Hello everyone on this cold and very wet Tuesday.  Did we get rain last night.  Lots of rain.  However, yesterday around noon the rain had stopped and it was quite bright out there.  Still cloudy, but didn’t look too threatening as far as rain is concerned.  So I decided, okay, why not try for a walk?  All that can happen is I will get wet.

It is really quite amazing how quickly those mosquitoes come out after a rain.  They were all over me.  I wonder how much blood I donated to them yesterday?  It was quite a bit considering how many mosquitoes were biting me.  I carry my camera with my right hand, and I looked at my hand, there was a dozen mosquitoes feasting away.  I hope they enjoyed themselves.  I had over 2 dozen on me at one time.  The only thing I don’t tolerate is when they try to bite my face.  That’s too much.  Anywhere else is fine, but not my face.

As I got to the clearing I spotted Mama deer eating among the flowers.  How nice.  She started to walk away until I called to her, then she came back in the open and kept on munching.  But she kept watching me.  Normal, I guess.  Then she finally decided to walk away.  Oddly, she looked a bit nervous.  She recognized me.  So why be nervous?  Ever get that feeling like someone is watching you?  I had that feeling right then.  I turned around. My heart was thumping wildly.  Standing eye to eye with me was…Junior!  Is that you?  His eyes actually looked excited to see me.  Junior was Mama’s baby 2 years ago.  Now he has these nice little antlers.  And he’s quite big considering his age.  So I talked to him a bit.  And my heart settled down.

It was nice to get good pictures of both these deer friends of mine.  Junior especially seemed quite happy to pose for me.  But off I continued as Junior headed in the direction of Mama.  Darker clouds had moved in now and that next part of the path is dark anyway with all the big pines.  So it was very dark through there this time.  I keep thinking bears now.  But finally I’m back in the open along the river and heading beside the river to my favorite spot.  Actually, I have 3 favorite spots to sit along there, but all 3 were a little wet for sitting yesterday.

As I got close to the last of the 3 places…a crashing through the bushes.  I caught a glimpse of something.  My heart starts thumping wildly again.  That’s no deer.  Or bear.  Wolf!  And running straight towards me.  There have been wolves coming into town again lately and going after people’s pets, cats and smaller dogs.  I have had them on my deck before as well.  However, I am kind of out in the open here.  Finally he comes out on the path and runs right for me!  He stops, but is still very excited, so I reach out and pet him.  A beautiful big dog.  His human comes by shortly after jogging along the path.  Guess the dog figured his human was running too slow so he decided to run ahead and play around a bit.  My heart has settled down again now.  That’s twice on this walk.  Usually my walks are more normal.

This spot is too wet, nowhere to sit, so I head back to my little swinging bench.  Yes indeed, a nice private spot that can’t be seen from the path.  Hmm, unfortunately I have to climb down some rocks to get there and they are just too slippery.  So I start heading back home.  There is a little stump near the path with some small orange things growing on it.  I always look at this stump and there was nothing there on Saturday.  They are not a solid color, more a translucent color.  Very odd.  No idea what they are.

Then something catches my eye flying through the trees.  A young hawk.  He lands in a tree so nicely so I managed to get 2 pictures of it before he continued his journey across the river.  Not a bad for a dull cloudy day.  Nothing else along the walk and I returned safely home.  Very wet feet and a little less blood, due to the flocks of mosquitoes, but a very enjoyable walk.  I hope everyone has a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.