A day in the country. . . . again.

Combine great weather, your favorite cousins, fall colors and lots of activities and you get an almost perfect Sat. in Oct.

Pumkins Galore in Wright City, all kinds of farm related stuff to do, and activities to participate in.

The old chicken house.

Pumpkin guns!

Fire when ready!

Brothers turn.

Let 'er rip!

Live music.

Funny fruit.

Even funnier fruit.

Homecoming weekend.
Go Tigers!

American Pumpkin Gothic.

Trying to get them to all sit still and look at the camera at the same time is like herding kayakers.

Radar the donkey.

Face painting.

Beautiful.

Feeding the goats.

Big beautiful horses.

Hold on tight!

Pinky and Stinky.
Guess which one is which.

Here they come back already.

Playing in the . . . . . wheat, corn soy-bean box.

What should we do next?

"Hey, Honey! I'm standing right here."

He looked as surprised as me.

Wife's old school.

Lots of crafts.

Neat.

Concentrate.

Measuring up.

Which one?

If you build it they will come.

All aboard!

Nothing runs like a Deere.

'Ok, hold the board still."

Valet parking for your radio flyer.

Hey! That one ain't a Radio Flyer!

Milking practice.

A tired walk back to the cars.

We didn't get to far before daughter fell asleep.
What a great day!

Home across the fence - Shelby county number three. . . .

How it all comes together - Ft Zumwalt update.

 As reported in the last year or so, O'Fallon is in the process of rebuilding the old Fort Zumwalt, a three part log building.
I worked on it with the builder a couple of times, but he got injured, and lost my number and I never made it back. But I have been following the progress.
Here is a sketch of how it looked and will, once again, look.

Here is the first of three stages finished, with the progress of the second stage work so far in the background.

Stage two floor joists have been placed.

This fire place will serve rooms in stage two and the final room, stage three.

Closer look at how the floor joists are placed in the sill logs.

Up close.

Notice the foundation vent.

Notice also, and a good view for this, how the hewn side of the sill log is vertical, and the hewn side of the joist log is facing up.

The floor boards will be placed on the flat surface.

A closer look of stage two, with the fireplace and building one in the back ground.

Sill logs, floor joists, and first log of the wall logs.

Another view.

Some great axe work!

How it will look when it is done.

This is a view of stage one.

The whole picture.

Link to Bryan's blog. . ..

BLOG

The other Haynes boy. . . .

We get the pleasure of seeing a lot of Michaels work here on this blog, . . . so
I know you will be interested in seeing some of the work done by his brother.
Bryan Haynes

A couple of treats from out west. . .

Michael Haynes' latest projects.

 ". . .9"x12" painting I'm finishing of the old Butterfield stage line driving out from Tucson in the 1850's. It's in oils and I'm really enjoying learning to work in that medium. "

"Also attached a sketch for a painting I'm starting of a Cheyenne maiden outside Bent's Fort here in Colorado. My client owns the dress she'll be wearing in the painting. Late evening scene."

Farm Lane - QS

High meadow farm - QS

Another couple of busy weeks for daughter. . . .

 The week of Sept 26 found daughter starting what must be for all kids, mandatory dance lessons.
We of course want her to try lots of different stuff so she can make lots of choices, but we are a little afraid this will lead to recitals and costumes.
But if it leads to "So you think you can dance?", it might be ok.

 Weekend of the 1st of Oct. found us going up to the farm to introduce cousins to the kittens.

The kittens were of course very happy to see three energetic kids.

 One stayed real close to mom.

 The new visitors got to enjoy dinner around Great Grandma's table.

 Checking on the kittens after dinner found them exhausted and happily asleep.

 Daughter got to climb a big tree with cousin.
Yes, cousin.

 We all made the pilgrimage to 'The Big Rock'.

I am sure it must be something extraterrestrial because there is no other rock like it anywhere around.









I think it also landed on an old Model something Ford because we found on old running board next to it, buried in the mud.
















This past weekend, Oct. 9th, found us exploring a new playground.
We are real lucky in our county and towns to have some real nice parks and playgrounds. And boy have they changed from when I was a child.

This was daughters favorite, requiring many rides.
A giant swinging Frisbee.

 Neat, right?

 Even Spiderman would have loved this one.

 Plain old monkey bars just won't be the same.

 Can you believe I talked her into doing this.

 After the playground we went to a really neat car show looking for grandpa, who was a judge.


We never did find grandpa, but we did find
'Mator'.

With child.

 And without.

 We ended this day at a cousins birthday party, making cookies, eating and playing outside till dark.

What a busy day.

Sunday's we always try to hit a farmers market after church.

Amish Farm 2 - QS

'Heavy Winter Sky'

Amish Farm QS

Makes me think of Thanksgiving time. . . .

Plein Air treat from Michael Haynes.

9 x 12 I believe.

I like the simplicty of his brush strokes. . . .

and yet gets the job done.

Cliff's plein air.

For the days my knees really hurt. . . .

I am really enjoying these beers that are
'Bottle conditioned'
They really do taste more like homebrew.
Not as bubbly.
A very mild ale and smooth.
Will not pass this one up when offered.

It's cold up here! QS for today, with a tree. . . .

A tee shirt design I did for the races a few years ago.

You know I love good illustrations.. . . .

Les McClain, I have posted some of his stuff before and a link to his site is on the left.
(Whoops, my other left)

But loved this one showing
before (work in progress)

and after (finished).