Totally Unexpected

 

I was having a very hard morning. The end of the year blehs. The things I couldn't to do because I am the sole caregiver to a person with frail health were weighing on me. Maybe it was just the culmination of so much sameness in the past year. Or...perhaps even deeper yet was the question I'd asked myself the night before.

 ~ Who am I?~  [Deep thought is not for the faint hearted in the middle of the night!]

Today I asked Rich if he'd mind if I hike the Valley of Ice. That is what some folks call it. I hadn't really explored it yet. 
I set off. The day was dreary. Dreary.
It fit my mood.

I hiked the trail and noted fresh human and dog tracks. 

I started exploring and found my way to the first ice cave. I wondered if the tracks weren't from someone who had tied the blue ribbons up. But as I climbed around a snowy hillside and over downed trees, I heard a woof. And a "Hello there!"

I met a younger than ME fellow. He used to be a Geology teacher in Madison. Eventually we ended up in a larger Ice Cave where we sat down and talked about rocks and rock formations. He told me about his dog, who doesn't love talking about their loyal pets? He explained to me the history and make up of the  different layers in the rock that were were sitting in.

There was an area at the bottom of the ice where other older icicles had formed and dropped because of warm weather.

And as we admired the rock formations and the ice, I set up my camera to take a quick time lapse of the water seepage over the ice. The video is at the top of the blog and is 12 seconds long. I shot that just in front of where he was sitting.

I enjoyed his conversation and it was pretty fascinating. He explained the geology of this place in a way I could grasp it. Although, truth be told, I won't recall all the terminology he used.

We both joked about liking Lichen. He knew Lichen too! He didn't mind me taking his photo while he sat in the cave just enjoying nature. He said it would provide good perspective for the cave. He was right.

He is exploring all the Wisconsin State Natural areas and noting their specific and interesting formations his intent is to map them out so others can enjoy their natural beauty.

Eventually we parted and I went on to explore more of this valley. It is steep and rugged. 

I found the third formation.

There is a 4th but I didn't have enough time to climb around the deadfalls  to take any photos. I found an old equine trail and followed that on the ridge while stopping to peer down on the Kickapoo River.

By the time I reached my Subaru, I was the only vehicle around. My phone went off with weather alerts for our area. 

Just in time then.

By the time I got home, I was UN-bleh. I'd met another nature lover and interesting person.

I still hadn't answered that nagging question from the middle of the night.

But I figured I'd get to that ... next year.

Stories from kids and whatnot

I didn't check my mail on Saturday afternoon. But Monday morning I found a stuffed envelope from Charlie's young friends in Missouri. The boys had drawn pictures for us and the 3rd grader who reads at 6th grade or above had written a story for us!
The story included Poop Rocks [I'll explain later], Charlie, magic crystals, and saving the world! 
Of course I read the story and took the challenge of trying to take photos to match the story. 

On top of the mailbox was a large box from my childhood friend. She'd said something about sending a care package on Friday, so of course I was not expecting it at all on Saturday.

Inside the package was two tubs of cookies [she is an excellent baker and cook!] and several small items wrapped in tissue paper. There were a couple of notes and a card.
Her note said: 

PS: My childhood zoo voted to go too. They want to meet Lil Bear and all of his buddies. I promise they won't eat much.
Hugs.

I immediately set aside the cookies and unwrapped the 'zoo'. You would have sworn that I was opening gifts at Christmas time. I felt like a child as I slowly unwound the tissue papers. Each toy gave me a squeak of glee and I marveled at the tiny wooden zoo animals. A Weiner dog, donkey, monkey, elephant, deer, and squirrel. 

I was out on Monday afternoon with a couple of the toys. Charlie and I took a walk to the mailbox and detoured past my favorite rock to set out toys.

And then we worked on photos for the story that was sent to us.

ValBarbie and RichKen make a return from the drawer
they were sitting in for the story!
Note the 'little' Charlie dog too!

The endangered Crystal and the Poop rock. 

These are actually iron concretions found in my creek bottom 

and the kids found some. 

