Busy day

The other morning, before my appointment, I went to feed the girls and they were in a place they weren't exactly supposed to be in. All I had to do to get them back was rattle the feed bin and bring out their hay. 

[BW shot with my Infrared Camera out the door]

I just shut them in this large paddock until I could get out to check fences.

The culprits of fence wrecking showed up the next morning.

We did end up counting over 30 deer congregated by the place where our fence and two other neighbor fences intersect.

Well after breakfast, I went out and fixed about 500 feet of hot wire. The barbed wire fence that belongs to the guy west of me is bent over and mostly broken. He knows it is a mess, but he sold his cattle and so he basically doesn't care. 

That said, I don't mind either because I use a hot wire on the inside of his barbed wire. Hot wire was the only way we could keep our jumping mules in our pasture as they were taught to jump fences. That is a competition with a history of hunting behind it. 

The mules I have left don't jump fences. But keeping them out of tangled barbed wire is my goal.

Winter Pasture

The winter pasture looks flat, but it isn't, there are a lot of trees, nooks, and crannies to go around.

Below, my fencing supplies.

It wasn't that hard to repair the fence since I use a fence product that is easy to put back together. By the time I finished in my chore boots, my feet were chilled.

But I had a couple of more spots to take care of before quitting. You know, once you start a job, you finish it before having to put all the supplies away again.

I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the deer. 

After lunch, I decided to get outside as it was so warm! 22 F or -5 C. I'd been bummed about the 'order' not to 'go' hiking so Charlie and I decided to go for a 'walk'. Semantics, it works for me. 

I dusted off my Infrared Camera and thought it would be interesting to see how things looked in a different light. 

Finally an hour to myself to relax! No phone calls to answer, no appointments to work out, no deliveries of meds that need to be signed for. Just me and my little dog.

We went down the good part of the trail to the creek.  It looks quite different with the snow on it. I like to try and get out to 'shoot' this trail before the critters mark it up with footprints. 

That little black dot is Charlie watching 8 deer running up the hill from the valley below.

I turned around and hot straight up the trail. Yep, one isn't supposed to do that with a camera, it causes a lot of sun flares especially when you are using an Infrared Camera. I didn't care, I liked the footprints.

I checked my watch, time to get back and make sure someone had their meds on time and prepare for the 100 questions about "What is for lunch?"

I wanted to take an IR shot of this oak leaf stuck in the snow. Yes, the leaf looks blue as the light spectrum I chose to shoot in reflects anything that has chlorophyll in it a shade of blue in camera. It just looked pretty.

As we walked back home, I kept looking for interesting shapes and shadows in the snow. I like a solo branch sticking up out of the snow with a cool shadow. But our snow is not deep so I was stuck with little weeds. 

Back under the large oak, I found a small spot that did not have animal tracks in the snow and had interesting shadows from the tree above.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house since I hadn't really done so since I'd been sick over a week ago.

Happy Halloween!

I didn't do any decorating this year for Halloween as generally no one comes to our place. The Gargoyle was a new photo I did yesterday when the storms moved in. 

The rest below are from years past.

When I decorated the woods out back with creepy ghosts and Twana Stick figures...

Happy Halloween if you celebrate it. 

Spiders, Stars, and stuff

Happy September.

Things certainly have changed as far as daylight is concerned. In a way, I do like the way the hours are arranged right now. The daylight is just about perfect as well as the temperatures for the past two days.

I won't complain. 

Oddly enough, I don't miss the trees that got taken down. This morning while it was still dark, I had an unobstructed view from the porch of the stars in the sky. I was able to see Orion's Belt clearly. The photo is taken with my cell phone using Night Sight on my Google Pixel phone. I imagine that the better models take even neater shots. But I am happy with this.

Yesterday morning started off with Olive showing up and supervising me changing my tire to a donut errrr, spare. We pulled two shards of metal out of the tire and I'll take it to a tire shop on Tuesday to have it fixed. I learned a couple of things. Have a real Universal Lug Nut tool. What comes with the car is a wimp. The jack worked fine and I got hands on experience through the whole process. Now I am confident that I can change a tire. 

Olive spent 3 years driving her car on back roads delivering mail. She said she'd have to change a tire at least every few weeks and repair it. It was so nice of her to spend time teaching this old dog a new trick. 

I decided to take Saturday OFF. I have 15 t posts to drill back into the ground and replace hotwire. But since the mules were happy with the meadow out back and access to the forest, I didn't worry about it.

I did my morning fence check out back.

And...even the wildlife was taking it easy.

In my garden, I was delighted to find Crab Spiders everywhere in my yellow cosmos! If you want to see a larger size of the spiders, then click on the photo and it will show you a larger size!

These guys are ambush spiders. They don't build webs, but wait for prey and then grab them. They are not harmful to people.

Aren't they pretty?

I have a volunteer Sunflower that grew about 4 feet tall on the edge of the porch. Here is a female goldfinch visiting the sunflower. 

I have one porch window that I keep spotless and without a screen to serve as a 'blind' so I can shoot through the glass and not disturb the birds.

A bit later we had several Titmouse visiting the Sunflower. These two were not in the sharing mood.

The Merlin Bird app sent out a message that Migration has now begun. The large Sandhill Cranes are moving along with so many other large birds. 

I knew migration had begun as I've kept note of those birds who have left.

Now, IF I can get my fence done and a few other things out of the way, I can get on a bike trail that runs through Richland County and follows a river and some marshes. What a great way to see migrating birds!

Happy September 1st.

Enjoy the weather.

Today it is cool enough for Charlie and I to enjoy a nice long afternoon walk.

Time out

Tuesday morning started off with a Colorful Bang...

Things are going along. Everyone gets into a funk every once in a while.

