27 June 2012 Daisies

There's usually a very large bed of daisies blooming at the edge of our property. The drought reduced this year's blooms to a handful.

26 June 2012 Scenes from a Pond

24 June 2012 Hunting for Orchids

Early on, Ali found orchids on a far section of the property. Their numbers change each year and it seems as though they bloom infrequently, but every year we trek to the back of the property for an adventure on the trails. After a stop for a few more mundane flowers we headed off. We found the orchids. They hadn't spiked this year. :-( We continued our walk around the property and were very surprised to find a second, new location where we had not seen orchids before. No spikes, but it doubled the spots on the property where there were plants. Maybe next year...

We never noticed this fungus before.

We know there is a bear on the property when we find large rocks flipped over or moved as we pass through the woods. The bears turn or move the stones as they forage.

23 June 2012 Back on the Caching Trail

Today was Gwen's first return to the geocaching trail after her partial ACL tear. We decided to take her for a couple of caches in a gamelands near Union City. The terrain is a little tougher than a flat walking trail but offers a lot of open fields between the woods. She did well. We were really surprised to see a yellow-bellied sapsucker along the trail and Gwen seemed to be fine on the trail.

Gwen's on the lookout for muggles as Ali signs the logbook.

At the house in Pennsylvania, the summer wildflowers were in bloom.

We missed the carrion flower blooming but got to see its berries.

22 June 2012 At the Rookery

Pasture Rose

20 June 2012 Lots of Blossoms

19 June 2012 New Park!

Okay, Russell Uplands Park is new for me. Ali knew all about the park and has visited it before. I drive by it about 10% of the time on the way to the office and never noticed. I can be dense. Better late than never when it comes to visiting a pleasant park and taking a walk. There were two new geocaches in the park. I was happy we only got one since it gave us another great reason to return in the future for yet another visit.

The frogs appeared to like the pond and the park. They were numerous, large, and loud.

It was one of those evenings where the sun pours through the trees to light the trail.

We are used to seeing the alien orchid helleborine in Pennsylvania, but this is the first time I remember spotting it in Ohio.

16 June 2012 Caching Hudson

Friends of Hudson Parks placed a series of geocaches in the city's parks. Their parks are pleasant places to visit so they made a fun afternoon of a day in town.

One of the few non-Hudson Parks stops was at a cemetery in Hudson. This chapel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It always gives me a Southwest feeling with the architecture.

15 June 2012 Mirabeau Park

There are lots of great places to cache in Spokane. Two evenings prior I realized Mirabeau Park was close to my hotel. I was done with my emails and other business early and had a long flight home, so I took a bit of early morning time to find a couple caches in the Park and explore.

The cache is up there, but I'm not going up that way.

Another potential path up that did not work out.

Advice from an expert

The path up...

Finally at the top

Am I in Spokane? That looks like a lush waterfall ahead.

WOW!

Turtles near the falls

Getting home late again...