All About My Pooch and My Projects

It's been a while since I've created a post.  I've been lazy, not in the mood, and tied up with other things.

One of the things I've been tied up with is my little dog, Finn.  He's been under the weather since October.  He didn’t really act or feel sick, but his stools just weren’t right.  Our vet did 2 worm tests on him at different times that came back negative each time.  But, the vet said the tests are only accurate 65% of the time.  He treated him with antibiotics and wormers and every time it cleared up but then returned. 

Then he ended up with an abscess.  The vet wasn’t sure if it was a tumor or an abscess, so again 2 weeks of antibiotics and he tested the growth…it came back negative for cancer.  After 2 weeks he checked internally, and the growth was gone.  The vet said we may just have to deal with stools that are a bit soft forever.  He suggested giving him a teaspoon of pumpkin daily with his food to see if that helps.  He’s been finished with his antibiotics for a week now, and the pumpkin has helped a lot with his stools.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this will continue.  The vet said the only thing left to try is to put him on a special diet.  So, we’re hoping Finn will continue as he is now.

In the meantime, of course, he's gotten spoiled eating chicken breast and rice.  So now, that's all he wants.  He gets that mixed with kibble and pumpkin once a day.  After he's eaten that we fill his bowl with just kibble.  If he's hungry enough he'll just have to eat that.  Silly pooch.

I'm still working on projects to use up my leftover yarn.  Although with Christmas coming, I haven't had as much time as I've wanted to crochet.  Here are a few of my latest finished projects.

This is a large afghan.  Although I'm trying to use up my yarn, when I use this many colors, I still have a lot of leftovers to use up!

This picture doesn't do this scarf justice.  The colors are blue, lavender and a cream. I love this yarn!! It's so soft and easy to work with, it's called Sweet Roll.  This was not part of my leftover yarn.  I wanted to try and make something using a corner to corner pattern, and I also wanted to try this new self striping yarn.  I want to buy more!!!! But, I need to get rid of the old stuff first.

This is another corner to corner throw using the leftover yarn.  I wish it was bigger, so I am working on another afghan using the same pattern but increasing the size.  These colors are cornmeal, sage, cream and a variegated yarn (I can't recall the color name).

I still have a long way to go to use up my old yarn, but I am making headway!

My Quiet Friends Once Again

Love seeing the deer.  They are always so peaceful and quiet.  Lately, they don't even seem to be afraid of me.  Luckily, I'm usually by myself when I see them, and there isn't a lot of noise on the trail.  Hope you enjoy my pictures and videos even though they are usually of deer and turkeys.

There are two in this picture.

And finally, a video I took.  Hope it works!

A Few of My Favorites

It's turkey time again!  Haha!  I love looking for these guys all over the place.  There are several places I usually see them and always get a kick out of seeing them.

This is in the field right before I get to my usual hiking trail.  The park has left it overgrown, so once in awhile I can spot a head sticking up and spot the turkeys.  In the background is a baseball field.

There are 3 turkeys in this next picture...in the same field.

Another spot that I see them a lot...along the road.  Three in this picture.

An action shot of this guy and his friend running away.  They're so funny.

Yikes!!!

Confession time!!!  These are not my pictures, but pictures my daughter took.  I thought they were very cool, so just wanted to share.

I'm not sure why this spider is showing up white in this picture.

This is taken from a side view to show a different angle of the web.  Spiders can be creepy and cool at the same time.

And now, to calm down those creepy feelings you're having right now...something pretty.

A New Routine and Update on the Bridge!

After a brief break in my hikes due to lots of rain and having a cold, I finally got back to hiking yesterday. 

I've established a new routine lately, that I'd like to continue, so we'll see how it goes.  I love not having to get up at a certain time each morning, so the only day I set my alarm is Sunday mornings for church. 

Lately, I've thought it would be nice to go to daily Mass.  However, since we share our pastor with another parish, we only have Mass during the week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.   So instead of setting my alarm, I let it all up to my guardian angel.  If she wakes me up in time I go to Mass...so far, she's been a great alarm without the alarm!  I've also attended Mass at the other parish once.  Even though I got to see my cousin that day (he's a parishioner there), I decided it's too far of a drive on Wednesdays and Fridays.  I may go there now and then, but it's not going to be part of my routine.

