Lmst

I'm afraid it's now my hobby to photograph all of the #CreepyCrawlies and weird stuff that #LadyDuchess and I come across in our evening walks in the woods.

Honestly, I've come to find it all quite beautiful.

I've always loved #Hiking, but I'm only now discovering part of a world that I've long been part of, but barely understand.

#Spiders #Bugs #Photography

If you come across a damp hole in a tree, these might be the residents. In this case, a gorgeous slug and some millipedes (centipedes?).

These red spiders stick to a particular section of our favorite woods. They're very nervous, though. Spook them, and they'll jump to the ground or hide behind a leaf! That makes them a bit challenging to photograph sometimes.

Looking up into the hollow of an old tree, there are confusing, winding webs. Don't get caught!

In this hole there is a mixture of rain water, tree resins, and who knows what else, creating a burnt-orange sludge (I wouldn't drink that if I were you). An out-of-focus slug hangs out nearby.

It finally cooled down these past couple days! #LadyDuchess and I took advantage.

#DogsOfMastodon #Dogs #Husky #Huskies #TheBestGirl

Lady Duchess, the husky, enjoying her evening at the beach. Her collar light is glowing blue.

Lady Duchess, the husky, standing on the beach with the full moon behind her.

Lady Duchess, the husky, in a blur of color from her collar light. It's hard taking clear photos at night when your pup will not stay still!

Hope you're as lucky this morning as I am to have someone wonderful to go on adventures with.

#LadyDuchess #Luck #Lucky

Photo of Lady Duchess, the husky, in the background, and my hand in the foreground holding a 4-leaf clover, a traditional symbol of luck.

I tried calling anyone I thought might be able to help. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources closed hours ago and has no 24-hour presence. I don't have a boat. I tried grabbing the tree branch, but it was too dangerous and unlikely that I could pull it far enough.

Thank goodness we have a tree pruner at home. #LadyDuchess and I ran home from our walk, and I drove back & was able to get it free.

Wish I could have removed the hook, but hopefully I gave #Fish a fighting chance.

#Nature

More photos from todays "Secret Lairs and Hidden Passages" photos i took on my walk with #LadyDuchess.

#Slugs #Spiders #Trees

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Looking down into a hole in a tree, where a bright green leaf and a mottled gray leach-like creature rest in the moisture and darkness.

Two very long-legged, brick red spiders hanging out next to a couple knots on a tree.

A spider's lair in the deep hole of a tree. There is a spider web, with an entrance hole. Its likely a one-way passage.

A slug emerging into the evening from a dark hole in a tree.

Did some amateur #Photography on my adventures with #LadyDuchess today. The woods nearby is full of trees with deep knots and holes, and lots of creatures find these make nice homes.

Calling this set of photos "Secret Lairs and Hidden Passages".

If you liked the "Berenstain Bears: The Spooky Old Tree" as a kid like I did, you might like these!

Also, there's one @futurebird might like 🐜

#Nature #Ants #Slugs #Trees

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A photo of a hole that goes all the way through a tree. Inside the hole are two white and gray leach-like (or slug-like?) creatures. Around the hole in the wood is a bit of moss.

Another hole that goes all the way through a tree. There's a tiny snail inside, and bits of pine needles and other plant debris.

A handful of red ants dragging a dead insect up the trunk of a tree. The wood of the tree is long-dead from woodpeckers, and there are holes visible from past woodpecker activity.

Old woodpecker and insect holes in the trunk of a long-dead tree.

I'm a bit of a night owl. A few nights ago, #LadyDuchess and I went for a ~9-mile walk, and I got some practice with nighttime photography. All of these were taken in near-pitch-darkness.

#Liminal #Nighttime #MushroomMushroom

A liminal photo of a waterway surrounded by grass. The water is pitch black. The grass glows a bright green. There are many small trees in the background. Above is a dark gray, starry night sky.

A ditch, full of water. Above the water floats a blanket of fog. The surrounding area is grassy.

A photo of a tree-line at night. In the foreground is murky brown water, reflecting the trees. Above is the starry night sky.

A huge round mushroom sitting in the grass. It looks like somebody dropped a lightly toasted, weirdly spherical marshmallow.

#SilentSunday #LadyDuchess #DogsOfMastodon #Flowers #Nature #FollowTheWhiteRabbit

A Blue Heron, standing in an intracoastal waterway, patiently waiting for its next meal.

Lady Duchess, the husky, sitting for a photo. There is a field of tall grasses behind her, and trees in the distance.

Vividly blue flowers in a sea of green grasses.

The back of a long-overgrown sign, with the words "follow the white rabbit" in black marker written many times.

@eclectech Hope I'm doing this right.

This is #LadyDuchess. Her preferred accessory color is light pink 💖

Lady Duchess, the husky, sitting on a moss-covered mound in the woods.

@Paws2Trail I was up in that area for the first time last month (in Ironwood).

Sadly, it was only a 2-day business-related trip, and I didn't have #LadyDuchess with me. Very pretty landscapes out there!

Lady is not the most coordinated, and when she walks along the top of a wall or something like your pup is in the pics, she is so proud of herself 😁

A few things #LadyDuchess and I saw of our hike this morning.

#Dogs #DogsOfMastodon #Huskies #Husky #Nature

Lady Duchess, the husky, sitting ever so patiently on a log. She's always super proud when she gets on this log and walks its length!

A round trail marker, once nailed to a tree, now being swallowed by the tree over time. The trail marker is silver and yellow, with a depiction of a hiker. It's about 3 inches in diameter. The bottom half is no longer visible, having been engulfed by the tree.

A tree with a hole about 20 feet up. The hole is nicely hollowed out, around 4 inches in diameter, quite round, and appears to be kept clean and need - maybe the home for some woodland creature?

A tree in the woods with a large hollow at its base. The photo has been manipulated with filters to make it appear mysterious. My favorite book as a yound child was the Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree. I was obsessed with secret passages and hidden places. This tree reminded me of that book.

Also, PSA: It's #TickSeason 🤢

Pulled two from my leg, and saw a couple crawling on #LadyDuchess (she's on preventive, they weren't biting her)

- Make sure you and your #Dogs take precautions
- Thoroughly inspect after #Hiking
- Use tweezers - suffocation/burning are NOT recommended methods of removal

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CDC has great into about where #Ticks can be found, why they are a danger, preventing tick-borne diseases, and what to do if you're bitten.

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/index.html

#DogsOfMastodon

Thank you all for the kind comments yesterday (and @pythonbynight - thanks for the photo. It definitely made me smile!)

Things are better today.

- Got yesterday's Hydra-like code bug resolved.
- Caught up on some seriously overdue sleep.
- Finished making travel arrangements for friend's funeral.
- Went on a trek through the woods with #LadyDuchess for a couple hours.
- In the process of consuming copious amounts of delicious coffee.

- Resolving a super nasty critical programming issue affecting a customer.
- Preparing for the funeral of someone important.
- Still recovering from the end-of-conference emotional coaster.
- On the third day of phantosmia (it happens periodically), and the constant burning chemical smell is making me angry.
- Trying to make do.

I probably need to get to a stopping point and go walking in the woods for hours with #LadyDuchess before I have a stroke 😑

@malcircuit We meant to get a small, short-haired dog 😂

But a friend of ours had accidental pups, so we went to "just see the puppies" ...

... and came home with #LadyDuchess 😁

Maybe the best spur-of-the-moment decision of my life.

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Here are some of my favorite puppy pics. How could we not fall in love? 😍