Finally.

Monday night was particularly stressful with my duties as a Caregiver. My 'patient' woke up at 1AM and I was able to get him back to bed around 3:30. I never got back to sleep. Around 4 I gave up trying to sleep and made a decision.

For my mental attitude [which would be rotten and evil without a good night's sleep], I ditched the plan of running errands. When Respite turned up, I left with my backpack and bug spray. I was going to take some serious quiet time.

Last year I hike 1,000 + miles at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and other County Parks nearby. Imagine the change I've adjusted to. I haven't gone on a real hike since May 15th. Imagine my withdrawals from Hiking. It was as bad as I would imagine a withdrawal from a drug!

Our area has received a lot of rain. Monday, some areas received over 2 inches or more and the Kickapoo River was rising. Not much of a flood, but the river had seeped into quite a few hay fields and pastures.

I decided to take my feet to the Wintergreen Trail. It is interesting enough and short enough so I can casually hike and look around.

I always make a stop at the 'lookout' and peer down at the river below. It is easy access and only a few minutes from the Visitor Center. 

On nice weekends, this is a busy trail. I choose not to go during those times for obvious reasons.

The trails were reported as muddy and buggy, so I didn't think I'd find anyone else along the way. I was right. I had the place to myself.
And one mosquito found me in a very wet area where the trail goes through weeds and flowers that where waist high.

The shot below is near the end of the trail which stops on the top of a bluff. There is no magical view of the river, but you can watch it and listen to it between the Pines and Hemlocks.

This may be one of my favorite places to stop and just sit for a while. 

I hiked the whole trail to the dead end quickly so I could see if I could find cool and interesting fungi. Then, I took my time returning to the car, walking slowly to peer at every mushroom, interesting tree, and view of the river.

This is another shot I take every single time I hike this trail. I look for this tree that seems to point the way. 

Of course, I did take the Minime and Charlie along as well as a couple other characters. 

Here we found tiny seedlings of pines growing on an obscure part of the bluff. This is off trail so hopefully no careless hiker will trample them.

[Don't look too closely at the minifigs face...how in the heck did a real Charlie hair get stuck on the minifig's face?]

The spot we found the seedlings is right next to the rocks that are evident in the photo.

I'm going to save the cool fungi and other photos not from my cellphone on another post. This morning I am running out of time between chores and our 'date' with Steve for an adventure. 

With all the rain we've had and areas of muddy water, the fishing won't be great so we may just do a drive and a lunch day. 

Rich looks forward to these weekly outings more than anything else right now. 

This Challenge....

Manual focusing with a Lensbaby lens. The following shots were taken with a Lensbaby Sweet 50. What the heck is that?

Well the lens itself is odd looking because you can change the place of focus. Choosing your aperture and place of focus is a challenge. Most lenses are static, they stay in place and you focus on what you want composing your photo with a fair amount of ease.

The Lensbaby Sweet 50 looks like this. You can swivel the lens about to change the spot of focus you wish to have. The one pictured is a Sweet 35. To the right of the shot you can see the apertures that can be picked for shooting.

The lens can be locked in place so your focus point is in the middle or slightly off center. The smaller the aperture, the smaller the point of focus.

Why on earth would anyone want to monkey with something like this? This is considered an 'art' lens. It allows the photographer to step out of their comfort zone. The lens can create unique affects inside the camera. Meaning, no after processing needed in most cases.

The shots can create dreamy bokeh with dreamy distortions...or produce unusual effects in camera.
 

I shot this crab spider on a white moss rose. The focus was moved by me to try and catch this little spider crawling around on the petals. Was it easy? Oh heck no!

It wouldn't have been easy with any lens at all. It took me several tries and a lot of patience to get this one shot. I shot it at f 2.5 which didn't give me a whole lot of focus room. But I liked the challenge.

Here is another example. A spent sunflower in black and white.

I went to a larger aperture and backed away from the flower to capture just the flower in focus. I could have done this one with any lens, but I wanted to practice with this one.

These are a few of the other shots I felt worth keeping after walking around with this odd contraption on my Olympus camera. 

I used focus peaking which works most of the time to see what exactly was in focus. Not every shot came out as expected. 

This is an alphalfa flower blooming in a hay field.

A beautiful blue Chicory flower.

Highbush Cranberries

Nasturtium, ready to open.

In this shot, I shifted the focus slightly to the right on this oak tree. I wanted to show how the focus shifts and the areas around are 'blurred'. 

I'm fairly sure that this beloved tree will disappear once the loggers get to it. 

