Fall is is the Air...

While it's been a relatively warm September, so far, trees are beginning to to usher in the forthcoming season.  Here are some photos taken at beautiful Big Falls County Park:

Even though it's arguably beautiful, I don't relish the anticipated colder weather.  Perhaps we will have an extended, glorious Indian Summer instead! --LKR

Terrific Tuesdays

Cool Moon

At 5am on his way out the door to work, hubby ran back in the house. "Wanna see something cool?" he whispered. "Take a look outside!"

It was awesome, worth crawling out from under warm blankets and into the freezing air. Hubby was talking about the ring around the moon you see here.

I don't have a wide angle for the camera that does super in low-light, and forget the tripod. As it was, by the time I grabbed my camera, the scene had changed. Thought it still was worth sharing. --LKR

Yesterday...

The snow kept coming down, yesterday, so I ventured out into the woods to check it out.

The trails were both mud and snowFall color everywhere!!! This year, at least in our neck of the woods, fall has been less than spectacular. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of leaves that haven't even begun to change color. And lately, we're having temps in the 30's which is unseasonably cold for this time of year! While this may not harm the trees, it's dampened many a hope for a warmer autumn! --LKR

Cold Front Blowing In...

The sick and twisted side of me laughed each time one of my three children ran out the door to wait at the bus stop.

"Burrrr!"

"Ah! It's COLD out there!"

"Ugh!"

If they weren't totally awake before they reached for the door knob at 6:44 am, they sure were by the time they stepped out through the door!

Don't worry, I had my moment too while running out to bring poochie back inside. "Ahhhh!" I shrieked as unexpected freezing pellet raindrops blew at me horizontally in the fiercely blowing wind.

How I long for warmer days after this cold front blows through, but I don't think we'll get it. If only we could migrate along with the birds and butterflies to warmer winter dwellings!!! --LKR

Arctic Air Arrives, Again

Well, it was another cold day off for the kids, again. Every area school district but ours had decided school would be closed today by last evening! Frigid arctic air has been coming through, turning our already bitterly cold temps into new record lows!

Autumn in August???

Four years ago to the day, we moved into our home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin from Villa Park, Illinois. That first night was so cold, my hubby and I ventured downstairs to sleep in front of the gas fireplace! (The kids were asleep or we would have invited them to join us!)

Once again, it feels like an early fall is upon us. Another autumn in August? It wouldn't seem fair after having such a long winter to have endured, this year! --LKR

Greetings from the Frozen Tundra!

A very Happy and Healthy New Year to you all from the frozen tundra! As you can tell, we are not lacking for snow up here in north western Wisconsin! It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny first day of the year, here!

I had wanted to get an early morning shot of the golden sun sparkling on the snow, but we're not puppy sitting, anymore. That would have been my motivation for not only getting up, but out in the early morning cold!

I'm very fortunate--my patient poochie not only waits for me to warm up to the idea of braving the cold, but to actually doing it! He's soooo good!

The kids go back to school, tomorrow, and have mixed feelings. None of them--nor either of us, for that matter!--wants to get up early! My hubby starts teaching at CVTC next week.

Here's hoping you all are having a good start to the new year! --LKR

More White Fluffy Fun Stuff!

Mom was in for quite a surprise, she was. Running out the door in her shoes, holding me by my collar, she shrieked. "Waaaaait! Wait a minute! We're going back in! I need my boots!"

Well, we needed more than her boots, we did! My chain was buried under about 2 1/2" of snow, it was, so she slipped what Mom says Nagypapa called "necklaces" over my head, attached to my leash, and off we went. She grabbed her camera, of course, she did, and out into the white fluffy fun stuff we went.

Even at her age, Mom ran around the yard with me, she did. But she didn't want to for long. She does like the white fluffy fun stuff, she does, when it's falling and looks so clean and pure, she said. But not when it's mucky sloshy and slushy, or black or gray like it gets in NYC, NJ, and Chicago, she said.

It's the cold that really bothers her, it does. She told me if we ever move, she's praying it's to the tropics, she said. Wherever that is, I say.

Mom spoiled us when we got back inside, she did. After putting up water for hot chocolate, she gave me leftover rice stuffing from Thanksgiving that "needed to be eaten or thrown away", she did. I ate and was filled. I had been snacking all day, I had!

Turning on the gas fireplace, she handed me my bony bone, she did. I chewed chewed chewed, while she sipped her hot chocolatey drink. It was fun with me and Mom together until my kitty sister Rocky came out of hiding, jumping into Mom's lap. I had to one-up her, I did! I can't let my social order slip in my pack, I can't, so I tried to get into Mom's lap, too!

But I am too big, and Mom won't allow it, she won't. My brother Charlie used to curl up in her lap, he did, even when she was eight months pregnant with my sister Lizabeth. I'm only slightly larger than Charlie, I am, but Mom insists I don't know my size and am not mindful of my paws like all her other poochies.

Other poochies? She's comparing me to other poochies? Excuse me, please. I have to work on one-upping them too, I do! --Mister Poochie

White Fluffy Fun Stuff

Hi, It's me, Mister Poochie!

Alpha took my siblings to his mom's for the day, he did. They're going to help set up her Christmas tree. I want one of my very own, I do, so I don't have to go out on those really cold days and nights to water things.

Mom hasn't put any of the pretty stuff I knock around and down with my tail of cedar, she hasn't, because they celebrated Thanksgiving late, they did. Alpha was 13 hours away from home with his mom, he was, and Mom didn't want anyone to feel they missed out on what she calls a very important Christian Holiday.

But she's told me she's going to do it soon, she said, because of the long northern winters. And the cold. And that white fluffy fun stuff you all call snow. Mom sometimes refers to it as yet another four letter word, she does. I don't think she likes the white fluffy fun stuff, but I do, I do!

As a puppy, I used to run free and play in it with my puppy pals Cosmo and Cinnamon. Old timers like Louie and my older brother Charlie sometimes joined in, although Charlie would flop over, he would, sometimes.

I started getting in trouble when I began chasing cars up and down the road, I did. I also became known as "Puppy Thug" when I started stealing gloves, mittens, hats, and scarves off of my siblings, the neighborhood young ones, and people Mom always refers to as "leave it joggers". She sure knows how to spoil fun, she does!

So now I go out on my chain, and bark bark bark. I bark at the neighbor's rooster I hear in the distance. I also get a conversation going with my puppy pals. I bark at cars, bikes, and the lone skier as he goes up the big hill. And when the wind is blowing just right and I can hear them, I bark at the cows that are out grazing in their big fenced-in yard a mile away. I'd love to go play with them, I would, but Mom's never gotten me a play date, she hasn't.

Well, the white fluffy fun stuff is flying, and I need to go water something, I do. If we had an indoor tree, this wouldn't be a problem, now, would it?! --Mister Poochie