Just fun stuff ~ Rains!

This past week....

We got so dry once more. But that was good in a way as the farmers got most of their crops planted and I put off mowing the yard a few extra days.

I decided that a shaggy yard was okay since the price of gas was so high, I could mow it a bit less and not worry about how pretty it looked.

Now we are in a cycle of rain and rain and rain. 

Friday night we had close to an inch of rain with some incredible lightening.

Saturday was supposed to get up to 83 F and be hot and icky. So after sunrise, the dogs and I took a 'field trip' to our creek. There was a dual purpose to it. I could do my daily check on the mules and get the dogs some exercise before it got hot.

I made one more discovery. Hannah loves, loves, loves water. She paws it, walks in it, jumps into it, and plays in it. If I toss a rock into the creek and it splashes, she pounces on the splash.

Our creek is not deep in places there might be pools of water about 6 inches deep, but that it is mostly about 3 inches of water that tumbles over the rocks.

Alas, the creek is full of weeds and grasses from years of dry summers. It used to be a nice rock bed that one could pick their way through. Not any longer.

This is a photo of the creek in 2019 before years of drought.

And what the area looks like now.

I've watched the valley change over the years. 

I now fight through thigh high garlic mustard and in June, I stop going through the bottoms because of 5 foot tall parsnip plants. I have spent hours and hours clearing paths along the creek in my favorite spot.

The runoff from the fields around us drains into our valley and we get all the nasty weeds from our neighbor. The deer and other wild animals spread the seeds simply by walking through these patches.

Garlic mustard

The cattle from the two farms on either side of me are gone now and the lands around us have turned into 'wildness' and weeds. 

However, I still go out and enjoy finding amazing plants and scenery. The dogs don't care about trails, weeds, or flowers. They enjoy the smells and adventure.

I have to assist Charlie through some of the places now as the plants are up knee high to me or thigh high. I used to take a corn knife and cut a trail through the difficult parts. I may have to do that again this summer. 

This is part of the reason why I go to the Reserve or our county parks. The trails are mowed and we can walk on them.

But I do love our forest.

I'll keep exploring it as long as I can. The hillsides and upper forest have so many amazing things to see all year.

Maidenhair Fern

Golden Oyster Mushrooms

Reflections of the tree above in a small creek pond.

Mini-me and my backpack and camera

always searching for the next

shot.

This week we are predicted to have accumulated at least 4 inches of rain since Friday evening. Perhaps the creek will have plenty of water for Hannah to play in.

Afternoon delight

I have to admit, I am pretty rusty at taking water photos on the fly. Our creek dried up a couple of years ago after the great 2019 flood and the 5 years of drought we had. Our creek still has tiny springs here and there, but it is mostly a dry bed until Mother Nature decides to remodel again.

Yesterday was one of those crazy days.

Kristi texted me and asked if I wanted to come over and we could visit and do 'something'. Yep, I was up for it after the gym.

I grabbed Charlie and we left for who knows what kind of 'something' Kristi had in mind. After we hung out for a while and chatted, she suggested we go on a hike.

This is her photo below. When I found out we were heading into a valley with a stream, I was like a little kid. Time to play in the water!

My OM camera has a built in Neutral Density filter so here I was trying to take a 1/4 sec exposure of the water flowing over the rocks.

I walked through the stream to squat down and shoot a couple of quick shots. I'm never quite sure how new hiking partners will tolerate my propensity to stop and 'shoot' a lot. So i was quick at it.

This camera has some dang fine stabilization built in.

I then turned and looked up the valley. The south facing hillside was lit up with brilliant brown/orange light that reflected on the stream. I told Kristi that I could easily spend hours in just this one spot.

My sneaky friend took shots of me playing in the water. Charlie had a blast keeping us both supervising.

There was so much to see and Kristi wanted to show me more of the valley and the stream.

I will admit, that I was like a little kid on Christmas morning. I kept oohing and ahhing and dropping down into the water and picking up rocks.

If things were left up to me, I'd just build me a little hut in the valley and hang out with the stream. So much to see and explore!

 

Trying more things...

I had an idea that it would be fun to try and photograph food dye as it drops through a glass receptacle.

I watched a video and then another one and another one. Then I decided to try it anyway. I used an old vase with defects that showed up, but still enjoyed the process. If nothing else, it was a great use of time to NOT sit on the couch and watch the boob Tube [as Dad used to call it].

I did this on the kitchen counter and all the lighting is off and not great. The first photo is with my cellphone.

Then I decided to do a mini video.
15 seconds.

I decided then that what I really really would love to love to have is a good ol' Lava Lamp.

After deciding that I'd go ahead and try this in a better spot and with better lighting, I ended up with this below.

 

Well, it didn't come out very well. I need to study it better and figure out why everything is so bleh. I'll pass on it for right now. I moved on.

I got out a white mixing bowl and thought I'd try some paint swirls. The red wasn't happy and dropped to the bottom and the glittery blue metallic blue did some interesting things. I dropped in some dish soap drops and everything moved all over. 

