Above are the shadows of my house and my favorite tree this morning. Yesterday was an interesting mix of weather. We had snow, sleet, freezing rain and mostly just plain rain. All day long. Rick made a batch of Caraway Swiss (cheese) and I made broth for turkey soup by boiling down the turkey carcass. Not much else to do. Bella was a bit stir crazy not being able to go out in her yard and play, but otherwise we all managed to stay snug and cozy with a fire going all day in the wood stove to keep off the damp chill emanating from the windows.
We had a good Thanksgiving. How about you? We had more than enough food (we’ll be eating turkey for the next week) and it was good to see friend Carolyn again.
We relaxed and took it easy.
And, best of all, Carolyn got to see bears! Can you believe they made a grand appearance just for her? Friday we were watching movies in the living room just before dark, TV turned up for surround sound and had a fire burning pretty merrily in the fireplace. I happened to see something black out of the corner of my eye through the sliding glass door and thought that Rick must have let Alex outside on the deck. Wait a minute, that’s not Alex, it’s a BEAR. On the deck. Not four feet away from where we were sitting! I kept a calm voice so the dogs wouldn’t be alerted and start barking and said to Carolyn “Quick, look, there’s a bear on the deck.” Rick was in the other room and came to see. Myrtle was up on the deck too but not quite where the cub was. He was standing up on his hind legs trying to reach the bird feeder. They heard us talking and started leisurely back down the stairs to the yard. We stood on the deck outside and watched Myrtle and the cub for a few minutes until they left the yard. Myrtle and the one cub got to the edge of the grass and the cub climbed up the big oak, showing off, as Myrtle decided whether to give up the bird feeder idea or not. We could see other black-ish moving things in the woods—the other cubs. It was hard to see them in the dusky gloom, but they were there.
They came back again on Saturday night around the same time (4:30 or so). I was sitting in the sun room reading when Rick walked in. He glanced out the sliding glass door and said, “Every time I see that old tree stump in the woods I think it’s a bear.” Two seconds later he said, “Wait a minute—that is a bear!” Sure enough, Myrtle and the cubs were roaming around just outside our fence, foraging for food. They were pretty far apart and we could only account for four of the five cubs. They are not staying as close to momma as they used to. They are really getting big.
So we are going to have to keep a closer eye on the yard now. I assume they are getting ready to hibernate (or as much as they ever do here; more like a mini-hibernation.) and trying to fatten up for Winter. It’s nice with all the leaves on the trees gone that we can now see them.
While the weather was nice on Friday, Rick got some slow motion footage of Bella running. I love the second vid of her and what her ears are doing! Check them out below. She continues to grow and amaze us with her intelligence. She’s a very good puppy.
I finally wrested the blog away from Bella for a few minutes. whew. Now I know how mothers with young babies feel. Since that is what they do every single minute of their day all they can think about is baby baby baby. Or in my case, puppy puppy puppy! As I type frosted flakes drift lazily past the window. We have the ever-so-slightest skiff of snow this morning. It’s cold and I’ve got a good fire going out in the wood burning stove in the sun room. Alas, I am stuck in front of the computer in a different part of the house and can’t take advantage of its cozy warmth. No matter, it’s doing it’s job.
The little snow was enough to stick to things.
Such as dog butts.
We really *must* get the leaves taken care of this weekend before we get any real snow. The weather is supposed to be cold but clear. Fingers crossed.
I had a visit from the bears yesterday. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it) I was not home. When I got home I let Alex out and he went racing across the yard barking. hmmm, always a sign of something. Once down in the yard it was obvious. The pole that the bird feeder hangs on was toppled over, pulled completely out of the ground. The bird feeder was in the woods. Here you can see the pole on the ground and Bella inspecting the feeder. what’s it doing out here mommy?
She sniffed the area all around where the bear had obviously been and didn’t like what she smelled one little bit. Her tail was down the whole time as her nose worked overtime to take in the scent. The dogs pretty much showed me the path the bear (or bears) had taken. They stood at the foot of the big oak tree and looked up as if to tell me that the cubs had probably had a good time climbing, and then walked along the fence until they showed me where the bears had probably come over, the chain link sagging.
