Afternoon exploring

Monday turned out to be very nice. 
In the late afternoon, I gathered the pups and took them out to search for any sign of spring.

Skunk Cabbage!
One of the very first flowers of spring. The plant does smell when disturbed but that is how it gets pollinated by insects.

The plant is found in land near streams and rivers.

The flower looks like this:

What really surprised me was that a few Hepatica showed up here and there along the trail I followed. Most of them were near some of the ice caves I've explored this winter.

We found a lot of these flowers along the Wintergreen Trial.

The dogs had a lot of leftover energy so we hiked around the the blind that is set up for watching birds on the ponds.

Our pleasant surprise was that a pair of Swans that returned. I don't know if they are the very same ones from other years, but for the past 4 years, I've found them in late March at this pond.

The dogs were so good. Both sat quietly with me behind the blind while I watched birds for about 30 minutes. It felt so peaceful to not have a time line.

Hannah's face...it doesn't have a white strip in it, that was a ray of sunlight coming through the blind.

Bird Blind:

Respite day

I finally got the cot I ordered and set it up. It looks pretty cute where I put it. And it is handy. I have a nice light to read by and it is almost comfortable.

I ordered a more comfy cot mattress as this one is a bit thin. I can feel the supports underneath me as I sleep.

My friend Jason showed up early on Saturday morning. For him to come out, it is a 2 hour drive. I should say now...our friend as he and Rich really enjoy each other's company. The guys shooed me out the door and Charlie and I took off.

I hit the trails walking. Charlie and I stopped once to talk to a dude with an extremely impressive long lens and a shiny new tripod attached to his shiny new Canon with a huge flash on its top. He was by one of the ponds I'd been to last month that had been filled with a variety of ducks and Canada Geese. I said hello and asked if he'd seen any cool birds.

He said he'd just seen Canada Geese in the ponds. I said that he'd see turtles in the afternoon once in warmed up and perhaps he could find more birds if he took the field trail towards the river. He said he was staying on the old 131 trail so he wouldn't get lost.

I asked if he'd seen the Virginia Bluebells yet. I'd passed some walking towards him. He said no, they weren't up yet. 

He commented that it was a nice sunny day. I commented that my favorite days were slightly overcast as the sky became a softbox.

He asked me what a softbox was and then he shrugged and said "I'm new at this." I directed him towards where I'd seen the Bluebells and the Virginia Beauties next to the trail and bid him good luck.

Charlie and I were headed for a deep narrow valley to look specifically for wildflowers.

We were not disappointed. This valley has a tiny creek running through it. It is perfect for producing massive growths of Skunk Cabbage plants.

Once we made it to the south facing rocky hillsides, we found Virginia Beauties everywhere and a huge area [s] of Dutchman Breeches. 

I was literally in heaven. 

As always, my sidekick and photography assistant helped me out...

I didn't care, I was in a huge patch of these beauties.
Ever try to walk through a huge patch of wildflowers and not step on one?

Before I left this valley I found Blood Root, Dutchman's Breeches, Skunk Cabbage, and Virginia Beauties and a plant I hadn't found before. 

Here is a Cutleaf Toothwort. Now there is an odd name. I saw large patches of this on what used to be a county road over 55 years ago. The road is gone, but these plants grow all over the place.

My regret is that I won't see them flower, but will add their location to my list of places to see next year...I hope.

[cell phone shot]

I may or may not get to see the Trout Lilys flower this year, but I did get to see some buds. I think they are some of the most beautiful little flowers.

After explored this valley, I climbed the bluff and went to the pine forest on top to explore. I'll save that for another day I think.

Hopefully this monster storm will leave us intact. I have a few things to take care of to prepare for it. The Hospice Team called today [Sunday] to see if we were prepared for bad weather with all the meds and O2 tanks in case the power went out. She assured us that we could call their number if we needed any assistance at all and they'd send someone to help.

I assured her that we had a plan and I was dealing with that at the moment by moving the things we could need into the basement along with a way to get my husband down the stairs and back up the stairs safely.

Another day

Marsh marigolds... I found them again with limited blossoming in the Big Spring in the valley.

The Skunk Cabbage has come up in the valley also. I guess these little workers thought they should clean up the plants before I got there.

 
An Eastern Phoebe came to visit us. I hope she/he would stick around. I liked the calls it made. These shots were just before it clouded over and became a dreary day.

So. I was looking at our budgets carefully with all the economic turmoil going on and the 'magical' tariffs that could crush us...

