transitioning into fall ~ 2 of 2

Daily walks through our woods reveal more transitions into Fall. Natures small compositions continue to capture my attention. Note; nothing has been moved or added.

I can't get over how nature magically works together, at least in my eyes. The rich color variations of transitional leaves...

tiny red leaf caught my eye

yellow leaf
flanked by mother natures wings


this combination resembles a goldfish

Can you see it "swimming" now?

dark steel blue oak and a mighty tiny red leaf
teeter totter on a stick

Some other Fall wooded finds:

our native pricky pear cactus nodes have turned red
they are considered fruit and are edible

our cedar trees are covered in what looks like berries

I learned they are actually seed cones. Some sources say they are edible, used for seasoning food and/or medicinal purposes. Other sources say Eastern Red Cedar berries are toxic. I never know which source to believe, and stay safe enjoying what grows on our land visually. 

nature revealed this message yesterday

just hang on

Tank & Jameson sniffing down a tree together (on the left) in my favorite area in our Enchanted Forest.

sunday stills ~ mornings

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~




see more mornings on sunday stills

sunshine for days

In the midst of the political and virus divide, there is one thing every Wisconsinite can agree on ~ our early November weather has been incredibly beautiful!! A week well spent soaking up sunshine for days, brightens up everything. Especially when out of the norm.

The great weather this past week inspired us to spend more time outside and for Brad to work with Koda again. Because Koda needs it, and I need it. All horses minds change when you give them things to think about, and his definitely settles.
 

It has been a while since any of our horses were asked to do much of anything outside of behaving during turnout & farrier visits. The earlier days Brad spent with Koda was evident. He is still acting up a bit when asked to move out on the lunge line, but my sassy horse is remembering what is being asked of him. Much faster.

On Monday Brad lunged him in the arena...

Then off to the woods we went for a walk-a-bout. This time all four of us. Brad with Koda in hand, Tank and I. Huge difference. Koda took the bottom of the pasture walk in stride. On the last attempt, he almost came apart rounding the first corner and couldn't take the increased pressure. Until I went back for the link, I didn't realize it was December 2019 when Brad began working Koda with long stretches in between. Not for the lack of wanting to, it was such a crazy busy year for him in so many ways. I am thankful Brad finds time to work with my horse when he can.

Cierra and Nemo joined the walk from inside the pasture
while Brad, Koda and Tank took the path

checking out the open field

walking the upper pines

Koda has only walked the actual pine trails once,
the year we purchased the land and rode them in June 2016

stopping on the main trail to soak it all in

Koda did struggle a bit with too much energy in the wide open field heading back home, but with Brads reassurance he kept himself in check. 

Reassurance is the main reason Brad is handling Koda in precarious situations first. Koda needs it and I don't have that in me naturally. Unfortunately I have to build it back up. I wasn't remotely this way in my younger horse years, but it's my reality now.

This walk gave me hope, and was a great way to kick off a week of warm late Fall weather.

build-a-barn ~ fresh air

Well, it got me. I had been surrounded by sick people with every kind of symptom since before Christmas. I got some kind of stomach virus. After day four of being glued to the recliner, I couldn't take the lack of stimulation anymore. I knew I shouldn't, but Brad was working out at the land alone. Who was I going to contaminate out there? He was already exposed. So I got ready & loaded up the grand dog. It just about wiped me out. But I headed out anyways. Perhaps, some fresh air would do me some good...

When I arrived, Brad was:

working on the saloon & bathroom doors

he got the electrical sides of the paneling done on the bathroom walls

Sorry for the strange perspective. I only took one photo. Looks like the bathroom door is on the floor, weird! What can I say, I wasn't feeling well. That's my story & I'm sticking to it! 

We also measured the bars. That photo didn't work very well either lol. The bars are round, and I couldn't get the tape measure in between the small space. When I held the tape measure in front of the bars, the photo made it look like it measured out to wider then it did. You'll just have to take my word for it.

To answer Shirley & Lorie's question on my last post about the distance of our stall bars, the bottom bars are little less then 1.5" apart. Mini foals might be a concern, but we won't have any. We might temporarily board the bottom up anyways, just for peace of mind and so a little one doesn't bonk their head into metal until they get their legs.

