Relative Something

On a walk through our woods with Asher yesterday, he spent a lot of time fixated on digging for, or gnawing on hollowed trees for, phantom critters. I’m sure he knew they weren’t figments of his imagination, relying on scent the way dogs do, but I didn’t see any living “dog-toys” desperately employing escape maneuvers while his back was turned. Not this time, anyway.

To occupy my time while he foraged, I took advantage of the moderate overcast sky illuminating the soaking wet surroundings to capture some of our forest scenery.

As I mentioned a few days back, about the moss becoming more prevalent over our 14 years here, I’m developing an increasing fondness for the presence of the special green coatings that perfectly cling to the contour of all the interesting places it grows.

It is a mystery to me as to how this concrete block ended up so far away from anywhere that seems logical. Could it be from the early 1900s? Or from 15 years ago?

Moss changes an old stump into a mythical creature. It looks like he has fallen and broken his leg.

It won’t be long now before these views will be obscured by green leaves sprouting from every tree and bush, reducing our explorations through the forest to the trails. Right now, most of our pathways are miserably muddy and puddled with standing water in many sections.

There is hope that all the growing things will guzzle up much of that standing water as they burst forth with leaves, but we have the coming spring rains to contend with, which will most likely prolong our season of sloppy footing. It is up to us to adjust our attitude to look past the mess on our boots, paws, pant-legs, and floors and appreciate the moisture that will keep all the trees and plants well hydrated.

On the bright side, it appears to be making the moss happy. You should see how funny my stride gets as I try to step as delicately as possible on the places where moss is covering the paths that are as wet as a saturated sponge. The Ministry of Silly Walks would be proud of my performances.

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