Staying home

Oddly enough, my New Year has been full of activity so far. Yesterday morning was so foggy one couldn't see beyond a 1/4 mile.

Pictured is my 'desk' where I do all the icky paperwork. Sorting, filing, bill planning, and more sorting. I set this spot up after Christmas so I didn't have to do it on the kitchen table. For my amusement, I purchased a 'Lava Lamp'. I loved the one we had as a kid and when I want to take a moment to stare at nothing and clear my head.

The lamp is there with its colors and blobs floating up and down.

I can daydream while watching the blobs of wax drift up, cool off and then drift back down in various shapes.

But the desk isn't for daydreaming [which I excel at]. 

The first order of business after chores with ice cleats was to get the previous day's mail on the ridge and get started on the 'homey' chores I'd ignored for the past few days.

Below was the surprise of bits of frost that the fog left on the plants on the ridge.

Unfortunately I had to go back and do those chores I dislike. 

Laundry, vacuuming, cleaning stuff. My House Cleaning Fairie has been rather lax in showing up so it seems I have to do it myself. I even washed windows! 

I set Pandora to Neil Diamond, Electric Light Orchestra, and Harry Chapin music and ripped up my chores.

The music really really got me into the groove. In fact I finished in record time and even started to work on the old Christmas chair to paint.

The sun came out. Charlie sat on the porch.

When I watched the news from MN a bit later, I was in shock at what happened. There are laws governing Lethal Force. Putting a gun to a woman's head who is unarmed and trying to flee is not covered under legal Lethal Force. The protocol is to take her license plate and arrest her for obstruction later.
Any officer who carries a weapon and goes through weapon training and qualification EACH year as I had done for 10 years knows this. It is drilled into our heads. 

That officer should be arrested by MN and charged under state laws which are unpardonable by the president. 

Federal Law regarding Lethal/Deadly Force:

From the Department of Justice: 

1. Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.
2. Firearms may not be discharged solely to disable moving vehicles. Specifically, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless: (1) a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle; or (2) the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury to the officer or others, and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle. Firearms may not be discharged from a moving vehicle except in exigent circumstances. In these situations, an officer must have an articulable reason for this use of deadly force.

Little Saturday Funny

A Sheriff's car  pulled into the yard while I was gardening .

He was looking for my neighbor. 

He spotted our little pony grazing on his tether and asked if he could pet him. 

Deputy Roy walked over to Lil Richard and started to rub him on the neck. I explained that he was about 28 years old and was our summer trimmer in places that were hard to get to.

Lil Richard enjoyed the petting and then reached out and started to lick and nibble at Deputy Roy's Glock. I started to laugh and pulled Mr. Pony's head to the side.

I commented that the paperwork would definitely suck if Deputy Roy had to explain how an old pony disarmed an officer.

We had quite the laugh over that as he proceeded to wipe pony slobber off his Glock.

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.

Enough with boredom stuff...a bit of Infrared

I've been struggling with Infrared photography. Perhaps struggling isn't the proper word for it.

I am experimenting and enjoying it. Now that the older Olympus is converted I can take that camera with me all day and take photos and swap to the hot mirror which makes it a regular camera.

Instead I've taken my two Olympus cameras in a shoulder bag and shot with regular light and IR light. The Oly cameras are super light and not cumbersome like my Nikon is.

I have left the prime 30mm lens on the newer Oly and had some fun with it while walking the creek and checking the forest fence.

The snake is a custom made tiny sculpture by an artists who made custom ornaments for me years ago of Morris. I just love the color and detail of this little coiled snake!

Some of my Infrared shots turned out. Most were a wash as the sun doesn't shine strong enough in the creek bottom.

I want the creek to be spectacular but it is so heavily shaded that the IR light spectrum does show nice bright foliage but not much else.

In the yard I took two shots of the trees that will be coming down in a bit. My favorite trees that have incredible smelling flowers in the beginning of each June.
I will miss them, but don't want them on top of the house.

Here is a shot I took from the neighbor's garden back looking at our place.
I took it in IR but added the pink arrows to the trees that are to be taken down.

Things will look a bit different after this job is done. Looks like I'll be piling wood for a while this fall!
However, not having these trees fall on buildings is a better idea than worrying every time we get a storm in the summer or an ice storm in the winter.

Two pines are not pictured here. They are up behind the house.

Mr. Morris scares the crap out of me

In the interest of not struggling through my 'point' trail with friends on a night hike, I set out yesterday with my machete and some trail tacks that are simply tacks with a reflective coating on their heads.

Mr. Morris was nagging me and it was about time for his new routine of the 3pm walk. I grabbed a leash and decided to see if he'd come along.
Indeed he did.
The cold air didn't seem to bother him a bit. He ran around the meadow, sniffing everything he could. I'd have to call and wave to him so he could catch up. He bounded past me and down an old mule trail avoiding the long grasses.

