Finally.
The air is crisp, the light golden and soft. As we drove to the farmer’s market in Mia on Sunday (top down) we both had our seat heaters on and light jackets. The wind tugged at the brim of my hat, threatening to dislodge it from my head. I thought that spring and summer were the best times for a convertible, but I was wrong. Fall definitely is.
At the market we bought apples for a pie, acorn squash which we’ll make tonight, and lots of veggies to go into a stew that I will make tomorrow as the predicted Nor’easter brings us rain—lovely rain.
The trees are starting to change. Just in the one week that we’ve been home we’ve seen a big change. Today I took all three dogs for a walk (two at once, then Bella). While on my walk with the dogs I noticed some things I wanted/needed to photograph. What follows is the beginnings of fall where I live.
Virginia creeper along our chain link fence.
Love that red!
The leaves of this particular kind of tree (of which I do not know the species!) look like web-fingered hands.
The day was nice, but with spotty clouds obscuring the sun at times. Not the most ideal conditions for taking photos but sometimes the lack of sun is a good thing. I decided to walk down to Green Turtle Pond to see how the colors were coming along. It’s coming along nicely.
I can predict a canoe paddle soon!
More creeper!
Fall ... you’ve gotta love it! I know I do. Now we just need to get all that wood moved in time for fire season!
We put our first 585 miles behind us today: the big state of Nebraska. Sorry, folks, but talk about boring scenery! When we finally met up with the Platte River the scenery got better. It’s so brown and dry. I guess I am too acclimated to the East Coast! Please don’t take offense.
We are staying in the Days Inn with which we have a long history. My first stay here was on a trip by myself, with Sailor, on the way to breed him in Minnesota. It was pouring rain with black clouds and dark as night when we pulled in. I was hoping and praying that they took pets. They did. I walked him in the pouring rain, thunder, and lightening when we first arrived. When we came back in the desk clerk told me to gather in the downstairs hallway because there was a tornado warning. Geez. Since then we have stayed here on two previous trips to Colorado (on the way back). This marks our third stay. (Or fourth if you count the one with Sailor.) The kitties like the room because the ground floor level rooms are slightly below ground with a lovely window sill for them to sit on and look out on the world.
Tomorrow’s goal will be to get through Iowa, Illinois, and hopefully all of Indiana, staying just 13 miles in to Ohio. We’ll see if we make it that far. If not, our Ramada Inn in Elkhart, Indiana will have to suffice. They seem to have gone downhill in the past few years and given that the no longer have the Bennigan’s Restaurant attached, it’s not as attractive. And may be the reason for the decline of the whole hotel. But, at this time of year it’s pretty much empty and a good place to walk the dogs.
We are anxious to be home now that we’ve started our return journey. Leaving the cabin this morning and hearing the last bits of water spitting out of the pipes as we drained them seemed so final. As did the closing and locking of the gate.
As I type we’ve had our meal of Hardee’s hamburgers (close by the hotel), and several glasses of good red wine. Rick is busy with his iPad and I got the computer. Bella is asleep at my feet, Hailey and Sam are asleep on one of the beds, eBay is curled up on the pillows of the other bed (on top of the sheet we bring to put on the beds), and Alex is crashed behind Rick. They will need to go out once more for potty time before we can turn in and turn out the lights on this first day of travel.
Before I go I have to say I saw one of the most pitiful sights in my life today which rates right up there with an experience I had as a teen driving from Florida to Colorado with my parents. We had stopped in Amarillo Texas and I saw a truck with an open semi trailer of dead, bloated cattle with their stiff feet all sticking up in the air. It has never left my mind. Neither will the sight I saw today for the first time: a poultry truck. Beautiful white chickens were all stuffed into crates on top of one another. Crate upon crate. Feathers flying out behind the truck. When we passed I could see their sad eyes staring at me although it was impossible for them to move even a feather. So sad. That image will stick with me for a while. For sure.
So, sorry for that memory, but I wanted to remember it. Off to walk the dogs for final pees now and on to tomorrow’s trek.
Thank you all for sticking with me on our vacation. I’m sorry I haven’t been around to any of your own blogs, but I promise to catch up once we’re back.
‘Night.
I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves except for a short explanation.
Photo 1: Me and Alex
Photo 2: Alex
Photo 3: Family photo of Rick, me and all three dogs.
Just in case any of you out there were wondering exactly where our cabin is, “X” marks the spot!
The driveway.
It’s hard to believe that we only have three days left at the cabin. Three days. Where did the time go? The days slip by in a sunny blur. Yesterday our weather station here at the cabin registered 83 degrees F! Crazy. We are unsure yet of how to best spend the remaining time here. Do we take another drive? Walk the perimeter of our 70 acres? Or just be lazy and sit around and read (and blog)?
We’ve done a few chore-like things but not much. We have to fix our fence at the entrance to our cabin every year because the snow piles up so deep that the fence poles (which are just trees that have died and fallen over) don’t hold up very well. Rick took the big chain saw and cut through downed trees on our path through the woods and replaced the threshold on our front screen door. That’s about it for work.
Part of the fence.
The other night we finally got lucky and caught a herd of cow elk just over the hill from the cabin. They were spooky and didn’t hold still for long. Still, it was nice to see them.
The cows continue to stroll through our newly formed “meadow” leaving lots of meadow muffins. behind. Like this:
Yesterday they just laid down and took a long afternoon nap. We forgot they were there and when Rick went out with the dogs after their meal Hailey took off chasing them. argh! I didn’t see it because I was inside, but from hearing Rick yelling at her I knew something was happening. She chased them out of the woods, across the road and over the hill, then she came back. She thinks she’s a cow dog now and is very pleased with herself. Here they are at our salt lick (which we have to attract the moose, not cows) yesterday morning.
eBay likes it when the cows are here too. She looks out the window frozen into position and her whole body just quivers. I don’t know if she’s quivering with excitement or fear, but it’s amusement anyway. Speaking of eBay, she’s got her nose out of joint because I haven’t shown any photos of her, so here she is doing her favorite thing at the cabin—rolling around in the gravelly dirt in the driveway and taking a dirt bath.
We took a drive yesterday over Sand Creek Pass and down to the Laramie River road and on to Woods Landing, taking the extremely long way into Laramie. This stand of aspens were too pretty to pass up without capturing them.
One thing that Colorado and Wyoming have over New Jersey it that blue, blue sky that goes on forever. And, of course, signs like this one.
And folks, it’s no bull!
Uhm, but in this case it was a bull!
After errands in Laramie we came home and I made lasagna for dinner. We had neighbors David and Sal over. We took them on our “around” walk before dinner and they were completely amazed at all the trees we have. Bella took a late afternoon dip in the pond. I liked the ripples fanning out from her and the reflection of the tree that goes right through her middle!
I have so many photos to share I think I might do another blog entry later today, so stay tuned to the cabin channel!
Oops, almost forgot to include an aspen pic!
Here are some photos taken over the past several days on our land. Enjoy!
Taken in the morning while the moon was still up.
Beetle-killed pines, a spruce and an aspen share space with the moon.