I am assuming it was Myrtle and the Fab Five since my neighbors saw them just a few days ago. My neighbor was on his little forklift driving down their back driveway (sort of to the side and back of our house) when he met all six bears walking toward him on the road. Imagine six bears headed straight for you! How many people ever see six bears at once? He wiggled the forklift tines at them and they headed off in another direction. The cubs are getting big! I’m hoping they visit next week some time when my friend Carolyn is down for Thanksgiving. But you know wildlife will appear where and when it wants to so there are no guarantees.
I even managed to exercise for a half hour this morning with the Wii Fit. I put on the jogging program and was jogging along (in place) when my Mother waved at me from the sidelines as I went by. It just about stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t really her, just her Mii (the digital avatar that you make for each person that uses the Wii). I remember when my sister and I made her Mii. It was Christmas, the year before she died. We were just about rolling on the floor with laughter as we chose her eyes, nose, hairstyle, glasses. She thought it was a hoot. Now here she is. I had forgotten that the Wii will add in any Miis that have been created into various programs. Rick went jogging by in the other direction, or rather his Mii did. Very odd. I’m glad she’s in the system.
hey mom, i’ve got dandruff ...
Well, that’s about it for now. Just wanted to let you know I’m still here.
Becky awarded me this lovely award the other day and I am just now getting around to posting about it.
Thank you Becky! I will get it posted in my side bar soon. I don’t know how to make it appear there myself! The rules say I am supposed to pass it along to five other bloggers. Most of the blogs I read don’t display awards so I am not going to participate in the same way. Instead I will just tell you my five top favorite blogs. In no particular order they are:
1. I would return the favor to Becky but she already has one.
2. Reya
3. Letty
4. Susan
5. Paula
I have many others I enjoy as well, but these are the ones I will always read first. If your name is there and you’d like the award, please help yourself!
Our cheese making class on Sunday was just wonderful! We really enjoyed it. But more on that later. What’s that? Did I take photos? Of course I took photos! What a silly question!
I’ve been knitting almost every day now after taking the summer off. I have three projects going at the moment. I just finished one of Rick’s fingerless mitts (except for the thumb and finishing),
I am working on this drop stitch ribbon scarf (a gift perhaps?)
and trying to add a few rows to my Three Button Sassy Shawl each day. I got this pattern in my email yesterday and it’s calling to me. One can never have too many fingerless gloves/mittens. The pattern looks fun and interesting.
I have many more things to blog about this week so I’ll probably be posting every day. Check back for updates! Plus, there is something very special in the works for this weekend. Something exciting is arriving all the way from Bozeman, Montana.
Please get out there and VOTE today!! I’ll be there standing in line this afternoon waiting to cast mine and then I am going to hide under the covers until they count all the votes and we finally know who our next President will be. Depending on the outcome I may be moving to Canada!
Guess who forgot about setting the clocks back last night, both external and internal? That’s why I got out of bed at what I thought I was 7:00 this morning and jumped in the shower so I would be ready to leave the house at 8:30. As I was standing there with hot water pouring down over my neck and shoulders, Rick came in and told me that it was really only 6:00. Well, I was already wet so going back to bed was not an option at that point. So, here I am in front of the computer instead. Aren’t you lucky? This is one of those random-not-planned posts.
We have plans for today. We enrolled in a cheese making class at a creamery about an hour’s drive from here. We get a tour of the farm and then make our own round of cheese which they will store and age for us. I think we get to pick it up sometime after Christmas. Should be a fun day.
Yesterday we took care of all the leaves carpeting our front yard. I think they make a lovely carpet but if left they will kill the grass. In the two years that we’ve lived here we had someone professional come and blow the yards of leaves. It’s a lot of leaves! It’s also very expensive as you might imagine. This year we took Johnny Jr. (who has a mulching attachment) and drove very slowly over the leaves mulching them into tiny pieces that just disappeared into the grass. Good for the grass; good for the pocketbook. It worked like a charm. We’re very pleased at how well this worked. Here you can see before and after.
