Looking for something...

A couple weeks ago we were out for a walk in the woods. Hunter was running around as he usually does, following his nose, most of the time staying within view but we'll often be walking along and realize that we don't see him anymore. When that happens we stop and listen to see if we can hear the snapping of twigs and branches, and if we don't hear him we give a whistle and a call and he usually comes bounding out through the trees. He's a pretty good dog.

 At one point on this walk we lost him for a few moments. We stopped to look around and see if we could see him. When we spotted him he was running at full speed through the bush beside us. 

He was chasing this deer. 

A couple days later we were out in the same area searching for sheds; the antlers that fall off deer after the rut is finished. We've been out searching for sheds before. Basically we follow along well used deer paths in hopes of finding something. Before this year we had been unsuccessful. This year however we found a few interesting pieces. 

 Fuzz found these antlers, but unfortunately they weren't from a deer shedding them. This one died some time ago judging by the discolouring from algea growth. I wonder if it was part of the same one we found near the same area last year?

  And what do we have here in the snow! 

Our first shed! And a nice one at that! 

We brought both home and hung the skull on the wall (after a little cleaning of course).

And if you were wondering where little Penelope was while we were walking, take a look at Fuzz's big coat. She fits nicely underneath in a carrier until she's big enough to hunt for sheds with us!

Summer...

So I think I've come to the conclusion that summer is for working. It seems that for us it's the time of year where we see less of each other and have less time to do anything apart from work. None of this summer vacationing happening here. In Fuzz's case, landscaping can only be done when the weather permits it so he packs his yearly work hours into 8 to 9 months, working longer hours while the sun is shining. I just seem to by chance always work more in the summer and less, if at all, in the winter. I guess that's what happens when you live in an area based largely on seasonal tourism. 

This year I got a job at a new gas station that opened in Exeter. I happen to be the lucky one that gets every weekend off, however I am up by 4:30 each morning to get there in time to open for 5:30 everyday during the week. I was not a morning person before this. Well maybe an 8:30 or 9:30 type of morning, but anything before that made me pretty miserable. I think I've adjusted alright to the early mornings now, with the addition of afternoon naps and early bedtimes (somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 is best). This schedule means that I pretty much go to bed as soon as Fuzz gets home, but just until the sun starts setting sooner and they aren't able to work quite as late. 

With all the working (and napping) going on I pretty much only used my camera twice this summer. Even then I only ended up taking a few pictures of the occasions...

One was Leah's Birthday! On June 21st this little cutie turned one!          

She learned what presents are and did a pretty good job at opening all her new things. 

She also learned what little red shovels taste like...

 

As well as the deliciousness of iced cupcakes! 

The second event that my camera got brought out for was a short weekend camping trip Fuzz, Hunter and I took to MacGregor Point Provincial Park. We drove up on a Friday night, spent Saturday relaxing, and packed up early Sunday morning (thanks to me getting sick) to come home. We've decided that camping trips need to be more than just a weekend affair. It wasn't near enough time for relaxing and exploring the park. We did have a good time though. It was Hunter's first time camping and I think he wouldn't mind if camping was his life. He got to sit in the back seat of the car and stick his head out the window, come with us everywhere we went, and even sleep right beside us in the tent. People kept telling us what a well behaved dog we have. We just kept thinking "ya right."

We did get a chance to head down to the lake for a little. The weather could not have been better. Both the sky and the lake were super blue that day. 

Fuzz took this shot of a lonely seagull out on a rock... 

Then we released the hound, who had also spotted the lonely seagull way out on the rock.

This dog could very easily live in the lake I think.

Most of our time was probably spent here, in the hammock. We had the perfect campsite for it. Two birch trees just the right distance apart with little brush (or poison ivy) underneath made the ideal location for it. We spent many hours gently rocking back and forth in the cool shade.

But that was it. Those were the only times I got my camera out this summer. I brought it along with us a few other times to markets, or a corn freezing weekend at Ash and Darryl's, but didn't take any photos with it. Hopefully things will start to slow down again though, and maybe work won't be quite as crazy. I'm looking forward to a few more weekends with the warm weather and maybe a couple more campfires to visit, but will welcome the fall with it's cooler nights and slower pace when it gets here. 

A Roam Through the Forest

One of our favourite woodsy places to go for a walk is, luckily for us, just a short drive out of town. It's a conservation area with a few short trails through a grassy field and swampy bush. It also has quite a bit of forest without man made trails where hunting is allowed; bonus! Although on this particular occasion we were just out for a good walk with the pooch. We've learned to bring a compass out in these woods when we plan on going deeper in the bush seeing as the first time we were following turkeys and we got lost for a couple hours (that's my version of the story. If you talk to Fuzz he will say he knew where we were the entire time and it was just really thick bush so took a long time to get out). 

We were following well traveled deer paths through the woods when Hunter found some nice bones. 

He felt as though he needed to stop for a taste test.

Fuzz thought they were cool too. 

Much of the roaming and need for a compass comes from places in bush like the one below. It's fairly open because it's a swamp and floods regularly. When you get to these, everything looks almost the same in every direction. One of us would say "hey look at that tree over there. Let's go check it out..." we would either make it to that tree to investigate whatever it was that was intriguing and turn around, not remembering which direction it was that we came (it was ice so no footprints to go by either), or on our way to that tree, see another interesting tree, and stop at it and never find the first one.  

Moral of the story: bring a compass when wondering.  

Eventually, (and not really on purpose), we found our way out of the bush and walked back to the familiar parts towards the car. 

We also took some pictures of Hunter and ourselves to compare in a couple months when he's grown a ridiculous amount again. He's currently almost 5 months and already getting big! 

We'll see what happens!