Another day

Marsh marigolds... I found them again with limited blossoming in the Big Spring in the valley.

The Skunk Cabbage has come up in the valley also. I guess these little workers thought they should clean up the plants before I got there.

 
An Eastern Phoebe came to visit us. I hope she/he would stick around. I liked the calls it made. These shots were just before it clouded over and became a dreary day.

So. I was looking at our budgets carefully with all the economic turmoil going on and the 'magical' tariffs that could crush us...

I noticed that Charlie's food which is a bit pricey anyway is made in the USA with components from Canada, Thailand, Peru, and about 7 other countries. The label says "Made in the USA with global components you can trust".

So. What will happen to this line of dog food? I have used Hill's Science Diet for him for a while. 

I started to look at packages to see where the parts come from or where they are shipped from. While some are thinking we might feel a bit of a pinch, I see everything we touch in our homes that is modern has 'global components'.  How did I never think of it before?

I'm just using the dog food as an example. My sweet feed is actually made at a feed mill from local sources, but not everyone can access something like that. But the mill uses 'components' to run its machinery, it pays local farmers for their product that they mix. The farmers need 'components' from other countries to fertilize and run their equipment.

I almost feel like we are entering another episode of Covid in a way. We don't know what the next week will bring or how the supply chains will react. 

Hubby tells me to chill out. He is not really worried [thank goodness for his stroke and dementia for that!]. He also reminds me that our Parents survived WWII and our Grands survived WWI, Prohibition, the Dust Bowl, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. [not all in that order]

I think back to my Grandparents and how they continued to live in a lifestyle that they had during the Depression and the War through our prosperous years. They lived in the fear of everything going to hell in a handbasket as Grandpa Fred used to say.

What does this do to the future for my Grandkids? My adult kids?

I want to ignore what is going on in the news. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be nice to go back to boring politics that no one really paid much attention to?

So, I just have to carry on trying to do the right thing, whatever that might be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cob, my Steampunk Minifig, is dealing with things quite well. Apparently he has a notion of building his own place.

Hubby's birthday is today. Yesterday his Home Health Aide brought him candy and a birthday wish. She even gave him a Birthday Hug. 

I imagine that Hospice people really get attached to their patients. I know this young lady does. She brings weekly joy into our house with a simple thing such as a bath.

For now? 

I'll take that.

Not defeated Yet!

Some days I just feel like I've accomplished nothing.

I know I have, but when I run into a dead end, I get frustrated rather easily.

So I called a guy who advertises that he trims and takes down trees! He is insured, yadda yadda. He came out and took a look around. I showed him what I would like done and he then said that he really was into logging and that he did this trimming and take down stuff on wet days when he couldn't log.

I was getting this vibe that said...he isn't even remotely interested.

Then he went on to motion at the trees and tell me if I wanted clean up he'd dump it all in the yard, tear up the yard, and it would be $1,800 a day and at least two days after cutting the trees down.

Full Service my a--.

"So I'd suggest looking around and IF you can't find anyone else, give me a call."
His parting words.
I hope he didn't look in his rear-view mirror as he left. I was giving him the finger.
I felt really defeated and down.


Fast forward to the next day. CrossFit workout. It was tough and hard. A few times I was ready to quit. The coach came up and kept saying quietly, *You can do this.*
Funny. Now when I get into a tough spot I hear his little mantra behind me. Well, probably in my head.

As I was leaving CrossFit yesterday I ran into one of the new gals. I really have liked her from day one. We started talking in the locker room and next thing I know I am asking for her to put her cell phone number on my phone and her husband's. He cuts trees for a living. Dang.
Serendipity strikes again.

I'll see where this leads.

I decided to take an afternoon just for me. I made a snack for Rich and made sure that he and Charlie were all set, then headed to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve to ride the old 131 trail. I wanted to ride to the north side and then all the way south.

And...I did. I took my converted camera.

And took my time.

Full spectrum allows me to use the camera as I normally would also...neat huh?

I took the following two shots with the same camera. I just used the 'hot mirror' for color and the 665nm filter for the infrared look.

I think I prefer the IR look in the super bright sunlight.

Anyway, it was a fun experiment.

As I drove home I stopped at my favorite sunrise spot to grab a shot of the cattle in Black Bottom Creek.

