Yesterday was very cool.  I had to wear a winter jacket on the tractor when I went out to mow the lower lawn.  We are heading for a high today of 65 F–it is 46 F outside and 65 in the house this morning.  It feels good to hold my coffee mug in both hands, and it helps restore some sense of feel in my icy fingers.

This morning, I was moving some photos from the camera memory card onto the computer hard drive, when I saw the following picture.  Can it be that far away?

I certainly hope it takes a while.  Early next year, we’ll be glad to have the weather we are “enjoying” just now.

The precipitation that constitute the remnants of tropical storm Irene are 100 miles east of us.  Yesterday, after lunch I went out to work under a mostly cloudy sky.  The clouds were like thin layers of marshmallows with charcoal centers.  I looked up from mowing and saw a familiar figure against one of those clouds.  It was a turkey buzzard gliding very high on the stiff breeze.  She was nearly a mile away and probably a half mile high.  (Yes, I do have good eyesight.)  About 20 minutes later she had returned (or perhaps it was another of the species) and she was only a half-mile away.  As I paused to watch the graceful flight, a shadow passed over me.  After a brief pause, I looked up near the sun and saw her mate glide silently past me.

As I continued watching, the mowing forgotten for a moment, the two glided effortlessly along as if in formation a half-mile apart.  They continued northward, eventually turning westward and out of my sight.  I returned my attention to the job at hand.

About 10 minutes later I saw a red tailed hawk rise from behind my neighbor’s house.  Quickly she rose on her powerful wings and, gaining altitude, crossed over the road and a large tree on the other side.  A cloud of small birds whirled and scattered as the swift predator flew their way.  She did not appear to be interested in them and flew on her way.  The show over, it was time to go back to work.

The Hunter rules the night skies of winter

I awoke at 4:45 AM this morning.  My old friend had come calling once again.  With him calling to me, it would be very difficult to stay in bed in sleep.  For that reason, I got out of bed and walked to the family room where my good friend, my recliner chair, sat waiting patiently for my return.  Before I settled in with a heating pad for my aching lower back, I looked out the window.

The sky was clear.  Even at that early hour, the back drop was gray–not black.  And there, right over the barn, was Orion, the hunter rising into the sky.  Fortunately, it will be a while yet before we see him marching across the night sky.  Yet, the cool air coming through the slightly open windows speaks to summer quickly ending.

The angle of the sun as it comes creeping into my office in the morning indicates the approach of fall.  I see it also in the position of the setting sun on the western horizon.

I left the window and settled into my recliner.  The heating pad brought relief to my lower back.  A small quilt across my lap provided comfort for the rest of my body.  As I relaxed, I thought of all the good things and good people in my life.  A car drove by on the dirt road.  I smiled, sighed and then awoke with the sun shining brightly through the window behind me.

Another Good One From Sylvia’s Cousin

In case you are wondering, yes, Sylvia sings in the choir.  No, I do not have to go sit on the porch when she sings.

Isn’t Sylvia beautiful?  Am I not the lucky one?

Last week on Friday, we had Kelly Lynne Burke who is a friend and professional photographer come and do a family photo shoot.  The above shot is one of my favorites from that session.  This was in anticipation of our upcoming wedding anniversary, which is now two weeks away.  We had to do the shoot a bit early so that granddaughter Briana could be with us.  (She has since returned to campus and is ready to begin fall classes.)

Scott, Sylvia, Chuck, Briana, Barbara and Bryant

Do you like the setting for this one?  It was taken on our lawn.  Yes, I mow more than half of our 11 acres.  There are a couple more shots on my Facebook page.  We are waiting the rest of the images from the shoot, but that will take some time.  Kelly is a busy gal these days, and her work is well worth waiting for.

Sylvia and I spent most of yesterday morning and early afternoon in Grand Rapids.  We ran some errands, did some shopping, had lunch with Ruby Tuesday (their petite plates are a nice size for lunch) and bought some art supplies for Sylvia.  As we parked in front of the art supply store, we met the brother and sister of Sylvia’s brother-in-law as they were coming out.  They live at Tustin, Michigan, which is near Cadillac.  They had just brought another brother to the Grand Rapids airport for a return flight to Florida.

I never did get back here as there were several items awaiting attention once we returned home.  It was a great day.

This afternoon, I plan to donate blood and attend the ice cream social at church this evening.  It should be another good day.  I hope you are enjoying this day too.

This will be short.  I’ve been busy most of the morning reading both of the birthday greetings that came flooding into my e-mail inbox.

Sylvia is talking with some of her girl friends on the Amateur Radio, but in a few minutes we’ll be leaving to run some errands in Grand Rapids.

Looks like it is going to be another beautiful day here in the land of bliss.  Hope your day is super good.

More coming soon.

Update:  Looks like it will be tomorrow.

Sylvia and I are enjoying the presence of our son, Scott.  He is with us for this week.  That’s great!