Here is a picture of the chapel at Corpus Christi.  It is a small room in the building where the office is too.  There are three rows of seats that face the altar along with the seats along the side wall.  The chapel is usually filled to capacity on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  At first, I felt cramped but I sit on the very end of the row, so that helps. 

After I attend Mass which is usually over by 9 am, I head over to Winton Woods to do my hike.  I was thrilled to discover that they have finally started on rebuilding the bridge on the trail that has been gone since the spring.

Heading down the trail I spotted a large pickup truck, which I later discovered belonged to the guys rebuilding the bridge!!!  Yay!!!

This is a picture where the long and short trail meet.  The water is still a bit high from all the rains we've had, but if you look at the foliage in the foreground you can still see mud on the leaves.  So the water was quite a bit higher.  The yellow caution tape in the left of the picture is where they are rebuilding the bridge.

Here is a video I took yesterday from the top of the short trail.

This is a picture I took today.  Looks like the forms are ready for the cement footings.

Sure enough, as I was leaving the trail, a cement truck was heading down the trail.  I got out of the way just in time! 

Hiking in August

Still spending lots of time hiking and taking pictures, but I just don't seem to get around to blogging.  I usually allow myself a certain amount of time on the computer, and before I know it, I've run out of time and have work to do!  So this post, will be about several different hikes plus a little more.

Of course, I'm always looking out for my turkey friends.  On this particular day I spotted 4 of them.  However, as soon as I stopped, 3 ran away.  When I looked in my rear view mirror, a car was behind me, so I only took 1 picture.  I like the way the sun shines on his wattle.

I thought this bit of fungi looked like either a beautiful cup or flower.

I also liked this collection on both sides of this stump.

During this damp and humid hike, I also spotted this little guy right beneath my feet!  Can you see him?

And, of course, I can't pass up pictures of any deer that I come across.

And, finally, our new couch finally arrived!  It looks pretty average, but it's exactly what I wanted.  I wanted something that looked like it belonged in a ranch or cabin.  I like the nailhead decoration on the ends.  Kind of reminds me of something you would see on a saddle.  The two ends recline, so now we can both have a comfy place to sit.  More seating during the holidays too!

Germania Society Oktoberfest!

I've always wanted to go to the Germania Society Oktoberfest which is held in our area every year.  For some reason, we never get around to going.  But this year, my son Eric and his wife, Nikki invited me to tag along.  I was really excited.  My heritage is German, and I love all of the music, food, and of course, the beer!

I splurged a little and spent more money that I had planned, it wasn't exorbitant, just a treat for myself.  Who knows when I'll go again...right? 

These chickens really looked good! 

The aroma of all the German food was sure tempting.  I wanted to try everything.  Since I've been trying to lose weight, I limited myself to a few choices.  This next picture may not look like much, but it was really good!  Goetta on German Rye!

Eric also bought a side of Sauerkraut balls.  I tried one and it was really great!  If nothing else, I want to go back next year and just eat all day and all night!

This is a picture of my daughter-in-law Nikki and my grandson Alejandro.  Alejandro sometimes gets bored with things, but he really did well and seemed to enjoy himself.

I wanted to try one of the beers they had, but I didn't want to drink because I would have to drive home afterwards.  I had driven to Eric's house so that we could ride together.  However, he gave me a sip of his Dunkel beer, and it was out of this world!  Best beer I ever tasted!

I wanted a German hat, but kept denying myself.  Finally, I gave in and bought the cheapest one they had for $10.  I really liked the red ones, but they were $40.  I may look a little crazed in this hat, and no I wasn't drinking.  I just had so much fun!  There are 3 feathers in the hat band.  Think I'll wear it to church tomorrow...not!

Finally, my Mom used to make cream puffs when I was a kid and they were always so good.  Eric surprised me and bought one for me!  It was so big, I decided to take it home and share it with Herb.  He was working, and wasn't able to go along. 

I also bought a souvenir t shirt.  So I think it was a fun night all around!

