The last time I blogged was the last day of August...REALLY? Oh my!

I actually remember trying to get on here a few times, but my internet was blinky. With the type of weather that we have been having, that has been happening a lot. I really hate satellite, but yet it is SO much better than dial-up.

Summer is over here. It really never feels like it ever actually happened, to tell you the truth.   Sure, we had a few hot days, but for the most part, it was a wet summer.
Fall is definitely in the air now. Cooler temps & the trees are already changing color. Around here, that means that snow is very near. Last year, it snowed the week before Halloween!

Daughter is loving her classes (except math!). She loves being in college. She also turns 21 this Saturday! 
One thing that she has been wanting to do for a while now is get a tattoo. 

Here is a clue to her new tattoo....

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

I love it! It also has a lot of meaning to her, which is what it is all about.
One thing that I did suggest to her that I think would be cool is to add a sapphire blue (her birthstone) for his eye.
She liked that idea & may do that at a later time.

Thank goodness for my camera...it helps me recall what has been going on here! lol...I need to rename my blog "My life through my camera's lens"

2 weeks ago we had a mama fox & her 2 kits show up in the yard in the early evening. They were a lot of fun to watch.

A few days later one was back again, but running through the yard...

We have actually seen them several more times even since then & have gotten them on the game camera.
There is a nearby hillside that is being cleared of the timber, which may be the reason for their increased visits.
Just last night while I was cooking dinner, I saw 2 run through the yard. I swear, around here you just don't know what you will see! lol...

Here's a few of the cuter shots off of the game camera...

I wish this one was a bit clearer, but the fawn is laying down while mama is eating.

And this one, I call Sara...she is just too cute & is a frequent visitor.

It's not even just our yard that you run into animals up here...
hubby & I were taking a drive one Sunday morning & found this standing in the middle of the road....

I had the window down & took this..he was that close. I could have reached out & pet him, but my luck he would have bit me! lol..
We did go up to a house that was close by who had riding stables thinking that he may have gotten out from there, but no such luck.
So we were headed to another house that the people said it could belong to, but by then the horse was nowhere to be found, so I am hoping that the owner rescued him.
I really wanted to just load him up in the bed of the pickup & bring him home

Our last fishing trip was a couple of weeks ago. I landed a decent bass....

My mom will be happy to see this next picture. Back when we moved from our house in OK. I had gathered some seeds from many of my different plants & brought them with me.
I planted them here 2 years ago. My hollyhocks were the only things that ever managed to come up & then when they did, the deer had a party eating them!
Well, we haven't done any or much weedeating this year & that may be why this thing finally popped up....

My moon plant!!!!!

Last week, we had several storms. But one came through here Monday night & I swear it was a tornado.  Even hubby thought that it was a doozy of one.
We were lucky that all of our shingles were on afterwards, but it blew our entire patio furniture (table & 4 chairs) from the back deck to the front porch. It also took down 3 trees right around our house.

I didn't get a picture of the other one. It was actually the biggest of them all & it was laid across a road that we share with one of the neighbors.

So, hubby had to pull out the chainsaw this past weekend to get them all cleared out.

my lumberjack!

That pretty much catches you up with the biggest happenings around here! 
This Saturday will be a fun one for us. As one of daughter's presents, I am taking her to a psychic! She has always wanted to go, so I thought it would be a fun gift for a 21 year old.
Hubby is taking her car & getting it serviced and detailed as another gift. Then of course, she has some presents to open.
There are 2 festivals in town that we will alll go to. Oktoberfest is going on in Chippewa Falls & the International festival is going on in Eau Claire.
She has also requested that we stop by the zoo park so she can see her donkey, Edgar! lol...
And then it is dinner at Olive Garden.  Yes, she will be trying a cocktail as well!

So be prepared my friends for lots more pictures!

I have turned into a horrible blogger. I've just been so busy...unfortunately a lot of that busyness is farming & gardening, but on Facebook!  It just S-U-C-K-S you in.!

