West Parishville State Forest - Part 1

Another fine August day, another trip to a new (for me) local state forest with the dogs, this time to the West Parishville State Forest. I pulled about a hundred feet off the road and parked in the forest, and one of the first things I noticed was this brilliantly colored Bigtooth Aspen leaf. Yes, tree leaves are beginning to turn autumn colors already:

But it was a fine day in a beautiful location, so I let the dogs loose and they exploded with joy - so much so, in fact, that I had to yell at them to keep them from running too far ahead:

We veered off the trail early, in order to explore this stand of Scotch Pines growing in a carpet of moss. Daphne gave me her biggest smile:

Seamus looked almost skinny with his new haircut, and he seemed to feel extra energetic without all that fur he had been carrying:

Fergus, Jack and Daphne smelled something worrisome, for they stopped running and proceeded cautiously into a mossy clearing. Whatever they smelled was long gone, however:

There were yellow mushrooms growing in lots of places:

Seamus wasn't the only one with a new haircut. Just look at how spiffy Fergus looks:

The trail began as an all purpose trail, open to hikers, horses, skiers, snowmobiles, ATVs and cars. But this was pretty remote country and we saw no one all the time we were there:

Black-Eyed Susans bloomed wherever the sun got through the tree canopy to the ground:

And it was a happy excursion for all of us, though I'll admit I did have to yell at the dogs a lot at first:

Most of my wildflower photos were duds, but this one came out alright. I searched my field guide and decided it was Germander, a member of the mint family. The leaves didn't quite match, but then I saw a variety called littorale, which has narrower leaves - just like these plants:

The all purpose trail ended at private property, but a foot trail spurred off into the deep forest. Now this was more like it! I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

The Herd

It's been a peaceful and relatively cool summer for cattle and horses:

Of course the arrival of Teddy, the rented bull, shook things up briefly:

The presence of Teddy kept me out of the field unless I was on the tractor, but he caused no problems:

Whether or not Teddy impregnated all the cows remains to be seen. I won't know until next year. Two of my cows, Amy and Scarlett, could possibly be pregnant from earlier artificial insemination. If so, they should be due in October and January:

Teddy and his red harem looked picturesque in the south field:

And Teddy often walked off alone, leaving the six cows to keep themselves company:

Much of the time, the little horses made themselves part of the herd. I had feared that Teddy might hurt them, but once introduced, Teddy, Blue and Remy seemed to become friends:

Despite a lot of grass in the field, there was always much excitement (and gluttony) when my neighbor delivered a trailer load of grass clippings:

After Teddy had been here four weeks, his owner stopped by to check on him. Teddy ran over to the fence, hoping for grain - but he didn't get any:

Remy has been looking especially good this summer, especially when the wind blows his mane and tail:

Blue has a shinier coat than Remy, but he is getting quite a potbelly. He was shaking himself when I took this photo:

And both little horses still spend much time in the barn, any time they want relief from the hot sun, the flies or the rain. It is difficult to safely clean the barn with Teddy around, so it's been getting pretty dirty. I'll have to clean it soon: