A Saturday Afternoon Drive

I want to take a time out for today from our experiences that first year and tell you about a lovely afternoon ride we took yesterday. Weekend afternoon drives used to be something that was done in the, as my children often say, "olden days" but we have found them to be lovely pastimes ourselves. So when Mountain Man asked me if I wanted to go I grinned and said a resounding "yes!" Of course our afternoon drives might not be exactly the same as the ones people used to take.

The first step was to dress appropriately. Snow pants - check! Parka - Check! Winter hat, mittens and boots - check! Oh, and last but certainly not least the camera! We have a nice little 4 wheel drive truck we use around the farm so that had to be warmed up a bit before we could take off. Then away we went, camera ready, windows open but bundled warm to see what we could find. There were no roads where we were going just lots of fields and pathways well warn from our travel summer and winter when the weather and time allowed. The snow was too deep in some places for the quad, which was why we were driving the truck this time.

We bumped along across the fields until we rounded a corner and there she was. Beautiful!

We shut off the engine and just sat there. She didn't appear to mind and went back to eating only glancing in our direction once in a while. Mountain Man just sat there and grinned at me. He informed me he knew she would be here as he had taken a drive this way in the morning and she had played hid and seek with him around the bales of hay. Completely unafraid and cavorting as if wanting him to come play with her. 

All I could do was laugh. This is not the first time he has come home and taken me for a ride to see some wildlife he knew was there. He seems to have this uncanny knack of knowing exactly where to find them. I must say when I took a look at his photo's they were much better than mine. We sat there for a good 10 minutes watching her then started the truck and drove off. She just lifted her head to watch us and went back to eating.

We rambled and bumped along for awhile until Mountain Man slammed on the breaks. He had spotted another animal sitting up about head height in a small tree. It appeared to be sleeping. This time we had no trouble getting up close to take pictures but he/she is still a bit hard to make out among the branches. It was none other than a porcupine. We weren't going to get too close but he didn't seem too bothered by our presence.

It's really hard to tell in the picture but he is facing directly at the camera. His face is the dark brown in the center hiding behind the branches. When we got up too close for his comfort he turn his tail towards us in a warning and we finally decided to leave him too his rest.

Good bye Mr. Porcupine! I'm sure for a lot of people an afternoon's entertainment might be a movie or a trip to the local Starbucks but I would rather take my camera with me and see what the animals are up too. What an enjoyable afternoon! After a ride like that I feel refreshed, content and happy.  What do you do to recharge your batteries?