Trip to Duck Egg

What is Duck Egg? When I first heard about people going to 'Duck Egg' I envisioned an Egg. Literally.
A Duck and an Egg.

But it isn't an Egg. It doesn't even look like an Egg. Nor does it look like a Duck.
However, it is a County Park that I've grown to love and appreciate. It is a Hiking/Trout Fishing/Horseback Riding natural area that has a flood control dam in it.

It is one of our many County Parks that I will call 'treasures'.

The first few photos are going to be some of my Infrared Shots. IF anyone ever tells me again that they need a 'better' camera to take 'better' shots I am going to show them the little Canon ELPH I have.
There is another saying I guess, *The best camera is the one you have with you.*

I will agree that I took the Canon ELPH which is converted to Infrared along because I hoped I'd have a few things that make IR so fun. Harsh sunlight, shadows, foliage, water, and sky.  I also brought my Nikon entry level DSLR with a nice prime lens for the purpose of shooting just wild flowers.

Canon ELPH:

 Foot Bridge 2. I love these shadows with the stream

running underneath. Fav for black and white.

 From the East side of Foot Bridge 2.

I edited for the funky IR colors and then added a 

bit of what is called Faux Color.

The Y Log. 

Hard to imagine 'seeing'

in Infrared but once you start to

think IR you can tell that a scene 

like this with this bright lighting 

wouldn't be so nice

in regular light.

I dig the reflections

in the 

water.

My Favorite shot of the day.

I tried this view from more 

than one angle.

Bridge 1 at the horse

crossing.

I love Wildflowers. Okay. I love garden flowers too. But I find the odd wildflowers more fun to photograph. I get excited like a child hunting for easter eggs or magical gifts when I find those tiny little wonders in the woods. [say that 3 times fast!]

 Bloodroot. I love these guys. They

get my vote for

coolest flower.

Dutchman's Breeches.

I recall my Grandfather taking the domestic 

relative of these

which is the bleeding heart.

He plucked the flower and 

told me a story about

the lady in the

shower....

Ginger Root.

The flowers are on the ground. 

Very cool.

Trillium. 

Not open yet.

Looks like I'll have 

to go back!

I think Charlie would like

to go too.

When I hiked out the parking lot was full of vehicles. Most of them were trout fisherman. Obvious by the clothes they had on. I enjoyed talking with them for a bit and asked if they'd heard of Tainter Creek. They did and it was on their list, but they'd heard it was a bit crowded with fisherman. 

They asked if I was a 'local'. I said indeed I was. I finally had lived here long enough to be considered 'local' by the locals. 

Anyway I left and told them to enjoy their fishing. I'd be back to hunt morels.

Flowers and Mules

Here is some of the fencing after I have spent hours cleaning weeds from below it. The three lines keep the small Dexter cattle from climbing under the fence. I think I could modify this, but right now I won't make adjustments.
I will have to resort to some 'brush' spray as the berry briers and multiflora rose bushes insist on growing into the electric lines.

I did a section and quit. I can only do so much per day. I have to go deeper into the woods and repair a rather large section. But not until I finish what is already set up. The new/old section is above the creek, I have to take down the line and then put up new wire and in spots move the posts.

After supper I grabbed another mule, Mica, and we went for a cruise.

I am taking each of the riders out for their Spring time tune up. Memorial weekend will arrive and the grands will want to go riding. I want to make sure all riding mules are ready and willing.

Mica found Blood Roots!

Who says you can't take a decent shot with a point and shoot pocket camera???

I rode Sunshine the day before. She was in a major need of a mane trim.

Both mules didn't really need any tuning up at all. They both did exactly what as asked of them and did it willingly.

I sure do love our mules.

And that is that.

Chillin' Time

It has been a bit since I've had some solo time.
Last night I returned Siera, Fred, and Sunshine to the large meadow. I had intended on going riding last evening.

Good intentions get ruined by unexpected thunderstorms with a lot of lightening.
It was probably a good thing though, we ended up going to bed a bit early and I slept through the booming and crashing around us.

