Apres L'Autumne

 
Is there a name for the season after autumn but before it's really winter? If so, yesterday fits the category. I worked all day and didn't have time to blog before leaving for the night job, so you'll get yesterday's pictures today. That's fine. Today, it rained all day and I vegged out and did reports.

There's something about Lake Michigan that says "winter" already. Maybe it's the snow fence (to slow blowing sand more than snow), the layered gray skies and gray water.



The air wasn't too cold. I was out in just a sweater, so the critters were active. The chipmunks were busily stashing acorns underneath someone's cabin. Look at this one's tail. It's very gray for a chipmunk.



The Badger carferry is docked for the winter, with the Spartan, her sister, behind.



I saw countless squirrels, but only one held still for a picture. Lots of them were black, but this one is a gray squirrel that is actually gray.



A group of mallards was swimming on Hamlin Lake. They were making a strange motion, but I didn't manage to catch any pictures of it. While swimming, one would suddenly stretch out its neck and raise it's bill upward and forward, as if it were plucking something out of the sky. Do ducks eat flying insects like that? I've never known them to, but I suppose it's possible. Lots of them were doing it, not just one oddball.



Finally, perhaps my favorite picture of the day. So lonely, so much depth, so post-autumnal.



Apres l'autumne.

	See a chipmunk with a more usual tail
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Two-and-a-Half Plus

 
This silly yard project was a ridiculous thing to start... except... it's practically free (I did buy a new tool for only $16), it's great exercise, and it's as good as racquetball for working off frustration and aggression. Well, space three is huge. More than twice the size of either 1 or 2. So, I bring you 2 1/2.



I thought the weed whacker wouldn't whack very well if the grass was wet. (say that three times fast). But I was wrong. It worked fine, and I finished this space (I certainly didn't do all this today). Here's what happened. I was going to do all these jobs tomorrow, and do cases today. But it was pouring when I left the paper job, so I came home. But then the rain stopped. That meant I needed to do these things today and cases tomorrow.

I'm working on my autumn list. One item was to get the kayak up off the ground. And that space had to be whacked too.



Next was the biggest job I did, but the pictures don't do it justice because the extent of the dead limbs are all tangled in the grass. This autumn olive tree (grrr) had died and fallen beside the driveway. We kept backing into the stupid small branches. I cut the whole thing out and dragged the branches to the other side.



You can see the huge pile of them behind the tree if you compare the two.



And, I shook the one tree that has decent apples this year, until no more would come down. But this will take a while to deal with anyway.



YOU kept me motivated to go back out after taking a breather between work sessions, so I could bring you a good report. Thank you!

And, I did it all before sunset (well, duh, it's hard to work outside in the dark). Actually, if I'd had the camera with me when I was getting the last bucket of apples the sky was an amazing clear pink. But that scene will have to just remain in memory.



Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, and now, I'll be out doing cases, so I may be able to bring home pretty pictures for you.

	See Area Two and a Bonus
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Patty's Party

 
There's one thing for sure about working at the paper. We DO know how to do a party. Today was Patty's Birthday. She's lovin' her spider theme.


We just clear a work table and load it up with good stuff- chili, cheesy potatoes, veggies, and a major emphasis on dessert.



How about a spider cake?



The kitty litter cake was great!



I look a relish tray full of spiders.



Here's lookin' at you!



Patty loved the Halloween theme.

I have to say that even though the job itself isn't anything wonderful, the people I work with make it definitely decent. What fun!

And now, due to the fact that I didn't sleep much at all last night, and got up at six to make spiders, and have to be at work at eight in the morning.... I bid you all good night.

	See October Birthday at Work
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Rural Splendor

 
Long day... out doing cases, then handbells, then writing group. All good, but I'm ready for bed. I LOVE country life. You can call it quaint, trite, hick, hillbilly, naive, whatever you want. I won't care and I'll still love it.

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Locked Down

 
It was another beautiful autumn day. I keep thinking they must be over, and they just keep showing up. Rain Wednesday though... they say 100% chance. That seems pretty solid.

