Tracking a Package from USPS

This package started in Madison, WI. 

It went to 

Oak Creek, WI for two days to be processed.

Then to...

Milwaukee, WI

then back to

Madison, WI

then to

Minneapolis, MN

then to

St. Paul, MN

then to

Duluth, MN

then back to 

St. Paul, MN

then to

LaCrosse, WI

then to

our local post office.

This was a package with medications in it sent from the Veteran's Administration that started its travel on the 8th. I have found that with packages like this, I now sign into USPS and get updates on tracking the package. I've followed packages before and watched while they spent a few days in a distribution center.

I can't imagine what the postal system is like. I mean how do they figure where the package is going and keep it all straight?

It almost seems that when I track it, the package actually travels to its destination quickly once I sign up for all the notifications that are sent. 

Or perhaps it is all my imagination.

That said, it sure seems like that package took the longest and most inefficient route to our post office and then home. It was mailed from a place that is a 2 hour drive from our place.

Make you wonder right?

Color my dull world and oh dear...

Willow Trail...in IR. Yes, I know, it doesn't look real, but it is fun.

Near old Campsite G...

Pictured is one of the last column of an ancient bridge from when this land had been a community with farms on it. The column on the south side disappeared sometime in the past few floods. This is next to the now closed Equine Crossing. The first time I crossed the river here on a mule we followed a sandbar across. Buck was a pony mule and I get pretty wet. 

It was a wise move to eventually shut this crossing down but I can see people still use it. 

As a side note. Things have really changed in the past 30 years. LaFarge Rescue now holds drills on the river twice a year for rescues. Mostly for canoeists that get themselves in a bad jam. The Kickapoo River may look lazy and shallow but it has its moments. The drills have proven to be useful. Last spring the Rescue Squad had to do a water 'save' of two women who'd gone canoeing in the spring run off and got tangled in downed trees and roots.

Reflections of Spring?

Waiting...

Silence

It is still covered in rotten ice. But I imagine it will melt this weekend, the temps are supposed to get up near 60. 

The real life colors were dull brown, dull green, and a grey-cast ice with a blue sky. 

I like my version of the world. 

I like the appeal of doing something wildly different. 

I like how it can be black and white or wildly colorful. I can make trees yellow, pink, and purple among other things. I can leave the sky an apocalyptic orange/yellow or even and evil red if I wish.

My new camera assistant is doing quite well. He gets impatient and starts to whine if I spend too long in one spot.

I did tell Charlie that I wanted to paint him a nice bright color so he'd show up in photos much better. Too often, he is a tiny black dot moving through my pictures....

Oh well.

That all said.

Let's add insult to injury from Thursday! Can we? Oh yes we can!

I always carry a spare battery while hiking. I've learned that I can run low in colder weather.
I sprayed Oxy-cleaner on my hiking pants and tossed them in the wash. Oh. Someone FORGOT to check the pockets, right?

I washed my spare battery. Extra long wash. 

Yup.

Don't shoot onto my land...

New Stand on ...not my land. And the person that put it up cleared branches and debri so they could 'see' over my fence better. I can spit on the stand from my side of the fence.

This part of the woods has a very heavy canopy in the summer and very little undergrowth which makes it good for open shots. 

They have the right to put it there and to hunt from there. I do not dispute that at all. However, the last two years I have picked up arrows on my side of the fence. One was stuck in a tree, two were in my leek patches.

I keep debating how I'd like to handle it. I do mind finding arrows on my land after the fact. I also do mind getting a lecture from this fellow last year while hiking on my neighbor's land [which I have permission to do].

So this year I'm decorating my woods.

This is what the hunter will see on MY side of the fence.

Not to mention the other Halloween Decorations I am putting up. Actually, I go back there nearly everyday as part of my walk with Charlie. 

I like to do Still Life photography in this part of the woods.

The rocks and canopy make for a perfect place to practice outdoor Still Life.

I guess I will just continue my daily walks back there with cups, toys, saucers, necklaces and other things for some fun still life photography. 

Maybe I'll add my creepy baby dolls to the decorations and take back the little blue chair that I have for reading while down at the creek. I could put my stuffed Woods Bears in kids chairs in a little circle that would look like they are camping there... 

I've always thought that that part of the woods would make a wonderful campsite. Hmmmm. I have a blind I could take out too!

Stay tuned.

All in all, I really should just let it go and stop being nitpicky. 

Oddness

I may be in one of those moods. What kind of mood? 

Gosh I really don't know. I walked out yesterday morning and watched the sun rise over what used to be the Merry Meadow. It belongs to the neighbor and we no longer brush hog it or fence it for pasture. At one time it was nice to walk through that well groomed pasture. I think there were about 10 acres of it. Now it is a nightmare to walk through unless the snow has pressed down the weeds and grasses.
Still, the morning sunrise is still beautiful to watch.

The Teddy and his lonely tea party. 
I spray painted the cups and sauces.
They were purple.

My husband's Aunt sent us this huge decoration for our house. I don't have the heart to tell her that it is way too large for my tiny house. I chuckled at the word 'Family' on it. 

Let's just say that I don't get the Warm Fuzzies with the word Family.

I get what it is supposed to mean though.
I was sorting through my mini boney dinosaurs to figure out which ones I'd keep and which ones I'd send to my youngest grandson. I set the ones I wanted to keep for photos on the mini bench in front of the place I stashed the Family sign for the time being.

