Orange, Chairs, and Bears.

Waking up very early has its benefits.

I can use candles to light up my gourds and pumpkin display inside. The warm orange light is comforting as is the flickering from the candles.

 Then there is that advantage of getting out the door before the sun gets up.

It seemed that this day's theme was Orange. Orange and red sunrise, orange reflections on Bridge M, outside of Readstown, and orange reflections through the fog coming off from Blackbottom Creek at the bridge on Riley Road.

So on our morning walk we continued the theme.  In this shot there looks like a tiny dragon fly stuck in some sort of gossamer thread. You may have to click and enlarge the photo to see it.

Back inside I just had to take a shot of my Grumpy Planter. He never became a planter, I like his facial expression too much to stick a plant in him.

Perhaps in the future I will.

The only downside to waking up very early is on these shorter days, I feel like going to bed much earlier.

Evening hours are spent on my chair project. I like taking my time with it and enjoying the process.

Here is the chair and what it looked like after some sanding and cleaning.

So I started it. The colors were okay-ish but not quite what I wanted. I was using Chalk Paint as it is supposed to go on easier.

I checked into my acrylic paints and tried something different. I kind of liked the purple, but then I didn't.

I found my Brilliant Blue and tried it out on one of the rungs. I liked that.

The Linen White was much nicer and it looked cleaner.

I had some really fun colors in my acrylic collection so I added Lime Green to the lower legs. I liked it.  Fun and bright colors always make me happy.

I mixed two paints to come up with another color for the back legs. That utterly failed for the effect I wanted.

I wanted a warmish color for the back legs.  Hmmm. I wanted a more gold-ish tone, but this might have to do unless I can locate a soft gold color to layer over the yellow. 

Or...I'll keep the wild yellow just because it is unusual. 

It can be a reminder that days can be bright and full of light.

Here is Rich's ancient Teddy bear. I'd love to know exactly how old it was.

However his parents are gone and his sister in not in the picture.

The bear currently resides on the old Christmas Chair which may be my next paint victim. I might color it in a brilliant Christmas Theme.

I did use Google Lens on  photo of this Bear and it is a 1950's era Bear. 

I saw prices from $50 to $200 for this Bear. Not that I thought it was a beautiful bear, but it does let me know that my husband loved his childhood Teddy Bear enough to stick in his trunk of keepsakes for years.

 

He made mention that he thought he got it when he was about 6 yrs old.

That makes this bear around 70 years old?

Kicking my butt and road walking

I had my first Shingles vaccine shot and it kicked my butt for about 12 hours. I mean it kicked like a mule. 

By mid afternoon I felt somewhat human and my headache was going away. I grabbed Charlie and decided it was a nice day for a walk on the back roads. It gave me a chance to look at what I suspected was the Witch Hazel tree/bush and see if any trees on our ridge were turning colors.

When we switched from our township to Kickapoo township, there was more gravel on the road and Charlie seemed like his feet bothered him. We stopped for a few breaks along the way so he could get a drink of water. I carried him through the worst of the sharp gravel. 

It was nice though to walk on the ridge and then down into the valley. We are densely forested here so I don't often get to see wide open spaces unless I am driving somewhere.

These two shots are about a mile from our place. There is a tree line on the horizon in the above shot. That is where our dead end road stops. I walk there often in the summer to watch the sun come up.

I was happy they planted soybeans this year, I don't have to stand on a ladder to see the horizon!

The nasty dog came charging out on Charlie and I. I had picked Charlie up and sprayed the gravel road between us and the dog with pepper spray. Nasty Dog turned and ran back home. I hope the dog relates anyone walking by to that nasty horrid smell. Time will tell. Note, I did not spray the dog, I sprayed the gravel between us...

Other than that, our walk was relaxed and pretty nice. I brought my tree book and took some time looking at different trees.

I'm pretty darned sure that this is Witch Hazel! I found two of them!

This one is...I don't know.

More Bittersweet. I found three more places this was growing.

Wild Grapes. Wow have those nasty Beetles done a job on them.

The black walnut trees were literally bending over with walnuts as were the Bitternut Hickory trees. The apple trees were nearly barren and the Box Elders were yellowing and looking old and worn out.

I actually didn't take photos of trees I guess. It looks like I took photos of bushes that were interesting.

When we got down near the Black Bottom creek bridge we turned around. Down in one of the steep areas off Riley road, we heard a coyote barking. Pretty haunting. 

I fell in love with the rocks and ferns as we trudged back uphill to the ridge.

Our walk was long, it took us nearly two hours. The up and down hill portion of the walk is an elevation change of 200 feet each way. I knew it was steep but had no idea as I'd always driven it. If you fall off the road on one side there is a 50 foot drop to the bottom of a gully.

So I do avoid this road on snowy and icy days. But it is a beautiful walk.

Charlie was worn out when we got home and as I packed my backpack this morning he is giving me the stare with wide eyes. 

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.