Berry Pickin' and Mules

Oh how I love black berries, black caps...anyway.  Those beautiful black berries that ripen in the woods on or around the 4th of July.

This year they were a bit later, which has worked out quite well.

Yesterday before breakfast I was able to walk out to the edge of the woods and pick enough to go with our breakfast.

Yesterday afternoon, I took Morris and we went for a walk alongside the road.  Morris loves getting in close to the plants and picking his own berries.  Yes, he eats them!

I froze a pint and a half from that little walk.

Later on we took out Opal and Fred and decided to ride back to the yellow-golden berry patch.

Each year it is harder to get to as the multiflora rose and other plants like wild grapes begin to crowd the area out.
But we went prepared!

Here is Fred with Hubby and a couple of buckets.

Here is the stand of berries.  I think I'll need to go back and pick again later.

It is hard enough to pick these that you have to wear hiking chaps to protect your legs from the other prickly things that grow there.

For me, half the fun is getting to ride a mule to the location of the berries. 
It was a quiet pleasant ride.
And a beautiful summer evening.

 

Meet Black Bart

Meet Plum Creek's Black Bart.
We picked him up today from the Plum Creek Little Cattle Company.

He is to be our small herd sire for our registered Dexter cattle.

 
The owners told us that this bull would be quiet and docile, Black Bart did not disappoint us.

He pretty much ignored the 'girls' as they flocked around him.
I think the girls were so impressed by his good looks that they didn't know what else to do!
 

Black Bart was curious about his pasture neighbors.  The mules.  The mules were also curious about him.
They took a while to size each other up.

 
Pedro, the dun mule was more interested than any of the others.  

Soon after, they went their seperate ways and darkness fell.  Last time we looked, Black Bart was grazing and the girls were not far away...grazing also.

Country life is so much different than city life.  Of course that is obvious to most.
As we were coming home today we stopped in the road to talk to neighbors.

Everyone had to look at the 'new' bull in our trailer.  
Hay was discussed.
Weather was discussed.
The price of fuel was properly discussed.

Farming, cattle, crops, ... anything that had to do with farming...got a once over by all involved.

Notice in the photo that the road is blocked with tractors, a truck, and a trailer?
We leaned up against tires or trailers and talked farm talk for a good long while.

Not a vehicle came by.
Welcome to our neighborhood.

Where we all know each other and love to stop and talk on the road.

Life is good.

 

Evening Stroll with Fred

Chores were done.  Watering was done.  
I had 'caught' Opal and let her graze some in the yard after getting some grain.

Fred was nagging at the gate.
He wanted out with Opal.

I opened up the gate and let him in the pen.  I swapped him with Opal and gave him a quick once over with the curry and the brush.

Since he hadn't been ridden in a while, I tossed a saddle on him and we headed towards the ridge to watch the sunset.

He was very eager and trotted in his pony mulish way.

He spotted a large doe bounding through the neighbor's cropland.

No spook, just a watch.

We rode out and spent some time on the ridge.  I wanted to see that he hadn't lost any of his manners.  It has been about a year since I've ridden him. 
Fred was Fred.

He even stopped for a bunch of kids and let them pet him ... coo and ahhh over him.
He was rather unimpressed but took the attention quietly and without doing anything.

The kids assumed since he was a pony, that he was a 'kid' mule.  Not so. 
Not many kids could handle Fred's go-go attitude.  He is quick and responsive too.

I explained this sort of to the kids.  I may let them 'ride' him if I have him on a lead rope, but I don't send kids off on an animal, especially if they don't have experience.

Anyway Fred was the perfect ambassador.  He got to the little girls' hearts just by being Fred.

A good quiet mule is worth his/her wieght in gold.
Fred is such an animal.

Hiking in the creek is refreshing

On a hot summer day.  As pictured, I wear my Vibrams to walk in the creek.  I stay nice and cool while the heat and humidity soak up the woods.  I've had these 'shoes' now for three years and absolutely love wearing them.  That is, in case anyone was interested.

Morris and I came down through the woods and meandered along the creek.
What was our purpose?  To check fences of course and then to just wander and look at things.

We found some Self Heal growing in the woods.  This is commonly found in the pasture also.

The Elderberry bushes are beginning to blossom:

We found poison ivy [not in my woods or near the creek, but I thought I'd add it here because those who got into it last week did not recognize it and are suffering for it now.  It was located behind the mailbox and next to where they did all the work on the phone cable.]

