I think the weather

did this on purpose.

This weeks forecast was rain, rain, overcast and more rain. Cold, cold, then switching to warm and muggy and heavy rain with possibilities of 4" of rain with flooding and flash flooding.

I don't get too worried about the flash flooding as it happens and it is over quickly. I don't have the mules in an area where they will be washed away. During times like this I move them to the front pasture where there is little chance of trees falling on the fences... and I can keep an eye on everyone.

So all this week the weather has been either super hot and muggy or it has been raining.

All the rain has prevented me from mowing the yard. Which is a good thing. Bouncing around hurts the upper left ribs. I can walk on the flat and do fine, I can stroll slowly through the woods and do fine. But NO jumping.
The injury is not life threatening, I know that. But it sure is a pain.

I can do stretches and squats, shoulder mobility exercises, and even some gentle twisting.
Vacuuming sucks with the old vacuum cleaner.

So on Wednesday I took a nice long quiet stroll through the woods. I stopped often and watched squirrels, birds, and some deer. I didn't take Charlie and Sven so the walk was slow and easy.
Of course I brought my camera. You know better don't you?

Some shots from the walk.

These were shot with the converted camera. I just added the 'hot' mirror to use it with the regular light spectrum.

It was my regular fence 'check' and I am happy I did it. There was a branch or two down on the lines and I flipped them off. The creek made wonderful sounds that were calming.

I leaned up against a mossy tree and watched down from the bank above.

And I couldn't help but try an infrared shot. The green leaves reflect white and the trees in the distance reflected a slightly different color which enhanced look a bit yellow!

If you look carefully you can see my handiwork in the right side of the shot. It is the fence I rebuilt this spring.

I decided not to let the mules back down into the woods. Rains were predicted for up to 4 inches. Trees tend to fall when the ground is so saturated and I won't put the mules in an area where the fence could come down overnight.
The mules' hooves would just tear up muddy trails and provide more erosion to the ridge road, so they can't go back down until things dry up a bit.

In 2007 and 2016 parts of the creek banks were swept away. Our fence was left hanging in an empty space above the creek.

This morning [Friday] I will have to go down and check the fences again and do a quick check of the middle wooded pasture to make sure it is safe to let the mules out of the winter lot and back into the woods.

South of us there were mudslides and road closures and indeed, they had more than 4 inches of rain.
The weather service says we had only about an inch and a half. I'll have to check our rain gauge.

I have guests this weekend and a busy Saturday with going to the Fair and hiking.
It should be fun.
Part of the Kenosha gang is coming.
And the sun should be shining!

slow down...

So while talking to some of my CrossFit friends one of the other gals turned to me and said.

"Well, maybe this is a sign you should slow down a bit."
So I thought about that for a moment.

She was right. I had been taking on everything with a whirlwind mindset. Summer had been busy with projects that had me going in several different directions at once.

This would be a forced slow down. So I mulled things over in my mind. The winter hay was ordered to be delivered. The yard was under control, I'd taken more than one truckload of junk to the dump this summer. Rebuilt the fence in the woods, and had been taking Rich on the average of 3 to 4 days a week to appointments or PT. I visit MIL in the home at least 3 times a week too.

I was ready for a breather of sorts.

But I argued with myself that winter is for that. The slow down part, right? Who was I kidding. I loved winter especially snow when I could use my snowshoes.

Time to take a breather. Well indeed, that is easy but after 5 days I don't really like the 'sitting' around.  Getting in and out of the car took some effort and was pretty uncomfortable.

I've done a lot of stretching and walking outside on the flat. I just cannot sit still unless I am reading a good book.

I've revised my lists of to do and re-organized it. Next week will be very busy with multiple appointments and drives to Madison. At least Rich's physical therapy will be in town.

Frankly I got pretty bored watching TV. The CSI program Rich is watching now has the same theme as all of the other shows. I can ID what show is coming by the theme music being used as an introduction. Interesting that the music is old rock and roll from my teen years. Oh well, it keeps Rich busy and by good luck I found this program had 15 yrs of episodes.

I'm waiting for The Last Ocean: A Journey Through Memory and Forgetting  to arrive. I was able to read the first 40 pages and was fascinated. I found a used book of poems by Mary Oliver also. Her poetry is incredible. I am not one to just casually read poetry.

In the mean time, I am watching the goldfinches dine on my sunflowers outside the kitchen window. The humming birds are dipping into the 4 o'clocks and sipping nectar from the feeder.
I miss the morning chatter of all of the other summer birds.
That makes me sad.
I guess that is the one reason I don't care for Autumn. The birds leave and it gets too quiet outside.

Slow down.
Well by this morning after days of being 'slower', I feel much better. Amazing as to how the body can heal itself. I'm going to give a nod to CrossFit and working out as to one of the reasons I am feeling better much faster.

I will however have to make sure that feeling good doesn't mean I will go out and start pounding posts or lifting heavy things.
Perhaps it means I can go out for a walk to the woods to check on the fences and pastures.

While I was practicing ... slowing down a bit... I messed around with the Incendia fractals program and came up with some Digital Art which I haven't done in such a long time.

Here is to stopping and smelling the 4 o'clocks and admiring the day.