As Our Life Goes On

The day is as dark and dreary as my mood. The drizzle and rain have fallen intermittently since the time we got up this morning. It was dark when we awoke and it is still quite overcast and dark.  The length of our daylight hours seemed to have decreased rapidly in the last few weeks.  This morning I thought moving a box in the basement by giving it a shove would be a good idea. It was indeed a very bad idea. The pain shot through my body as one or more of my herniated back disks pinched a nerve. It was not as bad as I have had in the past but it has severely curtailed my activities today. I finally gave in and took half of a pain pill this afternoon. There is less pain now but I do indeed feel dull and out of sorts now.  I am thankful there are lots of leftovers for dinner this evening. I am also thankful for having such a caring and helpful husband. 

The cool windy days and decreasing daylight hours are quite evident the last few days.  Fall is here. The trees are turning color more each day. As I drove through the country roads to my favorite shopping place 5 miles away I saw trees that were brilliant shades of red and a few completely yellow trees too. They are beautiful. I really do like the Fall colors and the cooler weather. I will just enjoy this and I won't worry about Winter until the snow flies. 

Mushroom Looks Like a Sunbonnet or Hat I went searching for some important papers today. They are somewhere in this house but darned if I could find them. I did find a lot of old family pictures. Some of them made me sad and nostalgic and some of them made me laugh. I must make a mental note not too look through those pictures again for a while. In the meantime the papers that I was searching for remain illusive. I am not really a hoarder. Our house is just too small for our stuff. 

There are many types of bees on the purple Penstemon flowers.  A dragonfly waits to catch one for his dinner. The abundant mushrooms are as pretty as a floral arrangement.  So far the day has remained quiet and that is always a good thing.  There has been only one large irritation today. It happened on the way home from the store this morning. I always stop at stop signs and red lights as that is the law. Even though you can turn right on red you must stop first and then you may proceed if it is safe to do so unless there is a continuous turn on red sign.   I stopped at the stop sign one block from home and looked both ways as usual. Nothing was coming and no one else was at the four way intersection so I took off and headed home. There was one car behind me and as I went through the intersection I noticed a couple of other cars approaching from one direction. The car behind me proceeded through and rushed up behind me and turned on his bright headlights and tailgated me u

I am a procrastinator. This is not something that I can help. I just perform better when under pressure. Don't know where I got this trait. Sometimes I do find it irritating though. Not all my chores got attended to but the most critical ones got finished. The sun shone brightly and warmly earlier today and now that the darkness has descended and the  rain has started my energy level has dropped substantially. Thank goodness for the  sunshine earlier. I may not have accomplished too much otherwise. Daylight seems to be the key to my energy. Darkness squashes it. 

There were an extraordinary number of hikers and bikers on the bike trail today. The warm but mild temperatures and the nice day brought out all types of people. It is always good to see those who think that exercise is important. There are always hikers that are texting and not paying attention at all to the beautiful Fall colors that are starting to show. They are getting some exercise but missing a lot. I loved hearing the crunch of the dried leaves as I walked through the yard. 

There is an abundance of goldenrod this year and it seems to be growing all around our property including the crevice in this large maple tree. My friend sent some flower starts to me today so when practical I will be digging some flowers from my garden and taking them to her. Plants from the gardens of others always seem to grow  much better than nursery grown plants. I look forward to seeing some new and different blooms next year. 

It is my birthday and blogging is not in my schedule! 

The only bees visiting our flowers are not honeybees. A variety of bumble bees large and small are here in great numbers though.  I planted some mammoth sunflower seeds but this is all that grew. It is quite small.  The tall grasses are turning a golden brown and they seem to have a reddish glow in the late day sun.  Poison ivy grows in the hole that a woodpecker has made in a wild cherry tree.  The burning bush is turning red.  A patch of mushrooms that was being devoured by larva has turning into a slimy pool of goo that looks like excrement or poop which is a nice name for you know what.  I don't think we have ever seen so many types of mushrooms in our yard this late in the Fall. They seem to be everywhere. It has been damp and warm this year however. 

These are the last of the flowers that will bloom in my flower garden this year. I am happy to have a variety that blooms this late in the year. The blossoms are starting to wilt and fall now. That makes me sad as it heralds the approach of the time of year that there will be no flowers to look at out of my office window. I will be able to look back at the pictures to see their beauty however and I can remember how beautiful they were. 

A large number of these brown fungal growths suddenly popped up in our yard with the event of extra precipitation this week. The large group at the top is at the peak of freshness. The second and third pictures are those of a fungus that is being consumed by some type of maggot or larva. It looks like dark greasy slime. The little white larva seem to be enjoying this though. YUM!

