Toadstool

A Vist to the Hunt Club

Saturday, Jasper & I visited a hunt club for a charity trail ride.

They hold fox hunts there, but don't use live prey.

They do something called a drag hunt. 

The grounds are beautiful and sprawling.

with fields, ponds and fountains

 The ride went through woods

and along fields

Luckily there were "go arounds" for all the jumps.

It was fun to ride in a new place for a good cause.

Rocky Learns Cow Work

Today was a perfect day to learn a new skill,

like working cows.

Rocky & I attended a cow clinic where we learned to read cows.

 And track cows

And herd cows

And round them up!

Those cows are wily creatures!

Early Summer Wildflowers

As the temps heat up,

a new series of wildflowers begin to bloom.

Fire Pinks

Wild Mint

Wild Rose

Blue Flag

 Yarrow & Depford Pink

Oxeye Daisy

Purple Rocket

The tiny Blue Eyed Grass

Hay Harvest

The hay is ready to be harvested.

The sweet smell of freshly cut hay fills the air.

Hay is cut and left to dry.

After a day or two of drying and raking,

the hay is baled.

These are large round bales for my neighbor's cattle.

Farmers need several days of dry weather to make good hay.

 Rain will leach out vital nutrients from the hay

and possibly cause it to mold rendering it useless for the livestock.

Gotta make hay while the sun shines!

Hello Mr. Toad!

Cool Clear Water

Our campground in southern Indiana bordered

beautiful Hunter's Creek.

The creek is so clear

 

that you can see the minnows and this crawdad quite clearly.

 The creek and the surrounding area is filled with geodes

    Geodes are rocks that are plain on the outside but can have beautiful crystals on the inside.

In the Greek language, geode means "shape of the earth",

and geodes are round or oblong like an egg.

They can be a couple inches or several feet in size. 

Some geodes I collected.

Two that are broken open, revealing the crystals inside.

I also found these Indian beads

which are fossilized fragments of ancient sea plants.

Not only was it refreshing to wade in the creek on a hot day, 

but rewarding as well.