The Camping Queen
I’ve been staying out in the camper as much as I can on these cool nights. Before I know it, the temps will plunge and it will be too cold to sleep out there. I emptied all the water out after our camping trip last week but I haven’t winterized Gracie yet. Soon…soon.
Sigh.
The weatherman said to expect heavy rain and thunderstorms later this evening so Mr. Fixit and I went out to mow in the afternoon. I was moving right along…mulching leaves and getting the yard ready for winter. I had to stop the mower and get off every once in a while. After about the third time, I noticed the mower started acting wonky. The switch to engage the clutch and the mower deck wasn’t working right. It fizzled out till it won’t turn on at all. It almost acted like it hadn’t had oil in it and was burned up. But Mr. FixIt and I both checked the oil and it was fine.
Finally, it gave a great sigh and died. It was sad. Well, more than that actually…we both felt sick over it. I did what I always do. I quickly handed the mess over to God and I believe He will take care of the problem in due course. No need to worry.
In the meantime, we were definitely done for the day. I warmed up the sauce from Tuesday and cooked some pasta. Leftover spaghetti and leftover chili both taste so much better the second, and even third day.
We’ve been overrun with spiders this year. They. Are. Everywhere. In every nook and cranny, outside and in, from little tiny spiders to nickel sized varieties that run like the wind. Now…I love spiders. Mr. FixIt does NOT. I’m the great spider trapper (snakes, too). I turned my pollinator gardens into pollinator meadows this spring. We also had trouble keeping up with the mowing around the house this year. Consequently, we have all varieties of diminutive livestock surprising us every time we walk around a corner. So, I acquiesced to a little bit of spray around the windows and the door jams to deter them from crawling over our faces at night. I HATE it, but we went with the least amount that we could and made sure it didn’t drift. I feel so guilty…like I’m killing my friends. I mean, we live in the country. We had to treat for termites about 4-5 years ago so it has to be done from time to time.
Mr. FixIt’s precious roses are still blooming. I know it won’t be long and they’ll freeze and go dormant till next summer. We’ll enjoy them as long as we can!
One of the pictures shows a little “Hobbit hole” in the mown grass around the meadow’s edge. We have a lot of moles, voles, field mice, and chipmunks. Even snakes that can make that round entrance into what must look like a forest to little critters, so who know what was coming and going through there.
The guys will be out before long to brush hog the fields and put them to bed for winter. That’s when I’ll know the summer is really gone and it’s time to prepare for the holidays. I have so many indoor projects on my list this winter!
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Hebrews 11:3 NIV
#mowing #autumn #spiders #spiderseverywhere #pollinatorgardens #meadow #reclamation #meadowreclamation
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Good Eyes
When I had my eyelid surgery this summer, they gave me a pair of those ugly old person sunglasses that you wear over your prescription glasses. I usually wear clip-ons but I couldn’t find them fast enough so I grabbed those. They were uncomfortable so I took my prescription glasses off and put the old lady gasses on alone.
I was shocked. I could see!
I took the sunglasses off and…
I could SEE!
What the hey?
I’ve had to wear glasses to see distances since I was in 7th grade. Now all of a sudden I could see to read street signs and landmarks from quite a distance. Of course, my arms aren’t long enough to stretch out when I try to see close up. But that is what readers are for, right?
Last night, Mr. FixIt and I celebrated our anniversary at Western Sizzlin’ Steak House. As I stood and looked at the menus behind the register, I had to smile. There was a time in my life that I’d have been insulted if we didn’t go out somewhere fancy to celebrate such an important date as an anniversary or a birthday. And now, here I am at 73…choosing steak tips (hold the peppers…they don’t agree with me) and a baked potato from the Senior Menu….happy as a little clam because I was where I wanted to be…with my sweet man.
There was nothing wrong with me back in my former lives. I’m just a different person now…and I like this Ginny much more!
So, back to the good vision. We always like to look out the window when we’re at a restaurant. (And the lighting is better because it’s still daylight out when we eat dinner!)
