Mini - vacation

Me, before coffee, even if it is decaf. Yep, I feel very ogre-ish.

However, I slept well for being in a hotel and in a downtown location.

I was in bed by 8:30. No night life for me! 🤣, I did take a walk along the back side of the hotel. So many people were out either at parties on the Marina or fishing quietly along the rocky shoreline.

I was really tempted to grab my camera and take some pictures from the promenade by Harbor Park.

I decided that sleep was more tempting.

I struck gold at the BAM-- bricks and Minifigures store by scoring the purchase of a hard to find Ogre and some other minifigs.

The Ogre was the one next to the brewing coffee....

I even built a custom minifig. She is the blonde with the sword.

I got to have supper with Rory and Mom and Dad. 

No pics of Rory, we don't post them. However, I can say that she is as cute as a button and full of smiles. A...dor...able as all get out!

Saturday greeted me wayyyy too early. I woke at 3:30 and tried like heck to get back to sleep. Which never happened. However, I did get brave and walk out part of the way to the Art Promenade near Harbor Park.

The winds were fierce coming off the lake but I decided to try a 'long' exposure of the morning light anyway. This is a cell phone shot which didn't do the dawn sky any justice at all. The promenade is on the right and I was still on the street with this shot. 

I haven't taken anything off from my good camera yet because...well...

because I have been too busy! No time for anything but fun with Aurora...Rory, and mom and dad!

I mean, who can pass up the chance to have meals, play time, drive time, hike time, and more play time ....with this little charmer????

LOL...don't you just love faces hidden? That is okay. I don't mind. Mom and Dad have made the choice to not post her face and I totally get it. Too much media these days!

So there she is! Crawling and do all those great things little ones do!

This is just a quick synopsis of me on my mini vacation!

Hubby's supper delivered to him last night by Olive!!!
Morel mushrooms and Pepperoni Pizza.

What a great time I am having being ON my Own... on a mini vacation...

and enjoying such a great time with my wonderful son and his wife...

and even more fun enjoying Rory!

Best

Time

Ever

[yeah...and I even sort of learned a new game which I was too tired to comprehend last night]

I'll be back home tonight but don't hold your breath. I may have to recover from all of this fun!

Social Butterfly!

 Somehow this week, I became a Social Butterfly.

A few weeks ago, an old acquaintance of mine texted and asked if we could meet for supper in Mid March. She was one of my 4H students from years ago. I think we met when she moved into the area and I rode my horse past her house.

I stopped to say hello and she went nutso over my horse. She joined 4H and I worked with her in the Horseless Horse Program. We worked with my grade gelding as my mare was still pretty green. She was in High School and a great student. She went on to place in the upper 10 slots at State for Horseless Horse walk trot. A lot of other folks helped us do fancy things like doing the mane and tail and they provided her with a show saddle.

We've remained friends through the years. Now her older daughter is in her first year of college, the youngest will be 15 soon. They live near Racine so we don't get to see each other a lot.

We met for supper in Spring Green as that was about half way for the both of us. She was doing a travelling set up for the company she works for and ended up in Baraboo, WI. 

We spent a couple of hours at Culvers getting caught up on each others' lives. It was great to have just myself and her at the table without her kids or hubby interrupting. 

There we are. Not a great shot of us but who cares? We did the math and ... geeze, we've been friends for over 30 years! Yikes!

Hint. I'm not the blonde one. I'm the one in the old sweatshirt and baseball cap.

I drove home in the dark. Hmmm. Now a year ago, I wouldn't have done that at all. BUT!
I could see! I could see even with normal headlights. Things were clear as a bell unless someone with those new fancy LED headlights had their brights on and didn't dim them. I had no visual problems.

Wow. I was so happy and stunned at the same time. I turned up the volume on my Pandora Station and enjoyed the drive. This will be another positive I can report to my eye doctor next week when I see him.

Tuesday evening I did CrossFit, Wednesday I hiked at KVR in the morning and went out to meet my pal in the evening. This morning, I was at another great CrossFit workout and got my errands done before the rains started.

