The Drive to Church

Last Sunday Paul and Elsie went to church really early.

I ended up going alone because I needed to be there early but not quite that early.

The others all followed on time.

Don't report us to to the global warming police, please!

On the way there I needed to pull over to answer a call.

We've only driven by this abandoned farm 7,381 times

and I never really noticed the photographic beauty of it.

I had to play with the photo editing app too.

Now that I am aware of the beauty...

we may have to leave for church earlier all the time

just in case the sun is just right,

or there's fresh snow,

or fall colors,

or dark storm clouds,

or the pond is still,

or just because I want to!

The First Snow

 This is what we woke up to this morning.

Thankfully, that's as deep as it got.

Jack does not agree with that last sentiment.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday was gorgeous. 

There was a whole .37" of extra space 

on each side of the wrapper 

after they got it parked.

Everyone who was home spent the whole day outside.

Elsie dug her sweet potatoes.

Jack worked on the lathe most of the day.

Getting Ready for Winter

Saturday was a "get ready for winter" day.

They changed several tires on equipment.

They put smaller pieces on the gooseneck

for more compact storage in the shed.

It wasn't super interesting.

But...the COLORS!

Even in the mundane daily work

God blesses  us SO MUCH with COLORS!

Foggy Sunrise

I had a request for a foggy sunrise picture. 

Ok, so the gentleman was teasing when he asked for it!

But I did my best to oblige him this morning!

Not bad!

Naughty Ones

There's always got to be one

or two.

At least they are cute.

They've got that much going for them

when they are being naughty.

Last of the Corn Stalks

Luke left to bale the last of the corn stalks.

Today was also the day to put the cows out on the cover crop.

They were all napping peacefully in the pasture

but quickly got very excited to go out!

Look at that!

Belly deep in field radishes and turnips and oats and rye and grasses...

and they all head for the far fence line

and proceed to eat the ditch grass

on the other side of the fence.  😕

The Last of My SD Trip

 Saturday was a change in weather.
It was a good thing we did our hiking when we did.

We just did some errands and lazy stuff Saturday.

Renee flew in late Saturday night.

After church Sunday

we watched neighbors work on their back yard for a bit.

And then we got to work.

We went through and sorted 

and organized 1/2 birthday goodies for next year!

Renee and I went on a long walk after supper.

Cookie Cutter Hill was our last block before heading home.

Monday morning Renee and I left right after breakfast to head back to Minnesota.

Again, we had a great drive home together

after a wonderful time with Mom and Dad!

Roughlock Falls

Time got away from me.

Now I'm back to another post from the trip to Mom and Dad's.

We continued our Friday drive with another hike.

This one was Roughlock Falls.

Great hiking partners!

Some of the leaves were gone 

so I missed the beauty of them.

But since they were gone

we were able to see more of the beauty of the falls

because the leaves were not blocking the view!

Dad happened to look in his review mirror 

on our drive back home 

and spotted this.

Of course we turned around to go back for pictures.

We couldn't go in.

Man, oh man, did I want to!

So many questions without answers.

Then we found another log cabin that is being fixed up.

Mom was able to read the sign from the forest department

explaining what it was.

Seems kind of silly to have a sign in the middle of a cattle pasture 

that is too far away for people to read 

and it isn't even written in moo-ese for the cattle to read.

After a delicious Mexican dinner

that was eaten while watching wedding photos being taken 

on an antique red couch in the middle of a pasture

it was time for a drive through a ritzy neighborhood

and head home to relax.

Spearfish Falls Trail

 After our fun with the binoculars

we went to hike the Spearfish Falls Trail

It was quite a bit shorter 

and flatter than Thursday's hike.

The falls were gorgeous.

The weather was great

and so were my hiking companions.

One more hike post to go!

Friday's Fun

Mom and I went errand running this morning

while Dad had a tele-meeting.

We took off about 11:00 for a day of sight seeing and hiking.

Our first stop was to see an abandoned farm down in a valley.

It was on private property

and far away.

So we got creative!

It took some trial and error

and our next attempts will be better.

But we got some fun pictures 

by shooting through the binoulars.

Love the dug out under the tree!

More pictures tomorrow.

There are too many to go through tonight!