Spooky

You never know what is running around on the front patio until you put up a bird feeder camera. I haven’t started filling the feeders yet but I did place the camera so I could see if anyone came to the front door.  We have had a variety of visitors so far. 

A opossum 

Socks came by again. 

Molly, who isn’t allowed in the yard, was in the yard. 

And a beautiful fox trotted past. I think the birds camera is better than a trail cam. It has a solar charger so I don’t have to worry with batteries.  Plus, the videos go to the app and I can check them any time along with being able to watch live. It has been a busy month. 

Happy Halloween 

 

Helene Tribute

This Spring I bought a cordyline plant at Rural King to jazz up my side entrance. 

It did the job. But it was too pretty to let freeze.  So I brought it into the garage. I needed a plant stand for it so I could move it into the house. After some thought I decide on a log stand. 

Goodness knows we have plenty of wood to choose from thanks to hurricane Helene last year.   Joe has cleaned up most of this since last year and cut up the logs for fire wood. 

  It has seasoned for a year and the bark came off easily.

I evened up the top and bottom with the chainsaw. Then did lots of sanding and finished it off with two coats of polyurethane. 

I also cut out a round piece of plywood and screwed it to the bottom for a floating appearance.  

It turned out well enough. 

And it is the perfect size for a plant stand.  Now I just need to settle on a good spot for it. 

 

Thanksgiving Is Coming

I saw a treat leaving for work last week. 

There were several turkeys just milling around.  

They never acted spooked.  A couple went over the fence but most just went back and forth until they found a way through.  

Looks like they have another month to learn how to hide better.  

Panic

Clyde had some new visitors today. 

Emily and Keiran stopped by.  Emily liked Clyde but doesn't understand why I don't utilize her horse Pep any.  Pep is a great horse.  Maybe when Sadie and Allie get more skilled with Clyde we could try out Pep.  I will have to think on that more.  

Pay no attention to all of the poop.  I did clean it out, although I wish I had waited.  Allie asked to scoop poop when she came over a little later and there was no poop to scoop.  

Keiran approved of Clyde.  

When Sadie and Allie arrived, Allie had fallen asleep in the truck.  So Sadie had a long turn all to herself.  

She did some walking around but wanted to trot.  I put her on the lunge line and she was doing so well that I let her off the line to trot by herself.  She was very good at stopping Clyde whenever she got off balance.  

Allie woke up and was ready to ride with her red sparkle boots. 

Sadie entertained herself by raking the sand then writing things in it.  I have no idea how she thought of that.  

Meanwhile, because Clyde has been such an angel, I let Allie off the lead line to ride by herself.  Things were going great until Clyde spotted the hay in the corner.  He made two trips over to the hay.  I had to keep showing Allie how to run her had down the rein so she could pull him away.  The third time he ended up trotting about 12 steps to get to the hay.  As soon as he started to trot, Allie panicked. She let go of the saddle, dropped the reins, held her arms straight out and started screaming.  I yelled for her to hold on.  Instead of grabbing the saddle she leaned forward and grabbed Clyde's neck.  He stopped as soon as he got the the hay.  By some miracle, Allie had stayed on.  I got her to quickly stop crying when she realized she wasn't hurt and she kept riding, but back on the lead line for the duration.   Looks like I have some work to do on emergency stops.  

 

Dollywood, Fall 2025

 What a wonderful mini vacation!!!  Joe and I headed out to Dollywood to hang out with my family for a couple of days.  Virginia arranged for an Air B&B.  All my siblings came along with Virginia, Mike, Sadie, Allie, Emily and Keiran.  The house was perfect.  It even had an indoor swimming pool.  We drove down Saturday and went to the park for a bit. 

The weather was nice, upper 70's to low 80's.  But the park was very crowded.  

A cold front passed through that night and Sunday was cooler with showers on and off.  The rain really wasn't too bad.  The best part was that it was enough to keep the crowds away.  No lines for anything. 

About the only thing we did the first day was to go to the music show we were wanting to see.  Then we went to the house for a great supper prepared by Emily and Keiran.  Then there was swimming, hot tubbing, movie theater watching, and card playing.  

I think it was the last weekend for the fall harvest decor.  

Then Sunday, because there were no lines, we rode rides all day.  

Allie was so tired.  She was able to get in a short nap while Sadie rode a rollercoaster that Allie wasn't tall enough to ride.  Saturday I only walked 3 miles, Sunday we upped it to 6.8 miles.  

They really liked the Dolly clothes museum, especially getting to dress Dolly. 

It was a great weekend and a real treat to be with so many family members.  I just wish Matt and Gigi could have come.  When we were talking about our favorite things, Sadie said, "getting to love you so much."  I hope we are making very special life long memories for them.

Fall Is For Planting

Every Spring, when the daffodils and crocuses bloom I always say I want more. But by Fall I have forgotten where everything is and never seem to get around to buying the bulbs. 

But this was the year to break that cycle. I ordered daffodils, crocuses, Dutch irises, and Grecian windflowers from Holland Bulb Farms. 

And  I bought some alliums from Tractor Supply. 

This Spring after the daffodils had bloomed in my rock garden, I placed flat rocks to mark the spots. Then when I was planting bulbs, I put in wooden skewers so I would know where to go back and water them.

Sadie and Allie helped me plant 75 crocuses to naturalize this grassy bank above the driveway.  I have 50 Tete A Tete daffodils still that I thought I would put in pots of 3-5 bulbs each. I would then overwinter them in the ground under some leaf mulch. Then in the Spring I could place them around where they won’t be on top of something else.  Fall is for planting, let’s get out there. 

 

Nebraska Trip

It has been a few years since Joe has visited the feedlot where we send our cattle.  He wanted to go this fall because we had a load just about finished and a load just starting.  

He invited Mike to go along and another friend that has cattle out there too.  This trip was a couple of weeds ago but I am just now getting some pictures that Mike too.   The feedlot owner  offered up his “cabin” for them to stay at. Joe said the cabin was a barndominium and didn’t really fit the humble interpretation of cabin.  The feedlot owner also took them to dinner one night and cooked steaks the next night.  

It was a quick trip, out on Monday, back on Wednesday.  Joe said the cattle all looked great. 

Tuesday, they toured the nearby MARC, Meat Animal Research Center.  Joe had been there before but still enjoyed the personal tour. 

This is our pen just about ready. 

And these are the ones that have only been there a month. 

Back home Joe went to work in his own feedlot. 

We have an open heifer that Joe is feeding for a beef.  She will be ready in November.  I think Mike enjoyed the trip too.  He said he would be fine moving out there.