We have had perfect weather the last two days with sunshine and temperatures in the low-70s F. A very welcome change from the cold rain we have been having.
Yesterday, to take advantage of this glorious day, Ward and I visited some old and new-to-us trails. We were looking for mostly paved trails, hoping to find less mud there. We succeeded.
The first walk was a new trail that took us beside woods and long-abandoned houses. While it wasn't pristine nature, it was still interesting to imagine the lives that were lived there before nature began reclaiming it.
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| This roof was all the way on the ground. We tried to determine the sequence of events that led to this. |
Next, we went to a trail we hadn't been on for a while. It is in a stream valley, and much of it is on a boardwalk, so it was a good candidate for a muddy day.
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| On the hill next to the trail, we found an old family cemetery. |
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| The house with the cemetery was no longer there, but daffodils and crocuses were marking where it had been. |
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| One of the first things I noticed on the trail was that skunk cabbage was starting to come up. |
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| One of the first things Ward noticed was how this bridge was built. And that's the way it usually goes. I notice plants, and he notices structures. When we are together, we both are shown things we wouldn't normally pay attention to. It works out nicely. |
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| We didn't see much green, but we did see interesting fungi. |
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| But the real stars of the day were the wood frogs, who were croaking loudly in every bit of standing water we came across. I spent too long trying to embed the video with the sound without success, so you'll have to Google it* if you want to hear what they sounded like. But they were singing their hearts out, looking for a mate. *https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CbQrorDMPTc?feature=share |
Until next time...
