Meanwhile...

It is August and that means the daylight each day changes quickly. 

August through November are the three months of the year where I can't seem to sit still. The weather is changing, the hours of daylight are changing.

I begin to chase the changes in the forest like I do with early spring. 

As the heavy growth of gooseberry bushes begin to drop leaves and other plants in the undergrowth begin to drop seeds and wilt, I find moving through parts of the forest easier.

This morning I got a fog notice on the weather app. I knew it would be foggy in the valleys because it cooled off so much overnight. I hoped the fog would drift up through the forest.

Off I went as soon as the sun began to peek through the trees. It was humid but not really foggy.

Our busy road:

On the way back home I took a different way and...

.... found some Indian Pipes 
aka Ghost Plants or the Scientific name:
Monotropa Uniflora .

I think these are some of the coolest plants that can be found in a forest.

Boy was I pleased to see that the high humidity, even though the fog dissipated quickly. It provided a beautiful morning atmosphere.

My favorite maple tree in the woods northeast of us.

The sights were pretty amazing as was the light.

I also stopped and took an opportunity to do something that has been on my mind since I got those little dragons.

An idea came to mind when I was looking at my collection of rocks. My son gave me a really cool rock years ago.  To me it looked liked a petrified egg.

I'm pretty sure ... well, this has to be...

I mean...

what else could it be...

but 

a Dragon Egg?

However....

I think someone else must be interested in it!

I spotted two Rock Monsters!

Glaciator and Sulfrix to be exact! 

Oh No!

Silly me. How I do love to play.

I think I should keep an eye out for Princess Sara and her Knight to see if they will come to the rescue in the Big Wild Forest.

😉

The Accident

A strange thing happened to me at my CrossFit workout.

First, I want to talk about the wins we've had. One of our members had suffered a major heart attack 3 years ago. The kind of heart attack that the paramedics had to revive her... a hospital stay and cardio rehab. After rehab she came to our gym against her doctor's orders and started to work out.

She was careful. Her workouts mimicked the work out of the day but were scaled back for her abilities and not stress her heart. In one year of doing physical supervised exercise 3 times a week, she has gained strength and improved her vital readings to the extent that her cardiologist was stunned. Her story is worth celebrating.

Another friend of mine had her ankle crushed.

The repairs involved metal screws and rods in her ankle. Her Achilles tendon also had to be re-attached. For the next few the years she suffered pain and anguish and the loss of joy of riding her horse, hiking with her daughters, and doing all the things she loved dearly. After two years of consistent work at our gym [one baby step at a time], she can jog in a workout. She can walk without pain, and she is 99% back to her previous self. She is dedicated to our Mobility Class as well as showing up the to the gym.

Our coach joined 4 years ago, she was tired of all the extra weight she carried around. Her husband bought her a gym membership and she started out. Her goal? It was to lose all the baby weight she'd gained after her 10th child. I've watched her slowly transform over 4 years. She is amazing in many ways as she has now trained for and is one of the coaches in the gym.

She has lost 70 pounds and says she has a little ways to go. 

Her empathy and coaching skills are amazing. [All of our coaches posses these skills]

None of these journeys were quick fixes like we see advertised ... DO THIS or Do That! And you will see a difference in weeks! 

No. This is a common sense and well guided way to seek better health overall. 

We have an average array of people in our gym. 

From 18 to 80, some are great athletes working to become better athletes. Some of us have fitness and health issues. 

The coaches are careful to help us tailor our workouts for each of us specifically.

Some days, it is like herding cats.

On to the Event of the Day.

I was looking forward to the workout yesterday. It was a kettle bell workout combined with some runs after each group of 20 kettle bell swings. 

The runs were our choice, 200 meters, 400 meters, or for those who couldn't run, they could walk 100 meters or ride the stationary bike or row.

I love the running part as I've always loved running. The kettle bells? Meh, but it was going to be hard and challenging which are things I like. I'm considered elderly and I was safely the eldest person in class. 

A group of 5 of us took off from the gym to run/jog our first 200 or 400 meters. All was going just peachy, I was behind the young and fast girls. When we came to our turn around [we run on a bike/hiking path alongside the highway] ...

it
happened.