The sad thing is that I was at least being good about keeping up with all of you even if I wasn't blogging, but that got away from me this past week too.
So...if I still have any friends left out there...please forgive me & I promise that I will catch up with you all very soon and try to be a better xanga friend.

Daughter has been house sitting & fur baby sitting (3 cats & a dog) for over a week now. I went over one day last week to meet the fur babies.

It was hard to get all 5 subjects to be still long enough to get a decent shot!

I went with her on a nice long walk with the dog.

he was worn out by the time we got him home!

She has come to realize just what a responsibility pets can be, especially dogs.

We had several days of very cool weather. It was really nice. We were able to turn of the ac & open up the windows, which I love. The rain moved out during this time too.
Unfortunately, it was short lived & it has turned hot again. And now starting tonight, we have storms in the forecast for the rest of the week. grrrr

On some of those nice days though, I really enjoyed just sitting out on the porch & reading  & just enjoying nature.

We have a nest of baby squirrels living in this old oak tree in the front yard. They have been extremely playful & it was fun watching them chase each other up & down the tree.
(yeah, I know...this probably sounds really lame to most of you...lol...I am very easily amused!)

This one hung out with me! lol..he really hung like this for I don't know how long eating!

The goldfinches have been very plentiful.

As have been the hummingbirds...they must be migrating through as we have been just flooded with them all of a sudden & they are going to anything & everything of color trying to eat!

Guess who else has been back...

yep...one of our bears..we were not home but thanks to our game camera we were able to see that she paid us a visit.
Early too...close to 4:00 pm. on a Saturday.

A few other things that we have caught on the game cam...

poor guy with one of his set of horns either growing out the back of his head, or he was hurt & they are broken & just hanging

I wouldn't mind having him in my freezer

cute baby still has her spots.

 We didn't go fishing this past weekend, but did have fun just hanging out together (hubby & I).
We went to the Farmers Market on Saturday & got lots of goodies...
One of them being something that I had never heard of before. Ground cherries

Small orange fruit similar in size and shape to a cherry tomato.
The fruit is covered in papery husk.
Flavor is a pleasant, unique tomato /pineapple like blend.
The ground cherry is very similar to the cape gooseberry, both having similar, but unique flavors.

They were delicious! So much so, that hubby & I ate that whole bowl Saturday night & went back on Sunday to buy more! lol...

Here's some more of our goodies that we got (and this isn't included in what is already cleaned & in the fridge!)

I made brushetta one day and hubby made salsa the next!

nothing like fresh veggies & fruits!

I also got me a pretty bouquet of flowers

Just $3.00! what a deal...and so cheerful

I have no idea what these flowers are but they are really cool looking!

Daughter had her 2nd round of orientation today. She starts classes on Thursday. She is very excited! Today she got to meet some of the heads of the English Dept. (she wants to major  in English Education) and was very pleased.
I am excited for her.

OK..time for me to wrap this up....hubby will be home soon & it will be "cocktail" hour and then time to be getting dinner read. On tonight's menu is shrimp scampi with a fresh mixed greens salad. 

I promise to be be coming around & catching up with you all real soon.

Happy Hump Day!!! 

 We have had temperatures in the 70's since Sunday! I am loving it! Been able to turn off the a/c & open up the windows & enjoy the fresh air.  I wouldn't mind it staying like this year round.

Big Red's surgery went well last week. I even got to go & pick him up that afternoon, so he didn't have to stay the night after all.  He hates wearing the stupid hood though!

I took this as soon as we got home. He was still doped up. His ear is straightening out as it heals. He ended up with a little over a dozen stitches.
The stitches and the hood are suppose to stay in for 3 weeks...today is week 1.