After a closer look, the bars are slightly different widths on the top vs bottom. Top stall bars & window grate distance between each bar is 1.75" 

Jameson helping Brad check the bathroom door swing

I used to walk our woods several times a week, but for whatever reason I haven't made it out to our woods in forever. I asked Brad if he would be willing to take a break, and go for a slow walk with me. I wanted to feel & see what the woods look like again.

We walked around the horse pasture, and changed cards in our game cameras...

it's fun getting muddy

I had to stop for a break a couple times. I zoomed in from the bottom of the pasture, looking at the barn and wishing the horses were here. You must be sick of seeing barn pictures, and I miss our horses!! I was in no shape to ride, and didn't want to get everyone at the barn sick. After this week, we will get back to a regular horse schedule. I hope.

winter barn view

It was unseasonably warm, close to 50F. We almost turned back, but what I longed for was our pines...

feel the wonder

Taking that walk and getting fresh air did help. It took a few more days of laying low, but I am completely better now. Being sick sure reminds a person to be grateful for healthier days. 

Wishing you all good health!! It is truly the key component to everything else in life.

expect the unexpected

Not sure where I am going with this post, but hopefully by the end it will be clear (er). We have had more then our share of a very wet cool spring, and it makes me think. About life. About expectations. About purpose.

Our horses are an important part of our life. Every time we seem to get past "things" as they occur, we take a turn. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, and many times just different then we expected - or hoped for. Which is practically the same thing. 

Nemo's allergies are back. Did we really expect them to go away? We sure hoped they would. They are not as bad as last year, but his allergies are back. I don't think it means the subcutaneous immunotherapy isn't working, I think it means he is still being exposed to high environmental allergens. Once we have him at home, we can limit exposure much better. At least with Timothy Grass, we planted a mix without any. 

Grey Horse Matters (or other's with related experience) did your daughter do anything in conjunction with her horse that was on allergy shots? or did the shots control the allergies? Feel free to message me if you prefer.

We've got a call into the vets to see if he has anything more to add. We are already doing the basics (masks, adjusting turn out time etc) but maybe there is something else??

Life these days revolves around the land/building X2. Last night we agreed to cancel our upcoming annual trail riding trip up north. I keep telling myself, it's just this year - but will it be? Who knows what life holds in store for us. 

After a horseless weekend, we arrived to the barn on Monday with high expectations of riding and spending time with our horses. All I can say is, our move can't happen soon enough! No use whining about all the silly stuff. I'll just say - Brad couldn't ride Nemo and I chose not to ride Koda for long. I wasn't a whole lot of fun on the 40 minute ride home.

It had been a week since I've ridden Koda, and my last few indoor rides were marginal. When you add feeding time and commotion, he get's his appy-tude on. There were waay too many riders that are never usually there (surprise!) to get anything accomplished, and it was wet and sloppy outside. Sigh. When do I get to ride and be with my horse?? I had such high hopes. Patience. I have learned some over the years. I always say I was in the bathroom when patience got handed out ;) it's not one of my better virtues. 

Then there is this thing nagging at me, called purpose. Brad thinks my purpose in life is to drive him nuts. That's true, I do it all the time - hah!! But seriously, life's purpose makes a person think. I try not to dwell on it, but who wants to aimlessly float down any ol' stream of life? Not me.

Photography? Sure. It can be a beautiful thing, with purpose. But I don't want to snap photos, just because I can. The whole entire planet is doing that. I've been trying to figure out my style/purpose. My most recent effort lasted 56 consecutive days, almost to the end of February. It's further then I thought I would get, but a whole lot shy of 365 days. The daily challenge was more "pressure" and less purpose. Now I only shoot the days I feel compelled to. Most people who accomplish the 365 challenge year after year, do it for fun. Some do it for recording daily life, others enjoy sharing detailed life out loud. 

My self restriction was no phone photos, and no quicky photos just to get it done. I wanted to practice with my camera more, take thoughtful photography, with hopes that there would be a revelation. I may try the challenge again under different circumstances, but it simply wasn't serving my purpose. Whatever it may be.

