A Visit With My Sister - Part 2

My sister was visiting and we had so much trouble finding a snow free place to take the dogs, that our next attempt was in the camping area of Brasher State Forest:

The tall White Pines seemed to have protected us from late snows, and we had the added benefit of outhouses, just in case the need arose:

And it was indeed a beautiful area:

We never walked far from the road, but instead walked parallel to it as we passed beneath the pines:

This area was a former CCC project, and in some places it was obvious that these trees had been planted in rows:

The dogs were happy and didn't mind getting their feet wet at all. In fact, I think they enjoyed it:

We began heading back toward the road:

Almost to the road, I stopped for a photo of my sister:

And then we crossed the road and walked out on a peninsula which jutted into the reservoir, also a CCC project:

The dogs ran and played, alternating with stops to smell who had been there before:

They sipped the clean water, then continued running:

Alas, a freezing rain began, driving us back to the car. Though this was a fun visit by my sister, I cannot say the weather cooperated:

County Route 47, Town Of Stockholm And Norfolk - Part 3

I was touring rural County Route 47 (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously) and came to this impressive sight with barns, silos, grain bins, farm equipment and a row of antique tractors:

A small house sat off behind some trees and I couldn't tell if anyone lived there or not. I also noticed the old fashioned outhouse with a crescent cutout on the door:

Lovely barns, an inviting pastoral scene:

A farm house with barns out back and Christmas decorations by the front porch:

Barns and a silo:

More barns and a silo:

This old barn appeared to be no longer used, and the silo was of the old fashioned wooden type:

Well, I didn't have to guess if this house was lived in or not. The parked car, however, was a mystery:

An extensive and elaborate farm, a beautiful sight on a winter's day:

An older barn, silo and farm house. They were also the end of my driving tour, so I turned around and headed back the way I'd come:

Brasher State Forest - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking through the White Pines in the Brasher State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

We were a merry band of explorers as we searched the forest to see what we could see (or in the dogs' case, to smell what they could smell):

Clover paused beside a vernal pond, of which there were many. Sadly, it was still too early to hear any frogs:

I took this photo by accident, but liked it when I got home and looked through my pictures. It shows all five dogs, including Seamus' head in the foreground and orange colored Jack, just visible up ahead among the White Pines:

I searched for ways around the wet spots, and Fergus and Seamus had by then tired themselves out enough to follow me without too much running ahead:

Soon we caught a glimpse of our car off through the trees. There is an advantage to having a red car:

So we all headed in that direction with renewed vigor:

The forest access road had very little traffic so I didn't even worry about the dogs going in the road:

Seamus and Daphne stopped for a quick sniff at the outhouse:

And then we finished our hike, loaded up into the car and headed for home. It had been a fine day:

Brasher State Forest - Part 1

We began our walk in the woods near an outhouse in the camping area, partly because we'd never explored that area before and partly because I had an inkling I might not want to get too far from an outhouse on that day. The dogs didn't care where we went. It was all good for them:


 We passed by the outhouse and into the forest, nearly 100% White Pines:

The dogs ran and sniffed, as is their custom:

And the forest did indeed appear magical after such a long, arduous winter. At times, a golden light seemed to reach down through the tree canopy and light up the pooches down below:

I was not surprised to find patches of snow remaining. In fact, I was surprised to find so little snow. As I keep saying, we had a particularly rigorous winter:

I stopped to examine the Tree Club Moss, commonly called Princess Pine, scattered among the White Pine cones and needles, Beech tree leaves and dead grass:

We entered into a section of forest with much smaller trees and I began wondering what species they were. They weren't Balsam Fir. Perhaps I was thrown off by the pile of Birch wood in the foreground, but I was embarrassed to discover, upon looking way up into the canopy, that they were all White Pines. It's just that they were younger White Pines than the ones we'd seen so far:

Seamus and Fergus found these small trees a delight to run through:

We arrived at a brushier area, and that too was just fine with Seamus:

The three little dogs seemed to enjoy the snow. Perhaps they'd just become accustomed to it after such a severe winter. But there was yet more to see, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Winter Arrives

Our early winter continued to be mild and the chickens got lots of outdoor time:

They fanned out across the rotting, windfall apples and searched for anything edible:

Then one day we had an ice storm and the chickens stayed indoors. The Wild Cucumber vines were covered with ice:

The grass seed heads were covered with crystalline ice:

And the Cedar branches and cones were covered with ice:

Then it began to snow. I took a drive down the dirt road to see winter beginning to form in the surrounding forest:

The first snows are usually beautiful, and this was no exception:

Beech trees continued to hold onto their leaves and the pine needles held onto the newly fallen snow:

The woodlands seemed inviting, a place to escape the falling snow:

It was all quite beautiful:

The snow continued to fall, but it wasn't until that night that winter really hit us with cold temperatures, high winds and a combination of snow and ice. I began letting the cows sleep inside the barn at night:

Eli, my Amish neighbor, has no tractor, automobile or snowplow - but he seems to have few problems with the winter weather. As for going outside to use the outhouse, I'm glad I don't have to do it: