Been a Bit Out of Touch...

On a personal level that is. After all, there have been posts of various things.

Butch and I went to Boone on Thursday to fix Jason and Laura's electrical issue. Turned into a very long day but all is up to snuff now. Enough to say it was a problem with a 3-way switch, knob and tube and an older home. I am married to an electrician, but the knowledge does not transfer. While in Boone we had lunch at McDonalds and I had my first 'old person experience'. I was very plainly speaking to the McDonalds employee so they would not screw up my order. The ponytailed young man then raised his voice and repeated it back to me as if I were deaf. Jason said, "You better dye your hair Mom cuz that kid thinks you are old and cannot hear." That, my dear friends, is the first time that has ever happened to me! I did not like it!

And then the next day was rain free and I decided it was time to get some of our outside stuff done. I was hoping to get it done on my own, but it proved tougher than I thought since I am now old so Butch bailed me out. Seems to be a theme for the poor guy. We cleaned out the gutters, an absolute necessity and then I washed down the front of the house. I still need to get the back side done.
Butch went to play golf with Colleen's grandson after the gutter cleaning. Taylor wanted to play the three courses his grandpa played here in Jefferson so Butch is glad to be his guide. Butch says Taylor has the demeanor of his grandpa, quiet and laid-back and can hit the ball a country mile. Taylor and Butch are playing Lakeside today, the second of the three courses.
I planted some flowers I have had lying around here for a while. I do not know if they will "take" but at least they have a fighting chance. I had harvested some seed from Keri's balloon flowers, somebody had given me some larkspur and I purchased a columbine plant at the Master Gardeners Plant Sale. So now the rest is up to them and Mother Nature.
And now I am going to go through my pictures and see how many I need to post and then I will be caught up somewhat.
The Head! This is a fibre optic light my mother bought in the 70's. I am sure she paid less than $50 for it. They now sell for in excess of $300 on Ebay. We enjoy it very much and the new plug-in Butch installed works well for it.

 This morning I rode to the Raccoon River Bridge and back and this caught my eye.

 I have learned a thing or two about deer and I have a system for taking their picture. I spotted this deer when she was still some distance from me and she was headed in my direction. So the first thing I do is stop and get my camera/(phone) and then I simply stay as quiet as possible without moving until I see the shot I want. Right after I got this shot she turned left and off the trail into the trees. I watched a film about deer last winter. They are almost blind and that is why they get frightened easily and run blindly into trouble. They detect motion so if you stay motionless they do not detect you until they get close enough to smell you or you give yourself away with motion or sound.