A Funny thing happened...

So like a lot of women I used to like going to the same person all of the time for cutting my hair. She had an idea what it should look like and usually followed my instructions. I've enjoyed her cuts for many years but as time goes on and on, getting an appointment with her is like pulling teeth.

Weeks out! Sorry hun, can't fit you in. I was a shaggy mess of nasty flopped over unruly outgrown short hair. 

I was desperate. I told her I might have to go to Great Clips where I could walk in. My hair girl gasped over the phone as I chuckled. My hair gal suggested I plan ahead and make appointments ahead of time. I laughed as she knows me much better than that. I am a spur of the moment person on many things.

I thought about taking offense to that, but she knows I wouldn't take offense to that...but I kinda did in a small way.

Our town has quite a few beauty salons that I could choose from, but all of them are over the top expensive.

I mulled that all over after that phone call while waiting for Danny the Farrier to arrive.

Danny showed up late which is never his fault when the appointment before me added two horses to be shoed instead of the two that were scheduled.

Here he is trimming Sundance [yeah, I have to trim her mane and take out the briars!] Sundance had just rolled in the mud so she'd be beautiful for Danny.

Siera showed some stretching of the white line, we are hoping that it is showing up from her episode this spring. 

Since her bout earlier this year, she has been pretty good unless I let her out into a lush pasture. So she is on crap pasture and is doing fine. 

We'll keep an eye on that line and see if it starts to heal or get worse. I'm optimistic, the fall pastures will be less full of sugar and with a winter of hay rations, she should lose more weight and I'll be better prepared to not only exercise her, but to keep her on a lot where I can control what she eats.

Danny and I finished up and I set up another date so we can keep her on a schedule where he can asses her progress. She was an honest to goodness perfect mule for trimming and walked off as if she had no issues or pain. Siera is 23 year old.

When we were done we visited and then I made a decision. I was going for a drive and I was getting a hair cut. Not one like my regular gal wanted which is so classic of haircuts for over 70 ladies.

I went to Great Clips. I walked in and waited for the first available person. Apparently you can make appts with certain hair stylists. All of these gals were young and so full of energy! Happy, pleasant...and cheerful.

The girl put a wrap around me and said, "What do you want to do?"

I said short short. She asked a bunch of questions and she was curious about how much off. 

"Lots and get that back like...almost shaved off."

She was so surprised and then began to chop chop snip snip. 

"How's this for the back? I can use a size 16 clipper and make it a bit shorter or ... what?"

"Let's go with that," I replied, "My hair does seem to keep growing back. Besides I don't want to mess with that mess in the back. I hike, I work out, I'm in the woods, hair is the least of my worries!"

She laughed and went at it with the clippers.

I was soooooo happy with the cut. Happier than I've been with hair cuts for the past few years! My old hairdresser's gasp of horror was obviously not warranted.

When I went to check out she gave me the total of $22 and then said, "You're not a Senior are you?"

I chuckled and asked if 70 was considered being Senior. 

"Well you don't look Senior." 

She adjusted a discount for the haircut. I handed her a nice tip because, well, I had a blast and she did a great job. 

Plus she behaved like I wasn't an OLD person! [A nice little lie, but it worked!]

I don't want to fuss with my hair. I've had it long, medium long, short, very short, long short, and everything in between. I wanted different and I got it.

It will work well with my baseball caps, riding helmet, and winter hats. After all most of the time, I wear a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Oh I can smile. I just rarely do it for selfies because my smiles can be crooked looking. There I am feeling so relieved of all that messy hair.

I used to be a free wheeler and more of an adventurer pre Rich. Then I became a homebody because he needed me.

I took off on a whim and that felt quite nice. Today, I'm taking the pups to Kristi's while I ride with her then we scoot off to LaCrosse for the appointment for my car. Subaru and dogs.

My dogs love visiting the Dealership. Afterwards we may go explore a hiking trail or go to Pet Smart for some fun.

More off the cuff adventuring for fun coming later this week.

Someone took the chain and ball off my feet!

Weekend update.

Our Easter weekend and adventures.

 

This is a view of my long weekend away from home that was spent with my granddaughter Rory and her family.

I'm just going to say that it was a wonderful weekend adventure.

I did some travelling, lots of visiting, and enjoying meeting in laws and family as well as being able to see Ariel and Dennis for a bit on Sunday.

