What the Leprechauns Were Looking For

           Looks to me like several of the little buggers have already had a go at it.

Maybe We Should Have Called it "Mirror Lake"?

Someone's Missing

Fall is my favorite time of the year. My birthday's in October, and silly as it sounds, it always seems as if the whole month is my present. The colors and the cooler weather are all I could ask for. Well, almost. This is the first fall in 22 that my gelding Woody is not in residence. It doesn't seem right not to have his 'been there and done that' presence overseeing the 'young whippersnapper' Willow. This year, Willow's in charge for the first time. We'll see if he's grown into the role-- it's an important one!

Down the River

We've had almost 4 inches of rain here in the last few days, and I hope it's not causing too many problems for folks, because we sure are happy to have it here. This is the view down Little River, taken from our bridge. A week ago it was more like 'Little Trickle'. I hear already that hay is going to be a problem to get, at least at a reasonable price this winter. I'm hoping that came from the 'glass-half-empty' contingent!

Willow thanks his audience ( well, his audience-to-be ;) )

Okay, so maybe he's not the picture of grace yet, but he's still trying to figure out whether he wants to put both forelegs out and stretch back and down, or just put one leg out and go straighter down. I'm voting for the latter, especially if he learns to do it under saddle, but I'm leaving the choice up to him!

Must've been Tasty!

I've never seen  birds pick a hole in a block of suet before, but this determined little chickadee evidently found something irresistable in this one. Despite being repeatedly dive-bombed by a catbird, it kept returning until the tasty morsel was no more. What could it have been? It wasn't even a fancy, expensive type of suet, just the Wal-Mart 97-cents-a-piece special, as is usual here. Hmmmm... inquiring minds....

Bridle Bling

Yesterday, Willow picked up a bit of natural bling for his bridle as we bushwacked through our over-grown trails.  He's still not completely sure about it, when I ask him to lower his head and push on through the greenery that seems to drape itself across the woods roads over night, but he's getting there.
                      It's almost like riding a real grown-up trail horse.

He still tacks from side to side on the trails a bit, rather like a drunk driver, but I'm sure he'll straighten out with a few more miles.  If only  he'd pay as much attention to the ground in front of him as he does to his surroundings!

Welcome to Shadow Lake!

My name is Randy and  I'm a 49 year old set of contradictions. I'm interested in nature and conservation, my animals and family, and this blog will chronicle my new life, as I move back home to the Lake. I promise lots of (hopefully) good photos, and humor.  I hope you'll stop by and see what there is, here at Shadow Lake.  Thanks for visiting!

Exploring the Countryside

Today I took a short ride on my rescue Saddlebred, Willow, bound to enjoy the cooler air before  the muggy, soggy summer makes its last stand (I hope it's the last stand ;) ). I had my ride all planned until in the middle of it, I realized it's deer hunting season already! EEEEK! I've already seen stands and corn spread on the ground in two places on my usual trails, but I can't seem to get it through my head that hunting has already started. I'll be keeping pretty much to our own trails I guess, until January 1st. Came upon this old wrecker. Local legend has it that this was the first actual tow-truck in Moore County, back in the early 40s. It's about to be overtaken by time and kudzu.