Fading Fall
They said that the height of color would be last week or this week. I gambled on this week and lost. Still, there were some pretty scenes on our weekly Council Bluffs trip.
The bluffs had kind of a weird effect because most of the color was gone so it looked like one of those desaturated photos where only the red tones are left, but it was in person. Of course it didn’t photograph that way completely but it sort of did.
On the way home we took a bit of a different way and drove down Old Bluff Road or something like that. They had mudslide warnings, and I could see why, as we ran into what looked like one. I guess that’s the trouble when the hills are just made of dirt.
The clouds were also pretty interesting.
And last but not least some random trees in Red Oak and Villisca.
And now I leave you.
Have a fun trees kinda day!
Jo 🙂
A Year…Part 1
Greetings. It’s a blog. From me. Kind of scary, huh? Especially considering it’s been basically a year since I posted, except to ask people for poems. I didn’t realize it had been that long – and boy you’ve all missed some exciting stuff, like Easter. We made paper eggs to decorate the windows with, the town decorated the flower pots, and we had an Easter dinner with just us:
Then we had snow in April:
Then we finally checked out the Icarian Colony Historical Site (where we ran into some fellow tourists, which was fun!)
Then we put in the new raised mini gardens and the roses just went crazy – yeah, that one is the rose I’d planned to kill years ago because it never bloomed. (as is, it only blooms every so many years)
Fourth of July was fun
Okay, and since this is getting long, I’ll cut it off here. Look for part 2 tomorrow.
Have a firework and crazy rose kinda day!
Jo 🙂
Blech…But I’m still Thankful
Today I am thankful for being able to get into the clinic. By the time I went to bed last night the nodes all around my ears were swollen, and also like a crown around my head, so I decided the clinic was in order today. Called at one, got in at two, quite a cry from southern MO when it took weeks… BUT unlike southern MO it’s not a doctor, but a nurse practitioner, and it’s a limited small town clinic, not a real doctor office. Like they’d have probably never caught that I have Sjogrens, they can’t do any kind of x-rays etc. But for rashes and colds and flu it’s wonderful. Which is what I have this time. Apparently.
That weird rash that was on my arm last night? Well, it’s spread. It’s now on my face and neck, and apparently it is all over my scalp, which may be why it is itchy.
*sigh* Anyway, so I got in today.
I didn’t have to wait very long. Maybe six minutes. Anyway, they think the swollen glands and fever are a response to that. She said I must have a good immune system. It’s like, yeah, it’s so good it attacks me all the time! (autoimmune and all). Ha ha! But I’m now on prescriptions.
I felt pretty bleh today, so though I started packing up stuff to mail I didn’t get it done. I didn’t get much done, really. I did get attacked by the cat:
Ha ha! Not really. I mean, it was the cat, but she was just trying to climb up my leg, not attacking me. My upper legs are covered in scratches from her doing that. But it’s not a big deal. It doesn’t even hurt. I didn’t even know it had bled until hubby came home and was concerned. (What a good hubby).
There’s something else I am grateful for. Hubby, I mean. I know how lucky I am to have a husband who genuinely loves me and worries about me and spoils me, though he doesn’t think I appreciate that, I do. And it doesn’t mean we both didn’t put in our time, because we did. There were a few times when things were so…tumultuous that I thought we might divorce (okay several) but luckily we’re both stubborn and realized that you have to stick it out to get to this point. Especially as argumentative, pig headed, bossy, and, well, stubborn as we both are. And it doesn’t mean we don’t argue or snip and snap still, because we do, but there’s no one I’d rather argue with 😉
(Now we’ll see if he really reads my blogs.)
Not much else. We drove past Glenwood yesterday, or near Glenwood, where the tornado hit Friday.
The RV park was even worse, but I couldn’t get decent shots of it without turning around, and we were running late for WWE, ha ha!
I have pics I could post but, eh. Later.
Have a non-itchy day,
Jo 
Smashup Fun and Squirels
Yesterday i watched the Axe Murders of Villisca. I had planned to a review but I’m tired, so I’ll do it tomorrow.
Today I was thankful for game time with hubby and the bro. We played Smashup, a fun game Jonathan introduced us to:
I had Ninja Dinosaurs, which while effective did not have the cards I wanted. (The game is played by choosing two factions such as Zombies and Robots, and smashing them up – hence the name – so you have Zombots. Or in my case, Ninjasaurs.)
Anyway, I was in a bad mood today (I had several rants on FB even) so hubby let me win. Of course he can’t admit he let me or it takes away from it, but I’m pretty sure he did.
In other news the squirrels were crazy here. I should have come in and got my Nikon but I had no idea it was going to last so long. They were busy chasing each other and I got super close to them.