[I have no idea where I would actually put it. Really...I don't! 

I'm thinking though it would 

make a nice frame without the letters to use for a 

flat layout and still life photography... hmmm....]

Other meandering thoughts. My flower garden is going great guns and it will be time to start collecting seeds for next year's gardens. The barrel I had in the middle of the plantings is now surrounded and one has to peek through the towering plants to see what is on the spool top I set on the barrel.

The Tree Ent looks

pleased.

Think so?

The tiny brass car with the hen and chick in it looks like it is doing well. I have to remember to reach in and water that and the ones in the tea cups....

Maybe I'm feeling the ... well, I don't want to call it stress... but perhaps it is stress...

The stress of worrying about something I can't really do much about. The worry about the coming winter. The worry about world events. 

Perhaps what causes my feelings of unrest come from something deeper. The cost of Isolation and being careful. 
The feeling of waiting for that Other Shoe to Drop.

Sometimes I go to do something and I just stop. I look around and feel as if I've lost my way a little bit. I stand and wait. Then I think of something I should be doing. And of course then I do something else.

Distracted and disjointed.

I sure hope this oddness passes.

I think I'll take Charlie for a stroll now. Unless I should be doing something else.

[Oh...and if my kids read this they'll get the reference to Family. It isn't about them, they will fully understand why I chuckle at the word.]

 

It is only Wednesday?

So.

This week has been an odd one for me.

We had our first time 'out' for an extended drive for a 2 minute lab test for the VA doctors. Secure Messaging for refilling scripts.

~Thank goodness for Secure Messaging. 

Afterwards we ordered 'fast' food through a drive up. The eating areas were closed everywhere in Baraboo, Wisconsin. So we ate in the car with it running and the A/C on. [We wouldn't have gone in even if they were open.]

Sympathy cards in the mail for my MIL. 

~My own family is a bit odd about death and dying. My mother and Grandfather never said 'passed'. People died. Period, they didn't Pass.

Passing was something you did on the road.

Grandpa used to say that he wasn't going to go to 'So and So's' Funeral because by golly...So and So wasn't coming to his.

He used to recite the Ashes to Ashes saying in a much different manner.

I grew up without proper funeral etiquette. My father abhorred funerals, he said it was barbaric to see the dead in a casket. 

Do I acknowledge the sympathy cards? What happens when people write a check? The funeral was pre paid. See, I am at a loss with death and its accoutrements.

[edit: any moneys will be donated to the nursing home for activity supplies...I emailed my stepdaughter to find out what to do!]

My knowledge is so lack that I didn't even know that the updating of the headstone would be taken care of. 

I guess it is time for me to do some studying.

I've jumped back into my Virtual CrossFit workouts. I skipped last week as I was so exhausted from sitting with MIL for days. I had no idea how much that daily effort would simply drain me. I am however glad that I did it. 

It feels good to be back into some sort of routine after feeling like I was in limbo for a week.

Heat/Muggy/Horrid Heat.

The heat and misty mornings are incredible to view and photograph of course.

I went out at 4:30 to watch the predawn from different areas of the ridge.

The heat index is around 100 each day and the yard is beginning to look like we should cut it for hay!

Rich wants to do it, however the conditions are not good for him to be out in the heat.

After my workout yesterday, I took a walk to cool off.

Sven was working on his particular skills as a weed wacker. I made a tiny collage of the things I saw on my walk.

Some of that is from my garden obviously and some of that is from alongside our long driveway.

I saved the books my MIL had in her boxes and thought it would be fun to read what she read.

Um. I'm not into Romance Novels, however during the hot afternoons I can pick a book up and stay cool inside during the hottest parts of the day while Rich naps.

I can say this. The books are easy reading.

The stories are rather predictable but what do I know?

It's only Wednesday!

The Garden Dog

The whole idea was to extend my garden a bit and make it easier to mow.

Or..
just plant more flowers so I'd have more to look at!

Ignore the broken down garage...it is

a project to be taken care of..

one day....

So I started putting the mulch down on the 'walkway' and re-arranging other parts of the garden.

I gathered up my collection of odd rocks and put them all in one spot, so I can admire them.

Really, aren't they odd and strange rocks? I want to say they are concretions, but I have never had any one tell me exactly what they are.

Odd and strange fossils are abundant in our area.

Apparently Charlie believes I put the dirt out just for him to sunbathe in. Won't he be surprised when I put seeds in there?

It seems as if the Unicorns have started to move in.....
I hope they like the big barn I built for them out of a coffee can.

Oh and the Rat Skeleton! Well, I was building this 'garden' on the idea that it would be fun for kids or adults to walk through the flowers and find odd and interesting things.
I intend on continuously changing it of course.

The Squirrels? Well, the Rabbits will come soon and hide out between flowers and stumps I imagine.

Okay...this was a Christmas Card holder...but...
I'm putting it in the garden...
the head bobbles...
It was one of the strangest gifts I've ever had. I've had a mind to toss it, but oddly enough I can't just toss it. I find myself putting it away for a while, then bringing it out again.
People can't help themselves by touching the head and watching it nod wisely.

Maybe this reindeer thing is wiser than the rest of us.


But maybe I just got a Garden Dog instead...

~~ that look...
Charlie has the right idea. Just lay out in the sun light and don't worry about a thing.
I wish I were Charlie!