The rest of that day ... and Sunday

It was a dreary cold windy morning... I traveled along the Kickapoo River and its backwater ponds. People would say it wasn't a beautiful warm spring day and maybe they would have avoided hiking. But I don't mind most weather. 

I will say I won't hike in storms. But drizzle, overcast, cold, breezy? That all works for me. I can even find interesting things to explore in poor weather.

The photo below is one of the ponds I haven't been able to get to before. I had some considerable brush busting to get down to the edge of the pond. Unfortunately, with the harsh wind, no waterfowl or even turtles were out.

The sky started breaking up when I got to the Kickapoo River. This river often turns back on itself and has been dubbed The Crooked River. Kickapoo means 'wander here and there', it fits this river perfectly. It is mostly a quiet unassuming river.

However it can become a raging river when there is heavy rain. The river often expands and floods extremely quickly because it resides in a steep valley.

Canoeing and kayaking along this river is a great past time. I would love to kayak it again.

By the time I wandered down to this spot where Camp G used to be, the sun was starting to show itself. 

This is not far from where I found a tiny skull in the grasses. Most likely a young 'possum skull. It reminds us about the hardships of life.

Back at the ponds with the sunshine out, I spotted some more ducks. I moved to a wet trail with a lot of cover on the eastern pond and got a shot of this duck. May...be a Blue Wing Teal? I'm not up on my waterfowl, but that is what I found when I looked it up.

More of these at another pond???

I stopped once more at a well hidden little pond to see if the turtles had come out to enjoy the sunshine.

They did! I was so tickled!

By now it was early afternoon and bicyclists, dog walkers, and a few teenage type humans were wandering down the blacktop path. I was standing there watching the turtles and listening to the waterfowl in the next pond over when the kids walked by and gave me a funny look.

You know, that look when they see an older person staring off at something that they can't see and they give you the roll of the eyes.

I smiled thinking maybe one day they too can slow down and just look to see what they can see.

I'd found so many cool things while just wandering slowly on my long hike.

I now know where to go back to photograph hundreds of Cinnamon Ferns...

Below is something called 'Old Man's Beard' which is actually a type of wild clematis. A plant I never knew existed. It actually is considered an invasive species and I don't know much about it. It's scientific name is Clematis vitalba.  I'll have to see if I can find these while they are blooming.

On the way back to where I parked, I took a back route around a bluff to  see the magnificent wintergreen tree root that grows horizontal along the bluff.

 

Seen from below, this looks odd and very cool.

Below the tree is a really neat fern that stays green all winter long. It is called a Rock Polypody [common name].

Along the bluff are little nooks and crannies that tell stories of eons of erosion and water.

My Lego Minifigures would fit inside those tiny tooth like features. Jason wasn't with me to tell me the why or how they were formed. But I just think of them as great little hideouts for gnomes, trolls, fairies, and spirits. 

Why not?

And that was that. I made my way back to the parking lot and past kids with their parents getting ready for an afternoon stroll now that the sun was shining.

My feet were tired, I was relaxed and happy. I was ready to go back home. The only thing that was a negative was that I was aware of all of the things I felt I was missing.

However, I also realized how lucky I was to have this time.

And now on to Sunday's fun! Digging and prepping, raking, transplanting, and picking up more gravel.

Winter Storm

Yesterday's storm for us wasn't as bad as it was in other places. We got about 4 or 5 inches of snow with a layer of sleet to top it off.

The birds were very active at the feeders despite getting pelleted by snow and sleet.

We had Gold Finches, Juncos, Sparrows, and Downy Woodpeckers visit.

Charlie and I took two walks to go out and explore the storm. In late afternoon, the township plow came through and cleared the road. Even though the winds were howling from the north, we were able to walk along the forest edge and stay protected.

I didn't envy the plow driver. Our township has over 70 miles of gravel roads to plow and care for. I can't imagine how difficult that job is. It was pretty funny as Charlie sat in the field and watched the truck do our dead end road.

Charlie, the Road Commissioner!