Sunshine walking past some Vervain flowers in her pasture. [Yes, she still needs a hair cut and a few burrs pulled from her mane]

Fishy Fishy Fishy

Wednesday was Fish Fishy day. Steve introduced us to a friend of his who has a float on the Mississippi River. He picks people up at a designated place and then transports them to the float [think like a floating barge] on the river. So we had to drive across the Mississippi bridge to Iowa and back to Prairie duChien for fishing at the dock that is wheel chair accessible.

The guys couldn't think of a way to safely get Rich into a boat from a steep bank and then climb a ladder on to the float. That would have been the best thing for catching fish but we decided on going back to the handicapped dock near a marina to do our fishing.

Steve thought ahead as usual and brought a table umbrella to keep the hot sun off from Rich. It wasn't as hot and humid as most days have been this summer and the umbrella really helped quite a bit.

The two shots below are photos taken from the back seat while crossing the river.

 

The scenery wasn't that exceptional at the dock by the marina, but we had quite a few people stop by to chat with us.

I wandered around and took shots as I was mesmerized by the reflections of the clouds and trees in the water that showed up so differently in Infrared than in regular light.

I am THAT kid in grade school art class that drew trees with purple leaves and sometimes orange skies with a black sun. Of course that disturbed my art teacher who complained to my father. My father got very irritated with said teacher and told her that she shouldn't make all kids see the world through HER eyes.

He then asked if she knew that some children saw the world differently than adults did?

I'll never forget how proud I was of my dad then. I knew he had my back...always. He was an artist of some note himself and understood creative minds.

The three shots above are all favorites of mine. There is pure joy in seeing the world in other light spectrums.

The 'boys' caught enough for us to have a meal. Holy Cow! Steve cleaned them for us and what a wonderful meal we had Thursday night.

On the way home from fishing, I snapped more IR shots out the back seat window.

It was fun to do. While Steve drives and chats with Rich, I look out the window and enjoy being driven around. After all, I've been THE driver for 10 years now. 

The shot below is fascinating to me. If you leave Prairie duChien by one of the back roads, you drive by some interesting spots...

What stories does this wrecked houseboat have to tell? Steve asked if he should stop the car so I could get out and really shoot. [What a good friend!] 
I didn't need to...

And then we went past this large boat. Was it a boat house was it a a tug? I have no idea. However, it looked to be the perfect place to have a spook house. ...Errrr, spook boat!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Sun, not too hot, clouds, a slight breeze, and good company.

And a happy Fisherman.

...and off we went....

Who needs sleep?

Sleeping is a thing we are supposed to do.

It reenergizes you for the next day. 

I am an cyclical sleeper.

This means I can sleep like a log for quite a few nights and then I am wide awake... or wake up and can't get back to sleep on other nights.

As a child I never had this problem. Maybe it is because my brain decides to be overactive and have its own clock. Or maybe it is my age.

Or maybe it is hubby in the other room waking up at all odd hours and sitting with the light on. I'll get up and check on him [I can see him from my bed in the living room].

1:30AM

"What's up?"

"I dunno. Can't sleep." 

I watch him for a bit and note the struggle he is having. We aren't talkers in the middle of the night. More like 'grunters'.  Sometimes his meds seem to make him wakeful at night. It is a killer for me on those nights I sleep like a child.

At 3 AM he asked to get dressed. I helped him. 

Lucky me! 

I remembered that the Perseid Meteor Showers were supposed to be peaking. I got hubby dressed and warmed him up a cup of coffee. Then I trotted outside and stood in the yard. I watched the NE sky and suddenly saw a 'falling star'. 

I went back in and made his coffee for him as well as my decafe. 

"Whatchya doin'?"

I held up a tripod and camera. Why pass up a sleepless night? May as well make good use of it.

The moon was very bright so the meteor shower wouldn't be as evident with the naked eye. 

Below is our place among the few pines we have and a star trail of 15 minutes. The horizontal streaks are more than likely satellites?

The bathroom night light showed up through the windows of the house. The ghostly smudge in the driveway [bottom right] is me walking out with a cup of decafe.

I pointed the camera to the NE a bit better and tried shooting over our shed.

On the left there is a streak that starts, stops, and then continues. I think I am pretty sure that was a meteor!

Cool beans.

I don't know if the other streaks were also meteors, but I can pretend they were.

By the time 5AM rolled around, it was getting to be foggy. I had run back and forth to the house to pour hubby his coffee and to make him his breakfast. The camera was on a timer and did its thing without me.

I took 5 15 minute LiveComp shots and decided on these two. 

The last shot was a quick one as the skies lightened. In this shot, there was an airplane flying over the house.

By 7, hubby was ready for his morning nap. I helped him to bed and adjusted his 02 hoses. Charlie and I piled into the car [in my PJ's!] and drove to my favorite spot to watch the sun come up.

