Swiftly Summer

Summer is quickly

  and in many areas, wickedly passing.

My thoughts and prayers still continue to all those who are working to get some semblance of order back into your life. Hurricane season still frowns down. 
I hope it swiftly and quietly passes.

A short 6 weeks of summers quick life as seen

 through the Black eyed Susan (rudbeckia).

 

one of my small wild areas behind my house,

from last year - 2010 

All my photos are clickable to enlarge,

please ask to copy

the spiky petals of black eyed Susan start to unfurl

petals slowly spread, letting the still flat 'eye' peek

eyes open and forming the hat shaped seed-head

fat heads full with seed winding down to seasons end

all my photos are clickable to enlarge,

please ask if you would like a copy

  My flower garden areas did poorly this year, especially the ones I replanted with hopes of new colors and species to share. Luckily, I only had to deal with the horrible humid heat and drought spell that crossed the country, so I can not complain weather wise. I hope these golden beauties fill your hearts with rays of new hope and sunshine that will rise on better days ahead.

Please share your Wednesdays of wordless, word-full or witty. 

Link up, I love to visit and see your views on your part of the world.

Walls of gold encircle
Pasturelands and plains,
Rimming hills and meadows, Edging country lanes.

Skirting cloistered forests,
Girdling fen and down,
Bordering the roadsides,
Shutting in the town.

Concentrated splendor
Of the year they hold,
Fortresses enclosing
Summer's garnered gold.
-ELIZABETH E. BARNES

Until next time...

   Faythe

Good Riddance, Irene - Hurricane of 2011

Adios, Go away, Goodnight, Irene...

We hope to never see or hear from you again.

   August 20, 2011 Tropical storm Irene was officially declared.

Memories of recent storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters alerted our officials when the storms ferocity became apparent.

No "lets wait to see if it passes", "what about all the tourist dollars we could miss out on". For once braver and smarter heads prevailed and warnings were quickly sent out to press. 

Irene quickly went on the hurricane status.  Americans had far advanced warning to button up and get out of town. Many listened. Many rushed to protect what could be and prepared for the worst. Better safe than sorry was the words of the storm and were best heeded, and rightly so!

I grieve for my readers, friends and family that have been affected by Irene's wrath. My heart goes out to all that were touched by either the hurricane itself, or the storms, rains, tornadoes and even the predecessor earthquake she spawned.

If you are able to help our fellow Americans and neighbors the American Red Cross is always available for donations of monies or help. As always they let you decide where you want your aid to go.

  I am sure you have been bombarded with the horrific photos, stories and videos about Irene's destructive path. So I end this post with a small token of hope, encouragement and thoughts and prayers for quick recovery and wishes for a start anew.

clickable to enlarge,

please ask before copying

  until next time ...

   deep heartfelt sympathy,

        Faythe

 Places for information

Emergency Email and Wireless Network :
 for alerts, news, weather

Ready America : Prepare, plan stay informed

USA.gov : find agencies, services and more topics

First to call Shotgun!!

Did you ever play Shotgun with your friends or family?

I spotted these cute guys
(or gals, I did not get close enough to ask, Haha!)
waiting in the car with the top down. They just had the look of playing that decision making designated driver game...

my photos are clickable to enlarge, please ask if you would like a copy

My turn to ride shotgun !! 

They were very nonchalant and not bothered at all with the Paparazzi (me) snapping up their picture.

 I love the feel of the wind beneath my ears...

click to enlarge

I loved this guys studded collar,

I was playing with textures on this photo

What started out as a nice sunny day was turning into a sky that showed promise of something wicked this way cometh!

Do you have any funny captions you would like to add?

I am sending positive thoughts and prayers to everyone who lives in the areas under attack by mother nature with hurricanes and earthquakes!

 I will be sure to reply to any comments, I have another date with "Doctor needles" Wednesday morning, so I will be around later. Not as serious as last time, lumbar area tests to see the radio-frequency ablation may work down there.

Have a great Wordful-Wordless-Witty Wednesday!

until next time...
        Faythe

Return of the turkey trots part 2

Last Wednesday I told you about the return of the 
  neighborhood wild turkeys.

