If you build it they will come, or something like that!

Today a wasp stung my butt cheek!! I have been stung many times before on many body parts,  this one is a first...man of all the luck!  So happy the Summer Tanagers arrived they love to eat wasps!  Birds are so clever, they go where the weather is good and the bugs are a plenty.  We can and should learn from them.

I was busy clearing out a spot where the brush has gotten out of hand...and I probably stepped on a nest....

So much work to do and yet my soul is saying,

"why you working all the time when all you really want to do is ramble"  So while I work I daydream, scheme, and plot my next ramble!

this is the pile of trimmings I worked through it's now loaded on the trailer to haul away

Back in March I asked my sister when she could come over from CO and stay with Mom  and my dogs for a couple months she chose August and September,,,,so I've been day dreaming ever since! It's like a book of blank pages ready to be filled.  

our little water garden 

I don't like to announce plans cause nothing is in stone!! But I can dream it and plan it, and if all goes as planned it will happen!!  I have soooo many bullet points on my list that it would take mine and a few other clones life times to do it all and truth be known way into the future I would never say I'm done...at some point I may have to say I can't go another step due to age, but the wanderlust inside will never be quenched,  never lay  dormant,  and never be let go of.  I have  had it my entire life!  Just looking at one flower makes me want to see all flowers!

rhododendron blossoms 

I had to work and make a living so I had precious jewels of free time in my adulthood and tried to make the best of it! I did however start my rambling quite early...I actually ran away from home at 16! Yep I'm a teen aged runaway but to me I was not running away I was just going on a ramble!  I inherited my rambling gene from my dad...he didn't live long but he rambled his entire life...not exactly good "husband" material when you marry a rambler better be willing to spend long stretches alone!  Unfortunately the gene is all dad left me, so no silver spoon to bankroll my wishlist! I still don't have a pot,  but  be danged neither did my dad!  When I came home from FL this winter and told my Mom I had stopped in St Augustine she said, "oh your daddy went there I recall him talking about that same place." Well ,I'll be!! If only I had known I'd have had a little chat with my dad's spirit while there.  He pretty much stayed in the Southeastern part of the country but he rambled up north too... my baby sister was born in Michigan, after he moved us up there I was 3 then.  

some of the roses in the yard 

Once it's inside of you ....you can  just forget a normal life--it doesn't matter where you are; you dream of being somewhere else!   Lately I've been thinking about my life's time.  I wanted to move to upstate NY, Lake Placid  in the Adirondacks,  mentioned that in my last post comments....when I yearned to get out of NYC.  I had  plans but all that changed when mom got sick and needed help...so I never made it to the Adirondacks, the Finger Lakes Region , like I wanted to do, I did make it to Niagara Falls, Vermont, NH, MA, and ME...and Lancaster Co. in PA.

snow peas and impatient 

 I've been charting my  route for a 60 or so day trip...for late this summer I'm thinking the Laurel Highlands of PA, The Finger Lakes of NY, the Great Lakes and Upper Peninsula of Michigan, around Lake Superior and area of Canada, Isle Royal NP, Lake of the Woods, Boundary Waters in MN, across upper MN, to ND and dropping southwest to the Theo. Roosevelt NP and ...then ??? 

Butterweed ragwort,  wildflowers I scattered the seed last fall this is a noxious weed in Ohio! Here in my yard it's a welcome sight and a native plant!

I've yet to finish charting for the return trip.   I have family in MI, and IN, So maybe drop south from ND,  to  SD and the Badlands I've visited that area before but missed Wounded Knee, and it would be wonderful to visit some WLR's on the plains, and then eventually head southeast through NB and into IN....I applied for a new passport about 2 weeks ago....as mine expired back in the 80's! In order to make things real you must live as if it is real and then just do it!!

So there it is!! My "proposed" summer trip plans--

Time...well spent.

PEACE

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

Indiana Corn and more...

Sorry I have not had a chance to visit your blogs I miss y'all I hope to catch up with you when we arrive in CO. Currently we are in Indiana we have spent 2 days visiting my mom's brother and tomorrow we head back out...My Uncle lives in a cornfield! Here is the Kids playing in the corn!

                

I enjoyed poking around in my uncle's garden...he let me pick some goodies, NOT this huge cabbage...but it was tempting..

THESE are so good I am taking some to my sis in CO...