Nature, Books, and Gardening

The trails have been busy lately.  Of course, the weather has been decent, so the people come out.  One day I was irritated by 2 large groups of high school kids running the trail for track.  Of course, they took up the whole width of the trail, not leaving any room for hikers or walkers.  To top it all off, their adult chaperons were keeping up with the groups by riding bikes...there is a sign posted at the beginning of the trail "foot traffic only".  Luckily, they were on their way out as I was on my way in.

There was another group of 3 who were walking and doing the exercise stations along the trail.  Two guys and one girl.  The girl was so loud just talking, you could hear her all over the place.  I tried walking faster so that I could get away from the sound of her voice.  I really didn't want to hear everything she had to say.  Haha.  Well the next two days the top of my foot hurt, I guess I overdid the pace.  Oh well, it's all better now.

The following are a few pictures from my last hikes.

The deep blue color doesn't show up very well in this picture.

I've seen quite a few bunnies lately on the trail.

Another pretty flower.

I'm always on the lookout for my turkey friends too.  This guy didn't want his picture taken, I guess.

This last video is from daughter's house.  Our flowers look nothing like hers...that's a whole different story.  Love the butterfly!

An update on our book clearing out.  Herb managed to sort through his books and rearranged them on the shelves.  Some of the older books that are outdated etc., he didn't get rid of.  He packed them in boxes and took them to the basement.  Sigh.  Soon we are going to run out of room in the basement.  Disappointed he didn't get rid of anything.  We still have a box and a stack still sitting in the room upstairs...and there still isn't any empty spaces on the shelves.

I am disappointed in him, he is disappointed in me because I did it once again.  Over the years, while trimming bushes with an electric trimmer, I have cut more wires than I care to admit.  I am always super aware that the wire is there and I try my darndest not to nip it.  Well, I did it again yesterday!  Yikes I was mad at myself, and I wasn't the only one.  I guess I just shouldn't work in the yard anymore.  It's not my favorite thing to do anyway.

Some Changes Being Made and Back to Hiking!

I took some time off of hiking recently because I had a small growth removed from my back.  I wasn't worried about it, and it turned out to be benign.  It was a seborrheic keratosis, common in older folks.  However, once it was removed, I didn't want to get really sweaty and cause it to get infected, so I took some time off until the area healed.

In the meantime, I decided to start making changes in the house...nothing major.  However, the last several years I've been wanting to get some extra seating for our family room.  It seems during the holidays our family never has enough places to sit.  Our rooms are quite small, and I promised myself this would be the year for a new sofa.  It always seems that some other bills come up and I put off the purchase of the sofa.  Well, it's now in the process of being made!!  Yay!  It should be here within the month.  Can't wait!  I'm sure our cats can't wait either...but I will be watching them closely and making sure the sofa stays intact.  With this extra sofa, we will have more places to sit.

My next project was to clean up our bookcases.  We had books stuffed everywhere!  I started with my books.  I recently bought a new bookcase to hold all of my dvds.  Once that was all organized, I moved some of my books from one room to a second room, utilizing the older smaller dvd stand for the books I want to read first.

Here is the new dvd bookcase.  Yes, those are Santa pictures hanging on the wall to the left.  I like Santa.

The following is a picture of the original "bookcase" after I organized it better.  There are cookbooks on there too.  Herb still buys cookbooks...I don't know why.  I don't like to cook...I guess he plans to, some day.

This is a picture of my old dvd stand.  This is in what I call "The Quiet Room".  I sit in here a lot when Herb and I want to watch different shows on TV.  I crochet in here, and now the books will be in here too.

And to my surprise!  Herb is off today and he has tackled ALL of his books!  I have asked him to at least box up some of them so that we will have some room on our bookshelves.  I'm hoping once he gets started he will decide to throw them away!  Fingers crossed!

His progress so far.

Today was also my first day back to hiking.  I know I posted pictures before of how the area  looks now where the bridge used to be.  I was hoping that a new bridge would be in place, but this is how it looks today.  Pretty much the same.  Still too treacherous looking for me.  Maybe I'll take my hiking poles tomorrow and give it a try. We'll see...

This is how the parking lot looked today...just the way I like it...just my car.

Update on the "Bridge" and Testing 1, 2, 3

I've been kind of busy lately with church activities, a visit with our son from Florida, and trying to catch up on housework.