I have another day of adventure to share! 

Hubby was able to capture them by sneaking around the yard

and following them around (off in the distance).

  Hubby had just stepped out for his early morning walk and spotted our feathered friends and poults right at the top of the driveway! He came back in quickly and grabbed his camera. Quietly he slipped out the door and the turkeys were gone! He correctly surmised that they had trotted off behind the garage and started up the hill of our back yard. So he planted himself in position hoping to snap the brood and not frighten them off.

Sure enough a minute later out walked the hens!

click to enlarge photos, please ask to copy

lots of bodies, 

heads down scratching and pecking up bugs and seeds

Turkeys can recognize each other by their unique voices.
Researchers have identified more than 20 distinct vocalizations in wild turkeys. So the chicks did what the hens of the brood gently clucked, kew-kews or clicked told them. Hens are normally kind of quiet, they do speak up (yelp) when it is mating season and they feel like answering a males gobble. Only the adult male turkey makes the gobbler, gobble sound.The gobble can carry for up to a mile. Males also emit a low-pitched "drumming" sound; produced by the movement of air in the air sack in the chest, similar to the booming of a prairie chicken. 

The turkeys were busy pecking and eating, hubby was not too steady himself, crawling and crouching behind them. I wish these were clearer, but can you make out how many there are in these photos? Turkeys do move rather quickly.

busy heading up the hill in towards 

the tall grassy area we leave for the wildlife

no time to take a sun bath today, 

lets head back down

click any photo to enlarge, please ask to copy

Turkeys will peck at just about anything, including each other!

I wonder if any of the mother hens had to cluck at the poults to "stop pecking on your little brother"??

They had returned back down in our wildflower (haha, more weed patch this year) area in the front of the yard. This is where hubby also has his burning pit. Some of you may remember my photo from last winter where it looked like a skating ring. You can just barely see some of the rocks that line the burning pit in the photo below, and the huge pile of logs that always seems to be waiting for the next marshmallow roast.

I hope you can make out their plumage of browns and tans 

 better in this weeks trot. 

Wild turkeys have excellent geography skills and can learn the specific details of an area of more than 1,000 acres. We only have just over an acre, but the neighbors and ourselves have noticed plenty of turkey criss-crossing throughout our corner of the "hood".

 Please link-up and leave a comment. I love reading what you have to say and will reply as long as you leave me a way to find you!

        until next time...

Return of the Turkey Trots!

The turkeys have returned!

Not the ugly turkey vultures from last year, 
 but the wild turkeys!

A large flock have been trotting around our yard this summer.

You may remember our first encounter with the wild turkeys and hubby's trying to be sneaky and snap some photos, other wise you can find the story here.

Our population has definitely increased. We were really unaware until hubby saw some thrashing and movement in our front wooded area gazing out the window one day. Those first hurried photos did not turn out so well but he managed to capture them continuing on their wandering through the yard through the bedroom window that faces the back yard. Not as clear as he would like them, but not to bad through double panes of glass and a screen (and dirt!)

slowly trotting along the edge of the woods
click on any photos to enlarge, please ask to copy

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) live in woods in parts of North America (pretty much in all of the lower 48 states) and are the largest native game birds found in this part of the world. They spend their days foraging for food like acorns, seeds, small insects, wild berries, salamanders and other small reptiles and snakes. They spend their nights in low branches of trees (yes, wild turkeys can fly!).

I'm right behind you mom!

The male Wild Turkey (gobblers, tom or jake [juvenile]) provides no parental care. After the female turkey mates (hen or jenny [juvenile]), she prepares a nest usually under a bush in the woods and lays her tan and speckled brown eggs. She incubates as many as 18 eggs at a time.  It takes about a month for the chicks to hatch.  When the eggs hatch, the chicks or poults will follow the female. Mom will stay on the ground with the poults until they can jump up into a tree. She feeds them for a few days, but they quickly learn to feed themselves. Several hens and their broods may join up into bands of more than 30 birds. Winter groups have been seen to exceed 200! I have seen large flocks in open fields, so far this band of 3 hens and 14 chicks are the biggest flock we have noticed in our yard.