I really love how this turned out. It just goes to prove that clouds, sky, water, and greenery really make an IR shot.

I haven't heard back from the tree folks, but I've decided not to let it be an end all thing for me.
Rich told me to 'chill' out. I was trying too hard to do everything at once.

I received a couple of more phone numbers for guys who do trimming, I'll work on that next week. But for now?

*I got this.*

Day Dream

Day Dream:
noun
A series of pleasant thoughts
to distract one's attention from the present.

Sometimes on a dreary day, I can go and just find a place to walk around or sit on a rock and daydream. [Well, any day...really.]


My thoughts aren't earth shattering and generally they aren't even about anything important.
Yesterday I was in the valley and I just slowly walked along admiring moss and listening to the creek make noise and the birds sing.

I was surprised at how many birds I could now identify by song alone. I didn't need to see the bird to know which one was singing. It pleased me. I thought about my grandmother Pearl and how she always seemed to know exactly which bird was singing in the woods.

I found myself sitting at the edge of our property and gazing down into the water. My mind took in the shape of the rocks below and the soft silt that covered them. I listened to a Warbler, a Wren, and an Oriole.
And I day dreamed of nothing but just the noises and the feel of the forest and the creek.

I found tiny things that interested me and of course had to stop and take photos.

Little fungi in all sorts of stages, from start to finish.

 I just loved the way these had tipped and set up.

I'd photographed them a week ago when they

were just 

developing.

Coral Fungi. I don't recall seeing them 

this early in the year before, but maybe

I just haven't noticed.

Jacob's Ladder. 

Pretty 

Blue

so delicate looking.

Columbine. Wild and plentiful.

I never have been able to grow them

in my gardens.

So be it. 

I can find them in 

the woods.

So maybe I'll go back and do some more daydreaming. It's nice.

I think it is a good idea.

The Day Dreaming Pool

Insomnia

I guess insomnia is good for some things. Like walking up in the middle of the night and peering outside. And then listening to the grand kids sleeping peacefully upstairs.
I stepped outside to admire the cool moon light and realized that there were actually moon beams shining down on the sleepy mules through the fog that hovered just above them.

I sat down on the porch and just listened to the night sounds. The crickets were about all I could hear.

I thought about the brilliant fall colors that would be approaching in the next weeks. I thought of the early misty mornings of the Driftless Region...how in some places there was already fall color beginning to show...

I tried to think of all the bird song that was now missing due to them migrating south.
I missed the Robins cheerful songs in the morning. I miss the wren scolding me when I went to fee the hound dogs.
And I miss the Orioles who entertained us from the front of the house in the Hickory Tree.
Sadly, I'd have to wait until spring to see them all again.

I watched the mists slowly flow across the pasture and thought of the past 90 days. Well, nearly 3 months since Rich's stroke and the fact that I now stayed home.
How was that going? I think it is going very well. I help him and he is slowly improving on all fronts.
I can't imagine how I could have managed while working my odd hours at work and tried to take care of him too.

However, the past 3 months have been so full of good things.

Teaching kids to ride. Fishing.
Adventures with the farrier and visiting another farm.

The kids both Dennis and Ariel and the Clausen girls adore doing chores and run out each morning to get them done.

If I wasn't able to be home full time, some of this summer wonder wouldn't have been able to occur.
I am happy and sad at the same time.

Was this stroke such a horrid thing? Well in a way, yes, but in a way ... no.

The man who knew he'd never ride again...rode again.
The mule who was retired came out of retirement and now looks forward to getting caught and used...

We have decided to review our priorities. After all he had throat cancer 2 years ago and we nearly lost him. Then the stroke.

How much time do we have together, why not enjoy each day together if we can? Do things that bring us joy each day.

It doesn't really matter if I don't sleep the best now. Years of having bizarre shifts have changed my sleep pattern.
But now I can use it to sit on the porch and have some very quiet time to think and ponder.

The kids are all going back to school and fall harvest is certainly on my mind.

The excitement of some fall colors are there too. I look forward to each season.

The moon will nearly be full again tonight. I wonder if I will be able to catch a shot of the 'orange' moon.
When it rises and sets now, it has an orange glow which comes from the Canadian and the other wild fires out west.

Here is to insomnia, may it never fail me for a great shot!