We also replaced our little wood stove in the sun room. It was old and tired and needed new stove black. You couldn’t dampen it down to burn efficiently and it ate wood like it was candy. Our new stove will burn very efficiently and heat the sun room and kitchen area very nicely. Here they are side by side for comparison. The difference is like night and day. (Pun intended as I took the photos at different times of the day obviously.)
The man who installed it is also the chimney sweep that didn’t show up last week in our deluge of rain, so that was handy. He took a look at both chimneys and gave us a reasonable quote for sweeping them soon. They need it if the amount of chunky soot that came out of the little stove’s pipe is anything to judge by. We need to break it in so we had two little fires in it yesterday. What a difference! The tiny pile of wood burned for a very long time, giving out the kind of warmth that only wood can provide. Cozy.
As I type our little turkey family is out there in the front yard pecking away at the seed I threw down yesterday afternoon. It’s pretty light out there now at 6:59 a.m.
The trees are still beautiful. The colors are now all burnt yellows and oranges since we’ve had some pretty good frosts.
Gorgeous color, crisp days, frosty nights and cozy fires. What’s not to love about this season?
Warning! Photo heavy post ahead. Before you start this post let me warn you ahead of time that it may take you as long to read as it did for us to take this hike (4.5 hours).
Last week Rick took a few days off and rather than go to Andy’s lake cabin as we had planned, the weather was so glorious we decided to stay home and do things around here. One of those things was to take a hike. We used to be great hikers and back country campers, loading all our goods needed to survive for three days on our backs. It’s been some years since we’ve done any serious hiking. Mostly just around the cabin (which can be pretty strenuous at that altitude.) But nothing much since we’ve lived here.
Rick picked a hike from our book Hiking the Jersey Highlands that was a “lollipop” loop around two lakes (Surprise Lake and West Pond). Lollipop meaning you hiked up the stick part, looped around the lollipop and rejoined the original trail again. It was stated as being 4.1 miles. Don’t you think that’s kind of a long hike for us since we haven’t worked up to it?, I asked Rick. Nah, not a problem he replied.
Here is an image of what our GPS recorded on our hike so you can get an idea of where we’re headed.
I should have read the trail description myself before we left. Truly, I really should have. But I didn’t. I should have.
Most of the trails I’ve hiked in the past have been well maintained and easy to follow. What’s to mark? You just follow the path, right? So at first I thought their way of marking a trail was quaint: painted on a tree. A few walking sticks were left leaning against the tree for anyone’s use.
Follow the little blue (and white) blazes ... follow the little blue (and white) blazes ... I hummed to myself to the tune of follow the yellow brick road.
or arrows. Whatever.
The trail at first was hard to see as it wound its way through a mostly flat forest bed and we missed a few blazes. Probably because there we so many leaves on the ground obscuring what might exist of a path. Soon after the path became quite steep and stayed that way for a while. Well, I knew we had to get to the top of Bearfort Mountain somehow so I was expecting plenty of “up.”
The trees on the way up were putting on quite a show. I had plenty of time to stop and admire them as I let my seized-up calves relax again.
Needless to say, it was a gorgeous day for a hike. The temperature was in the high 60’s, the humidity low, the sky blue.
The trail got rockier as we went.
I swear, I may have lived and hiked in the Rocky Mountains for a good number of years but I have never seen so much rock. We went up and over this one. It would not be the last. Oh no. Not the last.
Scrambled up this one. I’m coming, honey! We changed trails and were now following yellow blazes. If you look closely you can see them on the trees. Yup, that’s the trail.
Love the color of these leaves!
Soon we were at Lookout Rock with gorgeous views over Greenwood Lake. We had started the trail at an elevation 680 feet and were now at 1,220 feet. We stopped to take it all in.
The guidebook calls this type of rock formation “puddingstone.” Whatever you call it, the trail went right along the top of it. I’d never been on a completely rock trail before!
Looking back down the trail we just came up ...
and looking up in the direction we are going!
Another view out over Greenwood Lake. Our house is somewhere to the left at the end of the lake.
This part of the trail was easy going. What came next was not.
Amen.
This next bit was the most grueling part of the hike. We went up one rock ridge only to come back down the other side, then through a hollow at the bottom. Repeat about 7 or 8 times. Sorry no time to take photos. Too busy concentrating on getting up and over.
