Here we go!

Charlie got his first Pup Cup at Culvers on our way home from the vet where we got his nails trimmed up nicely and his flea and tick meds for the next 3 months.

Yikes. Let's just say $$$$!

However hubby wanted a sandwich from Culvers so I went through the drive up with Charlie, it was too hot to leave him in the car while I ordered.

So the gals at the pay window went nuts when they saw Charlie and asked if he could have a Pup Cup. 

Charlie decided it was awesome and that he'd definitely go to town again with me and get Dad a 'Sammich' at Culvers.

I think it also helped him with the 'trauma' of getting his toenails trimmed. -- He howls when it is done even though he is not being hurt! What a goofy dog!

Below is one of the colorful Lilies I ordered from Edens Garden this spring. I was gobsmacked by how beautiful this was! I have six of them in different colors and I now will make sure to locate them in a place where I can enjoy them more next year.

Another kind of seed - flower I ordered. I don't recall the name, but I love the delicate ferny leaves it has. These are blooming in blue and white. I can imagine planting a huge plot of them! 

Their seed pods are really quite cool too.

Guess who will be collecting these seeds for next year!

I would love it if my things that I had to go get done would fall on days that were more convenient. You know, like a respite day.

But that isn't how life is. 

Just when you think you have things all figured out...  🤯🤯🤯🤯

Things go sideways.

So I brought Rich home his Rueben and discovered that they didn't put the dressing on the sandwich. Hmmm. 

I had to get a cloth to wash up his hands and turned the water on warm...I nearly got scalded. 

WHUT?

Hmmm?

I tried the bathroom faucet, same thing, bathtub, same thing. I assumed then that the water heater [electric] had malfunctioned and the element or whatever that controlled the temperature had failed. 

I went downstairs and shut the power off to the water heater while I was on the phone to the plumbing company we use. 

The gal said she'd have someone out tomorrow between 2 and 4 would that be okay? 
Yes, sure it would.

Then she said if she could get someone out earlier in the morning would that be okay?

Yup.

Oops. Well tomorrow is Tammy's second Respite shift here and it looks like I can't go 'Respiting' [is that even a word?]. However, it would be a good time for the two of us to get to know each other better and I could answer her questions about other things.

AND

I could take time to do some purging in the basement without any interruptions while waiting for the plumber. 

AND I could do some fence fixing down in the woods without worrying about leaving hubby on his own while I was a quarter mile away in the back 40!

AND I could go hunt up fungi and slime mold and ... play Legos and...ohhh the possibilities are endless! 

While I was out doing a bit of weeding, I noticed my neighbor with his monster sized skid steer brush hogging his messy pasture. Ding Ding! 🤯

I had another brain strain. I've been calling around and trying to get someone to come out and cut up my weeds/pasture and a little bell went off in my brain.

Gary and his wife to the west of us have always said, if you need something. Just ask.

So I sent a message to Kim and asked if Gary could mow/hog/whatever ... our front pasture and the meadow. 

I am awaiting the answer. It is okay if he says no, I'll just be back to my square one.

This year, I am doing a lot of asking. I asked Justin for help, he helped. I asked Olive for help, she helped [we trade off to each other all of the time], I asked Steve [fishing buddy] for help. He will bring a crew this fall to cut the trees off the fenceline and help me clean up another area. 

Oh and now I see that my text looks weird on this post. Yeah, I'm not going to fix it. That happened when I copied and pasted the brain exploding . Huh. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Well, I won't do that again. I'll just stop here before more brain explosions go off in my head and call it quits. I refuse to go back and fix everything tonight with the headache I have echoing in my head.

Tomorrow is another adventure.

Some fun & Close...

 

I thought I'd have some fun on Sunday with my Lego Castle set.  I wanted to do more than just a few neat shots like the one below.

This is Clarence, he is one of the Castle Guards. 

After this shot, I thought it would be really fun to try a 'stop motion'. I did it the old fashioned way without an app to help. I guess there is an app you can install on your phone to do this and there is also and AI app called NaukNauk which will take a still video of a minifigure and make it into a short animated film.  It is slick as all get out. I feel like it is a cheap cheat, even though I've seen little videos that are pretty fun.

