Whether it was walking dogs or buying garden seeds or watching song birds flit from branch to branch in the service berry bush or beholding the ice art at Rapid Lightning Creek or visiting with a group of horseback riders preparing to hit the trail, yesterday's great outdoors offered a generous series of uplifting experiences.
These past several "Baby It's Cold Outside" days have brought on more and more ice and, with that, numerous examples of frozen artistic scenes, especially anywhere that water flows.
Rapid Lightning Creek, northeast of Sandpoint, turned out to be my destination of choice while taking a break from watching NFL play-off games.
Speaking of which, I'm happy for the two teams who won but disappointed that much of the feature content on Super Sunday's coverage could be fairly redundant with the same two teams from last year playing.
Anywho---back to Rapid Lightning Creek, which offers numerous roadside views of an ice-covered stream.
I drove to the first falls a couple of miles up the road but could not get good pictures. Two many trees and limbs blocking out the view, and, for this old lady to maneuver alone down an icy trail was not a good idea.
So I proceeded up the road, parked in a wide spot and walked back to another area where falls come rushing down into the creek.
The spot featuring various patterns of ice blended with openings showing cold water provided some sweet and cold eye candy.
On my way back from what was planned to be a quick trip, I turned into the Ginter Wildlife Management Area to make a creek crossing and snap a few more photos.
Dust clouds were rising from a vehicle ahead. It turned out to be a pickup and stock trailer loaded with several bridled horses.
To think that people are trail riding in January is almost unimaginable, but this year is definitely different.
It turned out that I knew the horseback riders. Two little boys in the group are the grandsons of our former next-door neighbors from when we lived on Great Northern Road.
Trapper and Wilder are now 6 and 5, respectively, and very nice little boys. I told them a few stories about their dad Chris and their grandmother Karen while their mom, their brother and his friend were getting the horses ready to go.
I assumed that the little guys would be riding double with older folks.
Silly me!
Each had his own horse, and it was quickly very apparent that both had already picked up some good riding skills in their young lives.
Twas fun visiting with the group and then wishing them well as they headed down the trail. Mom told me that they would ride until they got cold and that they had been riding all winter.
After good bye's, it was back home to fix dinner and watch the rest of the second football game.
With all the outdoor possibilities we've enjoyed during this unusual January, we have run into a snag.
This morning I avoided walking in the woods. Yesterday while walking down the trail carpeted with pine needles, my left foot caused a cave-in. Almost turned my ankle.
We have reached that point in cold cold weather with very little snow that the frozen but sheltered ground becomes almost hollow underneath, providing perfect opportunities for similar cave-ins. And, it's not exactly safe walking.
So, my walks will be limited to the fields until the cave-in situation changes. Happily, they offer plenty of walking opportunities.
Wilder and Trapper, young cowboys.
Abby attending to the tack.
The blue sky, the sun and the feeders kept the birds busy yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment