Sleeping Beauties...

First a zoomed in look...

Look at all those sleeping beauties...can you imagine sleeping on the water like this?  In single digit weather?

This pond/strip pit is on the south side of the road...thus always looking slightly towards the sun.  Add that to the fact that I cannot see my screen I have a hard time getting a good picture.

If you will right click on these photos, then click open in new tab, or open in new window, I think it will be a big bigger photo.   

Hope you aren't tired of geese....

We decided to run to Super Walmart to pick up a few things there that our little Walmart doesn't carry.  We went through one end of the strip pits as we headed that way...



The day was actually just a gray day.  Just so much fog and mist...have your sound on to hear them.  You might want to try half volume to begin with.



My hands had started to try to tremble with the fist video I showed...I thought if I paused it would stop but as you can see they still trembled some.  It all happened so quick that I didn't even attempt to get my mono-pod out.



I so wish you could see them all in person...these videos just do not do them justice.  Down at the south of of this pond were several swans but so far you can barely see them with the naked eye.

 

From the strip pits

First this bird...I am not sure what it was.  I know it was not a vulture, and if it was a hawk, it was a HUGE hawk, but by the same token, if it was a juvenile bald eagle, it was on the small side.  Also, the underneath side was not white like most hawks. I have a hard time zooming in and tracking with my little point & shoot camera.

This is way down at the end of a pond...I was surprised this photo turned out even this good...again, trying to zoom in and track the two swans was difficult.

 I managed this capture as these swans passed over right in front of us.

 There were several Canada Geese...this group was near us on the north side of the road.

This is the pond on the south side of the road...and this is showing just a small portion of the geese that were up on the bank.  I have never seen the quite like this before.  I have seen them in the fields near other ponds, though so guess it amounts to the same thing.
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Roger's BP was fairly high again tonight.  I don't know why.  He had had a coughing spell right as I took it...I waited a couple minutes to take it and it was still 163/88.  In the hospital and rehab they wanted to keep the upper number 140 or below because of the fact that he had had the bleeds.  Again, I gave him a whole BP pill instead of the normal half a pill...it came down quickly tonight so maybe the whole pill was not needed.

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I have told some of my blog friends of the things Roger is having to relearn but haven't shared them in detail on here.  Simple things we all take for granted.  Things like telling the time.  He can read a digital watch, though sometimes numbers pop out of his mouth that are not what he means to say.    It is almost as if he just has to say something...but I can say not it isn't 3:00...and he will look again and say, oh, it is 1:00.

As for a clock with a dial...he is having to learn to tell time all over that way.  But is really improving with that.  As long as I don't ask him to do too many times in a short period. 

But don't ask him what year it is...he seldom gets that right.  

He cannot just sit down and read...he has to spell out words and then can usually tell you what they are.   But what is funny, a lot of times he can read longer words.  

He can write words a lot easier than he can print them, though he still has some trouble with a few letters in writing.  But nothing like when he prints.  And I have him print the alphabet most days. 

I won't put it all in this one post, but will continue to tell some of the things he deals with as time goes on.

From the strip pit area

We have been through this area several times, and have not seen a single Great Blue Heron.  However, we always see two or three egrets.

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Roger continues to improve a little bit at a time...specially in the physical department.  He has now been up and down our basement stairs two or three times.  He can get in the tub and take a regular shower with no help from me.  He makes coffee.  He can go shopping with me to Walmart of grocery as long as I don't stay a long time.   These are baby steps, but steps I didn't think I would ever see again when this first happened.

He still has trouble with remembering and naming things.   And seems to have no short term memory. 

We go and drive through the strip pits two or three times a week.  It is a short drive and we have fun looking for wildlife.   He really, really enjoys it.  Not sure when he will ever feel like going for a longer drive.  We had an appt in Indianapolis yesterday and he was totally worn out last night.

I wanted to thank you again for your continued prayers.  Even though I don't respond personally, I do appreciate them.