The other night when we watched a storm come slowly in from the porch the girls and I were amazed with the show of 'fireworks' in the sky.

I had the tiniest of urges to set up a tripod on the porch and do some photography but the thought fleeted through my brain and went out my ear.

I was tired and sleep sounded much better than watching the skies.

Tonight and tomorrow night there is a chance that we could see the Northern Lights. I may have to take a rest so I can check that out.

Today? I'm thinking it could be a nice quiet hiking type of day. Yesterday was spent cleaning up the gardens and weeding them.

However, we had a huge supper of good things. Fresh beets, lettuce, turnips, leftover carrots and green beans, onions, peppers, and pork steak.

I pulled my very first baby carrot out of the ground yesterday. I think our carrots will do nicely now that I think I have figured out how to grow them in our soil!

Well, off to do chores alone which will feel strange this morning.

Tainter Hollow

A few days ago, I made a side trip to Tainter Hollow, the Public Hunting and Fishing area near where I live.

The Wood Anemones were just poking up and I had seen the leaves of the Trout Lilies on the forest floor. I decided to make a quick detour again on my way to work. Of course it was out of my way, but I was glad I did it.

The Trout Lilys were everywhere!

You have to get close to the ground to see these little flowers and they won't be seen if you are not looking for them.

They hide well, but once you find them, it is very obvious.

Here is what they look like if you are standing up and looking down. I placed my 58mm Nikon lens cap next to two plants.
You want to find these in bloom. Once they are done, the plant disappears and won't show itself until next year.

As I expected, the Wood Anemones were covering much of the forest floor.
Its hard to pick out the other white flowers that come up at the same time. I find myself standing in the sea of Anemones and peering around me. Only then can I spot other flowers and plants.

This is one of the most exciting times of the year for me. I love finding these exotic little plants that most people won't even notice.

The Dutchman's Breeches are the wild version I think of the bleeding hearts. They too are white and hard to spot.
However, one you get used to seeing the leaf pattern you can find them fairly quickly.

The Blood Roots are just about done now. And the only part of them a discerning eye will see for the rest of the year is its distinctive leaf.

And last but not least, one flower that stuns me every spring. It, like the trout lily, disappears after flowering.
The Virginia Bluebell. I am not sure why it has 'Virginia' in it as it is a native species...but there you go...

I was happy to see that there were still quite a few plants even after the huge flash flood this valley had last year.

One last thing about Tainter Hollow.
If you are there Trout fishing, pick up after yourself.
If you are hiking, don't leave trash.

Respect our public lands.

And expect the unexpected.

Finding Spring Wildflowers

Oh how I love searching for the very elusive Blood Root! In the surrounding woods they are sometimes very few and far between.
On my way to town yesterday I took a back road and a wee detour to Tainter Hollow where Tainter Creek runs through Public Hunting and Fishing Land.

When I pulled in I didn't see much to look at. I decided to get out and take a good look around.
There they were dozens and dozens of Blood Roots covering a fairly nice sized area.

I danced a little jig and got down on the ground.

The Blue Bells were just emerging in different areas and not flowering yet. Cowslip dotted the area as well.

Wild White Anemones were scattered and soon would also cover the area with their bright white little flowers.

These little flowers are smaller than a pencil eraser. If one didn't look hard for them, they would be missed.

I saw the leaves of Trout Lilies dotting the undergrowth too. I made a mental check to go back today to see if they have flowered.

The ferns are beginning to emerge also in certain parts of the forest. I hiked along the top of the hillside near the house yesterday and didn't find anything popping up until I got midway down the hill.

I don't know all of my ferns, but these were coming up. Morris and I walked around them and several mayflower plants that were just poking their tips up.

I even found a spot where Trillium leaves were coming up.

The bright green leaves belong to the Trillium plant, the other leaves in the photo are Virginia Waterleaf.

