Gardening.

First some photos from the other morning. I thought these were pretty neat. I drove out to a different area to see the foggy sunrise. These were actually taken pre dawn and I was home by the time the sun appeared through the mist.

We had a pretty nasty storm that afternoon that dumped 2 inches of rain in less than a half hour with high winds that toppled our corn.

Thankfully there was no hail so the corn survived.

The photo below is the corn the next morning. But it is upright now.

Before it got too hot, I picked the carrots and the green beans.

Yes, I put a dinosaur in my garden for fun. I sent this to my youngest grandson who adores dinosaurs. He can name the type this is, I can't.

I spent the morning out on the porch with Charlie getting things ready to blanch as soon as we had a break in the weather.

After blanching them, I found to my surprise that I only had enough to make two bags with my vacuum seal!

I had to make a Saturday morning run to the post office to pick up a large parcel that they wouldn't deliver so I thought I'd run to the store to get a roll of bags while I was at it.

WHAT a mistake! 

First, no vacuum seal bags...the shelves were barren. And second? The place was over run with moms and kids with no masks and sense of distancing.

Wait. How did it become this way? One year ago, none of this would have bothered me [the kids and crowds]. 

Anyway thanks to my Kenosha friends I could still dry my carrots and beans and vacuum seal them in pint jars. 

I ordered the bags on line when I got home.

So this is what the carrots look like after being dehydrated.

7 trays of green beans fit in a pint jar, that is about 14 servings.

I will mix and match some of my dehydrated foods to make mixed veggies for soups this winter. It is quite handy to open a jar and shake it up then add it to broth.

I like to also seal the veggies in small frozen packets for meals.

I'll end my Saturday here.

Tomorrow I'll explain my little Bear-y ~~~ Berry adventure.

It feels odd

I really didn't expect that my MIL's passing would affect me as it did. 

I mean I'd been masked up, gowned, and confined to her room for three days watching her sleep and struggle for breath as her body started to shut down its systems.

She gurgled and made odd noises. Sunday she did speak a few different sounds.

"I'm tired." 

It did though. I haven't felt like doing much for the past couple of days. I did take Siera for an evening ride in the woods which seemed to help me focus again. Maybe it is relief  that she isn't in pain and sadness that I will miss her, but I have been mourning her for a long while. Harder when the only way I could see her again was so I could sit with her in her final hours.

Today, the 4th of July we will have a small graveside service on a HOT and blazing humid day.

The funeral had been paid for ahead of time and MIL did save our butts by picking out the casket. She had put her daughter in charge of the visitation and her son in law in charge of providing the service.

I won't go into it further but Covid-19 was not the only reason this didn't happen.

Lenise's grand daughter, Rich's daughter, was invaluable for helping with the small details. She helped with the Obit. 

I will digress here. We had so many laughs and wonderful memories putting this together. Discussed Fireworks! What could go wrong! Said the Mark [the funeral director].

He said the strangest obit he ever wrote was "Jane Doe, born on insert date, died on insert date.

Jane Doe loved Cats and Jesus.

Stephanie knew what flowers Lenise adored the most. We decided to be prudent and offer a short graveside service and hired a pastor for that too.

A few of Lenise's friends will come. It will be unbearably hot, humid, and sticky. But it will be outside and people can be socially distanced.

My son Jer showed up last night with his two children to pay his respects. 

The kids were so well behaved and didn't even complain about my cooking. Yeah, I didn't exactly have kid friendly stuff in the house.

However. What can I say? Those kids put on masks and wore them while playing on the porch.

We did sit together for a few minutes on the porch.

We may have looked like hooligans but we were being very careful. Charlie was in 7th heaven.

The kids are staying at a "No Tell" Motel in town and will be back this morning for breakfast. I can make cinnamon rolls by Pillsbury I think without screwing it up to badly.

This morning's sunrise was stunning. I didn't get out to the ridge to stand on the rise and watch it...

but...

...but there it is..

I'll take it

Boots. Wet from hiking in the creek with the neighbor lady and her children.

I had a pretty full day that started with a Partner WOD. [work out of the day] My partner was amazing and IS an amazing lady. Mom of 5 who works two jobs and has a husband who is going to school. The more we visit at CrossFit, the more I am impressed!

So the boots were drying on the porch. Walking IN the creek was the obvious way to stay cool yesterday. My hike had started out strictly in the woods looking for fungi and ended up in the creek with my neighbor and her kids.

Allie takes a rest. She got stuck in that Mule Soul Sucking Mud spot that Siera refused to get near the other day. One thing about mucky mud. It keeps the bugs from biting you.

The rocking chair came from a church bizarre along with the lady's scarves. I absolutely adore rocking chairs. LOVE them. This one is small and perfect for me. The scarves served as adornment to the 'crate' table I have on the porch. I have no idea why I chose those scarves. Colors? Backdrops for still life photos? Don't know. They just said 'Take me!'.

Part of my hike yesterday was to find interesting spots of sunlight and try some Infrared shots.

My favorite one so far is the stump. I won't even say how hard of a trek it was to get here, but it was worth it.

Evening found Charlie and I on the porch where we watched the sky for colors as the sun began to go down.
We were rewarded.

This is the view from the driveway looking across to the west.