A detour..

Yesterday we went to the super walmart in a near by town.  Any time we go there, we take a little detour through the strip pits.  A few swans were about...but none close up.  If you will expand the view, you will see a couple have neck bands.

Along with the swans and geese, we saw pheasants and a couple hawks.

Then when we got back into town, there out back of one of the houses were these turkeys...

There was at least 6 of them, but a car was coming up behind us and I didn't have time to snap any more pics.

Sunset in Indiana

One can almost always count on a colorful sunset in Indiana.  This was taken last Sunday evening.  Out at the strip pits.  We are not seeing many birds out there, but are seeing a few deer.
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I should be paying my bills but instead here I sit.  And I don't have anything interesting to tell. 

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention--I saw goldenrod in bloom the other day!  This seems early...but it was only one bloom.  I  shall be watching for more.  I won't mind when autumn gets here--it is my favorite time of year.  I hope it arrives early and lingers a long time.
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I was going through my purse yesterday and found an old gift card from Joann Fabrics.  I would have bet money there was only a few cents left on it, but when I checked it had $13 on it...so I felt richer at the end of the day.

I need to get up and do something...what I don't know.  But I should not just be sitting here.  It may be evening/night before I get around to every one.  Hope you all have a good day! 

Strip pit sightings

We wanted to get out just a bit yesterday, but did not want to get too far off the beaten path so we ran through the strip pits.  The first things we saw were swans...always at a distance.  Still, they are fun to see.

Nest were the pheasants...only this single pheasant flew up, though.  And that took me by surprise.  So the picture is not sharp at all.  The rest always took off through the dried weeds and grass.

Next up to photograph were the geese--both Canada and White-fronted.  Oh, I could not tell from looking at these dhots.  But I am going by the ones that flew over plus their sounds.  And though you cannot see in this photo, there were a few swans there, too.  But only  a few....nothing like the numbers there the past couple of times.

The above photo shows only a small portion of the geese on the strip pit on this side. I did not even try to photo graph the rest of them as they were farther on down.  

Then this photo is on the south side of the road....in years past we seldom saw anything on this one...oh, maybe a couple pairs of something.  But never in numbers like this.

And of course we saw hawks...Deb identified another shot like this as a rough-legged hawk.  I swear you would think this is the same shot, but if you right click, and click open in a new window, you will see they have different image numbers.

There also the usual Northern Harriers skimming over the ground.

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I did cut out a dress for Lorelei yesterday.  It will have a zipper...do you know how long it has been since I put a zipper in anything?  I cannot even remember the last time I did.  I am not sure if I will work on it today, but am hoping, too.  If it turns out half decent, I will show it on here sometime, but if it is a bust, I probably won't even mention it again.

Strip pits are still busy....

We ran to Paris today...Paris, Illinois that is.  On the way home, we drove through the strip pit area.  The pond above it huge...I keep meaning to get a rough measurement of it by seeing how long the road is that runs sort of parallel to it.  Using the zoom lens compresses it so that you just don't the real feel of it.  Anyway, I think there were  more swans on it than were on it the the other day.  As you can see the ice is all gone here.

The rest of these are taken at a much smaller pond that is right beside the road.  We paused and I rolled down the window to try to take a few photos.

They first started to gradually swim away....

then they started to fly away so we took proceeded on our way.

I saw this pair of swans and had Roger stop while I snagged a couple pics.  This one has been cropped a little bit.  Remember to click the photo to view a larger image.

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I finished sewing the binding down on Lorelei's quilt tonight!  I hope to wash it tomorrow.  I never give a quilt away without washing it first. I am so glad to have it done for her.  It has really surprised me that she still asks about it...it has been quite a while ago that I first told her I would make it for her.

Also from the strip pits...

These are all from the strip pit yesterday...more than one hawk is involved.

This is a Northern Harrier...there are lots of them out there in the winter.

I am pretty sure that this one is NOT a Northern Harrier, but I have no idea what it is.

