Busy busy

Monday was a day of surprises.....

It started out with a text from my youngest son.

"Call me when you wake up. I'm bored driving home." He and his wife and their daughter were on their way home from Colorado.

I called since I was up at my usual time: Hannah Time ----->> which translates to predawn.

We talked for a little bit and then he said he had to pull off the road for gas...and "WAIT wait! Oh my goodness the sunrise is amazing!" 

As he said that, I was about to pour a cup of decafe when I took a peek towards the NE direction. The fog was heavy but there was a slight color threatening to brighten the sky. 

I texted back: Later! I'm headed towards the ridge to see our sunrise! 

My phone pinged once more: See you mom in about 5 hours!

I passed our mailbox on the ridge and saw a typical driftless region sunrise where the valley was thick with fog. The cool waters in the rivers and streams often produce amazing fog.

I pulled out my regular camera with my long lens. 

The shape of the land I live has wonderful shapes. When we have valley fog, the ridges and the trees appear above the fog creating an unusual sight. Meaning, I'm still not used to it after living here for 30 years.

The fields are not flat and even, our world is uneven and wonderfully rough. Contour farming is the only way to farm.

I thought I'd drive down into the valley and take a peek around. Sometimes the valley fog hangs 40 or 50 feet off the ground.

Not this day! However, the swallows were so busy at the bridge over Black Bottom Creek that I just stood in the road and watched them for a while.

[Yep, I could stand in the road on the bridge and not even see any traffic at that time of day!]

They were literally swarming the area. You can see that the sun is ready to dip into the valley from the light on the top left of the photo.

Depending on the season, it can take up to two hours before the valley sees the sun.

Back up on the ridge the sun was shining brightly. I was able to see across the valley fog to the dot on the map that is called Folsom.

This is one of the Folsom Lutheran Churches on the next ridge over.

I stopped back at Linda's Tractor on the way home. I taken a sunrise shot through the tractor and wanted one afterwards. It is rare that she leaves any equipment in the field. In fact this is the first time in 30 years that I can recall she has left one parked on a field she rents.

Linda still farms and is in her later 80's. She hires help of course, but still does quite a bit of field work on her own.

The heat and humidity set in by the time my son and his wife showed up but I had to walk them back to our 'campground'.

They were amazed at how cool it felt in the grove of trees and the definite lack of bugs.

Here is Mari who is 5 she was having a blast playing with Charlie and Hannah.

<--------------->

Today [Tuesday] I got to go to a birthday party for the grand daughter of a friend. I went to help and take some photos for fun because I was asked to.

Everyone was smitten with my friend's mini horses!

We came up with the idea of a birthday party with the idea of the kids decorating the minis. 

Safe to say, it was a huge hit.

All I can say is that it was a blast! I think the little girls are going to remember this as the coolest birthday party ever. Homemade cake, homemade ice cream, decorating mini horses, and so much laughter.

Grandma Pat is obviously the coolest Grandma Ever!