A RAINY SAT……CHESTNUT TREES…

So I took the motorhome out ….

for a spin….went to the Shenango Campground…to empty my tanks…they close for the season tomorrow the 13th ….so I thought better do it today….rain and all…I woke up at 4am could not go back to sleep…so ended up keeping my eye on the big glob of green on the radar…looked like it would be an all day rain here…below a pretty green back road in PA….

By the time I finished my breakfast and got things stowed so I could roll…it was almost 9am and the rain had stopped…but was dark and gray…I knew it was going to start up again so I took off hoping I could get the job done before it did…only took about 15 min….to get there….took about same to empty and clean sewer hose…after that I went to the day use parking lot and took a walk down to the boat launch then walked a loop and took a small trail so much nicer than walking the city streets …just at the start of the trail is this sign with a bunch of little trees planted and protected by a very tall fence…

come to find out they are American Chestnut trees…reading I found out that in the 1950 4 billion chestnut trees were killed by a fungal pathogen that came from Asia….click on the pic to read more…I guess the high fence is to keep the deer from eating the tender young trees….When I was a kid…my grandfather Reinhart would bring chestnuts down from the mountains when he went deer hunting…he kept the trees a secret because people would also cut the trees for the wood…any that were left…Grandma would use the chestnuts in the Thanksgiving stuffing…For family grandpa and my dad…and my brother later was included …had a hunting camp in Ridgeway PA…they went every year after Thanksgiving dinner and stayed for 2 weeks buck hunting…grandpa was the camp cook…not sure if it was because he was a cook in the Army during WW I or not…just a little family history…

and on to the rest of the trail…not a very long one but it ran along the edge of the lake…had to go down some hills to get there but they had wood steps to take you …I didn’t go because I wanted to beat the rain.. that was on its way…there were a couple bridges along the way…over some huge ditches that when it rained I bet were impassable…

This trail took you from the main campground road thru the woods to another loop….the loop that Nan and I were camped at just before she left…I had seen what looked like a trail by the bathrooms and wondered where it went …well today I found out…  a tree over hanging the path I guess they figure it is not going to fall…me I am not so sure….I watched it the whole time I waked briskly  under it…

 

And the rest of the story….

I kept looking for wild life…butterflies…fungi but seen nothing…I love the things that Sherry comes up with on her hikes…of course I am not in the Blue Ridge but I am at the foot hills of the Allegany Mountains you would think I could find something…I am particularly fond of the butterflies & mushrooms…all the color and texture of them….and the butterflies remind me of my little butterfly fur baby….when I got home it stared raining again and rained all afternoon so far…had a coupon for McD…for one of the  new crispy buttermilk chicken sandwich…with free med fries and drink…was good but I will not buy it again because of fried…not much else on this rainy day…so guess I will end it here…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

ps….might not post this until morning cause of data running out…will renew on the 13th…