alive...

After a week of feeling like crap, I'm finally doing better.

I found out what it is like to be short of breath and feel as though I was wading through mud up to my shoulders. It is not a good feeling and I empathize with anyone who has experienced this.

This was a strange one for me. Sore throat for a day and then a fever for a day. Finally, the feeling of not being able to breath for days. I could breathe, but the feeling was horrible. 

I did get out last Friday early in the morning to see my friends the Orb Spiders and enjoy some quiet time before the tree guys came in with their machinery.

I don't think I will ever see this sort of scene without gasping. Just imagine if you were afraid of spiders, how would you react?

This is about 5 acres of meadow and it all looks like this when the Orb Weavers are busy. They actually are around in the spring, but they are tiny. They mature in the fall and the Females build large webs, the males sometimes build webs too.

More about Orbweavers here from the BugLady who writes for UWM Saukville, WI. Her site is full of cool information about insects. She actually has a featured blog for Bug of the Week.

A small Orbweaver according to the BugLady's latest news on Orbweavers, this could be a male...

Beautiful webs...

All I know is that I had to carefully poke my lens alongside one web to photograph this spider from the side. I was looking to get the dew drops on its body and the amazing maze of webs behind him/her.

This year has been pretty sad for butterflies. I saw one Monarch flutter by this week and am hoping that my Zinnias attract more! I spent one afternoon chasing a Swallowtail earlier this summer on the Bee Balm, but haven't seen one since late July.

When I look back on my archives on I noticed that I didn't get a lot of shots of Monarch until the start of September. So perhaps I need to be patient and keep an eye out for them. I had shots of Monarchs from September 1st through October 2nd.

A shot from last year:

In the meantime. I'm going to be grateful I can breathe much easier and I actually feel like making supper.

No more spiders today. Maybe I can find some awesome and cool looking fungi this weekend now that I feel like doing something again!

Blistering Hot & Spiders!

This was Sunday's view from the ridgetop. I usually can get a decent shot from different parts of the ridge, but this year, no one on this ridge is growing soy beans. My choices to see the sun rise this year are slim. I have to walk a mile to get an open view of the sky without corn blocking my views.

Our hollow doesn't see the sun for about an hour or so after sunrise. The sun has to come up over the trees on the ridge to shine down on us. In a way I miss places I used to live where I had a fairly clear sight of the horizon. But I'm used to it now after 29 years [this coming weekend].

The humidity and fog are intense in the valleys in the morning. The shot below is from when I drove down to the gas station in Readstown for some milk. It was taken in Infrared that was the camera I had with me. The valley fog from the river was dissipating but it still makes me stop and admire it after all of these years.

Infrared Shot

Before the sun gets into our hollow, I get the chores done and make sure the tanks for the ladies have fresh water. The mules are spending a lot of time down in the Buckthorn Forest where the sun doesn't shine and there always seems to be a bit of air movement.

Our mornings have been like this muggy, foggy, and a very high dew point ---> that leads to the discomfort of being outside. If one's sweat doesn't evaporate, one does not cool off.

I did the smart thing on the hottest of days. I organized and re-organized my files regarding our financial paperwork. I need to get together with my daughter in law and have her teach [or reteach me how to do a spreadsheet]. I could do this at one time, but can't remember how to do it now. I learned over 30 years ago.

I did stuff I normally don't do until the first day of fall. I organized my 'junk' room and cleaned it up again. So I can make another mess.

My early morning walk this morning to check fences revealed that one of the critters was in a spot she wasn't supposed to be in. Tsk, tsk. After some chasing, I got her settled back with the others and moved on to go into the neighbor's large and wild meadow.

This was the view.... 

A huge meadow filled with spider webs from Orb Weavers or Orb Spiders. 

I saw it the day before when I didn't have a camera with me. I couldn't resist climbing through the fence [I'm allowed to hike there whenever I please] and explore.

I found lots of empty webs, and quite a few occupied webs.

The spiders don't bother you if you bump into their web, they just scuttle off into the grasses or bush they built on.

Imagine that they remake or build a new web each day -- or night? How industrious is that?

I used to be so afraid of spiders until I met a 9 year old girl who wanted to become an entomologist. She and I would go around and look at spiders and any other insect we could find together. I started photographing them with her and of course, I found a new and exciting subject to 'shoot'.

This stunning beauty is in one of my wilder flower gardens. I won't go in and pull weeds or anything until she is done for the season. 

I'm going to go out early again tomorrow morning and each morning to try and get glimpses of these beautiful creatures. At least until they are done for the season. 

I find them to be so amazing and so oddly beautiful.

Buggin

Early mornings are my best times.

This morning I went out and started to 'dead' head the marigolds to keep them blossoming. I picked seeds from the 4 o'clocks and zinnias to have for next year. I clipped most of the yellow cosmos and had gathered enough of their seeds to plant an acre of them.

I nearly put my hand over a bumble bee when plucking marigolds. So I went in and grabbed my camera.

The early morning sunlight highlighted the Bumble! After I downloaded the photos, I noticed the little beetle below the Bumble.

I slowly walked around and looked at the flowers more carefully.

If I am right this butterfly is called a Skipper? I don't know but it was cool. The Skipper stayed there for quite a while and I was able to try more than one angle.

I moved around to the front of the porch and found this interesting tiny bee below a tiny orange marigold.

