End of July

What does the end of July bring? Well, lots of flowers are blooming all over my yard. 

The hummingbirds and humming bird moths are crazy busy sucking up that nectar.

I put morning glories in several places this year. I put one right outside the porch door and let it climb up a shepherd's hook. 

Most of the flowers in front of the west porch area were variations of blue this summer. Of course, the Morning Glories take the cake!

 

July usually gives us a rest from mowing with a dry spell. Not this year. Mowing has to be done every 5 to 6 days. Maybe that is why I feel so behind on things. Days of wet, days and days of rain. No dry spells for the farmers to make hay.

The sunflowers are blooming too along with my Brown Eyed Susans. This is the first time I've grown them and they are doing so well.

In fact, they have been home to some elusive Crab Spiders. 

They hide under the petals of the flowers and wait for a meal to drop by. They are ambush spiders that don't create webs to catch their prey. 

August will bring the Orb Spiders out in force in the Meadow just east of us. That will be incredible to see again this year [hopefully]. Thousands of Orb Spider webs sparkling in the morning dew.

Air Quality was a huge factor on and off for July. Well, for this summer. Wildfires in the States and Canada are obviously contributing to the horrid atmosphere. However, the mules are pleased to be wandering a clipped pasture. The blueish haze is smoke.

We got a trip in to Cabela's yesterday and drove through driving rain. Hubby looked at the fish in their giant fish tank and was not impressed since he couldn't have any to eat.

On the way home, Steve as always took the scenic way home which includes as many back roads as possible.

This was a shot I took of the ridges above Prairie du Chien as we headed home. Shooting out the back window of a moving car is pretty challenging.

That's smoke too.

Today is much worse as the sun looks brownish and the haze is thick and smells bad.

Fun fotos...

Just because...it is after Christmas and I have a bunch of fun fotos from the month of December.

Santa's Relief Driver????

My all time favorite
ornament!

...I collect horsey ornaments. This may be
the most photographed ornament I've ever had.
I've had it for over 30 years. 
It was a cheap plastic one I picked up in
some second hand store so 
many 
years ago!

A much newer addition to my collection...

My tiny Button jointed Teddy Bears I made

years ago. Still up to no good!

Even Dragons celebrate Christmas?

I can't help it.

I think Dragons are cool.
New addition to the dragons!
A Baby Lego Dragon!

And then there was Mini-me
and Charlie doing last 

minute errands in the Village...

Little Bear and his wooden friends gather on

Christmas Eve at the Chair.

[These are old toys gifted to me

over the years.]

My ever changing toy display next to

the Christmas Chair.
It is made up of Vintage Boxes 

and

an old nesting box for hens.

I really didn't want to take down my cheery fun 'display'. I've had so much fun with it this year. 

But eventually the party ends, right?

I took down the Christmas Chair, the North Pole, and the Christmas Village and traded out the Lego buildings for the Medieval Village. I wanted to take a break from Lego so...

...before the rains hit, I grabbed some of my of my action figures and headed out. 

Ailie and Rabbit came out to play. I added the snow in post.

Time for a change up...

Fog Magic

 The weather that just keeps on giving.

I feel like the past week has been full of beautiful surprises.  

A snowstorm, an ice storm, extreme cold, and now intense fog, which will be followed by rain. A lot of rain.

That means the dry runs will fill with water and run over the boulders into the valleys.

This guy/gal stopped by for an hour or so. I've been seeing Baldies this week. This one perched close to the house so I kept Charlie inside mostly because he is no bigger than a cat.

It looks like this Eagle had been doing some scavenging, his/her head feathers were pretty dirty.

The fog promised to hang around all day so I decided to go out and see the forest and perhaps I'd get lucky and see something interesting.

The fog was like a light mist. Enough to think about, but not enough to avoid. The water droplets on tree branches at the edge of the forest were beautiful.

I found these tiny fruits on a sapling scrub apple tree.

And then I stood still and listened. I heard birds, but couldn't really tell where they were. Once I spotted them I was so pleased. I didn't have my good zoom lens on so I walked a bit closer and stood still.

They were feasting on Honeysuckle berries. I used arrows for them because they are so hard to see. There were more of them, but I couldn't get them all in frame.