THE corn is so fresh I picked it and we had some for dinner tonight delicious

While they reminisced I took a drive around some of the dirt roads and found a few interesting things besides Corn....

And some young blue birds learning the ropes from Mom n Dad up on the wire...

And Annie went on the wild side....

It was not a good day for photos...we had some drizzle, and heavy cloud cover most of the time since we arrived...quite chilly too!!

Tomorrow we head for Illinois, eventually Iowa, then Nebraska, then drop down into Colorado...While driving I don't get much time to stop and take photos...But we'll see what I can get along the way!!

PEACE

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

Part one -About to Rippen...

A busy week here in DixxeLand, mom who was away for a month arrived back home a week ago so we been working on her remembering the rules...she still thinks she is 19, NOT 91 so...more rules for her than when she was 19! She had a pretty weird day today everything she touched she broke, burned, or left in shambles! I hope her Karma can get a kick in the butt and she gets into a better groove.  I didn't write it here in this Blog but I wrote here about the scary fall she had a week before she left. She is all healed up now. 

So it seems like I've been waiting all half my life for when I would finally become 62! I know most people wish to be 21
-----> not me!! So in celebration of turning 62 IM turning everyone's life upside down!! (again) 

Yes I have 3 dogs and a 91 yr old  young to care for its quite a responsible, and it can become suffocating in light now of the increasing memory problems...so I've been warning my siblings of this BIG Event that is upcoming in my life...Hell nor High Water will stop me.

SO this week Im dog sitting for my sister (M), when she returns to pick up her dog I am packing my mom, and my 3 dogs, her oxygen machine, her walker, her nebulizer machine, her canes, her medicines, and MY CAMPING gear in the van and we are going on a trip!! I hope to spend my actual birthday in a National Rec. Area of some type so I can my "GOLDEN AGE PASS" or whatever its called these days...

So when you have lots of lemons make lots of lemonade. We will be making a slow westward trek to Colorado to the home of my other sister (E)...there we will hold up turn her life upside down for at least a month for me to ripen to the Golden Age, and then I will leave on my own solitary journey.  Mom has her own room and bath in E's house...I will have a room that is currently described as Jimmy's room...Jimmy is a DOG by the way so....Im taking some fleas spray JIC its HIS bed Im sleeping in. Haha

E has agreed to keeping my 2 big girlz for me while I go on my sabbatical and little Casey will be my sidekick he takes up very little room and travel does not stress him in the least.  Annie has a bad joint on her front leg that gets her to limping almost right away while hiking...if she doesn't over do she is fine but I don't want her to be in pain .. Flossie barks at everyone she sees so not a good camp dog due to noise levels..SO just me and ole' KC

I know this is going to be an awesome adventure for me, for my mom, and for my dogs, E is welcoming us with open arms and she has space for all of us and M owns a vacation home there too so if we start stepping on each other I will head over there with my pack of dogs and give E a break before I head out and leave my loved ones in her capable hands..

Family what we would do with out them?? I always say I carry my Baggage in a backpack!

I'll tell you more when I know more! I got the tune up, have some tires to buy and I wish I could get my cruise fixed but that may not happen..I will have to put my Right foot to the test.  Finally there is GOLD in my future!!

This essay continues in Part 2, fixin' things:

PEACE

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

IN Search of Waterfalls-

Yesterday we took a drive up to the Pisgah National Forest in NC. Its not that far in miles, but we took the scenic route and stopped alot to see things and I enjoyed stopping at this great Junk shop...the American Pickers got nothing on me...I know a bargain when I find one..lol this was a great stop I enjoyed browsing the stuff while Indy snoozed in the shade outside--

I made a couple of purchases and Ill save that for another time...cause our main objective here was to hike and to see some waterfalls...BUT along the way we had to stop and snap a shot of this lovely barn setting...

we saw 3 different waterfalls...this first one, I totally didnt find out the name of...it was next to this lady who was selling fresh boiled p-nuts from a little road side stand, sorry didnt get a photo of her-and I didnt ask the name of the waterfall--grr.

We traveled on and found this one....it's right on the road (hwy 276)
There were a lot of steps so I left Indy in the shade again and I went to take some photos...I didnt take my time as I had planned and the lighting is always tricky on brightly lit waterfalls...so this is not what I wanted but it will have to do! This is Looking Glass Falls..

after viewing this one we stopped at a quiet picnic table for a snack and then headed on...parked and took a mile hike to get to the next waterfalls at Moores Cove--my camera had a smudge right in the middle....

