Happy Halloween

Tonight there was full moon. The sky was clear and ghosties and ghoulies were out. In addition there were dinosaurs and cows and butterflies and a few aliens too. 

But alas, you are going to have to stand sideways to see the astronaut and 

The two aliens he brought back from space.

I don't remember who these young girls were, but they were polite and we had a nice conversation about werewolves roving around during a full moon.

They assured me that the aliens were able to deal with mere werewolves.

To all, I hope you had a Happy Halloween.

Two Classics

This morning I saw a 1953 Hudson Wasp, and I thought that would be the last classic car I would see for the day. I was wrong. This evening I saw a 1956 Chevrolet Belair. Both are beauties in very different ways. The Wasp harked back to the forties; while the Belair was edgy and forward looking. The Wasp was the past, the Belair was the future.

The 1953 Hudson Wasp was in the second year of production. It was built on the a shorter Hudson chassis, but still had the chubby looks of the day. While rounded and shiny it looks bulky in comparison to the Chevy and might explain why the model was discontinued after only 4 years in production. Automobile design had changed.

The 1956 Chevrolet Belair was the top of the line Chevy that year. The chrome design exemplifies forward movement; speed; modernity. She is optimistic and bright, exactly matching the mood of the country at the time.

Nowadays, both cars shine, for the same reason. 

They are beautiful. 

Dolly Domestic

 Since arriving at my other home, I've been enjoying the domestic arts of sewing and decoration. We had new flooring installed in the house and I decided it was time to change the master bedroom furniture. I traded in the huge CalKing bed for a more modest Queen sized bed. All summer I looked for a headboard I liked and I found nothing. SO, we made a headboard that matches the bedspread. Next, I made the matching window cushion, and the valance for the master bath...and now we are working on recovering the bed bench. What started out as a small project grew and grew. A few more finishing touches and the room should be finished today.

During the day the teddy bears enjoy their new digs. They don't seem to complain too much when we take them off to sleep at night (I love to play with my teddy bears)

As an aside, if you plan on a project like this, buy 2 bedspread kits, that way you have enough fabric for the rest of the stuff you will need to have a coordinating bedroom. 

Three Little Piggies Up For Auction

My Delta Kappa Gamma group is holding a Christmas Auction in December and I volunteered some critters. These 3 little piggies (2 Berkshires and 1 Hampshire) are going on the auction block. Some other critters are going to follow. The nice folks want a starting price and I have no idea. Please write to me and tell me what you would pay for a piggy? Thank you in advance.

 

Going West from Fall to Summer

 We made our semi-annual migration from the high country to the low country without too much ado. 

We left autumn. The colors were in full array until western Nevada...then it became "late summer" again. We drove through the Feather RIver Canyon, which has a great fall color display, but it's too early. 

There were green conifers, dried grasses with burned patches along the way. One bridge had been destroyed by fire. Lots of trees have been lost to flames. That's the reason we had smoky skies from Idaho west. No more burning eyes, no more choking on the smoke. We had arrived in California. 

Since it's still late summer here, we can look forward to another colorful fall. In the meantime, we will get used to the grasses changing from gold to gray as summer wears out.

Big Scare

 Yesterday I was feeling "off" with a low temperature, body aches, shortness of breath. I called the local prompt care clinic and the nice person there told me to call the hospital as those were potential COVID-19 symptoms. I called the hospital and Tanya said, please get tested for COVID. 

The drive to the hospital was strange. Neither of us wanted to say anything about COVID and what a positive test would mean. We talked about the pretty fall leaves.

That was easier to handle. Once at the hospital we drove into the "test site." At first no one appeared then a masked woman walked out of the hospital. She asked both of us a few questions, then she asked me some pointed questions regarding COVID. She left to get an oximeter and thermometer. I had a 1.5 degree fever, oxygen was ok, pulse was high (I can only imagine why?). Then she suited up in a disposable garment and told me about the test. She said she would put a slim flexible probe with short bristles up my nose for 15 seconds then take it out slowly. She said it will tickle a bit but it will not be painful. She was correct. There was a "mean" tickle...not a tickle that makes you laugh but a tickle that is just this side of uncomfortable. It did not hurt. It was not painful. She counted to 15, pulled the probe out, and placed it in a covered tube. She told me that someone would call in the morning with the results.

