Today felt like Monday in every way except the fact that it was Tuesday. Of course all of the things that went and felt wrong about the day were trivial in comparison to the fact that B-Man had to take a trip to the ER because he had a fever of nearly 102˚ this afternoon. That boy, he will never just let me complain and moan about my petty problems without making me look like the self-absorbed, slacker douche that we all know I am (or at least the way I come off like on this blog, on social media, on the phone and in person).
Thankfully the boy is fine, he just has a bit of a virus and the fever is coming down*. Great! Now we can turn the focus back to me and how the monsoon of a day ruined my ride plan but made my hiking plan.
Yes Mr. Chipmunk, I’m still here.
One line of storms moved through Michiganderburgh this morning and another MUCH heavier one moved through in the afternoon. Luckily I scurried out into the Deerfield woods with my camera between downpours.
Other than the one dog walking woman that was just leaving the trails when I arrived, I think I had all of Deerfield Park to myself. I guess there’s something to be said for being an unemployed dimwit with nowhere to go but down. It was just me, the critters and the fungus.
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Coral fungi being coral and fungi like.
After one 3.5 mile loop I headed back out for an extra mile or so going down Raceway Path, there were a ton of tiny wood frogs [Rana sylvatica] scurrying about. I mean these thing are tiny, like less the size of a half-dollar!
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You can get a real sense of how small these frogs are by the pic directly above, the frog is dwarfed by the size of the leaf that it’s sitting on.
Of course when there are tiny frogs jumping about there are garter snakes looking for a meal. I found one of those too, but I spooked it as I fumbled to get the shot and the result was crap. Yet another reason that I will forever be a picture taker, not a photographer.
Along with using my 300mm lens, I forced myself to do some shooting with my 35mm prime lens today. I really dig this lens, but of course it has its drawbacks when trying to shoot wildlife as you can see by the shot below of the deer checking me out on Raceway Path. You can really only get so close to animals.
Actually a bit shocked at how close this deer let me get.
I’m really hoping that the rest of the week improves on today, but given all the things that went wrong today, that shouldn’t tame much. I’m also hoping to get some rides in, but if I don’t, it’s always nice to have an alternative like a hike in the wet woods.
*Morning Update: B-Man’s virus turned into a three puke night for him. Off to the doctor this morning.
Later.