Tuesday, October 26, 2010
bog october 2010 002
The boardwalk in the bog, of course. I walk the dogs there every weekend. Yes, that's snow. Looks more like confectioners' sugar, though. I walked it nearly every morning in the summer, but it's too dark now. Who wants to take a morning walk using a flashlight? Well, The Ladies wouldn't mind, of this I'm sure.
bog october 2010 013
This is better, though it looks sort of more like a daisy than a paw print. I call them foot prints, but of course they're paw prints. I also call the dogs' muzzles their noses, their hind ends their butts, and I talk to them, pretending they understand all I say. They have a pretty good vocabulary. They come when I call "Ladies!". They know "get in your cage," "get in the car," "want to go for a walk?," "go to bed," "HUNGRY!" "EAT!", "DINNER TIME," "Want some LUNCH?", and of course MILK BONE. They are multi-lingual when it comes to Milk Bones. They know "treat," "biscuit," and Milk Bone.
bog october 2010 016
Chances waiting and observing, while Tess does her best imitation of The Flying Dog. Notice her ears. how cute.
The gold trees are tamaracks/larches. They're the last trees to offer color there. People often think tamaracks are fir trees, but they're deciduous. What look like needles are leaves, shed in the fall. They have the most beautiful bright, bright green color (what we used to call Tamarack Green) in the spring.
A friend of mine has a row of big tamaracks in front of her house. Nice. I used to have a bunch of them lining the road by my house, but the town cut them down to make room for the snow plow. How could I argue with that? I need to have the road plowed, but I really minded losing the trees. I'd been watching them grow for many years. They were proud trees. I have a lot of them growing on the north side of the house, where it must be damp, since they like to have their feet wet. I'm watching them get taller. There's one on the south side that's doing really well. It got all bent over from an early snow storm, but I tied it to another tree and it almost points straight to the sky now. I have a great fondness for that tree.
The gold trees are tamaracks/larches. They're the last trees to offer color there. People often think tamaracks are fir trees, but they're deciduous. What look like needles are leaves, shed in the fall. They have the most beautiful bright, bright green color (what we used to call Tamarack Green) in the spring.
A friend of mine has a row of big tamaracks in front of her house. Nice. I used to have a bunch of them lining the road by my house, but the town cut them down to make room for the snow plow. How could I argue with that? I need to have the road plowed, but I really minded losing the trees. I'd been watching them grow for many years. They were proud trees. I have a lot of them growing on the north side of the house, where it must be damp, since they like to have their feet wet. I'm watching them get taller. There's one on the south side that's doing really well. It got all bent over from an early snow storm, but I tied it to another tree and it almost points straight to the sky now. I have a great fondness for that tree.
bog october 2010 017
It's impossible NOT to take a lot of pictures of this. Not just the trees, but also Chances Are.
bog october 2010 036
Leaf of big-tooth aspen. How do I know we have those in Hawkeye? I learned a lot being married to a forester/logger. These are among the last leaves with color--the beeches are brown, and their leaves stay on all winter (I don't know why), other aspens are yellow and gold, and the few red oaks we have are (surprise!) red. And the tamaraks, of course.
bog october 2010 025
yes it's real. No, it's not alive. Tess found it, staring at it for a while, waiting for it to move.
bog october 2010 028
A future Christmas tree--this one shows great potential.
When I was married we would cut down 40-foot tall balsams (always balsams--our parents taught us that that's the only kind of tree appropriate for a Christmas tree) and cut off the top 6 or so feet to use for our trees. A few times we took friends along to get trees, and we always cut one for J's parents. Is this tree cruelty, wasteful? Not really--balsams only live so long, then they rot and fall down. How may balsam bodies did we leave in the forest? A lot. Mostly we took trees from our land (where I now live) and had to drag them out to the hardtop, half a mile. This was before the road was plowed so sometimes the snow was really deep. What dedication to tradition!
When I was married we would cut down 40-foot tall balsams (always balsams--our parents taught us that that's the only kind of tree appropriate for a Christmas tree) and cut off the top 6 or so feet to use for our trees. A few times we took friends along to get trees, and we always cut one for J's parents. Is this tree cruelty, wasteful? Not really--balsams only live so long, then they rot and fall down. How may balsam bodies did we leave in the forest? A lot. Mostly we took trees from our land (where I now live) and had to drag them out to the hardtop, half a mile. This was before the road was plowed so sometimes the snow was really deep. What dedication to tradition!
bog october 2010 030
This is what the riding ring used by the girls' camp now looks like. Birch trees are usually the first hardwood to start the process of reclaiming the forest.