I got hit hard by something in my right calf. I'd been jogging on the edge of the path next to the grass. I ducked in an instant [reflexes?] and saw a woman and her bike go over me in  my peripheral vision.

She hit the ground hard on her right side. She was wearing a biking helmet which kept her face and head from hitting the hard trail. Her bike went over me and landed somewhere. 

I stayed in the crouch because I was not sure what the H-ll just happened. In an instant, the other gym folks who had been running ahead of me turned back to help. One surgical nurse, one Nurse Practitioner, and one Hot Line Nurse came to the woman's aid. 

Another gym member ran to call 911 when the lady said she couldn't get up and was in severe pain. 

I squatted next to her. Her pain was obvious. Her husband had parked his bike and was standing there in distress also. He didn't know what to do and couldn't figure out how to operate his wife's cell phone.

First the squad car arrived. Then the first team of first responders along with a Firefighter that had been at the gas station across the highway. Another fire department vehicle responded and I just backed away. I am not an EMT.

I decided to walk back to the gym and gather my wits. I was pretty shook up. Jesse walked back with me and asked if I was okay. I said I guess I was. I looked down and pointed to the bruise popping up on my calf muscle and said I guessed she clipped me there.

Jesse gasped and looked at my back. She exclaimed, "Dam girl, you have tire tracks across your shirt in back!"

Followed by "ARE you okay?"

 

I felt okay, but still in shock of what I'd seen. I grabbed my water bottle and decided to walk back and tell the police officer what happened.

Two gym gals went with me. I explained to the officer that I was jogging when I got hit from behind on the right side of my calf and ducked. The lady went over my right shoulder and the bike went over my left.

The cop's eyes got huge and he touched me gently on the shoulder. ARE you OKAY??? Those bikes weigh like 40 lbs! The gals pointed out the tire tracks on the back of my shirt. I made my statement, you know, name phone number, date of birth.

The lady was still on the ground and they were waiting for an ambulance. I looked over at the bikes and noted that they were e-bikes. The kind of e-bikes, when you pedal, the electric engine kicks in and shoots you forward. Did she pedal instead of braking? I'd never know.

I might add that this couple was in their 80's and I recognized them from many other days when we have worked out and shared the trail together. 

I walked back to the gym. There was nothing I could do. I felt horrible and so sad. What if she broke her leg and her arm? Or worse yet? Her hip? 

The gym members were calling me super woman and amazing among other accolades for just getting up and being okay after such a wreck. I felt none of that and felt only a deep sadness as I heard another set of sirens coming down the highway.

I gathered my stuff and wrote out my workout results. 1 round of 20 Kettle Bell swings 26lbs and 200m run in 16 minutes. Only one partial round completed due to bicycle accident.

My afternoon plan had been to explore The Richland County Pine River bike trail. But I wasn't in the mood. Plus my back muscles were stiffening up. I stretched and iced the areas and thought about that lady the rest of the day.

Gym members kept texting me to see if I was okay. I was. 

They were calling me super woman and Speedbump Val. 

I was waiting to hear any news about the lady who hit me. 

And of course, I did a reenactment of the accident with my Legos...

[we didn't carry kettle bells on the workout]

The last word I heard on the lady that ran me over was that she was assessed with a broken shoulder and a broken hip and was taken to the trauma center immediately for surgery.

I am so sad.

I know that I wasn't at fault as bicyclists are to yield to pedestrians but I think this lady just made an awful miscalculation. At her age, it may have great ramifications.

So yeah. I am sad.

Monday Monday Stuff

Above are the morning views I get when I go out at dawn to check on things. This Monday morning, it was cold. Well sort of cold. I put on a jacket over my sweats while walking over to the Meadow.

This is Wisconsin on a typical old fashioned morning. Heavy dew, cool mornings, and warm afternoons in August.

I spent Sunday taking down fencing and old rotten wooden posts in an area where the Tree Cutting Dudes will be making brush piles some time later this month. I like to do things ahead of time. 

I also got my bicycle back from the shop! I was so tickled to have it tuned up. The new chain is sparkly clean and rust free as well as the new cable they put in. It sports a nifty little bike rack in back so I'm now on the hunt for a 'trunk'. 

I told hubby yesterday that Bliss will live in the house now. He was like *who the heck is Bliss?* 

I showed him the name on the bike when I parked it just inside the back door. He rolled his eyes and said he thought the shed was just fine for a bicycle. 

