Pretending to be.......

Some days my students come to school as there alter egos.  It was the last day of school before the weekend when students could dress up for Halloween.

There is a sweet young lady under this disguise. She is such a good student and to see her like this is quite a shock.  Her hands are so lovely and she uses them as she turns the pages of her reading book.

Another student showed up with here black cape with hood outfit.  She is reading also while the rest of the world sees the call of death.

A less gruesome costume was John Lennon himself, back from the dead.  This student had talked about his desire to be one of the Beatles but I didn't make the connection of it being for his school costume.

It was fun for the whole school to see some of these outfits. It was not a large percentage of students that showed up with costumes.  Honorable mentions of some kids who showed up with good costumes were Woody and Buzz Lightyear.  Also there was a girl dressed in a diner's waitress outfit. Also there was a purple grape and one mask that was too gross to describe.

Sunday night is our time for "tricks for treats" night.  We bought a lot of candy and I will sit out on the front step to await all the beggars.  If I get cold, I will sit inside at my computer desk and look out through the glass storm door.  We have one border collie who will be bothered by all the commotion.   I wish you all a great evening.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday Sag...........

The burning bush as started to change color. I has held out staying green for a long time. The top of it changing first seems different but I guess the Japanese yew does protect it some on the one side.

The view of the second one shows that bush having almost shed its leaves weeks ago.

The burn pile has its own look as it waits for me to cut up the lilac branches. The pile of lilac branches are behind the fence so I don't see them but I will get that done in the next couple of weeks.

I look like Charlie Brown right now as I am struggling with fixing my one door.  The one who installed it, me, did it in a hurry a few years back.  Time has shown that I have to go back and rework it.  The door started to sag and as I looked at it I had two problems.  I have a particle board base, that took in water and decomposed.  I raised the corner of the door frame up and placed a good piece of plywood under it. The second thing was that I had not attached the frame to the opening adequately.  When I return to the job I will finish quickly.  A break from that job is needed as door hanging can be a pain in the back. When winter hits there will not be any drafts of below zero air coming into the house.

Thank you for stopping by today.  We have warm weather and sunshine today.  It will be the hottest in late afternoon.  I wish you all well.

Fall......

Viburnum leaves change to a different color than most shrubs in the fall.  I view of the gate behind the leaves seems to look like an illusion until the brain figures it out.

One batch of hardy geraniums look pretty pathetic.  The growth of green does show that there is still life in the plants. The heavy rainfall a few nights ago probably will cause some change in the plants the next few days.

The creeping Charlie continues through the fall with its invasive growth.  It seems to like climbing up the old tree stump.

A stray tree start is changing its leaves to new fall colors.  I at first thought it was the leaves of the wild rose that is planted there.  I didn't look closely and now with this visual I can see it is like a boxeider tree.  When looking up the name of the tree for spelling it correctly, I was surprised.  I could have sworn people were saying an "l" in that word.


Friday is a good day for me as I didn't have to work today.  We are going to be almost 80 degrees F. by late afternoon.  It seems so strange to have to shed down to short sleeves when going outside. Thanks for checking in today.

Your Thursday is my Friday........

The clouds are moving out of the area.  They were starting to clear early morning.  The sunrises are later and later each day.  The sun shows now in the area of the next neighbors shed and I am sure I can get photos of it as far over to the right as I can get the camera to record it in the next weeks to come.

The corn has been picked on the other side of the fence from this field.  I am betting they will do it last as they have larger areas of land that need to be picked first.  I am running out of photos to share so you will keep getting corn and train pictures for a while.

The potted mandevilla plant is blooming more now as I brought it inside.  It is getting full sun inside so it seems to be quite happy.  It amazes me that it took all summer to start  blooming.

The river birch is always shedding its bark.  The leaves are almost all off of the tree now except for one puff of them at the very top.  I have been spending time out there cutting up and burning more scrap branches from the summer work.  I have two more piles of lilac scrap that has to be cut up before I can burn it.

I have seen on television that the leaves along the train tracks are now at their prime time in showing color.  We will have to plan to ride the train again next fall and be more specific as to when we go for the trip. One of the workers or crew members told us that the green cars were from the 1920s era and the orange ones were from the 1930's era.  I guess the windows are different and the older train had hard bus-like seats.  The orange one that we road in had cushioned seats.

I don't have to work on Friday so I will find lots of things to do.  I am down to two weeks of work and then I will be officially retired again. Being free will be nice and really will seem overwhelming. The finish of 10 weeks will leave memories of overwhelming experiences also.  I am glad I could do it and I am glad that it is coming to an end.  I am sure that the woman with the new baby is going to find it hard to leave her during the daytime.

