You Gotta Laugh -2

  These were shared with me by my friend Marilyn under the category:

They Had One Job!

I hope you laugh as much as I did.

Forest Hike

 Saturday was a beautiful warm day for a hike in the forest.  The first part of the trail is where the wildflowers I shared earlier this week primarily grow,

This is a steep hillside that the trail cuts across.

There are a lot of birch trees throughout these woods, many in decay.  They must not be the climax forest tree but I'm not sure what is.  In the part of Maryland where we used to live beech trees were the climax forest.  Here the beech trees we see are spindly.

The woods seem open this time of year before leaf out.

The stone wall marks the property line of a privately owned parcel on the other side.  It had been cleared of trees.

We walked on oak leaves as evidenced by the acorn tops, and pine needles with pine cones littering our path.

We came upon this big tree - possibly a hemlock which would have sired the smaller hemlocks around us.

There were vernal pools with only a few egg masses visible.  Early yet for frog and toad eggs.

Oldest granddaughter is fascinated by all things little that crawl.  She peeled some old birch bark and found a salamander that she had to hold to show us all before returning it to its home.

Some of the wetter spots had plank bridges for us to cross.

This very old stump had a small tree that sprouted  there. See the green sprout on the left side?

Another very old stump had a sprout of its own kind - a hemlock.

As we returned to the car down the steepest part,  I looked back to see the trail and it's almost invisible.

I was glad for my hiking stick with camera affixed as I descended.

This will be a destination for us for many years to come.

Wild Flowers

 We returned to the town's forest for a hike on Saturday and to see the wildflowers.  More on the hike in another post, but here are the wildflowers I captured.  Now blogger will not put these in the order taken and there are too many to try to arrange the correct order.

Enjoy.

Daughter Emily on the trail.  She's the expert and knows where to expect certain varieties.  She has a great book organized by flower colors.

Dutchman's breeches and red trillium.

Trout lily. My daughter says that this only blooms when it has two leaves.  I have some of these on the north side of my house but only single leaves coming up.

Not wildflowers but puff balls on an old log.  Below more trillium.

Thought I got a photo of bloodroot.  Maybe that's it below.

Below is a strange one with flower below the leaves. Daughter said it was wild ginger.

Above is something related to bleeding heart. It's very similar to Dutchman's breeches below.  Leaves are different though.

A very tiny pink blossom, name unknown.

Not sure what this white flower is.

Apparently the rocky hillside where we hiked is the perfect habitat for these wildflowers.

Local Birds

 First, this robin perched in a lilac bush outside our sliding glass door.  Looks like it's making eye contact with the camera.  Robins are plentiful now.  Unlike in Maryland where they winter over in flocks now, robins come to New Hampshire when spring temperatures have risen.  

Turkeys are plentiful all the time.  I think it may even be turkey hunting season.

We saw this flock crossing the field and the tom turkey had its feathers in full array.  Wouldn't you know that when I got the camera out, it had put them away.

I am surprised that we haven't had any visit our yard yet.  They seem to love that field and the woods across from it.