CDees' Bookshelf: Just another day in the country

Fall is not my favorite time of year because winter is on its heels, and since a storm is blowing in this evening, the wind has a cold bite to it. However, a nearby neighbor needed his cows and some electric fencing checked on, so my sis and I wrapped up and spent the morning doing that for him and got in a little hiking and exploring. While the sun still shone, today became a very bright (and funny) spot in this season of changing weather.

Come along and take a virtual walk through a colorful corner of our part of the world. You won't need a hat or jacket, but watch out for the cow paddies! :-)

And here we go...

Local rumor says this house dates back to the Civil War and that the basement was used to hide runaway slaves, becoming part of the underground railroad. Wind blowing the lace curtains through the broken windows lent it a spooky feel.

This little barn is still in pretty good shape.

Fifty degrees Fahrenheit is too cold to kick off the hiking boots and go wading, but it's nice to see water in the creeks again after a dry summer.

The wind pushes the first few clouds into the area.

We found a few cows. Or maybe they found us. :-)

Underneath the cedar tree, we found an old well that had been partially filled in. You can see the edge of it, if you look close. But more about that later, because we still have more fence to check.

The woods beckoned to be explored, and who were we to say no?

Such a lovely gold world...

Don't forget to look up at God's lace.

This rock reminded us of a whale. Swimming in a sea of leaves.

The leaves on the water looked like puzzle pieces or patterned fabric.

The sunlight through the leaves produced a marvelous peachy colored light. It was gorgeous.

I was starting to get hungry as we left the woods and the color of these oak leaves reminded me of gummy worms. My sis just laughed and shook her head when I pointed that out however.

The clouds were getting thicker and the wind colder as the edge of the cold front reached us. Time to check the rest of the fence.

We found more cows. :-)

The one on the left liked the left-over horse cookies in my sis's pocket.

And we decided to investigate the old well a little closer...

Let me pause to say that almost every member of my family suffers varying degrees of dyslexia, and sometimes it picks the funniest times to kick in.

And now back to my story...

While I was looking at the well, I saw a black snake's shed skin hanging off the old cedar posts. (You can see it in the above pic. It's the thing hanging down into the black part of the well.)

About this time, my sis (who's standing on the other side of the well) starts hollering.

Frantically.

I jump because I think maybe the snake is still around (wrong time of year, however), but then she starts using actual words.

"Possum! There's a possum in there!"

I can't figure out why that's such a big deal because we deal with possums all the time around our place.

I hurry around the ends of the old cedar posts and look where she's pointing while still hollering, "Possum!"

But I don't see a possum. All I see are rotting posts on top of an old well.

And then she grabs my arm and makes me lean over and look straight down the well.

This is when I realize that the dyslexia has kicked in.

Because...

at the bottom of the partially filled in well,

maybe ten feet below our feet,

there was no possum.

This is what I saw...

!!!!!!!!

"That's not a possum," I said. "That's a SKUNK!"

To which my sis replied, "That's what I said!"

0.o

Umm...no. I'm pretty sure you said, possum.

I assume the only reason we didn't get sprayed is because Mr. Skunk was below us and couldn't see us, but, belatedly, we lowered our voices and spoke in whispers as I grabbed a couple of quick pics.

Then we moved along, thankful we weren't wearing Eau de Toilette of Pepe le Pew!