Thursday's ride

Added note: I started this post below in a timely manner but then promptly forgot that I had not finished it. My friend Colleen is in Jefferson for a few days and staying in our motorhome. So great to see her and walk the trail with her again. She lives in Punta Gorda FL but has been visiting her daughter in Cincinnati and is quite fortunate in that with the hurricane bearing down on her home. At this writing, we do not know the outcome and she is not sure if she will have a home to go back to.

I have noticed on more than one occasion that if I stop and just stand for about 5 minutes and look all around me that there is always a plethora of things to see that you miss when you are riding like the wind. I saw a mink cross the path today. He would not pose for a pic. Darn it.

These butterflies have almost taken over the bike trail. They are not Monarchs. I am not sure what they are but I do know there are a LOT of them.

This vine is draped over an old tree stump. I would be glad to know what they are too.

Redheaded woodpecker

Surgery pic

I was asked why there was not a picture on the blog of the surgical procedure done to my face last Friday.
This is why.

The Elusive Butterfly

Butterflies can be hard to catch in a photo. I watched this Monarch settle down on this leaf and settle in for a rest. So with my new camera, I was able to sit safely at my computer and hone in on him.

The story on the golden stem below is that I was on the bike trail with phone not camera and the sun was highlighting the golden stem with a spotlight. I could not resist and used my phone camera to capture it.

More like myself.

I am back to feeling more like myself today. I do not look like it because my eye is black. I was told it would be. The woodiness of my face is dissipating but not yet completely gone.
                                           Day 3

Butch at the same time is having a root canal episode. Went to the dentist on Thursday, was told he had an infection in it but he (dentist) failed to give him a script for antibiotics so now he is suffering till Tuesday. In my far distant past, I have had similar episodes so I know what kind of pain he is in.

 Taking care of your teeth is a lesson hard to learn for some.

A Skin Cancer

I had a skin cancer removed from my forehead this morning. It was a basal cell carcinoma and as skin cancers go this is not a bad one. As I am writing this I feel a bit looped on pain meds. Glad it is done with. They took one testing and got it all so that was reassuring. The worst part of the whole thing is the numbing up of my face. That part has not completely gone away yet. My forehead feels like a block of wood except for the bit that is throbbing. I think a nap is on my todo list.

http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/basal-cell-carcinoma

Our son Gary had a melanoma removed from his arm on Wednesday. That is a more serious type of skin cancer but they got it all in one try as well. Be diligent about sunscreen because these things are rather unpleasant to have removed. Gary and I can attest to it!

Busy Backyard!

A wide variety of birds visited the backyard in the last half hour.
A black headed Cardinal first caught my eye so I googled it since I thought it strange and this is what I found out. It is BALD! Read about it here:http://www.tulsaaudubon.org/bald_cardinals-bluejays.htm

Northern Flicker

 

And fledgling cardinals

Blue Jay

A young Blue Jay learning the ropes.

Paint projects

I found myself with an over abundance of metal coffee cans and have looked for a craft project to use them. So now they are painted and ready for next years spectacular display. They will be planted with flowers and be proudly displayed. I do believe they deserve a nicer palette. Don't you?😉

 And I have a new planter to replace the orange one that has seen better days. They come in black so I painted this one too. We will look all new and spiffy next Spring! This year I held back because I knew the siding and painting projects were going to be hard on any plantings or arrangements I might have.

Nana Susan says...

"This was taken by our pastor's wife who works for the district on Leo's first day of school.  Our cute little guy looks pretty "chillaxed"!!  :-) "

A Free Day and with Photos

It is rare these days to have a free day with out somewhere to go. But today is one of those beautiful days! Butch is golfing and I rode my beautiful bike to Winkleman's Switch and took a few more photos than usual along the way. As I was riding along I was musing on how old my bike actually is and I figure it is at the very least 27 years old!
Today was a gorgeous day on the trail. 10:00 AM start- No breeze, or very little-sunshine overheard- moderate temps in the 70's. Could not be more perfect!
I stopped in a few places that were different for me, stood in one spot and took photos all around me.

At Winkleman's Switch- Soybean field

As I came back to town I spotted these quail on the trail and they seem to have very little concern for me although they did keep their distance. I was very happy that they slowed up enough for me to get their picture!
Northern Bobwhite Quail
And then after researching, I find out this quail is relatively rare!
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Bobwhite/id

Pantry Project Completed

These are pictures of the new pantry. This tiny house of ours is packed with storage!

Eclipse Light

The eclipse in Jefferson Iowa was supposed to be 94.4 complete and that was enough to suit us although a total would have been completely cool, of course. As it turned out it was a stormy, rainy, cloudy day with only brief bits of sunlight shining through. You could tell an unusual event was taking place but it lacked pizzazz. Jason provided us with a welding plate that allowed us to look at the sun directly and that was indeed spectacular but the moments that we could see the sun were very quickly over. When the light was at its weirdest I took a couple of photos and that is what these are.
Untouched:

A new trend in underwear!

Take note Grandmothers with Grandsons. When little Leo was here, he was bragging on his new underwear. He had new boxers and was showing them to anyone who showed even the slightest interest. They are kinda cool because they look like shorts instead of underwear and they usually have a super hero theme of some sort. Leo loved his boxers. His Nana Susan said they had lessened his
 "underwear adjustments" and that is always a good thing.

Keri was going to take her oldest Grandson Brady on a school clothes-buying expedition so I was telling her about the boxers. She picked up some for Brady to see if he liked them and it seems he does. Here is a picture of Brady in his new boxers. So if you Grandma's want to be a different kind of hero pick up a package of boxers for your Grandsons. (Age-appropriate, of course)😁

Yesterday.

I planned to put this at the bottom of the last post but hit the button too quick!

Yesterday I rode to Winkleman's Switch in the early AM and was treated with a view of the geese again. This time there were only five and they were in the open but still flying low. It was a foggy, misty morning so I had not brought my camera but they would have been too quick for me anyway.

I have been finally getting to the pantry Butch made for me. It is sanded, painted and has one coat of polyurethane. A couple more coats of poly and I will be ready to put it to use.
Mickey texted me yesterday and asked if I wanted some rocks. I said yes if I could get Butch to help me. He was at the golf course at the time and when he came home I told him I planned to make his favorite casserole, Runza casserole. And that cheered him up enough to say yes to the rocks. I can always find places for rocks.

A Day for Pictures and other stuff

 Miniature Hollyhocks. I do not think that is exactly what they are but was told that a long time ago.

Looked at this shot a few days ago and thought I should get a shot of it. Done!

And then I looked up.↑

Both of us have seen this toad on occasion. Butch saw him in the garage one day.and I saw him in the iris. Today he was near the geraniums.