July 6, 2012 - The Abandoned House

The main thing we did on the 6th was to seek out an old, abandoned house.  It’s difficult to access, and almost impossible to find unless you already know it’s there. It was quite a walk to get to it, through a large field and a larger expanse of forest and park land.

There were dragonflies!

Remnants of gateposts and a driveway, still quite a ways away from the house.

Vine growing perfectly up the tree trunk.

Turtle skeleton.

Other side.

First glimpse of the house.

We don’t know a whole lot about this house, though the friend we stayed with managed to turn up a single article that gave some information. (This was some time ago, and I haven’t read the article… I’ll have to get a copy at some point.) Evidently, it was once a bed and breakfast for people traveling (mostly by train) to and around DC. You can still see some evidence of that in the forest around it; there are rose bushes and raspberry canes all over the nearby property, which were probably intentionally planted on the grounds, and have since grown wild.

The house is an absolutely beautiful Victorian, with a little Gothic thrown in, a style that doesn’t have many surviving examples in the area. And tragically, it’s probably going to wind up as another “demolition by neglect” building. Technically that’s not legal, but it evidently happens all the time; property owners want to get rid of the buildings on their property, but face some opposition to actually destroying them, so they just wait for them to fall down on their own.

It's a little hard to tell, and the closer-up pictures didn't turn out, but the windows
have original glass in them - it's just slightly warped and varies in thickness.

LOVE this wraparound porch.

The worst of the damage... sagging in and breaking.

 

Stone stairs.*

Swarm of bees!

Old farming equipment,

Awesome spider web.

The gate.

I hope that I get to see this beautiful house again someday; I hope even more that someone really does wind up fixing it up. It’s a beautiful building (and I’d kill to see the inside of it!) but I’m afraid it’s another one that’ll wind up collapsing and being forgotten entirely.

*This photo is from Alex's camera.

July 6, 2012 - Last Day in Maryland

The 6th was the last full day that we were able to spend in Maryland. It was pretty sad for that reason, but we just couldn’t afford to stay any longer, unfortunately. The friends we were staying with went out of town for a few days, while we could be there to take care of the horses and other critters. (They had someone else come after we left.)

Orion has claimed this fan for his own.

Jupiter running toward us.

Aladdin

Jupiter.

The above are of Aladdin and Jupiter. Aladdin is blind, from some still-unknown illness he had. Jupiter is a mini horse that wears a bell, so Aladdin has some company.

Butterfly!

The true "front" of the house.

Fluffy caterpillar!

He was so cute.

This is Hyperion, one of the other stallions:

It really sucks that there are so many flies around, because otherwise, this would be an awesome picture of him.

Naughty horse, trying to knock over his water tub.

Hyperion loves getting scratched.

Itchy horse.

Some of the other boys coming over to visit.

We went back inside after watering everyone and feeding of some of the boys (we decided to stagger the feedings somewhat.) And we found our mantis friend from a few days before! This time we decided to take him back outside, before he became a kitty snack.

On my arm.

On my camera. *

On my hand. *

Where we eventually let him go.

We had to go and get Alex’s emissions test done, which was actually the real reason we made the trip in the first place. (I mean, the vacation part was the BEST reason, but it HAD to happen so he could get the emissions.)

And we got this bill in change:

It was funny, okay.

Stylish Stoner Washington.

Then we went out and did our main thing for the day, which will get its own post! So that’ll be the next one. (It's awesome!)

The other noteworthy thing, which I didn’t photograph at the time, but have now:

BIRCH BEER. This is not a thing that exists in the west. I’d never even heard of it until Alex told me about it. It’s similar to root beer, but reminds me more of the really super good root beer that I got at a local farmer’s market than A&W or other “regular” root beer. A lot of artisan soda companies say their birch beer has wintergreen in it, so maybe the hint of that flavor is the main difference? I’m not sure, but it’s delicious, and I’m pretty damn bummed that I can’t get it in Colorado! There are nation-wide soda companies that make it, but none of them sell it here, and at least the ones I saw don’t let you order online from them. Bummer.

After that, we headed home to take care of the rest of the horses.

Odin

Mitra (who is kind of an asshole.)

Ravi.

Not a horse: a goldfinch!

Odin again, and Cappy.

By the time we got to doing the mares, I was too tired to try getting a good picture of each of them. I got a picture of each, but most are wearing flymasks, and have their heads down to eat. So it’s not that exciting, and I’ll spare you.

But here’s Bebe, the girl I rode a couple days before.

And a group shot of the mare herd.

So we spent some of the evening outside, watching fireflies, taking care of the dog… and I feel something go up my pant leg. It feels like one of those fluffy grass seedheads, but I figure I couldn’t have gotten one of those up my jeans. So I kinda shake my pant leg out a bit, and then forget about it. It’s too dark to really see anything, but I don’t feel anything, so whatever.

We go back inside about twenty minutes later, and I sit down. I go to bend my leg, and I feel something move just underneath my knee. I more insistently shake my pant leg out. And THIS FALLS DOWN MY ANKLE AND RUNS OUT ACROSS THE FLOOR.

That’s a normal size drinking glass, so you have some idea of how big this guy was. (Okay, big for being UP MY PANT LEG AND HANGING OUT THERE.) He didn’t bite me or anything, so I just let him go outside. Hopefully he’s learned his lesson and will also eat the mosquitoes that WERE biting me.

Later that night, Alex’s friend Kat came and visited us. I was glad to meet her, since she’s one of his best and longest-term friends. She lives in Virginia, so it was a bit of a drive for her, but we hung out for a while that night and the next morning. It was a shame we didn’t get to do more, but she had to go around her work schedule, and we were leaving the next day. But it was fun.

And here’s Cy eating his own foot next to Kat.

 *These pictures are from Alex's camera.