Well here it is the middle of September; and I see that this blog has not been updated since January. My goal is to get regular updates posted again. I had problems uploading pictures for a while, but that seems to be solved.
September 14
This is a memorable date for me. On this date in 1972, my grandfather Selby Hopkins passed away while hunting Ginseng in the Shelbyville, Illinois area. He was 77 years old. His doctor had told him he should no longer get out in the woods; hiking, digging ginseng, and the other roots he collected. He chose to do so anyway, and in my opinion passed away just where he probably wished. Then on this date in 1986, our son was born. I did not realize the coincidence of that, until just a few years ago when I found information from my grandfather's funeral.
.........Now to get this latest post....and revival to my blog underway!......
What follows are just a few pictures I took when hiking along the river. These first three show the great love that beavers have for corn. They stripped this are, about 10 rows, pulled it down their well traveled path, and into the river. I found a den under tree roots just downstream from their path.
As I stepped from the brush along the river; I spotted this doe, downstream a bit and on the opposite bank. She spotted my movement, but I immediately sat down and after a bit, she ignored my presence. I eventually saw that there were two other does and a buck. I noticed that they are now getting their fall and winter color to their coat; losing the reddish hue that makes them stank out in the spring and summer. I watched all for a while, till they moved away, then I continued on my way.
...and as is not uncommon; I picked up the very distinctive odor of something dead. It did not take me long to find this deer carcass, that the scavengers are working on. Last year I found at least one carcass every time I was out. I believe if you go back to posts on my blog from that time, you will see those and reference to the Blue Tongue disease that killed so many deer last year, during our drought.
I picked a couple of clusters of these wild grapes to snack on as I hiked. They are a bit tart, but a nice treat.
Since I did mention at the beginning that I was hiking along the river; following are a few pictures of the Middlefork River.
There was still a morning mist rising off the water when I first arrived.
We are now beginning to get a bit of fall color.
A bend of the river. Heavy wooded area to the right. A nice restored prairie area on the left.
There are a few areas where you can just about cross the river without getting your feet wet. We have not had any significant rainfall here for a couple of months and the river is low. I kayaked through this area, over the now exposed rocks back in June.
As always, thanks so much for stopping by! If you are able, get out and enjoy the great outdoors in your area.
Looks like it could be a colorful fall along the Middlefork. It always surprised me when I lived over how few people went out and enjoyed that river. Looks like the beavers really could hurt a corn field. I saw some coyote scat this morning and it looks like they have been eating some corn too.
ReplyDeleteI would not have thought coyotes would eat corn, but they are very adaptable. It surprised me a few years ago, when I discovered the big sections of corn that beavers were clearing out and pulling the stalks down to the river.
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