But today, I walked in to the post office. Here's the welcome to my town.



Going home, I walked along the tracks. Many places, railroads are taking advantage of unused or dead sidings to rent storage space to other lines for extra rail cars. It looks like that is what's happening here. This siding goes nowhere any more. It was completely overgrown with brush and small trees, but was cleared a couple of years ago. Occasionally, there are cars stored there. See that orange spot on the far left rail?



But this is new. In fact, I've never seen this before. Must be some sort of strange world we now live in where one has to put a lock on a rail so someone won't steal an entire rail car.

	See New Owner, New Paint Scheme
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Hymn Sing

 
The absolutely best part of today was on old-fashioned Hymn Sing at the Methodist church. Yes, it was a bunch of old people. We are the ones who know and love the hymns.

I have to say, for anyone who thinks people don't sing enthusiastically at church any more, or that people are reluctant to give testimonies... they haven't seen a group like the one tonight.

There was never a lull waiting for someone to call out the number of another favorite song to sing. More than a few people just stood up and told stories of how much a particular song meant to them (no pulling teeth to ask people to share... in fact, they were not asked at all, they just couldn't be still).

I'll bet a lot of you know some of the choices, "The Old Rugged Cross," "The Church in the Valley by the Wildwood," "It is Well with My Soul," "Victory in Jesus," and many more. We sang for an hour. There was only one song I didn't know, and I'm going to learn it. It was beautiful. (I'd tell you the name, but I don't remember. I can find it again, though.)

We closed with this one.

There was more than one person with damp eyes as we sang songs we really love. Many of us made our deepest spiritual commitments with the words of these hymns as backdrops.

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Oh No! It's a List

 



OK, those of you who are totally uninterested in those lists of goals people make can laugh at the face and stop right now.

Otherwise, if you are brave or curious or sadistic (you'd like to watch yet another listmaker crash and burn) or whatever... read on.

Let me first say that my life for the past while has been sort of on hold. We have some stuff going on that makes it difficult for me to plan ahead. Result... nothing is really happening on where I'd like to be in a few years.

A while back, when blog networks were going gung ho, there were quite a few people making lists of 100 things in 100 days, or whatever. I liked a few of those. Some people were really earnest about it and working hard to make things happen. This isn't the same as a bucket list. Those are big things you want to do before you croak, to mix a metaphor and put the frog in the pail.

So, I started making a list. Just a list that would begin to get my life back on the track I want to be on. I was thinking 100 things in 300 days. Allowing for me to be chronically late, I figured that would be good for a year. However. Soon I realized that I was starting to put too many huge goals on the list. So I took a few of them off. Now, I've been working on this for more than a week, and still don't have 100. So be it. Here's most of my 54 in 300 list. I'm choosing to not share a few of the personal ones. I'll probably keep you updated on intermediate steps as we go along.

My overall goal is to get some discipline back in my life and move closer to being a (nearly) full-time writer. When I was writing North Country Cache, I had a daily schedule that worked well, and I'm hoping to revive that, as much as I can with the other two jobs.

These are not in any sort of priority order, at all.