I did manage to get just a tiny bit closer without scaring them off. Finally, one little bird! And I don't know if anyone can see it, but he has a berry in his mouth.

I don't know what it is about fog that makes me smile. Maybe it is the hush it seems to bring over the forest or perhaps it is because no one likes to go out in it because it is dull and yucky looking.

I don't thing it truly is. Fog is one of Nature's Ways of creating Art. 

Maybe we just have to be able to see it to appreciate it.

Birdy Birdy...Migration and not...

 I have a phone app that sent me a message over the weekend telling me that the BIG Migration was on! I was so excited, I told hubby that on Sunday morning I'd drive the Reserve and watch birds and photograph them!

He pointed out the window at a bunch of little birds that were flitting about our south yard.

They were so many of them! Yellow Rumped Warblers! 

I thought: "Great, I'll see so many birds it will be crazy!"

Sunday morning I'd intended to be at the Reserve by dawn. However the fog was so intense in the morning I decided to wait until about 9am. Even then, the fog in the valley was very thick in many places.

What surprised me most was not the fog but the drivers who didn't have their lights turned on.

I pulled over on a wide shoulder to take this shot not far from the Kickapoo River. The sun was trying to shine through but the fog was so thick it cast everything into a murky scene.

When I got to the Reserve, and parked it was sunny out and warming up fast.

I chose a trail that goes along the river in the woods to get down to the ponds. This is a shot looking to the east through the trees. 

I only had my 100-400m lens with me which limited me to a narrower view of the mix of sunbeams, and fog. But it was still there, just very faint.

Further down the trail I got a wider angle with my cellphone looking down on the river...with the sun and fog combined.

The trail goes down a steep embankment that the Reserve made into a sort of stairway with logs and I shot this through the branches and trees towards the river. 

Not a fabulous photo, but it does define how the fog hangs over the water. You can see a faint outline of the far side of the valley through the fog.

This is a spot that I often get a glimpse of a Kingfisher bird in the spring. No such luck this day!

I took another secondary trail that comes up on one of the more popular ponds for waterfowl. Guess what I found? 
One solitary Mallard.

One Canada Goose flew over and kept going.

Before I left home I'd checked the DNR site to see what was migrating through our area. The Yellow Warbler [check!], Wood Ducks, Swans, Pelicans, and Geese.

Cellphone shot of the pond.... empty.

Bummer. Last year I did get to see quite a variety of ducks along with Sandhill Cranes in this same area. 

Mental note. 
The best spots to see waterfowl are along the Mississippi River which is 40 miles west of me and the Wisconsin River which in an hour east of me. So close and yet so far!

I was bummed. I mean really bummed out. 

So I decided to see what I could find just walking along the paths and making a loop back to the parking area.

Yellow wet leaves.

Spider Webs! The one in the tree was a surprise for me. You might have to click on the photo to actually see it.

And.... while coming back up the Harrison Trail I heard a rather loud ruckus in the brush. It sounded like a deer. So I waited and waited and then...

this red squirrel popped out with a mouthful of nuts. I grabbed a shot and then ... he/she was gone being chased by another red squirrel.

So my Bird Migration plans were pretty much a huge flop. When I got home I was greeted by more Yellow Warblers. This one on the porch...seeming to say...

"Howdy! Why'd you go looking for birds when I was right here posing for you?"

Well. So much for that. But it was still a great morning.

The color yellow

I thought that I'd go with another color. I picked a really difficult one.

Yellow.

This is one of the pumpkins that grew as a volunteer plant in the pasture. It isn't truly yellow, but it is yellow and orange. Maybe orange can be the next color I target.

I chose to go out very early in the morning and look for yellows. This was a very hard task. 
Below is a macro of a yellow cosmos. These cosmos are both bright yellow and tinted orange.

I took a shot of the seeds below. They are so easy to collect and then simply reseed anywhere. 

For years, I wasn't a fan of any yellow flowers. I avoided orange and yellow flowers in my garden but the colors have really grown on me. Next year, I think I'll be adding many more yellows. I'm eyeing marigolds. 

Below is a pumpkin flower.

