Different stuff...

Dirty girls. They look awful like this and then go roll in the sand 'pit' and come out looking much cleaner. They have burs in their tails and their manes. The manes won't be an issue because I trim them off.

Fifteen is our only horse and I never wanted her here anyway. We don't like each other much and the feeling is mutual. I don't have time to do right by her. 

The mules are trained and have perfect manners and will accept a saddle and go without any extra work.

I may have finally found a home for 15 with someone who will work with her and give her what she really deserves. Of course we have to wait and see if it works out. If not, then I will search some more.

She is pretty, but as I said, I don't need her and she and I don't exactly see eye to eye. The photo below is her this past fall. She does have a pretty color to her. She is a bright red bay with a beautiful mane and tail.

Less mouths to feed = less expenses in feed. With today's economy these things are important.

My hiking pal --> Jason the Geologist Pony Tail Guy -- is coming out this afternoon with his two tumbleweed dogs. [My stepdaughter calls him the Pony Tail Guy so we've given him that moniker!]

Jason is going to provide me with some coverage while I get our taxes done and some other errands that take me out of the house. We'll also have some time to explore the creek bottom and give our 'puppers' some time to stretch their legs.

Apparently Jason is coming with some food and plans on doing some cooking for us? I never thought a random meeting during a hike on December 31st 2021 would produce a friendship like ours. Jason and Rich get along too. That is another bonus. 

This week will be busy also. 

Taxes, errands, and then another visit from one of our ex neighbors [along with the home aide and the nurse].

Caring for Rich is like having a toddler again. We arrange things around his 'eat' time and his 'nap' time.

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful! It was up to 70F in the late afternoon when I took Charlie for a walk up the road to get the mail and some exercise.

I took my Infrared Camera with the 850nm filter on it. 850nm only lets you shoot black and white. Anything with chlorophyll will show as bright white. The clouds will show up white also, blue sky shows up dark colored.

This was our walk up and out to the ridge. 

It was another very windy day and I heard a tree fall in the woods, so we stuck to the gravel road.

This was the view of our house after our muddy walk. Our gravel roads turn to mush when the frost is coming out of the ground. Charlie got properly dirty and wet so we spent some time drying off on the porch.

We love our porch.

I found this doll head in the ditch. I know who lost it there a long time ago. One of my previous neighbor's kids used to take his dolls and make them into Zombies. [No, he did not grow up to become a serial killer..].

I found this on the edge of his old property and had to laugh as I recognized his work right away.

Perfect for a black and white photo.....

Zombie gal...

A 45 minute walk is about perfect for Rich's nap time and break time to breath fresh air.

This summer, I will be the yard mower since he won't be able to help. I plan on doing a bit more flower gardening to keep me near the house and focused.

I'm thinking Cone Flowers, Dahlias [maybe], and bunches of Lily's of different kinds. Bachelor buttons and then my mixes of cosmos, zinnias, morning glories, sunflowers and whatever else I can dream up.

I have most of the seeds I need from collecting them last year. Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to expand for more flowers.

I can always dig up the not so great sections of the yard to mow!

Last year's side garden....

The Wander-er

 I have a lot of catching up to do. 

This week we had ice on Monday, snow and sleet on Wednesday. Charlie and I headed out in the morning to visit the Forest/Rock Garden. I've finally figured out that this little place is perfect for tall shade plants, but it takes a lot of work

The old Christmas Chair. I may decide to bring that back to the house for next year. The seat is split and it is very weathered, just how I like it. Right now, it is on a tiny rock bluff that overlooks the neighbor's woods west of us.

The photo below is of the Buckthorn Woods. The trees are horrible and invasive, but have been there for nearly 20 years or so. The deer love being in there. I put my trail camera back up after having it in another spot for the last few months.
It generally picks up deer napping right in front of the camera. The trail here is used by all woodland creatures.

Our neighbor and plow guy came Thursday morning and cleaned up our place. He sent another fella out to sand our hill and in front of the house. I am grateful that he agreed to plow for us this winter. It sure took a lot of worry off my mind. 

Charlie and I headed out for a mile walk. For a little dog, he has a lot of energy that needs to be spent. I'm trying to keep track of how far I hike right now just out of curiosity.

This particular day, I only hiked one mile of hills and the creek. The snow was soft and mushy and would have clumped up in ice chunks under my snowshoes. The workout was worth the effort.

Now I'm trying something a bit different and I am not exactly sure if this is the best method. I need to know from the readers if this is interesting or not....
this ends up being something like 23 seconds. It is sort of fun and funky.
I downloaded a trial of Corel Video Studio after trying several time to get MovieMaker from Microsoft which used to be free. 
Now they want a monthly fee or yearly fee. 

I have been taking a few more videos with my Olympus camera and thought this might work for mixing panorama videos of areas with some photos. Meh. I'm not too sure about it.

I don't always want to watch a video when reading blogs, but this seems to be the new-ish trend. I can see where learning the program could be fun with more creative ideas.

I did a lot more Wandering this week. I hiked back to the Lost Valley, Hidden Valley, or The Back Valley which is a 3 mile snowshoe trek on Friday. I haven't been back there in over a year.

