Happy November!

Happy November!  How did it get to be November already?  My lack of blogging is due to not wanting to take the time to relearn how to use the blogger software that keeps changing.  Changes and new features are great, but it all takes time to figure it out again. Sigh. They are trying to teach old dogs new tricks...speaking of old dogs...here is Penny.

One of Penny's favorite things is to roll around in the grass outside.  That means leaves and grass get brought inside....which means extra sweeping and vacuuming. Which means less time to blog.  It's the dogs fault!  Everyone needs a dog to blame for things. 

We hung the bird feeders again.  We usually keep them filled all summer, but sort of slipped up on that this year.  The chickadee's were the first to find the seeds.

My old cell phone decided that I needed to get a new one when it stopped turning on.  I hate spending money replacing things that I already own, but sometimes there isn't much choice.  The good news is that the new phone has a nice camera built in.  I tested it with a picture looking out Billy's bedroom window.  Our colorful tree has since lost it's leaves.

Eric and I went to a Halloween party.  He dressed like a 1980's football stud, complete with a mullet.



I went as his cheerleader girlfriend.  Go team!  I told Billy that we were going to wear our costumes to his football game, he wasn't amused.  Teenagers.

Speaking of football, Billy's team is in the playoffs.  The first round they had a bye, second round they won...which means that they got to play in a third round game...you'll have to read on to see how that went.  This picture is of the 2nd string offense getting ready to go into the game.  Billy is # 89.

We took a quick Sunday drive to the farm, we didn't expect it to be raining!  It's still so dry there it was nice to see the rain.  Raindrops on oak leaves.  I love the colors.

Halloween on a Monday night didn't seem to slow down the trick or treaters very much, we had 115 kids stop by for candy.  I should have carved a scarier pumpkin...maybe we wouldn't have had so many kids stopping by!

I took a quick picture of one of my few Halloween decorations before putting it away...cute little witch!

Having a daisy blooming in my garden on November 2nd seemed worthy of a picture.  Hello daisy!

I volunteered to take photos at the football game last week, I don't really have a good lens for night time sports photos, so I rented one again.  This one came in the mail....a 100mm to 400mm Canon.  It wasn't quite fast enough, but it was better than what I have and I wanted to try it out.  I took a shot of a tree in our backyard through the window when the lens arrived...just to get a feel for the lens.  I like it!

I took a lot of photos at the game...and was pretty happy with how they turned out.  One of my favorites ended up being this one...the defense in between plays.  Intense defense.  They battled and ended up winning the game 6 to 3.  A touchdown with a missed extra point vs. a field goal.  Round 4 here we come!



I had to rent the lens for 4 days, I tested it out on a little bird outside my office window.  Hello chickadee!

I took it to the farm too.  Hello Czar.  The horses were hanging out near the barn, staying clear of the crazy deer hunters and all the shooting going on.

I used the lens to take this picture of some pretty little crab apples at the farm too.

Brian was home from college for the weekend, it's always so good to see him!

And last but not least, a female cardinal on a gray afternoon.  I'm so happy that the birds have returned...I think that they're happy that the food is back!

Wishing you a Happy November....thanks for stopping by!

The Last 19 Days

   This post is pretty much just the last 19 days in pictures.  Things have been a little busy this fall.  October 6th there was a varsity football game against Minnetonka.  It wasn't one of my evenings as a volunteer for taking pictures on the field, so this one was after the game from the stands.  There are a lot of boys playing football!

   I've been on the field taking pictures at all of the Junior Varsity games.  This is October 7th against Minnetonka, at Minnetonka.  It's been all kinds of fun taking the pictures, except for the editing and posting them part...that's mostly time consuming...but the rest has been fun!  Billy is # 89.

     October 8th brought the last weekend of fall baseball, a single elimination tournament.  They won their first game, and got to go home after the second game.  This is Billy on 3rd base, waiting to see if he needed to tag up before he scored.  He did.  We had quite a string of beautiful, 80 degree fall days.  Unheard of in Minnesota.  But we enjoyed them while we could!

   Brian had come home via the train from college on October 7th, he stayed until the 9th when Eric and I drove him the 2.5 hours back to school.  The full moon was reflecting off of Lake Pepin, I talked them into stopping long enough to take a picture.  I do have photos of Brian from the weekend, he and Billy spent a lot of time trying to fix the Playstation.  Those photos are for another day.