They were making a ton of noise. if you’ve never heard squirrels, here’s your chance:
I tried to live stream in the middle but the quality was low, so I switched back:
And now I am headed to bed.
Have a winning game kinda day!
Jo 🙂
Corpse Flower
Today I was thankful for getting to see the corpse flower at Lauritzen gardens. They are apparently tricky things and hard to get to see because the bloom only lasts 24 hours. By the time we got there the smell had already gone, but we still got to see the bloom, anyway – after waiting in line for literally an hour and a half.
And here are the information signs if you’re interested (click them to make them bigger):
And now I go back to photo editing for a bit and then bed.
Have a corpse flower kinda day!
Jo 🙂
Thankfulness #129: Rainbows
Yesterday I was thankful for time with hubby and the gorgeous rainbows in the park. The fountain at Heartland of America is turned on, and the perfect combination of wind blowing the mist, and the sunshine made for double rainbows. I got some good pics. Only wish I’d had the Nikon.
Hubby at the end of my rainbow 🙂
I also took some other random shots:
And now back to the fantasy book. Tommorrow I have to get ready for my Facebook party in Book Born (which is on Wednesday, 6pm-10pm)
Have a rainbow kinda day!
Jo 🙂
Thankfulness #118: Beautiful Day
Today was a beautiful day – I like it either warm or else cold and damp. I know, it’s weird. Other people see a wet, foggy, drizzling day, with temps in the 40s or 50s and they stay indoors. I go “whoo hoo!” and run outside because I love it. The brisk breeze, the little burn of each prickly drop of moisture as it smacks your face – I find it invigorating. I think I was a viking in a past life. Or British, maybe.
Anyway, we went to Omaha to do some pokemoning. I made my target steps, so hey, that’s something, and we walked all around the mall, down to where it hooks on to Heartland of America, which we’ve never done before. It’s not as far as I thought it was. The whole mall area is really neat, with lots of fun sculpture benches, cool paths, little bridges and some giant slides (alas though no one was on the slides for a change, there was a lake at the bottom of them).
It was still beautifully misty after dark, but by then we were no longer pokemoning by then (I’m not crazy).
In other news, I sent the book off to round 2 betas, though I still need to flesh out chapter one and two a little bit. But, I needed to get it sent ff so the betas had time to read it without having to rush as the last minute. It’s not their fault I’ve been slow because I do things like go to the park instead of staying home and working.
And now I leave you all to do some of that work.
Have a brisk weather kind of day!
Jo 🙂
(The eye shadow was worth sharing.)
Trompe L’oeil
It’s time again for Blogophilia, the fun blog group where Marvin gives participants topics to use in their blog for the week. This week’s are:
I had to look Trompe L’oeil up. Apparently it’s when an artist creates the illusion of 3D with 2D objects, like that guy who draws those awesome chalk monsters on the sidewalk. I had no idea that had a name, but I guess I should have known. The art community is full of labels and names for every twibbly tiny thing. It drives me nuts because it’s all an elitist thing to show how artsy they are over everyone else… Though the world and social media in particular say to Give yourself to the Dark Side, I’ll leave that rant for another day. Not because the girl can rock, but because she’s too tired to rock. Ha ha!
Since y’all came here for something, here’s some photos for no reason.
Thankfulness #76: Nature
Today we headed out to Waubonsie state park to check things out for Mel’s upcoming wedding. We measured stuff, got a general layout, and now she can focus her ideas better. The next step is to get her on pinterest – ha ha!
While we were out there we saw a lot of deer. A lot. At one point there were eight or more of them together! Of course, they were always on the other side of the car from me, even when we turned around and went back. In fact I caught a picture of the last one running across the road so that they could be on the opposite side:
of the others, these were the best pictures. Can you see them? It’s kind of hard with the leaves. They really do blend in well.
I’ve always been fond of Waubonsie – we used to go there for family picnics when i was a kid, but I especially enjoyed it as it looked a lot like Southern Missouri does at this time of year, including the scraggly pine trees. I miss going out to all the parks with hubby like we used to. now our only outing day tends to be grocery shopping in Council Bluffs…
Though at the end of the month we’ll be going on an outing to Florida, which I am looking forward to.
And if I want to go to Florida, I need to get this *&%* book done, so I am outta here!
Have a nature kinda day!
Jo 🙂
Thankfulness #65: Flowers
Today I am thankful because hubby was so sweet and brought me home flowers for no reason:
he said he was in line at the store and a guy behind him said “Someone must have messed up” and he said “Nah, these are for no reason. When I do mess up I don;t even apologize.” *sigh* true story, unless I make him, LOL! But anyway, I thought this was very sweet.
Now back to Turtles for the week.
Have a surprise flower kinda day!
Jo 🙂
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