Gone Shopping

Well, the whole idea of picking up some goofy stuff was to entertain ourselves by dressing up oddly and enjoying some time on the porch.
The last shot is my pal Daryl moving around in a 5 second exposure. I had hit the remote and told Amanda to hold still. Everyone else got blurred.
Not a perfect shot at all, but all of them still fun.

I got the leopard print shirt at the Thrift Store for .75 cents. The hat was a thrift store find from a year ago. The Teddy Bear? I think I paid .50 cents for it. One of the girls was wearing an old evening gown of mine from the 1990's.
Remember the Bumblebee Transformer Mask in the last post? Daryl is wearing that. We found it all hilarious and good fun.
Who the heck needs cable?

The rifle in the corner is a .BB gun.

I dug out some odd chairs that Rich had picked up years ago at an auction. We took those to the creek and set the beach chair at the edge of the creek. My Thrift Store teddy bears [and rabbit] looked great sitting on the 'beach'.

One of the kids put the kid's blue chair right in the middle of the creek and set a Baby Doll on it.

Saturday was another Thrift Store experience. I guess it could actually be called an Indoor Flea Market. I purchased a set of mini chickens. A Hen and Rooster.
The store is in Westby and it used to be an old Tobacco Warehouse.

On our way back through Viroqua, we stopped at Driftless Books and Music.

This was probably our best stop of the whole week. Books, books, and books. Oh yes, lots of music also.

I spent $11 dollars and bought two mysteries, a philosophical book and a book on backpacking.

I think finding odd stores and thrift stores are fun. I know I'll go back for some more books soon. 

There is no Bad Weather, Only Bad Clothing...

Norwegian Saying....
"Det finnes ikke darlig vaer, bare darlige klaer."

It says "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."

It is also meant to be said by me with a smile on my face. I will hike in rain, sleet, snow and an occasional ice storm. I dislike hot and humid sticky days. But I do love the outdoors and winter often offers some incredible scenery.

This was two weeks ago on a mild day. The temps were below freezing but still it wasn't bone chillin' cold.

The Kenosha Gang and I bundled up and went back this weekend.

The river had mostly frozen over. Coyotes had tracked along the edges, but the ice was not thick enough to cross over.

There is something to be said about dressing for the weather. Cold wicked weather can become enjoyable.

What can I say? We found our hike out of the wind and along the Kickapoo River in the valley rather decent. Sure, if you sat still and didn't do anything, you ... would get cold.
We of course packed all sorts of emergency supplies and planned our outing so that we'd never be more than a 15 minute rapid walk back to the vehicle.
The actual air temperature was somewhere between -2 to 1 degree F.

Photo Credit: Daryl Clausen ~~ This is a photo of me pulling my mask down to get some 'fresher' air.

New Years Eve morning we decided to head down to on of our favorite places to see the sunrise.
It is along what the locals call Blackbottom Creek.

The median air temperature for the area was supposed to be -5 degree F, however ... it felt much colder.

I took some photos but should have brought my mitten/gloves instead of just gloves. Pulling my gloves off was not a good idea.
However my friend Daryl had worn his waterproof Mudruckers and stood in the stream.
Nope.
I am not quite that crazy. My hands were cold so I got a few photos and then proceeded to walk around to warm up.
The geese.

The tree and the stream.

That afternoon we took a short jaunt along Awesome Creek.

Even the cold creek bottom provided entertainment and laughter.

And a good time was had.
Had no one dressed properly for the weather, it would have been a very unpleasant experience.

I have to chuckle. Today it got up above zero. I felt like spring had arrived!