Triple F - Day 147

  No, not a triple fail... we have Flowers, Farms, and and Eft (ok, just read it like it sounds, not how it's spelled).

Let's start with a conversation after mile 2.8. Marie hiked the road miles with me and was getting ready to head back to the car.
I said, "I feel pretty good. Maybe I can do another couple more than I planned."
"No, you won't," said Marie. "Don't you know that you are supposed to wait 24 hours after a fever breaks to do anything?"
At this point, I got a little whiney. "It's been a full 24 hours!"
Marie gave me that look. " 'Anything' generally means, sitting up in bed and eating solid food."
"Oh," I replied, as I walked into the woods.

FLOWERS
Rue Amenome blooming. I also saw Wood Anemone, but it's not quite open yet.

Here and there, a Mayapple is trying to open up. Actually, no flowers yet, but such happy little umbrellas in the rain. (Overnight. I didn't walk in the rain.)

The most prolific bloomer of the day is Pennsylvania Sedge. The yellow "flowers" are really only the male portion of the plant, but they are pretty.

Closer up, you can see the fuzzy yellow anthers above the brown female parts.

FARMS
Like many state and national forests, Birdseye Hollow, where I was today, was purchased as failed farmland. This foundation supported a fairly large house at one time. The walls were probably broken down on purpose when the house was razed for the forest.

The broken down stone fencerow is now of interest because of the various mosses and plants. It's a beautiful rock garden.

And look at this giant of a tree in the much younger woods. This once stood beside the house. When you see a tree like this with spreading branches in the forest, you know that it grew up in the open before the other trees were there.

And EFT
The first Red Eft of the year for me! I love these little guys!

However, Marie was right, and the 9.9 miles was plenty of hiking for the day. And there weren't even any big hills. Tomorrow, there are hills, so I'm keeping the mileage short again. I didn't feel so good when we got back to the trailer.

Miles today: 9.9. Total miles so far: 1900.8, So, there's that!

See Ready to Roll