Its All Fun & Games...

Two Bucks

Two bucks wandered into our pasture, scaring our young horse Apollo!

Here they are just being young bucks.

Hummingbird Moth

This moth looks like a small hummingbird as it flits among the flowers

Not surprisingly, its known as a hummingbird moth.

Walking Stick Bug

This guy was on the tack room door.  

Can you see him now?

Let's go to the Circus!

Peru Indiana is known as the Circus Capitol of the World.

Its web site says Peru has been home to seven 

of the world's major circuses for their winter headquarters.

Every summer Peru hosts a summer circus festival

 & an amateur circus performance put on by the city's youth.

 We took the grandkids to a performance & these amateur circus performers are good!

  The performers are all ages & sizes.

They did lots of acrobatics

And some pretty scary aerial acts too.

These kids are impressive with their talent.

Next year we'll go see the parade & more!

Yellowwood State Forest

Less than 10 miles from Brown County State Park is 

Yellowwood State Forest, a lovely park in its own right.

We decided to visit this lesser known park and weren't disappointed.

We decided to hike around Yellowwood Lake

 and compare it to the lakes we'd hiked around at Brown Co. Park.

It was our longest hike yet - 4.5 miles, but pretty easy.

 We had occasional views of the lake

Our lunch spot was made possible by the area beavers.

We weren't bothered by bugs at all.

Maybe because of this massive bat house!

Don't miss Yellowwood  if you get the chance to visit!

Brown County State Park

We had a cool front move through and temps were in the low 70's.

That's the perfect time to go camping, so we headed to Brown County.

Our campsite at Brown Co. State Park

 It was perfect weather for hiking too.  Over the course of 3 days, we hiked around 3 lakes.

 This is Ogle Lake, a 17 acre lake in Brown County State Park.

We hiked around the 7 acre Strahl Lake on the morning of the second day. 

Brown County is known for its scenic beauty, seen from many lookouts through out the park.

This is Hesitation Point

We had some visitors to our campsite too. 

 A small snake crossing the road.

Rattlesnakes are found in the park, so we left this guy alone although he doesn't look venomous.

Cool evenings made for beautiful sunsets and great endings to fun days.

The Farrier Was Here

The farrier, the modern name for a blacksmith, was here to put shoes on Rocky & Apollo.

Tag got a trim.  Horses don't necessarily need shoes but should be trimmed every 6 - 8 weeks. Since their hooves constantly grow.  The farrier is a pretty well accepted by our horses.  

I think they like their pedicures.

Mid-Summer Hike

Just some observations from this morning's walk.

Not as many flowers are blooming as early summer, but I found this unusual flower.

A woodland sunflower

Beebalm

Queen Anne's Lace

Pretty spherical flower

A big ole snapping turtle

A feather

Deer leg bones

You never know what you'll see on a hike.

Horsehair Nest

I found this small nest near the barn.  It looks like Tag's hair was used to line the nest. 

 Its snowy white inside.

Beavers are Back

I saw a beaver this morning in the creek.  What I didn't realize was there were two of them.

See the second one under the branches?

The first one approached the second one and they embraced

Then they swam down the creek.  Looks like we have a mated a pair.

Where's Chipper?

 Can you find the hidden creature in this Maine wall?

There he is!

Yummy Trip to Maine

My daughter & I took a culinary trip to Kennebunport, Maine.

We arrived in quaint Kennebunkport around the same time as Hurricane Arthur.

Fortunately, Saturday dawned sunny & clear.

It was a beautiful day in Cape Cod.

 Our first activity was a "foodie tour" of Kennebunkport, 

which included seven stops and tastings.

We sampled Shipyard ale,

Clam chowder and other Maine specialties.

Next we buzzed up to Freeport to the L.L. Bean flagship store & its giant boot.

We visited a few charming fishing ports along the way.

 

Watched the (delayed due to Arthur) Independence Day fireworks.

 Sunday was cooking class day at Jillyanna's wood fired cooking school.

Lisa helps with the biscuits.

 On our way back to Portland, we checked out the Portland Head Lighthouse,

one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world.

One last night in Portland and we are on our way back home.

It was fast, fun & fill of food!