Yesterday, Parklands at Floyds Fork

I've done an awful job this year of updating my blog. 65 hour work weeks and grief does that, I guess. Multiple things had to give way, and blogging was one of them. Who looks at blogs nowadays, anyway? I guess for me it's a little bit like an impersonal journal.

I took a little time for "woods therapy" yesterday after four hours of operations shutdown to begin our Trump furlough (I fear this could be a long one) and before going into work for four hours at the grocery. Things were a little confused in the morning at the government office, with lots of questions about time & attendance. And things were busy at the grocery, not because of lots of shoppers, but because there was a ton to do as soon as I got there and it was a struggle to get caught up.

Today, I'll work on some paperwork, do some reading, and go to my daughter's birthday pizza dinner.

Icy

Mr. Rogers Pumpkin

My favorite pumpkin from this year.

Stephen Hawking pumpkin

Carved a few weeks ago

Cat Pumpk

Great Horned Owl Pumpkin

Here's a pumpkin I drew and carved this weekend at Bernheim Forest's ColorFest. 

Carl Sagan Pumpkin

I finished carving this one a couple of days ago, but haven't seen it illuminated yet. 

House portrait in progress

Bolts

Sometimes I'm struck by lightning while I'm just sitting there in my own damn computer chair trying to process travel authorizations or whatever.
 

Recent dampness on pumpkin places

Stephen Hawking pumpkin

This won't be cut for another two or three weeks.

D&D

I played for a little while tonight with Aaron and his sons. Tons of fun.

Ribbit

This past Sunday I caught a frog at Kroger. I'm just making sure I post that here because it seems like something I should record. I think it was a gray  tree frog. 

I also talked to a lady about her parrots. She was very nice and showed my pictures of them. 

When I got to work, a co-worker was dressed as Eyore. It was a strange day. 

Yesterday, Labor Day, I was off work all day. I was still busy, but it was a home at least.  

Pumpkin vine

This summer, pumpkin vines started growing along our porch, presumably from seeds that fell from last year's jack-o'-lanterns. This one is large enough that I have had to fold it back on itself so it didn't block access to our garage, and I have to keep budging it back from the sidewalk. It has two healthy-looking pumpkins on it, and overall it looks much healthier and pest-free than any pumpkin vine I ever grew in my back yard.

At the Parklands in Saturday

Work-in-progress

An assassin bug eating a fly

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Wings of Glory S.E. 5a

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

No matter what difficult thing I am dealing with, I know there are beautiful things in my life too numerous to count. I have been incredibly fortunate all my life, and I will remain so.

Flowers in my garden are afflicted with aster yellow. Dammit. I was loving my coneflowers! I had worked on them. 

More bee-on-hyssop

Lunch time on the hyssop

Hanabi

We played the fireworks-themed Hanabi yesterday and scored 18 points. Not bad for four newbies.