I thank you for stopping by today.

Wednesday's Ways.........

The silver maple is dropping its leaves but it will take a month before they are all on the ground I remember that I am still mowing them up in November some years.  Of course, if the snow buries them the situation is out of my hands.

I brought my hardy geraniums  back outside from the basement stairwell. after the frost/freeze scare. They are doing well and did get a good rainfall downpour on them early morning.  I left them in the basement last year but with only having three containers of them maybe a couple could stay upstairs.

The hydrangea blooms started off green in color, changed to white, and now have become a mixed color of beiges.  The growing season with good moisture has kept them healthy all spring through the fall season.  In dry years the leaves would be gone by now.

The neighbor's maple trees are loosing their leaves quickly.  I mowed and mulch up a lot of the leaves in my yard last weekend and will probably have many more to do this weekend.  The downpour that we had in the middle of the night probably helped bring them down quicker.  I like the line designs of the branches contrasting to the yellow leaves.

The soft needled pine is really a great specimen that almost sits on my property.  The neighbor's little girl planted it there.  Now that little girl is a woman with three girls and the tree has really grown.  The tree sits right next to the neighbor's fence and it does look like it belongs to me.  I do keep it trimmed back so I don't get hit in the face when I am mowing.

It is the middle of the week and I am glad.  I actually don't have to work on Friday so tomorrow's Thursday is also my work week Friday.  It will be good to be off for three days.

We have a gray-looking day today and it seems to be not to lighten up much.  It is fall and the clouds will just hover all day.  Thanks for checking in on my blog.  I wish everyone to have a great Wednesday.

Second Day of the Week.....

The light of the sun gives this photo a sense of movement.  It almost appears to be moving when the blades have not turned for years.

I shared the corn field on my Photo a Day yesterday.  The is long past due to be picked.  Normally the corn stalk turns a yellow color as it dies but this field has died down beyond that point.

As I looked through the field I really don't think the field produced a large amount of good ears of corn. I continue to be amazed as to how many of my blogger friends have not seen ripe field corn.

The corn could not be eaten at this stage by boiling it but it could be ground into a rough grind  to make corn bread. The corn you eat is grown in spring and really never could mature into a good field corn. Sweetcorn is a different variety of corn.

In contrast to the top photo I will share some zinnias that are still blooming as if it were summer. There are not to many of them but they do look like fresh blooms.

The vine on the blue gate is still doing well.  If I were home during the morning I could take shots of small red morning glory blooms.  When I get home from school the blooms are all closed up and finished.
The vines were transplanted there late in the spring and they sure took a long time to get started.  Once started though they have really become a great foliage vine as well as having flowers.

The weather continues to be normal around here and I wish it were warmer.  I continue to walk Barney at night and I bundle up for it now.  I wish everyone to have a good day today.  Thanks for stopping in today.

Monday Sunrise.......

It is early morning and the SAC Air Force base has one single jet out in the area.  Can you see the small silver streak of the beginning of a jet stream.

The very same day in the afternoon you can see the evidence or more flying maneuvers that were going on in the sky.  Lots of times them make crisscross patterns in the sky.

Looking up the street at my old silver maple, you can see a jet stream in the sky.  When time and money allows I will have to take this tree down.  I know that it is too old and too tall for the safety of the house. It will be sad when it is removed but chunks of dead limbs already are looming above the art gallery part of the house.

The last of the phlox that is sheltered is still trying to bloom.  Some of these days it will all be frozen and flatten out onto the ground.  This has been my longest blooming season for this plant that I have ever had.

kThe fall activities continue outside and I can see that the birch tree is still shedding its leaves.  I hope everyone has a good day this Monday and thanks for stopping by today.

Fall Leaves and Cool Air......

Burning Bush

Hardy Geranium

           

As I mowed and mulched, I could see the birch leaves raining down to the ground. They have fallen the last two days and I will have to mulch the leaves up again in a a few days.

It is a sunny Sunday morning with cool temps.  We are in the season when it warms up by late afternoon.  I wish everyone a good day.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes......

It was a week ago today that we visited the Boone and Valley Scenic Railroad.  When the train reaches its destination at the end of the rail, the engine is disconnected and travels around to the other end of the train to pull the load back home.  The photo is not the best but does it show somewhat the view of seeing our steamer passing by us. The 11 car load that it had been pulling gets to reverse its direction. The head of the guy is a bonus for you to see.  Four young people, high school or college age, sat opposite us and hung their heads out of the windows most of the journey.

