Oregon in the Fall

I really do love Oregon in the Fall. 

All photos taken on a friend's property.

Little hummingbirds

It was gorgeous again yesterday with blue skies and a bright sun.  And I was stuck inside working.  It's days like this that make me wish my work computer was portable enough to pull outside on the porch and work in the sunshine.  Robert says he can make this happen for me; we'll see though.

After work I went outside to soak up any remaining sun as it quickly set behind the not too distant hills, and took pictures of how the backyard is adjusting to fall.

Of the freshly fallen leaves and Leia playing.



Of the brightly colored leaves still on the tree.





Of the one of the final sunflowers in my garden.



Of the last rays of sun.



And then I paused and tossed the ball for Leia once or twice, when I heard them.  The hummingbirds in the tree in the neighbors yard directly behind ours.

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They were buzzing around, speeding from tree to tree and chirping to each other.  I think there are only two but there could be more.  I believe they've been around all year too.



They are shy little guys that always run from the hummingbird feeder the moment they see me (and my camera).  I do love my zoom lens; I stood close to the back fence hoping they would continue to frequent that branch.

Hummingbirds always make me smile. They make me think of my Granny and watching the visitors to her feeders, and that makes me smile too.

I need more weekend in my weekends

It was absolutely gorgeous this weekend.  High 60s, bright and sunny.  Just a gorgeous fall day where there is a little nip in the air, but the sun is still bright and warm.

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Saturday I took a nap because my throat was feeling scratchy (again) and I had a headache, and then I spent the evening sewing a tulle skirt for Carus - most likely for Halloween.  I don't think we're aiming for something in particular, just a pretty foofy dress for dressing up because if it's for Halloween then you don't have to be all self conscious about dressing up.



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Sunday I was feeling better, and it was still gorgeous outside so we did yard work.  We trimmed one of the three rose of Sharon bushes and that filled stuffed the yard debris bin so we have to wait to trim the other two.  Then, we cleaned up the garden a bit more, dug up the last of the potatoes (only found 5, what the hell?) and planted some garlic.  I planted 4 rows of garlic in a 3 foot by 6 foot (not 100% on how long so don't quote me there) section and I still had cloves to plant. Maybe I'll get a bit more soil and finish off the last 3 foot (ish) square section at the end of the row with garlic.  I need more soil - with compaction and erosion, the soil we have is no longer enough. It will allow us to introduce more fertilizer too.  We had hoped to wait until spring but had to use up the last bit of soil in the shed from this year for the garlic bed.

I had planned on snapping a quick photo of the garlic bed shortly after planting, but got distracted with other stuff and didn't remember until sunset.  Specifically, the end of sunset and now we have a rather dark photo... Meh, you get the gist.

Hello October, hello fall

274/365 - Timmy curled up on the dog cat bed.



275/365 - Rain and clouds on one side (left) and sunny clear skies on the other (right).



276/365 - Hydrangea in it's fall colors.


277/365 - Fall wreath is up. Makes me smile.


278/365 - Final green bean harvest, blanched and ready for the freezer.  I went out to harvest them since there was a warning of possible frost and ended up clearing out the garden.  I'll get my garlic planted soon and then plan for the spring.

Late fall

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Last week I ended up using my phone and Instagram to capture all of my 366s, which was completely lazy of me.  The point of my 365/366 project is to get to know my camera really well.  And so I'm making a point of all most my photos this week are from my camera.

There was a break in the rain (we are having a lot of rain lately) around my lunch break so I stepped outside to walk around the backyard and see what there was to see.  The break didn't last long, I was outside for perhaps 2 minutes before it started drizzling again and never once did I see blue sky.

The trees have lost most of their leaves, but here and there are a few clumps of stragglers.  The color isn't great anymore, but when the light shines through and you can see all the veins of the leaf it is interesting to look at.

Blue skies

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The calm after the storm and what makes all the rain easy to handle.

We had a storm come in with rain blowing sideways and wind gusts so strong poor Simba was nearly blown away when he tried to go outside. Our power flickered a few times, but it never stayed off long; there have been tree limbs and a few trees around that have fallen, but none of ours; and there is flooding in some areas, but we aren't flooding.

The clear sky didn't last long before the storm returned for a slightly weaker encore.

I heard something about the Portland metro area getting 4 inches of rain in October, and we've already out-rained that in November, but don't quote me on that. I'm sure the numbers are off somehow.  I was thinking we were going to get a cold winter with lots of snow, but now I'm thinking it's just going to be soggy.

Just as long as the sun comes out every now and then. . .

End of the week

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Wednesday

Walking together to the bus stop in the fog.


The fog burnt off late morning and the day was sunny and warm with just a bite of cool fall air.  As the sun was setting, the fog moved back in.  There were two banks of clouds split allowing the last streaks of sun to show between them; the lower bank just covered the houses at the bottom of the hill.



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Thursday



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Friday

Last day of work this week, and last day before my vacation, and it started out with a bang with computer issues and insurance issues and ended with being hung up on by a doctor, but I did get the insurance issues worked out well.

Then dinner.  Then Carus's dance class. And now home.



And now YAY for vacation!  Let's just ignore the fact that it will be filled with cleaning and backing and taking the kids to the dentist.  Sunday will be a sewing and crafting day with friends, so there's that.

Fall cleaning...

Some people do spring cleaning; apparently, I do fall cleaning.  So far I've cleaned out and organized the living room (easiest room), Robert did Adam's room, and this Saturday, I did Carus's room.

Before:


We removed her desktop computer and desk since it was for homeschooling and exchanged her small bookshelf for a larger one. We got rid of 5 grocery sacks of garbage (silly child apparently can't find a garbage can), and gave Goodwill one LARGE box and bag of toys.

We were able to create a little reading corner out of her little blue chair that she didn't use much before and hung an Ikea canopy that we got for her like a year ago but never got around to putting up for her.  I hung Command hooks (3M Command Meduim Hooks, 2/pk (Google Affiliate Ad)) on the side of her bookshelf to hang her hats from.

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Sunday was going to be for yard work, but it got all rainy and icky out so after I went to Joann's (woohoo sale!) and the grocery store I stayed inside and hung out.

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Silly Leia monkey puppy.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday rushed by and before I knew it, it was late and I was knitting and I hadn't taken a photo yet.

Thankfully I had my phone. Boom.  Day saved.



I'm still working on the same shawl I started last year.  I don't know if I'll finish it this year either. I do that - start projects and take FOREVER to finish them.  I'll get to it.  And it will be so soft when I do.

Friday was great.  The kids were off school so I got to sleep in since my commute is great. Unless I trip on the way there. Bonus, I got to wake up to a lovely foggy morning.

Happy Election Day!

Well maybe.  It depends if your guy wins or loses, huh?

It is silly that it has come down to basically a two party race. There are so many more candidates on the ballot, are they truly considered?

ANYHOO!

Carus's bus driver decided she wanted to get the kids to school a little earlier than she had and changed the pickup time to 10 minutes earlier (20 minutes if you count in she was never on time).  Today was the first day of the new pickup and with it I had time to take the dogs for a little walk.  It wasn't long, or fast (Yoda insists on sniffing and peeing/trying to pee on every 5 feet), but it was nice to get a little walk in.  Most of the leaves have changed and fallen so walks get to involve kicking up leaves.  Lots of pretty colorful leaves to walk through.

Wowed by fall

First off (unrelated to my 366 photo for the day) I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my oldest baby brother, Bud.  I miss you!


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While working I try to get up every few reports and walk around a bit.  Sitting at my computer 8 hours a day can be hard.  I don't get much walking done, but the "lap" around the house, occasionally switching laundry over, does help a little bit.  I was walking by the front window this morning shortly after sunrise and was wowed by all the fall color being lit up by the sun peaking through the clouds.  It poured all weekend, and it was forecasted to continue into most of this week so I wasn't expecting to see the sun until late Thursday or Friday if I was lucky.  It was a very nice surprise.  I grabbed my phone and used Instagram to upload a quick shot to the internets.

When it started to look like I wasn't going to get a picture of anything else today, and the sun was still out (why does it not rain on a Monday when I'm stuck inside working?) I grabbed my camera; but none of those images were as good as the phone one from this morning.  The light was just too perfect.

Damn, Oregon. You're doing fall right!

Say good-bye to football

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Adam had his football uniform home this weekend for one last washing before it had to be turned back in and I wanted to take advantage of that and get a football posed picture of him in it.  We didn't have him do the individual photos with the rest of the team because they were extremely overpriced.  I just can't bring myself to pay $15 for one 5x7 photo, especially when experience with past football photos have taught me the quality isn't even worth a buck.  For the amount of money they want, I'd like my son's face to be in focus and not the grass in front of him.

Anyways, I don't think I did a bad job.

Football, sunsets, and silly kitties

Football season is coming to a close, and it's probably the last season Adam will play football.  He doesn't want to play next year out of worry about how hard 9th grade will be, and we are okay with that.  We will just have to wait and see if he wants to play after that.  We feel school is the most important thing for him right now.

At his football game the other night, we arrived at the field in time to watch a gorgeous sunset! I didn't capture as well as I would have liked, the colors aren't right - but it's close.



The lovely sunset became a lovely moon scene.



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10/17/12  - On the line.  Adam's team(s)  (he plays back-up lineman for the other team) won a couple games, and while they played well Wednesday evening, the opposing team was just a bit better and we lost.  We have one more game left, a home game, and hopefully we'll win.


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10/18/12 - Sunrise the next morning was pretty too, not as pretty though.  I grabbed this quick shot with my phone heading out the door to take Carus to school to meet with her teacher.  It ended up being the only photo I got that day (the day got away from me) so it became my 366 by default.



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10/19/12 - Silly Simba kitty peaking at me through the cobwebs.

Fog

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Wow, almost into the 300s.  This year is going by fast.

This was the view out the front door yesterday morning. The distant hills poking up out of the fog.  I like the fog and fall in Oregon is perfect for creating fog.

I feel like I should say more or explain more or something, but nothing is coming to me.  Blah blah blah, yada yada. And more blah. There - I said more.... I'm going to go eat my lunch now.

Friday and Saturday

Friday
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Fall colors and rain drops.  I love the color of this bush in the fall.


And then I made it all Halloween-y. Pretty cool, right?



Saturday
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Carus has decided it's time to start decorating for Halloween and now I have a cobweb problem.

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Today started out crappy, but ended well.

I was woken around 4 am by my bladder and when I went to get out of bed I got one of those excruciating cramps in my calf.  While I was trying to massage the cramp out Timmy decided since I was moving that meant I could get him food and started meowing at me, Yoda decided that I could pick him up and put him on the bed and was trying to jump in my lap, and Leia decided that I could let her out and was pacing.  And I still had to pee.

When I was finally able to hobble into the bathroom I started having an asthma attack (I was breathing fine, but not getting enough oxygen).  That quickly bloomed into a bit of a panic attack (because not being able to breathe is something to panic about) and my attempts to not wake Robert were tossed out the window.  He went and got me an inhaler, and I shakily went back to bed.  Of course, after I let the dogs out and fed the cat.

The last couple hours of sleep weren't really sleep and I was a bit zombie-ish during the morning routines.  Lunches got made, the kids got off to school, dinner got put in the crockpot and I got to work.  It took until about mid morning for the zombieness to wear off and the inhaler puffs to fully kick in, and thankfully I got off early.

I took off early today to go to one of Adam's football games.  It was an away game in a town about 30 minutes from here.  They lost, which I think has a lot to do with psyching themselves out, but it was still a fun game to watch.

And this afternoon was just gorgeous!  It's nice to be able to spend a nice fall afternoon outside in the sun.



Adam is center (with his hand on the ball) here.


Adam is not in this one, but I like it.


You can't see Adam's number in this one.  He's the white jersey in front of number 92.