Bikes make friends

I had to make another run to the funeral home to deal with a spelling error in the death certificate and drop off the thumb drive that Rich's daughter and I put together.

I didn't want to waste the 26+ mile trip on just dropping off paperwork again. So I'd put my bike in the back of the 'Ru and thought I'd tried a bike trail that Rich told me about. The Richland Center Bike Trail. It runs from Richland Center town all the way to a place called Lone Rock. It's an old train bed that was converted into a trail. 

I'd picked a parking spot to the trail head in a place called Twin Bluffs. My thought was to ride towards a town called Gotham [Batman!] and then see what the trail looked like headed then back towards Richland Center.

The trail was fairly well maintained and obviously had some damage to the wooden bridges from the snowmobile traffic in the winter. 

Basically it was an out and back ride. It felt nice. What was even stranger was when my inner clock that told me I'd been gone too long it made me feel odd. I had to resist lookin at my watch.

Then I ignored it. I had all the time I wanted. Yes, it felt pretty strange.

When I got back to where I'd parked, there was a guy sitting on a picnic table that had a roof over it. The shade looked inviting, so I asked if I could share the shade with him. He waved me over.

Actually we'd just passed by each other when I walked out of the funeral home. His 3 wheeler E-bike was parked on the sidewalk by my car. I admired it because I figured one day, I'd be using one.

I said, "Geeze, we walked right by each other at Pratt's!"

"Yup," he replied.

"Wow, you have an awesome bike or trike. It looks great!" I nodded at his 3 wheeler when I sat down at the picnic table we were sharing.

"I may get one in the future, how do you like it?"

His name was Tony. He'd recently had a stroke and he liked to get out in nature so after wearing out a homemade E-trike, he'd gotten this one. 

He shrugged and smiled. "At least you didn't say I was cheating by using an E-trike."

I blew raspberries and said, "Dude! I am jealous!"

We discussed that a bit and I told him that what he was doing was awesome. His balance was poor as well as issues with his knees.

"What a perfect way to get out and see nature," I told him.

We talked a good long while and he told me about the wildlife I could see while riding this trail and where the best places were. 

We were different athletes with common goals. Ride bikes onto a bike trail to enjoy nature and the peace it brings us.

We then talked about the other trails that the dude at the funeral home had suggested. There is one near Preston MN that was paved and beautiful along the Root River. We both discussed how we'd love to ride that.

I commented that his trike was an excellent choice for him to get out and find the peace and joy he could find in the outdoors. I told him that I was considering a pet trailer for my little dog. 

He then said he didn't ride on weekends because there were too many people zipping by and telling him he shouldn't be 'cheating'.

[There was a look of hurt in his eyes when he made that comment.]

I told him that his physical injuries were invisible. I said, "I wonder if you wrapped yourself up with bloody ace bandages and painted on a black eye, if people would be more understanding."

Tony suddenly went motionless. "You get it." He chuckled.

I said, "I do. My husband was a Veteran with invisible injuries. People didn't understand. But I did."

I ate my snacks and we talked some more. Trails, maintenance, the bridges, the river, the weather, and nothing important.

I stood up and shook his hand. 

"Tony, I sure hope to run into you again on this trail. It has been a pleasure to meet you and your awesome bike."

Tony shook my hand and smiled. The Grizzly ol' Tony seemed to have found something other than just nature to smile about.

"Yeah. I hope we run into each other again."

Some cell phone shots from today.

Heading east on the trail.

 Oh what wonders! I stood here for a long time watching 

the Monarch butterflies who danced around my head!

Some of the areas of the trail were covered with shade

from a thick canopy above.

It also seemed to be a perfect day to use my Infrared camera and enjoy some colors of another light spectrum.

These are photos of the Pine River that runs through Richland Center and along the bike/multi use trail. I have another 10 or so miles to explore of this trail. 

My new acquaintance told me where the best views of the river were. 

I was so relaxed and chilled out when I got home that I was able to finish up some weed whacking and hand mowing. I agree with Mr. Tony. Nature brings a bit of peace to our lives.

