And so this....

Take a good look at this mess. It may well be a memory by this weekend. 

I got a text from Patrick on Monday saying the Dumpster will be delivered on Wednesday. I was momentarily confused as he'd planned the work for much later. He had the time and is getting right with the program. 

Color me very very impressed.

The engine hoist stays, that is how I lift the mower and clean it out. It may be placed in a less conspicuous place.

September 2026

March 2026

Most of the 'stuff' that was piled around the garage has been cleaned up, but there is stuff in the weeds that I can't get to and don't want. Hopefully those small things will get cleaned up also. I am not allowing the scrappers back to search in this building, it is a hazard at this point.

June 2012

The deconstruction and this week's work will keep me from getting out to another Fungi search at least until Sunday. 

Stay tuned! I may set up my trail cam to take a time lapse of the de-construction.

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My Grand daughter will be spending Saturday with me and she is not a forest person at all.

Looks like a busy week for me and no fun fungi marches!

However, I can add to what I did find last Sunday.

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Below is a photo of the end of the bluff where the trail dead ends looking over the Kickapoo River.

Below are some very odd looking mushrooms!

Elfin Saddle or White Saddle and Scientific name:

Helvella Crispa

I almost passed these up because they had such bizarre shapes. I thought perhaps they had been stepped on and deformed. However, saw too many of them to be that.

These beauties below...well maybe not beautiful to

the casual observer...

Amanita Panther 

Poisonous!

I couldn't help but think of Ailie who is an action figure I have. She would chop one of these down and dry it. If you got on her bad side I imagine she'd slip some Amanita Powder in your drink. Be nice. 😋

 I didn't know what this might be until I got out my reference books.

The common name for this beauty is a Cauliflower Mushroom.

I think it could be called a Sparassis americana or spathulata. This is the first time I've found one and spent quite a bit checking it out.

I found so many of these growing, tiny little Boletes beginning to come up all over.

That is the end of my fungi/mushroom tour on the Wintergreen Trail. I can't wait for another trip out along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River.

Busy days ahead.

Good morning Friday...oh and Saturday too.

I'm giving up on the weed fight. The neighbor's on the other side of the fence don't cut the huge meadow [we used to cut it a long time ago for them and we pastured our mares on it].

The invasive species that keeps drifting onto our land is maddening. This particular area, I would love to have as a 'yard' or picnic area. Right now the mules keep the grasses down and this spring I twice weed whacked the invasive plants. It is too hot to go after them right now with the dew point and temps being the same...along with 80-90% humidity. 

It is like breathing through a wet washcloth pressed to your face.

I may have it professionally brush hogged next year a couple of times and eventually try to reseed this area into a yard. 

Ok. 
I can dream, right?

That swing is one I made last year and I still use it. 

In the afternoon I went out to assess the storm damage from the last few days. One huge old oak came down in one of the sections of the forest without damaging anything. 

I found the mules in the darkest part of the forest where it felt much cooler than anywhere else. It was tolerable.

Some of the downed logs from many years ago were sprouting slime molds and beautiful coral fungi.

I went further into another section that is above the creek and found the 'ridge trail' completely blocked by an old cherry tree that came down. The tree took several smaller trees with it.

Come this fall when the weather is more conducive to working outdoors, I'll take my saw and just make a re-route around the fallen tree through the brambles. I'm not going to pay someone to come back out with a bulldozer and redo the ridge road. I'll let the next folks who own this place do what they wish. 

I can get by with deer trails for my adventures.

The moth below is called a Blessing Moth [common name]. They are pretty beautiful and I don't see them very often.

Our friend Jason, the Geologist is coming for a weekend visit. Both Rich and I are really looking forward to it. Jason can cook a fantastic meatless meal and his company is always interesting.

We had a busy busy Friday but things look quieter for the weekend. Jason is not one we have to entertain. We can just hang out and enjoy.

Have a nice quiet weekend.

Stay At Home is not new to me

When we were kids, mom packed us up in the car a few days after school let out and we made a long drive 'Up North' to spend the summer in a small cottage on the same property as my Grandparents, Fred and Pearl.

From our cottage you could not see any other house other than Grandma and Grandpa's place. My Uncle and wife...and kids for a time lived on Grandpa's old place. We could walk there to play with cousins.

At first, my Grandparents had a party line for their phone. It was a few years later that you could actually dial direct. I recall sitting in the their kitchen and Grandpa getting on the party line to catch up on the gossip going around.

It was the Facebook of the early 60's!

Grandma cooked on a woodstove. We had an electric stove in our cottage.
Grandpa had a tiny TV that was black and white...I think. At first I thought summer programming only consisted of baseball games.

I can recall my sister and I playing crazy eights and keeping a score for the whole summer. We used the back of old envelopes as to never waste a piece of paper.