We went out fishing on Saturday. We were pleasantly surprised to catch our limit on bass. We really weren't expecting the fishing to be that great as the weather prior to that had been lots of rain & storms. So we had a great day all around! It was a perfect day to be out on the lake too. It was calm & just perfect. I was a happy camper

We went out to eat the other night at a Cajun influenced restaurant called Stella Blues. Just hubby & I. We had a great time & had some really yummy food.

I HAD to get the Stella Blue Martini   isn't it pretty?  It was yummylicious too!
Hubby had the "James Bond" Martini

We shared an appetizer of Fried Crawfish Bites with remoulade sauce...yum-O!

Hubby had the "Blue Angel" Pasta. It had andouille sausage, chicken & shrimp tossed in a cajuny cream sauce & topped with blue cheese ...mmmm
He also had a mudpuppy porter.

mmmm....mine...Jambalaya baby!
We also split a smoked pepper Caesar salad

and for dessert....

we shared a Brandy Alexander...pure orgasmic food! 

Since I was such a bad girl I did go home & walk around the block...twice!

What a cool date! I just had to be sure that I did a post on 8-9-10!

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was just kind of ok. Didn't get to go fishing   Hubby just didn't feel like it.

We did go with daughter on Saturday & walked around the campus. She showed us the buildings that she will have classes in.

I promised my mom that I would post some pictures so she can see what it's like.

She has a couple of classes in this building

She is very excited about her astronomy class which will be in this building and they even have a planetarium!

She only has 1 class (Chorus) on the other side of the river. There is a foot bridge that crosses the river.

It is a small but very nice campus. She is getting excited as am I!

Just a pretty succulent that I took a photo of on campus.

And also I promised  Cindy that I would show her my hibiscus bloom.

It is called tie-dyed wind

TGIF !!! The week sure did fly by! Of course, July was gone in a blink of an eye.

We have another milestone birthday coming up next month. (I just recently turned 50) now daughter will be turning 21.   Gah..talk about time zipping by!

She is one special girl, for sure. We got to have a bit of time together the other day, which is always nice.  We went to a few new consignment shops & then had to stop by the park (seems to have become a weekly thing!) so she could see her friend Edgar (the donkey ). 
She has just gone through a rough time & has had her heart broken. Any mom (or dad) out there knows that when this happens to your baby girl (yes, she will always be our baby) then your own heart breaks as well. But unfortunately, such is life and we all must go through it...usually more than once.  Even though it doesn't seem like it at the time, we do learn from it & grow. 


I love my sweet girl.

Even if she has developed this weird obsession with asses  I mean donkeys

This just cracked us up...

I believe that Edgar has taken a liking to this horsey!

Miss Bessy seems a little put off at their PDA!

We had to take one of our cats to the vet the other day. 

Big Red...see the difference between his ears?...the right one is all puffed & swollen & red. I thought that he either had gotten bit by something or had an infection.
He has a Hematoma of the ear. Since it was so fresh & so big, the vet decided not to cut into it just yet as he was afraid that he would just get home & bleed all over the house.
So we are having to give him meds each day and he is scheduled for surgery next Wed. which he will also need to stay overnight so they can keep an eye on the bleeding.
Poor baby...he is going to freak having to be away from home all by himself.

Hubby was pretty excited to start seeing some nice sized bucks appearing on the game camera....

Also had more turkeys hanging out in the yard the other day...

Of course, none of these will be around come hunting season!

I always just bring my point & shoot camera when we go out on the boat on weekends. There are times that I wish I had my good one with me with the better zoom.

I could have gotten a much better shot at this eagle (actually one of 3 that we saw this day)

and of the heron

and of my favorite....the loon

There is rain & storms in the forecast for the entire weekend   So who knows is we will get to go fishing this weekend.

I finally have some sunflowers that are starting to pop up around the birdfeeders. They aren't the huge ones, but they will do

The apple trees aren't doing so great this year. But I am sure they will be sufficient food for the deer & the bears

 

I saw this little guy on my patio the other day when I was inside vacuuming, so I grabbed my camera & got a couple of shots before he flew away...