Hannah had a play weekend at my friend's house. Hannah made a new best pal named Paisley.

Now I am back home and ready to get to work ...and take a couple of naps.

But dreaming of the amazing food and people I got to meet.

Yum.

An Amazing Friend and Adventure Part II

 

The day grew darker and a bit more dreary when we got to the south end of the ridgetop. The Hogback Ridge opened up into a larger and flat plateau like area. At different times, the State Land had been rented out as farm land. 

We walked around this field and entered the old oak forest. Jason kept looking for an old trail he knew he'd used a couple of years ago.

He said that he hadn't done this part of the hike alone because he didn't feel safe in case something happened to him. He has trouble with his knees and had surgery last year.

This type of landscape is something I've hiked in for the past 28 years. I often scramble up and down rocky and dirt dry runs. Looking for handholds while climbing over roots and rocks is something I don't even have to think about any more.

I took this shot below after we had an incident with Jason's older dog. While negotiating this animal track on the hillside, Felix lost his balance and rolled down the steep incline. He rolled into a log. Jason was upset. Felix got up and shook while Jason called to him.

Felix had decided he wanted nothing to do with that trail and did not want to follow us stupid humans. [In the mean time, Charlie and Jason's other dog Piper sat and watched]

Jason called and called. Felix ignored him and started slowly started to climb the steep hill with a slippery bed of oak leaves up and away from us.

I'm a fast scrambler, so I took off after Felix. I used trees, rocks, and balance to get ahead of Felix. Jason warned me not to grab Felix by the collar. He'd bite me. Felix is a pretty laid back dog except when he is upset. He is a rescue 'off the street' dog. Jason calls him his High Dollar Doggy for all the vet bills they have had.

I positioned myself on the trial so that Felix couldn't get by me except by climbing over a huge log. I offered him one of Charlie's dog cookies to interest him while Jason came up to put him on a leash.

As expected, there was quite a tussle getting Felix leashed. We eventually made it to the main attraction.

We took several minutes to just chill out, get the dogs some water, and sit quietly on the floor of the cave.

Jason suffers from PTSD and Anxiety so I understand his need to be able to just sit and breathe when something happens. He has to process things differently than I do. He just recently had doctors diagnose him with borderline autism. His life long struggles with processing information and relationships now make a bit more sense to him. That said, he is a brilliant geologist that no longer works in that field. He is smart and articulate but needs different rules for conversation and friendship.

Let's say, we get along just fine.

I pulled out two Lego Minifigures and set them up on a rock shelf to take their photo. I presented the one minifig as Jason, one as me...and one little Charlie.

Jason pulled out something from his backpack and handed it to me.

I quipped with delight: You are so prepared! You brought along Guardians of the Galaxy in case we needed Superhero's!!!

With things settled down we had some fun. Jason tried to crawl back to see how far the holes in the rock extended. The shot below is an infrared shot in black and white. I really love how one can see the details of the rock that was washed and eroded by underground water flowing millions of years ago.

And after that, silliness happened.

Jason wanted a photo of himself doing silly things. Jumping up and down...

A silhoutte.

And the last bit of fun silliness. Charlie and Jason's dogs were curious when Jason started jumping up and down. Charlie wouldn't get out from under Jason, so he scooped Charlie up and continued to jump!

We found a better trail to climb up and out of there and started back towards our vehicles. With Jason, I never have to think of something to say as he is always chatting. That's fine, listening is a good skill to have.

He says he enjoys my friendship and hiking with me because he doesn't have to worry that I can't handle myself. I bring emergency gear like he does and have some good knowledge of woodcraft.

On our way back Jason had to take a few rest breaks. Apparently, Charlie adores the heck out of him!

We got back to the parking area as it started to drizzle. Both of us were a bit sad that the hike ended but I had to get home to hubby. Jason had a two hour drive to get back to Madison.

Lots of hugs and promises to get together to explore together again with our dog pack.

Until the next time....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One last bit.  
While standing on the top of the ridge, Jason explained the development of the historical geology of this particular area.

Direct, copy and paste from his FB post explaining the Hogback Ridge.

This is the floor of a formerly underground sandstone cave that was exhumed and eroded away including the ceiling and walls. The sandstone has various dissolution textures (vertical pipes, polished surface, lots of eroded fracture sets) than can only happen by groundwater. It’s a very unique rock and unlike the weathering textures seen in sea or ice caves. There’s more of this a few other places. I like this spot the best.

