Body shops and caves

 

So I finally got a carwash and took my car in to see if they could buff out the scratches on the right rear side where that lady hit me two weeks ago. The damage was more than I thought it was, however, it is cosmetic. That said, I'm pretty particular about my 10 week old car.

Talk about sticker shock. Think of your modern cars as Lego cars. If a part gets damaged, they have to take the bumper covers off and repaint it. They can't buff those parts out, they are not metal. 

Okay. That was enough bad news for Monday morning. So instead of doing my paperwork, I took a drive while the body shop worked up an estimate.

I ended up at Wildcat Mountain State Park to visit the very large Ice Cave. It is a short walk and is very popular on the winter weekends so I figured Monday was a good day to go.

It was amazing as usual. Below is a tree root that got ripped off one of the rock bluffs with the last big rain and washed into the picnic area. I didn't have anyone to stand in front of it for size.

Evidence of family fun in the picnic area:

The trail was straight forward and very level. I'd say it is only a quarter mile long to the rock shelter, but once there your jaw drops.

The scale doesn't look that imposing. So I set up my bendy tripod and did a selfie. 

I'm still not next to the rock wall which drops about 6 feet down behind me. But I did walk around the ice curtain and take shots. The piles are where the ice melts and drops and then forms again.

Below.
10 years ago with my stepdaughter in blue and grand daughter in the middle. Me in the skunk hat. By March, the ice curtain is massive if there is a good winter of thaw and freeze.

This is why I find winter so amazing and exciting here where I live and why I learned to dress for the weather and enjoy winter hiking more than summer hiking.

The water comes off the rocks and eventually runs along the rock wall and into a small creek which empties into Billings Creek.

The colors were beautiful.

To get around all of the ice, cleats are recommended.

I left there and took another drive to see Warner Creek. I walked around the rock bluffs and explored some of the rock formations that are so unique.

Charlie wasn't really with me, but I had his Mini in my pocket so I could take a shot at the unusual rock structure.

I am never short of amazed at these rocks. The details almost look hand carved and are so tiny that if you don't look close you'd miss it.

When I got home from my drive and exploring, I felt calm and collected. I was able to sort paperwork and text the lady that hit me.

To my utter surprise, when I sent her the estimate she replied that she would contact the body shop and pay for it.

This indeed has been a very auspicious beginning to 2026.

Meanwhile in The Christmas Village

I survived the 9 hours of Jury Selection! 100 people were summoned, 80 showed. 14 were finally picked after a long day.

I am not discussing the case as it was disturbing. 

I know there is evil in this world and one does not even have to watch the nightly news to discover it. 

Instead I am going to turn to my Christmas Village tonight....

I put up my Christmas Lego Village and came up with a fun idea. I'm trying to take a photo a day of the Mini-me and Mini-Charlie walking about the village and taking photos of things going on.

The story is that the Mayor of the Village hired Mini-me to take photos of the Village for his Tourism Brochure that he wants published next year.

Whoops! I wonder if the Mayor will be happy with this one! [UM, that IS the Mayor in the outhouse!]

And of course the Village offers a groomed cross country skiing trail complete with very friendly polar bears.

The elves let me in on their secret of how they get SO much work done in such a short time. Why not have a Merry Alien to help decorate tall trees and move large packages!

I bet you thought it was all magical!

There is a skating rink in the Village that they are thinking of expanding for next year!
Um I wonder if the snowperson was afraid Charlie would leave him with some yellow snow!

Mini-me and Charlie went to observe the local band playing and singing Christmas Carols in the town square.

[Do you see who showed up to the Caroling???]

You know. Life as a Mini-me is so much simpler and joyful. 

This and... that...

A little bit of fun ...

with the Title borrowed from Sandra's blog. After all, it was a This and That sort of day.

I took my Mini-me and Mini-Charlie along with me on our hike on Thursday. I thought it would be fun to show us looking for Fall colors.

Well, Charlie loves to investigate what I am doing. This time he photo-bombed the shot. I didn't mind, he was just checking things out.

I finally did get the shot.

In between cleaning the pasture and other mundane chores, I stopped to do a Halloween photo with my creepy doll head and a Lego Pizza Zombie.

After all, I have to stop once in a while and have a bit of creative fun.

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market. It was the last one for the season. I'll have to wait for May now to get all the goodies I used to get.

I got to see Ruth, she is a Mennonite who has a bake shop in a town about an hour away. Rich used to send me each week for some of her cinnamon rolls and pie. He loved his pie. Her pies are not super sweet but are absolutely delicious. Last year I purchased enough of her fruit pies to get us through the winter so Rich could have his pie!

Ruth was so happy to see me and asked how I was and how Rich was. I hadn't been to the Market most of this year.

I told her that Rich was gone. She stopped packing up the Apple Pie I was going to purchase ... she came around her table with tears in her eyes.

I got one of the longest hugs in the world.

Her hug was real. By that I mean it was long and it felt more than a pat on the back. There was true emotion and feeling behind it. She has never met my husband, but knew what he loved from her bakery. It was all I could do not to start sobbing when she did that.

I pulled out my wallet to pay when she finished putting the pie in a bag. She waved my money away and said it was a gift. She understands loss as one of her sons passed away last summer. She sighed and handed me the pie. I will treasure each bite.

Another vendor is a woman I used to work with as a Security Officer. We've known each other for many years. I purchased some of her wild looking gourds. We've had a booming year for squash, gourds, pumpkins, and anything from that veggie family. She bagged my gourds and then proceeded to add some more to my bag with a wink.

