A day without kids.........................

First day of school and Laura and I were out and about relishing our freedom. It was a beautiful morning and we went to our usual beach to look for Blue Stones. We knew that a storm was coming in the afternoon but were willing to risk it. They said it would be in the 90s later in the afternoon.

We were about ready to quit, aching backs and all that. The sun hot on shoulder and so on. Then we began to hear thunder. I was hoping for some good pictures but we didn't see the lightening. We carried along the beach for a time watching the clouds. Some beautiful dogs on the beach this day.


The wise ones lowered their sails and came in.

This lady took her drink and got in the tube to weather the storm, crazy? Yes I think so.

We decided to have some fun and head into the storm. The next picture is not black and white

It was bad further north but we just got a lot of rain. Still we went to Port Oneida and by then the rain had stopped so I got some pretty shots of the mist in the forests that reminds me of the Smokey Mountains. The old farms looked so pretty



We headed up through the woods on the dirt roads, everything smelled so fresh and lucky for us no wash outs. Hehe dare not loose the muffler again. That would be hard to explain.


we stopped at a couple of farms we had not gone to before. We must go back when it's drier. I did get to take off my swim suit bottom. Wearing jeans and no undies is not comfortable but beat the sand and wetness.


We saw this guy drying off on branch he must have got caught in the rain. He didn't mind us talking to him and taking some pictures.


We went up on a couple of different roads that wind through the forest.


We actually saw someone going the other way. These roads go nowhere, just to abandoned farms and views of the surrounding countryside. We love them.




The deer were out in one of the fields. A doe and two fawns who are growing up. Wish them a good life and successfully getting through hunting season and winter.
We came out of the woods again and saw some Sandhill Cranes. They were grooming themselves, also caught in the rain no doubt


Some more farms. We think about what these places were like when they were bustling with life.

This one had a sort of German look about it with the carvings. There are Bohemian settlements around among others.




We saw some Monarchs. They are getting rare. We used to see fields of them, now its amazing to see two


Well we didn't do so well as storm chasers but we did get to see how pretty it was after the storm

I must say Laura may not be cut out for storm chasing. SHe was eating a muffin and the rain was sheeting down, she freaked when the lightening was close by, but never let loose of her muffin. I forgot she didn't like lightening but we stayed on the road and made it home in sunshine.