The sun was already up and shining, however we had valley fog which is amazing to see too.

My first glimpse of the ridge didn't seem to promising...

but as I got higher on the ridge, it looked more and more scenic.

I parked at the cattle gates to a large pasture and stepped out with Charlie. I did a little happy dance and enjoyed the views.

The sun came up a bit higher...and the trees started to glow.

I really really ...really

do miss my morning walks and drives on the ridgetops the landscape always leaves me a bit breathless even after all of these years.

Ahhh, and finally, there IT was...

...and in black and white...

I couldn't decide which shot I liked best.

I do love this land that I call home. 

I promised myself I'd go back to bed and take a nap when I got home.

But.

There were chores to do, tanks to fill, lunch to make because today is Wednesday and that means Fishing/Adventure Day for hubby. He looks forward to it so much that I can't tell him I am too tired.

So here we go....!

They call it a Slash.

 I did some more digging into logging forests and the messes that are left behind. The loggers only take the logs that will earn them money. The tops are cut off and left lay. Other trees are damaged by the logging and are left standing. Trees that are cut and discovered hollow are also just left to lay.

They call it Slash.

The mess can serve a purpose. The logs decay providing nutrients to the soil.  The debris can prevent erosion and will provide cover for animals. 

[To me this didn't seem as though it would prevent erosion...however....]

The tree tops apparently provide food for deer as they are browsers and will eat the ends of the branches.

Yet I keep thinking that the people who own the land are not conservationists. I doubt there will be any replanting of the trees, but one can hope that trees will grow back. Well trees would grow back IF there were seeds left behind or saplings untouched.

The damage done to the oaks may be permanent and spread as Oak Wilt is an issue in our area.

I imagine that in a few years, this forest will produce amazing fungi and slime molds as well as a some sort of transformation. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a text from Glen the Hunter. He leases the part of the forest I photo'd and the woods all the way through the valley. Glen is a bow hunter and only hunts the land for a few weekends a year. He parks often at the edge of our property to hunt. We made an agreeable arrangement for access to the meadow about 6 years ago.

He always texts me to let me know when he is coming to check cameras or when he is hunting. He is from the Kenosha area of Wisconsin where I used to live. He generally stops and visits a bit each year. 

I texted back, asking him to give me his opinion on the logging on the land he'd leased for hunting. At the end of the day I got a text back with an apology for not stopping out to visit. 

"It is a mess!" His ATV broke down while checking on cameras and he said they had a terrible time dragging it out. If one could read through the lines of short texts...he was as shocked as I was. A bit later he texted me back and said that the owner ... said they would 'clean it up'. The emoji sent with it was a figure shrugging. 

I replied that the only cleaning up of that magnitude would be by bulldozer. My opinion.

Glen then asked if I'd keep an eye out for property for sale, as he sold property in Kenosha and was looking for property in our area.

We talked a bit. I'll skip over most of it. Glen then offered to purchase my place and let me live here. Bold move by text, but his heart sounded like it was in it thinking he'd help me out by a huge influx of money.

This was the third time someone had expressed wanting to purchase my place this past week.

I of course wouldn't do such an arrangement. I would be a tenant in my own house and there would be too many variables that could occur.

I think Glen was rather shocked at the condition of the land that he has leased now for the past few years. He leased it because of the amazing forest. I doubt he will lease it after this year.

Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't help but think about the forest to the east of me.

Can you imagine the fire danger if we have a drought?
Yeah. I should just pretend the forest next to me no longer exists.

Slash can be cleaned up with forest mulchers which are machines with large grinders. It can also be cleaned up with bulldozers which pile the Slash for burning.

I highly doubt that the absentee owner of the land will put that kind of effort and money into cleaning up nearly 500 acres of forest after it is logged.

I learned something new today. 

Slash.

It seems an appropriate word for this kind of logging.

Never thought of it in this manner.

Gobsmacked...Astounded....

After the Saturday's storms blew through, it had cooled off. So I took Charlie for a walk along the gravel road. I decided to duck down one of the logger's skidder lanes. Talk about mud and slick walking, it made icy conditions seem easy.

I was curious as to how much they were taking from my favorite steep hillside. This was the place I hiked every day for nearly 30 years. I called it my happy place.

Photo from last fall.

Below...the Dry Run.

This was taken last year during peak fall colors.

The spring snow melt and waters from the ridge run down 

this crooked dry run. The roots of the trees
hold back the soil and rocks.

And..

now... [not exactly the same spot, but this is near the dry run]. I'll have to wait until winter to get a good look at what remains. 

