Progression and work.

 First a shot of the pile of 'scrap' as it progresses with the old scrap Dude Don and his brother.

14th of March, my son, Jeremie,  is working on cleaning up in front of the crushed garage.

The 24th of March. Not a huge difference, but the two riding mowers that were buried in the weeds were moved out next to where I park. I asked Don what did he intended to do with them. I was afraid the mowers would be left there in my way.

He'll be back Saturday with his trailer and winch. The mowers will finally find their way to Mower Heaven. 

In June of 2013 we had a huge rainfall with extreme winds that dropped trees on our garage. Our

vehicles were not damaged. 
But the garage was.
The cars were not parked in the garage

at that time.

Rich got sick the next year, so
we never got around to fixing things.

This is the part of the winter 'pasture' and a small pen we used for the special needs equine we raised that needed special daily care and that was close enough to the house that we could walk out and take care of them. Eventually that part of the yard became part of the pasture.

I've decided to return it to yard this year so I started pulling all the t-posts and collecting the hot wire. 

I finally did get that one fence post in the photo pulled after some more heaving and pushing.

I pulled and moved 25 t-posts. 

The view out the window in the future will show a mowed yard where the yellow is and further out will be a field. I plan on riding in the field. 

The equipment that is to the left of this photo will be sold at auction. Two manure spreaders, two trailers, a tractor and other 'good' stuff that had become part of our landscape.

I'll fence the meadow back in after the bulldozer has done its work and I've seeded it down. Over the summer, it will be brush hogged to keep the weeds down. I don't want to use it as pasture for a long time. With only 3 mules, I don't need as much pasture.

The big shed looks like a disaster area at the moment, but sort of an organized disaster. Don and his brother are quickly sorting, the good, the bad, the ugly. I keep the ugly. Like old tarps, nasty old cardboard boxes, broken plastic pails, and other such wonderful things. 

All of the tools stay along with all of the wood working tables, welders, and other things that will go well at an auction. 

I am simply amazed at how well these guys work. I will spend Sunday tagging things around the other shed that I don't wish them to take. There is a nice chain link kennel that I will save along with a few other things. 

Once they go in the busted old garage, I can have Frank come an demolish it.

Below is a photo of part of the north end of the summer meadow. Pat--the guy who will do Forest Mulching will clear this section for both the mules and I. 

When the mules are rotated out of this area, the pups and I will be practicing camp outs. Years ago hubby had a deer stand in that mess. 

I've climbed into it and love the view. Pat will clear out all the briars and brush around it so I can sit above the forest and watch the day break.

I've yearned to do all of this work for many years. Rich always felt he could get back at it. 

His scrap stuff was his baby. He used to do scrap work and earn money. He also used the scrap to create things that we needed around the farm. His talent in welding was known far and wide.

This 'stuff' was his, he couldn't part with it even when he was sick and dying. I honored him by not nagging [too much] about getting rid of the 'stuff'. I almost feel guilty about sending his 'stuff' off with Don and his brother.

The pen in front of the house will be returned to yard with a flower garden to attract bees, birds, and butterflies.

On Wednesday afternoon, I did take some time out for myself. Charlie is always under the weather for a few days after his Distemper shot. Hannah had a booster, so the two of us took a late afternoon hike at the Reserve. We visited the ponds and listened to thousands of Peepers!

We saw some turtles and watched some Canada Geese.

Hannah and I met some bird watchers. We talked about puppies, turtles, geese, swans, and beavers. Then we continued on our little walk.

Hannah had her first solo hike without Charlie and led the way.

I let Hannah trace our steps back and she did an excellent job at it. She retraced our trail almost step by step until we got to the Visitor's Center.

I cannot believe how much work I've been able to get done this month. I had figured it would take me years to accomplish anything noticeable.

But

I know a guy

is working.

Weather Report ---> Kinda Cool

Well. We are doing a Polar Vortex thing here in our area, again. Last week the weather was mild and rather comfortable.

We are now celebrating when the temps rise above 0 F. This morning, I didn't do chores until it was -10 F, and yes, I stayed quite comfortable outside. It may look goofy, but there is something nice about not being cold while out in the cold.

 We are in a Cold Watch which will become a Extreme Cold Watch Thursday late through Saturday. My girls seem to have everything under control with their lovely thick winter coats.

More snow is supposed to happen tonight and Wednesday. -20 to -40 windchills are forecast to go along with that. Looks like a good time for a nice big pot of homemade soup.

Regular temps are predicted to look like this  👇

Brrrrr.

Thursday during the day looks decent enough that I might get out and do a bit of hiking with Charlie, but I doubt I'll be out and about Friday other than chores.

The shots below are from a bit of wandering around our forest today.

I just don't mess with extremely cold temps. I had enough of that when I was working night shifts at a place 30+ miles from home. Driving home in -19 temps in the middle of the night was concerning. 

Things break in the cold. 

Thank goodness, my old beater didn't mind cold weather.

The summer pasture wasn't full of tracks but the forest had many tracks. Deer had been browsing and making beds inside the woods.

Charlie didn't want to go with me for some reason, so I took Chippy.

Chippy rather enjoyed the adventure.

He always looks happy!

Well, there you go. There is the WI weather report for SW WI.