They were fascinated by the forms of the rocks and 

dubbed the long bumpy ones as ... you guessed it, Poop Rocks.

~~~~

My friend called me Monday afternoon and we talked about my love of toys combined with photography. I told her maybe I was just a silly old fool. And she replied that she loved that I still was able to exercise my 12 year old mind.

After all, it has been going on a long time. I can't help myself. 

I was always considered the odd one.... Points Down.....

I need a name

During our family Christmas Meal I noticed Stella the escape artist getting harassed by Belle. Stella was laying down in the fodder we had out and wasn't getting up which was very unusual.
I jumped up from the table and hurried to get my coveralls on. It is amazing how fast I can throw on those insulated coveralls.
LOVE my coveralls!

Ariel was close behind me, she grabbed my farm coat and out the door we went sort of leaving everyone at the table with my parting words "Something is wrong with Stella...!"
Actually I was not believing my eyes. I think Stella was calving. She shouldn't have been, but...we didn't move her out of the pen where we had a young bull until late spring...so...

Oh.
I stepped through the hot wires and Stella stood up and sort of whirled. Out slid a calf. Stella stepped away and I bent down to the calf, pulled off my gloves and cleaned out his nose and throat. I wished I could have seen Ariel's expression although I will bet she watched intently.
My hands were full of the calf's smell and I gently put them up to Stella who smelled them and made a soft guttural sound. She followed my hands back to the calf and she started to clean him.

I sent Ariel to the house to tell 'Grandpa' that we needed to take Stella and the calf to the shed.
By now everyone dressed. Rich and his daughter set up a pen in the shed while Ariel kept the other Dexters at bay with sorting sticks. I ran into the house and tracked snow and fodder over the floor to grab some old towels.

Stella will generally follow me or allow me to push her where ever I want her to go. She is the not a very large Dexter, so I formulated a plan. I'd pick up the calf and she'd follow the calf and I into the pen in the shed.

Rich said the calf would probably not survive in this cold. I said that I'd sure like to give it a whirl. I could not abandon the thought of trying to make this little guy make it.

It was quite the sight I think. I was crouched holding a wet calf wrapped in a towel in front of Stella's nose. She'd lick the calf and I'd crab walk sideways away from her. She'd follow and make guttural noises. Behind me, Rich, Ariel, and Steph all kept Stella on track through the yard and up towards the shed.

We got to the driveway and Stella stood stock still. She had to pee and no one was making this new mom move until she was darned good and ready. It made us all laugh. We even talked to Stella as if she were a person, asking her if she was done yet and did she have any other thoughts?

We got her into the pen with no problems. We put down shavings and hay. Stella seemed starved and ignored the calf.

I went in the house to get on some dry coveralls and more towels.
My mother in law asked me how I got so wet. I explained I was calf-slimed and laughed.
Pretty soon everyone else came in too. Rich said Stella was ignoring the calf and he'd tried to get it up to nurse with no success, that Stella kicked at the calf.

Ariel asked me what we should do. I told her that personally, if it were up to me, I'd get milk replacer and bring the calf in the house. She seemed to think that was a good idea. I took the towels and rubbed the calf dry.
Ariel watched as I pulled the calf close into my lap and hugged him tightly. I willed him to live and to get warmth from me holding him so tight. He shivered and seemed to push into my body.
I don't think that Ariel saw my tears. Perhaps she did. My heart has an extreme soft spot for animals. I hugged him tightly before setting him down in the bedding.

I explained that had we known, we would have had a box stall put together and a heat lamp. The last time I'd had a calf born in this time of year, it hadn't made it. Annie had come to us with calf and we didn't know it. We nearly lost Annie because she was technically too young to have been bred.
Photo from January of 2012. Saving Annie

We did save Annie. I even hand milked her much to her disdain and had tried to save her calf. However both had been so chilled that we lost the calf.

Of course the conversation turned to cattle and the calf...and Stella. I mused that if Stella's calf was half as sweet as she was, he'd make a beautiful steer to have around for petting. It felt bittersweet to talk like that. I wanted the Calf to be fine.

As the company gathered to leave, Ariel went back out to say goodbye to Stella. She was all set to find a dead calf.

She came in the door and her glasses fogged up.
"He's up and walking around!"
Everyone went out to look and they came back with the same conclusion. The calf was up and moving around.

After they left, Rich said he was going to bed. The day wore him out.
The Kenosha Gang folks called...Daryl and Amanda and we talked about our plans for the weekend.

They said they'd bring a heater and we could modify the stall to prevent them from getting too cold during the upcoming weekend sub zero cold snap.

I hung up with a bit of hope in my heart and grabbed my fresh coveralls from the dryer. They were warm.
Snap!
Cha-Ching!
I grabbed the towels I'd just dried and stuck them back in the dryer while I dressed. I had a plan for the next 24 hours.

Heated towels every two hours!
The calf really responded well to that and he even scooted around the makeshift stall while I cleaned up mom poop.

Stella had cleaned up her hay so I fed her more and gave her fresh water.

This was taken at midnight.

I didn't awaken at 2am. At 5am I ran out to the calf laying in a pile of hay and shavings giving me the classic Stella Look.

Stella at 12 hrs old:

So it looks like this Dexter Weebull is strong this morning. I have help to make things even better coming this evening.
I am hopeful enough to actually think of giving him a name.

Any takers?

I had a thought:

Sir Prize

A friend on Facebook said he should be called Zero for the subzero temps.

Let's hear it!

Unexpected Things

I know that I may have let some of my fellow bloggers down by not writing about my fun and crazy adventures with mules.
This year I haven't ridden any mule since March.  Most of my free time is spent taking a little breather while hiking with my cameras.

I hadn't even been on PeeWee's most of the summer.  I went for a stroll last weekend and decided to try another 'corn tunnel' shot.  
I was happy to find just the right spot and take this shot.  
PeeWee's is now so horribly overgrown that it is very difficult to hike through. 
I've had to go elsewhere to get hiking in.

Thank goodness for our wonderful county parks and nearby state parks!

So yesterday I was doing chores when I came across several little surprises....

I found these little mushrooms popping up overnight after a 1 1/2" rainfall.  They lifted the acorn right off the ground.
I noticed these while feeding the hounds and went back to my house to grab my camera with the micro/macro lens.

I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of shots of the King Solomon's Seal after the rain, the berries are black under this graceful arched plant.

The bright morning light was diffused through the oak canopy and I couldn't resist squatting under the plant to catch a shot of the wet seeds.

I sort of wonder why I haven't noticed them before this spring.  Perhaps I was always too busy getting ready to go do something else and not really looking around at things behind the shed.
After all that portion of the property is pretty unexciting.
Well, until the other day!

This time of the year is fairly busy for unexpected guests in the form of ground bees and other interesting insects.  I found this guy pretty content to sit on the side of our trailer and let me try to get a decent shot of him.

However to get a look at the ground bees I used my long lens.  Normally I just avoid these aggressive bees, but they are occupying a hole in the dirt right under the south side door.

I guess one of the things I really dislike about September is these horrid little fellows.

If you leave them alone I guess they will eventually go away.  They are using a mole or vole burrough to build their nest deep underground.  These little nasties are yellow jackets and will sting you with a vengeance if you disturb their nest.

I was able to sit very quietly and adjust my camera to grab a few very quick shots of these going in and out of the hole.