Instead Of Complaining, I Just Did It

When you're retired you truly don't pay much attention to time. For instance, if it wasn't for the uploading of pictures taken with my camera I wouldn't know I had acquired it towards the beginning of August. The uploading creates folders that have dates on them and the first two pictures taken were these.

The date on the folder they were stored in is 8-9-15 which was the first day I took pictures with my then new camera. The full woodshed and the amount of wood we still had to stack. 

The weather was hot and humid and we're in our later 60s so we just didn't have the energy to do that much work. We decided to wait for cooler Fall temperatures which usually start happening about the middle of September, but this year they were a lot later arriving. Towards the end of September we were reaching the high 80s every day. 

Once the weather cooled off my not retired husband's business picked up due to people wanting to get their septic tanks pumped out before winter so they wouldn't have to deal with a back up when it's below freezing outside. When he comes home, he's tired since dragging hoses, shoveling dirt to get to the cleanout covers is hard physical labor and he is not as young as he once was. Needless to say, he wasn't getting to the wood pile the way he normally does. 

I decided this week that I'd do some of it for him. I am sadly, seriously out of shape. However, I plugged away at it until the pain in my joints and muscles would call a halt to my activity. I didn't do too badly, it took me most of 4 days but this is how it looks out there now. 

It's going to rain for the next few days and possibly snow this weekend. However I am out of pallets and plywood to stack the wood on. A neighbor said he'd stack the rest on my deck for me once we get the table and chairs put away for the season. I will take care of that in a day or two and this snowfall, if we get one, won't last so he'll have plenty of time to do it in. I know I can't. My joints are so swollen today I can barely move. I feel a very satisfying sense of accomplishment though. 

A little Tylenol and an application of Arnica gel to the complaining joints and I'll be puttering around the house in no time at all. And tomorrow when I see the doctor, I'm going to find out what kind of regular exercise will keep the muscles I built doing the wood stacking in shape. I'm going to need them to get all that stacked wood into the woodstove for warmth. 

Happy Fall Y'all

Current pictures of Mother Nature's artistry as she paints in my little corner of these not always so United States.

These pictures are all from the hayfield across the road from me. We're about 30% color and the next bunch I'll take next week should begin to be awesome. I'm also planning on seeing if I can find the time for a drive to the back side of the lake to see what I can find of interest there. 

And yes, that is an ice cream truck in the bush in the first picture. No, it's not an accident. The rear tire needs changing and with the weight of all the refrigeration equipment the driver is uncertain that the front wheel chocks will hold, So, he pulled it up into the bush to keep it from rolling forward and off the jack. It was jacked up right after I took the picture. I should have waited a few more seconds before pushing the button. 

Life In The Country

According to our local weather people we are at 25% Autumn color. So, I took my camera and went out with it to capture the 25%. I think I should have waited for 50% so I could see it. The first picture I pulled over to the side of the road and captured the cornstalks. I was sitting inside the car since there were cars coming up behind me and it's a 55 MPH speed zone. I wanted to take pictures not get hit by a car. The last 3 pictures were taken standing in a hay field about 3 miles away from the first picture. I got out of the car for those.

The second picture I used the zoom to see the colors. It wasn't until I backed it off that the aircraft appeared. I didn't use the zoom for the last picture. I was standing in the flight path for the Griffiss International Airport and that is a military plane.

It was a gorgeous day, I enjoyed it.