Cool weather and early morning walk

No no no!

You guys stop!

 Kids! Gosh! Stop it!

The magical medicine to clean Hannah's seroma has kept her from bothering it. Perhaps it stopped the itching? 

I don't know, but between the PJ's she wore and the medical wipes I've used, she has made a huge turn around on her seroma. 

I took the 'kids' for an early morning walk and the two of them couldn't help themselves. The 40 degree temps wound them up.

I hadn't gone down our little dead end road in a long time mainly because of heat, smoke, and Hannah being on 'light duty'. 

For most of the walk the dogs were quiet and just walked along smelling all the great smells. 

We found some cool insects that seemed to be resting, waiting for the sun to warm them up.

I've seen these guys before and they are pretty cool looking. 

End Band Net-Winged Beetle

[Calopteron terminale]

The grasses held another insect waiting for the warmth of the sun to get him going.

Carolina Grasshopper
[Dissosteira carolina]

Then I found some wildflowers on the side of the gravel road.

Is this a Brown Eyed Susan or a Black Eyed Susan?
I think it is a wild Black Eyed Susan growing up through Fleabane.

The next wildflower isn't very popular but I think it has a cool name. I enjoyed trying to get a cool shot of it.

Bladder Campion
[Silene vulgaris]

These guys are all over the place and I like to refer to them as miniature daisies. 

Fleabane

[Erigeron annus]

It is time for the blue colored flower on the roadsides to shine. Since I was walking early in the morning, this flower was not open yet.

Chicory

aka known as Coffeeweed, blue sailors,
Italian dandelion

[Cichorium intybus]

And last?

One of my summertime favorites.

Queen Anne's Lace

also known as Wild Carrot
--yes, I have eaten them when they are young and tender--
But the roots are very hard to clean.

[Daucus carota]

Not a flower...but Spider Webs!

I finally got to see a Clear Winged Moth yesterday, so this afternoon I will grab my long lens and stake out the Bee Balm next to the outhouse. I'd like to 'catch' a shot of them again this year.

With the cooler weather, I'm heading out with the pups for a hike at the Reserve. We haven't been back there since the beginning of June.

Enjoy your day.

One morning walk...

I do love morning walks, although they are more erratic than they used to be as I have my husband's things to attend to before I can go. I don't get to hike out for morning sunrises any more. That was such a huge pleasure for me for many years.

An interesting result of that is I've noticed a tree/bush that I have missed somehow. 

It has the most amazing flowers and wonderful scents in the spring. How it came to be here is a mystery. Probably seeds spread from birds?

The flowers are tiny but profuse and the smell is heavenly. While I was trying to get a good shot of the tiny flowers I kept hearing a noise. I looked around for bees, then recognized the sound.
Humming birds, they were darting in and out of this bush like little bombers.

The best I can figure it to be is the Sweet Olive Bush  Autumn Olive.

 

I searched for other flowering shrubs along the gravel road and found that the Nanny Berry Bush was starting to show blossoms.

I have actually enjoyed following this bush through its phases last year. The hard part was being able to recognize the leaves and shape of the bush which is crowded in among other brush along the ditch on this dead end gravel road.

By September the berries form and are bright red against the green leaves. By fall, the leaves turn read and the berries turn black-purple.

Last September--->

Nanny Berry Bush when the berries turn black.

The Highbush Cranberry bush is slowly opening its flowers. It also is located in the ditch alongside the dead end drive.

Even the grasses are flowering.

And the Dandelions are fading away sending their seeds flying on the lightest of breezes.

A missed sunrise
new surprises...

Dandelion Wishes....

Well now...

I sure had plans for this week. A bike trail, a hike at Billings Creek, and of course gardening, yard work, and grocery shopping.

Monday's text from the tree guys said: We should be ready to do your trees later this week.

I replied: Let me know a day ahead of time so I can take down the fence and move the animals.

So we hurried up and mowed the yard, I took down fencing that would be in the way where they would stack the cut up pines. I scurried around and cleaned things up so when I got the text there would be less to do.

And now it is Friday and I am wondering if later this week means Saturday or Sunday or??? Did they get held up on another job?

Everything got turned upside down this week. Wednesday was a complete wash as I didn't feel good.
Then there were the phone calls with the Palliative care nurse and the pharmacist regarding hubby's meds. I had to stay near the house all day and wait for an overnight delivery of meds and a video appointment with his Palliative Care Team.

I should learn never to make real plans this year. It just doesn't seem to work out well.

BUT!