Friday my ex neighbor Teri is going to pick me up and we are going to dinner together! 

Whew!

Charlie leading the way
on Wintergreen Trail
[photo taken in IRChrome]

Ice Falls melting on
Wintergreen Trail
[IRChrome]

March may be kind of mucky, snowy, rainy, and icky. But this week I'm enjoying it. 

Just Go...Part 1

The idea was this. I get in the car in the morning and head south to southeast with an eventual destination of Kenosha/Racine county.

I got to Spring Green and saw an interesting road and went south. It meandered all over the place. It twisted and turned and led me past beautiful homes tucked in the hillsides. I saw mostly crop farms and almost no dairy. I came to an intersection of county roads. Road Closed, it said, BRIDGE OUT! Okay.
The tiny road to the left looked interesting and I followed it. 

I couldn't find a safe place to pull over and take photos. But that was not my intent anyway. I just wanted to go, play music and drive the backroads without a time frame imposed on me.

Eventually I ended up at Mt. Horeb and saw a sign for a county park. I followed the signs and we stopped. My idea had been to find a drive thru and grab something to eat. Instead, Charlie had some dog cookies and I had water to drink. 

We walked along the hiking trails and observed some Canada Geese. 

As we got back to where I had parked, a family pulled up and got out of their vehicle. The kids said something to the Grandpa and he told them to 'Ask if they could see the puppy.'

This was the first of many Charlie/kid/people/ petting encounters on our trip. 

We ended our road trip at my son's house. His dog Teslin saw Charlie and turned around and went upstairs to bed. Teslin is somewhere in the 16 to 17 year old range. She wanted nothing to do with a bouncy young dog.

My son took me for a drive and we ended up at Kenosha Public Brewery. I don't know if I'll get this all right, but there is a unique master plan to revitalize downtown Kenosha. And I have to say, it is working.

Now don't freak out. If you google Kenosha, WI, you will find all sorts of things about the riots, the shooting of Jacob Blake and the murders by Kyle Rittenhouse. I'm only going to say this. The town did not burn down. Yes some buildings were destroyed and people from outside of Kenosha caused a lot of problems. 

I do have a long range plan to move back to Kenosha. 

BUT it is a scary place! [I've been told all about it from folks who don't know this city] Yes, that is why [thanks for saying this Ed] Jockey International put there headquarters there. 

Okay. The building in the above photo is the original spelling of Kenosha. Kinoja or as this painted building says Kinoje. 

This photo is in an alley way as we walked between buildings to go to another pub.

Enough said about K-Town. It really is a rich and diverse place. There is always something going on. 

So.

I made it to Eddie's house just fine. 

The scenery and atmosphere was completely different than the farm. I could walk around with Eddie downtown and see the sites. 

And for the first time in nearly 500 days, I felt unencumbered.

I had checked in with Rich and he was fine, the neighbor girl had called down to see how he was and she brought him some homemade airfryer french-fries.

Life's Little Pleasures

 

There was a lot of work I could do.
But the day was going to be warm and unseasonably nice.

A distraction from the news would be a good thing. So I set up supper, made a red velvet cake [his favorite] for Rich and then walked out to the pasture with a lead rope. 
[And for anyone who knows me...I really dislike baking and this is the second cake in like forever. However, it wasn't so bad and maybe I'll make more this year?]

Sunshine walked up to me. My little red mule. I last rode her in June and July when I had a friend who was going to come over and ride with me. Then I got busy with the yard work and garden and it seemed my riding time always got put off.

Off we went. There won't be any photos of us on the trails in the woods or of us sliding down creek banks to cross the valley. Those moments demand attention to detail. And the trails are steep except for those on the ridge and the one that is mowed around the large corn field.

No, I don't trim the manes at this time of year. These guys live outside and in the woods with a few windbreaks for shelter. Rich feels if I roach the mane right now, their necks would get cold. He's the boss. Besides, it doesn't affect how they function so it doesn't matter to me.

We made the circuit to the back valley and down into that stream to watch for trout. I dismounted back there and let Sunshine eat while I just enjoyed the forest and the stream.