The steam locomotive has such neat sounds, strong smoke smells, and the best sounding whistle ever. The whistle was such a great sound taking me back to my old days of seeing them running through our small town of Murray, Iowa.  I also think of the state of Colorado as steam engines are a part of their history and the sounds are a way to promote the memories of their history.

Looking down from the Kate Shelley Bridge the real experience lets you feel how high the bridge is. The story of the Kate Shelly who rescued a lot of people from death by train wreck is shared in children's schools reading books still today. The coal companies built that bridge to transport their coal out of their mines to be shipped out throughout the state.

This is another view of the steam engine that pulls the train seven days a week. No smoke stack is designed on the new modern Chinese-made train.  The engine is sitting here having its water tanks refilled.  As I was there the steam was being release and the sound was loud and the steam was very wet. 

The morning glories are not going to die.  In spite of the weather the  blues just keep showing off. I have photos in the camera of three whites and one blue all out blooming by the back door.

I also need to go out and pick more tomatoes.  The other cherry tomato plant is covered with small tomatoes.  I need to decide to go ahead and pick the rest of the green larger tomatoes.  I don't think they are ripening in the cold temperatures so bringing them inside will make them either ripen or rot.

Off to the bookstore this morning and lots of work to get done when we get back.  We won't warm up until late afternoon so I will have to wear a jacket in the afternoon.  I hope everyone is having a good day.  Thanks for hanging around my blog. I wish you all well.

The End...of the Week.

I had wild morning glories grow out of the planter and spread through the grass in the area.  It is still warmer on ground level so I keep getting the small blooms.  The are growing among the fallen apples as if it is in a graveyard.

I keep seeing these large blue flowers on the trellis and every photo looks alike.  We had another frost last night and sooner or later they will all be gone.

Riding the old train was such a good experience.  We didn't get to see the engine but we could see and smell the smoke.  On the way out the smoke blue away from the train.  On the way back we had smoke in sight outside our window the majority of the time.  The whistle of a steam locomotive is a sound of its own. I really liked hearing the engineer play with the whistle almost making it talk.

All of the cars had stairs design special so the step lined up perfectly with the curb. Our car we chose to ride in had upholstery seats while the ones that were green cars had school bus-like seats. Our care was supposedly the 1930's car and the other green ones were the 1920s cars

Early mornings outside with Button on his last months were such a blessing to me in relation to the sunrises that I was able to see.  The days are so much shorter now and I go out after breakfast before I take my coffee in the the living room for the news on TV.

We both really miss our little dog and it may be easier as time goes on but for now we are still feeling the loss.  I still glance in areas of the house where he liked to sleep and forget that he isn't there.  We go places now and both of us think that we need to get home for the sake of our little dog.  We did that for the last year or so. He was such a great little guy and we have partially moved on with our lives.  Barney sure does get a lot more attention now.

I appreciate your stopping by today. The weekend is only a day away.  Take care everyone.

Thursday's Things.........Again.

Ironically this happened on the day we were trying to get to the train museum.  The train had to make a stop on the track to unload or pick up something.  We were very early so we had time to sit and talk and look at these two cars on the crossing.   While sharing photos yesterday with my advisory class one of the girls raised her hand and said her dad was an engineer on a train that carried coal across the state.

I have seen this before but it has been a while. It would be a great idea for anyone who has a train room. It looks like they have dowels all along the edge so if a break up took place they would fall down onto the public.

I shared this photo on my Photo a Day blog today.  It was purchased in California and it is quite a show piece for a train. The museum runs this as their dinner train and you take it on the same track and the other trains but it has a location where the pull it off the track.  It sits for a while out in the woods while people keep eating.

We discovered as we rode the train that we really were on the bad side of the car.  The valley views were all on the opposite side of the car as our side showed more of the ravines and and distant river sights.  You can see the dinner train across the way as we passed it sitting on its own special set of tracks.

Back home the neighbor's cat sleeps on the step.  We had not seen him for a while and he had lost a lot of weight.  He is eating at our place 5 out of 7 days a week.  I hope he is going home once in a while and not sleeping out in the cold somewhere.  Otherwise, he sleeps here night and day.

It is almost Friday but it is not.  The week has seemed to drag but Friday is coming soon.  My white morning glories are blooming in spite of the cold.  I have a lot of seeds that I am going to gather this fall.  

I am developing a batch of leaves now under the birch tree that I will have to start to mow and mulch.  The grass has really grown tall again so I will have to face that this weekend.  The silver maple will not drop its leaves for another month. I am getting a collection of neighbor's leaves that just blanket the top of the grass but they are not a worry to me.

I really am not ready for it to be cold.  I thank you for stopping by my post today.