Dejá vu in skies and eyes

I took my parents to the airport at o'dark thirty this morning. On my way back I kept my eye on the eastern sky, because it was promising something special. Sure enough, by the time I got to Newberg the sky exploded with sunrise fireworks:

I killed some time at the grocery store then headed to the office job early. The sun had well risen by then, but looked odd – and oddly familiar. Apparently my eyes aren't burning only from tiredness; smoke from the devastating 'Camp Fire' in northern California has shrouded us just as wildfire smoke did last summer. I took this photo in Salem this afternoon while Brian took his driving test (he aced it)

and this one from our lane when we were almost home:

We're supposed to get some rain tomorrow; maybe that will scrub it out of our atmosphere. I hope so; I don't like to work my asthmatic horse in these conditions.

The weather was spectacular while my folks were here. We had lots of pretty sunrises and sunsets (the two photos above were my birthday sunrise), plus bright sunshine to illuminate the remaining fall foliage.

We kept a fire going to keep the house nice and warm while we enjoyed visiting, eating, and playing games. Saturday night after a game of Mexican train dominoes, I asked them to pose for a photo:

Such wonderful parents!

I've kept up with the Wovember photo prompts over on Instagram (I still need to post a photo for today!); handsome Blake posed for "Local" yesterday:

Finally, a brief word from the host of The Chuckie Channel – it's Tongue-Out Tuesday!

That's all for now from . . .

Election day

It dawned beautifully.

After working at home most of the morning, I headed into town with my to-do list. First and most important was to drop my ballot in the official dropbox:

Then I walked next door to deliver our property tax payment, taking a moment to appreciate this beautiful tree against the courthouse and blue sky:

At home this wee Japanese maple seems to have taken its inspiration from both the mums and the geraniums:

I'm still following the photo prompts for Wovember but haven't branched out beyond my flock and my current spinning project (now being plyed):

Pushing for pets

Mobbed!

I was gone much of the weekend, and I think I was missed. When I got home Sunday evening, Jackson claimed my lap and Chuckie was waiting when I went out to do chores:

Chuckie is a high-octane combination of playful, passionate, and predatory. Sometimes his intensity is a bit intimidating!

My folks arrive tomorrow morning for a visit, so posting may fall by the wayside for awhile. I'll catch up with you all later!

That's it for now from . . .

It's Wovember!

I learned about a month-long Instagram photo challenge for November through Sara, aka thecrazysheeplady at Punkin's Patch, decided to jump in at the last minute, and threw up this appropriately-fuzzy photo of Bree. She does love attention . . . but then again most of my sheep do. Bardot (below) may look sweet, but she was pawing me and butting away other girls tonight, trying to monopolize the shepherd!

I'm still playing with Blake's wool. My goal was to get this all spun by the end of October but didn't quite make it. Once this is finished, I'm going to turn my attention to plying various singles and KNITTING; Christmas is coming!

It's been a mild, dry day. There is still some color; you can see a lot of yellow in the hillside vineyards.

When we got home this afternoon, Brian wanted help getting some firewood out of the pasture. Some time ago Rick had cut down some dead trees in the stand of Dougfirs there, and it was just going to rot if left on the ground. Besides, we need some softwood; the firewood in our shed is all hardwood, making fire-starting/restarting rather challenging. We ended up filling the bed of the Ford Ranger, the vehicle we used to haul off the leaves from the arena last night. Using this truck was, I think, Brian's primary motive for being so helpful; he is feeling proprietary about it. It was used as Rick's associate veterinarian's vehicle years ago, and Rick has kept it as a backup for when his big truck is in the shop. But Rick decided to remove the vet box so Brian can use it to take his driving test and sometimes drive it to school and elsewhere – with permission and if all his grades are Bs or better (and he's paying for the insurance increase from adding him to our policy). Here is the loaded truck, the eager driver, and some daylight views of our freshly raked arena:

As you can see, there are still a lot of leaves on the maples at the end of the arena; there will be more raking in our future!

That's it for today from . . .

Trick and treat

The trick came a night early. Last night Brian helped me figure out that the strange little noises were coming from the ceiling light/fan fixture. He turned the light and the fan off and on (the latter brought more 'crackling') and that seemed to fix it, whatever it was (an electrical short?).

At bedtime Dozer didn't want to leave the cushy dog bed in the great room, so I didn't shut the dogs in the laundry room like usual. Sometime in the middle of the night, I was awakened abruptly by a clamor at our bedroom door. I jumped out of bed, processing that it was probably Jackson needing to be let out – and was met by my dog entering our room! I don't know if he actually figured out how to open the door (we have lever handles), or if he just got lucky while panicking; he's never opened a door before in his life. I suspect that the sound started again, and it did occur to me that he might have saved us from an electrical fire. There was no sign of a problem that serious, but I did cut the power to the fixture completely and it – and my dog – have been quiet ever since.

A shaggy mane 'shroom sprouted in the gravel near the house and deliquesced to an appropriately creepy stage for today.

Inside, I made this seasonally-colored stew for our supper; it was tasty!


Late this afternoon and well into the evening, Brian treated me by tackling a big job. He raked all the leaves that have fallen in the arena so far. I went down and helped him load them into the back of the Ford Ranger, which he off-loaded onto the ashes of the burn pile. There are more leaves yet to fall, but I am so thankful for the head start on this big annual task!

And yes, I spent some time on the Chuckie Channel today. 😉

That's it for All Hallows Eve at . . .