We did come to an interesting ridge (which thankfully we did not have to manoeuver over or around) where the rocks were standing on edge. We think the pieces had broken off from the larger rock and over the centuries had fallen. Just like someone had sliced it into pieces. Fascinating.
Wild blueberry bushes turning red made a great frame for this tree.
Finally we reached Surprise Lake at 1.2 miles in. Surprise Lake is a deep glacial pond almost a half-mile long. Still too early for lunch, we pressed on.
The terrain changed quite a bit after we left Surprise Lake. Gone were the up-and-down rock ridge climbs for awhile. Good thing too. My legs and arms could stand a break. We started to see lots of rhododendrons lining the trail, something that seems odd and out of place to me in a forest. They seem too exotic somehow.
It was like walking through something from a fairy tale with all those twisted interlocking branches. I kept expecting to meet Hansel and Gretel along the way. Creepy.
The trail, though relatively flat, was very rocky so you had to watch your footing at all times. This is not the place to twist your ankle, trust me.
It then became very mossy. Moss grew in great hummocky clumps on rocks, along the path and around the bases of trees.
This rock was completely moss covered and I had all I could do not to let myself lie down upon it and take a nap. The moss was so thick! It reminded me of a golf course with its spots of different shades of green.
Then again, maybe the chipmunks and squirrels play golf with acorns as balls?
Really, the scenery was spectacular when one wasn’t busy scrambling up and down huge rocks.
Oh dear. I spoke too soon. One last slide/scramble down this part of the path. See the yellow blazes?
Whew. At long last we reached our lunch spot. We took the path to the overlook and sat down to enjoy lunch. I give you West Pond! (and Picnic Muffuleta sandwiches.)
After lunch we continued on our way, refreshed and somewhat rested. Good thing because just after the lookout and back on the main trail we had to tackle a very difficult descent.
They were not kidding.
Back up again. Still on the trail according to that blasted blaze in the middle of this rock.
We were quite amused by this blaze. It would seem a bear was trying to erase the blaze in hopes that some newbie to the trail (that would be us) would lose their way and be likely prey. Very sneaky. But it didn’t quite work.
Still with me? Don’t give up yet, we’re getting closer and closer to our goal. Can’t say I blame you if you bail out now. I wanted to at this point. Just send a helicopter in after me thank you very much. Revisit the map at the beginning of this entry (if you can find it that far back) and track our progress.
Rick was always out front as I tended to lag behind to take photos such as this. Sorry for all the backside shots, dear!
oops. Looks like they want us to turn here, wouldn’t you agree?
This was along an easier part of the trail. We went from walking on rock ridges to walking alongside them through very different vegetation than we had been. Scraggy pines were now added into the mix of hardwoods.
Finally we joined the Appalachian Trail for a short while. Now we were following white blazes. Did you guess we’d be rock climbing again? Just where is that helicopter I ordered, hmm? At the 2.5 mile marker we’ve now reached the highest elevation of our hike, 1,410 feet.
This condo for birds had some space for rent.
We also came across this sign hanging on a twig.
Thankfully the residents had vacated the nest before we arrived and we had no close encounters with the hornets.
At this point we could see other mountains in the distance. (You’ll need to look closely at the faint blue shadow just above the forested hill.) It felt really cool to be standing on part of the Appalachian Trail. Although I was tired and my legs ached, I was so glad to be here in this moment.
Soon we rejoined the main trail again and were once again following the blue blazes.
It was pretty much all down from here which should really be easy except for the fact that our legs were really tired. Going downhill with shaky legs on slippery rocks is nearly as bad as going up. We soon reached the forest floor again and with that our hike was over.
After we got home I looked up the summary of the trail.
I couldn’t have summed it up better myself. If I had read this first I think I would have been hesitant to attempt it. Would we do it again? Absolutely! It was unlike any trail I’ve ever been on. Now we can’t wait to go in the spring when the rhododendrons are blooming! Imagine how beautiful that must be!
I took this photo afterwards from across the lake. The arrow shows the ridge where we were when we had the view of Greenwood Lake.
I hope you enjoyed our hike as much as we did. Thanks for joining us!
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