Decorate

Thursday was a cold rainy pretty awful icky fall day which was bound to happen. So I am turned my thoughts to inside stuff.

First off after doing the outside stuff, I sat down and worked on my budget. You have no idea how absolutely droll that is. Well, you probably do know.

Then I went to the grocery store and gasped at prices like everyone else is doing these days. No meat in my cart and it was still $$$.

I came home to do some deep cleaning, organizing, putting summer stuff away and 👇

adding a few touches of fall here and there.

I went out in the rain and cut some flowers to put on the sideboard too. There is a Frost Advisory for areas around us. 

The afternoon got so gloomy that I decided to take my 'Ghost Train' set and try some photography with it.

The set is a 3 in 1 creation set. Last year I built the haunted mansion and enjoyed it. 

The set has 3 alternate builds. House, Ship, and Train.

During last winter, I took it apart and built the haunted ship. A few weeks ago, I took everything apart again and built the haunted train.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the Mansion or the Ship, but I figured to give the Train a good effort to see if I could come up with something interesting for Halloween photography.

To add the moon, I took an old photo from this spring and dropped it in the black above the train. I really didn't do a fantastic job at lighting everything properly, but it was a fun effort.

I need to learn some more tricks and tips at doing this sort of thing. 

Learning is the thing that keeps my brain functioning.

I re-arranged things again and took a snap with my cell phone. This was so much better! 

Table top photography is something I like to study on Fall/Winter evenings.

Lego sent me a gift when I purchased a new set a while ago. It is Halloween themed also.

A spooky tree the lights up when you push a button in the back of it. For the photo I taped the button on so I wouldn't have to hold it.

The 'fog' effect is from a Face Mister that spits out a light mist. I placed it behind the little light I used to light up the ghost from the left.

I got frustrated by not being able to light up the little witch on the right properly. 

Instead of figuring it all out, I just quit.

I needed to move on.

I took apart the Haunted Train and put it away. Next year in September I'll bring the bricks back out and rebuild the Haunted House and add the Spooky Tree to the set. 

Before all of my creative juices ran out for the gloomy day, I rearranged my favorite planter with some fake flowers and real pumpkins.

Once I get started arranging things, I often do more arranging. Besides, it was pouring down a hard rain outside.

Now the tree has something to smile about.

My other planter looks a bit more grumpy. Maybe it is because the twin sister witches were creating spells near him.

I'll have to go out and pick more flowers this afternoon, they just changed the Frost Advisory to a Freeze Warning.

It will warm up again next week so there is more outdoor fall to enjoy.

I can't believe it already the middle of October.

More Wet!

 and....

Sunshine is home! 

We got her home just before the rains started. 

Oh and after greetings with her sister, Sunshine settled in as the boss of the tiny herd. I guess the others have been missing her leadership. 

They follow her where ever she goes.

Since it was pouring outside, I thought I'd try something different. I collected some leaves aa few pumpkins and set them on an old mirror I had.

I thought I'd try a reflection-Fall Decoration shot-with reflections.

Not all of the shots turned out, but I did get two that I kept. This was pretty fun to do and I think I could do better but just need to figure that out.

I thought I'd try a Garden Gargoyle with a pumpkin and a red leaf. So I tried two versions.

I made my own 'black box' to try this out also. A light underneath the characters and carboard to keep out the light. Some fallen flower petals from a flower...and...

👇😊

The rain let up and it was a light mist by noon. So I packed up a backpack. I'd been stuck inside for too many days. 

The dogs were not letting me out the door without them, they'd been stuck inside too. So off we went in a drizzle for an adventure.

And we had a good one.

Just as we got to this bluff the rain started coming down hard so I slipped on the poncho which covered my backpack and me all the way to my knees.

We waited out the heavy rain and then ventured out on the bluff.

The view

Here is a shot of the mist coming up out of the woods after the rain. This happens often in our steep valleys and hillsides because of the temperature difference inside the woods vs the air above.

My pals.

We got wet but surprisingly enough we didn't get muddy. We got to see the fall colors in their best light. In my opinion the best light is early morning, late afternoon, or an overcast day. But that is just me.

We got home and dried off. The drizzle kept on off an on. We ended up with about another inch of rain overall. 

This is the new header which replaces the summer view from the bluff.

Today, for the first time in what feels like forever, we have a clear and sunny sky and temps barely in the 40's.

My busy messy gardens. Hannah update too...

A post by a friend AC, got me thinking about my own gardens and yard. The mowing is done by a zero turn and push mower and it looks pretty nice. Unless you count all the overgrown areas of pasture [not safe to mow] and weeds growing around old equipment.

So I've always tried to make a very colorful and brilliant bunch of little gardens.

They may be messy and weedy, but the birds and the bees are really enjoying them.

Creeping Thyme flowers.

Morning Glories on the porch.

Self seeded Sunflower in the yard.

Happy Birds

Sunlit Nasturtium. These flowers literally take over the SE section of the porch.

 

Not a hummingbird.

Blazing Stars being watered.

My outhouse garden looks amazing and is nearly surrounded by Bee Balm plants. I can sit on the back stoop and watch bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds dodge around in the flowers. 

If I move closer and am patient I can get photos of them.