Things that are different now that I no longer feed the Meat and Potato man. My supper consisted of fresh squash along with beautiful yellow cauliflower, red onion, pea pods, kale, little turnips, and other veggies tossed in. I just have a taste for all the vegetables these days. Toss the veggies in a pan and sauté everything then put it over something else. Tomorrow I'll add some bacon to the mix to get my protein. 

The rest of my day included picking up logs and piling them to burn along with cleaning up more garden debris. 

The mules sorted through the garden debris and ate what they wanted from it. They are my garden recyclers.

Tomorrow looks like a nicer day than today. Charlie says he wants to go hiking. I guess we will take care of that. 

Here are a couple pictures of the really cute and gnarly gourds.

They are so pretty and interesting.

Tomorrow morning I may try and take a few shots of them lit up with candle light.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some of the ornaments Ariel and I did last weekend. I finally got some acrylic glossy spray for them and ... Viola!

They are so pretty!

 

Making the most

...out of 4 hours off.

Finally. The weather has broken into something I can live with!

And... I didn't have to run errands when Respite Tammy came on Tuesday!

Instead, I decided to run away from home (figuratively). I wanted to run. You know, really run. 

I decided to take Charlie along. Did you know this little dog can boogie?

When I started down the trail, Charlie was game. He wanted to set the pace. Off we went onto Little Canada trail. A runner passed us going the other way and grinned at us. She was in her cutest running clothes. I was in my cargo pants and T-shirt with my running vest on and a long sleeve shirt tied to my waist.

I certainly did not look anything like an athlete. But watch out for old ladies in disguise.

I let Charlie set the pace and it was impressive for such a short legged dog. Our first mile was around 9 minutes. We did a walk/jog/run thing.

Sometimes I'd tear ahead of him grinning like an idiot and jumping over rocks and roots. Then I'd stop and wait for my buddy. 

Our first 3 miles went pretty quickly. Then we started to just hike with intermittent bursts of joyful speed. 

It was like dancing in a way. We had the woods and trail to ourselves.

I only took my smartphone and supplies in running vest. Charlie wore his beeper collar to prevent him from running off into the woods after a chipmunk. 

I didn't take photos of all the damage done to the trees from that last horrible wind and rain storm. Places along the trail were littered with tops of trees, roots, branches, and areas where a crew had to work for a long time to recover the trail.

Thank you KVR crews, you are as always, awesome.

By mile 3 we slowed down quite a bit. My purpose in covering the first half or so quickly, was so that Charlie and I could look around on our way back through the loop. 

I have 4 hrs. 

There is a 25-30 minute travel time there and back. 

The trail when hiked slowly to look for things can take at least 3 hours. More, if there are a lot of cool things to look at. I had to time things out. Run or hike quickly --- and explore when I saw something.

Of course I brought mini me and mini Charlie.

Since I don't do selfies on the trail, we did mini shots.

Since most of this summer has been too hot for Charlie to get out and hike with me [and I have had very limited time to hike], he got tired. I tied my sleeves of my shirt in a knot and made a sling over my neck for Charlie to rest in. It is easier to carry him that way.

I may look into designing a sling for him out of some long scarves I have.

Charlie is often a good reminder not to be in a rush all of the time.

When we got home, he was tired.

We did it!

So he got some time to chill out in his favorite place.... our little hammock.

Good day...

and Happy International Dog Day on August 26th!

Hiking for colors and distance...

Surprise ... 

Surprise...

I finally feel like I got my physical mojo back.

I don't want to brag, but heck, I'm going to anyway. 

I went back to my map my hike and also tallied up the miles I've hiked since June when I got a pretty plain smart Garmin watch.

Miles hiked this year? 698! I have not been tracking it each day or month. In fact, I figured with all the heat and humidity and BUGS we had this year, that my hiking would be pretty lame. I had two weeks that I did not walk or hike at all when I was sick.

So what am I doing with that Mojo? 

I'm moving again. If I can't go to the Reserve and hike, Charlie and I head out to the wilds next door. 600 acres of wild woods with old cattle trails that are now faint deer trails. If I can't find a trail, I wait and let the Trail Master find the easiest path.

We cross ravines, dry washes, and hike up and down steep hills.

OH Come ON Ma!

The fall colors are not always so prevelant inside the deep woods as many of the trees are fairly drab. Portions of the woods have been heavily logged for the really good trees. What is left in the understory are some pretty junk trees along with invasive barberry brush. 

Hint: If you walk here with me, wear heavy long pants so the barberry doesn't poke you so hard!

Photo of one of our hiking areas through barberry 'prickles'.
Charlie can find the deer path through this.

Hunting fall colors can be frustrating when you walk through a thick forest. Since we live in an area of steep hills and valleys...

Wonderful landscape views are rare here unless you can get on top of a bluff or you can stay on top of a ridge.

That has probably influenced my photography quite a bit.

It also means that I hike and hike miles to find a pretty shot or perhaps something very tiny to see. 

So what is the point of keeping track of how far I hike? Well, I don't know but it is fun to have a goal to reach.

Of course, I take Mini-me and Mini Charlie along. We love our outdoor time. The hikes in the forest next door will end in a few weeks when the gun hunters invade. 

But until then we will stack up the miles or as I call it...

time spent breathing air and chilling out.

Meanwhile, Charlie and I are going to see if we can reach a 1,000 miles by December 31st.