That was a neat discovering adventure. Saturday I wandered the west bank of the Kickapoo River and found some amazing sites.

Those updates will come later. 

I am finding my winter groove in Exploring and it brings me so much peace.

Let me know how you feel about the vid. I have a LOT to learn, but during those long cold dreary days of winter, it could be a new creative skill to learn.

Have a Great Sunday.

A very busy week...

There is Morel Hunting.
It has been a tough year. The south hillsides were so dry that there were nearly none.
My mornings have been starting with Morel Hunting and Charlie hiking.

The best time for me to do CrossFit is around 8AM. Rich is generally still asleep and I am ready to do something other than read the news.

Most of the chores are pretty simple, I rotate the mules and check their water.
[I am hoping to have the 4 wheeler issue resolved before I start riding the trails again. So I am waiting.]

Below is a photo of me doing my Home Virtual CrossFit workout for Friday. I thought it would make an interesting shot. Handy to have a smart phone that puts the little camera on a timer!

Yesterda was a pretty nice cardio workout. My 800 yard run included a very steep hill! No matter, once I get back to the nice flat streets of the gym it will be easy peasy!

Charlie.
Still supervising most things from his perch on the bench. I can work in the veggie garden or flower garden and he always ends back up on the bench just watching over his yard and pasture.

I did get my hike in with Bill last Thursday. I took him to Black Hawk Rock.
I think Bill loved this hike the best so far, I think I can tell by the number of Wows, I kept hearing.

Bill took a photo of me leading him up the trail.

Nice of him to take these with his cell phone.

The garden is just about all set. I even planted acorn squash in one of the winter pens. Seems they like to grow there anyway even with a mule walking around them. Last year I had squash growing from an old soft squash I'd tossed out in the pasture the winter before!

Mother Nature sure is interesting.

My hair. Hmm. Guess it is in the messy stage of growing out and no one is around to look at it besides Rich and I.
Warm weather has hit and it was muggy and foggy the past two mornings when I went out to check on the mules.

Tourism has hit our town and our town is doing its best it can. It needs visitors and tourism to survive. There is a whole 'thing' going on about Social Distancing and Masking. 

Rich's concentrator quit over night and thankfully the company had someone on call who brought one out and swapped it. The fellow came from Iowa. He did NOT wear a mask entering the house. He did have gloves on. I wore a mask and sent Rich out on the porch to stay out of the 'air'. 

Am I being paranoid? 

I opened up the house and let the warm muggy breeze air things out for a bit before I let Rich back in.

Tsk tsk, I said something and the tech said that they don't have to wear masks in Iowa. 

Well.

That is where I am ending this catch up. 

I will email the company and inquire about their use of masks and protocols for visiting patients they supply oxygen supplies to. I mean, really? 

I guess I know that it is inevitable that one day this virus will knock on my door.

Today is full of phone calls and other things to sort out. Rich has an appointment this week for a Nuclear Bone Scan.

I imagine I will be left out in the parking lot for the duration.

Color choices for Fair

I'm just going to go ahead and do this fair photo...thing!

I've never liked my work judged but here are some choices.

There is a category called Water Scene.
Here are some choices:

I like all three of them.

It could be classified as a Water Scene or Winter Scene. I'm conflicted!

For the Roads/Trails category, hands down, I chose this one.
It would have worked well for a BW shot too, or a Winter Scene:

I have a choice for the Flower category.
My thoughts are this.
A pretty flower is a pretty flower.
However, a flower that has something going on??

But it isn't really all about the flower at all in this shot.

So...

This is my choice:

And I have to work on Nature, Reflection, Weather, Autumn Scene, Summer Scene, and Spring Scene.

So many choices!

Where is the summer going to?

The Hopi Squash are getting ripe, the cosmos are getting ready to explod into colors in the garden. All is so beautiful.

The sun is moving towards the south as the earth tilts, racing towards fall.

Our nights are actually pretty cold for this time of hear. We were in the 40's this morning. It has made the bees sleepy and lazy. Better to photograph them though as they are madly buzzing about.

On our way to go fishing at Blackhawk Park on Wednesday we saw trees that were turning. What a surprise! I don't know if they were damaged trees, sick trees, or just as Rich said. "They are turning because it is time!"

We fished at Blackhawk and enjoyed a few hours of peace and tranquility. The fish weren't really biting and the 3 small ones Rich caught were tossed back into the water.

I couldn't help myself with the bright glaring sunlight. Perfect for Infrared photos and not so great for regular shots.

Thursday was another whirlwind day. Off we went to the Madison VA to do Speech Therapy. Towards evening, I had promised to go visit a 4H family and walk around and inspire the kids to take their photos for the upcoming fair.

To say the least, we had fun!
Their farm is on a high ridge top with amazing views.

School starts soon and some of the grand kids are coming for another visit.

This weekend will be a whirlwind of activities. My K-town friends are coming to visit. We'll be target practicing with our bows, doing some hiking, and of course seeking beautiful places to photograph.
On Monday Ariel and Dennis will arrive to spend the last week of August with us.

I am looking forward to the fall season.

And more visits to the farm on the ridge....