It's gonna be kinda cool.

Gone to the dogs...and whatnot

 Well, sort of.

My neighbors on the top of the hill had a family vacation planned a while ago. They felt hesitant to ask me to care for their dogs while they were gone.

I've done this for them for the past few years. Their dogs are friendly, fun, and really quite easy to get along with. I enjoy my time taking them for a walk in the mornings and the afternoons. I don't mind feeding them and spending some time with them.

This is Tiyo. They adopted him in Africa and he is a mixed breed Baesenji which is a barkless dog. He does squeak when he is really excited.

Because of his thin coat, he loves hot summers, but doesn't care too much for rainy days or cold weather. 

However, he is a thoughtful dog who is pretty reserved but friendly once he gets to know you. He and I are pretty good pals.

He squeaks when he sees me.

Rupert is the classical mixed breed dog that is impossibly happy and exuberant all of the time. He literally bounces all of the time.

I did catch a shot of him being still. He seems to suffer from quite a few allergies, but that never seems to get him down. He just goes with the flow.

The gals are still grazing in their 'winter' pasture, but have started to eat a bit of hay. Apparently weeds are tastier in the fall?

This is the view of our place from my neighbor's woods at the end of their 5 acres. You can see their fence line in the shot below. We can't see each other's houses which makes it feel pretty isolated. Any other neighbors are at least 1/2 mile away.

The Whatnot...

Well, a friend of mine whose husband was also my husband's nurse is having their son's wedding at their farm on Saturday. I volunteered donate pumpkins from my pumpkin patch as well as help clean up the gardens. 

I actually had quite a bit of fun working at their place on Thursday.

I volunteered to come back on Friday and Saturday to help with setting things up for the wedding and my friend asked me to please bring my camera. Wink-wink.

I assume the groom and bride have a photographer so I would just be the one to get behind the scene candid shots as long as I am not interfering with a paid photographer.

My Grandson, Dennis, is coming in sometime Friday afternoon so we'll have some time together. 

Saturday morning Dennis is going fishing with Rich's fishing pal, Steve at 6am. I don't know how long they will be fishing, but I can always give Dennis the location I'm at and he can join me [after he does chores!].

I am absolutely thrilled to be helping my friends with such an important day in their lives and their son's life.

I texted my grandson and told him to bring a nice set of clothes as he may end up attending a wedding Saturday evening.

My Whatnot's can sure get interesting!

Fun fotos...

Just because...it is after Christmas and I have a bunch of fun fotos from the month of December.

Santa's Relief Driver????

My all time favorite
ornament!

...I collect horsey ornaments. This may be
the most photographed ornament I've ever had.
I've had it for over 30 years. 
It was a cheap plastic one I picked up in
some second hand store so 
many 
years ago!

A much newer addition to my collection...

My tiny Button jointed Teddy Bears I made

years ago. Still up to no good!

Even Dragons celebrate Christmas?

I can't help it.

I think Dragons are cool.
New addition to the dragons!
A Baby Lego Dragon!

And then there was Mini-me
and Charlie doing last 

minute errands in the Village...

Little Bear and his wooden friends gather on

Christmas Eve at the Chair.

[These are old toys gifted to me

over the years.]

My ever changing toy display next to

the Christmas Chair.
It is made up of Vintage Boxes 

and

an old nesting box for hens.

I really didn't want to take down my cheery fun 'display'. I've had so much fun with it this year. 

But eventually the party ends, right?

I took down the Christmas Chair, the North Pole, and the Christmas Village and traded out the Lego buildings for the Medieval Village. I wanted to take a break from Lego so...

...before the rains hit, I grabbed some of my of my action figures and headed out. 

Ailie and Rabbit came out to play. I added the snow in post.

Time for a change up...

The colors red

 ..and other inspiring ideas....

Sometimes after a having an dry spell of ideas and lack of motivation one needs ... something. Early this morning I looked around the internet and read a few things then looked at some blogs. Most of them had to do with photography.

Well that added to my motivation and joy. So much so that I was able to go out and look for opportunities.

These are Highbush Cranberries taken last week when Charlie and I took an afternoon walk up the road to check these plants out.

Here is the difference from July 1st of this year:

And here is the photo I took of the berries this morning...

I thought Red! Red! It is the color of holidays, of cheer, of bright and beautiful things. 

I have been following this bush since spring. Oddly enough, I've never gotten a photo of this bush in flower. I hope to get it this coming spring so I can complete my 'journey' of watching it through the season. 

I should mark it with a little flag before it drops its leaves as it will be hidden amongst all the other brush this winter.

Nanny Berry Red! Apparently after red, they will turn dark purple or black colored.

Nannyberry on July 1st of this year. No photos of the flowers this year. Again, I need to flag it somehow.

And then just your run of the mill Sumac. Truly though, they do add so much color to the roadsides!

Of course, there is always this in red....

A Ninja Minifig helping to trim flowers....

And in the spirit of the coming Fall season...

A Vampire Knight... in Red....

Some shots from the morning's walk to the meadow as the sky burst out with color.

The last shot is looking west from the pasture south of the house. This is probably the only other spot I can get a full view of the sky without the forest or trees crowding the sky.

That was my Red Theme for the day. September has been providing us with some amazing morning skies ... finally!