A game we played

...higher

and 

higher.

I'm the one leaping over the stick.

We created games to play and rarely told anyone 'there is nothing to do!' No TV, no real radio, no electronics. Just a lot of imagination and self entertaining.

So now we are are in what some people are calling a 'lockdown'. Well, it is a stay at home order. Or as our Governor says #SaferatHome. He softened the words.

We can go to local state and county parks, walk our dogs or other pets. Playgrounds are closed.
It hasn't affected me that much. Last week I was stressed out as I'd gotten into a routine going to CrossFit each day.

This week? My mind has turned to tasks at hand. Fencing, clearing burdock plants, worming the equine, figuring out how to trim feet on my own. Clearing the garden of weeds, fixing a flat tire on the lawn mower....

And I am doing it. I have buckled down and redone the front pasture just as I thought it should be done. And it works better than ever before...but just don't tell Rich!
I actually sat down and drew it all out on paper first. I spent a whole afternoon working on it. When done, I kept the drawings and stuck them in my journal. My drawings suck, but they are reminders of how I am learning to help myself get through a problem by working it out visually on paper instead.

We had a funny conversation the other morning.

Him: Can you shoot squirrel?
Me: Of course I can.
Him: Times get tough, you'll need to get us squirrel.
Me: Okay but I'm not sure how to clean it.
Him: I'll talk you through it.
...He winks.

I have eaten squirrel. I've even had mystery meat in a burger that Grandma cooked on a 'Smokey Joe' that my mom had brought for grilling while we were there for the summer.

I'm settled into a good routine now and don't miss the outside world that much ... like I did last week.
I have jobs to do.


And oh...so much more. The shed is waiting its next organizing effort too.

I did find skunk cabbage today on our walk.

Sitting and twiddlin'

The Tow Truck guy said he'd try and get here in the morning. So I am waiting.

Chores are done. Critters fed and moved around. Water checked.
Rich is still sleeping so I can't do much in the way of house work. I'm missing CrossFit to wait so I am fidgety.

Since it is chilly out and things are quiet, I thought I'd open up a tutorial on Paint Essentials. It is a program that allows you to mimic painting, except of course you use software.

About this time of year, most things around here are not so photogenic. I mean brown leaves, dreary skies, and dirt are not exactly exciting.

I grabbed some photos I'd taken in October and opened up the program and began to fiddle around first.

First snow fall on Tigen Road with an auto paint of impressionistic painting layered with detail painting.

Monarch on a Zinnia with a 'gel' layer and a bright painted detail painting.

Then I tried a pencil 'painting'.

Meh. Not too great, but then I decided to go follow a tutorial.

Why not? I'm never too old to learn something. And who knows, I might like it.

So I went to here: Getting Started with Auto Painting
and followed along as the lady did a painting....

This shot below is similar to the original that I 'painted' in layers.

It is pretty artsy fartsy. Enough to keep me engaged to try some more fun things and watch tutorials while I have to be quiet and  wait for the tow truck man.

And while I am still waiting, I did another one.

Because I cannot leave well enough alone I decided to add a layer of writing and then take my finger and smear paint around.

All in all, it was quite fun.

Since the Tow Truck Man hasn't come yet -- I certainly hope he comes before the snowfall tomorrow -- so on to cleaning the coffee pot and working on a DIY project that I'll share for the November doldrums.

Oh and laundry folding. How exciting is that?

Toodles...
Cool project stuff coming up.

Oh and for sure more cleaning in the large shed later this week.

Phone calls and walks

The Ghost Plant or Indian Pipes are coming up! I love these things!

The shot below is 4 days later:

After leaving an early morning message with the Tree Trimming Service, a message with a neighbor, and calls to the VA, emails to one doctor, and re-scheduling appointments...and a run to town for groceries...

I decided to take out the dynamic duo.

I really don't like to wait around for return phone calls. However, I was smart enough to leave my cell phone number as an alternative to the house phone. I wonder? How many folks still use land lines? We decided to keep ours basically for 911 calls. I don't have to describe where I live, the dispatcher knows immediately because I am calling from a land line.

Anyway...

Sven deferred to Charlie, following him all over. He took turns between coming for a neck rub down and petting to trotting after Charlie. Sven is a great hiker and because he was bottle raised he is very attached to humans. The two of them are great friends and practice grooming each other. Sven will nibble around Charlie's shoulders and Charlie will lick Sven.

Below, Fleabane flower with a crab spider.

It was just one of those hikes where I walked the trail and basically followed the dynamic duo allowing them to pick the way.

I was trying out my converted IR camera and the 550nm filter. The filter works better with sunlight, foliage, water, and sky as elements in it, but I had to test it out in the woods of course. And why not?

