Buckeye Trail Completion, Day 3

 

Day three, Sunday April 23, was sunny but not hot. Our campsite was positioned perfectly along the trail, so we only had to drive a car to our starting location and walk back to camp. And then go retrieve the other car, of course.

We see a lot of the tiger swallowtails on our hikes, but they are always good for a picture. The scourge of the hike was autumn olive, in full bloom, but the butterfly seems to like it.



I know Ohio is the Buckeye State, and we did see plenty of buckeye trees, but sycamore also says Ohio to me. Here's a beauty.



Our early miles took us over a ridge with more of those great farm country views.



And the residents of the farms are always good for some fun. The sheep watched us with interest.



But the goats were more curious, although they didn't think we were interesting enough to stand up for. We thought this trio was especially funny. It would need a video, but the two goats that make bookends hardly moved a muscle. The one behind bars kept poking her head in and out and definitely wanting to escape. Just after I took the picture, another one, a color match for the two lying down peeked around the corner of the shed.



Horses are almost always curious about us.



After these 2.5 road miles, we entered AEP land (the reclaimed mining lands). There are 26 continuous miles of off-road foot trail here, quite a long stretch for the Buckeye Trail. Most off-road sections are multi-use, and often paved. It was nice to have so many miles in the woods.



We reached our campsite at 3 pm, and did some hill driving on the way to get the other car. The view from the top of Cobb Hill Road was impressive, and I put two pictures into a panorama. This gives a better sense of what we were seeing while we walked instead of the standard size pictures.



Miles for the day: 9. Total so far this trip: 26.1. Belle Valley, points 26-30.

(Oh yeah, there was the usual piece of missing trail. This time, quite a big piece. A new gas pipeline is being installed and the trail was bulldozed and filled with brush piles. To go around overland required pushing through autumn olive groves. So we went back to an access road and walked out to a real road to rejoin the trail at the bottom of the hill. At least it wasn't long or hard to figure out what to do.)

	See Day 2
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

More of Sylvia's Neighbors

 
Although the lambs were the big hit of the walk Sylvia and I took on Monday, we were surely entertained by other neighbors of hers.

I'll present them in the order we met them. First, the very friendly goats who came right over and demanded grass from the other side of the fence. We complied.



Next were the cows. They weren't all that interested in us, but the calf was a little curious.



Oddly enough, the horse was also uninterested.



The black sheep of this family sure didn't think of himself as an outcast.



And his little white goat buddy decided to walk with us till he ran out of pasture.



The sky was blue and there was almost no snow that day. Chuck says they are now all white again. We sure are here! But who knew that I'd only have to go a few miles south of me to have a mini-spring vacation. It was great!

I got extra work hours tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early after I make a salad. We have a party tomorrow too.

	See Lambs
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Where Are the Treats?!

 
Oh! Hello. It's a human we don't know. That's ok, maybe it has treats.



How about treats for my brother?



Treats for my cute little sister?



What do you mean, you didn't bring any?



I'm serious, strange human, WHERE ARE THE TREATS?

	See A Goat of Every Color
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

A Goat of Every Color

 
Out working today, and I passed a field of goats. Of course I thought of Pricilla.



Of course I had to stop for pictures. It was a back road where there weren't going to be any traffic problems. We had a little black goat. She was reserved.



We had a little white goat who was curious, and looks like she has a wonderful sense of humor.



And then, we had the little dappled goat. She was clearly the pet. She came immediately to the fence and wanted her ears scratched and her nose tickled, and probably treats. But I didn't have any. So sorry, little cutie pie!



I'm still smiling from this close encounter of the goat kind.

	See More Farm Fun See Bird and Beast
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

More Farm Fun

 
These were not all taken on the same day, and they are from several locations, but I've created a collection to keep Old McDonald happy.

First we have the friendly pony.



Followed by the longhorn steer. I took this one from a distance, not wanting to find out how friendly the beast attached to the horns is. But he sure has pretty markings.



This little girl was clearly a pet. She maaaaed enough to make Priscilla happy, and thought I should have had food in my pockets.



What is there to say about chickens? They are funny, that's for sure. One of them kept barking, making me think there was a little dog nearby. Figure that one out.



Next we have a black "runner" duck. Ducks like this are more often seen in Europe (so I read), and they don't fly.



Two of these critters get a second shot. The goat was clearly peeved that no treats were forthcoming.



And the black duck. I really like these upright ducks. I used the picture above to show its usual posture in the best way. But I think this is a nicer picture of the two ducks, who are clearly friends.



I wouldn't mind having a few farm animals. The problem is, I'd have to stay home. My terminal wanderlust and animals are not compatible.

	See Farm Fun
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

I Had a Following

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to use it in a post. Sorting pictures today reminded me and it is still good for a big smile. At one place where I wasn't taking pictures (hoping to get directions to a place I couldn't find- it turned out they gave me the wrong address), no one was home. Well, no human was home. I walked into the yard (had parked a fair distance away through the woods on a driveway that looked promising, but wasn't). I was greeted immediately.


These mixed friends are clearly well-loved, hand fed, and expect all humans to deliver. I was quickly surrounded. Multiple goats and chickens, but only the one duck.


Interestingly, the duck is one of those European kinds that walks very upright. It was quite adorable.

They followed me down the driveway. I was getting a little worried- not wanting to lead them into mischief in the road. They followed me through the woods all the way to my car! Not good. I finally started throwing sticks at them to encourage them to go back to their own yard. I hate doing stuff like that, but talking to them in a friendly way only made them come closer. I would have been happy to be nice and make their acquaintance, but they needed to go home!

They seemed a bit like the musicians of Bremen.

My animal encounter today wasn't so good. I got nabbed by a little Jack Russell terrier. Ruined shirt and pants and a blood blister that smarts, but he didn't break the skin.

if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Bird and Beast

 
Today I did assignments in the pouring rain. Actually, I managed to get a few done before the rain started, so it could have been worse. Well, it's hard to get worse than soaked and cold, but I could have been wet longer.

The bird picture is from yesterday, but I had to call in my bird guy, Dave, for an ID. I'm not the world's best birder. Not even close! Anyway, this is a hermit thrush, Catharus guttatus. The only part I got right was that it has a white eye-ring. That narrows the choices. I didn't even consider the picture in the bird book because the breast and even sides are spotted in the book. But Dave says the spots probably are washed out in the light, or the band of spots is more on the front on this bird. He says the thing to look at is the eye ring, overall brown color and the very reddish tail (seen in the second picture). And the pink legs. So, I may or may not recognize this bird if I see it again. Thrushes are secretive, and not seen too often by people who don't hold still much (me).





Today, before the rain began, I encountered these very friendly cuties at a home. Don't know what breed of goat they are. They wanted to be petted, and they wanted treats. I could only supply the first.

if you like this blog, click the +1   or

More Farm Animals

 



I'm home, very tired, but today I'll just post some more fun farm animals. I really enjoyed seeing the ones that were clean and healthy looking. The goats above were part of a medium-size herd, and they had their own dog to guard them, who was barking many protests at my walking past!



Here we have some more donkeys... better picture, less fence than last time. I was told that many people keep donkeys to protect their goats, because the donkeys will stomp any attacking animal to death, while remaining very friendly to people. Who knew?



I wasn't able to get as nice a pose of this horse as the one from other day, but the markings were so beautiful that I decided to use it anyway.



Finally, here are some guinea hens. These fowl are native to Africa, but have become domesticated pretty much everywhere around the world. They make a noise like a gate swinging on a rusty hinge.

Tomorrow, I will have a game for you (just a quickie) in shades of brown and gold. Just for fun!

See Rural Living