A bit of chaos and lots of fun

I took off on Friday morning and headed to Wausau Wisconsin with both dogs in the back seat. It promised to be an adventure.

My youngest son and his family live in Wausau. Lily was his first child. 

The last time I'd gone to Wausau for Halloween was in 2015  Lily and I went hiking at Rib Mountain on a rainy day.

[This was really one of the last times I was able to travel away from home, Rich had just gone through a summer of cancer treatments and was holding his own.]

Lily, pictured below was 10. She is now a grown woman and works night shifts at a nursing home.

Saturday morning, we jumped in the car and headed over to Rib Mountain on Saturday morning with the dogs. The dogs were the big attraction and the kids had to share time with Charlie's leash.

It started to drizzle and we stuck it out as long as we could without everyone getting soaked.

Guess who found a stump!

Sterling brought his very cool action figures along and we had fun taking some photos of them.

And...the rains came, but it did not deter the Trick or Treaters in this area. Apparently this nice neighborhood really gets into Halloween with decorations and experiences for those who come.

The Police and Sheriff's Department do traffic control and public service during the Trick or Treat hours.

Below is a shot of the dogs and I in the rain.

I never went up the driveways to the houses, but a couple of times someone came out to give me mini-treat bags [dog cookies] for Charlie and Hannah.

It was dark by the time we headed back to the parked vehicle. We walked past one of the big attractions in the neighborhood. A few homes made haunted houses in the driveway or open haunted attractions in their yards.

The lines to visit these were up to 100 people long!

It was free to the public and everyone was enjoying it.

Well, everyone was tired after Trick or Treating.

 

Sunday morning was spent doing fun things with the kids.

The day turned out absolutely beautiful and we eventually took a nice long walk while the kids rode their bikes. We found puddles, we found warm temperatures and blue skies. We played Legos.

And I got us home before dark. 

Some little dogs snuggled in tight and caught up on their sleep.

The End.

😁👻

Fall and some work

I'm hoping that I am done for the year with projects and clean ups.

Tuesday afternoon after doing a rather tough workout at the gym, I refenced the area that Patrick worked up.

The one area will be mowed and kept tidy. Once in a while, I'll rotate the mules in the groomed area to chomp things down. I was going to leave the fence down, but decided to replace it. 

I'll have to wait to see if the seeds take. [Hoping it does!]
 

Pounding 15 t-posts into hard ground was quite another workout. I really felt it the next morning when I woke up.

I'm happy with the work done and the fact that I'll have a section of yard back that we haven't had for 28 years.

I took the next day off and just did simple things. A few quiet walks with the dogs along with catching up on housekeeping and some reading.

See what happens when Hannah does a photo bomb? 

She no longer knocks the toys over when I set them up to photograph them.

We spent the evening on my 'fancy' porch. I still enjoy a little fire to sit by in the evenings to watch the sun go down and for twilight to arrive.

Halloween is tomorrow, so I will leave you with a couple of my 'scary' photos.

Happy Halloween if you celebrate it.

Stump Dawg

Monday I decided to do a Long Hike with Hannah. We'd hiked on Sunday with Charlie and I figured I'd give his little old legs a day off.

The dog is smart.

I usually make her stop at one particular stump with Charlie [on a particular trail] and they take turns sitting on the stump and getting a treat while I take their photo.

Here are some shots of Charlie on stumps over the years. 

[I have to lift him onto the stumps, he can't jump up on them.] 

He really could care less about sitting for a picture on a Stump.

Hannah and I started down the trail and once we got through the meadow and into the forest trail, Hannah started to jump on any stump next to the trail. 

She sat and stared at me.

Funny dog, she relates stumps to treats.

Smart.

She even thought a few logs would be worthy places to get a kibble.

What a charming goofball!

Most of the trees are leafless but in the understory there were some remarkable colors that we found. It was raining lightly and these red maple leaves seemed to glow.

By the time we hit 4 miles, the sun came out.