For the rest of the day, we were walking around like zombies...was I infected? Were we infected? The other DrC now had a fever and he was feeling "off" too. The elephant in the room was "what will we do if both of us have this dreaded disease"?

We were not very hungry for dinner, but I fixed a little something. We needed to take our minds off the elephant, so I suggested a diversion. We looked at 4 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It was a great diversion. Worrying about vampires and the mythical destruction of the world was the way to go.(I guess that sounds strange, but there you go.) We did not think once about what might be in store for us. 

This morning, no call arrived. The other DrC was getting antsy. We were feeling pretty good. The fevers were gone. At 11:39 I called the hospital. After 3 transfers, I was put in touch with Don and he said "he tried to call me earlier today but my phone just rang and rang"...I never heard the ring. Then he said...are you ready...the test was NEGATIVE.

I hope you don't have to go thru that scare. It's pretty bad. Now I'll go back to looking at the pretty fall leaves.

 

Bright Sun in Bluebird Blue Skies

Yesterday I was looking for great fall color, when I saw a bucolic country scene, and I snapped a few pictures.

When I came home I looked at my pictures and I saw the sun. I have no idea how I "got" the aura around the sun, but I do know the pictures are special.  I wonder if I can take a picture of the sun  like this again?

The cows however don't seem to know that the sun is shining or the skies are clear and bluebird blue. The joys of living in the country.

Musings from the Naked Lady Trail

Back in the day, the Basque shepherds would move their sheep up-country or down-country (depending on the season) on the Naked Lady Trail. My home is near the old Naked Lady Trail so I've learned a little bit of the Basque Lore of the area. 

Aspen trees are sometimes called "newspaper trees" because the bark is white and easy to carve. The old Basque shepherds would "write" where they were moving the sheep by carving a date and direction on the bark of the aspens so other shepherds knew where to find the flock. There were many sheep trails, but the Naked Lady Trail was notorious. Instead of telling where the flock was going, the artistic shepherds  carved naked ladies on the trees. I've seen one of the ladies on a venerable aspen (that has since succumbed to very old age).  Sadly, the the trail is no longer in operation but old-timers know where the trail was. If I tell one of those old timers I live by the NLT they know exactly where I live.

Another interesting tree in the area is the Rocky Mountain Maple. During the summer, this maple tree is just another tree on the mountainside. But in the fall, the green maple leaves change to red and the mountains are dotted with bright red highlights. Over the years we've been told that the red splashes of color came from the Mountain Mahogany, this year we finally learned the name of this bright red tree.

 

Autumn Abstractions

I have always wanted to be an artist, but sadly no talent in that area exists. However, with the help of an app called Brushtroke, I can transform my pictures into abstract works of art. It's great fun and if I don't like the result, I can delete it and start anew. Here are few of my artistic attempts with the marvelous fall colors and the cloudy skies I saw this past week. 

Aspens and Pine

Clouds Over the Palisade

Golden Delight

Dazzled and Dappled

Fall in the Rocky Mountains happens with haste.

 The display of color and light is illusive as it drifts away on a zephyr

The vibrant leaves form dappled designs on the forest floor

They dance and sing in the autumn breeze. 

Mere humans can never make patterns this perfect 

Mother Nature dazzles us with the delights of the season.

 

Tetons in a Haze

Yesterday we took a ride to the Tetons. The whole Park was shrouded with bad air from the fires in the West...but an ethereal beauty shone thru.

Jackson Lake was still as a mirror and the reflections were fantastic

And Mt. Moran appeared thru the mist...always beautiful.

