Around the bird feeder today...

With the last batch of snow, I decided to put a wild bird feeder out in order to use up a container of seed. The Carolina Chickadee, a pair of Cardinals and the white-breasted nuthatch seemed to have appreciated the efforts. I even caught a squirrel trying to get to the feeder from a nearby tree, but once he spotted me at the window he decided to go elsewhere. 

Now if only the woodpeckers would come in for a closer view. I've spotted the red-headed woodpecker and Pileated recently with the latter being my favorite. Love to hear their call and they are so beautiful!

The January Freeze

The central part of Indiana saw a lot of snow last week and some really cold temps. We are usually in Bedford, but when temps are really cold we stay with our daughter in Bloomington. While there, I was able to get a few shots outside once the temps rose a bit though. I love to see how snow falls on something as simple as a shrub with red berries...so pretty!

Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana

At the beginning of this week, the family and I went to visit Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana, to catch some of the fall foliage before it's all gone. It has probably been at least ten years since our last visit her so it had been a while.

We walked a trail that went completely around the nature center and toward the end of our walk, I snapped this pic on my iPhone. Love all the color here!

Parke County Covered Bridge Festival

 Last Friday we all made our annual trip to the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County...time limited so I'll post more photos later. =)

The Leaves are Changing in Southern Indiana

I haven't had time to edit many pics lately, but this one was on my phone and accessible. This last Tuesday we took a drive down through Harding Ridge to see how much the trees had changed since leaving a week ago. All the camp hosts had to leave a week early due to the government shutdown. The weather was a bit dreary and drizzly, but it was nice to get out and take a drive with the pups. 

Here is one of the pics taken on the overlook to Lake Monroe. We enjoyed our little drive through Hardin Ridge and reflected on the many wonderful memories with family and friends in our five months of living in this beautiful place. I love seeing fall in southern Indiana!

August 26th, I call critter Monday!

This last Monday, I was finally able to get some photos of one of our sets of twins here at Hardin Ridge. While I did laundry at the park office, I came back and found this little family grazing along a path beside the road. Fortunately, I had my camera this time! I've been trying to get pics of this set of twins for some time now. I even spotted several male turkeys later this day.

These trees have started to change in the last few weeks. Fall is on the way!
 

I love how the afternoon sun shines through the forest...so pretty!

Even spotted a (I think) northern fence lizard...he's just a baby.

 

Wildflowers & Butterflies

A few days ago, I had my camera and decided to walk across from the entrance of the Hardin Ridge Recreation Area. This is the scene I discovered...lots of wildflowers and butterflies everywhere only they didn't seem to show as well here. The back roads and along 446 are dolloped with many varieties of beautiful wildflowers. I've seen a big field of purple along 446 that I believe is lupine maybe or liatris that I am going to have to get some photos at some time while they are in bloom.

In this photo, I added a butterfly overlay freebie from Seasalt Paperie so be sure to download it and the other freebie on her site. The day was overcast which is perfect for taking pics, but it made for a crummy background so I added a cloud overlay also. I added a few more tweaks to brighten and darken in the right places. Gotta love Photoshop!

As soon as I get a few more flower edits done, I'll post them too.

Hoosier Mushrooms

Southern Indiana has seen a lot of rain over the last few months...or as the weather radio has stated "we will have above average amounts of rainfall". As a result of that rainfall, I believe is why we are seeing so many mushrooms pop up on the forest floor. 

While doing our routine site cleaning yesterday after the mass exodus of people from the 4th of July, I came across four different colored mushrooms. I do not know what kind they are, but I do like the different textures and colors they produce. Pretty to look at and most likely not good to eat.
All taken with iPhone 5.

Hoosier Mushroom Society

 

 

Walking a trail yesterday morning...

Yesterday on our day off, Jonathan and I decided to walk a trail near the park. It's a bit off the beaten path which we really like! There are many places in and around Lake Monroe that are known for geode hunting. We just happened to find the mother load of geode caches. The water must help in washing them up to the surface as they were all around the water areas along our trail. 

In the photo below, you may be able to see them. They are usually white, round and bumpy all around loaded with crystals too. The more bling the better! Many of them were very large and heavy...and yes, I and my husband each carried one back to our RV. 

Later that afternoon, I found this spiny oakworm moth on one of the bathhouse doors. Click the link above to learn more about them. I love learning about new critters...and that includes bugs. Moths are just as pretty as butterflies, in my opinion.

I have an album on EyeEm called Hardin Ridge Campground if you are interested in seeing more photos taken here in the park. =)

Rain Rain Go Away!!

It has rain/poured just about everyday it seems here lately. The first day of July while up at the gatehouse, I took this photo of all the rain pouring down the road. Some areas close by got 3-4 inches of rain on this day!

Later that evening, after more rain, I and a friend went down to the beach and snapped this pic. It wasn't till I looked at the photo on my computer that I noticed a faint rainbow in the upper left corner. The sky always looks interesting after it storms...makes the colors more bold too.

Here is a random pic taken while I was going over the bridge (side note: I only do this when there is no traffic coming toward me) toward Bloomington last week. Again, more storms were hovering around that day also. What are the odds, right? ;) I like cloud and sky pictures, clearly.

 

Sharing is a good thing...

We had a very lovely time this evening sharing a meal with our beach camp hosts here at Hardin Ridge. Thank you Nancy and Harold for all the wonderful food! Not only did I not have to cook, but I learned more about our fellow camp hosts and we had the opportunity to see a beautiful sunset this evening as well. God is so good.

Taken on my iPhone 5 and edited with Snapseed.

Today my husband put my PVC flagpole together with all the supplies from our local Lowes. It cost just under $15. We had to get creative with the top where it attaches as my flag is the sleeve on a pole variety for banner flags not the grommet type that all the "how to" links use. I'll get a close-up of the top part and add it tomorrow. I think it looks great and just in time for the 4th of July.