IF you are really bored during a snowstorm, you can look up your state's 511 site and click on cameras to watch traffic or snow plows. 

Oh that is where my package is! Delayed! 

I spoke with Olive yesterday evening. She said going to collect eggs at her place on the ridge was like an Artic Expedition with the fierce winds and blowing snow.

Down here we stayed pretty cozy but could hear the winds howling on the ridge above us. 

By late afternoon the freezing rain was getting with the program and I decided to get out one of my deer skulls and begin prepping it for a paint project. Seems that I am always getting assistance from some of my Little People friends.

By morning I was pleased to see my hired 'crew' working.

The heater saga continues and we've gone 4 days with two Space Heaters keeping us warm. 608 Dan did give us a call to let us know he ordered the blower motor for the fan. He sent us an quote for the Mini Splits also.

Rich was still a bit on the fence regarding that so Olive and Nathan asked if we'd come up for supper one evening and they could show Rich how a Mini Split works and what they think about it in their home.

This is turning out to be a rather expensive February for us, however that is the way things go.

At least we never lost power and we still have a warm house. 

Spooky stuff or Not

I am forever the experimenter....or is it experimentor? I like the ...or spelling better but spell check doesn't.

I wanted to try something different and new. I ran across a Seasonal Tips offered by Olympus which was fun. After all I couldn't be outside mucking about in the storms we had, so I decided to clean the basement.

You know how this works. I rearranged the tubs of clothing. I sorted the hunting clothing...I needed blaze orange for the 9 day gun season. The insulated coveralls come out of the tub and light jackets go into the tub.
Restack everything and think about getting rid of things.
Put the summer stuff under the steps in the hard to get to places.
It will be months before I get out that stuff again.

Get the winter stuff out. Oops! See the Fall decorations.
Pull them out. 
Sort.
Pull out the Halloween Stuff that the neighbor kids really loved.
Hmmm.
See the decorations for Christmas. 
Put them back. Go have coffee.
Watch the rain.

Rich gets hungry. Feed Rich. 
Storm gets worse.
Rich goes for his afternoon nap.
It is dark outside.
Sort the Halloween stuff and the Fall Stuff.
Time for Tea.

Nope, can't go out to walk.
Okay.
Get out the decorations and play with the camera.
Sounds good.

Dark and dreary. Some Still Life with plastic skulls and an old jar with marbles and lights.

In the shots below I used an Art Filter to create black and white grainy shots. This is a hanging skeleton/ghosty thing. I held it by the twine string attached to the top and shot it as it slowly turned back and forth.

Just the right amount of spooky-creepy.

And then back to the skull on the table with the lights:

I tried something I'd never done before. A long exposure of 10 seconds with moving the camera slightly during the exposure [twisting it slowly on the tripod].

The result was kind of fun.

Then one with a pumpkin.

Now a lot of folks shy away from spooky creepy stuff. Be assured that is not all that is on my mind. I just like experimenting with different ways of presenting a photo. If it creeps you out, then I did my job as a photographer. I made the viewer feel something.

So if that is not your forte...here is some other Still Life photos. I am not all Creep and Scare!

And the last photo. 

To make you laugh!

I was given my Virtual WOD for CrossFit and the coach said since I didn't have a rower, I could run one portion of my workout instead. I do have to be accountable once a week and send a photo of working out to the coach.

Here is my WOD photo of the week titled: I think I need a new rowing maching!

To which the coach replied..."I think it works better IF the water is on the outside of the boat."

Stay safe.

I'll be off to find more things to have fun with. Spooky or Not.

Bones Bones Bones & Pine Cones

My morning started out just beautifully. The sunrise was amazing. However because I was feeling rather lazy I had coffee and watched the sky turn colors.

If I'd been really full of 'gumption' as my Grandma would have said, I'd have gone to the ridge to do a proper sunrise. It was 25 degrees out and hot coffee sure sounded like the better option.

