March ~ Hello!

 

Welcome March. The Mud Month. The ugly brown month.
The opposite of November Ugly month.

Already tired of the colors of brown mud and now dirty snow, I decided to brighten up the one part of the house I can change up often. Don't laugh too hard. The above is what I had designed and ordered for a shower curtain and squishy bath mat.

I'd made a photo of a stream years ago into a shower curtain that was really quite expensive to do. I decided afterwards to just purchase ones on line. I have a winter one, a fall one, and my stream one. I wanted something bright and cheery to walk by. 

These are May photos from last year. The rug is from my east garden while the bleeding hearts were blossoming. The wild geranium is on the edge of the summer pasture. I went out on a dewy spring morning with low fog and found this beauty.

My house is so tiny that this is like a huge artistic pallet. You can see this from the porch door. Don't laugh, we DO close the door when using the bathroom. But I do like it. Very cheery. 

I was very surprised at the quality. I ordered it through Walmart and it came in 5 days!

On another note. The first day of March was bone chilling cold. It never got above freezing and I should have worn YakTraks or snowshoes to hike the valley in. Thank goodness I had on my Muck Boots. I walked right in the creek and enjoyed seeing the last of the icicles hanging off from branches just above the creek.

Mr. Charlie was having an easy time of it. He walked right across the crusted snow. I was wishing I was Charlie.

We found the deer that we'd seen a month ago. The birds and other members of the clean up crew had left just bones. Nature has a way of cleaning up after herself.

I made it to the 'campground' as it was once dubbed. The Peterson family used to all camp out in this area along with the mix of cattle that ran the land. They generally all camped during the summer holidays, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Kids ran around and swam in the creek. Fireworks were set off and they had great cookouts and parties. 

They've all grown up and no one comes anymore except the 4 wheelers and the UTV's.

There I am on one of the banks watching Charlie.
I called and we headed home carefully. It took me twice as long to get home than normal. Stupid me for not wearing the proper foot gear!

Imagine trying to follow all of my previous boot prints. This week's high temps will melt the rest of the snow. It should be an interesting week to watch the changes in the valley.

As the snow melts, moss, lichen, and bones will show up. I smile in anticipation.

The Hunt for Blue Ice

In 2015, Mr. Morris and I found an amazing place where spring seeped water out between rocks in a deep dry run.
In the summer this area stays shadowed because of its position and the heavy forest canopy.

In the winter the trees are bare and the winter sun barely breaks over the edge of the ridge. The water seeps and freezes, seeps and freezes. 

I used to think that certain minerals caused the ice to look a certain color. I may be a little right when water seeps over red clay and gives the ice a reddish orange color. But blue ice has a different explanation. It has to do with the the light refraction and what part of the light spectrum is absorbed and which color is reflected.

All that aside. 

In 2015, the ice looked blue.

I wanted to take Charlie to the East end of the valley and see if the ice was forming with the sudden freeze we'd had.

The land I hike on is nearly one square mile of uninhabited land with two valleys and two streams. It has been referred to as one of the more remote pieces of land in the county. And this is my neighbor's family owned land. 
Charlie and I got no more than halfway down the valley when someone in the far distance started shooting. It was far off, but it echoed down the valley. It sounded as like an assault rifle.

Poor Charlie became a Pekenhund Puddle of nerves. Or if you like a PekenPuddle. Anytime I knelt down to peer at something interesting or try to photograph it, Charlie pawed his way into my lap, my leg, or tried to get on my back if I was low enough.
Poor thing. I picked him up and carefully continued down the valley carrying him over icy rocks and negotiating stream crossings.

The Big Spring

When we got to the Big Spring, Charlie could barely be consoled. I had to photograph this while sitting on a root with my feet planted in the spring water and Charlie in my lap. 

This spot is always interesting. This huge spring bubbles up at the base of this steep hill. In cold snaps anything sticking out of the spring is covered in beautiful frost.

The gunfire stopped and we headed around the bend towards the steep dry run.

And it was a beautiful sight.
Charlie and I made our way up the dry run to the tiny spring.

Here is what happens when Charlie 'helps'. I was trying to photograph the tiny spring seeping out of the rocks...

You guessed it, whoever got the assault rifle had reloaded and was popping off again in the far distance. That was too close for Charlie.

We were done. We found the Blue [ish] Ice and visited the Big Spring. The little dog was ready to go home and dive into his blankets on the couch for a long nap.

...and I felt good deep inside.

Nature always seems to do that for me.

Walk on the wild side

I read the forecast and it isn't a nice one for those who dislike cold. The current temperature at noon was 7 degrees and sunny. There was a wind chill but I wasn't on the ridge so I didn't plan on getting too worried about it.

I carefully layered my clothes and put on my outdoor gear. Charlie protested from his crate. He was quite upset. However, I didn't want to take him down along the creek in such cold weather. His low profile would mean his chest would get wet if he got into water. I wanted to explore the latest snow fall and freeze without the distraction of carrying a dog.

I grabbed an odd colored extra long summer scarf thingy and wrapped it around my neck. I'd gone with a black face mask, stocking cap, and hoody to keep my head warm. I opted for my over the glasses sunglasses to protect my eyes from the cold breeze instead of my goggles. Note to self...Goggles next time, they keep more of my face warm!

I actually got too warm more than once and had to pull the mask down and the hood off. The sun was strong down in the valley and when I was out of the wind it was quite comfortable.

I planned a hike because there was not much I could do about the skidsteer and the tire situation on a Sunday.

And so I started off.
Interesting to note that I took a pocket camera and my Olympus camera.
I think next cold snap I hike, I will just take the tiny pocket camera.

My tracks.... and snow bombs off the trees

The photo above may be my favorite of the day.
I call it Tribbles.
Anyone recall The Trouble with Tribbles?
Old Star Trek show!
~~~~~~~~

So I did something a lot different here, I just grabbed several photos and uploaded them into a short 1 minute video. If you wish to look at it...

I thought I'd try it this way and see what happens.
I also made the music on Dell Music Maker. It isn't great but it will do.

Besides, it is -10 outside and I am waiting a bit for the sun to peek over the trees before I go out to do chores this morning.

Then it is a trip to town to see about the skidsteer tire and grab some groceries.
I have no idea if we'll be able to put things back together on this cold tonight.

Late tonight we are going to have freezing precip and then snow fall up to 6 inches and possibly more.

What bad timing I guess for a breakdown. However, at least I am not in a hurry if I get my town things done today ... to go anywhere for the rest of the week.

It may mean skipping CrossFit, but I know ol man winter likes to give us a 'What To' once in a while this time of year anyway.

If you view the video, thanks. If not, that is okay too.

Looks like this week will be an interesting one.

I also got Rich to agree to going to our local clinic to see if we can get into some OT or PT locally for his bum knee. It will fall solely on Medicare, but I think it would be better to travel 10 miles one way than 90 miles for something like PT/OT if it can help him.

I do know that those folks at Vernon Memorial are miracle workers.