A nice day...and night

Sunday was spent getting winter ready, Christmas ready then pondering at the stars and moon in the evening. It was very nice.

Amber and Camaron came over and set up the tree. It took a little work trying to find it all after being tucked away all summer. We checked the well house to make sure all the right things were plugged in so it wouldn't freeze in next weeks early ice age to come. The lid is secure enough and ready.

Old Christmas lights were taken down and new ones put up. I went with a red, white and blue theme with two kids in the military now. I need to find some toy sailors to go with the toy army guys I already had. Looks like this will be a serious sibling rivalry, army v. navy. Maybe there'll be a way to work in Ambers OSU ornaments with this. Orange clashes a little with red,white and blue though. Something will be figured out.

Then the full moon is out. What a beautiful night for looking at the stars, the moon and being wish ready for shooting stars. The nights are getting crisper, Christmas isn't far away, really. Cassie will be home on the 20th. Randall will most likely stay in California so we'll miss him but he'll still be with family.

Reflecting lights... these two pictures tie in together that way. Reflections, projections...It's all about light.

My Baby Graduates

Two months of hard work came down to this moment. Wearing a new sailors cap instead of the standard recruit cap they'd worn the last two months, she wears her uniform well and proud, and rightly so.

The roar of the crowd was deafening when the divisions marched in. Family and friends of over 500 graduating recruits filled the place all anxiously awaiting a glimpse of the new sailors. They stood at attention throughout, gazing straight ahead. From a distance I kept thinking I'd spotted her only to find, no that wasn't her. She was in the back the whole time, her height keeping her with the rest of the taller ones. And I swear she got taller while she was gone.

And she shrunk too. When they announced the beginning of "Liberty Weekend" the crowd poured from the stands mingling into the ocean of new sailors. She found us right away and I got to hug her for the first time since she left! A big hug, lifting her clean of the ground! She said she lost 4 pounds (which she didn't need to lose) but she's solid muscle now! You can see by her smile she was just beaming! So were me and Jason, her fiance. We got to have her all to ourselves for the day until she had to be back in barracks, like Cinderella's magic spell would would crumble at the stroke of 8:00.

4 letters and 2 phone calls had not been enough to really find out how she's been these last two months so now we got to hear stories. How the first couple of days, the first couple of weeks really were the hardest. Her picture on the military ID card shows her miserable, white faced, dark circles under her eyes. She said when they did the TB test that week she prayed she'd come up positive so she could be sent home. When the disappointment of a negative test sank in, she resolved to just get on with it one day at a time.

She found strength within her she NEVER would've known had she not done this. It was so hard for her but she said it eventually got easier, almost fun after getting to know the fellow recruits. All the exercising!! And waking up before dawn everyday (which she had never done consistently in all her 20 years!) The endless rules of which the slightest slip up resulted push-ups or some sort of torture. She has always been tough though.

One story she told me was the division had messed up on a lot of things one day. Their group leader made them all line up and told them to close their eyes and picture all their loved ones and how happy they felt about them. Then he said picture them all gone because of some stupid action because they didn't do something right. It was harsh but he got through to them about how important their actions actually are, no room for carelessness. Cassie said all the recruits were in tears except her. She closed her eyes and blocked out everything he said and focused on sweet tea! She pictured how good it would taste, how much she missed it, how she would feel when she got to drink it again... And she was so proud that she didn't cry and let him get to her.

I'm just amazed at how strong she is to have done all this. She kept going, watched 10 people not make it but she kept on with it! And so far from home not being able to call just anytime.

I had to leave Saturday but had the day to just hang out at the motel. Jason stayed with her the rest of the weekend. She was so funny when we drove off from base! She hadn't been in a car since she got there and forgot what it felt like! Today she is flying off to Pensacola, Florida to get on with the schooling part. 5 more months there of "Aviation Avionics". She should be able to come home for Christmas though.

By the time she gets done Jason will be headed into boot camp himself. He's enlisted full time, she is reserves, so somewhere they were going to fit in a wedding before he leaves. Then they will be stationed somewhere else.