Fun, interesting, and interesting. But not worth more of my time.

I wanted to try a high key shot in the bowl of a tiny tiny pink flower.

I had a trick up my sleeve that involved water, playdoh, and a tiny bit of milk.

The playdoh held up the tiny flower in the water. The milk added white to the scene. I added lights from a desk lamp and a cube light.

Cha-Ching! I liked the feel of it. I know I could do better, but instead of starting all over, I thought I'd toss in some food dye.

So I added some drops of red. WHOA! 

Then some drops of blue.

I finally took a toothpick and pushed the mixture around a bit and settled on this as my final, though I actually like them all.

By now it was getting late and Charlie was groaning and complaining on the couch about not having his 'cuddle' time. I explained to him that this was much better than staring at a screen and that I was using my brain and making a huge mess.

He gave me his big Googlie eyes and I did relent after cleaning up my mess. 

No big celebrations here. Today is a day. Tomorrow is a day.

Overflo...

 Charlie is really one heck of a champ. 3 inch front legs, with a low slung powerful chest and then he stretches out to be a long dog.

Yesterday we caught some time to run  hike walk down to our valley. I could tell the snow melt was running off. I could hear it in the run off to the west of us on our west neighbor's land.

There is one thing I try very hard to go enjoy. Mini flash floods [I'm not a fool] and snow melts. The sound is music to my ears. Our creek used to have quite a bit of water in it. But for the last few years, we've had a bit of a drought.

I used to go down to the valley and sit on a rock or log and just listen to the water. It soothes me. 

Last week this area was solid ice with water running slowly underneath the ice. The water from the ridge west of us drains down through their land and into the spot where the creek actually starts at a spring. It gathers water from the hillsides and two large south facing dry runs and heads down the valley and through us.

The brownish colored water is typical of run off. It is dirt, sand, clay, and debris that gets washed off the top of the soil on the ridge. Erosion. It is more fierce in the winter as the land underneath is frozen and cannot soak in.

It was sunny yesterday afternoon and nearly 60 degrees out. The water was icy cold with ice slush in it. That tough little dog made his way back and forth and over rocks to assist me in exploring.

In the shots below, the light color that looks yellowish under the water is ice that is still frozen. 

The white streaks are foam that comes from oxygen in the snow, debris, and dissolving organic matter. It is complicated science but pretty cool stuff. I never understood why there was so many bubbles during a snow melt and run off.

Now I know a little more.

Foamy:

And photographed with a 3 second exposure. 👇

The foam does literally spin in circles in little eddies. I just love to 'catch' it in a longer exposure. It makes so many interesting patterns.

I tried something I hadn't ever done before. I took a very strong ND filter and stuck it on the lens. I literally faced towards the west and set this shot up for a very long exposure. I wanted to highlight the foam streaks.

Charlie and I sat on a log with the water running around us. He was patient with me while I fiddled with the camera and the exposures to try something different. In the shot above, there is a leaf, snow, and stick jam just in front of us.

I like it. It is weird enough to be different and highlight the foam. 

I get geeked out over the foam in the water. Sorry, can't help it.

the log...today.... 👇 nice place to sit right?

The shot below is where I'd taken the video with Morris a few years ago. The water wasn't charging down through the boulders like in years past, but it made for some cute little water falls with bubbles!

This morning, the sunrise was spectacular, when I went out on the porch to watch it, I could hear the water running again on the neighbor's land. 

After getting ol' hubby settled, fed and whatnot. I walked carefully down to the neighbor's valley and took this shot. 

The walls of the creek are steep. I took this shot so you could understand what it looks like. Getting in and out of that bottom can be tricky sometimes. I didn't go down at all this morning as the banks were all ice.

I did eventually find a safe way down a bit later and spent a little more time enjoying the sounds and sights of the creek.

I just can't stay away from water. Give me a river, a creek, or a lake to be near and you can color me happy.

I spent all of my free time at the creek today. Hubby napped, I 'creeked'...not creaked.

Side note. He says he is too sick to see a doctor. And again refused to go. I think that should be my Stress Test, not some machine, right?

going sideways

The news lately has not been very promising. Suddenly I feel as though I've been jettisoned back into the COVID era and the horror of those 4 years.

I decided to stop looking at the news for now and just go do my own thing.

I donned a long sleeved shirt sprayed with Buggins, long lightweight pants, gloves with the fingers cut out, and a head net.

I was ready to get out to my happy place even if it meant dealing with T-Rex Skeeters and swarms of gnats.

I also needed to check in on the mules to see how the girls were doing since they were staying out in the woods.

They've been spending a lot of time in the Buckthorn Woods. Yes, they are invasive trees and are horrible to have. I'm going to leave them to the next person who wants to live here. For now, they provide a great shady area for the girls to hang out. It even feels cooler under the canopy.

The air was quite still, but still cool enough since it was only about 7AM. I made my way down the trails to the creek. I wanted to see how the new rains had affected the creek. 

Water! Slow moving beautiful sounding water. Once again the water flows gently through our rather messy creek bottom.