    The warm days and non-freezing nights have kept my cosmos blooming late into the season.  I keep taking pictures of them when I can't think of anything else.  I keep thinking that this will be my last chance before they freeze, and they still haven't!

   These flowers are from a bouquet in my dining room.  I can never remember their name, but their blossoms stay nice for a long, long time.

   The warm fall days have also meant weeks and weeks without rain...6 weeks actually, until October 12th...there was glorious rain.  Thunder and lightening and rain.  And now it's been fairly dry again.  It sure was nice while it lasted!

    The mums have been sort of pretty this fall, they would look better if I had watered them a little more often!

    I couldn't go too long without a picture of Molly.  This was on one of those slow work days when I couldn't help but walk by and wake up the cat...and then took her picture.  She wasn't amused.



   Billy had a fun football game on October 15th.  The JV team played Edina.  Early in the game the quarterback came out throwing...to Billy!  83 yards for a touchdown.  The pass was about 25 yards, and the rest was Billy running as fast as his long legs could take him into the end zone.  First touchdown since the 5th grade, and that one was called back for a penalty.  His smile after the game says it all.

     We took a quick trip to the farm that Sunday.  This is Breezy standing on a hill checking me out.  It was another warm day.  I love the colors in this shot!

A cosmos in my garden.  Again.

     Mums on my kitchen table on October 18th.  My dad would have been 80 years old on that day.  It's been over 3 years since he passed away...and I still miss him...but feel his presence in all that we do.

   On Wednesday the 19th the Varsity had their last regular season game...the two undefeated teams in the conference went head to head.  Our team lost 0-9.  A few bad calls and 3 lousy field goals did the boys in.  But playoffs start for them on Saturday...go Eagles.  Of course one of my volunteer days to take pictures for the varsity happened to be for the biggest game of the season so far...and it was at the opponents school...with an expected crowd of 10,000 fans.  I decided to rent a better lens for the day, it was a good decision.  It was almost for nothing though when the gate keeper gave me all kinds of trouble about getting onto the field.  I'll just say he was enjoying his feeling of power.  I was relieved when his superior came to my rescue.  This is our top running back taking the hand off.  It was a tough loss.

    The JV team didn't do much better the next morning.  A 0-7 loss.  And now JV is done for the season.  It's a little sad that they are done playing, but having a lighter schedule around here will be nice!

  
And with that I'll end with more flowers.  Cosmos.

   A not very scary scare crow by my front door.

 
 Cosmos again, with matching mums in the background.

     And a crazy Gerbera Daisy that is thinking this fall weather has been just fine...until later this week when the weather changes.

Thanks for stopping by while I caught up with my daily photos.  There is a roast in my crock pot making the house smell wonderful, I wish I could share that with you too!  Until next time.



Football, Flowers and Sunny Days

It's High School football season, and it's been keeping us sort of busy.  Billy has been playing on both the Varsity and the Junior Varsity teams.  The kids that don't get as much playing time on Varsity play JV.  Here is a picture of the Varsity after winning their homecoming game.  Billy is in there somewhere.

Most weeks the Varsity plays on Friday night and the JV plays on Saturday morning.  Since he is playing on both teams, we go to both games.  It's fun....but it's a lot of football.  I volunteered to take pictures at the JV games and some of the Varsity games.  Yikes.  That means being on the sidelines and trying not to get too close to the action...and then it means editing lots of pictures to upload to the teams picture site.  Easy enough, just time consuming!  The picture below is of Billy playing tight end...number 89.

There is one weekend left of fall baseball.  I usually post an action shot for baseball, but I liked how the sun was shining on Billy before he went up to bat.

The weather has been unseasonably warm here for the last few weeks.  Warm and way too dry.  The mums seem to like it though.

One thing that the Fall season in Minnesota brings is an urgency to get out and do those summer things before it's too late!  Like golfing.  Eric and I got out on the course with my niece and her husband last week.  That day was coolish and cloudy, but it was still wonderful to get out.

Here's Eric on the Tee Box of a hole with a creek running through it.  Most holes had the meandering creek as a hazard.  I didn't get a photo of our group.  I had the camera, but hated to take the time for a picture.  Now I regret it.  Oh well, next time.

