Dead Tree Trail on a Slow Poke

 What in the world? Is there a horse under all that dirt? I wish I had seen Lilly rolling away on the ground to get this dirty. I bet it looked supercute. Bill is so lucky to look out his window and see such supercute horse antics all day.

 Once I brushed all the dirt off of her (and inhaled it into my own nose), I was able to see how Lilly is starting to get her winter coat! How fleecy!

 Then I tacked her up and we headed out. I was traveling solo; Bill was at a wedding and the place was a ghost town.

This is Bill on his way to the wedding. I was so busy squawking over seeing him so dressed up, I couldn't even focus the camera. It is not every day you see Bill in a tie.

Lilly is my favorite trail companion, even if she takes two steps and stops to nibble ferns, and then takes two steps and stops to look around, and then takes two steps and pulls her head around for a treat. What an annoying way to get started. OK, it's cute. But it is also annoying, even if I really only have myself to blame for such behavior.

Since ferns have come up, let me make clear what ferns Lilly nibbles. She prefers the soft, feathery ones, shown on the bottom in this hilarious photo. Lilly the walking fern gallery. Wouldn't Audubon love her?

I am not sure how, if we are moving at practically a negative speed limit on the Short Trail, my crop could end up down there.

Oh oh! New road block on the Short Trail! Looks like a job for a chain saw.

I found this little fella when moving a rock in the middle of the trail. He's a redbacked salamander, the most common salamander in the bay state.

Another rump gallery! This one devoted to autumn leaves. Look at that giant one! I have no idea what tree that one is from. Which is pathetic because I have probably ridden by that kind of tree a billion times. Special thanks to my brumby for letting me drape her bum with nature.

I guess every generation has its litterbugs.

On the way back from the Ridge Trail, we popped into this pasture that Bill used to use a lot more when I first bought Lilly. Now the horses aren't in it very often. But on this particular day, it looked beautiful.

Here it is from the other side. Walking along the fence around the edge of this beautiful field, I felt like a real cowboy. I said to Lilly, I BET WE LOOK GREAT OUT HERE AND NO ONE IS HERE TO SEE!!!

By next weekend, all this color will be gone. I love that we got to be a part of it.

 The next day I was back on the trail. Bill was around preparing for the storm of biblical proportions expected on Tuesday. Lilly got the party started by tree hugging.

 She goes to the same trees for her love fests. First she rubs her head all over it. Then she bites it.

And then she tries to eat every yellow leaf within reach. She's like a very ridiculous giraffe.

 Before we headed out on the trail, I had Bill help me take Lilly's temperature. I had been wondering if she's moving so slow because of return of Lyme disease (which she has been treated for twice). I don't even know if Lyme causes a higher temperature. But why not check? I tried to get out of sticking the thermometer in Lilly's bum. I had never done it before and was worried. Bill made me do it. As it turns out, it is easy. When I took the thermometer out and read it, it said: HER TEMPERATURE IS FINE, SHE'S JUST LAZY.  I took this picture on the Short Trail because that weird bunch of whatever on that birch tree looked interesting enough to document. It could be a mushroom of some kind. I think it looks like hair that has been set in old fashioned rollers.

I named this post Dead Tree Trail because with all the leaves falling, I see dangerous dead trees more than ever. I noted again that we have been walking under a lot of scary looking dead trees without giving it much thought. This one we had to go around because now it is too low and unstable to slip under.

 There's my brumby standing next to another dead and rotting tree that looks like it could topple right on top of us if the wind was blowing just right.

Look at how cute Lilly is. She is just like a little kid making faces right when it is time to get photographed. She always puts her ears like this as if she is a silly old mule.

This is what she looks like right after she has been good enough to get a mid-trail carrot snack! Happy!

From far away on the road, this looked like a giant monkey in a tree staring at me. It gave my heart a little startle. But really, must I panic? There are no giant monkeys around here. It's just a tree! It's just a superscary tree!

I was at Bill's so late on Sunday that I was around for feeding time. It only looks like my brumby has no ears in this photo because she is trying t keep Sophie away from her hay.

In the end, it was Sophie who was in charge, not Lilly.

Much to Lilly's chagrin.



Parting Shot:

Here's what my husband's hair looks like when he stands in front of a bonfire.