Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
Loading up after a day of North Dakota bird hunting.
Monthly Archives: October 2013
It’s True
The rumors are true. We went bird hunting in North Dakota for our tenth anniversary.
I know there are a fair amount of you reading this who think that’s grand- you’re probably related to me. I also know that there are a fair amount of you reading this who think I’m nuts. I know this because I’d been telling all sorts of people about our plans before we left. And while only a few were so bold enough to say such things as “Do you hunt?” and “Why?” the rest of them had it in their eyes.
The first question is an easy yes.
As for why we chose North Dakota over some place with sand and drinks with little umbrellas, well…
There are few times that I will willing get up before the sun rises just for fun. 
Very few times.
But if you don’t get up early enough to get some breakfast, get the dogs ready to go and get to the field, you just don’t make it in time to see mornings like these.
Mornings in a field of grass that stretches as far as you can see, where you are just as likely to flush an owl or a deer as the pheasant the dogs are searching for. 
Mornings so still and clear you can hear the dogs running and sniffing through the field ahead of you.
Or the cold mornings where the frost on the grass bursts off as the dogs run through it, leaving streaming trails of glitter in the sunlight as they hunt for birds. 
As the morning wears on, the birds move out of the easy cover and become harder to find. The dogs get tired.
I get tired.
But there are always more field to explore.
And you can’t stop yet, because there are probably birds, just over the next hill. And yes the hill might be a mile away but the dogs are looking birdy so you can’t stop now. And when you think about it, you find you no longer even want to. 
Suddenly the birds will be coming back into the heavy cover for the night, the dogs will be pointing left and right and when it seems far to early to be done for the day, the sun will go down.
Invariably I will be astonished that the day’s hunt is over, exhausted, yet still filled with plans of places we can go, fields we can try and combinations of dogs we can run – tomorrow.
And, if it’s been an exceptionally good day, there just might be a bit of extra weight on my back.
A bit of weight in a bundle of feathers that holds both the promise of a delicious dinner and the story of following a dog through a sea of grass to see what happens next.
A Great Week!
I’ve spent the last week doing this:
With this guy:
And a pack of these:
A great week!
I’ve got to clean my gun tonight but I’ll have more pictures to share tomorrow!
This Moment – Visiting Granny
A Friday ritual . A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Have You Hugged A Puppy Today?
My puppy that is not my puppy Digby still comes to visit us every day and I still love him.
Just in case you need a bit of a pick-me-up I’m offering him up for virtual hugging. 
Any day can be improved with a little bit of puppy love!
Just to clarify the “little bit” does indeed refer to the 50 pounds of tail wagging, licking and wiggling that is Digby.
Blue Skies and Pumpkins
I love fall.
The blue skies.
The yellow leaves.
The orange pumpkins!
Gramps once again grew a bumper crop of pumpkins for his great granddaughters.
Once again I made everyone else do the heavy lifting while I took the photos.
Checking out the big one!
Lift with your legs Ivy!
Heave!
Jane in the pumpkin patch
Carrying pumpkins is serious work.
Even the little one has got pumpkins to carry.
The Haul
Look at that sky!
The pumpkin pickers with the Great Pumpkin Grower!
Ivy
Clara
Ivy and her dad.
And once again I decided that pumpkin picking makes for some of the best pictures of the entire year!
You can see other years of pumpkin picking here Pumpkin Patch and here Pumpkins.
Was I Supposed To Bring That?
I am a great list maker and a great list forgetter.
I like making lists, shopping lists in particular are a must. But I’d be lying if I said that the list made it to the store with me more than 50% of the time. Often it never leaves the house. Sometimes it gets left in the car. Occasionally I misplace it in my pocket, and on one memorable and confusing occasion I brought an out of date grocery list into the store with me.
Then of course there is the handwriting/spelling factor. You are perhaps blissfully unaware of the fact that my handwriting is mostly illegible because you are blessed with being able to be able to read what I type instead of what I write. Don’t even get me (or anyone else) started on my spelling. I confuse spell check. Regularly. What all this all means is that when I do make it to the store list in hand there is a good chance I may spend half my trip trying to decipher my own handwriting.
Pathetic.
Here is my last list. Created for a Menards run, it never left the house.
Later that day I found it still on the counter covered in scribbles. Now days later, it’s still sitting here and have no idea what the last word is.
2 Outdoor Lights
Doorstop
White Lights
Broom ___?