[Panos with the cell phone]

Do the owners of this land even know what this looks like? Does the guy -- Glen who leases this forest for bow hunting know what has transpired?

Does anyone have any idea what the heavy rains will do to this fragile soil on the hillsides? By the time I'd slogged down to this spot, the heat and humidity had returned. I was literally gobsmacked, astounded, and totally blown away by the destruction.

[Yeah, I thought of some words that shouldn't be posted on a family friendly blog too...]

I'd heard the one logger sawing all week... and trees thundering as they hit the ground. 

I was hot, sweaty, muddy, and shocked. I slogged back up through the slippery mud. I wanted to cry.

As I walked past the piles of logs to be picked up, I reminded myself that this was not my land even if  I knew this land better than those whose names were on the deeds. 

No more will I be able to find my landmark trees or sit on my favorite outcropping of rocks and enjoy the deep forest.

And to think that they may end up doing this to the nearly 1 square mile of land with two valleys in it.

Hubby reminded me once more that it was none of my business.

I am in deep mourning for the land I love.

I suppose, in defense of the owners of the estate, they probably need the $$$$ for property taxes or some such thing. The cropland has been left untouched.

Ok. Enough about that.

I feel personally affronted by the destruction and reckless use of logging. As someone else suggested to me. "You know, people often log their land before they decide to sell it."

In my mind, the land is worth so much more with careful management of the forest. 

I swear. I heard the forest weeping...

To be continued....

I was ... bored--ish.

Charlie...that goof ball woke us up at 4am. He'd gone into the bedroom by Rich and started howling. I mean howling like he was being murdered. I leapt out of bed and hurried into the bedroom. We still don't know why he started howling.

But that got us up. It was nice in a way because Rich was done with his breakfast, meds, nebs, and morning routine in time for me to drive up to the ridge to watch the sunrise. It felt like a treat to get to my favorite spot and watch the sky and clouds turn colors.

The first shot is with my regular camera lens, the second was with the Lensbaby SOL 22 lens. 

The shot below is more soft as this is what the artistic Lensbaby lens does. I sort of like it!
I wasn't sure about using it in a landscape situation, but without experimenting, we never really know if something really works or not, right?

I got to the Farmer's Market to get some pie for hubby. Ruth is a Mennonite that has a bakery and she is generally there on Market day. I was going to get an apple pie but Ruth recommended the raspberry or the cherry pie. She said fresh apples from the orchard made much better pies that the ones she had. 

I left with a raspberry pie, a cherry pie, 3 bundles of fresh carrots, and several large tomatoes. 

I spent the morning chopping up and blanching the carrots for vacuum sealing and freezing. Last week I froze 3 dozen ears of sweet corn and 3 pounds of green beans.

Growing my vegetables is very satisfying, but with the extra work I have to do here, I've decided that purchasing fresh veggies at stands and markets is easier than toiling in a garden. I'm almost at my goal of fresh frozen veggies for the year.

While cutting up carrots, I had a funny idea. There is a new 'phone' app called NaukNauk that will take a single uploaded photo and turn it into a 5 second animation. So I tried it.

Doesn't everyone need a Ninja Warrior
to help with food chopping???

Both Rich and I giggled over what the AI generated mini movie did with my character. 

By the time I finished the carrots, a full blown storm arrived. The winds were fierce even down in our hollow, we had an inch of rain in less than 30 minutes.

Since the rains kept coming down in buckets, I decided to open up DxO labs and try some of the things they have in their Analog Collection. One of them is called Multilens. It was fun. Not sure what I'd use it for, but it took the photo in a different direction.

I then tried the double exposure component with this shot. 

It doesn't really work as a true double exposure with a shot like this. The program doubles the shot and allows you to resize it, adjust it, and even motion blur it. 

The double exposure section also allows you to add another shot, this time I didn't do that.

I just did a blur on the edges. It was interesting, but not something I'd use often.

I did this one of Charlie in the winter woods a few years ago. This worked out so much better as Charlie was on a white snowy background. One shot of Charlie in the bright snow, and one shot of the forest behind him.

This was done in DxO Labs.

I did an unintentional double exposure. 

I took a few shots of this. The camera was on a tripod and I set the camera up to take 3 shots as I sprayed a bit of mist at the shots.

I set it up in layers and I didn't align them. I liked the result and dubbed it a double exposure.

Dr. Cob and his dog Cog. It seems they are doing some time warping with the minibots.

Uffdah. Time to get out my cleaning supplies and get at it while hubby is up and about.

Nothing like being literally stuck indoors!

But I best get at it.

We are going on our third inch of rain and we are not even in the 'flood watch' area.