I gave him the price of repairing rusted through gears and cables and then he conceded that perhaps it would be prudent to let Bliss in the house. 

After all, she doesn't need potty training nor does she eat much. My son gave me a helpful hint for winter storage in our tiny basement. Hooks from the beams! Thanks!

Last year, I was all about getting a kayak as I'd discovered how fun it was. I had a reality check in the cost of getting one, getting a way to carry it, and then .... well, how often would I get a chance to go kayaking for hours? In reality? Those chances are pretty nil considering I have to get someone for back up at home each time. 

So I decided to stick with my bicycle for an alternative sport to hiking. I used to bike with a buddy of mine, but he has since abandoned his bike as no matter how many times he repaired it, it still was giving him fits. 

It makes sense. I've had the bike, I enjoy it. So I need to use it. It is also a handy way to get from point A to B with camera gear. 

And in an unrelated matter. Remember the 3D printed dragons I picked up? I had to paint eyes on them. They won't do for extreme close ups, but I do like them. They are fun.

...and as I was messing around with the one above this morning, I finally realized what Princess Sara's Unknown Quest was all about....

I'm sure it must be dragons? Right?

I mean...wow, I haven't been updated on Princess Sara's Quest since well...since this spring!

Last I saw her and and Joan of Knight, they were attempting to cross the Swamp of Sorrow [a nod to The Never Ending Story].

I really need to see if they are okay and where they are in their quest.

Enjoy your Monday. 

A Day off the Farm!

I always start with a fence-pasture check and see how the elderly girls are doing. I went into what we call the Meadow to put an SD card back in the Trail Cam and came out of the forest to the above shot. I only had my cell phone with me.

I imagine the doe had run off while the fawn was sleeping and suddenly the fawn looked a bit confused.

I stood quietly and just waited.

I was able to switch to video ---> 28 seconds...

I ended up seeing 4 more does on my walk back to the house.

I did chores and got moving as I had a 'date' with my Grand daughter Ariel and a 2.5 + hr drive to her new apartment. This is not something I normally do. Travel that far, but I had two neighbors for back up and prepped lunch ahead of time for hubby.

I cannot believe she is going to be 21 years old in another month or so! OH MY! Where did the time go??? I'm sure her mom and dad are thinking the same thing.

She grew up under my nose! 

She is employed, owns her own vehicle, and now has her own place to live. She wanted me to come see her 'new' place and chill out with her. Here is a view out her living room window. She didn't give me permission to take her photo or to take and post photos of her place so I just won't do it.

Suffice to say, IF I'd had an apartment like hers, I would have loved it! She is in town and can walk all over and ... it is 5 minutes to work for her. Like most young folks she had parents and grand parents who helped provide her with things she needed.

I was so tickled to see one of my favorite shower curtains in her bathroom! Small things matter!

We went to a late breakfast then went shopping at JoAnne Fabrics. Ariel has taken up crocheting and is making soft fuzzy blankets for her relatives. She introduced me to the Big Fuzzy Soft Yarn she likes to work with. She studied all the colors they had to see if anything tickled her fancy. She asked the girl who was stocking the shelves if they had new colors coming out.

I know a lot of ladies who read this blog who love yarn and collect yarn! I could definitely see picking up crocheting with that fuzzy soft yarn. Ariel even showed me some loop yarn that you don't even have to crochet! Hmmmm. I could dig that! Might be something I could do at night while I sit with the other half and he is watching something boring!

We then parked in a public parking lot and took a tour of the town. We spent time in a bookshop that served coffee and sandwiches. We browsed and Ariel showed me the books she admired most.

We ended up at an interesting little shop that sold Geodes, candles, scented soaps, carvings, incense holders, and all sort of cool hippy stuff. I found some neat 3D printed dragons that would go along with my Lego People. I like dragons of all sorts.

They'll show up later in some Lego or Toy adventures.

Back at her place, we relaxed and chatted. She told me about her job and workplace and how she was doing. 

Again. Hard to believe I was sitting in her apartment with her as an adult. But there it was. When I was getting ready to go, she asked if I'd stop and see her brother who works at Culvers. He'd just gotten promoted to a supervisory position, and she thought we should say hi.