Eric bought me this pretty bouquet last week.  Sunflowers are one of my favorites in the fall.  My dad had planted a whole field of them when I was in high school, they remind me of him!

We had a crazy windy day last week, it doesn't show in this photo, but everything was blowing around.  Not a good day to take a photo of a flower, so I decided to show you a corner of our backyard.  We also played our last co-rec softball game of the season last week.  I'm glad that it's done, time to rest, not be as busy and all that...except that Volleyball has started so we're still busy.  But it's fun.

On Friday I took photos at the Varsity game.  It's challenging in the dark under the lights.  The team is really good, they are 5-0 with only 3 regular games left.  Billy plays on the point after special team and a little bit at tight end when they've gotten a good lead.  The score that night was 63 - 20, so he was in a lot for point after attempts!

He's been doing the punting and kicking for JV for the last few weeks.  Either that or he's just waving to say "Hi Mom".  No, he's kicking....and playing tight end.

Here's one of his punts.  I was afraid that the hike was going to go over his head.  It's lucky that he's tall!

After the football game we hopped in the van with Billy, one of his team mates and their hiking buddy to drive north of Duluth so they could meet up with their back packing class.  The rest of the class had taken two school buses there early that morning, but we offered to drive the boys up so they could play football.  It was a pretty 3.5 hour drive.  We picked up my mom on the way so she could enjoy the sights too.  The sunset on Lake Superior was pretty nice!

We drove back to my mom's house that evening.  Sunday morning was church followed by a visit from my niece and her husband....who brought sweet little Avery with them.  She's only 1 1/2, but has a lot of personality and independence! I was glad that I had my camera along.

I stopped at a local lake for a quick picture on my way to volleyball on Monday.  Isn't it peaceful?

It was 82 degrees yesterday, my friend Jen and I spent the afternoon golfing.  The trees are beautiful, the weather spectacular, and golfing was fun.  I stopped at a little shop and took a picture of this decorative grass.  So pretty in the sunlight.

It was another warm day today, record breaking.  It was warmer here in Minnesota than it was in Houston.  We'll take it!  All these warm days are making Molly tired.  Me too.  I think it's about time for a nap.

I hope that the days are sunny and warm, the trees are turning, the flowers still blooming and that your teams are all winning in your neck of the woods.  Thanks for stopping by.

Tid Bits

Fall is in the air here. Appropriate since this is officially the first day of fall. We seem to be finding a rhythm with the new season, and the new school year. Eric and I are still playing softball, one more week to go. I took this picture after our game with my cell phone when that little light went off in my head that I hadn't taken a picture yet that day. That little light is dim some days.

Eric and I took a trip south to Winona to visit Brian. It was parents weekend, he needed a few things home, and we wanted to buy him a bike to replace the one that was stolen. It was wonderful to see him, but hard to leave....I miss him! He seems to be making the adjustment to college life pretty well, that helps.

We missed Billy's varsity game on Friday night. The team had a big lead so the 2nd string got to play during the 2nd half. He made a catch that happened to be filmed by a local TV station. They included it in their prep sports extra and mentioned his name. We thought that it was pretty cool.  Billy's number 89.  You can see the clip here.

We did make it to the JV football game on Saturday morning though, and Billy had another catch....here's a picture of just before the ball got there. I don't know how he can concentrate with 3 guys about to grab him, but he does....and it's fun to watch!

Sunday was cold and drizzling, not a great day for baseball but sort of cool conditions for taking pictures. This one is of Billy playing 3rd base. He hasn't played 3rd much during the summer and fall, but he made a couple of nice throws to first the two innings that he was there.

Molly likes to go outside, even on the cool days. Here she is lounging on the patio. She won't look at the camera, it's sort of funny.

Penny had a chew bone outside, she wouldn't look at the camera either....she was very intent on chewing up that bone. Penny...PENNY....nope....not even a glance.

The mums are starting to bloom in the garden, another sign of fall.

We were treated to a pretty sunrise yesterday morning. I hope that the neighbors didn't notice me outside in my night gown....but it was too pretty to pass up.
We have another busy weekend ahead. It's homecoming here, so football tonight, football in the morning, homecoming dance for Billy tomorrow night, and baseball on Sunday. They rhythm of fall. It's making me tired....but I can rest when the snow flies. Right?

Thanks for stopping by.