Thursday 02-24-2011

I'm into the third day of a flu bug, feeling about half here and half there.  Lots of rain adding to the already swollen creeks.  Maybe winter's back is broken.  The birds are moving in the woods and the small critters are waking.  Flocks of robins and crows share the fields in front of our cabin. We smelled a skunk in the hospital parking lot on Tuesday night/Wed morning.  


I did get a short twenty mile ride in last Friday, I forgot to state that in my last post.

Barnhart's cabin at Buzzards' Roost

I went out Cabbage Hill and up Polk Hollow to Buzzards' Roost.
It had been a few years since I made it all the way back to the cabin.  The old road that we used to use going back for Presby Day Camp is now blacktoppped.  A gate half way back, just after a parking lot, ensures a quiet trip as no motor vehicles are allowed beyond the gate.
The cabin sits high on a bluff at the end of a ridge above Paint Creek.  The ridge is adjacent to our property.  We are very fortunate to have the nature sanctuary as neighbors.  The trails appear to be attended to and lightly used.  The cabin is need of some repair, I'm not sure about the Ross County Parks' plans.  BUT, the view is still pristine and outstanding!  I was able to surprise two eagles as I walked up to the end of the ridge.  They flew down and caught a convection current and spiraled up and away from me as I stood there in awe.  They went upstream and around the bend in the creek. I didn't catch them on camera, you'll just have to imagine them in the enclosed shots.

Note: the lack of corner stones by my front wheel   

The eagles flew down and then to the right.

I can imagine this area before electricity and all of our modern conveniences.  Water up there surely had to be an issue.  The land around this whole ridge system is poor and wouldn't have supported a family farm.  The cabin must have always been used for get-away or recreation. I did notice that the outhouse has been maintained. Grandfathered... I'm SURE. I don't want to get started on my "outhouse soapbox".

I'll devote a whole post on that subject someday.

The tongue of the ridge in front of the cabin.

I intentionally went up before the trees started budding, as the view quickly becomes blocked by all the foilage.  Chickadees, titmice and small wood-peckers were all out in full force in the shine of the noonday sun.  Gingerly riding out,  I met two walkers coming down the trail as I headed back up. "That's a road bike isn't it?" "Yep, it jumps onto a trail once in a while, too." It's not a practice for the faint-of-heart, though.  Lots of patience.  Lots of practice.


Chickens: 4 eggs/day which means 5 of the eight hens are working.  One is laying outside the box.... I finally found her makeshift nest. The Australorps are being picked by the Barred Cross.

Some Sdogs: Sam, Bishop, Buddy, Simon, Jack (LtoR)

Dogs:  Sampson grows weaker by the day. The Lasix is helping his heart valve problem but it's only holding off the inevitable.  He enjoys his days and is getting lots of stroking and loving.  Jack seems to sense his pal's sickness.
Sons:
No news from Preston this week. He is doing daily missions from a combat outpost.  He has posted some pics on FB, though.
Parker is working on a motion-based development with his job and another project is in the works.  NYC appears to be a target rich environment.
Ty has irons in an unnamable fire.  He and Evan both appear to be enjoying the ice cream maker that Colleen picked out for them for Christmas... you just never know.
Spencer picked out a Daisy® Buck repeating BB gun as his reward for making the high honor roll again.  I asked him what he wanted if he made it all year.  "A 410"  "What's a 410?",  I asked. "The smallest commercially available shotgun, Dad.  You know that!"
Why, of course, I did.