Woodland ~ 96/365 photo challenge

So much for clarity. Welcome to my overcomplicated brain. If you've got all this life stuff figured out, do tell.


..................................................................................


Expectation is the root of all heartache.

 ~ author unknown

know your boundaries

Last weekend our daughter (Harmony's girl) helped us move panels out to our land, and had some fun trying to fly inside the barn. Just kidding!! She had some good ideas and was giving dad more things to consider, and more to say no to. Between me & the kids, poor guy has been explaining why a lot of ideas won't work. I think Brad will be glad when the inside of the barn is finished! 

what about from here, to there...

After the barn deliberations, we progressed to discussing pasture & shelter placement. We agreed the best solution for our horses on our land would be north/south pastures.

We all went on a walk-a-bout to check out newly placed property markers, including our grand-dog Jameson (a labrador) who absolutely loves being out at the land! 

We recently had the surveyors mark more then just the corners of the wooded areas. It was close to impossible to figure out who's land you were on. It doesn't matter so much if just walking, but we plan on connecting the existing north-south trails. We also want to relocate some young tree's to other parts of our property. In order to do either, we have to know our boundaries.

the dry creek bed area
will be good for trail riding

winter walkabout

There isn't a whole lot for me to do up at our land in the middle of winter. While Brad was tending to the never ending fire, I decided to be a kid at heart and plopped down on what little sparkly snow we have to do this...

"Now" day 15/365 day photo challenge

The time is now, to fly, to be myself, to make a change and live our dreams. 

I forgot how hard it was to get up from making a snow angel without messing up the legs! When was the last time you made a snow angel? If you've got snow, do it!! I promise it will make you laugh, and um get a little wet. It's worth it!! If you end up going for it, I want to see pictures of your snow angel!

I also wrote this in the snow, on top of the barn foundation...

My Snow Angel is at the end of 2017
and some bunnies tracks are at the top

the burn pile is a lot smaller

Once Brad was done playing with fire, we went for a hike in the woods. It was a beautiful winter day! I love how the sun shines through the pines, so pretty!!

Snow makes tracks easy to pick out. We saw squirrel, rabbit, deer and coyote. Not sure where all the turkey went? We also found cross country ski tracks. We knew there was a women who had permission previous years to ski the property. I am sure we will run into her eventually. I don't mind sharing our land with friendly neighbors, but I do want to know who uses it. 

Instead of our usual route weaving through all the pine paths, we headed out of the woods and took the lower path across from our building site. I don't walk this path much. Our son cleared it enough so we could ride the horses last Spring, but we were not able to get back to working on it. It's pretty uneven.

Our house site is much further away then the photo makes it look.

Our son had opened up the end of the lower path,
so we could get back to the field.

Further down, there is a small patch of woods in a quiet hidden area. I could see putting a bench there, or just a place to hang out. It's very serene. Once we move, I told Brad if he's looking for me I'll be here. But first, we have to clean up the junk someone left. There is an old appliance, tires etc. Looks like it was a kids fort years ago, or maybe a ground blind.

In the photo below, Brad is walking near the edge of our property. Ours is to the left, he is looking for our property marker. In the distance are cows, and one of our neighbors that we haven't met yet. We really wanted to walk over and introduce ourselves, but that would have meant trespassing. It was pretty far away and he was busy working with his cattle anyways. 

I love the views from the back end of our property,
it's all farm land. 

Eventually we turned around and headed back to the truck. We ducked under our fence to take the field back up the hill. Part of this field will become the horses pasture. We have to figure out how much, and the configuration. It's a hard decision.

 southwest corner of our largest field

our woods

We paused, and paused again. In deep thought. So much to think about, so much to do...

the quiet pattern

As we wait for the barn building to go up, we find ourselves in a bit of a quiet holding pattern. After the start of the year, things will begin picking up with the land again. Right now everyone's got holiday brain!! The barn shell will be built & house meetings will begin again. The house floor plans were one of the first things we had to complete, but there are a ton of decisions left to be made!! Sigh.

Until then, we are enjoying winter's beauty and dreaming of the day when we live with our horses. I miss them! Between life and the weather, I've only been seeing our horses once a week. Big change from riding four nights a week! Brad goes a second day for a lesson. I opt out. It's too darn frustrating to ride in the winter where we board...needless to say Koda & Nemo are getting fat & sassy. Me too!

