Wait, What?

Wait, what day is it? 

What happens when all of your days blend together? 

Some times you don't sleep well and other nights you are just plain restless. One of those nights I woke up ... wide awake at 1:30 in the morning. There was no going back to sleep so I went out on the porch and decided to look at the sky.

Yes, I am very fortunate to live in a 'hollow' with the nearest street lamps 12 miles away. If I go up on the ridge, the yard lights of farms across the ridge do 'pollute' the night sky. So lucky lucky me. I can admire the stars from my porch and my driveway.

Porch view of that night's Milky Way. 
It was clear enough for the naked eye, but the camera can pick up so many more details.

Is it no surprise that I fell in love with the night skies while living here for the past 29 years? 
The stars give me a sense of peace and wonderment [as do most things in nature].

I went out to try a selfie of me looking up at the Milky Way. It didn't work. Other years I've gotten the beam from my headlamp to show up in the humid air...
Not so this night. I tried over and over. So then I turned the red light on and twirled it for a 25 second photo.

It is called light painting, which I never really got the hang of.

But I thought it turned out neat.

I'm going to try it again but wear dark clothes and use some glow sticks. 

Here are some random Toy shots I just felt like doing on an overcast afternoon. 
The Goat herder seems unaware that he is being watched. Squatch who is one of my favorite toys is still around Aurora! He often joins the Legos on adventures!
 

This Rock Monster set up on the cookie tray with a clay mushroom I made, along with bits of plastic leaves and chunks of wood.

Of course. the Evil King and Queen of ... hmmm, I don't know what to name their kingdom, do you have a suggestion?

While out watching the hummingbirds and the clearwing hummingbird moth, I placed an HO figure on one of the Blazing Stars just to see what would occur. 

And he looked as though he became a Bee Keeper! 👇

I spent some time outside yesterday morning with both my macro and long lens. I still have to go through a lot of photos of flowers, birds, bees, and other insects. By 9am, I had finished up outside and mowed a tiny bit before coming in for a shower.

The rest of the day was taken up with a morning visit with hubby's nurse and and afternoon visit for his sponge bath. Rich looks forward to these interactions.

So, yesterday was Monday. Let's see what today brings.

I'm  going to meet a friend I met at the gym and go see her place. 

I feel a bit wicked knowing that I have some free time to do something different.

So yeah.

Wait

What?

Squatch builds a house

Do you remember poor Squatch who searched aimlessly with his friend Hobby for others like himself?

He searched for a home and built a stick house in the spring which got flattened with the first big winds.

They considered a nice Lego house at first but it was too fancy with decorations and all. So they got together and decided to get busy since it seemed that winter was officially on its way.

The Cabin looks very nice but it has to be built from the ground up!
It looks to be complicated and even has lights that are integrated into cabin! Here the friends study the first set of lights.

They decided to call in a construction crew to assist.
[Yes, their coffee breaks are very large!]

The skid steer was very helpful as was the supervisor.

By evening, step 1 had been completed and Squatch had the basement in along with the stairs to the new porch. Oh and a place for a friend!

A little pasture for a brown pony!

Everyone pitches in! Day 2:

The actual set we are doing is called FO Fun Whole Wood Cabin with 2097 pieces. It will take a while!

I love the detail I am finding in this 'build'. 

The bathroom with a tub, toilet, and sink [I fixed the spigot after
I saw this photo...]

Living Room complete 

with a record player

and a Foyer Cabinet
with drawers that work!

Seems I finally got my 'dollhouse'. I had a metal one as a kid and we played with them all of the time. Of course dolls didn't live there, any small toy animal we could find lived in our dollhouses. 

Thank goodness for Lego stuff!

Dang its gonna be HOT

 When the weather sucks, 

I like to divert my attention

to other fun things.

So I'm going to catch up with what's up with Squatch. Sometimes things in my imagination get side tracked ... and sometimes I go off on a tangent.
Well here it is:

Squatch was feeling pretty down. All the hiking an hunting for relatives seemed fruitless. So he decided to take a nap in a bird nest.

"Hello, there! What are you? You certainly are not a fledgling bird!" a voice said to him.

He woke up and was staring at a tiny fawn.

"I'm a Squatch, not a bird."

"I see that. You are hairy too. I almost didn't see you because your camouflage is better than mine! My name is Fawn."

Squatch sighed, "Well, I came here looking for others like me. I was hoping to find some but so far I've been out of luck."

Fawn said, "Oh golly, can I help? I can ask my mom, Doe, and my pop to keep an eye out for your kind. There's lots of my kind in the forest. I can't imagine being without family!"

Squatch said, "Well, I've had my friend Hobby out looking and she just can't seem to find any trace of them."

"Oh," said Fawn, "I know Hobby. I see her in the forest a lot, but most of us wild critters avoid anything that resembles humans. I mean, we know she is supposed to be harmless and...but we still hide from her."

"Wow, that would be helpful. Hobby is a nice person, she has been very a very kind friend to me. You should meet her," Squatch replied.

"Ahhh. Well. Hmm." Fawn thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, we can arrange it but I hear she shoots..."

"That is just a camera, not a gun!" Squatch said.

Fawn nodded and then ran off. 

Squatch sat in the birds nest and wondered again...

would he ever find any of his family? What an odd little creature Fawn was could he count on Fawn's help? 

To be continued....

Side note:
when I was a kid we used to make up stories for our toys. All toys had a story. Imagine making up a story about a yellow rubber eraser dragon who became friends with a pink kitty eraser.

