Black Berries, Wild Flowers, and Origami.

Only three miles today?

Too Hot to run?

It has been a rather hot week this week.   Weather-wise, not eventful-wise.   The heat and humidity have been getting to Cheryl in that she does not like running so much.   Who would want to run in heavy sauna-like air?

You said there are Berries???

Black berries...

But on the bright side,  we have found something that motivates us to get out and experience the "Great Outdoors!" Black berries!

What will we do with all these? 

Yes, the black berries are in full swing.  In fact, we may have missed them by a few days, and are cleaning up the ones left over from the local birds and animals.

This looks good!

 We have visited them twice now, each time picking a 42 ouch cup-sized amount.   They are awesome on  cinnamon bread and cream cheese.   Also in yogurt and oatmeal.

Sweet peas

Daisies and "other" flowers.

In addition to the berries,  the summer flowers are dominating the landscape.   Mostly daisies of some form or another.  But every now and then you find a field with Clover, Sweet Peas, Milkweed and other purple flowers.  It makes for pleasant scenery while sweating like a pig out in the heat.

The fields look yellow!

Purple splash breaks up the colors.

As I write this.  The skies have darkened and it looks like more rain is on the way.   It has rained every day this week.  Mostly at night, but it sprinkled a touch this morning.

 Despite that,  the temps have held on the high side and the dampness only adds to the humidity.   I don't mind a little rain. Or even a thunderstorm.  But any tornado or hail can keep far away.  Don't get me wrong... I find those phenomena fascinating....but knowing my current luck,  we would find the "bad side" of the storm.

My Origami "Pile"

Running out of room here....

Origami Oriental Dragon.

So to occupy my time while under house arrest (from the heat) I have been playing with Origami...again.   I don't know why I bother.   The stuff simply piles up.   Cheryl says I should re-open the Etsy shop and try to sell some of it.  But unfortunately,  it ends up sitting in the same place for months while folks look, but don't buy.

Cheryl runs to the Sun.

Usually sales are better during the holidays.  But still, ot is a fun skill to keep in practice with.   Just like Cheryl's running.

Oh.  Getting really dark now.  Better post this before the electricity goes out.   Hope everyone is having a good week so far... and thanks for stopping in.

And the Time Flies!

Cheryl in the fields

Cheryl at the trail

 Another week has snuck by.  How is it that the days and week seem to be passing by at a far greater speed now that I'm older?   Looking back I see that it has been almost a full week since my last blog posting.   Surely something must have happened this week that was blog-worthy....

Cheryl after running with a cold

Well,   Not really.   I managed to give Cheryl my cold....  so now we both can share the joy of coughing and sneezing.   I'm still suffering the aftermath, but I think I'm pretty much over it.   Cheryl still suffers from the achy, coughing, stuffy-head part.   I guess there will be a few more days of that.

She still runs though

Through the town

But that has not stopped her from running.   The weather has been cooler this last week.   Almost perfect weather for running.   I say "almost" because running 14 miles with a cold is still a miserable affair. Still,   she managed it and we have continued to run a few miles every day this week.

Down the roads

Past the Silos

Out into the fields

Woosh!

A few things to note:  Normally I fill the blog with pictures of dusty car engines or scantly clad female runners.   But there are other things that I interesting.    Namely, the butterfly weed is out in all of its glory.   I managed to find both varieties.   Purple and orange.   Butterfly weed may be visually striking and bring in the butterflies, but it is not very pleasant to smell.  I wonder why that is.   Well, at least the bugs don't seem to mind.

Purple Butterfly weed

Black Raspberries are out!

Butterfly weed

In addition,  a few wildlife shots.   The deer, in particular, have been quite active.   Several times during a run, Cheryl and I have seen them running at us on the path or standing in yards in the middle of the day.   At one point we thought a doe and fawn were those ceramic lawn ornaments you see from time to time.   We were both shocked to see that the deer was moving!  I managed to snap this picture this afternoon on our way home.

Deer in mid afternoon.

Bunny on the trail

Plenty of rabbits this year.   Several have been running around our yard.   I guess with our cat remaining inside, they have less to fear at the moment.  And there are tons out on the trail as usual.

If only finding inspiration were so easy.

With the summer Solstice over, we can now plan on trying to survive the summer.  We both have a few things to work on.   I have been slowly inching away at the book while also trying to get a few origami items folded up.  It's tough when you have to really work on the inspiration.  Cheryl has also been working on her designs and drawings.  She has added a few things to her shop for runners.

So hopefully we shall be over these blasted colds before the new week begins and can focus on things that are awesome and blog-worthy.   I'll let you know how things work out.   Until then,  thanks for stopping by.