This morning I woke up at 4:11. Yes I checked it twice. I got up anyway and decided to take a very early walk.
The gnats were nasty but the scenery was worth the walk.

Mother Nature decided to paint the sky briefly just before 5am.

I'll take it.
The rest of the day still awaits....

Sunday Stuff

I thought I had my day planned.
Sunrise with Charlie. That went well, we drove to our sunrise 'spot' and watched the sun come up. Yes, I DO use my Subaru to go find beautiful places to photograph! Indeed I do!

To fans of 'Ru's...
How do you Subaru?

Charlie did not get sick or drool!
I consider this a huge improvement. But I made it so he could watch out the window and get fresh air. Perhaps he is maturing or maybe I was lucky. Either way, he enjoyed his morning sunrise jaunt with me.

After chores were done, I drove to Genoa to drop off some photos to some friends. I'd taken photos last weekend of their daughter in the softball playoffs and thought they'd like them.

I had a few errands to run in town so it worked out nicely.

The road on the ridge is curved, the telephone poles are in a straight line.

The sky was amazing, one of those days where the clouds made you want to stop what you were doing and just sky watch.

After lunch it was time to see if the mules would like browsing in the forest section.

It was rather ho hum. They stayed on the ridge road first and then wandered down the trail to browse.

I decided to take some time for myself. Weed eating was on my list as was picking green beans and other garden items, but I decided to walk to the creek and get some quiet time in.

Our neighbor came down and started to cut up and brush out the two trees that Jeff, the bulldozer man knocked down.
Rich was in bed.

I couldn't resist taking some Bears along.
These two cooled off in the creek.

Rabbit and Bear.
Doing their thing.

An isolated thunderstorm moved in and my day was done.

Today is Monday.
The green beans are calling my name and as soon as the dew is off the plants, I'll be picking.

There are phone calls to make and phone calls to take.
Appointments to get ready for and ... it looks like my day of rest is over.

Valley Fog this morning...

Well that is what the weather site said when I got up yesterday.

I fed Charlie, let him out, and then headed to the ridge.

Indeed, there was valley fog.

My only beef with the mornings now is that cell towers have been erupting on the ridges.

If the angle were just a bit wider here there would be another tower just to the left of the one in the upper left corner.
I'm finding that I have to get creative with compositions to avoid them on this sky line.
However, I guess that is the way of our world now. Cell towers are being built in this area like wildfire.
Our hills and valleys are so steep that we need many towers to provide coverage.
I used to have to drive to the ridge to get a tower, now I can get it from my home. However we maintain a land line.

Okay, I am off my soap box now.
Just enjoy the rest of my morning.

And then the sun tried to peek out...

and to the east...over the neighbor's cattle pasture....

...and then I headed back towards home and took one last shot of the orange fog over Riley Road.

...and one more of my other neighbor's round bales in the field waiting to get picked up and stored in her shed.

I had a busy day lined up.
Perhaps that is why I love early mornings, I get some peace and quiet time before the rest of the responsibilities kick in.

I still like mornings

Pre-dawn is my favorite time of the day during the summer. I like to be out just as the birds are starting their morning songs.

This morning I cajoled my Grand daughter Ariel into coming with me on an early cruise. She held Charlie and we went out to watch the most glorious part of the day.

I do love it when we have mists or fog.

It lends an air of mystic to the low spots on the ridges.

In the valley bottom on the other hand...it is dull and grey.
This was taken at one of our favorite spots at Bridge M.

The ridges were clear and the valleys were immersed in grayness.

Didn't I say that I loved foggy mornings???

This view was from Kolstad Road looking down on the ruins of an old shed.

A July misty morning is not complete without a quick stop at Linda's cropland to grab some morning shots of her oats and corn.

Last year she had soy beans in this spot. This year it is field corn....

Did we enjoy the morning in all of its glory? Yes I think we did.

Time

Time for me.

Being a caretaker is not an easy task. But I am not complaining really. I am again going through the stress of taking care of billings that are done improperly and juggling appointments with the VA Medical Center. I try and help Rich get one goal accomplished each day.

I realized that I needed some quiet time. I hadn't been leaving the farm at all really. Just getting groceries and in the mornings I await for him to get up. We both have the fear that another stroke will happen if I am not there to watch him get up.
He awakens and wonders if something will happen.

But we are working through that now.

So this morning I took a 5AM jaunt to some of my favorite places. I was only gone for about an hour and a half.

But it was worth it.

My first stop was on top of the ridge. The sky and colors were out of this world.

And then I jumped in the Subaru and headed to Black Bottom.

Black Bottom Creek ~ 

the creek is called something else now 

but the old timers still refer to it that way.

I caught a little color before the fog moved in and took over.

I headed home to get a cup of coffee.
And when I got out of the car I had to stop.

The heavy moisture in the air had created a beautiful dew on the burdocks that I intended to cut down.

When did burdock look so lovely?

When did fleabane look so incredible?

My morning was complete.
I went inside to start the day with a huge list of 'to dos'.

However I got some quiet time in before the day really started.

A trip to the creek was on my next "Me Time" list.
As a caretaker I have learned that it is so important to take some time out for myself in order to do things I really enjoy.

Early mornings work out fairly well, and sometimes late afternoons do also.