Halloween Hoopla

We are in the Minneapolis area this weekend for some geocaching, to see OFD, and to get a college football fix. I am reporting on the first reason. I am not attending the football game; too cold, too wet, I don't have to.

Once we decided we would be hanging around SD for a couple more months, we added another geocaching event to our calendar; the Halloween Hoopla XI. This year the event reached MEGA status, meaning 500+ geocachers preregistered for the event. Since this is their 11th year for the event, it is well organized and a great caching opportunity.

The forecast for the weekend earlier in the week was for sunshine and 50-60º. I, unfortunately, took that as the forecast. It wasn't. We woke up to rain hitting the hotel window. No rain coats. No rain boots. No umbrellas. A quick stop at a Walgreens gave us 'elcheapo' rain ponchos. (They had to pull the display from the back room. Winter mittens and stocking caps are more the 'norm' for Oct. 31st.)

The rain was less intense about 10:00, so we headed to the park and joined those brave enough to come out in the duck weather.

the Halloween Hoopla banner

some fellow geocachers

the log book 

AND

 the design of the T-shirts & geocoins

Cooler Crew hosts the event

costumes were encouraged

few adults came in costumes

these little folks did

checking out the trackables table

a trackable is a tagged object that moves from 

geocache to geocache, and event to event

I have a trackable traveling in Canada, one in 

Australia, another in Germany, and a couple in the US

usually trackables are small items, allowing them to

fit into small containers, like peanut butter jars

this one is 36" high and 18" wide

it only travels to events

the skies were overcast

a light mist continued to fall

we found one cache, without falling and 

breaking any limbs, and decided to call it a day

my t-shirt &

our geocoins

We'll try again next year...maybe...

The End of Summer

The maple leaves have turned a golden color and are rapidly falling from the three trees in the front yard. The gale force wind of the weekend and the less forceful, but still assertive westerly winds of the past few days, have begun to strip the trees. There is a hard freeze warning posted for tonight, so I am thinking this will be the end of the beautiful colors in the flowerbed.

 I posted very few photos of my flowers this year. It seemed like every time I would think of it, there were more weeds than flowers. I finally got the weeds under control. We have had no moisture to speak of since early August, so it is surprising to me that the flowers look as good as they have. When we got home from Omaha earlier this month, the colors were at their peak. This photo is from that time. Earlier this week, I cut some and brought them inside. We have enjoyed the added color on the kitchen table at each meal.

Now it is time to think about planting bulbs for next spring. Come on, rain!

In the Countryside

We spent Tuesday afternoon with friends at their farm.

I missed the deer as it ran across the road in front of us, but got a couple of photos as it stood patiently and safely in the trees.

Not a lot of waterfowl activity on the area sloughs and marshes. We are not seeing any migrating birds in this part of the country. I hope that means cold weather is a long ways away, as is any forecast of snow.

A big ol' hawk was sitting so nicely on a fence post, but as we stopped so I could take its photo, of course, it flew away. It was kind enough to resettle on the farm equipment. Bill said it was a red tail hawk. 

Thanks guys for a fun afternoon!

Elsa Has Hip Replacement Surgery

Remember Elsa? The doll Miss W chose for her birthday doll?

Elsa broke her hip when a little someone accidentally stepped on Elsa lying on the floor. It was a clean break at the hip socket. This happened earlier this summer when we could not take Elsa home with us, so Elsa and her broken leg moved to the new house. Yesterday during our visit, Miss W brought Elsa to G'pa and asked if he could/would fix her? She came home with us as G'pa had a plan.

Elsa is now like G'pa. She has a new hip. She can still stand and walk.

She can sit, just like she did before her broken leg.

 Elsa will return to her owner next week, good as new.