My neighbor brought down her two youngest children to get some adult conversation after I'd done chores. I was raking the yard and picking up 'sticks'. Her kids helped a bit until they decided that looking for birds nests and collecting pine cones were more interesting.
Logan called them acorns. Allie tried to pile pine cones in a Robin's Nest she'd found from last year.

We talked and dumped some sticks into a pile and then decided to walk in the *Merry Meadow* [the summer pasture for the gals]. Logan left his ice cream bucket full of acorn-pine cones near the exit gate. Allie set down her nest with her pine cones.

We got near the spot I call 'the island'. Years ago it was an island of trees and a hollowed out shape like a bowl in the middle. Now it is mostly downed trees and brush that my husband has stacked with the skid steer.

Allie let out a howl of delight when she climbed the brush pile.
She spotted bones in the bottom of the bowl. Over the pile she went and down into the bowl. Years ago cattle used to graze here and I know that there was a horse buried there too.
Allie climbed back out with her arms full of ... bones.
Her sheer joy at finding pine cones and bones reminded me of how excited kids got over hunting for Easter Eggs.
I am guessing that pine cones and bones are much cooler.

Logan watched while sitting on a pile of sticks. Logan loves sticks and was carefully checking them out. I imagine he was looking to see if he could find the right one to carry and whack things with.

With the bucket of acorn-pine cones, the bird nest, and the bones, we headed back out of the pasture and towards the driveway where we parted company.

I finished what I was doing in the yard and put the rakes away.
My afternoon hike was to go back into the valley I'd visited last week and see if I could find that deer skull that had been frozen into the mud and dirt.

I wanted to see if I could find the trout again and take a decent shot of them.

Off I went with a shovel, my camera backpack, a bottle of water, and some determination.
I found this last week frozen in the mud and I thought it would be a good day to take a shovel back and see what was under the mud.

I walked fast and warmed up quickly even though there was a cool Northwest breeze. Once I headed back into the valley, I was out of the winds.

I was fairly surprised that the ice cave still had a nice formation. I could hear the water slowly seeping down under and over the ice.
I wished I had extra time to climb down and explore.

But I was on a mission of sorts.
And I wanted to see if the little cluster of trout were still in the place I saw them in last week.

They were and I had to sit quite still for a long time to get a shot of them.

I located the deer skull and antler. With my little shovel I carefully dug around the head.

Imagine my huge surprise when I discovered that there was a whole skeleton beneath the mud.

This Buck had been a monster. He was a 10 point buck with and 18" spread. This would have been a trophy for most hunters.
And I figured that he died in this valley during the wicked flash flood we had in September than covered this valley floor with waters rushing over 5 feet tall across the whole valley.

I sat down and brushed some dirt away from his bones, and then brushed the dirt and mud back onto them.

I created a sling out of twine and slung him over my shoulder.
It'll go into my collection of incredible 'found' skulls and things and may end up getting beautifully painted and displayed.

Nature is art and you can find that in bones, acorns, and pine cones.

Allie brought me this piece of art last night. She painted it and we placed it on my porch table.

Here is another piece of my bone artwork.

My son painted the stick for me when he was 10 years old. See? Even sticks can be art!

You are not like any of my Grandma's

Quote from a 10 yr old that I went hiking with yesterday.

I think that is one of the nicest compliments I could ever receive.

Of course this after we collected 'Owl Pellets', the jaws and the skull of an old buck, inspected a skeleton, found cool rocks, and did some creek jumping.

Of course I was very excited to find Skunk Cabbage emerging in the valley bottom.

We even hiked to the farthest end of the valley and found the remains of ice.  

We followed the ice up to the spring and then decided to climb the ravine side.  Crawling was more like it.  
We made it just fine, I was a bit out of breath but I guess I didn't do too badly from being a LOT older than my hiking partner.

We found Hepatica leaves dotting the east hillsides.

And then we decided to head home.  I'm pretty sure that my hiking partner would have stayed out there with me until past dark.

But we decided to do this again.  Of course, when schedules would permit.

My husband said it was good that I had someone 'my own age' to play with.