The spectrum of colors comes out incredibly different than what a person could imagine.

Well this was not much of a shot...
But it turned out better in black and white...

and the Indian Pipes didn't reflect anything as they don't have chlorophyll in them so black and white was the way to go. They would have appeared blue otherwise.

After Rich's PT and the Nursing Home visit today, I think I have some free time.
I think I will head out on the bicycle and see what I can come up with.

The yard work is done and I have a lot of other small odd jobs that need doing, but for a most of them I need some help from the neighbor to get started.

I'm going to take the metal tracks of the skid steer and send it in for maintenance. I won't put the tracks back on as I don't anticipate driving through the soupy quagmire that Rich used to. But it may be handy to move some dirt for me!

Have a great day.

Photography has rules and then we break them.

This photo was shown under 'Winter Scene'. I had other choices but settled on this one.
I have a habit of photographing smaller winter scenes than most other folks. This is the water falls at Skillet Creek in Parfrey's Glen before they went in and removed the sticks and branches to 'make it prettier'. I like those sticks, without them the mini ice formations wouldn't have occurred.

This did win a first. I wasn't there to hear the judge's rules. However I can see the focus on the right is sharp, and it follows the rule of thirds. The falling water may add interest. And it looks cold.
This also earned a Merit Award. I think that means something like the judge liked it above some other categories.

I don't mean to sound naughty, but I have to agree with one of the other photographers.
Rules are meant to be broken.

Centered, busy, full of patterns and different lights. The judge wanted the majority of the light in the bowl. But I couldn't change the sun. I know, excuses. However I liked it and it felt good.
And it did place.
In my opinion now...the photo is too busy and your eye doesn't settle on anything, nor does it follow the 'rule of thirds'.

I really should have gone with a simpler Still Life, but we all make choices and next year the judge will be different and have different a different opinion.

This wasn't even considered, but I know why. It is really a silhouette photo that tells a story...for me at least. However, I did look up the fair book definition and well, it had no description for this category. I'm okay with this too, as I had other shots that I thought would fit, but took this one anyway.

Sunday morning I took a shot that would have qualified for that category:

The shot is framed by branches, you can see lines of fog, lines of hay, and there is the sun coming up on the left.

This one? Probably the highlights were too bright for her. And not all the fungi were in sharp focus. With a no edit rule, I didn't use the stacked edition of this with the highlights toned down. [The photo is too busy and nothing here follows the rule of thirds either.]

Live and learn.

This one she liked a lot. However only a line of mushrooms are in focus. For me it gives the shot depth.
She wanted everything in focus. Again I could have done it with focus stacking and editing.

With all that said, I am happy that I tried this. I was nervous about 'showing' my work.

I asked the Superintendent if I could help her when it came time to take photos down and hand them out. She looked so surprised.
Let's say my first impression of her was not favorable. She had been a bit curt regarding a few things.
I decided to try a different tactic. Be nice and be friendly.

I was asked to join a camera/photography club. And I think I will go. After all, it will be nice to have a reason to go somewhere and discuss things I like.
And I can continue to learn.

I spoke with the Assistant Super and she told me about the club and she told me that I could learn all about my camera. [Insert a grin here....]
The other Super told me that categories were going to change for next year some things will be added and some things will be dropped.

Good, perhaps I can break some rules!

Have a great day! Looks like we are going to get a 'pile' of rain!

I'll be checking on Percy and Chance this afternoon!

While I await

The next adventure of toys, or the next adventure with an grand child...I'll just drop a few photos in for you to enjoy before I get started for the day and headed to work.

Drive to work

4 O'Clocks

Sunrise on the ridge

Spidey Web with Dew

Sunrise and crop patterns

Cosmos

And...

Golden Rod in B&W

Off to prep tomatoes for freezing, chores, laundry, and getting ready for a visit from Grandson Dennis.

No we didn't

...skip Thanksgiving.

We just had a quiet early dinner with my mother in law, some nice home made pie, dressing, corn, and chicken.

It was delicious and we sat around with no TV going and enjoyed each other's company and just visited.

The rain kept coming down outside.  This morning the weather service said we'd had over an inch of rain in our area.

Well that makes things quite muddy.
So this morning we slept in and got up when we felt like it.

I have a couple of things I should pick up in town and an errand for my mother in law.  After we finish chores hubby will probably go hunting while I take care of errands and then make deliveries.

When I get back from that I'm going to do some extremely exciting things.
Like clean the house and drag out some decorations.

I've already created my Christmas cards on line and they will be ready for pick up next week.

I've already ordered one Christmas gift and am pondering what to get for the others.  

I'm not a black Friday shopper and I don't get into all of the crowds and crazy shopping.

~~~~
I got some things dragged out and some cleaning done.  But man am I worn out.