So many changes. I'm so proud of her though!!

Natural Resources

Yet another series of pictures from a walk. Fall has transitioned quickly and few trees still have leaves on them. There's quite the array of fungus among us. The mushrooms on this tree lined up its side like fairy steps for gentle and light feet to climb to the top. Several of the willow trees looked like this in the bottom of an old washed out pond that used to be the favorite fishing hole for people to sneak onto. The progress of bringing giant power line towers across the property relocated banks and the pond has been empty for years now. But the willow trees are still there telling of a time when the water never left and very large bass and catfish grew for generations. The pond is still on the old county maps though.

The old pear tree is fully loaded (but no cows to clean up the bounty) but it strategically places to get little or no water in the summer making the pears too small and bitter to do anything with. Maybe next year a water system can be thought up.

The turtle shell was in a gully making its way to the mossy pond. I'm getting quite a collection of those, some very large but most are average. I have been crafty enough in the past to make rattles out of some like the Native Americans did, but mine seem to lack something. Maybe too small amount of Cherokee in my blood. But there is some so I can proudly brag.

The cardinals are migrating back slowly, their bright red feathers replacing the red leaves that were so short lived. The intense color stands out brilliantly against the now bare trees. A Canadian Snow goose was back at the pond. A pair and their offspring come back every year so hopefully they made it through last year alright. Last week I saw 4 mallards on one pond, the 4 domesticated ducks on the other pond, and a grey heron hanging out also. The domesticated ducks are completely intimidated by the heron, going into a quacking flurry every time it gracefully goes into flight. But the heron seems completely unperturbed by anything except me when I try to get close enough for a picture.

I wish I knew if the mushrooms were edible. Only a seasoned local would know for sure and i'm not sure that I would trust my liver to an old timer with bad eyes or early onset of Alzheimers to take a chance. But a fresh pan of saute'd mushrooms would be very nice..

Well, off to work (again). Next week is the trip to see Cassie graduate and I've managed to take a whole week off. A little time off before and some recouperation time after the trip will be nice. It should be a nice week.

Have a wonderful day!

Home on the range

Today is day off number two. The weather is again sunny, warming up and too nice to believe it's November. The sunset was from earlier this week but getting almost typical in the evenings. Ozzie the cat was playing and showing off in the old antique claw foot tub that serves a a water trough (when there's cows to pen up in the corral.)

Bambi is still off visiting her new friends. Joe said he'd load her up and bring her home next month when he rotates his own cows out to greener pastures. By then we'll have a baby calf on the way to look forward to and maybe Bambi will have had a good long visit with other cows. It's a good thing for her, being alone for so long with only a dog for company can't be healthy. I do miss my baby though.

And I will get to see my other baby one week from today! Yay! I'll be flying to Chicago and seeing Cassie graduate from Navy boot camp! It will be very exciting and so good to see her again. Her letters are sounding lighter and she seems much happier as the day draws near. Besides, from there she's off to Florida for schooling in Aviation Avionics. Hopefully it will be a good direction for future jobs but the being away from home part will be hard. For now I'm just looking forward to seeing her.

Amber and I are doing fine. She keeps things up and helps me so much. With working so much it's nice to have her help me tie up loose ends that I miss. She's always there to remind of things that need to be done and usually knows the best way to go about it. I'm so glad she moved back home.

Randall's been fairly quiet. I'm going with the "no news is good news" theory. At least he's not overseas. He and his wife are heading to my moms for Thanksgiving and I'm sure she'll take plenty of pictures.

Well, enough being lazy. Think I'll get out for a walk now that it's warmed up. Maybe even go see the cow...

Have a great day!

A nice walk

Got some awesome pictures on my walk yesterday. It was quiet and nice to get out on my day off and the weather couldn't have been better. There are three ponds on the property and this one has a layer of tiny little mossy like leaves on top. It was very nice catching the setting sun leaving shadows on everything. The full moon was rising to the east and maybe I'll get a few more posted before heading back to work. Days off are never long enough! Hope everyone has a great day!