The Iowa Indian Summer

Iowa Indian Summer

Has finally arrived!   I've been in this state for 6 years now, and I can say in my limited time here that this has been one of the hottest summers in memory!  ( with a study group of  whopping 6 years!)   Perhaps natives will know of past years being more sultry,  but I'm a newbie.

A Pearl Crescent butterfly.  

That being said,  the weather has finally arrived where it is cool to cold in the mornings;  warming up in the afternoons, and then cooling down slowly as the sun sets.  In other words... The weather has become pleasant.  And what else is there to really talk about in Iowa... Other than the weather?

So, I'm finally finished with my 45 hour week of scoring for Pearson.  I now have the opportunity to post a few things that have happened these last couple of weeks that I have not had time to chat about.

No more noise for Subie!

First:   Subie got a new Catalytic Converter!  Only a cool $800.00   After we were finished with the Marathon in Chicago.  Good Timing Subster!  Cheryl was still in a good mood after running the race, that the topic of when we should fix him never came up.   She simply told me we would get him fixed the next day!   Usually,  She is pressuring me to keep the cost low and "How serious is it really?"  Which is code for:  " Do we really ave to fix this?"   Only after my anxiety becomes more annoying than the car noise does she relent.

With that huge hole in our bank account,   I have been working my eyeballs off to score as much and as long as I mentally can over these last two weeks.   Pearson has authorized 45 hours a week to allow them to finish up the project on time.  I have been scoring over 12 hours each day until I can secure that 44.9 hours ( Pearson does not like it when you go over their overtime allotment.)  I only had to work 4 hours today to get that number.   AND I have been geting the double bonuses for scoring the minimum amount of papers in a given day.  (156!  Which is a LOT! )   I've been scoring around 170.  So,  I'll leave it to your imagination just how frazzled my brain is after that.

Moth playing Hid-and-seek

Oh,  Don't get me wrong.   I actually enjoy the freedom I get from scoring at home.  I am able to take breaks and snap pictures of the cat in the front yard.

Along with a number of other pretty sites as they flutter by.

Skippers abound!

Another shot of the Crescent

The colder weather has chased off the hummingbirds,  and most of the butterflies and bees that used to visit the front yard flowers.  However,  the Skippers and Moths have been becoming more common each day.   Daytime flying moths are actually kind of rare compared to the butterflies.... until now.

Day-flying moth

Skippers everywhere

Mums in Full Bloom

Our $3 Mums are in full swing now.  We have already had a couple of heavy frosts in the morning, and yet these flowers are  unfazed.  I have been trying to keep them watered and I eventually plan on planting them somewhere along the building.  Perhaps the Landlords will have an idea on their placement.  We shall see.

Hiro on the porch

Our Lazy Guard Cat

Fall flowers with visitors!

Other than that,  Cheryl has another race coming up this weekend.  We plan on combining it with an IKEA visit.  Since this one is on the fly,  we shall see how things turn out as they happen in real time.  

Another Chicago race for Cheryl

This Week In Origami...

I know I have not posted much during the week, but that does not mean that I have not been busy.   Well,  sort of.... I try to keep the larger projects to the weekends.  But during the week,  if I have any energy after working at ACT,  I try to fold at least a few easy projects to "stay in shape" as they say.  A co-worker gave me some paper made from recycled coffee filters so I had to give it a try.  I folded a few simple cranes in various poses to see how the paper handled wet folding.  I liked it!  But the small sheet size will ultimately limit what I can fold with it.  But for the basic simple designs, it should work well!
Then there was Valentines day!  I folded a few roses for the ladies in our group.   I had a few left over, so Cheryl suggested that I offer the remainders to the men......Er.   That was rather uncomfortable and awkward.  I don't know that it needs to be said,  but apparently,  females do not see the innate problem with men giving other men flowers.  So, for the few female readers that may stumble upon this blog,  I will share the ground rules for acceptable male to male contact.   One:  Shaking hands.  

This is the only form acceptable when greeting a stranger...and you only need to do it once!  After the initial greeting, a wave will be sufficient for the remainder of the engagement.  The only other acceptable male contact I can think of is in the army on the battle field pulling a comrade out of a burning vehicle or into a foxhole during a artillery barrage!  Everything else is, at best, frowned upon.   Men do not hug, braid each others hair, soap each other up in the shower.  So....don't ask us to give flowers to male co-workers and think that is "precious"!


Other than that,  I have been working on a few larger items for the weekend, but none of them are completed as of the writing of this post.   A Bulldog and a simple Dragon are in the works, as well as another ancient dragon. Hopefully I will have them completed by Tuesday and will have better pictures to show off.

  In the mean time,  A couple of things:  One:  a sleeping cat!  And two,  a fork the defies gravity!  It was one of those moments where something unexpected happens and you simple have to take a picture because you don't see something like that everyday.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!