Where analytic and creative thought collide and all kinds of weird stuff can happen.

I don’t know about you, but we enjoyed the long holiday weekend. All five of us. Me, Hubby, and the dogs. We hadn’t been to the WV place in a long time. And we hadn’t had a weekend with NOTHING to do for a while either.

It was lovely.

I haven’t posted many dog pics of late, so I am going to make up for it here. In other words, lots of doggie pics follow.

Belle Doing the Ostrich Thing

The girls were especially tickled to be there. They really enjoy having the freedom to run. Even though we do have an invisible fence now, they still have about 5 acres of area to cover. They LOVE it.

Teamwork

Belle and K like to hunt rodents.

Two Peas in a Pod

Correction… they LOVE to hunt rodents.

Determination

They are quite good at it, too. I don’t know if they ever caught anything here. I got tired of watching.

As a side note… the weather was quite nice this weekend. Friday was in the low 70s and Saturday got up into the mid 60s. Those outfits the dogs are wearing aren’t to keep them warm, they are their “don’t shoot me” vests. It’s deer hunting season in West Virginia.

As for Meg…

"Oh, I love the outdoors!"

She was equally as happy to be free to roam and do her thing.

Morning in the Woods

I liked being there, too. I’m just not into burying my head in the ground or rolling in the leaves.

Going for a Ride?

I opened the back of the truck at one point. I can’t remember why. But all three of the girls jumped in, assuming we were going for a ride.

We weren’t.

But don’t they look cute waiting?

The next day was more of the same…

Belle Doing the Ostrich Again

Meg (Pose 1)

I asked Meg to help me choose between these two shots (above and below) so I could only post one. We couldn’t decide. So you get to see both.

Meg (Pose 2)

Belle, Running

K Just Being K

All Three in One Action Photo (No Clue What Action)

Belle Being Belle

K and Meg

Hubby and I did get out and have some fun of our own. We went for a nice bike ride.

ToadMama

Hubby

Cool Road

The road would’ve been cooler if it had a bridge so we could cross the river. We haven’t tried fording streams on the bikes yet. We’ll wait for warmer weather for that one. Not to mention there was about an 8-foot drop to get to the water.

When Hubby stopped at the end of the road, I asked him if we were going to jump the river. You know, do the Evil Knievel thing.

He said no.

After a brief rest, it was back on the road for us.

That was our nice, quiet weekend. Boring, right? We loved it. How was your weekend?

Prior to this past weekend, we hadn’t been to the WV place since the last weekend in August. That’s unfortunate, really, because this really is my favorite time of year there. If you’ve been following for a long time, you know how much I enjoy watching the Fall colors emerge.

Riotous Color

Not to mention the fact that it’s getting cooler. You can’t beat a nice, crisp, Fall morning in the northeast.

Metamorphosis Along the Driveway

Especially when the sky is blue.

We haven’t had much blue sky these past few days. I don’t know about you, but here in Virginia, we’ve had rain, rain, and more rain.

Yellow

The trees just look so much nicer with that saturated blue-sky backdrop.

Here’s my favorite leaf shot from this weekend…

Red

I just love how the sun is lighting up those few leaves. That light isn’t photoshopped in. That’s what you get in the woods during early morning and close to dusk when the sun is low on the horizon filtering through the trees.

The girls were happy to be back in the woods, too.

Belle

K

Meg

I enjoyed being in a place that felt like home.

As much as I like this new/old house of ours, and the town, it just doesn’t feel like ours yet. We haven’t put our mark on it. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get a room or two decorated.

I really want to paint my office, too. Not this weekend, but soon. Right now, my office walls are off-white, the ceiling is white, there’s white woodwork, white  curtains, white blinds, and a tan rug. The only thing hanging on the wall so far is my white clock.

Ugh. It’s so booooorrrrriiinnngggg.

Our bedroom could use some paint, too.

There’s so much to do, I don’t know where to start. It’s all small stuff. But it’s a lot of small stuff.

It’ll all get done eventually.

Decorating is the sort of thing one can’t do in a hurry. I need to live in the rooms for a while before I can settle on a color that feels right. And as much stuff as I have to hang on the walls, I can’t stick it just anywhere.

Sigh…

That’s why it felt so good at the WV place. An awful lot of time and love has gone into making that place cozy.

I want this place to feel cozy NOW, darn it.

Another sigh …

I am not the most patient person.

Amy figured out what was going on in the picture I posted yesterday (re-posted below).

Bug Sex!

Shannon was close with her guess, but was missing a couple of critical details. First, there are two stick bugs in the photo, not one like Shannon guessed. Second, they’re mating. Or, as Hubby so eloquently explained, “One bug is sticking it to the other!”

I’ve always known these insects to be referred to as walking sticks or stick bugs. They’re scientific name is Phasmatodea or Phasmids.

We’ve got lots of them at the WV place. I’d see one occasionally at our old Maryland house. But in West Virginia, they are regulars.

We see skinny brown ones like this often.

Even if we do see them often, I still find them fascinating.

An unusual green stick bug.

I don’t remember ever having seen a green one before.

And I certainly don’t remember seeing two stick bugs locked in an amorous embrace.

I thought you might find them interesting, so I snapped a few photos. But when I saw the SECOND couple going at it, I knew I had to do a post.

Sticking it to her...

Actually, the second shot was the first couple I spotted. They were pretty obvious right about at eye level on the back of our house. I’m not sure how I managed to spot the second couple hanging out on our electric meter.

And I always thought you rubbed two sticks together to make fire, not more sticks…

If you didn’t get the “That’s Amore” reference, CLICK HERE.