From sunrise to Aussie eyes

Yesterday's sunrise showed off our poor air quality, thanks to an inversion that trapped particulates  (like smoke from our burn pile) 😳 close to earth.

But with change acomin', this morning's sunrise turned into a real stunner!

As forecast, yesterday was our last dry, sunny day. The horses enjoyed some turn-out,

and Chuckie enjoyed one of his napping spots. Can you spot him?

One of the last things we did Sunday, after dark with tractor lights and a head-lamp, was move the boys' hay feeder. The boys build up a thick pack of discarded stems and manure under it over time, so we moved the feeder to a fresh spot (still need to clean up the pack, visible next to the fence). The new location is down by the henhouse (beyond Blake under the trees) and closer to the barn.

To keep the base from rotting in the muck it gets buried in, Rick decided to put it up on blocks. I was a little concerned this would make it too tall for my short sheep, but the boys are managing just fine.

Yesterday I had an hour between work and picking up Brian, so I started hoeing the arena. With a little moisture and cooler temperatures, a new crop of weeds and grass has sprouted and my husband is determined to spray it all with RoundUp. Ugh! My horse and I are the only ones who use the arena and I don't want either of us exposed to glyphosate, so it was good motivation to use my muscles. There's a lot more to do, but at least I made a noticeable dent.

A certain little furry friend thought I should tune in to The Chuckie Channel instead. He kept his distance while I swung the hoe, but when I stopped for a breather he zoomed in –

and tried to zoom up my leg!

Here is your Japanese maple photo du jour, with an Aussie accent. Jackson recalled from under my little Braeburn apple tree; as he got closer I realized he'd been loathe to leave behind his snack.

I told him he had to finish it on the front porch before coming inside.😉

The bit of drizzle we got this afternoon kindly waited until Lance got his exercise and I finished the last of the fall sheep maintenance. Coming up; lots of sheep and fleece photos!

That's it for now from . . .

Spiffy Sunday

Today was sunny, and likely the last dry Sunday for the next, oh, five months. So we did what sensible people do – we spent the day mowing, hoeing, raking, sweeping, trimming, hauling, and burning! Now the yard looks spiffier than it has in recent memory, the garden is again weed-free for heading into winter, the brush pile is burned, and the people are pooped.

I didn't take before and after photos per se, but I did end up shooting the same side of our house yesterday and today because the colors were so pretty. If you biggify to look closer, you'll see that everything looks tidier now.

My big Japanese maple in the island bed is at its most beautiful right now. I took the first photo in yesterday's morning haze and the second in today's bright sunshine. As you can see, it is stunning in any light.

 

And that's all I have time to share tonight from . . .

An unwanted 'break'

My typically Teflon-coated immune system slipped up this week, big time. I came down with a bad cold, source unknown (unusual in itself; I'm usually "last man standing" among the germy), that got progressively worse through yesterday. I spent more time in bed Wednesday and Thursday than any able-bodied person should, but this morning I woke up feeling mostly normal, so I guess I'll live. (I think Jackson was worried!)

If you follow me on Instagram (button at right) you probably thought everything was normal from the photos I posted. It doesn't take much strength to push buttons on my iPhone and I mostly tried to keep up with my usual activities (until I couldn't), so I have lots of photos to share. I even started pecking away at fall sheep maintenance, but will do a separate post for that.

It's been unusually dry for October, so I've still been watering the garden. Checked for harvestable things the other day and ended up wishing I'd taken a bigger bowl! (Hmm; maybe I'll make a frittata for tonight's supper....) As I was closing the garden gate, I looked right to see the light shining through a curtain of fall maple leaves:

Feathers are flying and egg production is dropping; the soft gray feathers from molting blue Wyandottes are everywhere.

There was a "Showdown at the OK Corral" episode on the Chuckie Channel the other day. A fat gray tabby I didn't recognize was stalking our boy in the pasture. When he noticed me watching and taking pictures, he slunk off, but returned shortly for a closer confrontation. That time I chased the intruder away, not wanting Chuckie injured in a cat fight. Fortunately, I haven't seen the aggressive gray again, and Chuckie continues his charming ways.

Still wallowing in the wonderful light and fall colors.

That's our house, taken during an evening ride on the hill

Here's a cute photo (hummingbird tongue!) to caution you that I'm ending this post with a short rant (because, like I said, I do keep up with the news):

While most of the world reels from the horrific details recorded of a journalist's torture and assassination, Trump says he will wait to pass judgement until the assassins are done investigating themselves. (Why is no one reminding our citizens that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis?!?) Then on Thursday at a rally in Montana, he praised the congressman who attacked a journalist last year, saying "Never wrestle him. Never. Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of, he’s my guy. We endorsed Greg really early, but I heard that he had body slammed a reporter. And he was way up, and I said, ‘Oh, this is terrible, he’s going to lose the election.’ But then I said, ‘Well wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him,’ and it did … He’s a great guy and a tough cookie.” Trump has been hard at work throughout his campaign and presidency to TEAR DOWN our first amendment (among a great many other things), over and over and over again. As Dan Rather posted on FB this morning: "Pres. Trump's celebration of a congressman who assaulted a journalist is disgusting. The rapturous cheers from the crowd are deeply disturbing. The silence from GOP officials is the sound of cowardice. This has not, must not, will not be my America.

A free and independent press must be part of #WhatUnitesUs"

That's it for today from . . .

Don't forget to change the channel sometimes

I keep up on the news (thanks, public radio!), but even when delivered without hype and hysteria there is much over which to be disturbed.

Yep.

So I don't look at it, much less think about it, steadily. I start each day contemplating heavenly things, then tackle work on or off the place, tune into the Chuckie Channel, bask in autumn's awesomeness, spend some time on my mental-health mustang, try new recipes, spin or knit some yarn....

Yesterday morning I headed out to do chores and was arrested by the morning light streaming through the Sunset maple leaves beside the house.

I really didn't expect to capture it just as it appeared – so often the camera sees it differently – but I got lucky! Here is more of that lovely (if less dramatic) autumn light this morning:

Chuckie continues to charm, wanting to be near us wherever we are.

I think he wonders why the dogs get to come inside with us – maybe that's why Chuckie sometimes turns into Chucky....

The dogs, on the other hand, wonder why I always come in smelling like him.

"Love on ME, Mommy!"

We're getting some more needful tasks done outside. On Sunday, Rick and I worked on getting old screw holes in the barn roof caulked (I was the inside spotter-of-pinholes and location-caller; Rick was on the roof). Yesterday Rick rented a box scraper to grade areas around the barn for better drainage and smooth the driveway:

When I can fit it in, I'm spinning away on Blake's roving with my birch 'Egret' Jenkins Turkish spindle. Like its namesake, this spindle is a big, slow but steady flyer.

That's it for now from . . .