This was hidden in with the native pink rose.

This was near the phone 'box' near the road.

Truly truly, if you live in a wooded area please be aware of these plants!

So Morris and I continued on our merry way through the creek.

He is a pretty smart little dog.  When it is hot.  He walks right in the creek instead of fighting the tall grass.  But when the creek gets too deep, he leaps to the bank and runs through the grass until he can drop back into the cooling waters.

 The grass is so tall!  He could get lost in it!

But being the 'cool' dog that he is.  He picked a shady spot and stood in it to cool off.

And then we found the dreaded Wild Parsnip.  The roots are good to eat in the early spring and late fall, this is an invasive weed.
If you break the plant while it is in blossom and get the sap on your exposed skin, and it gets exposed to sunlight, you will get a burn from it.
Not that I am going to test it out any time soon.

As a blossom, it is pretty though.

Last stop before going home was sitting in the creek on a boulder and cooling off a bit before hiking back home.
The gnats finally made it impossible to enjoy it any longer.

We had a wonderful time doing nothing but exploring.
Morris was very happy.

Morris was also very worn out when we did get home.
He napped on the couch the rest of the day.

Whatever you do, enjoy your summer days.
Remember, winter comes too soon!

Parading by Opal

It started with her calling me to come on over.  Val had the lead rope.
Sometimes the lead rope just means a grooming and brushing along with a bit of sweet feed.

And sometimes it means you get saddled up and ridden.

I guess this was the riding day.  She got me ALL gussied up.  Ribbons in my tail, a fancy necklace to wear with a brass bell, and a pretty colored blanket.

First stop was the neighborhood kids' place.  The whole family came out and that really nice girl came out and petted me on the head.  I don't let adults pet me, or get near me if I can help it.
But this girl is so nice.  I even think I like her as much as ... Val.

The other folks stood back and admired my sparkly blanket and remarked at how pretty I was.
Well isn't that nice, maybe humans aren't as terrible as I think they are.  At 28, I still don't trust strangers.

We had our photo taken by the little girl and off we went.

From what I understand, this was a Parade with only one mule.  Me.  I'd done one before with Fred.  He complained the whole time.
This one was nice as it was only me and her.

Most of the ride was pretty quiet.  We were up on the ridge where there was a nice breeze blowing and it kept the bugs away.

At the place where there is usually barking dogs that like to come out in the road an annoy you,...there were two ponies!

They came running to the fence nickering.  
"What you doing?"  
"You have a horrid human on your back!"
"What is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with your ears!"
"They are huuumongous!"

I gave them a glance.

"My ears are for hearing better than you.  My human is not horrid or she wouldn't dress me up special to take this ride.  Besides I am NOT in a fence and you are!  I am on an adventure.
Oh
And what is wrong with your ears?  I can barely see them?"

I snorted at them and walked proudly away.  Some Ponies don't know much.

At the bottom of the hill there was a whole bunch of human people and kid people.  They all called out to Val and asked her to stop so they could come and take pictures.  Val explained that this was the 5th Annual All Mule Parade In Folsom WI.  [Yeah, one mule parade]

They got all excited and wanted to pet me.  
I gave them the stink-eye as Val explained my non-human nature.

We continued on down a steep road and into a shady lane.  Val likes this road to go down...she usually takes the valley... but this was The Parade and we headed up back to the ridge.  
Our ride would take us 6 miles and would pass about 8 houses or farms.

 

Notice how relaxed I am.  Flopping ears tipped back to listen to Val tell me what a pretty girl I was.  What a good mule I was.  She even reached up and rubbed my ears.  Don't tell her I liked it.

 

On top of the ridge I saw some horses.  They looked up at me and whinnied.  The nerve, they didn't even come to the fence and talk.  Instead they took off like the dickens.
Must have thought I was a long eared monster mule.
Silly horses.

The traffic on the roads wasn't too bad, I didn't even have to yield.

 
But we did see two cars on the gravel road.  Talk about eatin' dust!
Soon we got to the Folsom School.  For some reason Val likes to have a photo of the school each year.
Something to prove she was in 'Folsom' I guess.

They put a pretty new red roof on the school since last year!

Then it was down the County Road towards home.  I didn't mind the black top, it was smooth and nice and trotting was easy.
Except.
Except...
....when those Mule Eatin' mailboxes presented themselves.  I simply had to turn and walk sideways past it.