Poor thing was missing some of his wing

But I was surprised to see that the underside of his wings were orange while his outter side was blue ?

I hope you all have a great weekend.

wow, is my life really boring right now or what?
Nah, just wanted to share such a wide variety of mushrooms that are growing around my property right now.
All of this rain & then the humidity is really making them pop up all over.

This one has a face

wonder if it's watermelon flavored...

I kept looking for the fairy around this one ; )

 
looks like something from the coral reef...but tiny...see the acorn next to it for comparison

pretty colors!

these were teeny tiny...see the size comparison with the acorn beside them.

yep...that's what I thought it looked like too

the top of this one reminded me of a seashell

"The Rock" or a giant seashell

these were really shiny

sea anemone?

I don't know if this is more fungus growing on this shroom, or if this is a web made by something?

These climbed the tree....

The woodpeckers also like this tree!

maybe those are fairy steps up to heaven!

Now this one is wicked looking & looks like something from outer space

It's a cross between a mushroom & a flower

Yes, I find great joy in some of the strangest things

This past Saturday I turned 50 years old...5 decades...1/2 a century..
.funny thing was though, it was just an ordinary day...I still felt the same...still do today as well. 

I remember when I was young, 50 seemed so ....OLD! Now that I am here...I still feel so young!

The following quote was on a bookmark given to me by a friend and it couldn't be any more appropriate...
Perhaps we are, like the old saying goes, "only as old as we feel."  In that case, I'll stay lost in my bewilderment...'cause really life is what we make it, and age is nothing but a state of mind.

Daughter & I celebrated together on Friday since she had to work on Saturday.
She gave me lots of goodies

The most special though, we a "demo" CD that she made of her playing guitar & singing....That gift is priceless!

Cute birdfeeder she got me from an art festival...the holder for the seed on top is a recycled muffin tin! LOVE it! 

We went & saw Eclipse

LOVED it!

Saturday, hubby & I went fishing. I had really wanted to spend the weekend in a cabin on a lake, but maybe we can do that at another time. Couldn't find any available at such a late notice.
We had to call it an early day though as it started raining on us.  Yep, it still has been storming & raining a LOT here.  In fact, had a heck of a storm last night. We were under tornado watch as well, but had a doozy of a thunderstorm.

Several friends were sweet to remember me with cards, emails & gifts

My mom & dad sent me a check. I really wanted a new bathing suit...

got this animal print one for my birth sign ...Leo  : )

Also from my mom, which she gave me in person back in April  when we were there was hers and her mom's Mother's rings....both are very special & will be something that one day I can pass down to my daughter

The inlaws sent me this...

It was done by an artist in Crested Butte, CO. where they are for the summer...pretty appropriate for me! lol

My brother sent me a check as I was wanting a bird bath & that would be a bit awkward to mail!
Here is what I got Bobby & Shelia & Elaina...

I am actually finishing my celebration tonight as hubby & I are going to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner ; )

I can't believe that July is just about gone. I also couldn't believe that around here, they are already putting out the winter coats! The summer stuff is all on clearance...
It feels like our summer is just beginning & then not even so much with all of this rain that we have had.

I have just bought a few plants to put out on my deck...here's a few pics of some of what I got...

 
Mandevilla

Foxglove

Blue Larkspur

and I will end this with a couple of cute shots that the game camera captured of some yard visitors.
This is from the new game camera that I bought hubby for Father's Day...it takes really good photos!

aww...look at that baby!

I got to meet a fellow xanga'n & her hubby on Saturday!  For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, it was Pam aka MsCatbert2You  .

This is the 2nd xangan I have met & so far both have been true to their blogging personalities. It felt like we were old friends & the couple of hours that they were here just flew by.
Both of our hubby's also seemed to hit it off. We never were at a loss for words.
 Believe it or not, Pam had to actually remind me to take a picture! I know...can you believe that! lol..that is how in to our visit that I was!