It was dead, probably killed by a spider?
Hanging by a mere thread.

Bug Drama.

I dig insects.
~~~~~~~
Monday I have to dive back into the billing saga of the utterly discombobulated way the Gundersen and the VA work or don't work together.

Neither entity it seems wants to actually pick up the phone and make real communications.
Gundersen won't recognize disabled veterans right to have emergencies billed to the VA per CMS guidelines. Won't? Can't?
The VA keeps asking for proper billing and paperwork or notes.

And Gundersen just told me last month to just pay them and then I could talk with the VA.

Someone at Gundersen doens't know very well how to handle veteran claims when the veteran is admitted in an emergency. As the gal in billing said, "It is awful hard to do unless we have an authorization number!"
Amazing comment coming from someone who handles billings for such a large health care system.

Spiders!

Charlie was nagging me early this morning.

I waited until the sun was breaking over the trees and decided to go look for dew laden spider webs. You can usually start finding them about this time of year.

I walked out back to check on the mules and noticed webs hanging from a dead ash tree in the meadow.

It looked like I'd have to go into the meadow to look for dew laden webs.

I found them.
And Charlie enjoyed getting totally soaked in the tall grass.

He got busy with something in the grass. I'm sure he was seeking out tasty bits of rabbit poop or deer poop.

I found a large web and walked over towards it.
It started to wobble.

I saw something yellow and thought I'd get closer.
That is until I saw what it was!

YES! Large spiders do make me squeamish. I was grateful I'd chosen the prime 85mm lens that allowed me to put some distance between myself and this fella.

Apparently this is a 'Garden Spider' and if you get near its web it will bounce its web to distract predators. I had to wait a long time to get a clear shot of it.
Note the grasshopper in the web on the left.
I wondered why I haven't seen these before. Maybe I just wasn't looking properly.

I got a few shots and then decided to move on back home and get some well deserved coffee.

I got sidetracked by this ox eye daisy...

It was just soooo perfect.

And as I headed towards the house, I saw another large web that I hadn't seen on the way out to the meadow.
Probably because the sun wasn't shining on it when I walked passed it.

Viola, another Black and Yellow Garden Spider!
This time I didn't scare it.

And that is how my Friday started.

Drawn by Fog and mist...

I love misty mornings.

I love the droplets of water that collect on spider webs.
It is nearing August.
Wait? What?
Who?
No way! August? For real?

Yes.
Anyway this time of the year sometimes can present itself in wonderful ways if we have warm days and cool nights in the form of fog that rises out of the valleys and creeps across the ridge as the sun rises.

This morning it crept along from the north east with a very slight breath of air.
On the 21st it came in like a bulldozer from the east and within a few minutes the ridge was cloaked in mystical fog.

I had to be careful as the camera lense quickly got moisture on it. Normally that is not much of an issue, but from what I understand my little Nikon D5200 is a primma donna when it comes to moisture. Well, at least that is what I read.

I went to a different location this morning. The view is not as breathtaking as my normal place, but I wanted to see and try something different. How could I challenge myself?

I lucked out in being able to actually get wisps of fog unfurling across the soybean field. Imagine my luck again that the cropland had been rotated to soybeans. Had it been corn the effort may not have paid off this well.

The road/driveway in and out of this place has some incredible dips and curves and this morning the road looked as if it were from another world.

At dawn the fog was rising from the woods. The above shot was taken looking west towards my driveway that is hidden in the forest.

After the sun burst over the horizon in a golden glow, I was headed home and looked down this same road, but from the opposite direction.

The trees were literally glowing with orange colored light.

Eek gads.
I just checked the weather.

Fog is predicted for the next two mornings.
I am pinching myself.

Then I will go set the alarm clock and see if I can get up and see what the mists have in store for me tomorrow morning.

I can't wait!

Foggy September Mornings

There was a predawn quiet, most of the song birds have begun their migrations.  Still, I was able to hear some birds beginning to 'wake up.

I left before dawn and thought I'd try and find a good spot to watch the sun come up.  I didn't go to the usual spot but drove out to the end of our dead end road.

I could see the fog had settled in the valley so I decided to try and find a suitable place where I could look down the valley and perhaps get a stunning shot.

I turned the Subaru around and headed back out.

As I went past one of our ridge neighbors I had to stop again and figure out how to compose this interesting shot of his pasture and cattle.

I tried several shots, but this one stuck.

It seemed as though this shot conveys the fog movement.  I know that the fog just doesn't sit static in one place.  This is facing Southwest, and the glow of the pinks was in the sky.

So I continued down into the Kickapoo River valley and into some very dense fog.  I drove up a gravel road that led to the top of the ridge and came out by a cell phone tower.

I was happy to have the Subaru, the road is not well kept and high clearance was really quite a plus.

I waited above the fog and my wait was not long.

The sky views were something stunning.

And then the sun broke through the haze and fog.

The valley below glowed.

So I got in the car and made it down the twisted road and back towards home.

When I crossed Black Bottom Creek the sun had not yet made it into the valley and the fog was still lifting.

I was pretty satisfied with the morning's outing.  

As I neared home, I saw some spider webs that were lit up with dew.  I parked again and did some scurrying through the weeds in the ditch.

The find of the day however was not the spider web but a Japanese Beetle that appeared be-jeweled in the dew drops.