Rain, Floods, Black Caps and Golden Raspberries in Iowa.

Cedar River is a little high...

 It has rained every day for the last several days now.  And although the Cedar River is a little high,  the Mississippi seems to be remaining consistent.  We ran along the trail in Muscatine yesterday and spent the morning  there fighting the heat and sun.  It's always a good time to visit Tee's and relax by the river.

Very peaceful Day on the
Mississippi.

Train goes through the downtown
area in Muscatine. 

The constant rain has also increased the humidity.   And you can probably tell by how Cheryl melts after she runs.   I was impressed we ran the full 7 miles in that "hot house" heat.   Muscatine is great!  And we always enjoy our visits.  The Farmer's Market is up and running there, as apposed to Iowa City, who has canceled Their farmer's Market.  We did not visit it yesterday, but I'm sure when the produce begins to ripen, we will take another look around.

Cheryl has dealt with the Heat,  And
WON! 

We were both stiff from picking all of those strawberries, but after we got home,  Cheryl began her experiment baking, using the new species of goodness!   Behold!   The Strawberry Turnover!

She did not want to risk "Wasting" a large portion of Berries on a Strawberry pie,   so I suggested a hand pie or turnover.   Simple to make,  low risk and not many berries are required.   It all sounded good. 

Water on the trail. 

Wild Flowers are in Bloom now!

Well, they were AWESOME!   Now I have to decide if I want to eat the Strawberry Shortcake or the turnover.   If I'm lucky,  Cheryl will eat the turnovers so I won't be able to eat both..  because I will!

See the Deer?

See the Fawn? ( He is very short and
small.) 

The rains must have hit West Chester while we were in Muscatine.   The Kewash trail was covered with water in many areas.  Although the river was high neat the bridge, it did not turn the nearby fields into lakes this time.  We stumbled upon a Deer and her Fawn in the insanely tall grass near the creek.   He was cute and made very loud sheep sounds as he plowed through the tall grass.  My picture barely captured his head as he jumped through it field.

Creepy Evening Color.

It turns the world Purple!

I don't think it actually rained last night, however, the evening sky was a creepy pinkish color.   And there was plenty of thunder and lighting in the distance.

Pretty blue flowers along the roadside

Clouds looks kind of scary..

This morning,  the dark clouds moved in and threatened us with rain!  Thankfully, it was nothing more than a few drops, but it had two nice side effects:  It hid the sun AND it blew in cooler air.   For this reason Cheryl was able to run the full 7 miles, despite having sore legs ( still from strawberry picking)  and evening bike ride. 

Cheryl wants to run while the sun is
NOT shining. 

Happy Corn? 

At least the Corn is liking this weather.   Knee High by the 4th of July?   Looks like "Cheryl High" by the 28th of June!   I imagine that as long as the corn does not get flooded, it will suck up all that steam and sunshine and moisture from the soil.  Not sure how well the soybeans will do this year though...

Corn as Tall as Cheryl now. 

Black Caps, or"Black Raspberry."

While out on our run/ride,  Cheryl noted the number of Black Raspberries ( Or Black Caps, for those in "the know".)   We thought after the run, we would walk down mile 2 and see what we could find. 

Golden Raspberries! 

The rain is helping them a LOT

Turns out,  A LOT!   in addition to the black Raspberries...  there were Golden Raspberries out as well.   Our little "Berries of Iowa" book does not have them in there. leaving Cheryl to believe that they are toxic.   However,  I have eaten them before,  and found them easily on Google.   Turns out they are actually RED Raspberries that lack the red pigment.   OR so that is what they tell me.

Multi Color Raspberries. 

Can you see the "ripe" one? 

They may be a Hybrid or just another genetic variation that rarely happens in the wild. ( Like Purple or yellow carrots.)   I do know that they sell the seeds online so you can grow your OWN!  Or wait for a bird to plan some for you... usually in a place you do not want a pricker bush to grow.

More Goldens! 

Even MORE Goldens!  I've
struck it RICH!

I picked quite a few of them, and for a while I thought I would have an entire basket filled with just yellow ones, until I found another patch of black ones.   The black caps were growing next to the trail.  If you managed to get off the trail just a little,  you would keep finding more.... and MORE!   Cheryl finally said "enough" as there were simply too many to harvest.. and wee seemed to have plenty.

I was surrounded by Berries AND
prickers!  What could go wrong? 

Today's wildlife sighting. 

The down side to my method is that my legs got a little chewed up from the prickers.  There is also the possibility of Ticks!   After a serious inspection, we both determined that we were clean and headed home.   I should also note that I discovered at one moment that I was up to my waist in Poison Ivy!  I have been battling a small section on my ankle  for about a week now.   I might have picked it up while hunting for mushrooms.. or Blackberries on the otherside of the road.   Either way, it has been annoying when it flares up.

I was wondering what that Burning
sensation was on my legs...

Ah...  That doesn't look too good. 

Cheryl purchased a bottle of "anti-Poison Ivy" soap.  It looks like the GOJO, the stuff I use when I work on Subie.   It is supposed to cut the oil that Poison Ivy leaves behind and thus, prevent you having a break out.   as soon as we got home I took an entire bath and scrubbed up my legs and arms with the stuff  several times.   I was completely exposed out there while wearing only shorts   If that was Poison Ivy ( and I'm pretty certain it was...)   I could have a serious case of it in three days.   NOT good!

Turns out, the Daddy Longlegs
Like the Berries as well. 

Cheryl with today's Haul. 

I'll scrub up later tonight and maybe for the next couple of days.   I really don't want a case if I can help it.    But..  for those who take risks... Rewards are Great!    We managed to get almost two full baskets of berries.   The rain has certainly helped them along, as last week, they were small and rather dry.   Cheryl made a berry Oat Bake with them and they just dried up to little seed pods.   Now she has at least enough for a pie.. Or maybe at least a few of those turnover/hand pies.    We shall see what she comes up with. 

There are more Golden's Buried under
the sea of Black Caps. Enough for
a Pie?  We shall see. 

And with that,  Time to end this rather long Blog Post.   This is what happens when you take a day off and do a lot of stuff in those two days.    I'll have to recap some of the other things that I couldn't get to in this post at a later date.  Until then...  Thanks for stopping in!