Gorgeous walk on Ford Loop at Monacacy Battlefield this cold
April Morning with Cammie and Jase. I
had to scrape ice off the car because of the sleet that fell before
sunrise. The drive was beautiful with
mist rising from the river. It was overcast,
so no pinks or golds, but the clouds were still beautiful.
There wasn’t a soul around when we got there. Both fields by the parking area look to be
planted in alfalfa. We walked straight
out along the road that runs by the pastures. The young dairy heifers were fascinated with
us and followed us all along the field.
Cam got a little close to the live wire on the bottom of the fence and got zapped! Cresting the hill, I saw one of the momma beef cows standing over a baby in the pasture to the left. They were pretty far off, but the baby still popped up to its feet when we came over the hill. Just beyond them was a dead cow. I didn’t take a picture, but guess I should have – new life and death side by side.
I debated peeling off to the left and taking the Brooks Hill
loop, but it was pretty wet overall and the trail is pretty steep, so I opted
to stay on the Ford Loop.
It was very wet down by the river and slippery as can
be. Even Jason slipped at one
point. I went carefully. The Virginia bluebells are out and their
elusive sweet/spicy scent came and went.
They are so beautiful to look at and so hard to photograph!
There was a lot of storm damage – just about
as hard to get a good photo as with bluebells, but there was a mighty downed
tree in our path, so I grabbed a shot of it. Had to bushwhack around it as it was too high for Jase and me to go over - lots of spikey branches sticking up and actually too low for Cam to go under.
The pups were happy as can be, poking their noses into
everything. Jase dived into some brush and came out sporting a huge sticker
branch tangled in his fur! I stepped on
it and sent him on his way and fortunately, it came out – I didn’t want to
handle it – it still stuck me in the leg though! It’s amazing how different their coats are. Nothing ever sticks to Cam, even as low to the
ground as she is, but Jason is like a magnet – everything wants to stick to
him.
The trail runs along between the river and sort of a swampy
pasture area – we were nearly at the place where we cross a little bridge over
the swampy area to head back up the hill when I saw a flash of tawny
wings. It was a big raptor – I couldn’t
tell what it was at first, then as we cleared the trees, I saw a huge owl
sitting there watching us. Beautiful! I really need to bring a better camera with
me. I am generally pretty happy with my
little cellphone photos, but to get a picture like that takes a little more
horsepower. A bit of a "where's Waldo" pic, but I think you can find the owl!
On the way up the hill, we saw a pair of cardinals flirting
with each other. In fact, there were
birds and birds singing everywhere – I should get a little smarter about
identifying them. The heifers were not
in sight. Poor Jason went to pee on the fence of the dairy pasture and got
zapped by the electric. He was so upset
that he clung to me for a few minutes. I
gave him some petting and hugs, and we went on our way. Then he tried to do it again! Goofy dog – I guided him to the other side of
the trail.
There were maybe 20 deer in the field beyond the woods as we
came up along the dairy pasture. They
saw us and took off towards the parking area.
Cam saw them right away and wanted to chase them. I don’t know what a 25 lb dog thinks she is
going to do with a herd of deer each of which is 10 times bigger than she, but
I suppose she would think of something!
Jason was still a little cowed by his zapping and wasn’t very interested
in them. Wet and dirty dogs!
They ran to the edge of the field and watched as we loaded
up back into the car and went on our way towards home and a yummy breakfast for
all.
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