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April 7, 2008

Walk in the Woods

Twice a year we perform a pilgrimage, the great schlepping of seasonal stuff back and forth to "the land," a piece of property on the other side of our town. It's at the land where we get a lot of our firewood, Gary goes hunting, and we store a lot of stuff we don't need in day to day activities. Sunday was the day for the seasonal shuffle, and we took a truckload of things to the land.
It was a very nice day, 55 and sunny. We inspected the fields, and then we decided to take a walk in the woods.
Despite pockets of snow in the shady corners of the woods, spring is definitely planning its arrival.
Here is a fern, species yet undetermined but probably a cinnamon fern.
Club moss grows in a patch of icy snow.
Mare's tail moss, more icy snow.
Some sort of polypore. The color glows in the shadows of the trees.
We have several very large pine trees. Some are dying at their tops. Boards from these trees will make a nice barn! They are deep in the woods though and will be difficult to remove.
Woodpeckers have been quite busy this winter! The woods were pretty silent as far as bird song goes. I did hear a Carolina Wren down by the creek. Its "teakettle teakettle" call is very distinctive - and loud for such a small bird.
We walked back up the hill, out of the woods and into a field. Those hills in the distance surround Shindagin Hollow.
The field was absolutely filled with puff balls!
And we visited a pond. Millions of minnows took shelter in the canes of these cattails.

Posted by roosterh at April 7, 2008 5:59 AM

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