Early Morning

Good morning!
I love the early mornings!
Just a few sunrise and early morning pictures I have taken.

Enjoy your day!

September 14, 2013 - Hike Along the Middlefork River

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.

Collecting Mullein Leaves...and hiking

I ventured out over the past weekend for a few hours. It was a nice winter day, with temps in the 20s, so not bad to be out and about. I chose an area that I normally do not go to that often. It is just across the river from where I was on New Years day, but to get there adds about 8 miles or more to my trip; with the exception of last summer when it was so dry that I was able to cross the river easily in many places.

Getting to the area; I had to drive through a wooded area and up a hill that was quite snow packed and slick, with the rear end of my car doing a bit of fancy movement before I got to the top. That hill was on my mind the whole time I was hiking, but coming home, I took it very slowly going down it with no problem

I cut through a campground that is designated as a horse campground, for people that use the local horseback trails that are on the public land. I would normally avoid that, as the people and their horses do not really appreciate the fun my dog has scaring the horses, but on this day the place was totally abandoned, so no problem with that.

As I walked through the woods, I detected the odor of decaying flesh. I moved back and forth, worked my way upwind, and located the carcass of a doe.



The river is running nicely, but was freezing over wherever the current was not moving fast enough. In the time since then, it has began warming up, so some of that ice will break up and disappear soon, if not already. Emma loves to go out and walk or run along on the ice. She made me nervous though venturing out on this ice, that was just downstream a short distance from faster moving water.




I would not walk along this tree trunk with the snow on it!


And as noted in the title, I did collect some Mullein leaves. I dry these and use them to make tea; for use when I have a cold, sore throat, or respiratory problems. I have read of people that smoke it or inhale the smoke vapor to treat the same conditions; and they say it is helpful. My personal opinion is that I see no benefit to myself of inhaling smoke when I have a respiratory problem.....but perhaps it does help some people.

Mullein is a very hardy plant, and as I did on this day, you can sometimes find plants with florets of green leaves even in the winter.

This is a typical dead Mullein plant with the trademark stalk full of seeds. The stalks are a very attractive yellow during the summer months, and we have some planted at home as landscaping.


Close up of the stalk.


Close up of the leaves on the dead plant. It did not occur to me at the time, but I could have gathered these
 leaves for use. I have done that with dead Goldenrod plants with good results.


Typical wintering plant.


Some of the leaves that I collected.



And just a picture of the dead flowers/seed head of a plant. It somewhat resembles Goldenrod, but I do not know it's identity.


It was a nice relaxing day. As always, it was nice to be out there, no one else around, with just the sound of the wind and flowing water. I headed back home, downloaded pictures, and spread my leaves to dry. They will soon be dry enough to make tea.

To do that, I normally will just put a leaf or two into a teapot, bring to boil, let simmer, then drink; sometimes adding sugar or honey. Too many leaves makes a very strong and bitter tea....so I have learned to start with one or two and add as needed.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Afternoon

Archery deer season has begun here. I am not a deer hunter; but please do not read that as an anti-hunting statement. I enjoy venison and wish the hunters success. If any of my hunting friends need help setting up, finding a good spot, or any assistance with a deer, I am willing to help. I just have not gotten the "fire and desire" to give it a worthwhile try and at my age, will probably forgo that.

To provide as little disruption as possible to hunters, I chose to go for a hike early last Saturday afternoon, hoping to be out between their normal morning and late afternoon hunting times. I headed out to the closest area; walked  through a grown up old pasture area, back to a wooded area, where there is marsh. Along the way, I passed a tree stand.

We are getting some very nice Fall colors now, better than I had expected following our severe drought and very hot summer.

The marsh areas are a bit low, from the dry summer, but still back into some of the wooded areas a bit.

Looking across the very upper end of the marsh, where it blends into a very small feeder stream that is hidden away in the tall grass.

Looking out over the main body of the marsh. The marsh areas have been created by the county park management; to duplicate what was once very common in my area, until the early settlers drained the marsh land for farm land.

A hornets nest hanging in a tree over a small stream.

Once again; that old familiar odor was filling my nostrils...that of a dead deer. I knew it was very near and was determined to find it. Another clue was that there was a large number of Turkey Vultures in the trees and flying about that I had disturbed from feeding.

After searching about, I finally found the carcass. It was on the other side of a small finger of the marsh from where I first got it's scent. My dog found it before me, and was eating some of the VERY rotten and maggot infested meat. It was a small 8 point buck, and I assume another victim of the virus that was so rough on our deer population this year.

On the way back to my vehicle, I found that a hunter was in the stand that I had passed. I stopped and had a nice visit with him. He was very understanding about me passing through the area, especially since he had chosen a spot that is close to the road and easily accesible.

Thanks for stopping by!