54 in 300
Number	Category	Item
1	WRITING	begin working on North Country Quest again
2	WRITING	edit Kiss of the Butterfly, submit for publication
3	WRITING	100 NC History pages
4	WRITING	blog about 8 wild foods
5	WRITING	finish Dead Mule Swamp Druggist
6	WRITING	do 10 book promotion things
7	WRITING	writing schedule day 50 times
8	WRITING	5 entries in Off the Sanctuary Wall
9	WRITING	pursue a contract I can't name yet
10	WRITING	talk to 5 bookstores about carrying mysteries
11	HOUSE	fix kitchen drawer
12	HOUSE	cut down 5 autumn olive trees
13	HOUSE	clean refrigerator twice
14	HOUSE	replace kitchen faucet
15	HOUSE	get lawnmower fixed
16	HOUSE	clean terrace
17	HOUSE	kitchen light electric box
18	HOUSE	replace faucet by washing machine
19	HOUSE	put away model railroad stuff
20	HOUSE	spend 10 hours sorting books
21	FITNESS	increase to 30 pushups
22	FITNESS	increase to 100 jumping jacks
23	FITNESS	increase to 2 min planking
24	FITNESS	walk, bike, ski or snowshoe 200 times
25	HIKING	NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2016
26	HIKING	visit 5 new MI counties to explore trails
27	HIKING	hike 100 more miles of the Buckeye Trail
28	HIKING	clear my trail better
29	PERSONAL	Savings Goal
30	PERSONAL	Financial Goal #2
31	PERSONAL	lose 10 pounds
32	PERSONAL	play music 50 times
33	PERSONAL	other #1
34	PERSONAL	other #2
35	MISC	make 21 quarts juice
36	MISC	try 10 new wild foods
37	MISC	some genealogy stuff
38	MISC	100 more pix on Shark Shots
39	MISC	2 photo cards documented
40	MISC	give 10 gifts from my kitchen
41	MISC	eat at Brenda's Burgers
42	MISC	eat at Country Critters
43	MISC	take my trailer on 2 trips
44	MISC	finish monkey booties
45	MISC	get two programs NCT and Kitchen Sink
46	MISC	get rid of 100 things
47	MISC	read or listen to 100 books
48	MISC	move NCC from Josh's garage
49	MISC	short bios of 5 relatives
50	MISC	sort my fabric
51	MISC	do something inside my trailer
52	MISC	add 50 things to family heritage list
53	MISC	some VCR tapes to DVD
54	MISC	some cassette tapes to CD

Wish me luck; I'll need it. But, if you aim for nothing you are sure to hit it.

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Feeling Energized - DMS Druggist

 
I didnt' have any new pix to post today, and was thinking about what to share. Meanwhile, I was making some notes about my mystery in progress, Dead Mule Swamp Druggist.

I had sort of a kind of an idea for the cover, but nothing had really gelled yet. Then, I recalled a picture I took earlier this week. I'm not sure it's just the right one yet, but I began to play around.

Yup, I think I've got the general idea of how this one is going to work. I always get energized about the writing when I have a cover. Isn't that weird?

Anyway... this is A MOCK UP. Not a final product. This is to give me further ideas. I may try to get some other photos while it's yet autumn. The book is set in Sept/Oct.


Anyway, work is on the agenda all night tonight. Have to write Chapter 19 of the book this weekend. Trying to get the chapters plotted out to make the story work. That's what started this flurry of brain activity.

It's all good.

	See Anastasia Raven Mysteries in Paperback
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Area Two, and a Bonus

 
Today was an absolutely perfect fall day. They don't get any better than this. Perfect temperature, crisp yet warmish air, blue sky, sun, light breeze.

I wasn't going to do autumn pictures again today. Started walking out from the house. Went back for the camera. I simply couldn't not picture the trees by the cemetery. Here's the long view. These are the bonus.



Everything was glowing with the sun shining through.





Even the milkweed was beautiful. The breeze picked up some of the seeds each time it passed. They looked like fireflies!



Oh, area two? I got another section of the lawn hacked down. So far so good. Supposed to rain Saturday, but I should be able to get some more done. This section had long, soft grass that didn't whack well. So it's really rough. Even so, it will make the mowing easier next year. I really have to get the mower going in the spring. Can't let it go two years in a row or it won't be worth doing ever again.

	See My Kingdom Today
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I Love My Backyard

 
Took a little walk out back today. I really love "my kingdom." The large orange tree has been featured before, several times, including Robert Tackles the Mystery Tree. It's still a mystery, but always beautiful.



I always feel fortunate to have such layers of colors just a short walk from my door.



Some single trees really stand out.



And the railroad tracks offer their own beauty at dusk.



And just for a giggle, one little flower decided to bloom among the grass.

	See (Not an) Ash- Left and Right Brain
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