Another small kid....who GREW up!

He gave me permission to post his photo.

When Ariel and I started to walk out the door we turned and waved to Dennis and the whole front staff all hollered out "See yah Grandma!"

That was super cool.

I headed home to the farm with warm fuzzy thoughts and a huge smile on my face.

A day off the Farm! 

Interesting data

Oh my.

When I started to keep track of my mileage in January, I thought it would be a fun experiment to see how much I do move and how far I walk for a year. I didn't expect it to amount to much, but today I thought I'd look up the stats.

Now a word about that. I am not obsessed really too much. For the first 6 months, I just kept track of hikes/walks that I remembered to track. I had to manually start the app on the phone and let it do its thing. That really was impressive though.

I remembered enough times to chalk up 173 miles in the first half of the year.

When I got the Vivosmart 5 Watch from Garmin, I also tracked certain hikes I wanted to recall and to my surprise, when I forget, the watch buzzes me and tells me I've been moving for 5 minutes and it is going to record it as an 'official' walk. 

Neat. Since I am often walking all over the place just to check on the animals and move them from place to place, I don't have to think about 'recording' it. I found that on average each morning and evening that I walk a quarter of a mile while just doing chores. Interesting! 

This smarty watch also has a sleep thing on it. I don't know how accurate it is so I don't look at it too often. One night I went to bed early and it said I slept something like nearly 8 hours. Well, for a good part of that night, I was awake, lying still and thinking. 

You know--those 2AM thoughts when you solve the world's problems and rearrange rooms and dig new gardens in your head?

So I stopped looking at the sleep stats. When we had that huge storm on Monday night, I was up with Charlie who freaks out at storms. My sleep thingy said I was having very light sleep. NO kidding! 

So I use that guide more or less as entertainment value. If I awaken and feel refreshed, I've had a good sleep. If I feel like crap, I didn't. 

I'm not sure how the measurements on a wrist can tell whether a person is sleeping soundly or lightly. But I'm sure technology will prevail eventually.

The details from the different screens tell me that I use too much energy. Duh. I knew that. Still. 

So how far have I gone to date? 

423 miles? Seems impossible. But I am on the move all of the time...unless it is too hot and humid, I am taking many walks on our gravel road or around through the woods to just peer at things and observe nature. I also go on intended hikes and other times, just wander about looking for something to take a photo of.

During the month of July with all of the heat and humidity, I did not 'walk' a lot. I avoided that heat and humidity as it made me feel wiped out. Hiking in the forest or at KVR was not recommended due to the monster skeeters and deerflies.

The wonders of technology are pretty interesting. I did compare the phone app to the watch and to a measured distance and found it fairly spot on. 

Enough of that. 

I do like some of the convivences of this technical world. Especially digital cameras!

Yesterday's morning view from the porch....

Feeling Free

I finally got to toss my bicycle in the back of the 'Ru and head out on Sunday morning. It was another one of those blistering hot and humid days. 

Sometimes I just 'gotta' get off the farm and blow a bit of energy off. What better way than to get on a decent bicycle and make your own breezes?

I bought this bike in August of 2019. I've really enjoyed the adventures I've had with it. It is a quasi-mountain/road bike. It wasn't the color I wanted, it wasn't as cool as other bikes in the shop, but I wanted a good sturdy bike to get from point A to point B. [And that did not cost me an arm and a leg]

I wanted a bike that could handle gravel roads as well as paved roads and perhaps an easy bike dirt track.

It does get me around and sometimes I am lucky enough to get out early and catch some beautiful morning light. 

I love taking my Infrared converted camera while riding the nice paved trail at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The ride I take is along the old original highway that runs between the small towns of LaFarge and Rockton.

The trail is not terribly difficult and there are two hills that do challenge the legs. The scenery varies as it goes through the valley. There are little ponds where I often go in the spring and fall to see what waterfowl is migrating. There are bridges that cross the Kickapoo and there are meadows and rock formations to see.

I packed my IR Camera along with my pocket camera. On a whim, I put the 550nm filter on my IR camera. I've never had good luck with that filter so I thought I'd give it another go. The best time to shoot IR is in the middle of the day in the summer. The different wavelengths of light are just so interesting.

Infrared Photography can be so interesting and challenging. In camera for this filter, the white balance setting is done on something neutral like concrete or a grey card.