 

Season's Changing, Part 3

 As we get closer to the equinox, the autumn colors are getting more vibrant. The green leaves are becoming sparser and the value of the light is changing.

A young stand of aspens turning yellow from green

Mama and baby are enjoying the last sweet summer berries...the morning light is muted a different shade from the summer

The pure yellow leaf is a thing of beauty

An aspen forest is one huge organism. We've lived in an aspen forest for two decades, and it is fascinating to see how seemingly individual trees work together to keep the forest healthy.

And when a gentle breeze blows the leaves quake. Soon, this set of leaves will fall to the ground and the forest will sleep for the winter.

Piggy in a Blanket

OK...you all knew this was coming considering I make blankets and piggies...so here is a pig in a blanket.

I've been working on this blanket about 2 months, much longer than usual, because I got sidetracked making piggies and hedgehogs and teddy bears. The critters are just too much fun. My next project is Christmas ornaments. (You have to plan ahead.)

 

Magnum

Remember when Magnum was hot!

 

19 Years Ago

Nineteen years ago, the world changed, and not for the better. A HUGE terrorist attack was launched against the United States. Not only were lives destroyed; our way of life became under threat. We must not forget that the terrorists were Muslims. Keep that in mind when you vote this year. Vote for folks who uphold our way of life. As you know, I do not do politics in my blog, that's the purview of the other DrC, but it does not mean that I don't think about politics. Vote wisely this year.

Remains of the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

Change of Season

 There's an old-wife's tale that says Fall begins after Labor Day. Labor Day was Monday...today is Tuesday and it snowed last night! Has Fall started early or was this snow just a fluke? We'll find out in the near future.

I looked out the window this morning and was greeted with white stuff.

We knew it was going to be cold overnight, but we did not expect snow! 

Most of the snow on the valley floor was melted by noon, but there's still snow on the mountains.

Helena Hedgehog

My friend Pam asked if I would make her a hedgehog...so Helena was made. 

She was put in the mail today. 

 

Libby Turns 17

During the academic year of 2003-04, we moved to Texas to teach at a branch campus of Texas A&M. The other DrC used our pickup truck to commute to school, but because our schedules were so different, I needed a vehicle too. To that end, I bought the cutest car I had ever seen, a 2003 Jeep Liberty. I named her Libby Loo, or Libby for short.

Today, Libby celebrates her 17th anniversary with us. She's still cute as a button. In addition, she's been reliable. While she might be 17 years old, she's still a "baby" mileage wise.

This morning, when I started my walk, I looked at her odometer, and it read a palindromic number, 71,017 miles. (Palindromes are just a little bit magical, imho) That's less than 4,200 miles per year. I thought it was apt that her mileage ended with "17" on her 17th anniversary.

Happy Birthday Libby.

Season's Changing, Part 2

 More signs that fall is in the air.

The berries are out. We have white "snow berries" and inky black berries. The deer love both of these tiny treats.

Few flowers are blooming, most are going to seed. The salsify is just about gone, and the asters look very shaggy. Their seeds will blow away soon.

Only 2 flowers--the almighty thistle and Queen Anne's Lace are still blooming. The cone flower is drying up, even the cones are beginning to wilt.

The aspens are just on the verge of turning color

But look at the leaves...they are tired. They protected the tree all summer and now they are ready to be shed.

An empty robin's nest is another sign that summer is fading into fall. Mama robin can hatch up to 5 clutches of babies during a warm summer. But when the season is over, she abandons the nest, as it time to move to warmer climes. 

The Season is Changing

 Fall is definitely in the air. The leaves on the aspens are getting droopy. The understory in the forest is less dense than it was earlier in the summer. The mornings have a bit of a nip in them. But the biggest thing that says the seasons are changing is the look of the fields.  

The green alfalfa fields have been replaced with neatly stacked bales. 

The swathers are working overtime, trying to beat the change of weather that is on the horizon. We are expecting our first freeze on Monday night.