These Last Few Days

I usually go to the Ag after I drop Keith off at dialysis on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. 

Friday morning, the geese were back.  The Renaissance Festival is right next 

door to us, and for six weeks after Labor Day, we have a cannon booming as they 

open and close.  The wild animals don't like it.  I don't like it. 

The geese have been away, so I was glad to see these four on Friday. 

This guy was back at the vet on Friday afternoon.  He has a badly infected ear (his right) and 

eye infection in both eyes, so we are treating both. 

He is doing okay, but we may have to get more ear meds. 

You know I love the Beatles.  I went with a good friend on Saturday night to see the Liverpool Legends at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.  Keith and I have been to several concerts there, it is a wonderful small venue.  Louise Harrison, the 85 year old sister of George Harrison, manages this group, and they have a residency in Branson.  They also sponsor a program to keep music alive in high schools, and they work with master classes with local schools in each town where they sing. 

Hayden High School was the high school for Topeka, and the band played the orchestral parts to numerous Beatle's hits in the second half.  It was wonderful. 

A snippet of "Revolution" without the band, sorry: 

We drove home through a terrible rainstorm, and it was heart-in-the-throat time. 

The jelly feeder had water in it from the rain, but look whom I saw 

drinking from it! 

I actually saw this for two days running, but.... temps are dropping here, 

and today there was a lone hummingbird left. 

On the way to the park Sunday afternoon, we saw this little guy with a big burden. 

Remember our llamas? 

Some new neighbors have moved into the neighborhood, about 12 of them! 

Uh Huh. 

It was raining when I passed the bluffs on Sunday morning on the way to church. 

I missed the most beautiful shot... an egret was winging it's way through the canyon of the creek, and I could not get the camera up before it went around the bend.   

You see the leaves are beginning to change. 

Sunday's sunset almost hurt to watch. 

Yellow and blue always go well together! 

The dogs resign themselves when I jump out of the car.

There goes Big Daddy into the pond. 

And my favorite calf. 

I think this is probably The Last One. 

I'll be surprised if I see him tomorrow. 

This one will be around for a while. 

Summer is Still Around

The show goes on! 

These beautiful squash and pumpkins were at the grocery tonight... but it was nearly 100 degrees out. 

Think fall, everyone! 

Someone was hungry for Chinese food tonight, and managed to get a third of 

his plate down .  This is an accomplishment!  

See that cow on the left? 

I was afraid she had become stuck in the mud.  I went slowly up the road when I came back by.... she was not.  Look how low she is, though! 

squirrel

There is a heron in the middle of this picture, take my word for it. 

This is making me feel better and better. 

Stranger Creek is running really high because of all the recent rains. 

I love these little guys! 

And these little guys! 

And this big guy! 

Another Wild Weekend

I thought weekends were time for rest. 

Not here, lately. 

Here's Grandpa Keith at the Wyco Sluggers game last night. 

Let me tell you, it was cold out there!  The very lowest 50's, and 

he reminded me ten times his new Carhartt jacket was keeping 

him mighty warm. 

I'm wearing my old pink Carhartt next weekend, for the last game. 

Jax is always intense on the field.  It helps if you hold your tongue in your cheek, and he runs the bases like this, too. 

He is playing first base lately. 

I would have to say all the boys love the game. 

They are so much fun to watch. 

(you know I have to shoot through the fence, for the most part) 

My daughter in law, Amy, is a very supportive sports mom. 

I love this picture of her, she did not know I was taking it.  

She is not the yelling bad things kind of mom to the kids, but the encouraging yeller. 

Of course, our beautiful Paiton, along with her "gang" (all the other brothers and sisters of players) was running around having a good time. 

This morning, the Polack Brothers Circus is setting up at the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.

They will be doing a show at 5 PM and 7 PM today, and again, tomorrow. 

I took pictures of the tent going up after I ran to the post for a medical procedure. 

I belonged to Circus Fans Association for years, NEVER have I seen women help put a tent up, and let me tell you, these young men and women had it down to a science! 

Within 30 minutes, the tent was going up! 

Those are the big baling rings for the four center poles laying on the ground there, and there are three young women in this picture. 

Within an hour... it was up. 

And the human cannonball's canon was moved in. 

The sidewalls began to go up at that point, and props were being unloaded from a truck. 

Oh, seats had also been moved into place on their trailer. 

This canvas looks almost brand-new, but the show is on it's way in to winter 

quarters in Hugo, Oklahoma. 

Maybe an hour to get the tent up, but still have props to set, etc.  

It's a one-ring show, but I like small shows. 

I'm going to the 5 PM performance. 

I had to wander out into the pasture to get decent pictures, and I found a patch of flowers still being worked by bumblebees!  It was a chilly morning and the bumbles were all quiet, and easy to watch. 

Pictures of the show tomorrow! 

Taken Over the Past Week

On the morning of my birthday, I saw two turkeys walking through a yard along my way. 

It was a beautiful morning, and they were not worried that I got out of the car to take their pictures. 

They were beauties. 

I love when I have time to take pictures and the animals are not panicking. 

Lilly had a good roll in the grass the next day... God bless Troy, who has been cutting every week. 

Thursday, I ran into the road crew several times.  

And our heron friend. 

Believe me, this woodpecker let the sparrows know it was HIS suet! 

Friday I was at the Ag Hall.... and took some lovely pictures in the garden. 

I have never grown dahlias, but these are convincing me. 

Moth sex on the coreopsis.  I kid you not. 

The echinacea plants were alive with goldfinches, male and female!

The females are harder to see.  There were actually six males at one time. 

(the female is directly in the middle) 

I have been trying for days to get this juvenile hawk. 

He is always too far away. 

Saturday, I saw this scene on the way home from the farm. 

I am not seeing as many in the air... but....

This was the scene on my way home from church this morning. 

I count ten. 

It was very foggy this morning, but by this afternoon, it all burned off 

and our temperate temps of the last week were warming up. 

And I was rewarded on the way after church by sight of the juvenile red-tail that I showed you on the hangar building above,

Here is our sweet boy running to go home, to end the week. 

Go, Jester, Go!!!