I did get out just after sunrise each morning and take a walk through the pastures way out back.
After all, no one calls, texts, or needs me for anything at that time of the morning. So it is just me, nature, my camera, and sometimes my tiny box of Legos that need to go adventuring.

My method is just this. I walk along and look at interesting things in the pasture and woods. I look for interesting light and plants while checking to see if the hot wire fences are still intact. They usually are. Only during rut season do they generally get knocked off the insulators.

If something catches my eye, I stop.

I couldn't help myself in this spot of morning light coming through the woods. The rock was a perfect spot to do something with my little alien tourist and Skate Board Willy.
The little guy on the skateboard actually belongs to a space lab build, but I just imagined him as having more fun as a skateboard artist. Maybe gravity doesn't matter to him so much?

That must be his uncle taking his photo, right? What a daredevil.

The little sun flares just seemed to add to the fun so I kept them.

I had another character in my box. He is a rare Lego [I like finding the rare ones!]. 

I couldn't resist putting him in a ray of light so the sun shown through him.
He is a Rock Monster and in my thinking, he must be joining the others to steal that dragon egg that looks like a rock!

Truly, only a strange mind could think all of that up in an instant, right?

Creativity for me gives me moments of euphoria. It is a warm fuzzy feeling that is combined with a huge sigh. 

Soon enough after having those moments, I have to get back to managing another person's health care and running our small place.

Things don't always go as planned, but small moments of joy sure help out with that.

Onward.

Wow...

Monday was such an incredible day. I woke up just before dawn. As is my routine, I go out to check the fence lines.

I've been trying to ID grasses so this bejeweled grass head caught my eye.

I don't know what grass type it is. I have to admit that I am horrible at ID'ing common grasses.

I spent about 10 minutes or so just trying to get a good shot of the droplets of dew. In the left side of the photo there is a mosquito that has had a meal sitting on the grass!

You might have to click on the photo to see it. This skeeter probably is the same one that was chewing on my forehead while I was trying to manually focus on the droplets.

I don't know what kind of bee this could be. I looked up 'tiny green bees' and ended up with an answer that ID'd it as a sweat bee. Apparently they also love nectar from flowers. I learned from an Entomology site that hunting for insects is best done in the early -- early mornings. Look for insects waiting on plants where the morning sun will shine and warm them up.
 

When Charlie and I got back from checking the forest fence, the sun was breaking up the fog over the neighbor's meadow. This is the view across the fence from us to the east. That tree was heavy last year with apples. 

This is one of my favorite wild apple trees.

Looks like I'll have lots of apples again this August to pick and juice up for jelly!

Another view through the fence line to the east. Monday was going to be hot and humid.

Not only did Monday feel hot and humid, it felt like ... as my Grandmother would say:

It is going to storm.

As is happened, the storm did edge around us and dump on a town about 10 miles away with heavy rain, wind, and hail.

We lucked out.

It was Tuesday that it was so 'stupid' hot, that I stayed inside and read a book.

Sunrises

When Charlie and I went for a morning walk we got to the top of the driveway and looked over into the corn field and saw these deer. They spotted us [we were actually pretty far away] and in a flash, they were gone into the dark woods.

 I wonder if they could hear Charlie's tags jingling or was it the movement from so far away that they detected?

We walked down the dead end road and across the soy bean field which is beyond where the deer were. 

I do like the predawn hour. It can be so colorful. In order to see the horizon, I have to walk 1/2 mile to the ridgetop and field edges to see the sun come up. The sun appears two hours later in our hollow.

Last year's 
Queen Anne's Lace

We wandered around for a bit while I was looking for anything neat to shoot with the sunrise. There was a lone tree that I always like in my photos for the past few years. It appears that the tree died over summer and was knocked over by a tractor or combine.

I thought it would be cool to see the sun come up through the broken little tree.

We waited for the sun and then headed back home. 

What a beautiful day it turned out to be. I didn't take any more photos all day, I was busy with counselors and social workers along with doing a spring hair chop.

I'm a person who loves to get up early, so sunrise walks are my favorite thing to do when it isn't too terribly cold.

What a difference a year makes and strange weather.
Last year I was waiting to get plowed out from a significant snowfall.

Daisy Daisy Daisies...

It is that time of the year when the Ox Eye Daisies bloom. They really are pests in the pasture because the mules won't eat them. I do chop them down in one of the smaller paddocks, but their are gazillions of them across the fence line and some days I feel like it is a losing battle.

However they do make for nice wild flower photos.

I do love capturing them in the early morning light...

 Sometimes I am lucky enough to see them before the sun is high enough to light up the whole plant.

The dew drops on the white petals and their happy bright yellow centers make me stop to admire them.

