An evening stroll through the forest
My first full day in Idaho is busy with...weeding. I almost cried as I came up the driveway upon arrival, seeing all the weeds that the melting snow of winter and the sunshine of spring had produced. You'd hardly know I worked so hard pulling weeds when I spent nearly a month here last October.
Being a part time resident is hard. Especially when it's just me doing the bulk of the work (although good neighbor Leonard does me a huge favor by mowing my lawn). Since buying this land in 2004 and moving into my newly built house in 2005, I've striven to avoid putting any chemicals onto the dirt. When I lived here full time, I could keep on top of the weeds, even nurture the yard grass and wildflowers I'd planted alongside the house and portions of the driveway.
Now, I just can't keep up when I'm here just a few weeks of the year. Not sure what I'll do. Watching a white tail deer leisurely cross my lot on its way to the forest this afternoon, I'm thinking maybe I'll just have to make peace with the weeds - at least along the driveway.
Still, to reward myself for pulling weeds next to the house today, I take Finn for a stroll in the forest nearby. I need to stretch my back and legs, and Finn needs to run his legs.
It's late enough in the season at the elevation of the house that the abundant arrowleaf balsomroot (looks like a small sunflower) that covers open hillsides has already flowered and died. We did, however, find a few wild daisies still in bloom.
While I get closer to zoom in, a small butterfly lands on one of the flowers.
Finn - tiring of this exercise in photography - positions himself in front of the daisies so that I can't help but notice he's ready to keep moving.
So we continue on. Finn is a dog designed for movement. He's also designed to chase anything that moves, so he busily trees every chipmunk he can along the way.
The sun is getting low on the horizon. The tall trees are casting long shadows. Time to return home.
As we leave the forest and return to the neighborhood roads, Finn stops to enjoy a field of long grass.
And closer to home, crossing a creek, Finn dashes down to cool his toes and have a drink. And explore the culvert. Maia loves culverts and used to explore this one often when her legs were strong enough. As a pup, Maia surprised a raccoon - and me - in a small culvert during a walk in the city. Boy, was that exciting - for all involved! Ever since, Maia keeps hoping to find a similar prize in any culvert she passes. Perhaps Finn had a similar experience before he came to me.
Being a part time resident is hard. Especially when it's just me doing the bulk of the work (although good neighbor Leonard does me a huge favor by mowing my lawn). Since buying this land in 2004 and moving into my newly built house in 2005, I've striven to avoid putting any chemicals onto the dirt. When I lived here full time, I could keep on top of the weeds, even nurture the yard grass and wildflowers I'd planted alongside the house and portions of the driveway.
Now, I just can't keep up when I'm here just a few weeks of the year. Not sure what I'll do. Watching a white tail deer leisurely cross my lot on its way to the forest this afternoon, I'm thinking maybe I'll just have to make peace with the weeds - at least along the driveway.
Still, to reward myself for pulling weeds next to the house today, I take Finn for a stroll in the forest nearby. I need to stretch my back and legs, and Finn needs to run his legs.
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| Finn in the Payette Forest |
It's late enough in the season at the elevation of the house that the abundant arrowleaf balsomroot (looks like a small sunflower) that covers open hillsides has already flowered and died. We did, however, find a few wild daisies still in bloom.
While I get closer to zoom in, a small butterfly lands on one of the flowers.
Finn - tiring of this exercise in photography - positions himself in front of the daisies so that I can't help but notice he's ready to keep moving.
So we continue on. Finn is a dog designed for movement. He's also designed to chase anything that moves, so he busily trees every chipmunk he can along the way.
The sun is getting low on the horizon. The tall trees are casting long shadows. Time to return home.
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| Pollock Mountain as seen through the trees during our forest stroll. |
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| Meadows Valley as seen from the forest's edge. |
As we leave the forest and return to the neighborhood roads, Finn stops to enjoy a field of long grass.
And closer to home, crossing a creek, Finn dashes down to cool his toes and have a drink. And explore the culvert. Maia loves culverts and used to explore this one often when her legs were strong enough. As a pup, Maia surprised a raccoon - and me - in a small culvert during a walk in the city. Boy, was that exciting - for all involved! Ever since, Maia keeps hoping to find a similar prize in any culvert she passes. Perhaps Finn had a similar experience before he came to me.
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| Finn contemplates entering the culvert. |