Today,I went for a walk out through the fields with Taylor. Taylor is the senior dog here at the farm . He is 12 and although that is old for a dog he is in good shape,but can't hear very well. He and I have the type of realtionship that a lot of married couples have.We ignore each other unless there is something really important going on,like who gets to eat out of the ceramic dog dish or sleep on the love seat,then we fight. But,I digress.

The day dawned overcast and chilly,more like a fall day than almost summer. By late morning the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining. Rather than take the usual route along the creek bed and into the woods on the west boundary line,we went out the lane and over the tilled fields. We came to pile of old wood that was left when the old hedge rows were cleared a few years ago. This has become overgrown with weeds and wild flowers. Today I discovered that there are Thimbleberries growing there. According to Wikipedia:Rubus parviflorus (Thimbleberry) is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan,[1] and south to northern Mexico. It grows from sea level in the north, up to 2,500 m altitude in the south of the range.It produces a tart edible composite fruit around a centimeter in diameter, which ripen to a bright red in mid to late summer. Like other raspberries it is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. The drupelets may be carefully removed separately from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit which bears a resemblance to a thimble, perhaps giving the plant its name.[3] The berries are small and fall apart easily,so they can't be picked and shipped well. They can be eaten and are rather tart.

In that same clump of wood and weeds we saw a lovely snake. The picture is pretty good,being taken through the grass. The snake was much more startled than I,of course. The snake appears to be just a common garter snake.

Out at the edges of the field,we saw many deer prints in the soft dirt. We see deer often,both early in the morning and then again in the evening as they cross the fields to eat. The picture of the deer print may be hard to make out,but it looks to be from a pretty good sized buck.

After the nature walk,it was back to the house and time for one of my favorite activites...taking a nap.