Highly ambitious, I set out with a goal of walking 5 miles this bright, blue September morning.  A goal I reached in about an hours time.  I could go faster, but then I’d miss all the lovies along the way!

Here is what I saw.

I guess all my lamenting over lack of mushrooms a few weeks ago was heard.  Because I saw more than I could shake a stick at today!

Love these little vibrant orange ones!

The dogs wanted to come with, of course.  I’ve been so nervous, I’ve kept Dozer on a leash every, single time.  He is a big dog, and can be scary looking.  Plus, I don’t want him chasing deer and pigs and other such nonsense.  Mostly I worry about the house with the 2 mean dogs.  I have zero desire to try and drag him out of a dog fight with my bare hands.  But, I can’t very well take pictures with an 80 pound mammoth attached to my right arm.  Every picture I’d take would either be blurry, or have said dogs head in the picture or be blurry AND have said dogs head in the picture.  This morning I decided something.  If Dozer is going to be my dog.  And if this is going to be our forever home.  And if he is going to live another 15 years or so.  Well, that’s a lot of walks not to take good pictures and enjoy the act of simply walking.  What’s the point in living 28 miles from town if you can’t walk your dog without a leash?

So off we went.

Sometimes behind me….

Sometimes ahead…..

But always alert!

The woods are really lovely around the house……
I heard this pair of hawks before I saw them.

I see a lot of hawks, but not in pairs like this.

Someday, I’ll have a camera with an amazing zoom.

Someday.

Until then, expect lots of still-life close-ups, haha!

The dogs and I made it past the bad dogs without TOO much trouble.  I held onto Dozers collar and walked him past, which was a bit awkward.  But no one got injured and that’s the main thing.

I also found it somewhat endearing that every time they got ahead, or couldn’t see me, they would come back.

Or wait for me to catch up, like here.

The butterflies know that winter is coming, and are busy getting all their affairs in order.

I love butterflies.
I also am fond of persimmons. And I knew the trees must have lots of ripe fruit available. Ever wonder how persimmon seeds get spread? I was contemplating this, among other things, as I strolled along the black top. I thought, “How lovely would it be if there were little persimmon people who flitted about the fields, planting little persimmon seeds from which new trees and little persimmon people babies would sprout?!” Then I drew a persimmon person in church (Sorry, Preacher!)

When in fact, we actually have coyotes to thank.

I’m not much of an artist, however I prefer my little doodle to, well, crap.
Ah, the less glamorous side of life!
Moving on….

Told ya’ there were a lot of mushrooms!
Then I saw something that made me really angry. Trash, thrown in this ditch.

Not only did the trash make me mad, it was made worse by being in a creek and there were mole poison packages. Let’s kill the fish and frogs and lizards and make the horses and cows and deer and everyone else sick, shall we? AND to top it all off, there were also 2 American flags. I was able to reach them, and yes they were only cheap-o little ones but that isn’t the point. The point is respect, or in this case, lack of respect. I took them home.

Here is our flag, flying as a flag should.

Thanks for walking with me today.  Sorry I was a little long-winded!

Happy Sunday y’all!

(Promise not to doodle in church again.  At least, not very much!)

😉