I looked out across the parking lot and spotted our truck. There was something hanging down from under the engine. Oh, no…we just bought this truck! Please don’t let anything be wrong with it!
We finished our meal and paid, then we headed out to the truck. I knew it was going to be me getting down on the ground in the parking lot to see what was going on under there. Turns out it was a piece of the dust cover that helps keep the engine clean. The material it’s made from feels like a heavy felt. There was no ripping it. And I had nothing to cut it with. So I tucked it up over the control arm. (That’s part of the suspension.) It was still there when we got home so it’ll do till we can get a replacement.
So, yeah…it was the best anniversary and I wouldn’t have changed a thing!
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
#anniversary #dinner #anniversarydinner #WesternSizzlin #steak #mechanical #aptitude #mechanicalaptitude #fordf150 #happy #ever #after #happyeverafter
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Eight Years
We had a big tent erected in the near field. We decorated it with pumpkins and hay bales and old quilts. We served smoked pork butt sandwiches from my smoker along with chips and slaw. And of course, there was cake.
Family and friends gathered to celebrate with us. It was SO cold! We had propane heaters scattered around but we were so excited, we didn’t feel it.
We’ve known each other since 10th grade. Never sweethearts till fate brought us together when we were old enough for Medicare. That happens more than you might think.
We’ve had some rough patches but not between us. It’s been from extraneous circumstances. We just lean in closer when the winds blow and ride the waves when the sun shines.
Happy Anniversary to us…two peas in a pod!
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.””
Matthew 19:6 NIV
#anniversary #memories #true #love #truelove #goals #so #happy #sohappy #sohappyandblessed
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Do Good to ALL People!
I sometimes have to remind myself that my judgement of others WILL come back and bite me in the butt one of these days. In these troubling times, the divisive rhetoric from BOTH sides isn’t helpful and just pushes us further apart.
When we were camping last week and ran into our friends Sandy and Todd, I was struck by how peaceful she was. Her and Todd both just radiated love and joy. They’re a few years older than us and purposefully seek a calm and productive life. Sandy is an avid birdwatcher and photographer. Todd loves his ham radio and visits with his buddies every morning for an hour and a half. They talk about everything but politics.
You know, there was a time when politics and religion were not socially acceptable conversation. A person’s beliefs were private and our not so distant ancestors would be appalled at the ease with which people share their opinions about your personal beliefs.
Sandy and Todd don’t watch the news. They don’t engage in politics with others. If they see something on social media that they find objectionable, they scroll right on past. It never even crosses their minds to impose their tenets on others.
They aren’t clueless. They know what they believe and who they think will deliver, but they are the same as me. They believe you are what you eat and if you ingest bitterness and hatred, there is where your heart will follow.
I’m not one to stick my head in the sand. I watch and educate myself on the matters of the day. But I find when I slip back into the old habits of watching the news and being TOO aware of all these cussed political texts that come to my phone, it is poison to my soul. I contribute where I want, I help where I can, yet I was still feeling bombarded from every direction.
I was a little under the weather this weekend and I spent hours going through my texts and emails…blocking sites, replying “STOP” or “END” to countless operatives I let weasel into my personal space. In just two days, the number of political contribution requests have trickled to just a handful. I already feel more at ease.
I try to walk the path of Jesus. I try to always lead with love. I try to not judge lest I be judged in the same way. Loving ALL people can seem like a tall order these days, but we have to ask ourselves…WWJD?
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Galatians 6:10 NIV
#love #peaceandlove #peaceofmind #peace
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Critters and Kettle Corn
We had one of those lay low days that one can sometimes enjoy after a trip. Sort of the vacation from your vacation. That was us yesterday.
We didn’t eat “brunch” till 1:30! Eggs, fresh-grated hash-browns, and bacon. What a feast! I didn’t eat much of anything the rest of the day. As Grandma used to say, we were lazy bones.