I won't go into all that 'developing' the shots entail, however, as you can see, IR can give the photographer a wide array of Creative Fun.

The shot below is what the colors look like in the original shot. It was cool here with a slight breeze. The river was on the left and on the right was a small bluff with large cracks that allow cold air to come from below the ground to vent out.

I tossed a lot of shots as they just didn't work out well, but these were my favorite from the IR Experiment.

I normally stop at the ponds and spend some time, but the deerflies were absolutely vicious and unrelenting. 

I did stop long enough to grab a shot with my pocket camera of a Highbush Cranberry! These are starting to turn and were show stopping!

The yellow cone flowers in this Meadow was so stunning, it was worth the quick stop and a few shots of all the stunning flowers.

By 11AM, the heat and humidity was brutal and I was back at the Subaru. It was worth it. 

Yesterday I dropped my bicycle off at the bike shop in town. It desperately needs a tune up, new cables, and a new chain. I'm going to have them install a back rack also. I'd like to be able to add some 'stuff' to carry. Right now I use a fanny pack and a little pack on the front of the bike. I'm also looking to get a carrier for the 'Ru.

The guy at the shop said they had some on order and he'd walk me through setting it up and adjusting it for me. Once it is set up, it should be easy to take on and off. 

Currently I pick up the bike and sort of shove it in the long bed of the 'Ru for going places to ride. 

The shop guy also gave me some ideas on other trails at KVR that are nice for a beginner trail rider like me. 

In the 1980's my sister and I both owned 12 speed Raleigh's that weighed a ton. We took a sister sister trip on bikes together. We rode 70 miles on rural back roads to get from my dad's house to my Aunt's lake cottage for an overnighter and then ride back. We had no GPS, no cell phones in that era.

I'd driven most of the route with a map before we did our trip. I highlighted the back roads with a marker and that was our guide.

I still look on that two day adventure as the one of the coolest trips of all time.

We were young, we were free, and we were awesome.

[and we had two days off from being moms!]

The Glaciator Shoot

Go ahead and skip this if
you aren't into toy Photography!

I was determined to really work on getting a MOC [My Own Creation] set up with this challenging Lego Character I found. He is from a set created in 2009-2010. Some of the minifigs that came with this set are now 'worth' around $40 to $50 because they are not made any more. Interesting? Right? For a TOY??? 

Anyway, after all my morning chores were done and along with a walk in the woods with Charlie, I spent the hot afternoon on Saturday trying to finally work on getting the lighting for the set and shooting the minifigure to my satisfaction.

Okay, it may be a stupid and frivolous sort of thing to do for a person of my [ahem] age. But it really engages my mind and imagination.

The layout and lighting were pretty much the same as last time. I added an LED flashlight to position on Glaciator's face and gave him his red dynamite to hold.

I set the face mister on its side and turned it on. It took about 20 shots to find the right 'mist' effect.

I turned him slightly and moved him. I found a nice bright white balloon light and pushed it up to his bum. If I'd had a clear Lego Plate, I would have lit him up from underneath. I wanted the light to shine through his clear bits and yet see his face too.

The face mister was set behind him to mist into glow of the lights from behind the transparent wall.

I had to brighten his eyes in post otherwise they really don't show up at all.

Then I had the bright idea of doing a real close up of him and spray him with the mister and some water. He and the set were wet anyway from previous shots.

He looks rather menacing here with his mouth open. The first shot was taken with a very shallow depth of field and the light did not appear in his mouth.

This shot below was done with a more depth, and no flashlight on his face.

This allowed the glow in his mouth to show up. What a difference DOF and lighting makes!

I can't decide which looks better as I like them both for different reasons.

I would have liked to have 'shot' him with dynamite in both hands, but I only have one bundle of dynamite and I kept everything in the same tone of color except for his eyes.

His body is more a a grey color when seen in regular light and his red eyes are not so obvious.

This was done for my own entertainment. I'm keeping this MOC and am going to change it up slightly. It is an interesting way to play with light and I keep imagining different ways to use it.

How would a mirror reflect the light and mist? Would a different color produce a different atmospheric feeling?

And so forth.

With Saturday's temperatures so hot and humid, it was a pleasure to work inside with tiny lights and toys.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.