Where's Fall?

Penny in leaves.

  These pictures are both of a typical Fall day. Some color in the trees and brown leaves down. But there's a brightness about them ! Oh, it must be sunshine ! Where the heck is our typical Fall ? We have morphed from sticky hot and rainy summer right into cold damp winter. I for one am disappointed. I love Fall. I love the bright blue skies and the crisp clean air. I love walking on the dry scrunchy leaves; love wearing my Ugg boots and jeans and a big 'ol sweater. I sooo enjoy hot coffee in the cool mornings on my porch, with the rays of sun heating my feet, then legs and body as the sun comes up. I'm missing Fall. I have my cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg and oranges simmering on the stove so it smells like Fall. I hung my Witch decoration, and put 2 pumpkins on the porch. I have done my part. I expect  Mother Nature to play fair and give me my Fall. Everything is grey, including the hot tea I am sipping to try to warm up. October is almost over, and then November will be upon us with its bare tree limbs and grey skies, dead grass and lack of flowers.
  It's a good thing I have The Patriots, great books and good tv programs to send me into those dreary days ahead. I do like baking also, but when I bake , I eat more. I like my own baking. Need to get my stained glass and jewelry stuff out. That has no calories.
  Oh fickle winds of Autumn, blow our way and give us a few weeks of Happy Fall.

Penny, pills and peanut butter

   Having a constant furry companion is one of the joys in my life. It's also one of the heartaches in my life. Pets, dogs especially, become a part of the family. Everyone says this. I think it's more than that.
   My dogs,(all the dogs I have had), know me better than family or friends. They sense my sadness, sickness or happiness and they adjust their own feelings accordingly. People allow us to feel however we do, but dogs and I say some cats as well, morph themselves to fit our emotions.
   Right now, my 10 year old Aussie is under the weather...she's pretty ill. She has been incontinent for 2 years now She fell back on her hind end while trying to jump into the truck and did spinal nerve damage. She is extremely arthritic in her spine. Being incontinent, she does not void her bladder all the way, so she has infection after infection....which means antibiotics quite often. I feel we have been lucky to have her these past 2 years. Aside from all the floor cleaning, and the p-p pads and the baths and grooming, it has been normal dog owning maintenance. But, she is over 10 years now, and the normal aging has increased her problems.
   Giving her the necessary meds, usually pill form, has become a nightmare. She figures out what foods have the hidden nastiness and she refuses to eat the pill caddy, no matter how tempting. She is devilishly smart. I have tried all the suggestions and then some, but it has come down to either sticking them down her throat...hence the bites on  knuckles and fingers...or crushing them up in peanut butter, and often having to mash the peanut butter ball of crushed pills against her teeth, so she has to get it in. I'm at my wits end. She is so leery of my advances, I can hardly pat her without her look of, "Oh crap, here she comes again".
   But we will persist, and we hope that she will once again rally. For how long, we never know. Meanwhile, I will love to look at her, and talk to her and pat her soft furriness. She seems to enjoy her elder dog year naps, walks and talks we have together, and for now, that is enough.

Running Cows and day lillies

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN COWS RUNNING ?

This day lily farm is in Floyd on 221 south.
It is called "Wildwood Farm", and it's a good day trip. They have live Bluegrass music on Saturday nights, ( I guess 'live' as opposed to 'dead' ?) and on Sunday (tomorrow) they will have a classic car show...(1st and 3rd Sunday of the months during Spring and Summer.) They are on Facebook, so you can preview there. A general store with sundry items...I love that word...gifts, and even a "Kitchen" serving some foods. Worth the pretty ride , especially if you go up the Parkway as we always do.

We purchased some elderberry jelly, my favorite and some strawberry preserves for Bob. There were lots of pretty things in the gift part, and there are rockers outside for setting in. You can meander the flower beds although today was hot even in the mountains, so we walked several rows, then 'set' in one of the covered sheds, and finally opted to wait for a cooler day to finish my wish list of lilies.

The moon was full last night. I enjoyed the bubbly, soothing heat of my new spa while pondering all that it encompasses.

   

  Today I received my copy of Sharyn McCrumbs book, "The Songcatcher". I will add it to my collection of Appalachian writers...Becky Mushko;Carolyn Tyree Feagans; Leisha Kelly; Jan Karon; Peggy Shifflett; Karen Smith; Keister Greer; Rodger Doss;Silas House; Dan Smith; Richard Davids and probably some others hidden back on my shelf. That's another chore ahead of me, clearing out old papers and magazines. The books will stay.

   I am wondering if the McCourry family in this new book is an offshoot of my family, also originating in Scotland, the MacQuarrie clan. 

  That brings me to yet another thing I want to do, have my DNA tested through ancestry and see what I can find out about my roots. Maybe that's an age related desire, or maybe I know I will have more time to explore family history now in retirement. I have always felt it's important  to know my background.

  Daily life has sewn me up today, I need to finish laundry and do all the other domestic goddess chores as well as pop into town to bring a urine sample to the vet. Penny is starting into another bladder infection, I think, so I need to get her started on meds if it is. 

  So many things I want to do. I am excited for life !

        

It' now 2018, five years have passed since my last blog entry. Seems like yesterday when I reread it. I am newly retired from my paraprofessional job having spent 8 years with my little buddy Kris, who is now entering 7th grade this coming school year..
  My grandson Caine is now a big boy, he's 10. Bob and I are married 20 years,( how did that happen so quick?). My mother and Bob's mother are both passed, within a year of each other. Bob had kidney cancer and lost one kidney. He is doing quite well in spite of this. I have an artificial knee as well as the hip. I'm working at becoming bionic, or at the least adding years to my life with new parts.
  I am still an avid birder and train rider and animal/nature lover. I love to take photographs, and hope to be able to write again. Time will be available now that retirement is here, as long as all my time isn't spent at doctors. That is another goal, to get fit and stay healthy.
  So here's to more ME time ! I hope to share my adventures with you all here on my blogsite. That being said, maybe I should rename my blog ?
  I will sleep on the idea.
It's good to talk to you all again !