Poor Val, she had no idea how lethal those things can be, she kept telling me it was OKAY.  Little did she know that us long ears know that mailboxes will literally launch themselves at you.
Well, that is, except the one at home where she gets the mail from.  I know that mailbox is friendly.

 
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet.  Nice blue skies and fluffy clouds.  Val even let me stop and graze a bit.
I think I could do this again some time soon!

All in all I think we saw 3 cars, 8 people, 2 dogs, and lots of farms.
It was a good day.
And I definitely looked most excellent in my red, whites, and blues.

July 4th One mule Parade

Well that is supposed to occur in a few hours.

We are enjoying a few days without rain and since today is one of those, I am getting saddled up and going for my 'All One Mule 4th of July Parade' in Folsom Wisconsin.

I am the Parade Master of Ceremony along with...
Parade Leader, Organizer, and Participant.

In the past Badger has always done the honors.  

He is gone now and Opal will take his place this year.  I still need to work on some confidence building with Siera.

I guess I don't need to say that I will never find another mule quite like Badger.

But I can sure try.

Opal will be doing the honors.
She will wear Badger's flag blanket.  She will wear Cheyanne's silver heart breast color...[Cheyanne did two 4th of July parades many years ago].

Opal will wear ribbons and a necklace with brass bells.
I'm looking forward to this year.

I miss my sometimes riding partner for this, but hopefully we can do one again together.

Anyway...
Have a wonderful day and stay safe.

 

Butt Puckering Ride and Flat Tire

Now you are asking how those two things relate.  Give me a minute or so.

First I saddled up Opal determined to get a ride in.  I wanted to see if the 'mule' trail I had through the woods was damaged or grown over.  I'd walked part of it the day before.

In hindsight.  I should have walked 'the second half' of that little trail to the creek before trying to ride it.

Oh well, hindsight is 20-20 right?

Let's also say thank you to Opal [don't mind the mangled mane, I cut it with scissors...].
Opal the experienced mule.
Opal who knows where the 'short' cut is supposed to be even if it is so overgrown that you cannot see it below her hooves.

Thank you to Opal for soldiering on through the mud, slop, and stuff she encountered.  How she delicately picked her way over fallen branches that were hidden in the undergrowth.

Thank you to Opal for peering over the washout bank and looking down...when my butt puckered in the saddle..
and she just put her hooves on the bank and slid straight down.  Without batting an eye she scrambled up the other side.
Just when I thought all was good we came to the last washout crossing.

She stopped and looked.  She dropped her head and seemed to be peering down.  Where there used to be a trail was a huge dropoff.  I saw it from the saddle and tried to see a way around it.
This was our old trail that led to the creek.  Normally a cake walk.
From the creek we had access to 100's of acres of forest.

She slowly backed away and sighed.  I sighed.
We turned and decided not to give up but go onward up the hill and around the hillside to where it meets the camp road.  Not an easy ride on a dry day.

We ducked tree branches, stepped over logs, followed deer trails, and eventually made our way above the camp road.

Down.
Down through brambles, ferns, limbs, and slippery footing underneath.  I gave her her head and let her pick the way.  It was steep enough that the crouper was tight on her tail.  She concentrated on keeping her feet underneath her and me on top.

Next thing I know the woods literally exploded with noise.  Two hen Turkeys erupted from the underbrush a few feet away.  I felt my insides quiver and my butt pucker once more.

Opal sighed and continued as if my spook was but a mere nuisance.

We safely made it to the camp road and the rest was easy.
Now there are no photos of the butt puckering part.
I think you should know that I was just concentrating on staying calm and collected.

I was concentrating on where we were going and what we were doing.  So many things have changed on the old logging trails.  They are nothing but single foot trails now.  Mother Nature is taking the woods back.
I rode above the 'back valley'.  You could see where the water had blazed through the bottom.
I left that exploration by Mule Back for another time when I had another person with me.
No sense in taking risks alone right?

The rest of our ride was rather uneventful.
How is it that a mule can have horrid terrain and not spook one bit?  Give them an open easy field and a track to follow...and even the weeds begin to look suspicious.
Or maybe it is just Opal.

Anyway. It was a great ride.

When I got home I put the ol' girl away and hopped on the riding mower.  My second ride of the day.  I wanted to help my husband out who was clipping The Merry Meadow.

I made one pass and looked down.
Flat Tire.

Huh.
So ended my day of riding.

But all in all it was a great day.