When my sister and I were girls we were obsessed with horses. There was a girls' camp up the lake from us that had horses and the girls got to take riding lessons. We befriended the instructor, named "Mr. John," and would watch the riding lessons pretty much every morning. We got to be pretty well known, but only as "those two who watch us ride every day." There was a horse show at the end of the season, and we were introduced to the group by the camp's owner.
Our dream of riding in the ring came true the last year Mr. John was there. He let us ride our picks of the 7 or so horses he had (he owned the horses & brought them every summer), and for as long as we wanted. Talk about ecstasy!. We could never ride because of insurance, etc. liability. Now that I think of it, that was a little strange because they were HIS horses. Anyway, we had a grand time that day, it's something we both remember fondly.
My cousin, who sometimes accompanied us to the ring, found Mr. John not too long ago, got in touch with him & visited him. She photographed him and sent me a picture. I could recognize him, even 45 years later. How cool is that? Well not so strange when you consider he was someone who played a really important role in our lives. We learned a lot about riding and horses from him. Like, which diagonal you have the horse trot on, how to change leads when the horse is cantering, that horses bite, how to get into the saddle, and oh, so many oher things.
When my sister and I were girls we were obsessed with horses. There was a girls' camp up the lake from us that had horses and the girls got to take riding lessons. We befriended the instructor, named "Mr. John," and would watch the riding lessons pretty much every morning. We got to be pretty well known, but only as "those two who watch us ride every day." There was a horse show at the end of the season, and we were introduced to the group by the camp's owner.
Our dream of riding in the ring came true the last year Mr. John was there. He let us ride our picks of the 7 or so horses he had (he owned the horses & brought them every summer), and for as long as we wanted. Talk about ecstasy!. We could never ride because of insurance, etc. liability. Now that I think of it, that was a little strange because they were HIS horses. Anyway, we had a grand time that day, it's something we both remember fondly.
My cousin, who sometimes accompanied us to the ring, found Mr. John not too long ago, got in touch with him & visited him. She photographed him and sent me a picture. I could recognize him, even 45 years later. How cool is that? Well not so strange when you consider he was someone who played a really important role in our lives. We learned a lot about riding and horses from him. Like, which diagonal you have the horse trot on, how to change leads when the horse is cantering, that horses bite, how to get into the saddle, and oh, so many oher things.
bog october 2010 033
This is about all the evidence left to show there was ever horsey actvity around.
Tess is trying to figure out what it is, and why anyone would want a picture of it. As well she might.
Tess is trying to figure out what it is, and why anyone would want a picture of it. As well she might.
bog october 2010 041
And here's the cabin that Mr. John stayed in (can you find it?). Some friends of mine from the rival camp called it "Hernndo's Hideaway." It's up on a little rise. Very few people know that I own it, and probably even fewer know it exists. It used to be clearly visibile, but in my neighborhood everything disappears into the forest sooner or later.
bog october 2010 044
Here it is! It seems to be listing to one side--maybe it finally fell off of its cinder blocks.
Friday, October 22, 2010
sheep fall oct 2010 003
Not much color left. This is a pretty spot, part of Terry Mountain. There's a huge tower on top of the mountain, a TV station's. I met someone who changes the light bulb at the top of the tower. I can't imagine doing that, but the view from there must be amazing. The tower is tall, really tall.
sheep fall oct 2010 008
So, is it just because farm animals are curious, or is there something strange about me? This sheep is looking at me, staring at me. What's up with that?
These are sheep owned by my friends Lin & Ralph. L & R are good friends and I love visiting with them (not just because of the sheep). We've had a lot of meals together. L is a great cook, plus we used to go out for dinner every Friday night. R is notorious for always ordering the same thing: fried spring chicken. All I know about a spring chicken is that we use it to describe people. Like, I'm not one.
The structures on the hill are full of wood, cut and marked by R. He has a great collection of wood that will be used for making tops of guitars, violins, violas, cellos and other instruments. Adirondack wood is highy desireable. Heck, everything about the Adks is.
These are sheep owned by my friends Lin & Ralph. L & R are good friends and I love visiting with them (not just because of the sheep). We've had a lot of meals together. L is a great cook, plus we used to go out for dinner every Friday night. R is notorious for always ordering the same thing: fried spring chicken. All I know about a spring chicken is that we use it to describe people. Like, I'm not one.
The structures on the hill are full of wood, cut and marked by R. He has a great collection of wood that will be used for making tops of guitars, violins, violas, cellos and other instruments. Adirondack wood is highy desireable. Heck, everything about the Adks is.
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