Walk Observations I Usually Don't Talk About

 Yesterday morning Bella, the dog I didn't want but enjoy watching run around out in the fields and woods, and I went for a walk.  I have been trying to up my daily steps and taking her for a walk is a great way to do so.  As well as the fact that Gary has the beef herd up the road, so we can walk with her off the leash out in the west pastures and woods.  

After 25 years, or more, I even forget now what year Gary said he started the dairy, anyway...  After over 2 decades of dairy farming it is inevitable that bits of pieces of dairy evidence are all over the place.

An ear tag from a long departed cow.  The year isn't on there, so who knows.  It might, in fact, have come off the ear of one of our beef cows Gary had out there just last week.  Since he doesn't have to milk these animals he moves them around from field to field to get all the graze they can before he has to start feeding hay.  But the tag is still a bit of farming detritus that inevitably gets left behind.  When you have over 100 acres of fields, woods, creeks and brush that the cows roam it is impossible to collect every bit of trash.  

When we are out on our walks I will occasionally find, and drag home and toss various bits and pieces of stuff; usually baling twine or lengths of wire or other fencing items that have been left or drug around.  

Along the creek bed is where I find a many things that have been washed downstream.  Plastic bags, or baling twine is most common.  Old cans and jars, as well.  Tossing bags of trash in the creek to get washed downstream used to be a popular way to take out the trash.   And no doubt many people still do this.  The problem with the creek now is that it has been quite dry for many months.  This Midwest drought has dried up quite a few of the smaller creeks and streams, and will no doubt dry up many of the springs as well.  

When it rains enough to flood the creek I will find trash up in the creek bottoms where it's been washed up, then left as the waters receded.

But Bella is oblivious to such intrusions of baser human habits on our walks.  She is all about sniffing out rodent holes and hideouts.

There is most certainly a colony of mice or rats under this old log; she snuffed and snorted for quite some time, running back and forth from one hole to another, her tail just a-wagging.