes a sharp eye and knowledge of the land to find it.

I may go back in a week or so to see if those rare plants are blooming. That surely would be a site.

Charlie and Briar dozed off on the way back home. 

Some things never change.

What a great afternoon.

Ice hunting part II

The wind chills were pretty darned cool. I think it may have gotten up to about 10F.

Hubby said 'Geeze, isn't it cold?'

I replied with my catch phrase. 

"Det finnes ikke darlig vaer darlig klaer!" 

Actually I don't speak Norwegian but said it in English.
There's no bad weather, only bad clothes.

Maybe I love the cold weather so much because I can wear all my funky crazy hats that are warm and odd.  More on my hats some other time.

Snowshoes were my choice this time. They have long teeth for climbing slippery ice packed slopes and can keep a person from wading through deep snow while brush busting. [Read that as going off trail.]

I wear snowshoes with crampons. My old ones have never failed me yet. 

The picture above is taken where I was standing on a steep slope. Below me is a stream. Last time I was through here, the traction was terrible. This is not a path I would suggest to those with poor balance skills. 

I stopped and looked at the first set of ice formations. After the next snow it will look like there are floating islands of waterfalls. This is always impressive to see.

I even tried it with my little Canon ELPH infared camera. The unedited shot right out of the camera looks horrid.

Without direct sun and 'into' shade, this little camera has a terrible time. I mean this photo looks like mud.

Even with some edits, it didn't turn out much better. 

The pocket camera is very limited and IR can be very tricky. This shot turned out noisy and honestly, pretty crappy. But I tried!

I climbed over the ridge and found the equine trail we used to ride from Ma and Pa's Camp. I followed that over the next set of ice formations and trekked through Prickly Ash and low branches to drop into the next valley. 

A nice little hiking 

challenge

Yes, those snowshoes were a huge help! 

I ended up where I'd taken Bill and the kids two weeks ago.
This is the Infrared Version of it.

I was more interested in experimenting with the tiny pocket camera than I was in using the regular one.

I wanted to go wild with Infrared and see what winter would do to it.

The Beaver Dam

Cool Tree

What if we did see in a different 

spectrum of light?

Wiester Creek Ice

My favorite one of

the day.

And then...

Wiester Creek in regular color...

I just sent in my older Olympus to be converted to full spectrum so I can enjoy the alternate colors of the light spectrum. 
I admit, it is not for a lot of people. But for me it is another way of exploring how we see things.

My little Canon really stinks in low light, and it rarely focuses properly if you try to zoom in on a scene. But I've figured out how to work with it and have fun.

That is my point. Explore and have fun. 

Oh and

"Det finnes ikke darlig vaer darlig klaer!" 

Looking for ice

We had sunshine on Wednesday and it was cold as a Well Diggers ____________, you can fill in the blank.

My friend Bill wanted to go and the winds were absolutely wicked so I picked a hike that would get us out of the wind and next to the Kickapoo River.

These first photos are from that hike. We had Yak Traks but should have had snowshoes as we were 'off' trail and the snow was icy crunchy and pretty tough to walk in. Bill was okay with that as he said the effort was a good test to see if his hip and knee were feeling better.

Bill's commentary was constant, telling me about adventures with his grand kids and then he'd stop and wonder where we were and I'd assure him we were not lost. Next he'd stand still and say, "Wow...Oh Wow!"

This one is my favorite from the ice bluffs and the last one I did with my 'normal' camera.

Note the slight colors in the ice. Pretty cool right? Well I also brought my little pocket camera that is a Full Spectrum Infrared camera. That means I can use different filters for different light spectrums. I chose the 665nm filter. 

The first shot is 'channel swapped'. With the 665nm filter blue skies are orange and green is bluish-white while rocks reflect a blue-grey. It all depends on your subject for white balance for the filter and how you want your colors to appear.  

These last two are not color edited. I simply de-saturated the blues. And let the ice reflection that appears orange come through.

Most IR photographers put their cameras away during the winter months, but I think it is fun to see winter in a different light.

Part II is coming.

I went out Friday to clear my head. Wind chills were -15, but I was prepared and I wanted to go visit the Wiester Creek Ice formations and hike up over the ridge on the old horse trail.