One of my last walks with Trevor….

 

Well, on the full moon I decided since it was in the 40’s and the wind still we would go for a walk across the fields in the full moon.  So, I put the collars and leashes on Trevor and lil Hallie and grabbed a flashlight, a phone and protection.  Now, I take a phone just in case someone gets hurt, protection to protect us from either a pack of coyotes, rabid animals or what have you out there.  The Flashlight so we can see, can check out movement in the fields and for our first round of protection. You see, if you shine it in the eyes of animals and make loud noises and they can’t see nothing but blinding light they will usually go the other way.

So, we step out into the night and head into the fields.  We could smell the dampness in the air and smell the earth of the field as we walked across it. The rising full moon illuminated the field slightly and as we walked it became brighter and brighter until we could see almost across the field.

As we walked along in the cool night air Trevor began to make his twinkle toes  power walk and we walked for a brisk pace for a few minutes as lil Hallie strutted haughtily across the field.  We found the trail and began to go up it making wide passes around the mud holes and enjoyed the silence of the night and the silvery moonlight as we walked.

Suddenly I saw movement and pulled out my flashlight and turned it on and it hit flashing eyes as I saw several deer looking at us. I quickly shut off the light and stood still as the deer slowly turned and meandered further off across the field obviously not too concerned about us but making sure we were kept off at a safe distance.

We took off and wandered along the field enjoying the beautiful night and a few minutes later I saw something moving nearby.  We stopped and it stopped obviously facing towards us but it was in the shadows so I turned on the flashlight and it stood up and I saw it was a raccoon.  He sniffed and looked at us and went down on all fours and wandered off in his search for food.

As we walked along we could hear the neighborhood dogs talking.  One dog would bark to the left and three would respond on the right and then several from behind us and then some in front of us and it quickly became obvious they were communicating and there was a method to their rotation of directions in responding.  Lil Hallie was listening and went to join in and I softly told her no and she went back to concentrating on her walk.

As we walked I looked up at the twinkling stars, listened to the roaring silence that was broken by the dogs barking off in the distance, by occasional cars driving by way down on the road and by the occasional rustling along the field by  animals moving about.

The soft glow of the moon increased and I noticed the white collars and leggings and paw on Trevor and Hallie glowing brightly in the moonlight.  I could see the corn stubble and see the outline of the trees along the field.

We circled the field and headed home hearing an occasional animal running off in the darkness and as Trevor and Hallie walked along I smiled as they strutted along happily.

We finally made our way back home and as I looked back I saw the moonlit field glimmering and shimmering in the silvery light of the moon.  What a beautiful night. What a beautiful walk!

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A Hallie and Trevor Memory

years ago when I was walking Trevor and big Hallie we were going along a trail enjoying the quiet and the beauty of the forest.  Suddenly, there was a bunch of noise and several feet in front of us a Turkey took off in flight and flew a hundred feet or so and landed in the woods behind some brush.  We froze and Trevor and Hallie watched the Turkey fly with interest.

Then, on the floor of the woods more noise and off ran a turkey across the leaves and ground.  Now as you know Turkeys are some of the ugliest birds one can see and this big bird was no exception.  As it ran it swayed side to side and its eyes were huge, its red and blue bald head sticking out like a sore thumb and the gizzard and its wattle and snood flopping from side to side as its stride made it look like a clown on stilts trying to run.

Now, it was absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I had ever seen.  I had to laugh….. and then I looked down at Trevor and he was looking on with his mouth dropped open and his eyes then turned to me and he looked like he was laughing.  Hallie, however, was miss expression. She looked at that Turkey running and then looked up at me with her eyes wide and she rolled them and then gave me a look of “now that was the stupidest thing I have ever seen!”  I laughed so hard at her expression that I had to sit down on a nearby stump.  She was right…. it was rather dumb looking…..

Hallie; Did you see that?  It is the most ridiculous thing I ever saw!

 

 

 

 

 

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We see a lot of Turkeys  on our walks.  Another memory of Trevor and Hallie and seeing Turkeys came along another trail.  We came up on a big group of Turkeys crossing the trail going into to a low wallow on the other side that was full of short ferns.  As they crossed we kept walking and the collies watched them as we came closer and closer as they crossed.  It was a large group and they finally all made it into the wallow as we came within ten feet.  Then… up popped another turkey and and was on the left side of us moving up the trail so it could cross further away from us.  However, it looked strange…. it was hopping and then it came up on the trail and I saw it had only one leg… and was hopping trying to catch up with the other turkeys. So, we stopped and let it cross and it hopped down into the wallow and disappeared with its friends.

We took off again and Trevor sort of watched with interest but Hallie, like normal was intrigued.  So, when we came up whee they had crossed she stopped and looked into the wallow and I could see her moving her head looking.  So, I looked and as I watched I could see the Turkeys hunkered under the ferns I could see their heads moving as they all hunkered down and were looking between the leaves up at us to make sure we werent coming it after them…

I clicked and said ‘Hup” which is the word we use to let the collies know they need to move and off we went.  However, Hallie kept looking back to see them and was all eyes after that looking for more and for her favorite thing to see.. squirrels! 🙂  So, those are a couple of great memories of the wild turkeys we saw on the trail.

 

Hallie:  Eee gads.. turkeys are sure ugly!

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Trevor- wow!  I never saw anything so funny…. hey turkey you need to grow some feathers to cover up that face…. eeeeewww

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Hiking the Nature Center-4

We leave the enchanted forest and head back towards the rive and the steep ridge and go onto our narrow, rough wild trail. I love this trail for it is work to hike it. No flat wide comfortable walking here.  We also go down off the ridge and skirt between the high hills, climbing some of them only to go back into a deep gulley, along a swamp aback into a wetlands.  We see lots of rabbits, birds, ducks, geese, squirrels and deer.

Off to the right is the steep hill down to the river, off to the left the enchanted forest…. ahead is the beginning of a decline that gets steeper around the bend…..

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If you closely you will see the rising ground to the left and the decline to the right.  We did see some ducks and other birds… the collies love this trail for they like the roughness and wildness of it….

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This spot made me sort of sad. You see this Cedar always had a little Cedar under it  that Trevor used to sniff and water. The last time we were here it was healthy and about 5 foot tall and Trevor grinned seeing it…. no trace of it.. Trevor is gone and so is the sapling…. 😦

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We go from here over a slight rise and then down a steep narrow trail that goes to this…

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This magnificent wetlands….. we stop here and admire the beauty and watch any wildlife we see… Trevor would always water everything… the Hallies both stood by my side and admired the beauty and Niamh would sit patiently waiting for us to move again….

More to come…

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