Just before sundown on Saturday evening the clouds turned a brilliant color. This picture was taken at a flea market near Pittsburgh. A few minutes later the color was gone and darkness arrived quickly. The forty-five degree overnight temperature seemed even colder than it was. We slept in our 1971 Dodge camper and did not turn the heat on. An extra blanket was added to the pile on our bed during the night. Climbing out from under the covers was a chilly affair and dressing was attended to very quickly. The layers of clothing that were needed early in the morning were shed one by one as the temperature approached the mid-sixties on Sunday. We were parked on a flea market grounds. Some people arrived early when it was quite cold dressed only shorts and a tank top. I know they were cold as some had blankets wrapped around their skimpy clothing. I always thought it was better to dress for how the weather is now with options for changes. We had nice clear sunny weather for this camping tr

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar   We arrived home this afternoon only to see a small brown turd-like thing on our doorstep. Upon closer inspection we found that it had eye spots and seemed rather annoyed at having its picture taken. It reared up and shook back and forth in a menacing manner but the two inch long caterpillar failed to keep me from taking a few more pictures. It looks like a model for a horror flick monster. The thing that amazes me is that I don't remember ever seeing one of these small monster-like creatures before. 

Fall is approaching fast and I have only seen one or two honeybees in our yard the whole Spring and Summer. There have been plenty of other types of bees and wasps. See picture above of one of those other bees. The once plentiful honeybees have had problems with parasites, mites and diseases and there has been a serious decline in their numbers. That concerns me greatly. Please consider having a pesticide and chemical free yard and garden for the sake of all insects and animals. 

The day seemed short not only because the waning of the daylight hours. Taking care of business just took most of the day. If I were a couch potato maybe the days would seem longer but it seems that there are only a couple of hours in the day to catch up on the news and sit for a while. The cooler nights are slowing down the growth of the grass so it will not require as much care. There are still a few painting projects that will need to be finished before the cold weather arrives. We will have to prioritize the most important of these projects so that they will get done. Time for a walk around the yard will be made before this day ends. 

The transplanted ground covers are doing well and filling in between the stones.  The tiny pine trees that we planted years ago have grown to be huge. The benefit of the size of these trees is that the bottom branches cover a large area and the drooping branches shade the ground under them. We find these areas to be great storage places for odd shaped large yard tools. People that drive by our home don't have to look at these things strewn about our yard leaned up against the garage. I don't even have any yard ornaments that are visible from the road. I think less can be more and a clean look is a good thing. 

Our youngest son and his wife came over this afternoon and they helped me go through some things in the house and basement. They went away with a carload. Some will be used by them and some will be donated to a charity. Yea! Our basement is much cleaner and it does not look like the basement of a hoarder. 

An incredibly busy day is coming to and end soon. There seemed to be no end of the small chores that needed to be finished. It was primary voting day but there was not a long line at the polls. The post office however did show the effects of more people than usual being out and about. The line was long and the highly efficient women clerks did their best but it was a long wait. I did not print my shipping labels today as I was not really sure which post office I would be using. The labels are zip code specific for origin of shipping. Having the packages ready to ship by printing the postage at home is a real advantage because I can march right past every person in line and leave my packages on the counter. The work around the house, sheds and yard is ongoing as time and energy permit. 

Sunlit picture Picture taken with sun under the clouds This lovely fungal growth at the base of a wild cherry tree is about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. The pictures were taken yesterday and that is a good thing because I just checked on it and it has wilted considerably. It is a very brilliant orange in the darker areas and a lot of differing orange colors in the other areas. God has made a large variety of pretty things for His garden. 

When I was younger I thought nothing of picking up toads, frogs, salamanders and even garter snakes. Most likely the animals would either pee on me or bite if I picked them up incorrectly. I really don't pick them up with bare hands anymore. This little frog is under 2" long. Its color is rather striking against the wet mossy tree limb. It had nothing to fear from me as after the pictures were taken I left it alone. These animals are great insect controllers. 

It really does not seem that long ago that I put a similar picture in my blog but it has been about a year since this work has been done. The cleaning work from the top is a bit dangerous. Next the airtight stove will have to be pulled away from the opening of the fireplace and the pipes will have to be checked and perhaps replaced. The smoke shelf  inside of the chimney will have black carbon residue that fell down from the top cleaning that will have to be swept out. The airtight stove will be thoroughly cleaned and put back in place and then we will be ready to burn a fire. Hopefully that fire will not have to be lit for a while yet. 

Spiders do a good job of keeping mosquitoes and other pests controlled but sometimes they make their homes in the wrong places. This one had about 6 egg cases like the one shown above. This case was just releasing a bumper crop of tiny new spiders. The web was in a place that we have to work in and reach into to access items so it had to go. There are a lot of this type of spiders in and around the garage and breezeway this year. If the web would have been in another place we would not have bothered it. 

I seldom rag on my husband for anything but his habit of wearing jeans that he says are comfortable led me to tell him that it was OK to throw away a few of these jeans that look so ragged. He has many pair of really nice jeans in good shape. He can wear those to work in just as well as the oil and grease stained ripped and threadbare jeans shown above. I was happy to find the pair pictured in the trash today. He works a job that could be considered a dirty job but I would really like his clothing to look a bit nicer when he leaves the house. Now if I can get him to consider throwing away the jeans that he wore today it would be a very good thing.