Another lemonade day, as a thunderstorm delays my hike and I rearrange my path. It left me with quite a bit of downtime, so I present you with some photo’s from last week. Enjoy! or not. Whatever.

Welcome to a tour of my little plateau and woods. This is an … odd … piece of property to say the least.

01 / 18

I checked in on the Flower Garden. It was in full bloom. We got (5) clumps of grass and some ferns. I recently transplanted some … yellow flower … that was not going to survive where it was. It appears to be happy but hasn’t flowered yet. The Chipmonks likely got to the catnip I planted, as they should have been up by now. Damn Chipmonks.

02 / 18

Everything looked to be in good order. No trees fell overnight. It had been pretty windy (check local listings) two days ago. Just (3) years ago, this was all inaccessable. The forest takes things back quickly.

03 / 18

The offerings I left for the Chicadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay and a pair of White Breasted Nuthatch had long been exhausted. Anything the Eastern Chipmonk doesn’t salvage would have been taken by the Wild Turkey, Grey Squirrel, Black Squirrel, Raccoon or White Tailed Deer.

04 / 18

My stinging nettle… So young… They were just 1/8" tall. (7) of them. Gone… It was those damn Chipmonks I say. WHY!!! Anyway, I still have (3) late bloomers barely an 1/8" tall… I think. Jesus looks after them now.

05 / 18

The Firepit. A technological marvel.

06 / 18

My original was of a solid design that was not built to a satisfactory standard. It did survive it’s year, but shale can be problematic, and stone constructs unravel like sweaters so…

07 / 18

Now, redesigned for better airflow. It features a large cold air intake which functions as twin bottom air injectors (presuming you place the logs right) for a more efficient and smoke-free fire.

08 / 18

I can place a battery operated fan into the cooling chamber to increase airflow, if needed.

09 / 18

Ahh. My chair. My happy place. I turn on some Buckethead.

10 / 18

The Stump Garden, as I’ve been calling it, is finally beginning to bloom. We shall see if it can survive the hot dry climate of summer as the bag insisted it could. A test area to see if anything can still grow. I suspect it can.

11 / 18

It’s our native weeds for now along with some grass seed that the birds and rodentia left me. This soil hadn’t been visible for decades.

12 / 18

The plateau rises another 50 feet or so. It used to be quite beautiful. I hope to eventually get it back close to what it was. I also made a seperate area for some winter rye. For the deer. We have (3) ladies in my area, and they all look scrawny as fugg.

13 / 18

I travelled up to ‘The Sage Of The Woods’. An old stump that I would tell my woeful tales to. I remember when this tree, one of 12 super-massive trees, was freshly cut.

14 / 18

The Sage had nothing to say today so I took the path to the east. It winds along a scenic hillside.

15 / 18

Thats when I spotted it. And worse, It had to have spotted me… The Legendary Beast Of The North Wood! A type of dragon rarely scene.

16 / 18

It’s large head glared at me as I passed, though it showed no aggression. Sleeping perhaps?

17 / 18

What a speciman! Mature adult maybe? I walked on, leaving it to it’s slumber, and relieved it’s not mating season.

18 / 18

So if you are out, walking the trails and exploring old unknowns, understand that you never know what’s up ahead and that’s what makes nature so cool.

Have fun! Out in it.