|
|
|
enormous cow femur
Wednesday, July 22 2026
This afternoon, I took Charlotte on a walk down the Chamomile Gorge Trail, trying to sneak out without Neville following. (He's in a part of his heartworm treatment regime where he isn't supposed to be getting much exercise.) Charlotte soon found a cow bone discarded by one of Crazy Dave's dogs and lay down to chew on it, so I continued without her. I ended up down near Dug Hill Road and ended up hiking back home not far from and mostly parallel to it off-trail. Along the way, I found another mountain bike path I'd been unaware of that had clearly been made by our mountain-bike-riding neighbor Tommy. It starts on state land not far below the driveway that goes to what had been his childhood home (our downhill neighbors), runs parallel to Dug Hill Road and evidently rejoins it somewhere uphill from the old bus turnaround. I'd hiked near this area only once before but had never hiked so close to Dug Hill Road, and I made a few discoveries, including a rare sassafras tree and a short line of shale cliffs. I also found a huge lichen-covered cow femur that was so big I decided to bring it home as a gag gift for the dogs.
In keeping with the new anti-bark protocol, I barricaded the pet door at 4:30pm and left it that way until 8:00pm, the range of time when Crazy Dave takes his dogs for a walk. That kept Charlotte and Neville from going into the ravine and making a neighborhood-disturbing ruckus. It also meant I could take a bath in peace.
Gretchen stayed out later than usual to hang out with our friend Lynn and said she didn't need me to make dinner. But I cooked up a pot of Barilla medium shells anyway to eat with the few chanterelles Jamie and I had found yesterday.
Sassafras a little up the slope above the steepest part of Dug Hill Road. Click to enlarge.
Shale cliffs a little up the slope above the steepest part of Dug Hill Road. Click to enlarge.
Maidenhair spleenwort growing on the shale. Click to enlarge.
A mystery fern that likes to grow atop shale boulders and at the edge of shale cliffs. Click to enlarge.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?260722 feedback
previous | next |