I think it was “thing.” Why did I feel the need to write “thing” after broom? Why if seized by such a need did I attempt to spell it “ting” and leave out crossing the “t”? Is that what my scribbler was attempting to help me out with?
I’m not sure it’s worth the psychoanalyzation because, as usual, I remembered everything on the forgotten, illegible list but forgot to buy the item that wasn’t written down.
I make lists because they help, even when I don’t bring them.
Written in response to For The Promptless S.3 E.10 Shopping List hosted by Queen Creative.
The Tour – Part 3
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! I can’t believe you are still sitting on that bench! Life just got the best of me for a bit, we took some trips out of town and John was gone and we all got sick and… well you know how it is- just life.
But please, please, get up. Let’s go for a walk, stretch your legs, we’ve got more to see!
We’ll head out the back gate here into the woods. Watch out for the dogs though. Well you can’t see them yet because they have already sprinted up ahead and do their best to catch chipmunks, but they’ll be flying back past us any moment. Storm usually has a giant — stick! Is your leg OK? LOOK OUT! I’m so sorry! The girls think they are being careful while waving big sticks around but obviously they aren’t! But if you can keep your footing with the dogs about and protect your eyes from the sticks, this trail is really rather nice. We’ll just follow it here as it winds about a bit to the far end of the property.
Alright, I can see that just looking at all that buckthorn and multiflora rose is making your blood pressure rise. Please try to look up a little higher and check out the oak, maple and pines instead and before you know it, we’ll be in the orchard.
Here we are! 
Careful! Don’t walk there! You’ve got to watch your step, there are downed apples everywhere and it’s such a nice day that the yellow jackets are out it swarms! Our orchard is small compared to the one you drove by when you came up the driveway. We only have about 30 trees. (Well 32 and one pear to be precise.) Of course you can have an apple! Try as many as you like – well not that one! You gotta watch for worms! Here try this one instead, it’s a Baldwin it’s John’s current favorite. Or over here you can try an Erwin Baur, I love that one. Clara’s favorite is the Yellow Delicious, Jane eats them all we just try to keep her from picking them off the ground. Go ahead and pick her one of those Golden Russets there, they look brown and weird but they are tasty. Ivy – no Ivy scorns all our apples for the neighbors – 32 varieties and we still can’t please everyone.
As you can see we are swimming in apples, we can’t even pick them fast enough this year.
But the chickens are loving the windfalls.
And so are the ducks who are living in the coop we moved. Didn’t I tell you about that? Well…. (The Tale of The Perfect Little Chicken Coop)
We’ve been making apple cider and apple pies, sauce, butter… And that reminds me, have I told you about John? Here we are drowning in apples and he BOUGHT ten pounds of apples! Yes, bought them and brought them home because he thought it would be “a good project” for him and Clara to turn them into dried apples.
Seriously.
What do you mean “What’s that”?
That is a bag for you. You can’t leave without a bag of apples! I’ll help you pick – Not on that! That ladder is a safety hazard, only John is crazy enough to use that one! 
Here, use this one.
You know, on second thought, let’s get you back to the house. I’ve got lots of apples all ready picked there and you finish the tour with the inside of the house. Just follow Jane and try not to get hurt anymore…
“Come on!”
So… have you always been this accident prone, or is this a new thing?
(continued in The Tour -Part 4)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Good Morning! (?)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Good Morning!
Isn’t that pretty?
That’s what I’ve looked at out my front window every morning this week.
The fog sits between the rows of apple trees.
The windows at the peak of the barn reflect the colors of the sky.
Birds sing…
Kids wake up fighting, clothes are misplaced, breakfast is cooked and then scorned, school wants kids there on time, my yogurt spills in the truck, other drivers gesticulate and swear at me until I realize I’m driving 10 MPH through town, I call people the wrong names, drive the wrong way, mess up plans to meet friends, wake up without my voice, forget my tea at home…
Mornings – they may be pretty but I’m not ready to call them “good.”
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Things you should know.
1) Despite what the title may lead to you believe this book is not a book filled with flowers, fluff and happiness.
2) When my book club met after reading this book we had more book related discussion than we often do.
3) Some of the story is rather unbelievable.
5) Some of it is frighteningly believable.
6) You should never give someone a bouquet made of peony’s and yellow roses.
7) Would I recommend it? Yes.
Behind the Willows 