It was a grey and gloomy day that anticipated rain. It finally showed up around 5:00 or so and fell steady all evening. I came out to the camper so I could listen to the raindrops on the roof. It’s a lovely way to sleep.
It was almost 11:00pm when I gathered my things to come out to the camper and write my post. I got to the steps going down into the family room when I thought we had carried a wet leaf in from the yard. I bent down to get a closer look and saw it was an uninvited houseguest in the form of an Eastern Newt. I placed a plastic container over him, slid a piece of heavy card paper under him and carried him outside. I’m sure he would much rather be out there in the rain and mud than dehydrating on our carpet.
The other critters are a Green Tree Cricket. Without it arching his wings to serenade a lady tree cricket, I couldn’t tell for sure…but it may have been a Snowy Tree Cricket. For those of you may watch Big Bang Theory, there was an episode where the boys caught a cricket in their apartment. Howard thought it was a common field cricket but Sheldon insisted it was a Snowy Tree Cricket. They took it to the Entomology Professor (who was retiring to Oxnard. And not the Oxnard at the beach! No, he was going to Oxnard in the godforsaken onion fields!) He confirmed, it was a plain old ordinary field cricket.
But, I digress.
The third critter photo is what we grew up calling a Wooly Worm or Wooly Bear Caterpillar. Appalachian folklore says that all black indicates a particularly harsh and cold winter. Now, I can’t accurately attest to that because this little lady is actually a Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar and not the standard Isabella Tiger Moth caterpillar that folklore talks about. Eh…apples and oranges. It really doesn’t matter. The National Weather Service has been warning of a long cold winter with heavy snows due to a particularly strong El Niño this year so I’ll say that the caterpillar knows what she’s talking about.
The last picture is a whole tree full of Turkey Tail fungus. They grow on dead or dying trees. There are lookalike mushrooms out there that mimic the TurkeyTail that are harmful, so unless you are a trained Mycologist, just take pictures and leave this stuff alone.
That’s it for now. I hope it gently rains all day! And I hope you are safe from any bad storms.
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
““ ‘Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon.”
Leviticus 11:29-30 NIV
#turkeytailmushroom #treecricket #EasternNewt #wooly #bear #woolybear #caterpillar
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The Best of Times
Y’all, this was the best three days Mr. FixIt and I have spent together in a while. The last year was pretty rough. We didn’t really have time, nor the inclination, to go off and do something just for the two of us.
The campground wasn’t busy. The weather was perfect. The crystal blue skies made the changing of the leave just pop! You know the scene…sweaters, the whiff of campfire smoke, the sounds and sights of native birds. The only thing we didn’t do was fish and we didn’t even miss it.
We were sitting around our little fire ring on Wednesday afternoon and noticed the little fiberglass camper parked across from us. It suddenly dawned on me who this was!
Sandy and Todd! We first met them a few years ago at the same campground and have seen them there a few times since. They’re a little older than us but we have so much in common. She and I both worked in medicine and the guys were both mechanical engineers. She’s into birdwatching and I’m into pollinator gardening.
I don’t know if you remember several years ago when we first met them. In our conversation, it came around to what brought us here. I told her I had lost a husband in Colorado, bought a camper, and traveled around the country by myself for the better part of four years. She asked where in Colorado and I said Glenwood Springs. Sandy got a surprised look on her face.
“I met you there! We were staying in the Best Western and we talked to you at the front desk! You were on your way to WV!”
OMGosh! Of course I remembered them. Sometime later, Sandy sent me a picture of Big TOW-Wanda in the hotel parking lot and asked if that was my camper. Indeed, it was!
Small world!
As we visited, they told us they rode on the Valley Gem that day. This time I lit up and said our granddaughter had worked on that boat for a couple of years. She smiled and said, “He told us about her. She learned to do everything on the boat and he was hoping to train her to be a riverboat captain!”
Yep, that’s her. She has young kids though and she needed to be around. Riverboat captains are away a lot.
Small world, indeed!
