SO, What's UP?

Okay October went so fast, and now it's November already? I've been laying low...doing what has to be done and resting when I need want to. I recently told my sis that I live a very exclusive life, meaning many things are excluded...haha...to me it's a luxury to have a couple good meals a day and a comfortable place to lay my head.  Simple is what I strive for, sometimes the outside world draws me off and destroys my tranquil existence. For now I have restored hozho, balance. 

 Here's what's up in my little world...with some photos of a recent soul soothing walk around my local State Park, Goodale.  My version of the Navajo's Blessing Way. 

                                           calming water

After dinner Laptopping:

Most of my net time is spent creating a blog post, reading and commenting on your blogs, uploading photos to Flickr, arguing politics on Facebook, reading and responding to email, and visits to Find A Grave, Ancestry, and eBird. That and a few searches sums up my interaction with the outside world! 

          

             good reflections 

daylight hours:

Are mostly used up doing chores around the homestead, chopping wood for the nightly fire, keeping twigs picked up  out of the yard, and doing some painting at Mom's, getting her screen porch spruced up a bit, so when she returns home she will be super surprised!  Speaking of Mom she is doing very good, still in good health and recently celebrated her 93rd birthday!  There's  the occasional trip to town for supplies, I always have bins full of twigs to drop off at the trash dumpsters and occasionally I bump into people I haven't seen in a long time. 

                                        Bright cheerful colors

New Toys:

A new angle grinder is now in my shed! (thanks Mom for the birthday money) Very handy for sharpening tools, and I'm sure I will find many more uses for it.  Got it for 20% off at Harbor Freight.  It is an inexpensive one but I don't figure to be using it on a daily basis so it should serve me well. 

AND:

For my birthday I received: the complete box set of all 6 seasons of Breaking Bad! Absolutely loved/love that series...it is fun to go over it frame by frame. The fact it was filmed in beautiful New Mexico is a bonus too.

AND: a new portable DVD player to take along when I 'm out traveling...if you recall I blew the other one up in a charging mishap.  The new one has blue tooth earphones! SO if that jerk (you know the one I'm talking about) is running a generator I will still be able to hear my DVD of the night!

                                     a peaceful Eastern Phoebe 

 Some recent evening activities:

Watched almost the entire PBS series on the Vietnam War.  I knew classmates who were drafted and sent away to Vietnam from my high school back in '69 and '70.  I wore my POW bracelet, and I just wanted the war to end.  This documentary put the entire era into sharp focus... conclusion: It was a complete waste of life on all sides.  :o(

Currently watching the PBS Frontline Report on Russia and Putin I hope this can help me understand that issue more. Being informed is important to me.  

AND just for the hell of it....watching The Walking Dead new season (8) has begun!! YAHOO.  It's a wonderful hour of mindless mayhem, where one can cheer for the good guys even tho the line between good and evil is very blurred.   Our heroes are fighting back  against Negan and his authoritarian regime.  

The leader Rick made a speech.  

"those who would kill, take, steal, and carve out the world only for themselves, we will destroy"

Wow, we need someone brave enough to say that in real life!  I'm wishing for a super hero? 

                                           a  quiet still cormorant 

 I'm having a visitor! It's going to be wonderful, my baby sister is coming for the whole weekend!! I am excited! It's kinda quiet around here these days just me and the dogs...so some laughter, and some chatter and to actually have someone speak back when I'm talking will be kinda nice! We have planned a day trip for Saturday so hopefully I'll find something of interest to put in this blog!

Next thing you know it's gonna be Thanksgiving, and then the silly season and then a new year. 2018 wow.  In February I will celebrate the 10th anniversary of this blog! I must do something mindblowing to commemorate that milestone. 

How's your daily grind going?

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

the Fallen...