Over the past few years, so many trees have tumbled over crisscrossing the steep banks. Negotiating the bottom takes quite a bit of balance and determination. Sometimes it includes a bit of creative climbing and careful steps when the rocks are wet and mossy.

I brought Glenda, a Lego minifigure along and a couple of Lego creatures. I just knew that between the dappled light and the water, I'd find something that would tease my imagination.

My other favorite thing to do in the creek is look for iron concretions. While climbing around in the dry runs [which are wet] I spotted quite a few and felt like I'd hit the jackpot. These rocks always add textured interest to my succulent garden.

I stuck those in a sack I brought with and sat down on one of the wet rocks just to watch the sun shine through the trees onto the water. It felt so peaceful and comforting. Yes, the bugs were there and they buzzed my head net, but I was able to mostly ignore them.

I took a few shots of Glenda doing Glenda Things. She seems to be an expert at finding and rescuing creatures. Yes, you can actually see well enough through a No-Seeum Head net to take photos!

I'm sure she was as surprised as I was that she found an Iguana in Wisconsin. But since this is a Lego Imaginative play time. It could be anywhere, right?

She heard of a Dove that was lost and so she went searching and calling for it.

Imagine her joy at finding it!

The colors and light that come through the canopy of mixed hardwoods here is so beautiful. It takes an effort to get to and move around. But the journey is well worth it. It isn't grand or spectacular, but in its small way, it is stunning.

Here is a shot with Glenda in the middle of the stream. Yes, I had to build a place for her to stand on a flat rock in the water. Three or four times she tipped over and threatened to gently float away....

But that is the real fun of it all. A difficult hike with all sorts of challenges to get to a spot that feels like my private space in nature.

When things cool off, I'm going to have to bring a little saw to this spot and cut a path through the newly downed trees. With all the rain we've had the soil is saturated and trees on the banks are just letting go. Eventually the trees rot and break up and then are washed downstream in a large flash flood, but that hasn't happened in years.

I had fun and even though I got hot, I enjoyed myself. However, next time I need to spray some Buggins on my legs ... and rear end. Dang Skeeters bit me right on the Bum through my lightweight pants!

Oh well. It was a great place to get sidetracked and enjoy the beautiful outdoors despite the monster Insects...

Today is all about, hurry up and wait. The Home 02 People are going to come 'sometime after noon'. So maybe I'll go do something silly inside to entertain myself.

How about some space adventures???

👋

Holiday Weekend

The Kickapoo Valley Reserve closed all trails but old Hwy 131 and Star Valley to bikes and horses. This was because the Kickapoo River likes to come up fast, crest, and come down quickly when it floods.

If we get a half inch of rain right now, the rivers and streams just fill up and overflow their banks.

I thought it would be fun to check out the bridges and the places where the river had crossed the old trail.
Keep in mind that this trail was the original Highway 131 that was closed in the 1960's when the government built a new road that didn't flood. The intention was to put up a dam too and make a manmade lake for tourism.

Anyway I've gone over that history before on one of my older blogs.

The point is, the old road is maintained for bike riding, walking, riding horses, and in the winter one can cross country ski a groomed trail along this same path. Walkers are welcome if they stay off the groomed parts.

I took my Infrared camera because bright sunshine, green grass, 

water, and clouds make for 

more interesting photos in IR.

The water was brown and a bit angry. The river had come up on two of the bridges but by the time I got there, it was already receding.

Looking at the other end of bridge 15.

Angry waters...

Just around this bend was what is called a log jam. The Reserve posted this shot today to show anyone who thought of canoeing, that the river was still a bit unsafe and to use caution. Also a person would have to pull out of the river do a portage to continue.

People are asked to use common sense and caution. This quiet little river has its ways of being sneaky. I kayaked it last year when all was calm and quiet and it still can be a challenge.

I promised hubby that I wouldn't ride through any of the water that was over the trail. This part was only a few inches deep, but further north of this spot it could have been as deep as a foot or so. 

I was just more interested in seeing the water on the trail.

Photo taken with my IR camera.

I just wanted to explore the beauty of the water and the reflections. 

I enjoyed my time on the bike even stopped to visit with this little guy. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use my Alien Tourist.

I went to bed early and woke up at 2AM. The smart thing would have been to go back to bed. I don't always do the smart thing.

I wanted to see the Milky Way. The photo stinks, but there it is. I went for a walk in the dark. It just seemed right at the time.

I stayed up after I got back home. I asked Charlie if he wanted to go out with me to see a foggy sunrise.

And it was amazing...

By 7AM I was ready for a nap. That is exactly what I did.

The 4th of July was super chilled here. I read a book while sitting on my little rocker on the porch.

Why not?

It was just perfect. Naps, beauty, reading, and rocking...

Except when I went to take a shower and found out that the water heater was ka...put.

Oh well, even that won't wreck our holiday weekend.

Tomorrow morning, I am meeting a friend from the gym and we are climbing a bluff just before dawn to watch the sun rise and welcome in the day.