Goofy Hannah

This pup. This dog.

I wanted a terrier or part terrier because I knew they could be rambunctious and idiotic. I knew that they loved to play and had endless energy.

Morris was a pure Jack Russell. This one? Her mom was a Rat Terrier, a best guess was that her daddy was a doxie because of her long body. But...

Morris [my very first terrier] was never quite this exuberant!

I just had to stop and video this crazy little dog. 

This rainy-ish day hike took a long time, but we were not in any hurry. I wanted to just get out and stretch my legs and the dogs were eager to enjoy hiking in the cooler temperatures.

Since we'd had over 6 inches of rain over the past weekend, we stuck to the paved bike/walk/ride trail. We went very early while it was still quite cool and enjoyed a peaceful hike only meeting one other person taking a short walk with her elderly dog.

The sky was overcast and we had a 12 mph ENE wind which kept things nice and cool. Even Charlie, who has lagged along all summer was setting the pace. 

That made me smile even more. He will be 9 when Hannah turns 1. I like that he still likes to go go go. Although, he is not silly like Hannah. He is all business and very stoic about everything. What a combination I have to enjoy.

The best decision I made was to walk to the far end of the trail 3 miles away. We were lucky enough to see a pair of swans and their ...swan-lets? I didn't have a long lens, but I got this anyway. 

That was Monday's hike at the Reserve.

I'm conserving my expenditures in gasoline so we decided to go local on Wednesday.

The land next to me is unoccupied and I've talked about how they have 'ruined' the land by aggressive logging.

Much of the beauty of the land has changed. However, the dogs and I picked another cool and wet morning to go and explore what the logging has done to the land.

Yep, the Family Trust may have gotten a lot of money from the logging, but the land has [in my head] been desecrated and devalued by the loggers. I really don't feel anyone cares about anything but a very simple thing.

Money.

Money.

Below is a shot of one of the 'logging' trails they made on a steep hillside. What you can't see is the the geology of this hillside. It is rock, sandstone, limestone, and clay with about a foot of topsoil that was scrapped away.

Just to the left of Charlie is a deep wash out from last week's rain.

I walked most of the parameter of the land that belongs to the Peterson Trust. I followed new trails and old trails.

To me there was absolutely no consideration for conservation of the land. The trails were made by bulldozers and skidders to remove logs. There are no roads other than the very old logging roads from years ago. 

So they created new ones without much thought as to what would happen with the run off of rain and snow.

However.

I can go hike the land as long as it isn't deer season and explore the trails. The old and the new rather poorly designed ones.

This trail is still there, see the bent over piece of tree?

The photo below is from 8 years ago when I used to hike and ride this trail a few times a week. They have taken and destroyed so many trees that it is almost impossible to recognize this same spot now.

I do know it. I've walked it and rode it for 30 years.

The guy in charge of the logging does understand the lay of the land. I've known him since 1996. However money is the driver. Profit is the thing.

I was amazed that a dozer cut through this area with the steep hillside. Of course they did. Lumber was just there waiting to be plucked. The shot below is how the trail held up. There are places where it is washed out to the depth of 10 feet or more. This hillside is ...

sandstone and lime.

With another few heavy rainfalls, this area will only be passable to deer or by foot. I know the owners of the 'trust' wanted ATV/UTV trails for the 9 day deer gun season. No vehicle will make it up or down this trail.

Ahhh. Here is an area that they didn't touch. It was logged in 1997. You can see the stumps left over in this heavily wooded area that is mainly Maple trees. I was pleased to see it still there with familiar old deer trails.

What can I say. I still love this land and appreciate it. I do not like what they have done to most of the other 400 acres. Thank goodness, they left this area alone. Perhaps because none of the trees were worth taking.

PeeWee Peterson controlled the logging with his nephew in the 1990's. The logging was careful. The logging was supervised. They only took what $$$ they needed to keep the farm going.

Now?

The Other Nephew in charge of the trust wants money [He is in his late 70's]. 

Simply that. 

Nothing more. 

He rents the farmland and leases the forest for hunting. 

Sometimes I wonder about greed.

I'll still find something to appreciate. They pretty much destroyed all the forest near where I live but at least it is on the other side of the fence.

Sadly, this was one of the most unique properties in the whole county. Over a square mile of pristine forest with two valleys and streams with unique properties.

I have been lucky to live next to this place for 30 years. 

After our exploration of today I do know I can still find extremely beautiful untouched areas that others haven't touched.

I still have this.

A beautiful spot to watch the moon arrive....

and a wonderful spot to sit with the dogs on a fall evening and have a little campfire.

I know I am lucky. 

So much, so little.

I am happy that Olive and her hubby asked us to come to their place for supper. Olive asked if we could do it Monday or Wednesday. I picked Wednesday.
This way there was more time to get hubby scrubbed up and presentable. 

For him, a shower is like running a marathon at high altitude. The effort leaves him exhausted and feeling breathless even while using his 02. He has the mobility to get in the tub and sit in the shower seat and get out.

But the rest of it has pretty much gone beyond his abilities. We've worked out a pretty good system in which I do most of the work. 

Face it as we get older, or our parents get older, this may be something we have to face. I can recall trying to get my MIL to take a shower or help her wash up and how she resisted. Think of a Donkey with their feet firmly planted and no matter what you do and how you ask, you cannot get that Donkey to step forward. You as the caregiver may as well be speaking a foreign language or gibberish. 

Not a thing in the world could convince my MIL that she needed to wash up. Eventually we solved that issue with a person from Helping Hands [a service for in home assistance]. For whatever the reason, it seemed that 'an official' -- not a family member, had more sway in these matters.

Now in the case of hubby, he puts it off and puts it off. He resists firmly in all ways that he can avoid the shower. 

Too tired.
Need a nap.
Too late in the day.
Too early in the day.
Tomorrow.
I don't like the clothes you picked out.
Too cold.
I just had one. [didn't...but that is a common one]

Last summer he had PT 3 times a week. He was motivated to clean up for the therapists and shower each week with my help so the girls saw a clean hubby.

One time I stripped the bed of everything and said there would be no sheets or bedding until he wanted a shower.
Don't laugh.
He went to bed in a flannel shirt, his jeans, but took off his shoes. He didn't care. That's what MDD does to a person and he also has damage from his stroke to his brain which also shows up as apathy.

His severe depression raises its hideous head each winter. I'm hopeful that the longer days and sunlight will help. This is the part of the year where he sits and stares at the floor or out the window at nothing.

This is what it feels like to observe him:

Where is he? What is he thinking? Where it the guy I used to know?

While visiting my mother in the nursing home for the last two years of her life, I noticed this was a a theme in so many of the rooms I passed. They didn't look like the above image, but the feeling of walking by people who sat staring off into space was uncomfortable. 
We as humans don't really know how to treat others that are in that space.

Is this what loss, despair, and depression look like? Not always, but it is tough to see.

Those who work in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living have to be angels and carry so much compassion.

And it raises the question regarding quality of life. 

If you cannot raise Hope then it feels as if all is lost.

I know that I have to keep my hope and positive disposition alive or I will easily fall into that place of darkness.
That may be a simple explanation as to why I take walks in pouring rain just to see water run over sticks in a ditch.
It gives me a sense of wonder and that gives me daily hope.

Our visit with Olive, her husband, and son went wonderfully.  I cannot recall the last time my husband went somewhere for a visit.

Three cheers for good neighbors!