It's Been A Long Time...Take A Walk With Us

Put One Foot In Front Of The Other

Hey gang, as I mentioned yesterday, there was a storm heading our way.  We totally lucked out. After we battened down the hatches, we still had time before it hit to head over to the field for a good stretch of the legs.  Needless to say, Lucan was thrilled.  It's been such a hot summer, meaning we didn't get too many of our walks in, so I was thrilled too.

Gar was lead-man through the field and into the woods.

And yes, we did beat the storm.

The field across the street is our go-to place to walk for a few reasons: 

1. it's literally across the street. 
2. when you get to the top of the hill, it drops down and nobody knows you're there and the dog isn't distracted by what's going on in the road.
3. there is plenty of room for Lucan to run 
4. we nearly always score something special to bring home, yesterday it was the hawk feather. 
5. if you go up and down the hills, it's a pretty good workout (which I could really use at this point)
6. we often share the field with deer and turkeys. we hear coyotes at night, but thankfully haven't run into any during the day. i usually have a big stick just in case.
7. at the far end of the field, there is a trail of sorts that goes into the woods. it's a great place for quiet thinking and destressing. we've seen an owl and a porcupine in a tree in the woods. the owl did the entire headtwist while looking at us, and the porcupine stayed way up in the tree. good porcupine.
8. our town conserved this beautiful open land a few years ago and nothing can ever be built on it
9. it's the backdrop for sunset meadows

I feel very lucky to have numerous routes for walking and enjoying nature, including the field, the trails around the corner and at Phillips Exeter, and of course, the beach. Now, I do enjoy a walk in our neighborhood too, but I'd choose an off road walk over and on road walk any day.

What's your favorite place to walk?

By the way, as far as the storm goes it did get very windy and it lashed rain. No trees down in our yard but close....our neighbors Lauren and Jay lost one out back at the edge of the woods. They didn't even know it until Gar went over to offer his chainsaw.  Good thing the storm was a quick mover.

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No kidding. 

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Since they're so damn cool and I think you'll really like them, you will find them in the righthand sidebar.  When you have a chance, you really should check out their shops. I think you'll be happy that you did.

Did you notice it's Wednesday already? Woohoo to that!

Ciao for now,

Trail Mix- Take a Walk With Us

Why Did It Take So Long?

I knew there was a trail starting just around the block. I don't know why it took us so long (years) to investigate and discover this wonderful series of trails only 10 minute walk from the house. Now I'm in heaven.

We've walked the trails 3 days in a row, starting at the challenging end not everyone knows about which starts with a steep walk up to the top of the hill.  There is a development going in, so there is a paved road. Unfortunately they have cut down a lot of trees for the houses to go in, too many in my book. That said, there is a pretty view at the top now that you probably couldn't see before.

Lucan has been pretty happy about this discovery too.

This end of the trail starts out flat at the top of the hill and steeply winds its way down through the woods.

There are lots of twist and turns and ups and downs. It's a good workout this trail. It makes you use lots of different muscles.  We've only passed a couple of mountain bikers so far and their dogs. Oh, and then yesterday this pretty german shepard girl found Lucan in the woods and I thought she looked familiar and then we heard ..."Garrett and Pam, is that you?". It was one of neighbors from the little lane across the street from our house.

This made me laugh. Out in the middle of the woods and we still run into someone we know.

She says she walks the trails most everday with Cleo, but always drives to the park up the road and starts at the opposite end from us. She didn't know you could walk down our street a bit and begin at the other end. It made her happy to know she didn't have to drive to walk on the trails anymore.

I'll have to try and get some better shots that really show how steep the trail is in sections. This spot is actually so steep it winds down the side of the hill in tight Ss. 

Lucan has been doing pretty good considering he is 13.  He's a panting fool by the end, but once we get home he recovers pretty quickly. Now that he knows he might meet his new galpal Cleo again, I'm sure he'll be raring to go. Wish I'd gotten a picture of our neighbor Mira, and Cleo and Lucan romping through the woods, but I was too busy swatting black flies who were swarming us when we stopped to talk. Luckily they didn't bother us otherwise.

The nice thing is that the trail is really a series of trails and when you hook up with the right one it dumps you back to the neighborhood. Gar loves it, I love it and the dog loves it.

This is a horrible picture, but in my own defense I am out walking in the woods, not dressed up for a cocktail party.

To top things off,  once you get back to the neighboorhood, one of the neighbors has chickens and sells eggs. I brought my bag with me the other day and went home with 2 dozen free range fresh neighborhood eggs. This also makes me very happy.

Then it's just a short walk back to the house, so we don't need to mind for cars nearly as much as we used to on our 'pavement' walks.

One last shot. Yesterday, the neighborhood goat was out. He looking straight at me saying 'You lookin' at me? 'Cause if you're looking at me....'

Gar's off to the pharmacy. When he gets back, we're hitting the trail so we get a little time for us first. Then we'll come back and tackle the weekend to-do list.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

PS- fellow bloggers, what do you think of the new blogger set up? So far A-OK. Seems easy enough to use.