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.