But it isn't true stop motion like I learned as a kid. I learned from the artists at my dad's office as they did animation. It was careful step by step drawing or using a photograph. I learned the old fashioned way.

I enjoyed this so much, it was quite a bit of fun.

In this castle there is a skeleton that has been locked in a cell. Obviously, the guards must have forgotten to feed him!

Looks like he is happy to have escaped!

After the last storm I had to go check for more downed trees. There was one. What a year for falling trees!

I of course had an idea for something fun to shoot while checking.

I used battery powered mini-lights and strung them out on a deer trail then placed my space people in the path and viola!

I didn't even think of a follow up to this shot...but I imagined the minifig in the orange saying to the other astronaut: See! I told you I saw strange lights!

I was just happy to quickly set things up and grab the shot and be on my way back home.

Though I did find these....

They were way passed their prime of course but I think they could have been some sort of Boletes. When they are fresh, they look rather beautiful.

There were more 'False Coral Mushrooms' popping up in one area of the forest that I had to backtrack through as the original ridge trail now has been blocked by fallen trees from the last few storms. No fence damage, but it is a pain to climb through or go around.

My Monday was a success. I called all the places I had to call and did all the boring things I had to do, then took some time to sit on the porch and watch the birds and think about the upcoming heat wave. This part of the summer is not my favorite.

By evening the air was breathless. However, I did still see lightening bugs! They must really love heat and humidity and ... still nights. I think my Grandmother used to describe weather like this as: Close.

Close: a weather condition when the relative humidity and the temperature are both the same. Often with no breeze where the air feels stagnant and heavy making it hard to breathe.

The A/C will get a work out for the next few days. It will be 'close'.

Sunday stuff

Sunday was a rest day, I had a ton of outdoor work to do, however, I decided that I was going to goof off and just do things that pleased me [aside from caring for hubby].

This just goes to show you that toy ... or Still Life photography can be done anywhere and any time. This is my bed that is in the living room. I got a piece of painted plywood that I've used for years as a top for my 'creative' table --which is now on the porch. The clean white surface is great for working with crafts or toys. 

In this case I needed a space that was solid enough to use to balance Legos.

There is my ex-cookie tray with my wood pieces. The challenge was to 'make' a scene that did not look like it was sitting on my bed.

This was the result.

I also took out my castle and had some fun with that. I did a little stop motion scene but that will have to wait until I have more goof off time to process that.

Below is my tiny entry way table that is my 'flower' stand. I filled my vases with an assortment of flowers and was surprised at how beautiful bouquets of Queen Anne's Lace are! This was Queen Anne's Lace and Hosta flowers that were leaning over the back stoop.

Of course my Dragons and dried mushrooms and flower petals keep my table interesting. To me it is just perfect.

And this is me just before bed. I thought I'd try a selfie hint I saw on the internet. I propped the camera on the coffee maker and put it on a timer. 

Olive gave me a haircut on the porch and I love it. It saved me time, worry, and expense of making an appointment in my 'allotted' me time.

The stuff behind me is our entryway. It is filled with oxygen containers and all of that crap you drop by the back door. 

I was sort of surprised by how I looked. It almost looks as if I am really sad and tired. I may be tired, but definitely not really sad. Maybe a bit worn out.

So there it is, a current photo of me that I won't faint at.

Here it is Monday and this is the day that I picked to do all of the things I hate the most. You know, balancing the checkbook, making phone calls and making lists of things I need to get done and things I don't want to do but must.

Oh, and the weekly grocery list. I really don't like shopping or preparing meals.

Flower garden tour...

Just a walk around the house with my camera... well except for the Queen Anne's Lace and the white clover those flowers were in the yard.

Enjoy

 

Fungus Among--us

Meanwhile the rains and humidity have provided a wonderful world of beautiful fungi/mushrooms. I'm going to just ID these with common names as I could be off with their true identity.

