Life has been busy lately, just seems to get more so all the time, doesn’t it? One of the things I have been doing differently, that seems to be working for me, is setting myself a goal of scrap booking 10 pages a week. It has enabled me to get started on the book from our vacation in May and I’m about halfway done. Yay me!  This is much better than never finding time to do it.

All of leaves have fallen, thank goodness I snapped a few pretty leaves before they left. These were taken less than a week ago, but if I were to snap one of the same area today you would wonder why I was showing you a bunch of twigs.

We voted already, so they can quit campaigning to us. :)  So nice that we can vote early in Wisconsin and not have to stand in those long lines on election day.

I almost forgot, Saturday evening I was standing in our driveway, waiting for hubs to come out so we could take some movies back and I discovered something, furry, kinda gray, on my suet feeder.  It was fairly dark out and I moved a little closer, trying to get a better look, I didn’t see a beak, and although it was almost the size of a chipmunk the color did not look right.  Finally I got into the creature’s space I guess because it ran up the small tree, from limb to limb lithely to the big tree.  It sat in the big tree chattering at me and by this point I knew it had four legs (not a bat), and small extremely bushy tail (not a chipmunk), no beak (not a bird) and I wondered. . .could it be(?). . .so, I ran walked nonchalantly to get a flashlight.  As I shined the light into the bare-leafed tree, the “critter” flew, or glided, across the driveway to a different tree. As I shined my light there it flew once again.  For the first time in my life I saw a flying squirrel, and didn’t even get a photo.

Tristan is still infatuated with cameras. When his mom lets him shoot some photos, he aims, snaps, checks the back and laughs. He’s making me more than a little paranoid.

Since we do not trust a 19 month old with knives he was allowed to paint on his pumpkin. This involved fingers and . . .

. . .toes.

And inevitably a bath. He’s now looking for a job as painter. Anyone need some help? He will make your living room look unique. Btw, Dennis took the photos of Tristan, I was busy watching helping the young Picasso.

Ever had days like this?  I am curious about the story behind this gravestone. We found it in a real cemetery, it is a real stone and while there were others nearby with the same last name we were pretty dumbfounded by this one. What are your thoughts?

We took Twister to the pumpkin patch to pick up a pumpkin. And we showed great restraint and did only pick up one pumpkin, although we may have to go again.

He thought this one looked pretty good, but it was too heavy.

Of course he had to brush off his hands.

This one was light enough, although a little weird shaped.

But it got to heavy to take to the wagon.

After he put it down and brushed off his hands, he found one that was just right, perfect shape, and he could even carry it with one hand.

A boy and his pumpkin, the perfect pair.

Until he saw the straw fort. Just look at that face, I know it looks like he’s pleading to go play in the fort, and maybe he is, since I called his name to get him to look.

He found me!

I found him. I think he looks like he’s in a nest. And he was getting tired.

What’s this?

Good thing we took him when we did, it has just been raining since.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

These will be the last photos of Cole you’ll see for a while since I’m not sure when we’ll get to run down to Joplin again. These were taken a couple of weeks ago when he was one week old. But these were some of my favorites. I’m so proud of Marissa, looks like she’s going to be a good mom.  (BTW, Marissa’s 18th birthday was yesterday - Happy Birthday Rissa!)

If you missed out on any of the photos of our newest grandson just poke right here and enjoy the set.

My son has a basement bedroom and one evening in his window well he kept hearing a noise. Well, being the curious boy that he is, he captured the burrower and put him in a fish tank. Being the son of a blogger he brought his find to his mother.

Being the good blogger I am, I promptly took photos to share. I thought we had a mole and I was all ready to use him for my “M” post last week, but when I looked him up in my Mammals of Wisconsin Field Guide, I discovered that what we have here is a Northern Short-tailed Shrew, and well, I’m too impatient to wait until I get to the letter “S” to share him. It looks like he has pinpoint light blue eyes, interesting.

Part of how I was able to identify him was that I took photos of him at all angles. Believe it or not this butt shot helped. Even though it’s really not a ‘keep’ photo, I often take photos of unknown beings from every direction possible for this very reason.

Being the good people we are, we did let him go and he has been happily leaving amongst my flowers ever since. Maybe he’s helping to take care of the spider situation, or maybe that’s why he chose his new home instead of scurrying away.

Proof he escaped. My grass isn’t very tall, even though it dwarfs him. He’s only 3-4” long and ¾-1” tall. He weighs less than an ounce, but we figure he could bite so he was only handled with containers, not bare hands. They’re only the size of honeybees when they’re born and weaned in two days, don’t you wish human babies were weaned so fast. . . And maybe even that they were that small when born? Except, if my baby was the size of a bee I would probably misplace it. Good thing their shrieks can be heard from 10 feet away, it might be the thing that would save my baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My chicken coop may be empty but I keep a few chickens in my house. My mom and grandma made a brood and were kind enough to share a few with me.

Don’t run away scared, this hen isn’t from Hellraiser, she’s just a comfy place to stab your straight pins. They’re made from two quilt blocks, sewn together in a creative way and stuffed, with little triangle tails, felt beaks & combs, and bead eyes.

She’ll hold a lot of pins and I use their little tails for safety pins.  And I always think of my mom and grandma when I see my little hens.

I have to admit that I was kind of nervous when Tristan came to spend the night. I know he loves being with me, but I fully expected a crying spell wanting his mama near bed time. It never happened!

We played inside, we played outside, inside and outside. He discovered not only that MeMaw had forgotten to turn the hose off but that he’s now strong enough to spray it.

Getting him to look at the camera is a real challenge since he’s grown up with a camera in his face. Haden warned that he might turn and spray the camera but luckily he hasn’t figured out how much fun that is yet. Either way, we turned the water off.

See just a trickle now.

He was looking to see where the water went when there was just enough to slam him in the face. Luckily, it just brought giggles.  Bath time over.

Uncle Haden got him a piece of chalk.

Which he promptly put back up. Everything in its place, just ask my Twister.

And the lid must be put on tightly or someone’s not happy.

Doesn’t he look angelic?!

Or maybe that’s devilish? A rock in an empty water bottle makes a grand noise!

Some time on the tricycle wears a boy out.

He played in his stroller, round and round the driveway until Haden and I were dizzy.

When he got out of the stroller he felt the seat belt needed to be buckled. Everything in its place, you know?

He found my crocs and not too many photos were taken after that. Something makes me nervous about an 18 month old traipsing around on asphalt in shoes a million times to big for him.  Needless to say, I hid the crocs as soon as he left them behind.

He approves of the little raccoon charm SwampAngel (In geocaching we’re the bandits and I love the charm!) got me, he just wishes he could have taken it home.

Now, are you surprised he slept 12 hours that night?

Aren’t baby piggies the best? These are one week old piggies, still slightly wrinkly and perfect!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Or maybe not.

It’s daddy’s job to burp baby Cole.

Then mama admires him some more.

Uh-oh, it’s time for a diaper change and the weeing on dad moments.

Clean diaper and Cole is happy once more. He’s still so young that he hasn’t lost his umbilical cord. It amazed me that he liked to be so stretched out, often newborns like to stay in balls.

This is one of my favorites, Dennis handed the 5D to his daughter and she snapped a few photos of her baby. What I like about this photo is that Cole’s eyes are open and he seems to be looking at his mom and asking her why she looks so funny.

It was fun watching dad with the baby too. He smiled so much when he looked at his son.

Do you like his little tuxedo? He’s ready for the ball.

Tiny fingers are just as precious as itty bitty piggies!