Then there is the 'daisy' looking flower with the horrid name of Fleabane. Before I knew its name, I called it Wild Daisy. I know it isn't the right name, but --- do they really deserve such an ugly name?

 I saw these while hiking to the creek [well the creek is mostly dry]. 

And then. The sun beams through the mist as the light shines through the trees to light up the forest that surrounds the creek. It is easily at least 10 degrees cooler in this part of the valley. Well, that is until the midday sun shines down on it. 
Now the creek bottom is Hot during the day with little or no breeze.

After my fence inspections were complete, I walked back home.

Interesting to note that this huge mess of thistles I cut down last week were gone!

Apparently they wilted to just right to make them Mule-ishious!

Go figure. 

Enjoy your day... and pick a daisy!

Mornings

I used to hate getting up in the morning. I used to have trouble sleeping from the rotating and the odd shifts I used to work.

It took me years to get into a good sleep habit. Well, I think it is a good sleep habit. Now I go to bed about the same time each night and wake up at 5AM with no alarm clock.

I'm getting used to the chilly mornings also. My insulated coveralls are generally right next to the porch door along with my hat and gloves. What easier way to take a sunrise walk than to have those items laid out right next to the door?

Below, the moon and the western sky above our cottage. You can see Mica the grey elderly mule standing and watching to see if I head to the shed.

I was surprised yesterday morning by the intense colors that came through the forest while Charlie and I walked up the driveway. It was like the ridge was on fire!

The intensity of the 'red' color was incredible. The bark on the trees along the western edge of the road were literally red colored. I took photos, but the images turned out so red and bizarre, I didn't save them.

This morning's sky was much more subtle and I had fun trying to place that one lone corn stalk properly in the photo. It took me several tries. Charlie was happy to wander the corn field and seek out deer and other critter smells.

I like this time of day. I have it to myself. There are no phone calls, no doctor appointments, or requests from the other half. 

It is my selfish time to sip coffee or take a walk or simply watch the day start. 

I do love the subtle colors of dawn too. I think sometimes too many people concentrate on the vivid dawns and sunsets, and let the subtle and gentle colors go unnoticed.

Charlie thinks mornings are for sniffing and doing dog business. He gave me a grumpy look once I headed back towards home. On the way to the ridge he ran ahead of me. 
On the way home he dragged his feet and walked behind me.

I get it Charlie, I like the mornings too!

Who turned the calendar page?

 ...and other funny things.

First, the weather Sunday was incredible.

And then the miracle things began to happen. I pulled everything off the bed for fresh sheets [you know, the usual things I do]. I stepped outside to toss the light blanket on a ladder on the porch for it to air out in the nice fresh air.

When I got back inside, Rich was putting the sheets on the bed.
Wait. Stop. 
I was stunned and shocked but didn't faint or fall over. 
He fed Charlie ... because feeding him would require me to bend over even though I showed him how excellent I am at squatting [Thank you CrossFit!]  

I spent part of the day messing around with crafty stuff and I even made a handmade card that I cut out of cardstock and designed. 
I'm not very good at it. However it feels nice to 'make' something while I am supposedly behaving myself. The dried flower is Fleabane and I dried it using the microwave 'method'. I sprayed it with fixative and glued it to the card.
Not the prettiest. But it was a good experiment. 

My mess. I really just got stuff out and messed around with no real plan in mind.

Drying a green dyed Queen Anne's Lace with stem intact!

The photo below is of microwaved flowers with 90% of the moisture removed.  I'll press them for another week before I figure out what I might do with them. I like Aurora's suggestion of putting them on a skull! 

These would look cool inside a clear Christmas ornament?

August 1st. Time for the Orb Weaver Spiders to appear!

And this morning Charlie and I snuck out with the super duper long lens in hopes of seeing deer or some sort of cool things right at dawn.

Doing the happy dance!

This is a non typical buck, he has 5 points. The lens is soft at 300mm, but I am not a pro, I'm just happy to be able to 'get' these shots.
I actually stood for a long time and watched him graze here and there. He looked up a few times but never spooked.

We waited until he went back into the woods to leave. Charlie was very quiet and stayed with me. He was more interested in digging a hole for some reason. 

In case you are wondering, I still have those funky brown spots floating about. Looks like someone tossed coffee grounds in my peripheral vision and a brown bubble in the center of my eye. 

I spent most of the rest of Sunday resting with my eyes closed and listening to music.

I will not be a good patient if I can't at least take walks.

One last piece of advice. Don't google a diagnosis. It could scare the shit out of you. But you know I did it.

Hopefully I will not be banned from taking photos. 

Update later, tators!