This one decided to grow in and among my Nasturtiums. So far, this plant has provided us with 3 small white pumpkins. [I gave out as many extras as I could to the little neighbor kids for their fun]

Finding the color yellow got harder as I left the porch and garden areas. I went out to the meadow to see if I could find some Golden Rod.

Most of the Golden Rod was too faded to provide a colorful photo.

But...

The Orb Weavers were Back!

This one was wrapping up her breakfast which was a grasshopper she had captured. When I shifted my position to 'get' a better and closer shot, she left her breakfast and sat still on her web. She didn't drop off the web like others, but waited patiently for me to leave.

The second shot is the first one I took of her, it is a close up of her wrapping up her meal. Does the yellow and orange colors on her count as Yellow?

I don't really love spiders. I do appreciate the work they do. They are absolutely fascinating to watch. When I worked in Security, I recall the nights I spent in the guardhouse watching an Orb Weaver create the most beautiful web. She showed up each night for weeks. 

We called her Charlotte.

The fog and mist were lifting as I headed back towards the house. I saw the box elder showing off some yellow and headed out towards it. The box elders really put out the seeds this year!

I checked the old oak tree and found just one or two leaves that had color. They usually don't change first so I was surprised. The branches must be damaged in some way to produce dying leaves right now.

Sunday promised another HOT day and it produced it. By late afternoon, it was 90 in the shade and even hotter on our porch which gets full sun through the fall and winter.

This last shot was up through the old oak, I was going for a sun star flare and got one.

The yellows were hard! I need to walk up into my neighbor's woods where he girded some maples which are showing off some great colors right now. This week is going to be a hot one. 

Stay cool.

It can be a solo sport....

I watched the weather and saw that it wasn't supposed to rain Saturday morning. I was excited about that and mentioned at the gym that I was planned to go on a sunrise hike. Another lady said she wanted to go. She knew where to park and when I said...."Um, Okay. I will be there around 5AM."

She blinked and said, "Great! Sounds perfect!"

She lives 15 minutes from that parking spot. I live 30-40 minutes from there...it depends on how fast I can drive on a twisted highway with jumping and running hordes of deer. 

Friday evening I got a text: Sorry, but I need to rest up in the morning.

I wasn't surprised, a gaggle of gym folks were meeting at another coach's house for a campfire, singing, and some fireworks.

I texted back: No problem.

Because, really, it wasn't. I'm often surprised if anyone wants to meet me and go hiking. I'm generally a bit skeptical. Mainly because I am perceived as a hard core hiker. But I am not. I hike to anyone else's ability because it is fun to have company.

Except when it isn't.

When I am going solo, I can hike hard and fast as if I were in a race with myself. I know I do. One can't cover the miles going slow and get back home in time to make lunch for hubby. The things that slow me down considerably are amazing views and cool things I see. I always stop for that.

---

I had packed up my camera and backpack the night before so all I had to do in the morning was grab a cuppa decafe and head out.

The fog was intense so my drive took longer.

On the trip there, I counted deer just for fun. Too many.

From the parking spot to the top of the bluff is an elevation of nearly 300 feet. Over the years this has been considered a tough hike. I've taken a few folks here and I have to admit, it is a tough one.

However.
This time it didn't feel hard or even difficult. Charlie knows the way so he led.

I took the next 2 shots with my cell phone which has Nightsite. It was predawn and light enough that I didn't need my headlamp. Even most of the forest was fogged in.

When we reached the trail on the top, Charlie trotted out to the end of the bluff. He knew where we were going and I didn't even have to say anything to him. He is a good hiker.

The view is stunning even if when it is obscured by heavy fog. It literally takes your breath away [that is, if you weren't breathing hard from the climb itself].

And the first views of the sun were glorious. In the shot below you can see the shadow of the bluff I'm on in the fog.
I've never witnessed that before.

Charlie and I sat on the rock for a while and listened to the sounds of a Hoot Owl along with Sandhill Cranes somewhere down in the valley.

I settled down and watched the sunlight reflect off the fog. The fog moved slowly as if it had its own intentions.

I felt an inner peace that is hard to describe. I was only there in the moment. Breathing, watching, and listening. That was the only important thing on my mind.

I didn't want to be anywhere else.

Solo worked for me on this day.

Sometimes the smallest things can take up the most room in your heart.
~Winnie the Pooh