Cabin Crafted

Tag: adventure

  • Flora and fauna

    It has been wet! For 5 days it has rained off and on, sometimes heavy enough to cause damage to the unpaved road leading to our driveway which is also unpaved. We have walked laps of the mall for 3 of those days, caught breaks in the rain for the other two to get our daily walk in. Today, we drove to a nearby town that has a riverwalk path along the New River and across the road beside a creek that feeds into the river. When we stopped for lunch, it began to rain and it appeared that our venture over to one of those paths was going to be thwarted. By the time we finished lunch, it had stopped and each carrying an umbrella just in case, we were able to get our walk in.

    It was a day of flora and fauna. The first was White Jelly fungus, seen on a very wet, rotting log. This is a fungus that was unfamiliar to me.

    We chose the creekside trail today as it is more wooded, and spotted this Swallowtail caterpillar munching on a trailside shrub. The eye pattern on the top is fascinating.

    On the return trip, a groundhog was grazing the mowed area near the picnic shelter on the edge of the creek.

    As we crossed back to the river side to continue adding a few more steps, there was a large patch of Virginia Dayflower in bloom.

    For summer camp at the museum, I will be teaching spindle spinning and herbal medicine and we will be making salves from a few of the native plants that the Native Americans and frontier folk used for healing. Sticking with several that are safe for children. One that is commonly still used is Broadleaf Plantain and a great example was by the fence on the side of the trail.

    Back home, a coop check on the young birds that have since Mother’s Day been providing a couple of eggs each day as more develop, there were 5 today. Unless the Marans I got are not the ones to lay chocolate brown eggs, they still are not providing,

    The pullet eggs are still small, but the supply is increasing.

    We have more thunderstorms over the next few days with it moving back to summer time temperatures, but the rain chance is decreasing a bit each day. The rain though inconvenient for gardening and daily walks is much needed. We have been in near drought conditions for a couple of years. Most of the rain has been slow enough to sink in and not just run off, except for a few times of torrents that create the gullies in the road and driveway.

  • Autumn Days

    Yesterday was almost springlike in temperature, though windy which chilled the day some. By Sunday night and into Monday morning, it is going to feel like January with forcast snow showers possible, not accumulation.

    Most of the leaves have fallen except for a few vivid reds and yellows. And the stubborn brown leaves of the oaks.

    Yesterday’s walk took us to a nearby town to walk along a creek bed then along the river it feeds for a couple of miles. The path is paved and smooth with a couple of steep long rises that take it from the path on the park side up to a tunnel that passes under the four lane main street of the town and down to the continued path along the river bank. The park walk is about two miles round trip, the one along the river is about 2.5 miles one way from one end of the trail to the other. We alternate the park way with the river bank walk when we go over and don’t walk the full 5 mile up and back of the river bank one.

    The park is more rustic and a pleasure to walk.

    Most days, we stay closer to home walking sections of a rails to trails paved path. The original terminus begins at the town library and traverses about 2 1/2 miles to where it connects up on the other side of the main highway to continue in two directions for several miles each. If you choose to go right, it eventually ends up at Brown’s Farm, several miles away,now a park for the county. If you choose to go left, it continues for another 5 miles to the recreation center of the next town. We often park along that section near the old Coal Miner’s Park, but that section is currently closed until March for repair of 3 bridges.

    Our daily walk is generally 2 1/2 to 3 miles, though hubby will sometimes do 4 when I go to my spinning group once a week. We are striving to keep mobile and flexible as we are both advanced senior citizens.

  • A Break from Isolation

    With a socially distanced, outdoor adventure with daughter and her two youngs, and hubby. She owns two tandem kayaks and wanted to take her kiddos out for a fun afternoon. She asked us earlier in the week if we wanted to join them for a socially distanced outing. My car has the kayak rack that can be easily attached and she had borrowed it to see if it could be adapted to her car, but to do so would have cost her as much as a new rack and she wants to be sure of what to get, so we drove over and wrestled the two monsters up on the racks, tied them down securely and took off for the river. We were in my car, she and her kids in her car, and all 5 with masks for the loading and unloading. The river is still very full and muddy from the heavy rains.

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    We had a grand time. It has been years since we were out on kayaks, we loaned ours to Son1 as they live near the Shenandoah River and enjoy going out. The local lakes here have too many power boats to feel safe in a kayak and if you do the river, you need two cars for put in and take out and that is too difficult for us as seniors so this was delightful.

    As we came out of the river while I waited with kayaks and kids and daughter and hubby went to get the car from the put in point, I found out I had been one of 14 people who won the chance to purchase a new design spindle from my favorite craftsman.

    After we arrived home, I treated hubby to his favorite meal of homemade tacos, enchiladas, and guacamole.

    Dinner is enjoyed and cleaned up, we have both showered and laundry started, and the spindle email has been sent. I am now awaiting my invoice to pay for it.