A Walk In The Woods

I am almost caught on up the posts that have been sitting in my draft folder for months, which is why some of these blogs may seem redundant. I do spend a lot of time at Forney Creek and my puppies regularly make me smile and do ridiculous things that I want to remember for always; hence what appears to be (but is actually not) duplicate posts about the same places seemingly over and over again. 

Because we are lucky enough to live near trails that not too many people frequent, I am almost always able to unleash our pups and let them run free while I am walking through the woods. I love this for them as I can see how happy they are running around like nuts and seeking out the places their noses bring them. Plus, an added benefit for me is that it tires them both out in a way that walking on a leash does not. Anyone with a dog under two can attest that tiring out a puppy is a godsend. 

This puppy loves sticks in a way none of our other dogs have before. And it's weird because he only likes certain sticks, although to my human eye I cannot tell what makes a good stick worthy of playing with verse a bad one, but Miles sure knows. 

Taking a hiking break to chew on his stick for a moment or two. 

There is a very small wooden deck that I am standing on with a beaver den right behind it. The path in front of us tends to flood when it rains which makes it a little bit scary for me as there is a good amount of water year-round on the left and right of this narrow trail. 

Miles has been so good for Max in so many ways. Before Miles, Maxi did not play like a dog. Now he does - even if he's not as exuberant as Miles would like him to be. 

Now for a little dip in the swampy waters too cool off. (Ew,)

This 5-pointed leaf caught my eye. I thought it was cool. 

This kid will go to the ends of the earth to try and make new friends. He isn't specie specific either. Dogs, cats, ducks, geese, birds, deer...you name it, and Miles will try and be friends with it. Here is trying to swim out to some Mallards to make friends with them. They, obviously, have no desire to do so. 

Trying again to befriend the Mallards...

And again...

I thought this spider web was both extremely cool and extremely scary. It was huge! (Not to mention the freaking ginormous spider in the center of it. Eek!)

A storm had recently brought down this tree and the park rangers decided to make a spot to sit at the end of the trail before heading back the 2+ miles to the trailhead. 

I was trying to count the rings to see how old this tree was, but wasn't very successful. I then looked at the growth of the rings to see which years were very wet and which were dry, drought-like conditions. 

A foggy, misty morning over the pond. 

Max digging to China while his buddy looks on and supports him. 

I was trying to take a picture of some mushrooms that I had found, and just as I snapped my picture a little boy I know got right into the frame, stealing the show. 

Said mushrooms.

The work of the beavers.

One of my all-time favorite pictures of this guy. Running at full speed, ears flapping, tongue hanging out of his mouth coming to get his buddy Max,

Those ears!

Miles would swim in manure if there was enough water in it. That little boy loves, loves, loves to swim. Max is a bit more discriminating in his watering holes.  

The beaver dam. I swear these two ding-dongs are going to fall through the roof of the beaver family's home one of these days. 

More shenanigans

 

A Walk Here and There

I have been spending a lot of time out of doors these last 6 months or so. For a while I was walking a semi-cleared trail next to our development, but that was stopped when I ran into a hunter on that property who told me that it was hunting season, and it wasn't a good idea to be on the private land at the time. (We haven't been back since.) I then decided to make regular forays to Forney Creek instead. The trails are sparsely populated and the park is close to our home.  It is about 5-7 minutes away depending on the traffic which is perfect for weekday outings. 

 I would say that I head out there with Max and Miles about 3-4 times a week. We walk between 3 and 4.75 miles depending on the trail we pick, and we tend to walk in the early morning hours just as the dawn is breaking. Sometimes, though, we do walk those trails in the later morning or afternoon hours and the change of lighting and change of time can make it feel like a completely different environment, yet exactly the same in some weird juxtaposition. 

I almost always find things that fascinate me when I walk in Forney Creek. Whether it is the way the light hits a certain part of the pathway, or a flower that has just begun to bloom, or a hollowed-out tree trunk that I just know houses some sweet little creature - I often find myself taking my phone out of my pocket to capture some little thing that catches my eye. Mostly these things are just average ordinary things, but that is the exact thing that I find so magical about them. These images I find in my camera after a morning or afternoon on the trail are just average, every day, ordinary moments in time. The exact ones that are so easy to forget but are the ones that make up a life; that also makes them the most important ones to try and remember. 

If you look carefully, you can see the spider web I was trying to capture. In the upper part of the picture there is a yellowish ball - that is actually a spider!

Do you see that huge freaking brown spider?! 

This is part of the land beside our development. It has recently been cleared (or at least a portion of it has been) and survey roads roam all through the large tract of land. 

Maxi taking a break from our hiking shenanigans. 

Miles goading Maxi to play with him. 

Of course, Miles won. 

Maxi thought he finally got rid of his rascally little brother but...

Nope!

"Max, play with me, play with me, play with me!"

This goddamn snake scared the shit out of me. It was obviously in the tree branches, but it was super close to the trail which I did not like at all. 

I freaking hate snakes. Hate them. These rat snakes are especially loathsome because they grow to be so long which in my mind the bigger the snake the scarier it is - wait what the hell am I saying?! All snakes are scary. Thank goodness they are nonvenomous, but I still hate seeing them. 

Back by our house again...

And back to Forney Creek...