June 7th, 2009

Another lovely weekend in the Connecticut countryside. Who knew it was Trails Day Weekend? We didnt but, we did the walk anyway. It was a pretty darn good one too. I'm guessing 2 miles by the time we ended it anyway. Decided to go back to Natchaug State Forest and try the trails over there. Nice day, local, easy and without a map well, you do what you can to stay safe and have fun. Thank goodness we stopped and turned around. Met up with a gentleman on the way back that said it was a 12 mile hike that went straight out..no loop back. Good for him! Jeesh. Could have been WAY far away from the car.

Really nicely marked and easy to traverse trail system. We'll have to do more of it. Went through a field of blueberries...few more weeks for those! The trail changed a bit throughout from the wet forest filled with ferns and mossy logs to the glacial boulder drop to the slight hills with pines and occassional stone wall. We saw a frog and a baby snake. Not bad. Another couple we passed by on the way back saw a turtle. We looked but, didnt find it. I really wish the State Forest had a decent map. Would make exploring it a lot more enjoyable. Those darn deer ticks though. Poor Mark had 4 of the buggers on him. I had none (for once). Still, was a good hike and I am certainly feeling it today.

Natchaug Trail

Natchaug State Forest, Eastford, CT

Ct Forest & Park Association Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails

The Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail System currently totals over 800 miles of hiking trails in 88 Connecticut towns.

Adding pictures to the gallery:

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/natchaug-trail-june-2009

Changing of the seasons on the homefront is pretty interesting. Those Christmas Trees have gotten bushy and now it's pretty dang hard to see the deer walking trhough parts of them. They do still visit though and that's nice. One of those deer has little nubbies!! Woohoo...it's a boy!! It will be great to see him grow into those. He's pretty young though so, I'm guessing it's not going to be a huge rack but, it will be a rack and thats great.

The hummingbirds still visit all day. They are such a joy. There are times when Zoey takes a nap on the chair by the window with her eyes half open when she hears them and she does a tail wag and little chitter. Funny stuff.

Everything is starting to bloom and/or fruit. What a plethora of things here to enjoy. There are blueberries (only a few though) and either Blackberries or Raspberries (or maybe even both) about to bust in the next few weeks. The wild strawberries along the drive are already fruit and I'm waiting a few days for them to be all red...yummy! The wild roses that surround the patio are crazy now and I have thousands of buds out there...nice white blooms started in the last couple of days. They smell lovely this afternoon. I have Impatiens planted in my little bucket hangers beside the stairs and even Mark thought they looked cute. I have Morning Glory and Moon Flowers in a basket and those should take off anytime now. I have some other Sweet Peas and misc WildFlowers out there growing too. I also started a big planter of SunFlowers and will be putting those out in front of the house in a few weeks. It's fabulous stuff. Simple. Joyful. Pretty. I like it anyway.

I also decided to change over to the Summer Flag a bit early. It's the Firefly one that glows in the dark. Perfect timing. There is nothing as amazing as sitting out on the patio at night right now. There are hundreds of firefly's/lightning bugs in the backyard. It makes it look like all the Christmas Trees have blinking lights. It's awesome the power of nature in it's purest form. I really am just stunned by it's beauty.

This morning was marked by a lovely sunrise and warm air out on the deck havig the first cup of coffee and enjoying the 730am quiet time with Mark before he takes off. We had a cute little visitor. Mr. Coyote. Not Mrs. that I saw before - this guy was smaller. He just appeared out of the trees. Stopped. Looked at us. I let out a bit of a gasp and grabbed Mark and he turned tail and ran. Fabulous. I have all kinds of coyotes here. Well, I guess Momma had to become Momma with some help. Just another reminder of the beauty of nature that I am lucky enough to be surrounded by.

Now..about the cloud of dust coming from the back field.......hummm. Going to have to put on my Scat and Tracks face and take a walk up at some point today and see what I can see. After making sure it's not happening again, of course.

Lets also give Mark a big hand for

1. Getting a great shot of the butterfly that escapes me each time and

2. Removing the rotting dead mice from the garage