Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Checking The Fenceline

I have a good strong feeling the donkey I am looking for (to ride on) is going to appear very soon - and so it's time to start the more serious forms of preparation for it's long term stay. Much of the 17 acres I live on has fenceline because the bordering properties raise cattle and keep it all in check...but way up the steep mountain where no cows go was a mystery as to whether the fence was still there. Me and Bort started out our fence walk by crossing over the barbed wire into a field full of wildflowers and butterflies, until we reached the electric fence at the end of the cow area, and crawled underneath over to the WILD side. Up in the woods the fence quickly disintegrated into nothing, and so did our goal... we got distracted by adventure.
Fantastic wildflowers hide on the highest and roughest parts of the climb - much of the hill was like climbing a wall made of mud. We had to walk on the sides of our feet and dig a hole for each step...which is why I kept telling Bort to go first so I could use all his footprints instead of making my own. :)
Apparently mushrooms really like spring and fall - and since fall is upon us there was an explosion of FUNgi. It felt so very SUper MArio BroThers, I thought maybe I could bounce on some of these and get extra lives.
We then found this perfectly shaped mound of dirt that looked like it was made by humans - which of course made me go into imaginative guesses about bones being buried in it, giant ants from outer space, pagan rituals, a native american look out....but at the top it was just a tree had fallen down and pulled up that chunk of the earth with it.Ok so with my already out of control imagination, I find this BLOB of fleshiness on the ground at the bottom of the mud mound (see below) - giggling like pure jello with a leaf stuck in it making it look like a bat wing had been ripped off ... Does anyone know what could make a blob like that in the woods? Or is it a sliver of flesh?The real beauty of a steep hill, is people rarely go on it and the trees are bigger, the plants have more variety, everything is very healthy and diverse. There were more huge trees in this section of the woods then anywhere else on the property, and as you can see I was dorking out at the bottom of this one...I am sparing ya'll the pic where I actually hugged the thing and think I may have become an official hippy.
We tried going back out through a gully of jewelweed flowers which quickly became a gully of stinging nettles!!! There was no way out of the gully except going through the nettle war zone we were in - there was alot of falling down, sliding on steep mud and rocks and accidental grabbing of the stinging nettles - which led to alot of rubbing our arms & hands with jewelweed to soothe the sting. It hurt but I found it comical and laughed (and yelped) most the way down till we diverted out finally off to the side. Diversions always bring more neat discoveries...
XoXooo

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful 17 acres. About the goo under the huge uprooted tree: did it smell like pitch? Sappy-like or was it soft and like tapioca?

    I'm excited to hear your donkey is calling you so strongly. And those generous donors, are they filling your donkey bank, and pinning your dear self on JuJuBeen's back?

    Nice to visit you here, Mokihana

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  2. Hey Mokihana!

    The goo was not pitch or sap- even though it looks like it, it was jello tapioca like, majorly giggley - like a big butt. ;) And I didn't put my nose to it cause I really thought it was flesh.

    I have had a few really good donations and I also met a cowboy who lives nearby who deals in buying and selling livestock - he is going to look for a trained riding donkey for me, then I will buy it from him. :) I can't wait!!!

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  3. FYI --
    here is the cowboy's website he's making! Anyone in the area who needs animals - buy his! He's nice!
    www.hayeslivestock.com

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