Happy Haunted Halloween - Part 2

Evil lurks this night of nights
And spreads its fear inside your house,
Causing howls and chills and frights
Creatures are stirring, not just a mouse:

A tiger comes from jungles deep
To haunt your very dreams,
To make your jitters upwards creep
Here to stay, or so it seems:

A scary thing with ghoulish howl
Has come to frighten all tonight,
A monster clad in pumpkin cowl
Will put your family all to flight:

From darkest jungles comes the panther
to haunt your every thought,
"I'm afraid" will be your answer
Fearing that you will be caught:

The blue-haired monster rises up
To give you quite a start,
Your dreams he's going to interrupt
And bring a terror to your heart:

Fear the fallen angel too
Who flits about your inward spaces,
Screaming, howling, shouting "Boo!"
Putting terror on all your faces:

Most fearful is the evil witch
With braided orange hair,
She'll make you have a nervous twitch
Then fly on broomstick out of there:

And jungle cats from nightmares past
Haunt your dreams and steel your sleep,
Fear has arrived, the die is cast
Arrived from gloomy jungles deep:

But don't be fooled by cutesy bunnies,
They'll try to trick you into being slow,
Don't let them coo and call you "Honey"
They're really monsters from below:

And, worst of all, the wicked devil
With horns on head and scarlet wings,
Don't trust him, he's not on the level
Fear and dread are his offerings:

So Halloween is almost upon us
The night when all these fearful critters
Haunt the night and cause a ruckus
And turn the bold to timid quitters:

Happy Haunted Halloween - Part 1

When ghosts and goblins fill the night
With howls and chilling screams,
I'll keep an eye out for the sight
Of monsters from my dreams:

Beware the she-wolf in disguise
With bloody fangs and claws,
In wait for wayward prey she lies
To chomp them in her mighty jaws:

The spotted panther rules the night
And frightens young and old,
He sends the stalwart into flight
His haunting is both sly and bold:

Beware the monsters hiding there
Inside your closet, beneath your bed,
They'll try to fool you with white hair
And haunt you on the night of the dead:

Do not be fooled by ghostly white,
Do not be taken unawares,
On Halloween there's things which bite
As monsters come out from their lairs:

And snarky, ghoulish fireflies
Who try to look all bookish,
Whose hauntings cause such frightened cries
They'll also steal your cookies:
................ (Hey, you try to rhyme something with "bookish")

Don't trust the ranger in his hat
For he's a monster too,
He cannot help it if he's fat
He's only here for haunting you:

The cackling, evil witch has come
To give you quite a scare,
Her bloody fangs will bite your thumb
Don't try to tame her, don't you dare:

Behold the cross-dressing Chinese dog,
Don't think he cannot haunt you too,
He's come to haunt this silly blog
And wears a scary blue tutu:

Along the floor boards creeps the mouse
He frightens young and old,
He's turned your home to haunted house
And now this story is almost told:

Halloween is nearly here
With all its scary things,
Beware the monsters shown above
And the fear their haunting brings:

Martin Dunham Reservoir Hike - Part 6

I was hiking the perimeter of Duham Reservoir with four of my dogs. This nice lake is a little known gem across the highway from the better known, busier parts of Grafton Lakes State Park. We'd hiked southward down the western shore of the lake (see previous posts) and were now hiking back northward on the eastern side. This trail climbed high up into the surrounding hills and deep forests:

I stopped with the dogs for a photo:

The forests were mixed hardwoods and spruce. They were quiet, with the only sounds the wind in the tree tops, our footsteps in the fallen leaves and the dogs' tinkling ID tags:

We came to a small stream:


The spruce stands looked dark and mysterious to me, reminding me of my childhood imaginings of the Black Forest. Even the dogs seemed subdued, though there were many possible explanations for their quieter behavior:

I climbed up onto a rocky outcropping and rested a bit:

The dogs scouted the woods for danger:

And then Seamus came over and sat down for a rest near me:

Daphne and Clover had a bit more exploring to do:

Then Fergus came over to me and relaxed;

Eventually all four dogs calmed themselves and we had a bit of quiet meditation on the beauties of the forest:

A pause by a stream:


But it was soon time to hike on and once again return to the little red car waiting back at the trail head:

The four of us proceeded with great joy through the colorful woodland. Eventually the trail took us back down to the edge of the lake, but by then my camera had run out of memory:

Martin Dunham Reservoir Hike - Part 5

We were stopped dead in our tracks by this very deep, very fast moving feeder stream rushing its way into the reservoir. There was absolutely no chance of rock hopping across it, so the dogs and I began tracing it upstream looking for a fallen log to use as a bridge:

Though it may not look like it in the photo, most of this stream was 3 to 4 feet deep and, and as I said, moving swiftly towards the reservoir. I kept the dogs on leashes just to be safe:

I saw a fallen log crossing the river up ahead and walked toward it. And once we'd arrived, I discovered an actual, honest-to-goodness bridge crossing the rushing stream. I'd apparently strayed from the official trail. Figuring that all danger was past, I again let the dogs off their leashes as we crossed the bridge:

The momentous "Crossing O' The Bridge:"


The trail soon ended at a small dirt road. Clover ran into someone's yard and refused to come when called. I walked down after her and met a very nice couple who were out in their yard gardening. Thankfully, they loved dogs and especially Papillons and Standard Poodles. They explained to me that I'd reached the southern end of the lake and would have to travel by road around the tip of the lake and pick up a new trail to take me back up the opposite side of the reservoir. This meant a mile or two walking roads, but there was little traffic and there were some nice views:

I made a couple of excursions off the road and into the woods:

And explored a dock with the dogs:

Seamus and Fergus consider themselves to have "sea legs," unperturbed by the rising and falling of the dock. The Papillons didn't much like the wave action:

We eventually found our way back into the woods following a trail northward along the eastern length of the reservoir:

This trail did not hug the shoreline but climbed up into the adjacent hills and had a very different feel to it. So our adventure continued. I'll post more tomorrow:

Martin Dunham Reservoir Hike - Part 4

My four hiking dogs were accompanying me on an autumn hike around the perimeter of Martin Dunham Reservoir in Grafton, New York on a fine Sunday in October (see previous three posts). The day's weather was alternately sunny and cloudy, but at any time, the leaf colors were beautiful. We had both the trails and the lake to ourselves, so I let the silly puppies run to their hearts' content:

The forest was still and quiet, the lake almost without ripples. But the earthy aroma of fallen leaves filled the air. It was a fine day to be alive and I had the fine company of four very happy dogs:

My spirits were high as I began to consider this one of the finest hikes I'd ever taken:

The dogs were pretty darn elated about it all as well:

Daphne made an exploratory trip to the shoreline:

And Clover considered a brief swim but then decided against it:

The dogs at the shoreline:


Always there was joyful, exuberant puppy racing:

And I was taking so many pictures that I was beginning to wonder how I'd find time to sort and edit them. Well, never mind. The hiking experience was grand:

I began to hear the sound of rushing water as we approached the southern end of the lake and guessed that we were nearing the spillway. I was unsure what we might find so I put the dogs on leashes. We soon arrived at a very deep, rushing feeder stream. This was over four feet deep and moving very fast. It appeared uncrossable, but I'll post more about that tomorrow: