The heck is that?

Mad props to anyone who knows the name of this piece of farm equipment.

I've only seen a few of them so far, but wow! Any higher and people would be trying to drive under them instead of passing the normal way. Wild!

Basic pic-spam from my new area

This is the river not too long before sunset. The shore you're seeing there is actually in another state. Unfortunately, so is the water, which is why we have nasty hard water on my side of the river. Our water is probably pumped from underground sources, like wells. Still...they can't stop us from looking at it, right?

About half an hour from the river within the bounds of a really big state park. Even this panorama does not do the vista justice, especially considering the reputation of Midwestern states from being flat and treeless. Anything but! At least here.

Also at the state park. The shelter dates back to the 1940s, but has been decently maintained. My camera gives a false impression of illumination, but the interior was actually fairly caliginous since it wasn't in use. I would love to the see the hearths lit, but alas! I doubt I ever will have an occasion to return.

The hill is pretty interesting looking. I saw it from both sides - in the park and the meandering drive back - and tried to think of what geological processes might have formed it and those like it nearby. My first guess was that they are moraines left by the outward edges of glaciers. Basically, just rock and sediment humps. But moraines are typically longer and rounded on top, not round. Who knows?

Anyway, this area is basically home for me now.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

I don't know if our little bitty snow storm made news outside the area, but in Georgia 2 - 3 inches is a huge deal. I was sent home from work at 1:45 and partner couldn't finish his business out there and ended up taking two hours to drive seven miles! This is what it looked like near the woods behind the house. Not too shabby, but still...not exactly epic, right?

Gracie loved it! She had never seen more than a few errant flakes before. She totally digs the snow, despite greeting it with a warning growl at first. Plus the cold doesn't seem to phase her at all, but then, she was bred for the weather of central Europe, including some of its more elevated areas. 

She especially enjoyed rolling in the snow and then shaking it off her coat. I wish she had held still a bit more, so I could get some cute greeting card shots for next Christmas, but she's a puppy and never holds still for anything. Ever.

I'm so glad she got to have this experience. Not every dog lives long enough to see this sort of snowfall in our part of Georgia.

Lucky girl.

10k course with dog

Gracie and I walked the PTC Running Club 10k course this afternoon. Our time was 2 hours, 3 minutes, including a couple breaks for water, photography, and phone calls. We also ran together for a bit to make up lost time. I think we did pretty good overall.

The weather today was really excellent for long-distance walking. The wasn't much over 60, and the sun was out most of the time - no sweating and no shivering. Hey, who doesn't like to be comfortable, right?

The foliage was still good, especially at Luther Glass Park. Glance at the picture. That's some pretty vivid yellow for mid-November. Totally raw, not at all 'shopped.

The lakeshore pictures were too dark to bother posting. I hate the early loss of light in winter. We should save us some daylight year round, in my opinion.


BTW, I opted against the control collar for Gracie this afternoon because she's been good lately and because I didn't wanted to carry her water. That's right. I put my dog in a doggy backpack, and she carried two bottles of water, her control collar (just in case), and my glucose tablets. Probably about 3lbs of weight or less. Convention says that a dog can easily carry 10% of her/his weight. She didn't seem to mind at all.

The backpack is a Kurgo that I got from Amazon in hopes of bringing out her working-dog genes - she's descended from police dogs and cadaver dogs - and honestly, I think the pack did give her extra focus. The fit was very good, although it took a couple tries to get everything tight and even. Well worth the effort. I think passersby got some amusement from it too.

Before it gets too cold outside

We decided to go back to Line Creek Nature Area. The weather was warm this afternoon - hovering around sixty degrees - so we decided to give the dog a last romp at the park, which is pretty tolerant of off-leash pups.

While Gracie was not interested in getting totally wet today, she did enjoy drinking long drafts of river water and splashing in the shallows, as well as scaring people and running around like a half-crazed dingo.

The day was beautiful, in spite of a lack of sunshine, and the changing leaves, while not spectacular this year (or in this area in general) were quite unexpectedly nice to look at, especially along the lake shore. The water was as clear and still as glass today, like a reflecting pond.

I want to visit the park at Lake McIntosh sometime soon, but I'm not sure if they've finished with construction yet. A lot of maps still have not been updated properly to show the lake's existence. I assure you - it is very much there. I have the pictures to prove it.

I actually took about fifty pictures of the area, Gracie, and my partner this afternoon. A lot of them turned out very nice, especially for pictures made from a cell phone. It's a Samsung Galaxy something-or-other.

Anyway, the trail was relatively short. All told, we walked 3.1 miles with a lot of up-and-down, including some scrambling over rock piles, tree roots, and other rugged terrain.

This is just an example from the shoals area of the creek, not too far from the entrance. We were moving too fast to get any decent trail shots. Maybe next time, which will likely be in the spring, unless we have an unexpected warm spell during one of the weekends I'm not working.

I'm not betting on it.

Still, fun times today. I may post more pic-spam with dog later on.

Another Nature Sunday

Today, I took a walk (3.47 miles) near the lake-shore. The weather was perfect - cool, clear, a hint of autumn breeze in the air. Purely by chance, I took a dirt trail down to the water's edge just in time to stumble upon a flock of ducks, about ten of them, in the shady shallows.

I got a new Samsung Galaxy phone to replace my broken one, and the camera is far superior, not to mention the awesomeness of the Dropbox app, from which I retrieved these pictures without any fuss or cabling. And, yes, the colors you're seeing here are not enhanced with filters or anything weird, although I did some judicious cropping. No, don't thank me.



The third picture is from the cart path, about .75 miles south of the duck pictures, on a rise overlooking part of the lake near the city park and conservation area. I hope to get more foliage shots next weekend, but right now is pretty darn gorgeous too.

I had the greatest time on my walk. You can probably tell from the images. It's a beautiful area. The piedmont of Georgia isn't exactly world renown for its beauty, but that doesn't mean it isn't here. Trust me, it very much is here.

Wildlife

Happy Labor Day! My partner and I both had the day off from our respective jobs. We did not use much of the time wisely, unfortunately, but I managed another walk - about three miles on the trail system. Good times.

This appears to be a crane of some sort.

I also had to pick up a handbag because the handle of mine broke...and one of the zippers is pulling free from the rest of the bag. The stores were absolutely mobbed this afternoon, making the shopping experience even more unpleasant than usual. People are not nice, especially in large numbers. I ended up with a brown shoulder bag that I hope will accommodate all the crap I carry around.

I started this blog basically to vent and rail about politics. I'm not doing nearly as much of that as planned. Partly, I think, because nothing in the news is really piquing my interest. Syria - either we will or won't, but since it's the ME, nothing we do will matter. And hasn't that dominated the weekend?

Please start the next news cycle, thanks.