I'm usually busy with church activities 2 times a week (not including Sunday Mass), but recently I signed up for something extending that to 3 times a week.  I think that's beginning to be too much for me...I'm missing some of the other things I like to do at home.  So, as soon as the third activity takes a break, I think I'll eliminate it from my schedule.  There are just so many days and evenings in the week.

Our son came up from Florida because he needed to renew his driver's license, so he was only here 3 days.  He always wants us all to go shooting, but because of Herb's work schedule and our daughter's work schedule we never seem to be able to coordinate.  It just so happen that Herb was off on Saturday and our daughter didn't have to work because they were doing electrical maintenance where she worked.  Here we are at the range.  It was nice to get a picture of the twins together again.  We, of course, have a lot of them together when they were growing up.  It's nice to have just them in a photo together.

I've also taken a break from hiking for awhile.  I had a mole removed from my back, so I think it's best to let it heal without irritating it with sweat and additional exercise.  I also seem to have an allergy to the adhesive on the bandage.  That's more annoying than the mole removal.  It itches.  I go back in two weeks and hope all is well by then.  However, I did take a hike yesterday because I was missing it so much...but that irritated the allergy.  Oh well, I'll just be patient until I don't have to wear the bandage any more.

The bridge has still not been replaced, and this is what is now in it's place.  It's hard to tell in these pictures, but the hillsides on this ditch are quite steep, muddy, and looked too slippery for me to attempt.  I don't want to hurt either one of my knees...the good one or the bad one.
The rocks are at the top of the hill and then it slopes down to the left.

This picture is kind of hard to see, but there are rocks at the bottom and up to the other side.  I'm not sure if they are helpful or not.  I wouldn't want to slip and fall on them...I think I'd rather land in the mud.

On the drive back from the hike, I saw these two turkeys along the side of the road.  Not a great picture, as I was in my car and not very close. Sorry for the dirty glare on my windshield.

And now, for the Testing 1, 2, 3.  I've tried to add a new thumbnail picture for my blog when I post on Facebook.  I know nothing about HTML coding, so hopefully, I did it correctly.  If not, I guess it will be back to the drawing board!

Fungi Time!

Still trudging around the trails.  It seems on days that I'm not really motivated to hike, those are the days I see rare sightings.  Unfortunately, I'm never prepared or quick enough to get a picture.  Just recently, a red fox darted across the trail about 6 feet in front of me!  Of course, as the old saying goes, "The quick brown (red) fox jumped over the old lazy dog (lady) who wasn't prepared to get it's picture."  Oh well, I did get to see it, and I was excited!

Now that school is out and the weather is definitely warming up, the trail is getting busier.  More moms and kids, couples, joggers, and even a guy who brings his clients to the trail to do some personal training...and I mean personal training, nothing more, nothing less.  Haha!  So sometimes my peace and quiet is not so peaceful and quiet.  I must strive to get out there before the rest of civilization wakes up.

One day, I did see the following fungi growing on the trail.  They aren't real exciting but I do think each one is pretty in it's own way.

On this picture, I not only like the fungi, but the different colors and textures also in the picture.

This is a different kind of fungi.

This next one is my favorite.  I didn't realize when I took this picture, that I had the fungi encircled in a kind of leafy frame.  Kind of looks a bit like a white flower.

Sightings Along the Trail

I haven't been seeing a lot of deer lately, maybe I hike too late although it's usually between 8:45 and 9:45am.  Maybe I need to get up and moving earlier.

One day Cincinnati Bell was coming to work on our fioptics and I wanted to get out of the driveway before they showed up and blocked me in, so I got out the door a bit earlier.  This was my view of one of the hills I climb on the long loop.  You probably can't see the deer, but he is on the left side of the picture about half way up the hill.

 These next two pictures are a bit fuzzy but all I had was my phone camera and I zoomed in on the deer.

Some pretty little flowers alongside of the trail.

These are some shots along the portion of the short trail I hike.  The next picture, is a shot I take often.  I like the way it looks during various seasons of the year.  This one looks so peaceful and serene.  I love it!

Again, I zoomed in with my phone camera and captured a Great Blue Heron in the water (on the left)...a bit fuzzy.  These last two shots are right near the bridge that is closed, so I still like to hike there to see what wildlife might be enjoying the water.  Many times, I see deer there as well.