IT was an easy hike and Indy did really well even tho she has poor back leg strength...

We took our time and I didnt rush her and she stopped often to....

COOL OFF-lol she really loves the water...

The waterfall was quite spectacular and there were other visitors around..we enjoyed a rest before heading back.

Indy is a fun travel companion because she never complains, she makes the best of every situation!

Today I plan to take my bike over to the duck pond for a ride and to see how the ducks n geese are doing...Indy is gonna stay home today, Ill take her for a walk around the block...rest day for her!!

Memories of ~Ventura Highway in the Sunshine..do~da~do~do~

Turn on the SOUND----
Surprise how do like the tune? This song has special meaning to me. Not just because it was by the group AMERICA and Dewey Burnell who wrote the song said its about leaving...in the lyrics when he asks..."how long you gonna stay here Joe" he was referring to the cold plains of Nebraska where he grew up and thinking of moving to California where he longed to be..."alligator lizards in the air"..that line brings to mind cloud formations he saw in the sunshine...but I'll explain later why it has meaning to me...enjoy the tune while you read.

I love to travel but money is the object--unfortunately--I buy a lotto ticket now and then but so far no wins- the money is just not there to go where I want to go and do what I want to do...and Im sure its that way with most of you. I always look for bargains! The last 2 years I took trips on free air flights using Delta Sky Miles. Its one way to do it--since we have to buy our groceries and gas anyways...may as well rack up sky miles points for doing so. Currently its 25,000 points to take a domestic trip if you are willing to make several stops before you get to your destination.

I prefer to drive my own car. Currently my car is a 2001 Chevy Blazer with over 180,000 miles on it! I purchased it when I moved back to SC from NYC in 2006. Its still in good condition, still gets me where I need to go, most of those miles are highway miles put on by the previous owner probably a work commuter.



11 years ago my Mom and I made a fantastic journey around America in my 1994 Ford Explorer. It had 115,000 miles on the odometer when we left and we when we returned it read 123,064. Dont bother doing the math it was 8,064 miles.

It was a thrilling adventure and the car never gave one bit of trouble. We stopped along the way for oil changes every 3,000 miles and the memories fueled by that trip have kept me going mentally for many years--when life starts to get me down I zone out and go back to one of the wonderful parks we visited (these days its very difficult to find solace in a National Park unless you are willing to get off the beaten path a little). We did that when we drove the Gold Belt Byway from Canon City to Cripple Creek and Victor, in Colorado. This wonderful bit of highway is an unpaved road. It took us about 3 hours to make the trip from Canon City where the Royal Gorge Bridge is to Cripple Creek. We stopped for a nice lunch overlooking a canyon. It was fantastic there...you can see a bit of the hood of the old red Explorer in this photo as we approached one of the crude tunnels cut through the rock on the byway. All the photos of that trip were taken with a 35 mm load,point n shoot film cameras. I took the negatives to Eckerds drug store and had reprints placed on cd discs when I decided to build a web page about our trip.

Now as much as I love adventure-- my Mom is the opposite...for much of this trip she was the reluctant traveler...here she is faining a headache due to altitude..she can be a bit of a drama queen...lol-- but she got it all sorted out and had a wonderful adventure after I threatened to drive her to the nearest airport and put her on homebound plane!..lol

Much of what was going on with her was --fear of the unknown. She was afraid of being lost, afraid of being attacked by man or bear, afraid of the car breaking down, afraid to enjoy our adventure. She finally realized living in the moment would mean letting go of that fear and enjoying whats happening right now....I reminded her we were not lost, we were not being attacked, our car was still running~ so why live the fear of what is NOT happening?? Why be afraid???

Many times she would sit in the car with the doors locked while I was outside the car pumping the gas. I would just shake my head and laugh and she would grin back through the windshield at me, if that eased her fear then so be it. But for 34 days she became fearless and we ADVENTURED anyways!!
Me---im scared of spiders!!!!
You can see she began to enjoy herself...and loosen up a bit as she picked this huge sunflower through the open car window..