By the time we got back to the car the clouds had moved in again. 

Hannah and I had an incredibly fun long hike. I like to do those at least once a week. 

Charlie stayed home to rest up his legs after Sunday's hike.

I do know that dogs have to be in good physical condition to do long hikes. They cannot be couch potatoes and just like us, they have to work up to distances. I'm pretty sure Hannah does at least double the distance than I do as she likes to run forward and then run back to me.

Her motor is always supercharged. In case you are wondering, I do take special care with her by monitoring her condition, her feet, her attitude and physical well being.

With only her along, it is a fast paced hike except for logs and stumps. 

With Charlie involved also, it is a very laid back slow moving hike with many stops for examining everything around us.

This is the way....

Fall, so fleeting and beautiful.

For how many years did I wander slowly
through the forest. What wonder and
glory I would have missed had I ever been 
in a hurry!

~Mary Oliver

Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way

Mary Oliver does say it the best sometimes. In our forest, the dogs and I take our sweet time. I let the dogs lead while I look around it leads to interesting wandering.

Fall/Autumn flashes by so quickly. I wish I could slow it down. I know I can't. But that is the my wish.

I wish the trees would take more time and slowly change colors while hanging on to their leaves.

But nature is the boss and we are just the witnesses.

Some before and after views

The brown area used to be part of the yard but was used as a paddock 

for years for weanlings and getting the animals close to the house so hubby could watch them.

The trees behind the truck were the ones that needed trimming down.

Below is after Patrick worked up the areas and took down earthen mounds and uneven areas that made the areas impossible to mow. 

Even with his skid steer and brush hog, it was hard for him to mow this area. His suggestions and improvements make it safer for him to brush hog and possibly for me to mow with a regular mower. 😮
 

This is the Tree Trimmer's Bucket Truck and the trees before. The trees are in poor shape and full of root rot. One of the trees had a hole right through the trunk.

As a reminder.  

This is what things looked like in March.

The Trimmers took a break and now you can see the lower part of the trees. They asked if they could take the firewood and I said 'absolutely' as it would be a pain to pile up those large pieces of wood and then burn it.

The afterwards. They left two large trunks which won't harm anything, they hauled away all of the logs and piled all of the limbs in a brush pile. 

I refenced the mules' north lot while Patrick worked on the field south of the house.

Here Patrick is reshaping the old yard and leveling an area that was still a yard in 1997.

The views below are from the porch door. It shows where the yard will be reseeded and the pasture conditioned and reseeded.

Next year instead of unruly weeds, rocks, humps, little ditches, and uneven ground, I should be able to maintain those areas with alternating between the mower and rotating in the elderly mules. Patrick will still brush hog for me when needed.

The view from the porch however will not be one of burrs, weeds, and dirt mounds. In 1996 the pasture was a hay field. This section of the land is the only flat area we have on the property aside from the current yard.

5 years ago of the view from the porch:

After Patrick was done with the dozer. 

Patrick will be back with his skid steer and 'conditioner' attachment the prepare the ground for seeding. He will be doing the seeding work too. 

It is my opinion that this place will have more 'curb' appeal with a tidy looking field and yard in front of the house.

I see these improvements as in investment in the property. The cost was not as bad as one would think. 

I'll take photos after it has been seeded and of course follow up shots this spring when things green up again.

Before winter sets in, I'll be refencing the winter lot which can't be seen here.

I think I'm going to take the weekend off.

Nights out Lights out.

This is the house as seen from the old garage in the moonlight.

 There is something about being able to make a bed on the porch and read with a book light.

We enjoyed the unusually warm fall evening.

And bright and early, the tree trimmers showed up and started work.

Patrick from Midwest Excavation & Electric and his Dozer showed up.

Chainsaws and bulldozers. What more could a lady want?

At the end of these two projects, I am all done for at least a year. Time to enjoy things for a while and admire the work done.

What a whirlwind. 

Pics when they are all finished.

Now, to supervise.