Before winter temps dropped to what it must feel like when hell freezes over, we found a use for some of our alfalfa bales. Don't cringe, I did...

Brad spread bales all over the house building site to keep the frost from going too deep. My hubby guarantees it will save us a lot of money in the spring...it pained me to watch, but I believe him. The bales we used got some rain on them while stacking. Plenty of good bales still stored inside, if we ever find anyone to buy them! Everyone in this area is very overstocked. Guess it's a good problem to have.

The quiet pattern finds me walking in our woods. Even in the winter. Here are some early December views...

Looking out of our woods, towards building site

It is pretty funny listening to someone describe where they saw something...

this tree, on that path

Not sure why, but the tree above stops me every time I walk past it. Looks like a heart. Might just carve some initials, or a year, or not. It's on the lower path. You know, the lower path. Towards the east. No, not that one, the other one. Right before you turn. Where it forks off, in the shape of a Y. The lower path, before you get to the other lower path. Yep, that one! Ha ha!! 

winter view from the house site
the only thing missing is the horses
and um, the house

Near the road it says we have permission to build our dreams. Interestingly enough, people ask us a lot if we have permits...guess it's because it means, this is really happening.

By the middle of December, our views looked more like this...

winter view from the house site
further West

Walking towards the woods, it was all about the trees...

natures way of painting

and then something red stopped me in my tracks...

beauty in a simple weed

Woods are incredible after a snowfall!! Silent. Untouched. Surreal...

then, out of no where...soft snow randomly falls, gently from the tree tops, like a sprinkle of powdered sugar, floating down from high above...

...it was like walking in a fairytail!!! I can't even imagine what it would be like riding a horse through the woods when it's like this?? But I am going to find out!! I have never ridden in fluffy snow & can't wait to try!

Shortly after the beautiful snowfall, a bitter cold front moved in. And stayed. The kind of cold that is good for nothing, and dangerous.

We usually trim our house with festive lights. Some years outdoor trees are also lit up. This year, the only thing that got decorated outside was a little tree at the new house site. Lit by solar panels, and love.

home is where the heart is

smell the pines

The past few weeks have been so busy, we haven't had time to work on our land. We did take a nice hike in the woods, and then walked the sunny loop.

The wooded paths do not connect, yet. We had to do some bush whacking & branch diving between the trails. It doesn't seem like we have that much left to clear, but in reality it will take much longer then appears. 

It is so interesting to see how the forest (and land) in general changes week to week... 

The spooky tree arms, 'er branches almost got Brad!!

Can't wait to ride the "spooky tree" trail we began creating,
with a little help from our deer friends.

Once we were out of the woods, the wildflowers that were spotty and struggling for light, stood out in bright patches along the edges of the loop...

I really like these bright orange & yellow flowers

Who knew spiderwort was a native wildflower? 

A sea of yellow

Yesterday after a very warm indoor ride at the barn, we hauled our mower for some long overdue mowing. You could hardly tell we had storms and a much needed dump of rain the night before, but you could sure smell it...mmmm...we took deep inhales...and longer exhales...instant smell of pines, from across the field...wow!!!

I've smelled pines many times before, even during rain, but never like that - it was soooo fresh! I don't know what it is about this property, but it's so quiet and serene...and offers instant relaxation.

Eventually we got to work. If that's what you want to call it.

Brad mowing the field island we cleaned up a while ago

Puttering along mowing one of the existing trails,
while my guy clears fallen wood ahead of me

 Brad blazed a trail through the grassy area,
until he got to the hill

 left or right?
left trail: towards the fields
right trail: further into the woods

Speaking of fields, second crop of alfalfa is done and the pasture grass we planted is looking good! So are the weeds, but those should be gone soon. 

pasture

We took one more looong look around...sigh...we already can't wait to call this home! Better get cracking on those house plans!! This land was such a unique find, don't know how we got so lucky?! I believe it was one of those things that was meant to be. If your a believer, you know what I mean...we are so grateful.

Before we left, we drove over to the area where the wild cactus grows more prevalent - they are just starting to bloom!!