I imagined that my stuffed animals that lived on my bed came alive when I was at school and had wonderful adventures. The six foot stuffed snake would watch over the kangaroo and the zebra. I was sure that when I slept, they watched over me or went on magical trips.

Toys without batteries was a rule my father had. The toys had to be operated by imagination.
I think it was a wonderful rule.

And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Just wow

Last night's evening storms brought in heavy fog which is typical for our area.

NOAA  issued a dense fog warning. I was pretty pleased.

The wall of fog was so thick I couldn't see the mules in the pasture when I got up.

I grabbed a camera and headed out after sunrise. I usually don't pick up the mail on the day it is delivered. I generally save that walk for the mornings.

When I got to the ridge it the fog was thicker than thieves. The world was grey.

I mean there was nothing at all to see. This is a field of oats and generally you can see all the way to a horizon.

I wanted to wait around to see if the sun would break through enough to shine through the forest and create a magical atmosphere. 

Just as I was ready to give it up.
BAM!

The sun broke through.

It was time to get wet and wade into the forest. I knew where I wanted to go. I wanted to go see The Hugging Tree. [Sometimes I give names to certain trees I really like. I'm odd, okay?]

I started down the faint trail that is still there and headed into the forest.

And there is where I lost all track of time and just focused on the magic that was appearing before me. It changed each minute with the movement of the fog and the sun. 

I just kept moving around and shooting. One of the awesome features of the Olympus camera [aside from being very light], is its stabilization feature. 

I wasn't thinking about that, but was just mumbling to myself -- ohhhh...ahhhh...ohhh see that?...oh .. my...OH!

Oh!

The light kept changing and so did the foggy sun beams. 

Even after I walked into multiple spider webs, I was still marveling at the scene before me.

I was amazed that I didn't trip and fall over a log as I kept moving around. I couldn't keep my eyes off the forest.

Neither could my small friends.

I didn't want to leave the woods, but I knew I had to. Someone was sitting and waiting for me and would wonder what took me so long.

The sun rose a bit higher and the light beams started fading.

It was amazing while it lasted. I followed a deer trail out and got soaked from the wet leaves. I didn't mind. It was worth the little side trip. 

Once more I consider myself quite lucky to live in this area which presents such amazing beauty just a short walk from my porch.

Oh yes, I finally did make it to the Hugging Tree.

It is the tree in the distance with the arms uplifted.

[I have so many photos yet to look through. I am still just stunned by this one single foggy morning. Watch out, more to come?]

Just for fun

Rainy day walk.

Saturday was pretty gloomy looking but when it looked like I could get a bit of time between rains, I did a wander about.

I didn't take Charlie because I let the mules walk with me down into the deep woods.

Fred is the last one following Siera. Once he was past me he loped ahead of the chubby gals and let the way. They charged around through the woods checking fence lines to make sure they were up. Then they all hurried back to the meadow.

I just sort of ambled around and was so amazed at how quickly the plants are changing in the forest. 

I even walked down the valley onto the neighbor's land and discovered that the grasses and weeds in the valley were already thigh high. When cattle roamed the woods, one could walk around fairly easily. The forest has been without any grazers since 2005 so the land has reverted to invasive weeds and tall grasses. It makes it rather un-fun to hike in the summer. 

I dislike making my way through wild parsnip that is taller than I am. 

So, until fall, I'll keep hiking our land and enjoying the interesting things I can find. [Along with hikes at KVR!]

If I have my 'bug' ID correct, this one should be:

Common white wave moth

 I found this insect that I'd never seen before on a wild geranium.

Here is a  cropped close up of it. It is stunning in its colors.

Apparently this is a Katydid Nymph?

Squatch and Hobby Gal decided to take a trip downstream on some bark they found. Apparently they are still looking for relatives for Squatch to reunite with.

Having a good friend to have your back at all times is so incredible thinks Squatch.

Off in the woods there are some interesting things happening. 

Big Foot is further upstream playing with a friendly slug.
I don't think he is prepared to meet Squatch yet. 

And then....

Abominable Snowman is sitting and thinking about the summer weather...

Since the weather is warm and wet he and Husky will enjoy eating fungi and slime.

Maybe I should just title this blog: Diary of a Mad Housewife/Caregiver.

Except I'm not quite mad. I'm just entertaining myself.

And enjoying what Mother Nature brings to our forest.

Squatch and Hobby

Squatch to Hobby.
Do you suppose I'll ever find another one like me?

Hobby:
Oh sure, we just need to keep looking.

Squatch:

I'm sure getting discouraged.

Hobby:
Let's not get discouraged. Let's be persistent. You never know when we could bump into a relative of yours!

 

Adventures in Squatch Land

There is something magical in watching the sun rise with good friends.

Being small has its advantages. One can get very close to the little things in the forest, like moss.

Misty mornings leave water droplets on the moss capsules.

~~So much beauty in

tiny things.~~

Squatch had an idea. Would Hobby like to come along?

It could be an exciting adventure. One fraught with danger and mystery. Well, perhaps that was exaggerated. 

They came over the hillside and stood by a towering Dutchman's Breeches plant coming out of the leaves.

Wow!

Caves could be great places for Squatches to hide out.

Perhaps they should start investigating caves to see if they could find a Squatch relative.

They waded through a small creek.

No other Squatch tracks. It was a disappointment. However Hobby had a feeling IF they just could get past this large body of water, they may just find something!

The search continues....