I'd seen two trail cams and had waved to both of them. There is a fellow that leases the land for hunting. I rarely ride or hike this part of the land when I think he will be out there. The guy is a real jerk though. 

I ran into him last year when he was putting up a stand in August. He asked what I was doing. I told him hiking.

He said, "I lease this land for hunting!"

And I replied, "What hunting season is it?"

Well it was not a hunting season, and I have permission to walk and ride all the acreage any time. I do politely avoid where this guy puts his stands. 

Anyway...

I noted where the stands were. November 21st is the opening day of gun season. I don't even wander about much on my own land. The first day sounds like a war is being conducted. 

I enjoyed my ride and when we got back home, I hand grazed Sunshine in the yard for a while.

Suddenly, the rest of the herd decided that they'd love to be caught too.

I wonder if Siera would like to go next! Another fine day is in store. I could take advantage.

For our evening entertainment, we looked outside just after we ate supper.

And yesterday morning....

once again proving that no matter what kind of camera a person has...

Hrrrmph.

And the day I had my pocket camera?

I think this is the one that comes down to graze near the outhouse in the evenings...

Have a good day. Enjoy Life's Little Pleasures.

Morning Jaunt

I went to Wildcat Mountain State Park earlier this summer in the middle of the week and found the place crowded with campers.

Fortunately not a lot of hearty souls were out on the the furthest part of the trails. I took side trails to keep from running into the mini hoards of people. This time was different.

There was one other vehicle there with a motorhome. They were bow hunters taking advantage of the open section of the park. The hiking trails are closed to trapping and hunting which is part of the reason I chose to take Charlie and enjoy a nice long walk in nature on nice trails.

My goal was to figure out how to hike to all the lookouts. I parked near the Ampitheatre area and took the shortcut to Taylor Hollow Lookout. From there I decided I'd just hike the Old Settler's Trail.

I brought along my little pocket camera that shoots infrared, this 'brown' season is great for black and white. Charlie and I are at the trailhead to Taylor Hollow Lookout.

Below, view of the stairs that lead down and around the rock. I am standing on top of the rock. Charlie is peering over the edge and surveying the landscape.

Next shot...See Charlie leading the way down the 'stairs'?

He loves trails, he loves hiking and like most dogs, he loves to be in the lead.

And there is always a rock to explore and pee on.

We hiked the first half of the trail down through the old pine plantation. We didn't run across anyone but saw a lot of tracks from weekend hikers. It was cold and breezy so I didn't expect to find many people out.

Charlie is wearing his long piece of rope which I can step on when I want him to stop or I use it as a leash when we see other people.

We did run across some Foresters working on some trees. There was a sign on the trail to 'forgive the mess' as the foresters cleaned out the diseased trees. 

There were six guys with chainsaws. We had to walk right past them so of course I had hold of Charlie and we stopped to say hello.

The Foreman asked if they could pet Charlie. Of course. 

I let him go so we could keep our distance and Charlie was surrounded by big burly guys in hard hats and chainsaws who all knelt on the ground to pet him. Oh Charlie was in heaven! His whole body vibrated with happiness and the tail circled and slapped overtime.

They thanked me and we were on our way again.

I had a notion as we went around a rocky formation that if I climbed up to the top I could shortcut or see out over the forest at least. 

The trail is built to do a serpentine through a valley and around a rocky ridge top.

We scrambled to the top and I was surprised to find that the parking lot to the other trailhead to Old Settler's Trail was right in front of us.

We could scramble back down to the trail we just left...or....

Explore.

My Trail Boss voted for Explore.

By some wicked chance, we found the Hiking/Cross Country Ski trail. I'd skied it in the winter, but it wasn't really on the hiking trail map. The confusion is this...the trail is for hiking and skiing but is only shown on the winter ski ridge map. 

I'm one of those people who like to walk/hike a trail and study the topo map to figure out exactly where I am and where I want to go.

IF I'd paid attention to the signs where I had parked, I would have had a clearer picture of how to 'find' the ski trail. 

Start. Hmmm. I'm not exactly sure what the red and white sign is on top of the post.

