The Little Cart That Could

The road that is my life is getting a bit rougher than it was. I used to walk the woods on my farms, but increasing age and diabetic neuropathy now prevent me from doing so. If I can't walk well, though, I can at least ride—thanks to my golf cart. Last week, my husband and I took the cart to Polecat Creek Farm to see what I could see. How would the golf cart do on rougher territory than a golf course?

Actually, pretty good. It crossed the branch without hesitation, so we rode to within sight a corner to where the Smith Mountain Hounds horse trail crosses the creek. We didn't go as far as the crossing because, even in dry weather, the corner of the field is marshy.

But how would the golf cart pull a hill? Here's where the hillside trail bends into the undergrowth and goes to the old cabin site.

Partway up the hill, I looked back.

We had to stop on a steep place because some branches needed to be cleared before we could go to the top.

A few trees had bent over the trail in the recent high winds, but the little cart went under them just fine.

Again, I looked down at the field we'd left. Over a half-century ago, a farm road went through here, but now there's no trace.

And here we are higher up, but still not at the top. To the right (and out of sight in the picture below) is a large deep pit where tobacco was once cured.

The little cart is halfway to the top field—and near the old cabin site.

What's left of the porch is to the left; the fallen chimney is to the right. The chimney fell about 15 years ago. A few of its rocks are now in my flower beds.

Here there be dragons—or at least a fallen tree that looks like a dragon.

The little cart kept climbing. Soon we saw a view of the top field over the cart's windshield. 

As we approached the field, the rear view mirror reflected the trail behind us.

On the other end of the field, we crossed Bar Ridge Road to get to our corner field.

Just past the corner field, we started down the trail under the power lines. I've ridden a horse down this trail many times and the four-wheeler a few times, but this was the first time I'd ridden a golf cart down it. This trail is rocky and rutted, but the little cart made it.

Finally we reached the bottom beside Dinner Creek.

Spanning Dinner Creek is this tree with a hole in the middle.

A few hundred feet from the holey tree, a bridge spans the creek. This bridge, which cost $60,000 for  VDOT to construct, was built two years ago to replace a bridge that kept developing holes.

The little cart rested beside our picnic area . . .

. . . and then carried us up Blacksmith Road toward where we parked. The land on the left is ours.

The trees along the trails and road weren't very colorful. Most of the leaves had blown away during several days of high winds and the leaves that were left had a burnished look.

Despite the lack of fall color, it's nice to have a way to travel the trails again.

~

Firsts for Today

This morning, I harvested some kale from a plot I planted last month.

The dew was still heavy when I picked the kale—the first I've harvested from this particular plot..

I also picked a few peppers from the plants beside the kale.

Soon my bowl was full.

The kale wasn't the only first for today. Later this morning, I went for my first walk in the woods since March. This was the first time I'd actually felt like walking any distance. While I still ache and limp a bit, the sharp burning leg-pains of the last few months are gone. 

The trees were green and luminescent . . . 

. . . where the sun shone through the forest's canopy.

Along the trail, I passed an ambitious spider's web . . .

. . . and some moss . . .

. . . and a patch of ferns.

A lot of trees had fallen along the path since I last walked it. The woods looked so different from what I remembered. 

I saw a mound of earth beside the trail that I don't remember seeing before. It wasn't covered in leaves, so it couldn't have been there last winter. The soil was a different color and was filled with small rocks.

It looked like where a tree falls and the roots are exposed. But there weren't any fallen trees nearby. And no hole where the tree's roots would have been. Anyone know what it might be?

It looked almost like a grave. But who would dig one in the woods about a quarter mile from a country road? And why? Maybe it's buried treasure. Anyhow, it's a mystery.

The woods were incredibly quiet—no birds sang and I neither heard or saw any animals. 

Soon I walked out of the woods, where my husband waited. We drove to our nearby hayfield to get Melody a couple of bales. The hay is now dry enough for her to eat.

How did two senior citizens load hay without a tractor and spear? We parked the truck and flatbed below a bale. With gravity's help, it's easy for two people to push the bale in.

Soon we had two bales and were ready to head for home.

The kale I ate for lunch was delicious. Melody will have to wait a while for her hay, though.

~

February Woods Walk

by Maggie Mae Mushko, a border collie

(age 6 years and 3 months)

It was about time! Mommy hadn't taken me to one of the farm since last November. She had some blood sugar problems and couldn't walk very well for a while. But she started low-carbing again, and today she felt a lot better. So we got in the truck and went to Polecat Creek Farm. This time we didn't take Hubert the beagle even though he pitched a fit.

After I got out of the truck, I made Mommy throw my little orange football for a while. Then she put it on top of the truck so I couldn't take it on the trail. So I started off down the main trail toward the creek. I didn't wait for Mommy.

One of the first things I always do when I get to a creek is jump in.

Then I sniff along the bank to see if I can find any good smells.

After I got out of the creek, I walked with Daddy through the field. I saw a big nest way up in a tree.

If border collies could climb trees, I would have investigated further. After passing that tree, we went into the woods and climbed up a steep slope. I saw a lot of interesting trees. LIke this one, which has interesting feet. 

This tree looked kind of creepy.

Here's a closer look. The tree had a lot of holes in it. There's no telling what might be in some of them.

I was tired from climbing the hill, so I decided to rest under the creepy tree and let my tongue hang out.

At the top of the hill, we could see a jump course in a clearing on the next farm over. It's hard to see in this picture, but it's there. Mommy put me on the leash in case I saw any horses and decided to do some freelance herding.

Then we started down the hill. We actually walked on a horse trail that the people next door had cleared. We hope they didn't mind. Here's the trail. The trees to the left are on our property.

Soon we were back in our bottom. Mommy let me off the leash, so I ran around I sniffed a lot of interesting things. I was too far ahead of Mommy for her to take my picture.

Mommy thought this stump was interesting, but I didn't think it was worth sniffing. It's just a stump with a little plant is growing out of it.

This old turtle shell was more interesting than the stump, but not by much.

Soon, I needed to lie down and rest for a bit. This was as good a place as any. Mommy caught up with me and took my picture.

Then I needed to cool off in the creek. Again. Here I'm shaking the water off.

I sniffed around a lot here. The big hole behind me is where Daddy got the tractor stuck last summer.

Soon we started up the trail to the truck. I'm not in this picture because I was a lot faster than Mommy. I remembered my little orange football was back at the truck, and I wanted to get it.

When Mommy got back to the truck, I made her get my football and throw it for me for me to chase. No good walk is complete without a game of football afterwards.

~~~