Treasure Hunting in the Rain

Northwoods Journal
Friday, August 29, 2014

The logging equipment in our backyard roared to life at precisely 6:45 a.m. so it was a good thing we had no plans for sleeping in this morning. Mark wanted to be out the door by eight, so we skipped breakfast and he took the dogs for a quick run up the road while I got dressed.

Raindrops began hitting the windshield as we drove toward town and it pretty much poured all morning. This was both good and bad. Bad because many of the sales were covered up with tarps but good because the big barn sales we found had a lot of stuff left since fewer people were out and about in the bad weather. We started out at a moving sale in town, then stopped at The Baklava Shop for cinnamon rolls. YES!! Since we got there right after they opened, we got fresh-from-the oven rolls this time! Next stop was the fairgrounds to wait for the 9 o’clock opening of the biannual sale in support of the Elk Country Animal Shelter. We go to this sale every year on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. Hard to believe that we still manage to find lots of good things every time and it’s all for a reasonable donation.

We worked our way from west of Atlanta, at Big Rock, all the way east to Hillman and then north to Royston before heading back home again for lunch. We managed to bring back a fairly good haul but Mark was disappointed that he could still see out the rear window of the FJ. 🙂

The loggers were still wreaking destruction when we returned so we didn’t bother to try eating lunch out on the porch, even though the rain had stopped by then. Sadly we could still see as well as hear the skidders and trucks going to and fro through our trees.  After we ate, Mark decided to do some more brush whacking. Since there was already so much noise the extra didn’t matter. Unfortunately I got fairly ill after lunch and felt rather blechy the rest of the afternoon, but this is just my life now so no reason to whine about it too much.

Later in the afternoon we had to run into town for a few groceries I hadn’t been able to fit in the cooler to bring from home. By then Daisy was quite impatient for her hike so I put on my boots and we drove over to Meaford Road where we would be well away from the logging equipment. Mark found a trail we hadn’t done before across from where we would go up to Lookout Ridge. We saw this huge toad in the middle of the trail.

Tremendous toad

I had to use the flash, which is why this looks a little funny.

I thought it was cute how the pine needle – or whatever it is stuck to his face – almost makes it look like he has a moustache.  Or maybe like he’s smoking a cigar. LOL

Tremendous toad with pine needle moustache.

That was the only wildlife we saw but there were other things to be seen, like these Indian pipes.

Indian pipes

And plenty of fungus. I was really struck by the cool way this fungus cascades over this stump. I took way too many photos, trying to get it just right.

Fascinating fungus

A photo really can’t do it justice.

Up close with the fungi

I also thought these white fungi were pretty neat, too.

More fascinating fungi

Up close with the white fungi.

The toad was in pretty much the exact same spot in the trail when we came back down and Mark nearly stepped on it. As we made our way to the FJ, I spotted this large patch of these interesting orange toadstools.

Perfect perch for a Halloween fairy.

Field of fungus

Back home again we were now pretty much worn out and ready to settle down for the rest of the evening. Mark cooked us some pork chops over the fire and I made homemade macaroni cheese. After dinner he stirred the coals and we were just settling down to enjoy a nice little campfire when our daughter, son-in-law and the two grand-doggers arrived to add a bit more excitement to our evening.

I had put out all my bird feeders but we only had a half-dozen blue jays and a lone goldfinch all day.