weekend shots: spring walks

This past weekend Katie Bug and I decided it would be a good idea to check out the woods.  It's funny that the winter/spring that we didn't have a dog I don't really remember going for walks in the woods much.  Something about having a pal along.  And that Kate... once she knows that I have stopped for a minute, my attention elsewhere, she jets through the woods running around, up and down the hills and splashing in the creek.  Saturday we walked down below the waterfall where the bigger creek meets our branch, where the water gets deeper (no more than a couple of feet but over my boots), and once Bug realized she had permission she was all in.  I walked around the bottoms below Chipmunk Bluff (I have names for areas of our land) and Kate swam, each not really paying each other much attention but having a great time by ourselves with the security that we were both nearby. 

Over the two walks, I wound up spying three wildflowers blooming that I've never seen before.  I took pictures and have a Tennessee wildflower book on it's way from the library to hopefully identify them.   I also found a pretty old Mason jar with a very rusty lid and a piece of an arrowhead... oddly within a foot or so of a spot where I've found one before.  No mushrooms to report in my findings.  Maybe next year.  Please enjoy these shots from our walks.

I love the ferns lining the creeks.

This one reminds me of Pepper Jean.  She always walked in the creek with such purpose.

Firepinks.

Don't know this one.

Firepinks.

Of all the walking I do in our woods this is the first snake I've seen this year.  I'm sure it's not the first snake that has seen me.  I almost stepped on this little guy in the creek.  He wasn't but maybe a foot long... maybe.  When I am in "their home" I feel I have no right to kill them.. unless maybe I am being threatened I guess.  Now if they are in my home... or chicken pen... or shop... or day care... different story.  I've not seen one like this before.  Maybe I ought to check out that snake book from the library again.

Tater Bug at our waterfall.

I think this is almost my favorite picture from this trip.  Just something about it.

Mom... something is telling me to ask you what this is.   Seems more like a misplaced shrub that's grown tall under the trees than just something wild.  I could be very wrong.

Remember this nest I found a few months ago?  Don't know if it's builders will use it again this year or not.  Doesn't appear that way for now.  It's pretty well built to last through this past winter.