Road Trip

 I did it ... I did it!

I asked for help and I got it!
I get to get off the farm and get
some me time for a mini
adventure!

The last time I actually had a 'day' off from being a Caregiver was in July 2021. But hey, who is counting, right?

692 days. But who is counting? 

Charlie and I are going to make this into mini road trip. I plan on stopping at a couple of SNA or State Natural Areas to do some exploring. The last time I was at Paradise Springs, it was April of 2017, just days before Rich's stroke.

Morris and I explored together and took a 'selfie' in the doorway of the Spring house. 👇

I think I want a do over with Charlie. I'm packing a lunch for Charlie and I to have on our drive. In reality, the drive across the state is not that terribly long.

But, I'll make it longer by taking a route for us to stop at a couple of places.

Morris and I used to do road trips often...he just loved riding in a car more than anything else in the world.

I'd often just take him in my old Jeep to a closed back road and let him 'hang out' the window while I idled down the road at about 5 mph. He thought he was king.

Charlie can't hang out the window and I made him a 'car seat' so he could at sort of see where we are going.

I've since added a sheet to the seat of the car as Charlie is often full of dirt and sand on his belly when we get back from hikes. This contraption  ended his motion sickness.

Now when I jingle the keys and ask if he wants to go for a ride, he runs to the passenger side of the Subaru and waits for me.

He is a pretty good travel companion but he whines a LOT more than any other dog I've ever had. He also has to comment each time I use a turn signal. 

Charlie will be meeting my son and his wife's new pup, Twila and the cats. If nothing else, it will be a fun animal fest.

This little trip and weekend is such a great birthday gift from my son and his wife as hosts and my friends who are going to care for hubby in my absence.

To say I am thankful is an understatement.

Later...tators.

I'm unplugging for the weekend!

Toy time

 Here is Frank. He is leading his troopers. I don't know if Frank really knows where he is going...

Frank needs more riding lessons. He crashed the Speeder Bike.

How embarrassing!

Joan of Arch!

I really like this figure. A female knight!

Joan of Arch in Film Noir

Fred the Fly

Friends out checking the last of the ice in the creek as it melts off and enjoying the sunshine.

Last but not least...HO Scale people.

What is she doing in my coffee scoop?

Hopefully, this gives you a distraction and makes you laugh.

My Life in Legos

 Muck the pony stall...

Pick up manure!

Drive Safely!

Check fences...[I don't have a Lego 4 wheeler, this will have to do!]

Ride... [We do have a grey mule, so is this close???]

Explore... [There will be more of this going on as the Forest floor awakens with Spring Beauties and other wild flowers!!]

With the rains and warmer temperatures coming, I am looking forward to hunting wildflowers and morels!

Just Squatching

I have a fairly large to do list but I tossed it aside yesterday afternoon when the temperatures were so pleasant I could NOT be inside. The weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be a bit dull, dreary, and wet. I figured the to-do list could wait for indoor weather.

As Charlie and I got ready to go, hubby asked what I was going to do, where was I going?

I replied: I'm going Squatching.

I got that look and then dug into my pocket and showed him Squatch.

I pulled out the little card that came with Squatch and read it out loud to him again. He shook his head as he searched for an old Western on Tubi. 

Sometimes I carry things in my pockets when I take walks. It adds a bit of fun if an idea pops into my head while Charlie and I are hiking.

The woods are rather dull looking right now, so I like to look at moss and lichen that give off colors in the rather bland landscape.

I decided to walk along the banks of the creek and look for color.

I found a part of a hickory nut and stuck it in my pocket. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but an idea was forming.

The creek was back to its low flow and I saw a log stuck against a rock. And an idea hit me.

What if Squatch floated downstream on the log? Why would he be doing that? What is he searching for?

Maybe he is looking for a place to stay.

Caves are okay, but they can get cold in the winter time. Maybe it would be a nice cool spot in the summer when it is hot. After all a Squatch is pretty hairy.

If it rains, he might need a hat. A Hickory Shell fits just perfectly.

Hmmm, how about a Squatch Hut?  Sticks, grass, rocks and greens to lay on! Nice!

Very Cozy...

Squatching. 
I will leave it at that.