I knew it was going to happen eventually. Rick loves boats too much to not take Andy’s pontoon boat for a spin. And, he was bound and determined to take the dogs with us. Gads, what is he thinking? They’ve never been on a boat before. Visions of dogs jumping over the side as we pulled away from the dock went flashing through my head. Either that or I would be babysitting them for the entire trip. Oh joy. But first we had to actually get them on the boat.

Alex didn’t want anything to do with the floating dock. The first few times we tried to get him on it he just stood there and whimpered pitifully after taking two shaky steps. Hey, this thing moves! Not only does it move, but it makes funny squeaky-clanking noises. Uh uh. No way. Finally, on the third day of our stay we managed to get him to “walk the plank.” You can hear him whimpering the whole way. He crouched down as far as he could and still walk.

Aren’t you beginning to wonder about our sanity?? But amazingly enough, once we were underway things went just fine.

Okay, guys, now what?

I know, let’s watch Dad drive!

Wheeeeeeeeeee ... this is kind of fun!

After a little exploring, Hailey and Alex look out the bow.

Alex says, “Look Hailey, there’s another floating thing over there ... “

Good dogs!

After getting his sea legs Alex decided he quite liked looking out over the bow.

Unlike our inappropriately named dog, Sailor, who took a few quick looks over the side and decided he preferred to stick close to Dad.

Nothing like a little wind in your tail!

All in all, I have to admit I was wrong about our little boat outing being a recipe for disaster. It turned out to the highlight of our stay at the cabin. Who knew?

For the next three days this will be the view out our deck over Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania. Back a few entries when I highlighted Hannah, the St. Bernard, I warned you to watch for more about the cabin. Well, here we are for a brief respite, thanks to Andy and Linda for the generous loan of their cabin.

It’s the beginning of apple season around here. This weekend on our drive to Warwick (NY) there was a line of cars turning into the road for U-Pick-Apples at Masker Orchards. This pic was taken at the Warwick Farmer’s Market. I love this particular stand because the owner always has inventive signs to tempt people to buy. Plus I loved the old crate stamped “Kinderhook, New York.”

It’s a beautiful mornin’, Ahhh,
I think I’ll go outside a while,
An jus’ smile.
Just take in some clean fresh air, boy!
Ain’t no sense in stayin’ inside
If the weather’s fine an’ you got the time.
It’s your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day.
Either way,
It’s a beautiful mornin’, Ahhh,
Each bird keeps singin’ his own song.
So long!
—the Rascals

The lyrics from “It’s a Beautiful Morning” by the Rascals seemed to sum up Wednesday’s weather to me. It was cool, sunny, and crisp without the dragging humidity of the past week. I could not make myself stay inside or do anything as mundane as going grocery shopping. So I grabbed my camera and headed off down the forest path to Green Turtle Pond.

It wasn’t the kind of walk one does to get the utmost exercise. Oh, no; this was a leisurely stroll to focus on the nature around me. As I walked along all the worries and cares that I’ve been carrying around with me melted away and were absorbed into the leaves and branches of the trees.

Getting off the beaten path I was rewarded with a few interesting mushrooms. This one was on the side of a hill and because of where it decided to grow, was growing with its top in a vertical position instead of horizontal like it should be, leaving it looking like a big paddle with its spongy pores exposed.

This one was particularly intriguing to me. I think it looks like an Oreo cookie, but one that you wouldn’t particularly want to eat. I had to look it up in our mushroom books when I got home and found out it was an Old Man of the Woods, and edible although mediocre in taste.  But pretty, don’t you agree?

One of my goals on the walk was to visit this tree. I had seen it on a walk with the dogs and knew I would want to revisit it. It was just too interesting with all the shelf mushrooms (or polypores) growing on it. It was off the trail and up a steep embankment. Up close it’s a grand old tree that not only the fungi loves, but also an obvious favorite of woodpeckers. Yet it bears up under all that abuse, and I got the impression it was not unhappy about it.

Further along the path there were a few leaves changing.

And more polypores—growing on the ground this time.

Down by the pond’s edge I found this beautiful pine tree. I had seen this spot from the canoe and had to follow a few paths before I found the one that led here. We have one of these pines in our front yard and our neighbor’s have one too. I’m not certain of the name, but they are huge! The ground beneath its labyrinth of branches was covered with a soft carpet of spent pine needles that was inches deep. A perfect spot to spread a blanket for a picnic lunch or just to sit and relax.

This vine doubled back on itself to make the perfect trap for an unwary creature that happens into its path. I decided not to try the noose out for size!

This spider had a different plan for its prey.

I arrived home two hours later feeling like all was well in my little world. I do hope you enjoyed walking with me this morning.

We haven’t seen turkeys around much at all this summer. Not like last summer when I nearly had “pet” turkeys. Then they were a lot like chickens and I could entice them over by shaking the food in the pail and crooning softly to them. Not so this year, as they’ve been pretty much absent from the yard.

A few weeks ago they started coming round again. We had two groups of three: Big-Medium-Little and Big-Little-Little. Always the same little group of threes. (I know my names for them are not very inventive but merely driven by their size.) I was pretty gratified the other day when Big-Medium-Little were in the other part of the yard, and as I went out to feed the birds I rattled the food pail and they came flying right over! Is it possible they remember me? Here are Big-Little-Little. Can you see the second baby?

Now we’ve had a bigger group of turkeys over the past few days. I’ve counted up to nine at once, but Big-Medium-Little and Big-Little-Little are not with this larger flock. Yesterday when they visited for the morning I took some photos of them. Their heads are pretty ugly, and what’s up with the unicorn look of the turkey in the second photo? But just look at how beautiful and prismatic their feathers are!

When I got ready to go out for a walk this is what I saw—Mr. Tom strutting his stuff with the ladies! I don’t know if he was among the flock in my yard or not because when they are not all puffed up they look pretty normal. There were a couple of really large turkeys in the group, so perhaps he was there.

I love having the turkeys visit my yard. The bears too. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a wildlife zoo! I never know what I’m going to see next.