According to 'Google Lens' and one of my ID books, these should be Cany Caps fungi. They are similar to another kind of mushroom, however you have to look at cellular structure and spore prints. I did smell them and they did smell sort of sweet.

I can't believe my luck in finding these. I had walked through a few other places where I always find mushrooms and fungi. I found plenty of deer but not cool fungi.

So, I took a detour to a different section where I usually don't find fungi and was surprised by the amount of cool mushrooms and slime mold I was able to find.

I don't recall seeing any mushrooms in this section of the forest in the past few years of drought. So I imagine the spores have just been waiting for heat and humid conditions.

This fall ought to produce a magnificent showing of fungi.

I couldn't believe my eyes. In a small area, everywhere I looked I saw these.

Angel of Death Mushroom.

Destroying Angel

But.... according to certain sources these are only supposed to grow on the west coast of the US. I am sort of confused because I can't find any other white mushroom that looks like this.

I still think it is a cool looking mushroom. It was easy to spot in the forest and they grew in singles or very small clumps of two near each other.

I'm just going to be safe and obviously not eat them. There are very few wild ones I can identify safely, this is not one of them.

They are quite beautiful though. Pure white with a stunning shape.

I couldn't help but use them in a Rock Monster photo. It seems like Zombies and Monsters would like such a mushroom.

Then there were many spots of 'False Coral Fungi' aka known as Sebacina which don't grow on wood but on forest floor litter. I found so many specimens.

This one was the cleanest.

The Lego Zombies thought it was great too.

Why not get some for supper?
Not that I'd try it, but apparently it doesn't hurt skeletons.

There was so many of them in this little area that I was able to shoot in several spots. 

A vampire knight seems to be happy in this bunch of older fungi.

The mornings have been foggy and of course damp. The past two mornings have been cool along with a heavy dew. Even the flower beds are sprouting little fungi families.

These are more than likely 'Common Ink Caps'. The appear and quickly spore and shrivel up.

Don't eat the mushrooms...at least I don't even try unless it is something I definitely know is safe.

I wonder if the dinosaurs were told to be careful???

Gee, I don't know.

Birds, Bees, Flowers, Wildlife, and Mules

We saw this doe walk out of the woods and pretty soon two fawns came racing from the tall grasses. I don't often get to see a doe nursing her fawn, let alone nursing twins.

Fighting Tiny Titans

not a fantastic shot but you can see the hummers chest thumping each other in a dispute over the Bee Balm and the other flowers in our east garden.
 

It's July. It is hot, humid, muggy, and there is a smokey haze. The yard was still too wet from our rain the night before of 1 inch. So I took a chair out next to the garden used my long lens to observe the goings on in my garden.

A Fritillary Butterfly and a Bumble Bee were both enjoying my Blazing Stars.

A Silver Spotted Skipper [?] seemed to be fascinated with my Forget me nots.

The bees were crazy busy. Even extremely tiny ones. 

I caught sight of some house finches enjoying the feeder also.

I can enjoy photographing the flowers and all of the activity and still be near enough to the house to check on my 'patient'. 

Morning light on a pumpkin flower with a busy Bee Butt full of pollen.

I have several pumpkin plants that did free seeding in the mules lot. I'll have to fence them off later if I want pumpkins for this fall. I also have 3 or 4 plants growing in my flower beds. Why not? Less yard I have to mow!

The sun flowers are beginning to get ready to show off their blossoms and with that, the bees will pollinate and the Goldfinches will get busy at eating the seeds. I let them have plenty before I take and save the seeds for next year's planting.

I'm looking forward to having the mule gals' pasture brush hogged. Hopefully it will help keep down the noxious weeds and the burdock. If I can get a regular schedule for next year I will be a happy person and so will my gals.

Sundance looks over Siera's back.

Sunshine enjoys a weedy pasture, she can swipe irritating flies off her body.

They may look like the same red mules, but they aren't. They are half sisters with the same mom, different donkey dads. Sunshine is 28 and Sundance is 16. I can easily tell them apart by their body shape and their tails which are different shades.

I finally did get out into the woods on Sunday morning. I found some very interesting mushrooms.

More...later!