The East garden. It is one of my free for all gardens. I have creeping thyme, vinca, iris, day lilies [not shown] bee balm, zinnias, cosmos, a pumpkin plant...😁 along with nasturtium and corn flowers. Basically I took a jar of seeds to the one side of the garden and tossed them in, raked, and stomped and thought I'd see what happened.

There is actually a hidden path that goes through the garden. The dogs and I use it.

Yes the garage is still there crumbling slowly. No word from Frank on when he is thinking of tearing it down. I'm okay with waiting because Frank is also busy with working on two farms with crops. He also raises cattle and runs a Excavating and Gravel business along with hauling things for farmers. His wife believes he should clone himself.

Below is another mess. I had Borage Flowers that grew to 4 feet tall and got taken out by last week's winds and 6+ inches of rain. But the surviving flowers are filling in. I don't do a strict border, but just mow close to the plantings. Love in the mist, Borage, Morning Glories, and it looks like some self seeded black eyed susans are going to appear between some marigolds and nasturtiums. I like my untidy messy gardens. Lots of crazy textures to admire.

I've ignored this spot-- below.... 

But this spring I had a tiny field of tall Sweet William which I just let grow. I'll probably save some plant seeds from these and dig the whole thing up this fall to start over or let it grow to grass. It is a mess and overgrown.

I'm going to pick my battles and do less next year as it is obvious I can't keep it all up. I didn't have time to properly care for it last year either. So perhaps it is time to go. Though I hate to dig up the black eyed susans that put themselves here too!

My one tidy garden is this one.

I may do the same for the other half of the porch next year. But I'd rather have cosmos and zinnias along with all the reseeded Love in the Mist flowers.

I love looking at tidy well done gardens, but for the life of me, I like to mix up as many things as possible and see what happens with no rhyme or reason.

I'm finding out what flowers like to grow together on my own and which plants like which places the best.

I suppose I could study some garden books, but the gardens they suggest are too rigid. I like wild and untamed.

Hannah and I saw Dr. Grimm, she is an awesome vet and Hannah loves her! Hannah does have what is called a seroma or pocket of fluid that is to the side of the incision. Her surgical incision is healing perfectly, the seroma is a small concern and we want to stay ahead of it.

So instead of my solution to keep her from licking it open...we changed tactics.
The area must be open to the air yet keep her from irritating it. 

I have a cleanser to swipe the spot twice a day.

So not a gross shot but here is a photo of the incision and the area points to what seems to be a seroma: Clear fluid that is next to an incision. 

Doc and I want to stay ahead of this as it could be serious and hard to treat if not taken care of.

I learned something today!

She has a new look with a PJ top from Olive's house, she gave me some shirts that her kids didn't wear anymore.

So Doc gave me some cotton balls in a solution to swab the sight and she came up with this to keep the area aired out and keep her from licking it.

It is a toddler t-shirt with leg holes. It is super easy to do and she was embarrassed at first, but is not bothered with it by bedtime.

Orange, Chairs, and Bears.

Waking up very early has its benefits.

I can use candles to light up my gourds and pumpkin display inside. The warm orange light is comforting as is the flickering from the candles.

 Then there is that advantage of getting out the door before the sun gets up.

It seemed that this day's theme was Orange. Orange and red sunrise, orange reflections on Bridge M, outside of Readstown, and orange reflections through the fog coming off from Blackbottom Creek at the bridge on Riley Road.

So on our morning walk we continued the theme.  In this shot there looks like a tiny dragon fly stuck in some sort of gossamer thread. You may have to click and enlarge the photo to see it.

Back inside I just had to take a shot of my Grumpy Planter. He never became a planter, I like his facial expression too much to stick a plant in him.

Perhaps in the future I will.

The only downside to waking up very early is on these shorter days, I feel like going to bed much earlier.

Evening hours are spent on my chair project. I like taking my time with it and enjoying the process.

Here is the chair and what it looked like after some sanding and cleaning.

So I started it. The colors were okay-ish but not quite what I wanted. I was using Chalk Paint as it is supposed to go on easier.

I checked into my acrylic paints and tried something different. I kind of liked the purple, but then I didn't.

I found my Brilliant Blue and tried it out on one of the rungs. I liked that.

The Linen White was much nicer and it looked cleaner.

I had some really fun colors in my acrylic collection so I added Lime Green to the lower legs. I liked it.  Fun and bright colors always make me happy.

I mixed two paints to come up with another color for the back legs. That utterly failed for the effect I wanted.

I wanted a warmish color for the back legs.  Hmmm. I wanted a more gold-ish tone, but this might have to do unless I can locate a soft gold color to layer over the yellow. 

Or...I'll keep the wild yellow just because it is unusual. 

It can be a reminder that days can be bright and full of light.

Here is Rich's ancient Teddy bear. I'd love to know exactly how old it was.

However his parents are gone and his sister in not in the picture.

The bear currently resides on the old Christmas Chair which may be my next paint victim. I might color it in a brilliant Christmas Theme.

I did use Google Lens on  photo of this Bear and it is a 1950's era Bear. 

I saw prices from $50 to $200 for this Bear. Not that I thought it was a beautiful bear, but it does let me know that my husband loved his childhood Teddy Bear enough to stick in his trunk of keepsakes for years.

 

He made mention that he thought he got it when he was about 6 yrs old.

That makes this bear around 70 years old?