The meadow can be pretty even in its winter doldrums.

The Mr. Morris sure enjoyed it.

He hesitated when I dove into the woods on the old cow path that is mostly used by deer now. In places trees have come down and multi flora rose bushes have grown up.

Over the years the deer and I adjust to different obstacles to get up and down the steep hillside. Last winter the first time I used this 'trail' at night to bring along my hiking buddy, I got sidetracked. There wasn't enough snow to show a good trail and everything looked similar in the headlamp.

Where the trail went straight, it now zagged around a nasty deadfall.  So I marked the tree with a little tack and used the machete to clear the debris above my head. I normally just duck while going through, but I know that one of the hikers that will go with me later this month is much taller than I am.
Mr. Morris stopped and then backed away. I stopped what I was doing and explained to him what was going on.

He was not impressed, but he gave me a glance and walked past me. He eyed the machete.

I marked the next tree where the path made a 90 degree turn. I freshened the small marks I'd made a couple of years ago.
Morris either walked ahead or followed, stopping to smell things and be just like the normal Morris I've always known.

I stopped marking just above the creek. I could see the Mountain Dew can that hung on a branch further down. I wouldn't mark all the way down to there but set a reflective tack up on a stump so a headlamp would catch it from the Dew Can.

I dropped the box of tacks and bent down to pick them up. I realized that I didn't hear Morris's jingling tags.

I turned around.
He was gone.
I called.
Nothing.
I called louder and heard my voice echo off the valley walls.

Okay. Either Morris wandered off, or decided he'd had enough of hiking. We were actually pretty far from home and it was getting colder down near the creek.
Damn.
"MORRISSSSSS"
Yes, there was a bit of panic in my voice.
I should have leashed him.
Dang it.
I called and called.

Then I stopped. I looked down in the dusting of snow and found some tracks. They were his, but they went in circles and back and forth then off into the leaves on the forest floor.

I stood for a moment.  Did he go home? It would only get colder, so I turned and climbed quickly up the hillside trail. My clearing and marking sure made it much easier, plus my feet had disturbed the leaves and the light dusting of snow.

I got to the meadow. Tall grass. Morris doesn't like tall grass. He'd follow a trail. Those trails had a dusting of snow.
I searched and found his tracks heading towards home. At least I hoped they were. I lost them several times and found them again.

Then they were gone.
However I know that Morris has traveled this way for nearly 14 years and he seemed to know the way home better than I did!

Please Morris. Be home.
Be home so I can be angry with you for causing me this anxiety.

Because if you are not.
I had a headlamp with new batteries in it. I would search and call. I couldn't bear the thought of him being out in 'the wild' on his own. Not with all of the coyotes that hunted at night.
Coyotes. Little dog, nasty coyotes.

I hurried and then ran.

When I walked towards the house Mr. Morris was sitting in the sun behind Rich's truck. He finally noticed me and casually trotted up to me and then walked over to the porch, as if to say.
"My how I had to wait for you! You are so slow! Please let me in so you can feed me."

Did I ever say how punctual he has gotten lately for his feed times??

Morris. He wagged his tail as if our hike was just another successful journey

I was happy. He was happy.
The old dog does know his way home. But he won't be going with me on any hikes again soon.
We will be back to leashes and trails, not wild wood hikes.

Back home for a bit.

Life away from home can be very hectic.  I like going on a trip but love coming home much much more.

One of the very first things I did was to hike down to my favorite spot along the creek bottom to see what the recent heavy rains had done.  There was a nice dusting of snow so the greens stood out so vividly.

It was Christmas Day so I had to wear my red and white hat that my mom had made for me ... um, well, back in the day... I think I was in Jr. High?

I love that hat it is so cheerful.

So while at the creek I took a few moments of time to toss rocks and make splashes.

It was kind of fun.  I set my camera on a 2 second delay [on a tripod] and then tossed the rock when I thought the splash would show up.

I got a couple of good ones!

I hurried home after that, I had to get the Christmas Lasagna ready.  We were going to my mom in law's apartment for dinner.  I provided the lasagna, she was making homemade ice cream.

After we got home I went to take care of our neighbor's dog, Dexter.  He was spending the night alone while his 'family' went for a family Christmas.

I think I made a new buddy.

This morning we went for a walk and Dexter did some posing for me.
He is a very photogenic dog.

Don't you think so?

He is a pug-something.  He is also very lovable and well mannered.

I'd like to take him out for a few more 'shoots'.  Ideally, it would be nice to have him and Morris meet so we could all go hiking together [of course I'd love to take his human mom with!].

I mean really, look at that face.
Isn't it handsome?