But I do recall that every year they have a cross country ski challenge on this section of Wildcat and this must be the start!

Well. Let's just say I figured out exactly where I will park next time and enjoy the 6 mile jaunt to the lookouts. 

Charlie and I ended our outing with a picnic in the back of the Subaru, out of the wind and in the warm sun. Dog cookies, PB&J, water, and an apple.

I got out!

I couldn't help myself but take some shots of the bike. After all, once I posed it...it stayed put!
Since my Infrared conversion didn't come, ... I decided to go anyway and take the little point and shoot IR camera.

The 'ponds' were stunning.
It was quite warm so I had shorts on and didn't dare cut through the weeds to the pond on the other side to take some shots of the dead trees reflecting in the still waters...

I cruised down Old 131 trail and admired the wildflowers, bee balm, brown eyed susans, and yellow coneflowers.
Oh I have some beautiful color photos of those on my other camera, but just haven't downloaded them yet.

I stopped at each bridge and took a few shots.

I had the Reserve to myself basically. I heard someone talking up on the Little Canada Trail. It had to be folks on horses getting in an early ride.

What a great morning to ride. Absolutely delightful.

This morning I got to the post office and was able to talk to our carrier. How funny, he is new...and so is his substitute. The reason they have never successfully made a delivery to my door? Apparently even with two fire numbers, they never made the connection that there are two
seperate
houses.

Um.
I drew the carrier a simple map.
Here are the mailboxes.
Here is the driveway.
Drive down it to my house.

I had to explain it more than once to the lady behind the counter, but I think the carrier got it.
Oh. Boy.

I'm not stating the obvious here. Would you not look for the second house?

Shrugging.

After the Rains

After the rain yesterday morning, I walked out with Charlie onto the wet grass and surveyed the damage to the driveway. More wash outs.

Mental note. If Rich doesn't call Jeff in the next few days, I will stop by or call his farm and ask him to stop by. For some reason Rich has put off calling Jeff for months. Jeff was the fellow who reconstructed our driveway in 2007 and then also made us a ridge road through the woods with his bulldozer.

The fog was eerie yet beautiful. Droplets of water were still hanging on everything.

I don't think Charlie was impressed much. He sniffed around in the wet grass and did dog business.

I went back to the house before the rest of the farm woke up and to get the laundry out of the dryer and fold it. I had bed sheets to change and a huge load to fold.
I knew we'd had about 3 inches of hard rain and that should have caused a minor flash flood in the creek.
After chores I wanted to explore, so I packed my sling camera bag with items I thought I'd need.
Just for fun I added two Morel Mushroom Candles so I could play a photo trick on everyone.

It actually worked. I did state on Facebook, that the Morels were not real, but the amount of people that didn't realize that was amazing.
I even titled it 'Deception of Candles' and added the character 'Creepy Baby' next to the one candle.

I have to admit, they look like the real deal unless you notice the wicks.

I did get to hike through the creek and wished I had been there when the water was high. That would have been before dawn though.
The water was still running off the hillsides and into the creek creating a muddy look with little bubbles floating on the surface.

I experimenting with some short-long exposures and found that a 4 second exposure gave streaks to the bubbles.

The sun came out and exposures got a bit trickier. So I dug around in my pack and pulled out the Infared Filter.

It didn't change the first photo much, but the second photo did as it should. Greens turned white.

These two shots were my favorites of the day.

My whole intention on going out was to see if any of the wild flowers were appearing because of the rain.
I was not disappointed.

I didn't find blood roots, but I did find what we call Spring Beauties or sometimes just Pinks.

And on the south banks of the creek, the Maidenhair Ferns were curling upwards.

Rich wasn't having a good day, so the rest of the day was spent near the house. I dug hostas out from around the pines where I am going to bury Morris. Charlie helped me and we have a lot more work to do to make things just right.

I cleaned around the east flower garden and quit about 5pm. Charlie was dirty from helping me and my poor hands hurt like the dickens.
It was a fairly good day.
Rich felt better by chore time and the thunderstorms moved back in.

Off to the VA for appointments today...