A little bit of kindness and consideration go such a long way. Don't judge a book by its cover.

I like my bike. I liked his bike/trike. We enjoyed conversation. 

It was a good day.

Flutterbies and bugs

Last year I planted petunias and verbenas in the annual garden by the kitchen window. It looked great, but I noticed that the butterflies and bees preferred the Zinnias further away from my house down in the veggie garden.

So this year I took seeds that I'd gathered last year and seeds from Aurora and tossed 4 O'clocks and Zinnias in my small annual garden.

You will notice some Marigolds mixed in and those were all leftover seeds from the year before. I picked up the seeds that had fallen on the ground and poked a few here and there.

What a surprise my willy nilly casting of seeds gave me this year.

I think the butterfly below is a Black Swallow Tail! I've learned patience this year. A LOT of patience!

To get a bright back lit photo of a butterfly takes a ton of patience and waiting. 

The butterflies like to hit up the flowers when it is warm and sunny, then all of the insects are going crazy in a sense.

I even planted 3 sunflowers within close proximity of the house. In years past, Rich would complain about the sunflowers blocking his view of the driveway. I made sure that he could see the driveway, but also see the sunflowers.

This year he stands at the kitchen sink window and gives me a commentary on what is happening in the flower garden.

I planted sunflowers over a few different weeks in hopes of having more blooming time. The insects and the Goldfinches have been having a hay day with those huge flowers.

And there are all sorts of secret things hiding in the Marigolds. Crab spiders love hiding between the petals of a Zinnia or Marigold to wait for an unsuspecting 'meal' to come along.

The bees, butterflies, and spiders are all having a blast in my tiny garden. 

I'm collecting seeds from the 'Wildflower' Garden I planted in another section of the yard. I recognize the Bachelor's Buttons, the Marigolds, and some of the others, but some flowers evade ID. I think they are pretty, so I am gathering their seeds to toss in another section of the yard that I mow [hubby won't mow it over then!] next year.

I'm fairly sure that I will surely miss this riot of color after the first frost this year.

The flowers have brought me a lot of joy this year, as well as practicing with my camera.

I planted Nasturtiums because my friend in Alabama says these were her absolutley MOST-est favorite flower when she resided in the North. She says they do not survive the intense heat of the far south.

They were not always my favorite flower, however, I am reconsidering them as they have added beautiful mounds of brilliant color around my porch where the ground cover was sparse.

Apparently they too, attract spiders!

The humming birds are still either here or passing through. They are all over the 4 O'clocks in the early morning and early evenings.

I'm pretty lucky to have all this activity just outside my door.

Flying Things

I have only seen about 3 Monarchs so far this year, but the Swallow Tail Butterflies have been very busy!

This patch of purple bee balm has been the HOT spot.

On these hot afternoons I sit in the shade on the north stoop and watch the activity.

In May I used good old compost dirt to fill in a dip in the yard. It took a few loads of BS dirt to make a nice spot.
I then planted sunflowers and spread packets of wildflower seeds and stomped it down. 
It has produced beautiful little flowers as well as the bachelor buttons and others that I can't identify.

Below is a 'magic' shot. I use ProCapture shooting [on a tripod] to catch the butterfly on the right landing. I merged two photos to get the sequence.

I got braver and thought I'd try it with the one Swallow Trail. The result is not perfect, however it was a fun challenge to do. Edited in ON1 Photo because I won't be a slave to Photoshop's rental.

The downside of shooting like that is getting a TON of photos to sort through which include a lot of misses. 

The ProCapture feature is really cool. When you press the shutter half way down, it starts to cycle when you hold the shutter down it saves the previous 10 shots [or whatever you program it to] and then up to 70 shots [I programed mine to a mere 5] of when you release the shutter.

So you have pre shots, and after shots to go through. As well as those taken while you held down the shutter.

However, it seems to be a great way to 'shoot' unexpected action.

The downside again, is having to go through those shots. However, I can see this as fantastic for trying to catch birds, butterflies, and equine running? I can also use the other two sequential modes for fast action. 
I'm still experimenting.