Life happens. I know that.

I've had my head down and have been grinding through. 

I had an opportunity to get out and take a nice long hike with Charlie.

This is how we tackle trails. 10 seconds long....

But we stop a LOT also. This is not a marathon, it is a mind cleansing experience.

Below are cool Roots that cling to the edge of a small bluff.

I thought of Aurora when I saw this tree...

Of course I love to make fun of the trail signs along here. I don't know if you can see it, but there are two little figures on the tree. A horse and rider and then a bicycle. This is a multi use trail.
My interpretation for these upside down signs are that a horse got spooked by a bike and they both ended up in a crash.

Well, I do know that my mules are very suspicious of bicycles but baby strollers are much more menacing. 😁

I digress.

I wanted to see the Ice Cave on Ice Cave Trail. Normally, this ice 'cave' is pretty spectacular with a normal winter.

I was pleased to see that with all the freezing and thawing we'd had, that it did have a bit of ice. But not enough to climb down into it and explore.

For fun, I used my app to see how this lollipop loop actually is from where I parked the car. I picked this particular trail because it is up and down and all around. Plus it is demanding enough that it keeps the mind on the footing and not on the Mind Gibberish.

I left early in the morning so that I could still walk while the trail was still solid and slightly frozen. I didn't want to walk in muck and mud.

I was rather surprised at how dry the trails were. Obviously, we really do need rain.

I brought along my Infrared camera and stopped for several shots. IR is not that great in the winter time, but I still thought I might get something interesting.

Infrared works best with leaves, sky, clouds, and water. Those elements are generally the best ones to photograph with on a bright sunny day.

I found two spots that fit the bill. The first shot is of a long trail along the river bottom with a frozen puddle in the middle of the trail and pines in the distance.

This was shot at bridge 15 towards the pines on the bluff where I love to go and watch the river go by me 80 feet below.

If the stars, skies, times, and everything else lines up. I'm going to visit those bluffs this weekend.

The weather today is insane. I cannot recall a February where the temps reached 60!

I'm heading outside!

I'd like to ...

Go hiking with you sometime she said...

Generally coordinating schedules for my hiking is nearly impossible as I often just take off on a whim and don't 'schedule' a hike.

I thought I'd give it a try. Deb is recently retired and we've talked a lot at the gym all summer long. She is about my age and is a very active person. 

We settled on a date and a spot to meet. I chose the Blackhawk Rock trail as it is a good first hike to see the multitude of wonderful things at the Reserve.

We found interesting things alongside and in the trails we took. At one point we were confronted with a long part of the trail that was covered in about 4 inches of water. I assume that the creek that flowed nearby had made its way over the trail. I offered Deb the choice of going on through and getting our feet wet or turning around.

It was a warm day and she said she didn't care. I led the way splashing like a kid through 30 feet of ankle deep water. I was loving it. 

We made it to the bluff top after very careful trekking on the trail that led up to it. The dry ground that was covered in leaves made it slippery. Not to mention the tree roots and rocks that hid under the leaves.

It is fun meeting new people and taking a walk/hike with them. It is a great way to learn about their stories and their lives. 

By the time we got back to my loaner car [mine was in the shop having the concrete debacle fixed!] Deb was all smiles and said that this had made her day.

Looks like there'll be some more hiking with her in the future.

When I got to the gym and worked out the next day, my little friend Gracie asked when she could go with me! She just turned 10. Well, why not? Company is generally good and fun.

Though often, on some hikes, I prefer to go alone so I can stop and wonder at things and not have to explain anything. Just me...and the forest.

Maybe one day I'll grow up to be a Wood Elf?

[Apparently, my nick name that others call me at the gym is The Elf, how fun is that?]

[All photos taken with my cell phone. Deb said that was her goal, to hike and take beautiful photos with her cell phone and so I decided to try it myself!]

Blue Moon & Hike

So, a Super Blue Moon won't happen again until 2037 so I thought I'd best get out there and try 'shooting' the Moon last night.

It wasn't blue at all, but orange and rippled on the horizon from the atmospheric distortion. To the left is a farm's silo that is on the other side of the Kickapoo River and on the ridge about a mile away. I was surprised that I could actually see it as the moon rose. 

On that ridge there are 4 cell towers which annoys the heck out of me because the blinking light and towers ruin most sunrise photos. Any...way...

Below I tried shooting the moon through a distant tree. It sort of worked, but it was a fun effort.

I headed towards home but found one last spot where I could get a clear shot of it before heading back down into our hollow.

Two Super Moons in one month is a rarity. I missed the first one of this month, but am satisfied that I caught the last one!

At home these guys were looking for the moon too! Apparently, even NED-B grabbed a Lego camera.

At least none of them have cell phones! 

Yesterday morning was a cool enough day that Charlie and I did one of the longer KVR trails. It has been a few weeks since we took a new trail on.

This one is an out an back Lollipop loop which ended up being 4.95 miles.  To his credit, short legged Charlie just chugged along like nobody's business. Here we stopped for a drink of water. Charlie likes to drink out of a peanut butter jar lid.

This little dog is a rock star, he goes and goes when the temperatures are nice out.

We stopped and had a break at Hanson's Rock Outlook and just sat for a little while on a log.

There is another outlook that one can walk out to, but over the years, trees have fallen across the outcrop's end. This looks south east and would be a cool place to watch the sunrise if one wanted to walk 2.5 miles in the dark.

All in all, it was a fine day. We heard someone at one point in time in one of the valleys but we never saw another person.

The woods are eerily quiet this time of year as most of the songbirds have migrated. We heard a few bluejays and woodpeckers, but most of the song of the woods were the crickets.

The forest and grasslands will be terribly dry once fall hits if we don't get rain.