Even though the fern is not really a flower, I love finding them too.
This one is a Maidenhair Fern, I know this because in the spring time they have dark red stems.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the conventional spring garden flowers. I have daffodils and tulips beginning to flower in the yard and hostas emerging along with irises and other flowers.
But finding the wild ones seems to be my favorite thing to do.

It is always some sort of adventure finding them.

Something different. Stick Bouquets?

When I went to the grocery store the other day I stopped and looked at some Christmas decorations that the florist had.
They was a huge variety of things.
Little plastic trees that lit up and changed colors. Charlie Brown Trees, and a beautiful glass vase of sticks. 
Sticks.
Sticks that had glitter and snow puffs on them.
$15 for sticks.

I stood looking at the 'sticks' and something clicked in the back of my puny little brain. 
I could do that. I could do that and one better and I could do it for free.

When I got home I dug in the recycle bin and found two tomato sauce jars. I soaked the lids off and spray painted one of them. It really turned out ugly. But I like a challenge.

I went outside and walked to the edge of the yard and woods. I snagged some branches from different trees.

I found a sparkly snow flake and hot glued it to cover up the paint mess. I used silver glitter glue to make gobs of 'snow' on the sticks. And because I intended to give this to my neighbor just for fun, I added some fake jewels to the side of the jar.

After all, you can't just get a glue gun out and not do much gluing.

Something was missing from the bouquets. 
I recall walking with my mom and grandmother to find milkweed pods and 'nobbin' knockers to make a winter bouquet. I think Grandma painted her stems and the milkweed pods to add color and Christmas cheer.

I had an "ahah" moment. I needed to go find some wild things. I donned on my winter coveralls, a hat and gloves...camera bag, nippers, and off Morris and I went. We hit paydirt in the middle of a huge cornfield.
Back home I sorted things out.

Then...I got out the glitter glue again and put some sparkles into the fox tail grass and the other items. Just enough to catch some light but not too much.

This is where I am at right now. I'm a bit undecided about what I'm going to do next. 

I'm going to leave the stick decorations on the kitchen window sill as they are. They are simple. I took some mini tree decorations I had laying around and put them in the bottom of the vases.

I hung soft glittery snow flakes on them and called it good.

Wild flowers, not what you'd expect.

Poison Ivy wildflower.
Taken with a macro lens.

Leaves of three...leave them be!

And there is the Cinquifoil weed with its pretty yellow flower.

Oh and an unknown flower with spider...

Last but not least, the Beautiful Wild Geranium with rain droplets.

That is it for today.  
We have mud mud and sticky mud.  Our dry spell has ended and we now have warm temps and high humidity along with a lot of rain.

Last night I built a sidewalk out of scrap plywood so we could enter the house without wading through sticky clay.

Have a wonderful day, our farrier will be coming soon, time to go catch critters!

Today was a random day

Since the rains have been off and on for the past few days and the humidity has come up, I thought that Morris and I should go check out the forest for interesting things.

Some days I have a purpose when hiking, today I didn't. I did follow the mule/deer trail that I keep trimmed and worked on some touch ups with my machete.

I stopped and admired the barberry bushes that have invaded the undergrowth and some I trimmed to the ground so Siera or I wouldn't have to brush up against them while riding or hiking.

The wild geraniums are just starting to blossom, soon the forest will sport purple blossoms as the violets and Jacob's Ladders fade away.

 Wild Geranium

Jacob's Ladder

Morris came along to keep an eye on me as usual.  He also is very helpful in finding hidden deer trails.  We explored one that I hadn't been on.  I had a lot of ducking to do, but the side trip was worth it.

We found some very odd mushrooms/fungi.

I have no idea what these are:

At last we ended up near a large dead elm tree and I began searching for morels.

I was not disappointed.

I found enough to make another delicious meal.

By the time I got home it had started raining again and the contractor's were putting away their tools.

Apparently the trusses are supposed to come on Monday!

I didn't take any update shots today as it was raining too hard by the time I got home.

And I had to make a nice late lunch and take a nap for my midnight shift.

It was a very nice and relaxing day.