I noticed that Charlie's food which is a bit pricey anyway is made in the USA with components from Canada, Thailand, Peru, and about 7 other countries. The label says "Made in the USA with global components you can trust".

So. What will happen to this line of dog food? I have used Hill's Science Diet for him for a while. 

I started to look at packages to see where the parts come from or where they are shipped from. While some are thinking we might feel a bit of a pinch, I see everything we touch in our homes that is modern has 'global components'.  How did I never think of it before?

I'm just using the dog food as an example. My sweet feed is actually made at a feed mill from local sources, but not everyone can access something like that. But the mill uses 'components' to run its machinery, it pays local farmers for their product that they mix. The farmers need 'components' from other countries to fertilize and run their equipment.

I almost feel like we are entering another episode of Covid in a way. We don't know what the next week will bring or how the supply chains will react. 

Hubby tells me to chill out. He is not really worried [thank goodness for his stroke and dementia for that!]. He also reminds me that our Parents survived WWII and our Grands survived WWI, Prohibition, the Dust Bowl, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. [not all in that order]

I think back to my Grandparents and how they continued to live in a lifestyle that they had during the Depression and the War through our prosperous years. They lived in the fear of everything going to hell in a handbasket as Grandpa Fred used to say.

What does this do to the future for my Grandkids? My adult kids?

I want to ignore what is going on in the news. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be nice to go back to boring politics that no one really paid much attention to?

So, I just have to carry on trying to do the right thing, whatever that might be.

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Cob, my Steampunk Minifig, is dealing with things quite well. Apparently he has a notion of building his own place.

Hubby's birthday is today. Yesterday his Home Health Aide brought him candy and a birthday wish. She even gave him a Birthday Hug. 

I imagine that Hospice people really get attached to their patients. I know this young lady does. She brings weekly joy into our house with a simple thing such as a bath.

For now? 

I'll take that.

In the Zone

Right now the fun is never ending. I keep ignoring my Nature photos at the moment as Nature is teasing us with all sorts of wild weather.

I had a really nice compliment on a photo I did of Princess Sara in an email from a Lego Ambassador last week. I used a tutorial by FourBricksTall and tagged her in my write up on Flickr. I read that and felt inspired and had an AH HAH... moment.

I won't be a pro toy photographer ever or be hired by Lego any time ever. But I felt like my efforts of creativity and explorations were somewhat vindicated. 

Any...way...more about getting into the Zone. After that my head burst with all sorts of ideas. You know, the stuff that bangs around in that empty space of a brain. That echo chamber. 

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I first got this Lego minifig last Spring. I had her in my pocket in May while I was hunting fungi and other things as they came up from the forest floor. I decided her name would be Sara the Brave and she would be a Princess when I first set her on a mossy stump.

I really liked her but couldn't for the life of me figure out her 'Story'. Well, that is until I set up the photo I did a while ago. I plucked her off the shelf where she spent nearly a whole year and made her a central character in an adventure. 

Truly, I don't know where that adventure will take me, but I am glad to have Sara out and about. She makes an interesting character that wields a stick horse and a sword.

I walk around in the forest looking for cool things. The minifigs bounce around in their containers in my backpack. Some days I hike and never take them out. And then some days, things just click and I know that I found yet another clue in Sara's journey.

Of course she will find exotic looking plants and...

well...

it looks like those other forest critters may be watching her!
That looks like Big Foot is spying on them!

Will she meet some of those other fierce warrior women?
How about Ariel who also wears the blue knight armor just like Joan of Knight? 

She is an exceptional warrior who loves to fish.

Sometimes she even gets them to jump right out of the water!

 [Trick photography! I hot glued floral wire around the fish tail and pushed it into the stream bottom. I took the shot with the wire in the photo and took a shot without the fish there.👇]

I set the camera up to take 5 photos in a row while I threw rocks into the stream for splashes. 

The magic happens when you stack the two photos on top of each other and simply erase the wire. The photo in the second layer is just a shot of the Lego figure by itself. This was a trick I learned by watching a video by a Toy Photographer who goes by SirDork. 

While I was at it, I found another spot where Hannah the Hunter was. It seems she is looking for something in the forest also. 

Will all of these characters eventually find each other? I don't know. 

For now? Anything can happen.

One other note. Spring will be emerging all over the forest. I see the signs of Spring Beauty leaves poking up out of the leaves. I saw bluebells emerging too. It feels like this next snow/sleet/rain event is just telling us to be patient.

Suddenly Spring will emerge like a racehorse out of the gate.

But for now, I'm in the Zone... 

the play Zone.