Sandy and Todd live in a tourist town in southeast West Virginia. I asked her if she knew a nurse I knew in Colorado who was from the same town they live in. Well, of course she knew her, and her parents.
Ok, so…it’s a REALLY small world!
They left before we got up yesterday. She left me the bouquet of flowers she had at their campsite. What sweet people!
Picture 1: A gorgeous Monarch showing off her colors against a magnificent autumn sky.
Picture 2: Saddleback or Pheasant back fungus.
Picture 3: The mighty Ohio River in the autumn.
Picture 4: The same view at dawn. (My friend Sandy took this. I didn’t even know it looks so pretty this early in the day! 😉)
Picture 5: A huge multi trunked elm tree in the campground. (A tornado passed through there last month and the trees looked pretty rough.)
Picture 6: Me and Sandy. She rides her bike all around the campground every day.
Picture 7: “Gracie” at Leith Run Recreation Area.
Till tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
#campinglife #fall #camping #FallCamping #leithruncampground
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Looky-Looin’
Came to town to check out an antique store. I snapped a few pics.
The street with the train track going town the middle is a working freight train! The pumpkins, etc. are at a produce stand.
Heading home tomorrow!
Till then, dear ones…
Ginny #fallvibes🍁 #falldecor #pumpkins #gourds #stmaryswv
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No Cell Service! Yippee!!!
Love this river!
Ginny
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The Right Place
We didn’t gather for knitting yesterday so I headed to town for a few last minute items for the camping trip. I’ve been enjoying these cool evenings snuggled under the electric blanket, listening to the owls. Then, lo and behold, the electric blanket on my bed died sometime during the night. It’s getting down into the 40’s now. We cannot have this! Last time I bought the cheapest blanket I could find. It was three years ago, but I’ll bet I didn’t use it fifty times total. So, I went up a couple of steps in quality and it’s much better.
As I was driving in town, I had the wipers on to clear the dew from the windshield. The leaves were gently falling in a shower of red, yellow, and gold. A little leaf caught my eye and, as fate would have it, planted itself in my windshield wiper.
There it stayed, that errant little leaf…stuck someplace it didn’t belong. It reminded me of the times in my life when I’ve found myself stuck in a place I didn’t belong. How many times have I wished I knew then what I know now? Youth is wasted on the young, I’m tellin’ ya.
Right now there are a lot of us that may feel like we’re stuck where we don’t belong, but I’m reminded that there’s nothing here that is permanent. It never has been. It never will be. No house or car or politician will ever be permanent. Letting go of the idea that you’re in control heals many ills.
On the other hand…
God is permanent.
He will never change and He will never forsake us. So, the point is…if you find yourself in an intolerable position, make like a leaf in the fall. You’re feet aren’t nailed to the ground. Even if the change is minor. Just remember to hold hands with Jesus and He’ll show you the way.
Just as I had that epiphany, the little leaf broke away from my windshield wipers and swirled out of sight. As I said, I’ve been in places in my life where, for one reason or another, left me stuck. But, once I let go of the illusion of being in control of any of this earthly chaos, my whole world opened up to endless possibilities. And…just when I wasn’t looking, in walked Mr. FixIt!
Do I think of the myriad directions my life could have taken?
Less and less often as time goes by.
I’m standing right where I want to be…where I’m supposed to be. Till one day I move on to make my home with Jesus.
Mr. FixIt and I will be camping for the next three days and the cell service there is abysmal. So, if you don’t hear from me for awhile, don’t worry. I’ll be back!
Till then, dear ones…
Ginny
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 NIV
#epiphany #being #stuck #beingstuck #letting #go #lettinggo
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Mistakes Were Made
I had a lovely post writing for today. Then, the Sunday evening phone calls started coming in and I had to leave the page to answer. And when I got back to the post…it had disappeared into thin air. So, this morning, I’ll leave you with this close up of the dew on a fall chrysanthemum, decorated with a tiny moth wing.
See you tomorrow, dear ones…
Ginny
#flowers #fallseason #fallvibes
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