Spring Morning after the Rain

"Where an I going? I don't quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-caps grow....

Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow,
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Where am I going? The high rooks call:
It's awful fun to be born at all.

 Where am I going? The ring-doves coo: 
We do have beautiful things to do.

If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by,
You'd say to the wind when it took you away:
"That's where I wanted to go today."

 Where I'm I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the [buttercups] grow.

 Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

~from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne~
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The rain continues. This morning, when there was a break in the weather, I pulled on my boots and grabbed my camera.

and walked up and over to an old mining area in the hills behind us. It was cold, wet and windy. I love being a part of the storm.
It was a sloshy walk but I was able to ford the creek and takes some nice photos of what we call "the place of old mining memories". I always expect to see a ghost or two but I never have.

Someone left an old wheelbarrow...

A wheel cover from an old tractor or truck...

This is hard to see clearly but it's an old bed spring under a fallen tree. I always wonder who slept here and why they chose to bring a bed with springs all the way down here next to the creek. It wouldn't be a bad place to sleep I guess. How nice to fall asleep listening  to the sound of the creek and the other voices of the night. Summer would be a nicer, warmer time to do this,  but you might wake up sharing space with a rattlesnake. Still... it would be nice to pitch a tent and stay up here over night.

The ghosts of miners past do not seem to bother anyone.. These ghosts must still be looking for gold and don't want anyone to know where they're digging. The only signs of their existence that remains are the implements and machinery of their efforts... foundations. rock walls, tailing piles, rusty old equipment and this big water tank.

It must have been a hard life but their hope for finding gold pushed them on. The only gold that I have found down there is this....

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. There will be another storm moving in. The wind is fierce outside. The goats are already in their house....Brownie too. He still keeps his distance from the other goats but they let him into the house now, to eat, and they were all out in the pasture eating together this afternoon, even with all the wind. 
The first day of Spring... tomorrow... I'm ready.