Now why is this song so important to me?... as we drove toward Barstow CA in San Burnardino County just coming out of the Mohave Desert we had to wait for construction they were paving the road...We sat in the heat with windows down and I could see our exit about a half mile up but the right lane was penned off with bright orange cones up to that exit...I took a look into my right side mirror at all of us travelers stuck in that long line and in that instant I made up my mind to jump the barrier and leave the flock...Mom gave me that look as I steered around the cones and took off in the "closed" lane...within minutes we had the desert air blowing our hair as we threw caution to the wind and made a B-line to our exit....I took one last look in the rear view at the others still sitting ---but suddenly another car took the same path I had, and then another, and well ---yepp I had opened up the gate and the sheep had left the fold and followed!!!
.... we headed north while the road behind us continued west-- eventually to the Ventura Freeway (hwy 101)---and just as we made that northward swing with the other independent thinkers following our lead this song came on the radio, no we werent on the Ventura Highway but we were dam close ....so it sort of became our theme song for the trip...& I used it for our commemorative website. It gave us a feeling of freedom and independence, and MOM bellowed with laughter as we zoomed down the highway (after her initial shock at her misbehaving daughter who thumbed her nose at the establishment once again!) LOL.
So now when Im listening to an oldies station and this song comes on I'm immediately transported back to 1998 and that long highway and that wonderful trip with my Mom!
Take a lookie see at our Great Adventure when you get time...

My Minds Eye!

With my trip upcoming and a new project that will keep me busy until I take off for the desert my mind is already there--so my artwork reflects what is in my Mind's Eye!

 

 

 I hope to see some interesting Adobe homes! 

 And I know I'm going to see some wonderful buttes and mesas...  And Red Stone formations...

   I learned last evening I have been tossed a 5 design freelance project and it has to be completed before I go so this will probably be my last visit to the blog for a few days... I will check in when time allows for sure! Hope all of you have a wonderful week!! I will catch up with your posts as soon as I can, until then I will miss all your wonderful photos and words!

Elk Camp

I really need to lighten up my aura today and try to move away from the displeasure of trying to help the poor dog in my last post. I know that negative thinking brings negative results...so in thinking of many of the good things that come along here is a recent visitor to my yard!

  

 He or she is just a baby, but she had fun putting the doves and squirrels on the run! I made sure the Girlz (Annie n Flossie) were inside and when I went out I clapped my hands to send Bunny to the other side of the fence before the Girlz went out into the yard. I had to take this shot through the window...in order not to scare the bunny. And you may notice I have placed a new photo at the top of my blog...I took that photo last year with my pocket P&S Konica Minolta the quality is not all that good but I love this view. It was taken when my sister and I stayed overnight in a back country log cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. That view is the meadow looking back toward the cabin, such a wonderful spot---it belongs to a friend of my sisters and they offered it to us while I was there visiting.   

The only way to get to the cabin is by 4wheel drive and Its a very rough road...the SUV's you see running around these days would not make it over this road...we went up in a 1965 Jeep Wrangler! What a trip...my spine got a good work out and so did my Right hand (holding on for dear life)... Here is the cabin with a cozy fire burning in the iron stove inside. (this was last August, but that night it went down to 36 F) The cabin and the surrounding 30 acres or so are used by the owner for hunting and for fun, they call it the elk camp. I am not a hunter and dont like hunting for sport..but the cabin sure was nice! There is no electric or running water unless you count the stream that runs nearby.

  

I did HDR processing on this shot...

Our Host Betty, she was well into her 80's BUT she handled the 4 wheel drive up like a pro..

AND a wonderful perk of this spot is there are 2 horses that summer up in the meadow and they are such great pets! Here they are thinking of taking a sip of our afternoon cocktails!

 

Snickers
 

 Seriously they tried!

 

 

                                       I think he was going for the booze not the pnuts.

                               Here's a bit of the inside of the cabin, its quite lovely and cozy!

                Sleeping cots in the loft, not so comfy...

  

                                                                                 

   

 Yes we got into the man's whiskey, but he insisted! So I can only dream that we get an opportunity like this again when I go back in September...On another trip we got the use of a Fisherman's Cabin on the banks of the Frying Pan River...we didnt fish but we had fun hand feeding chipmunks on the back porch! I dont have those photos in my PC, but Im going to look for them and see what I can do about getting them in so I can share!..Isnt this a great spot I never wanted to leave...