This is the same Northern Harrier as in the first two pics..

This is a another hawk.

I so wish this last shot of it had been in focus...still click on them to see a better view.  You can still tell he is looking at me!

Hope you enjoyed these...a Northern Harrier is about the only hawk I feel like I can recognize for sure.  

Almost standing room only....

I made a quick run through the strip pits again today...the first little pond I pass had more geese on it than I had ever seen there at one time.

There were White-fronted Geese mixed in with the Canada Geese.  There was weeds between me and the pond.  I did try to get out but that sort of agitated them.  Some flew away.

The photo above along with the ones below were take at the big strip pit.

All of these can be clicked on to expand the view, so click on them, and notice in the last three photos just how many are sleeping.  Even out on the water.

And on the way home, I went by the pond I showed in the first two photos...this is what was going on there:

I am assuming they were tired...it was the middle of the afternoon, and almost all of them were like this. 

End of summer charm

This is just a drop in the bucket...there just seems to be no way to show the measure of yellow that is out at the strip pits.  Everywhere in sight one will see yellow flowers.  On warm, breezy days, it is just glorious to stand and look.  I never seem to be able to capture a picture that shows the way I feel.

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It is really on the cool side now of the morns.  It is  46ºF as I type this.  The high is only supposed to reach into the 60's.  

I will be busy today, so probably won't get much visiting done till either tonight or tomorrow.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I wrote a song for you.....it was called Yellow

I can't help but think of the song Yellow by Coldplay when I see all the yellow...it must be the chosen color for fall.
I hope you click on these to get their full glory...
though it may look like the butterflies were cooperating, I really had to chase them around to get some decent shot. But at least they didn't fly completely away.
I tried and tried to capture a Monarch with the wings open but just could not be quick enough to get one when they moved from one place to another.
Even the Buckeyes flitted away almost every time I got near.
Still, aren't they gorgeous!

Yellow world returns....

I did not think I was going to get to see the seas of yellow this fall...but with the return of rain, the flowers popped up in the usual spots out at the strip pit. Oh, I so love to see the patches of bright yellow here and there. They are alive with bees and butterflies and insects.
Notice the background in the shot below...see the green!!! Look back at this post.....that hill is the same hill in the background, just a hundred yards or so on north.
The other side of the road is this weedy field...I happened to glance over and this is what I saw.
Can you believe the rack on that thing...he was quite a ways away. I had my lens out to 300mm...so I am thinking he was at least a 150 yards away...maybe more. I am not a judge of distance.
Here I cropped one of the photos till you can see the mass of the antlers. That is one big boy!
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We messed around yesterday...we ended up driving through the strip pits and coming home. Then later in the evening, we headed to Mansfield...to try fishing. First we fished in the tailwaters of the main dam. Roger caught a couple, and I caught zero...not one single thing. Then we headed to fish below the mill at Mansfield. I caught two....but that was it. Water is so low there.
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We have had a little rain this morn...everything looks fresh and green. I am not sure what we are doing today. Maybe nothing. Which sounds good to me.

Evening glow from the strip pits

Another coyote at the strip pits....I would yip at him and he would look...notice the warm glow of evening light.
This is the glow as the day was ending.

It was another day of temps over 100ºF...it did cloud up this evening but not a drop of rain here.

A couple of things...

I finished the quilting on my small quilt...I brought it up to show Roger and then laid it across the high chair. Bubbie found it first thing and claimed it as his own. He pulled it down and got in it like this...this is not staged. Though I did move it back just enough to see his head better. He laid in it all covered up for an hour or two. I will take a better view of it when I have put the binding on.

Now, I want to show you some scenes from the strip pits.
Look how brown everything is.....
this field was mowed a bit back. Doesn't this look like what you would see in the winter? They were all taken tonight.
I ran out there just to get some views of the clouds but should have went earlier.
If not for the green of the trees, this one would definitely look like late fall.