We’ll be seeing Briana tomorrow and look forward to hearing about her time in Mexico.  That’s also great!

This week is going to be busy with family time and I need to preach twice this Sunday.  Pastor Mark is on vacation.

That’s why I’m taking a break from this blog.  I’ll be back next week.

Look forward to seeing you then.

It’s a beautiful morning here in the country.  The sun is shining brightly, but the air is still cool.  As sit here in the office with the windows open to the breeze I can hear a dove cooing and at least three different species of insects.  Even the van that is leaving the neighbor’s house is quiet–at least I can’t hear it from here.  And a blue bird just flew by my window.  It sure feels good to be alive and to have a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee next to my hand!

The lawn looks great.  I finally mowed it yesterday.  Some areas were getting long.  Other areas were wet, and the tractor tires sent water flying as I went through those parts.  I need to prune some shrubs and trim some trees.  In less than two weeks we’re planning to do a photo shoot here with our family.  I’ll tell you more about that later.

Midnight, my cat, is sitting on the corner of the desk looking out the window.  He wants to know everything that is happening near his home.  He appears to be on high alert, but it’s probably not serious.  I can tell that because his tail is not twitching.

Yesterday, as I was working here at the computer, Midnight strolled across my desk.  Nothing unusual about that.  He stepped down onto the window sill at the open window.  My attention was on the screen and on what I was writing.  Then I heard a scrabbling sound.  Nothing unusual about that either.  I looked to see what kitty was doing.  I couldn’t tell.  He was nowhere in sight.  What?  When I examined the window area I saw the corner of the screen was open.  Evidently the latch was not secure and my little buddy went on an excursion through the window.  No harm, and he enjoyed his outing.

No report this week from our intern (granddaughter) in Mexico.  She had said that she had a couple of very busy weeks coming up.  I believe that.  Not only is there no report, there is no Facebook update.  She must be tired.  In less that two weeks we should see her face-to-face again.  I’m looking forward to that.

Work calls and I will answer.  CU next week–God willing.

Jimmie Johnson posted this photo on Twitter after the crash

Michigan native and NASCAR driver, Brad Keselowski was in a test run at Road Atlanta.  He approached a corner at 155 mph when the brakes failed.  Yikes!

In-car data indicates he had slowed to about 100 mph when he hit the concrete wall.  Keselowski exited the car on his own.  As a precautionary measure, he was air lifted to the hospital where he received medical attention.  One of his ankles was swollen to about softball size.  He has since been released and is expected to drive in this weekend’s race at Pocono.

What if this happened to one of us in one of our cars?  The outcome would have been different.  Very much different!

I was in High School when a couple of fellows I knew decided they could take the 45 degree, banked corner north of town at 100 mph.  Their car didn’t turn, but went airborne and drove straight into a tree.  The tree survived, but was seriously scarred.

I saw that car afterward.  The front ended up behind the rear tires.   It was only good for scrap metal.  Nothing was left for salvage.

The young men did not live to see another day.  Please, drive with care.

All last week, Midnight stayed quite close to me most of the time.  Sylvia spent the week with family at the cottage on Glen Lake.  It’s a beautiful place, and Sylvia has been going there since she was a little bitty gal.  So she continues the family tradition with her father and sisters.  While she does that, Midnight and I do our usual guy things–hang out on the computer and watch TV.  Early in the week, it was clear that Midnight was missing our lady.  I was working on an index for a map, and he was trying to help.

Every time I would put a hand on the track ball, my helper would put a paw on that hand to help guide it the way he thought it should go.  It looks like he’s been napping.  Don’t believe it!  He’s conserving energy so he can wrestle with the giant.  Sometimes he would move the track ball with his paw, but I couldn’t get him to do that once I had the camera in my hand.  Oh well . . .

As for the map index, it still isn’t finished.  Even though Sylvia has returned, Midnight is still my kitty.  I’m sure he’ll consent to continue his assistance on the project.

Once again it’s time to play the Verification Word Game.  I’m gratified to see that several of you enjoy this game–seemingly as much as I do.  Here is the list of verification words that I had to enter recently to leave comments–perhaps it was on your blog.  These are more than just random strings of letters.  I believe they actually have meaning.

• Demidaha – Depending on context this is either half a daha or something that is almost, but not quite a daha.
   
• Duckarmi – They fly, they float and they march on land.  They are the animal kingdom’s answer to the US Navy Seals.

• E-mate – An online friend.
   
• Haiters – Alternative name for the people of Haiti.
   
• Refled – Ran away again.
   
• Resal – Save A Life a second time.
   
• Retrotor – An old-fashion rocky pinnacle.
   
• Supson – It’s time to eat.

Here are some words for you to define.  What do you think these mean?

• Catig –
• Coddlyz –
• Equalla –
• Sperank –

I already have some good ones in the queue for next month when we’ll once again play the Word Verification Game.  I’m looking forward to it are you?