The butterflies and other insects move so fast, it is nearly impossible to time it with my slow finger on the shutter.

I used low sequential for these two shots. The Clearwing Hummingbird Moth was so exciting to see! Not only that, I got it with a bumble bee on the opposite side of the flower with both in midflight.

I spent over an hour by the back step watching these incredible insects fly about. 

I'm learning to be patient and observe things. This is something that was very hard for me to do.

However the intense heat and humidity actually helped me sit tight and watch from the shade.

And finally, my patience paid off with the spotting of a Monarch.

Wandering

So I just wandered the other day. Well, I didn't wander OFF. But I just took random deer trails through the forest with no destination in mind. I would walk a bit and then stand still. 

Listening, looking and observing. 

I wonder if a daddy long legs is considered wildlife.

I stood above the creek and just listened for a while. The water was barely moving from the west side of the fence. It pooled below me and then disappeared into the grass and jewel weed that grew in the creek bed.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the green leaves and I just stood there thinking how beautiful the light and various shades of green were. So calming.

I think I may even put this photo on a large mounted board. I usually print a favorite shot each year and put it up. I think during the cold winter months, this photo may just bring me back to that very peaceful 'green' spot.

In an unexpected place in the back pasture I found a Monarch caterpillar. 

There were the hideously ugly looking brown prickly looking caterpillars too. They were interesting. I'd seen them over the years but had never bothered to figure out what there were.

Until this year.

[Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillars]

The reddish insect is an asparagus beetle. It probably has a long scientific name, but I like it fine as the red insect with black polka dots.

Monday morning found me out wandering the pastures again. The morning light was really quite bizarre.

I'm pretty sure these types of photos are flooding the social media because of the wildfires and the smoke in the air.

[I don't think the air quality is good for Rich to be outside doing work right now. So maybe the broken lawn mower is a good thing. I spoke with Mark and he'll pick it up and fix it along with a nice overall maintenance job on it.]

My thought was the sunrise seemed sort of like a Hollywood scene from some sort of Armageddon type movie.

It just felt creepy as all get out.

Most of the day was odd too. The sky wasn't blue, but more of a pale washed out color. 

I went out to move the pony and put the goat in his pen after supper. The clouds had left and there was this orange washed out odd color to the sky again.

Skies like this give me an uneasy feeling.

On a happy note....I chased a Monarch yesterday for a while. It was so shy! 

It played hide n' go seek!

Tuesday promises to be a busy day.

Water and butterflies....

I knew that the next two days were going to be filled with water coming down in copious amounts.
As in 2-4 inches of rain. So I went for an afternoon walk to check on the cool fungi and 'enjoy' a record breaking hot day of 87 degrees with incredible humidity.

 The shot above and below is the same fungi, two days apart!

And then because it rained so much yesterday, I thought I'd have some fun ...
the NOAA said waters, creeks, and streams would be dangerous ....

Indeed.

And by yesterday afternoon after doing a house deep cleaning...I sat on the porch...

....and watched a lone Monarch on my last few zinnias....

Flutter by ... Butterfly

I went to pick the peppers and tomatoes for processing Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.
The forecasters in our area have called for heavy rain, flash flooding, a brief tornado, and generally some really crappy weather for later this week.

In fact they are predicting several rounds of thunderstorms which will produce flooding again.
Oh.

So I decided I best save what I can from the garden and get it put on the porch out of the weather.

However I didn't plan on seeing all of this beautiful insect activity.

So I ran back to the house and grabbed a camera.

The macro camera was a poor choice as I soon found that the Monarch's would startle if I got close to them. I pulled out my old zoom lens.

Everywhere I turned there was activity going on.

And then the flight of Monarch Butterflies, dozens of them everywhere! Swirling and dancing.

Not a great shot, but I was trying to follow it. This lens is a kit zoom and it doesn't focus as quickly as the pro lenses.

But, I did get some nice shots never the less.

After about 45 minutes the sky darkened and it threatened to rain. I watched as all the insects except the squash bugs seemed to disappear.

I was so delighted to have seen dozens of Monarchs.
I think it made my whole day.

Color me happy with flutter...byes..