Trips and Rosie

The mountains look hazy this morning, from my window, but the sky is blue with a few puffy clouds.  Yesterday the sky started out a bright blue, with a few clouds (or fog) in the clefts of the mountains, but then it quickly became cloudy and stayed overcast all day.  Autumn is manifesting itself by our temperatures, too - a high today of 78, tomorrow 68, and Sunday 58.  I'll have to pull out my sweater for Sunday, as well as my long nightgown for the weekend.
   One of my favorite sets of clients has decided on a spur-of-the-moment trip, so after I walk Rosie today, I'll be heading to their house with two cats and two dogs for a week.  Then I'll be at Rosie's for five days following that.  This job means I can purchase my new bed at the beginning of October...
   Rosie, the 14+ year old Irish Setter, has good days and bad days, like any older person.  Lately, we've been slowly walking to my sister's house, about one-eighth of a mile away, with Rosie being able to stop and smell and investigate anything that grabs her attention.  Once we arrive at my sister's, I take the leash off Rosie's harness, and she can prowl the acre back yard to her content, or lie down in either sun or shade.  The peach trees in the back yard delivered their huge load of fruit in August.  Apples are now raining down, so we don't sit under any apple tree branches.  Wasps and bees are drunk on the ripe apples that squirrels have gnawed upon - and the whole back yard smells like fresh apple cider.  The deer come at night and eat the apples that haven't been gathered... soon it will be the bears.  (We'll have to be on watch for bears beginning this weekend, as they eat their fill for winter's hibernation.)  And the raspberry bushes are loaded with ripening red fruit - I usually end up eating a cup full off the bushes each day...  After an hour, we slowly wander back to Rosie's house, and stop to greet all the neighbors - Rosie is an extremely social dog, and believes that we need to approach every house we pass that has a sidewalk or an open driveway.   I hate to think about it, but I will miss her greatly when she crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

It's the Autumnal Equinox! - Happy Fall!

Views of Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

Arapahoe Chief Yellow Calf in 1867

International Day of Peace ... Today

And so, the United States ushers in the International Day of Peace by killing an unarmed African American male who was sitting in a car, reading a book, in a case of mistaken identity in Charlotte, North Carolina.  What an outrage!
   The person, or persons, who killed JonBenet Ramsey (here, in Boulder, Colorado, 20 years ago) have never been caught, charged, nor prosecuted - even though a Grand Jury found a "True Bill" for prosecution.
    The man who tried to assassinate President Reagan is free after serving his prison sentence.
    Carnage is still occurring throughout the world - in almost every country, on almost all of the continents.
    Citizens hate other citizens because of: their religion; the way they dress; what they eat, or don't eat; what their work ethic is, or isn't; what they have, or don't have; whom they support, or don't support; whether they do, or don't, own guns; how they pray; whether they stand, or do not stand, for the national anthem of their country; whether they give to a certain charity, or another; this list is just a horrendous continuation of unimaginable proportions....

    Why cannot the world concede that each and every living being is unique, and that it is our differences that make us a whole?

Photos From Gallery of the Absurd

"What do we have here?"

Mustard gas suit for the trenches

These shoes walk, roll, and sting!

(Or, maybe not...)

Buy a new TV and get a free, oiled cowboy!

Are they demitasse, or full cups?

Captain Jack and his wooden friends...

I wouldn't want to use that urinal!

Disappointed With Gotham

I was looking forward to the first episode of the new season of Gotham with anticipation last night.  I came away disappointed.  I realize that there are quite a number of characters to follow, now, on Gotham - but the first episode skipped around so much and dealt with so many issues left hanging at the end of the season, that it seemed as if the writers/story tellers just cuffed up a pair of pants and headed off for the next pattern and cloth.  The death of Miss Peabody was not unexpected, but the whole scene seemed rushed - as did most of the other scenes.  It was not a glorious season premiere.  And I greatly dislike the new female character - the reporter.  The whole show left a bad taste in my mouth last night.  If the next two episodes are not better than last night's, I'll stop watching the show altogether.
   I'll watch the two shows from tonight during tomorrow afternoon - I need to see if NCIS will continue to be worth watching, and I need to check out Bull, Michael Weatherly's new show.  Thursday night will find me watching The Blacklist, and Friday night I'll see Blue Bloods.
   My most impatient wait is for the next episodes of Vikings, which won't begin until 30 November.  I've read translations of the eddas, so I don't believe I'll be too surprised...  But I have to admit being delighted that Bjorn Ironsides has contracted with Floki to build the new boat to explore the "Inner" (Mediterranean) Sea.  Michael Hirst, the writer for Vikings, is keeping me very happy.

Liveship Traders Artwork

Althes Vestrit, Brashen Trell, and the liveship Vivacia

Amber recarves Paragon's face

Sea serpents, with leader Maulkin at left

Captain Kennit

Rain Wilder man looking at the River and Trehaug