Springing up

I was really quite curious as to how the warmer weather was affecting things in the forest. I took a hike down to the Big Spring in the Valley where I usually can spot the first signs of spring when the Skunk Cabbage emerges.

Years ago, this was an easier hike. But the forest has taken over with briars and weeds. The land has been left 'feral' in the past 15 years. 

Charlie and I found the spring and it took a little bit of looking around but eventually we found Skunk Cabbage plants emerging just and inch or so above the leave debris.

The usual time for Skunk Cabbage to emerge in this

part of the forest is late March to early April.
So this emergence is about 3 weeks

early.

We also found Water Strider running back and forth across the creek. How they walk on the water is amazing!

It is hard to see the Water Strider in this shot, but you can see its shadow quite easily.

In the woods, things are brown and rather dull looking, however this is another time of year that the mosses really do shine. I love seeing them in the early morning or late afternoon sunlight. They are in areas that will be shaded later this year. The mosses will be hidden by the greenery of the briars and trees on this hillside above the Big Spring.

These aren't the 'best' shots of birds, but I did enjoy trying to spot this Junco inside a bush. It was a challenge. Charlie and I had to sit in the hayfield and stay still for a while so the bird would settle down too.

Robins were appearing everywhere and they were able to grab insects and even worms which I found very amazing for this early in March.

The whole reason to go for the hike was to look for Skunk Cabbage and some birds. I didn't do very well on the bird search, but here are some rather odd little birds.

This one was a difficult shot. Not in the way you think though. I put the Lego Bird in a nest that was inside a multiflora rose bush. In the natural world, this is a perfect spot for birds to build nests. No predators or even humans can get at the nest without being stabbed and caught up in all of the thorns!

We discovered more crocus flowers when we got home. So did the baby Lego Birds.

Spring is starting to creep into our area.

I wonder what it will be like? Friday we are supposed to have rain which we need.

Tall tails of Trails

Trail Challenge 2023 is coming along nicely. Of course a lot of my hiking is with Charlie or totally solo. 

My buddy Bill is dealing with asthma issues as well as honey-do issues. Olive has Spring Track Meets and she is coaching 5 evenings a week so she pulls double and triple duty, working full time, being a mom and a coach. However, she is enjoying it which truly matters.

I took Charlie with me to do the south end of the Hay Valley Trail which I did last summer. Time Out ~ If you want to review it...

I thought it would be neat to see the same trail in the springtime.

I brought along my infrared camera of course. I can't resist viewing the world in a different light.
These were taken with a 720nm filter.

Bridge 10 with traffic

Kickappo River

Kickapoo Backwaters

The North end of Hay Valley offers some neat places to note. One of the harder places to cross is what I dubbed 'The Swamp'. Last year it was wet, mucky, but doable by walking on logs and clumps of grass. It was rather shaded when I did it, but still noteworthy. A walking stick would have been good for some extra balance, but I'm terrible at walking with one. 
I generally set it down and have to go back for it.

Anyway. Spring brought a different view to The Swamp.

It was a bit more wet but more trees had fallen down. Over the years, hikers have place pieces of wood in strategic spots to use while crossing this spot.

All the plants that are in this photo below are Skunk Cabbage plants leafing out. The bright greens of fresh leaves and sunlight were amazing. 

Skunk Cabbage:

The next attraction was the Twin Caves. I don't know if anyone else makes up the names like I do, but it helps me remember exactly where these neat spots are.

I'd seen a hint of a rock shelter when I went through here last year. I wanted to see it in the spring before the undergrowth hid everything.

I was not disappointed as I found a trail that went right between them.

Each 'cave' or rock shelter was at least 6 or more feet tall inside. I didn't have time to hike down into them. I'll have to do that at another time. Perhaps in the winter when the water flows over the rock and forms ice walls.

The forest floor was littered with Virginia Pinks blazing away. We walked the trail rather slowly. I wanted to look at it all.

Most of the trail is part of the original trail system that existed before Kickapoo Valley Reserve took over from the Core of Engineers. Some of the trail has been re-routed to stay out of the steep gorges.

I don't find that trail extremely difficult, but this can be a long hike if you have to go back to where you started from. It was just under 5 miles when I hiked along Highway 131 to get back to where I parked.

Otherwise the distance from bridge 10 and Hay Valley to Bailout Trail is only a bit over 3.5 miles.

It took Charlie and I 2 hours and 40 minutes which included stopping often to look at things which included a trailside chat with a couple of older folks that were out hiking.

The next time I visit this trail, it may be during the fall or winter. Then I can say I've seen it in every season.

Sections 38 and 39 have been knocked off....