With all the awesome fall color I saw in NC, VA and TN on my recent trip I almost forgot about the fall happening right here at home!  Course with all the leaves in my yard I should of seen the clues....Yesterday I needed my body of water fix so on the way home from dropping off the recyclables I stopped at our local Goodale State Park where all the Cyprus are flaming rust!! Some needles fell with the recent rain and wind storms we had but enough were on for me to enjoy it... and I'll share it with y'all  

This is the view looking to the lake from the boat area..I wish I had my own kayak its a great place to put in and have a quiet paddle they do rent kayaks too...western hikers have to be wary of bears, here in SC... 

We have other big toothed things to be wary of...

The lake is so calm its perfect for a nice float---

The ferns were all in various stages of color change ...

Photo missing,

even the rocks seem more colorful right now..

And this weird Spider it's called an Arrow Shaped Micrathena 

and the trees were full of yellow rumps...Audubon's 

These Pitchers look like they're singing all hitting high notes together...
The Autumn Leaves Are Falling..la-te-dah

Now back to work raking up the Fallen...!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Fall Back...or Free Fall?

Today we had a picnic to say farewell to Maggie she went back to her home today...sad to see her go we will miss her but she needs time to get used to her new family and home now that they have returned from Houston. 

picnic

the trees are finally starting to change...

especially the Cyprus trees...

This week we cut the grass in the field...its like cutting hay in fact that is what it is... well I say we my sis is doing my chores for me...while Jimmy waited ...and Floss had a roll around 

Annie had a play in it...

Sis put a few wheel barrow loads on my compost pile...

...checked on the 30 little Eastern Cedar trees that I planted on my back property line this spring...each one survived and are up to about 7" tall now --should double in size each yr...lets see when I'm 80 how tall will they be? I guess you need a degree to figure that one :o) 5ft tall in 4 yrs maybe?  I'm 5'6" so should hide me quite well ...The best thing about these trees is they reach a mature size and stop growing...so I should have a nice privacy screen by the time I'm 6 ft under wouldn't you say?

Walking Dead on amc tonight be there or be square!!

My matching casts...one is to come off on 11/11

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Photog Day!

Well my last post was a bit of a downer, I wish life could be hunky dory all the time but ANK...it's not so anyways as I had hoped I got out with my sister when she visited and it was a beautiful day! Cool and breezy, fall is on the way.  We visited the state park that is less than 5 minutes from my house so I guess I should be making my top 10 list of things that help me defeat  the grumpies? eh? I will save that one for another time.



The water lilies were really showing off today! The lake was full of flora! Ran into some other "amateur photogs" and we compared notes on what was interesting at the lake today..They got a good shot of the Blue Heron my sister and I flushed out of the back cove of the lake.  We didn't get a shot of him but sure enjoyed hearing him ONK at us as he flew away with long legs dangling..I like the wavy movement and  reflections of the trees in this photo and the highlight on the fern!

                   

Once again I enjoyed the cattails by the water they are starting to bristle out with seed...

I don't know all the plants I encounter

I didn't plan this shot but it sure looks planned! I love when good things JUST happen don't you?

this was a PLANNED Depth of Field shot..I don't know the person in this kayak but I think the kayak in the bokeh really helps support the "witness" of the reed stalks in the foreground! Whatta you think?

We've had a fair amount of rain lately and mushrooms are all over the place, my dogs (the girls) LOVE to go "shrooming" they know which ones to eat, I DON'T so I watch...but apparently butterflies know which ones to eat too!

The eastern tiger swallowtail male and female

A lady strolling a very cute boy of about a yr old pointed out this lovely writing spider...

                  

IT looks like all the turtle nests have been raided and only the wrinkled and dried up shell casings remain...Raccoons maybe? I'm only guessing these are turtle nests..you can see the hole where the eggs were dug up..

Around the backside of the lake my sister who has a great eye for spotting, found 2 Woodstocks resting in the high limbs of the Cyprus trees..

                
and here is the other one...they were a bit far away so some grain here...

                                  It was a fun day out!!! I was hugged by nature!!

PEACE