Good times!

Not too long after they left Saturday afternoon, we had a heck of a storm come in. In fact, it stormed all night long & into the early morning. A lot of hard & heavy rain, causing a lot of flooding in the area.
There was also some very wicked lightning.
It did move out on Sunday morning though & we did get some fishing in.

The clouds were really prettty & plentiful...which was nice as it kept the sun off for the most part.

I caught a couple of fish that weren't much bigger than my bait! lol... hubby caught several...4 keepers & several that were just under the length limit.

I didn't take pictures until we got home . 

Nice Bass!

I just had to go & close up all of the windows & turn the AC on as it was getting so hot & humid in the house. As I came back to the computer I had a weather alert flashing on the weather bug..
We are under a severe thunderstorm watch. ugh....I am getting really sick of the rain & the storms!

I best get this finished up & submitted before I lose the internet connection!

Just a couple of pictures of this cute lil' baby that was in our yard the other day

I still get so excited & happy to see the wildlife here. I act like a little kid at times! lol...
 

Happy weekend everyone!

We had several days of some severe weather up here. Even had the sirens going off the other day. We were lucky though & only ended up with a few branches and limbs down on our property.
If it hasn't been storming, it has been humid & warm! Geeze, if it ain't one thing, it's another! lol...
It makes it hard to get the yard work done & the bugs are miserable right now. I can't go outside without getting bitten by a mosquito or swarmed by yellow jackets!

The Northern Wisconsin State Fair was going on last weekend. Daughter was off on Sunday, so we had family fair day

here's a bit of what we saw....


kind of weird...like she got a sunburn & her skin peeled...but then she is a whole other cow underneath!

awww...my man...the horse whisperer!  (he's going to kill me! lol)

only in Wisconsin! they actually had tractor races...too bad we missed them!

She was stuck up...guess she thought she was too good to pose for me with all of those ribbons!

I got another one to pose for me though ; )

this one looks kind of grumpy!

awww...lil' baby

I was really jealous of her eyelashes & her permanent eyeliner.

haha....is he hungry or wanting to escape?

Hot Wisconsin cheese....

yep, the weather was on/off rain & very cloudy

I need this at my house

After we left the fair we stopped by our favorite little park with the animals.

Daughter has developed a new fascination with the donkeys. She is regularly stopping by to visit her favorite who she has named Edgar.

My attempt at a family facebook shot...

Guess I need to work on that! Of course, it is about the most flattering side to me!

uh oh...we had to stop by the donkeys on the way out for a second petting and a goodbye....

yep, that is Edgar!

I hope you all have a great weekend.

I am suppose to get to meet a fellow xanga'n tomorrow. I will let you know who & how it goes later on...yep...gotta keep you in suspense : D

This sure has been a long & drawn out 3 part blog...so sorry...I just need more hours in the day!

I am also behind with you guys from the last couple of days, so I promise to start catching up with all of you, probably tomorrow.

I am mainly getting these pictures up for my mom...she is as big of a kid as I am when it comes to the animals! 

Butterfly Garden...

Birds

Babies...

a pile of them!

That one in the middle looks like he is getting smothered!

and he is letting them know about it!

Monkeys...our favorite!

This one cracked us up...check out that expression!

I don't think he appreciated our giggles!

I think he got a sunburn!

How awkward that would be having to tote that thing around with you all of the time!

A LOT of the animals were sleeping!

I thought Camels were suppose to live in the heat & dry conditions?

It wasn't THAT hot ! lol.... They wouldn't budge out of the water!

The Prairie Dogs were actually pretty active & fun ...

OK, so they look like they are frozen here!

This one was trying to climb up to me.

check out that expression!

Now for a cute & refreshing video...


who wouldn't be happy to go to work every day if you had her job!

I know...I am easily amused 

Okie dokie...that does it for me....I'll be coming around to your places very soon.