The pic below is the little surprise I found in the fold of the flag after I had taken it off the wood pole I had it on. My husband was attaching it to the pvc and I just happened to see it before he placed his hand right on top of it! Scary darn thing! We were both a big freaked out and  kept looking for more. Yikes!

I was able to read some interesting things about the black widow here: BugGuide.net 

It really is a cool site!

Lake Monroe Dam

Yesterday on the way back to Hardin Ridge, we stopped by the Lake Monroe Dam off of IN-37 from Bloomington, Indiana. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue with fluffy clouds and low humidity! There are some nice shaded areas with picnic tables and there looked to be some areas for bank fishing too. 

The top picture was taken at an overlook to Lake Monroe from the top of the dam.

Here are a few random pics taken here at Hardin Ridge Recreation Area 

this last week.

At the end of White Oak's loop, you will find this pond. It is a very popular tent camping site.

The Hardin Ridge Entrance and my teenie weenie, Rocky, enjoying some sunshine.

Beautiful Hummingbirds

For my birthday last week, I splurged and got a hummingbird feeder. At one time I had one, but it broke from use I believe. Even picked up some vinca plants for some pots I had in storage. I miss having flowers in bloom spring through fall. Having to keep up a landscaped yard was work, but I really enjoyed watching my plants grow each year.

These little Ruby-throated hummingbird females are fun to watch as they fly in and out for some sugar water. Cheap entertainment as we sit on our very quiet long street in the Hoosier National Forest. Quiet at least Monday through Wednesday. lol!

Shot these with my Canon 85mm prime lens. I added two texture layers and a sharpening action.

Textures and Overlays

I have been working with textures and cloud overlays this morning...still learning how to use them. The first pic is SOOC (straight out of the camera) with no edits and the second is the finished photo.

For this picture, I used a Shoot the Moon texture from Kindling 2 Luminescent Textures Collection in CS5 and a KML Creatives cloud overlay with tweaks here and there with a sharpening action. Both creators can be found on Facebook and they are on sale from time to time also. Easy peasy. Love how layers can add so much to a photo! 

Love this photo of our grandson, Jonah, on Lake Monroe beach. 

I used a few textures on this too.

The Pileated Woodpecker

From what I have found,  there are about seven varieties of woodpeckers here in Indiana. The Pileated woodpecker seems to be pretty common here in the Hoosier National Forest. We had a pair pecking out an old log in front of our RV this morning. I am amazed at how large these birds can be...about the size of a crow.

Wikipedia states this:
The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, roughly crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast.

Here is a neat site for bird identification. This site is amazing! You can hear all the sounds of each bird, their food, migration, etc. A must for bird watching.

Found a fawn today...

Yesterday one of our campers told us that while on his off trail walk he and his pit bull came across a small fawn. It seems there was a fawn with two other deer nearby and the dog found the little one hunkered down in some leaves. The dog sat down between the other deer and the fawn as if to be protecting it. The owner had let him off leash to run a few minutes (while owner was present) and when the dog wasn't returning right away, he discovered the fawn and the reason behind it all.

Well today, Rob, the pit owner, came to our RV to let us know that the fawn was across the road from his camping area which is a good distance from where they had seen it the day before. He believes that the fawn tracked the scent of his pit bull back to their camping area. When we went to the area it was located this is what we found. 

Just life in the woods.

It looks like it has been injured because of all the flies on the hind quarters. We tried to corner it with the small retention wall on the opposite side, but the little guy was able to get over it on the second attempt. Whatever the injury, it doesn't seem to keep it from moving...and quickly. I thought for a minute we'd be able to move it to a better location as the park has been busy with activity this weekend, but it had other plans and scampered into the woods.

My daughter was able to find some rehab sites by county listing for the state of Indiana so if the fawn comes back, I'll see if we can get it some assistance.

I, like so many, have heard all the stories of pit bulls and not in the best of light. I for one and an advocate of there are no bad breeds...just bad owners. This particular pit was very sweet and very well trained. Kudos to this dog owner!

Update:
Last night the fawn came back to the area, but sadly it was too weak to last the night. Last night I was able to call a rehab facility here in Monroe County, but they are out of private funding and were unable to help.

Some more critters over the last few weeks

Since living in an RV since September, we no longer get to luxury of wi-fi internet and are now relying on our data connections via our phones which was the plan knowing the changes we'd be making back then. Sometimes my laptop syncs up and sometimes not so much. So here are a few photos of some other visitors over the last month.

This is a striped skink we found at the park entrance. So colorful!

A baby painted turtle down at the beach of Lake Monroe here at Hardin Ridge:

This baby skunk that was taken on my phone and would have been closer if I'd had my good camera. Oh, well. He was cute, fast & stinky! We have seen two skunks cross the rode just in front of the gatehouse this week...may need to post a "skunk crossing" sign if this keeps up! lol!

Just a gorgeous pic of the beach here at Hardin Ridge on Lake Monroe. The water was really high at this time and has since gone down so the beach is now accessible to everyone.

Our Regular Woodland Visitors

We have seen many deer in and around the campground over the last month or so, but recently we've seen this trio just outside our RV. They are known to visit in the morning and last evening when it's really dark. There feet can be heard in the distance as they tromp through the leaves as they nibble on low hanging vegetation. The largest female, in bottom center, is always on the lookout for every little noise. Correction...He kept looking my way as I tried to get in for closer pics while the other two continued to munch. When I looked closer at the photo in Photoshop, I noticed he had some antlers forming which explains the big size difference compared to the other two deer. As sure as they sensed or saw me, those tails go straight up in the air with a flash of white they bound away into the woods. I never tire of seeing them as they are so beautiful!