It is fun and amusing to watch them trot around the yard either as a disarranged group or in single file. Hubby has often caught them by surprise when opening the door for his morning walk, as they are marching in front of the wild flower garden I replanted this spring ( that is doing horribly). He told me how funny it is to see them walk off and all the sudden a poult will pop out from under some flowers or large patch of grass and scurry to catch up to the group.

my photos are clickable to enlarge, 

please ask if you would like a copy

 Hubby has been keeping an eager eye for our large feathered friends to keep snapping pictures. These above were all taken on the same day. I will share more later as he captures them.

Be sure to link up to share your photos this week, and leave a comment or two and I will be sure to visit yours and comment as well.

 until next time ...

  Faythe

Did you know that like cats and dogs, turkeys are intelligent and sensitive animals who form strong social bonds and show great affection to others. Some wild turkeys that have gotten used to humans and even like having their feathers petted. I wouldn't doubt that hubby will see if he can lure them close enough to feed and try to pet one.

 

A Crabby Planet of the Apes

  I could not resist sharing this one with you today

click to big-a-fie

Maxine a Hallmark©  image

Maxine on Crabby Road has hit the nail on head again!

I like Maxine on FaceBook© as I feel a kinship 

    to her attitude, silly me.

I "resemble" many of her 'toons or wish I was brave enough to voice myself as loud as her... 
I know I can't be all alone on this? Just being a woman I have lived and breathed many a day living on Crabby Road ☺!

 So they have filmed an all new version of Planet of the Apes (or is it a Pre-quel??).  I have seen the movie trailer/commercial for it and of course the film effects and makeup will have to be amazing over the original (ode to Roddy McDowall -Cornelius). 

I have no idea who is in it, or if anyone is type-casted {{snickers}}.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? 

I will wait for it to be out on Dish/Cable unless free tickets and popcorn fall into my lap. I could use it as a reason to get out of the stifling heat wave and find respite in a nice air-conditioned theater. I have seen enough of the live version play out on TV with this awful quagmire going on in Washington with the budget and back door deals. ((sigh))

Are you a Crabby Road/ Maxine © fan?

Wishing everyone a

great weekend!                      Faythe ~

Until next time...

Icing it up ...

To help cool down.

HouseMouse© image

This has been me....

  ice, rest and a bit of pain reliever.

First of all I want to thank everyone who left me such nice encouraging thoughts and well wishes last week. My third round of cervical radio frequency ablation is now over. I believe I am doing better than when I had the left cervical side done. I still have a ways to go and hope to share with you just why and what I have been going through. I have a follow up in 2 weeks with the neurosurgeon, so time will tell.

I thought I would share some ice cold images to help everyone cool off!

And share a smile or more ...

Ice has been my welcome friend.

Not just for the swelling and pain but it helps to lower the body temperature as well.

I have been going through lots of ice...

Summer is still sizzling here in Wisconsin along with most of the country. A heck of a heat wave! Whew! 
It sucks to have no air conditioning! We did have a fast moving thunder storm blow this afternoon, and may have more later... at least it brought down the temperature.

Nice frozen ice...

It is also good for munching! 

As long as you do not have fragile 
 or sensitive teeth!

I have several types and sizes of ice/cold packs and they are also getting a workout.

But even the biggest one sometimes has a hard time taking the edge off. At times I feel like a bloated stinky cow! 
  Mooo.

I do have to say, it does hit the spot in more than one way. 

  Popsicles help too! Ahhh!!!

I do not take many medications, never liked to pop pills (unless unavoidable) and I am allergic to many. So natural ice or heat therapy can sure do wonders! And no yucky hangover or nasty side effects!

Be sure to leave a link to your post below, for myself and others to visit!
It may take me some time again yet this week, but I will reply with comment love to everyone who leaves some.

  stay cool,

   until next time ...

Faythe

Are you going through lots of ice and water ?

What other eco/frugal ways do you use to stay cool in the summer sizzles?