Creek crossings

 Zoe and I had to cross the creek a couple times.  This was one of them.

We were rewarded by some nice views and colors along the way.

 I always like the contrast of the white birch and the autumn hues!

Climbed the hill, then riding with the dog…

I explored some of the vacant land near us this past weekend. I climbed the hill that's just over my bike's back tire and had a look around.  Once I finished what I could there, Zoe and I decided to go explore the creek off the beaten path too.

Julie coordinated her bag and shirt perfectly!

Pretty appetizer, compliments of the chef

Julie and I hung out at Sky with John this past weekend.  The chef sent us out each one of these treats!

Just the sun hitting my Jeep

The weather this week has been beautiful!

Some beautiful scenery for a recovery

but look at the angles, Matt can't even stand up on the slop! Hahahaha.

Cool lookin’ pup

Chloe has lots of extra ears, skin, and girth!

I wanted a better picture of my Jeep fun buttons….

Harvest season in Ohio

The complete reverse…

This is the exact opposite view from my last post.  If you zoom in on the upper right corner, you can see the viewing deck I was on 11 minutes ago.  Now go back to that previous post and see if you can figure out where I was standing to get this shot.  Should be pretty easy.  The red of the silver maple tree leaves combined pretty well with the color of the house enhanced my the setting sun!

Worth the ride up the hill!

I always love this view looking down onto the old farmhouse in Hisey Park.  Especially the golden light of the sunset on the fall leaves!

Enjoying nature!

I don't know that l've ever seen an owl in the wild other than the little one at lakeside years ago. Saw one of these in the woods today.

Awesome. Thought it was a hawk when it first landed, then I realized it was way too big.

We stood there looking at each other for a bit.  As soon as I slowly reached for my phone, he flew off.

Here was the pic from this time of year back in 2001 at Lakeside. 

This was THE week for colors around here!

Zoe and I ventured out into the Woods both Saturday and Sunday for our bike rides.  This was the view Saturday as the sun was getting low on the horizon. Pretty colors all around!

Fun to catch up with Isaac this weekend

He made me hungry as we chatted while he made breakfast.  It looks like he has a pretty nice place with some great views of Pike's Peak!

Ready to hit it hard…!

Brutus got a clean bill of health from my local shop this week.  These Highlift guys have helped me out a lot!  Ready for the next big adventure and a chance to some bigger Buckeye "helmet" stickers.  I also need to make a redemption ride down to Stanton Kentucky where the last time, I had to tow myself back.  As I remember, it was about this time last year…

Just another day at the office…

This is what it feels like in customer facing roles sometimes…. I just happened to be having several video calls while they were celebrating Halloween back at HQ, hahahaha.  

That’s a LOT of brass in the air all at once!

Faster than full-auto!

LOL, “you just got caught by a girl!”

Watch What Happens When a Felon Tries to Escape a Female Deputy and Her K9 youtu.be

“Are you making lunch dad?!”

What’s left?

Caffeinated, carbonated, flavored water?  Makes me want to try it out of curiosity.  Maybe when I'm out with Andy next.  They lost me at zero sugar though.  Too many dangerous chemicals. ;)

Funny but true…?

I’m getting more visitors to my office.

This was the afternoon vibe a couple days ago.  Makes it hard to work when everyone else in the room is sleeping, hahahaha!

A week of beautiful weather and colors!

Perfect temps and no rain.  Fall is in the air and views.  This is the view just a couple houses down our street.  Zoe and I enjoy the neighborhood during our lunchtime bike rides for sure.

Spots…

I think it's interesting that some spots make it through to the fur and some don't.  I wonder why?

Chloe has decided I give good pets!

Playing around with Apples new hearing test

With the right combo of phone, AirPods and software version, you can now get a medical grade hearing test.  This might help end some arguments around everyone's houses.  The good news is that even with all my time around power equipment, industrial noise, and the shooting range I am still ahead of the curve for my age.  Julie is too.  Good to know.   

The next time you claim you can't hear perfectly well, be careful, someone might just call you on it, hahaha.

My civic duty completed…

Julie and I hit the early voting this week.  It was a consistently busy experience.  They've got it managed well.  It's gonna be a big turnout I think. Praying for the process…

Chloe gave up and just sat there mid-stretch, hahaha.

Bygone era

Hard to believe they're closing the last one, and that one still exists all at the same time.  We enjoyed living around the corner from K-Mart for so many years and have lots of memories growing up with one and growing up with our boys there too.  We used to enjoy breakfast and pizzas there in the cafe.  Good memories.  

Enjoying the gradients of the setting sun and the first stars (planets).

Some mall crawling…

Julie and I had an unexpected date night this week.  We decided to see how the Fairfield Mall was doing. Just a few people there.  Mostly browsing like we were.  Interesting that this place is moving in there. Will be interesting to see if they can draw in enough business when it's so quiet there these days.  Hoping for its success, but skeptical.  It made kind of a cool picture regardless.

My girl❣️

I love my wife.  She's great at it.  Her many virtues include being a mother, teacher, caring daughter, and ever faithful friend!

Fall colors are really popping this week!

This view from our back yard.  Catalpas, Maples, Pines, all in their different stages.  

This beauty for sale down the street!

What a nice Camaro SS!  I could buy a few jeeps for what they want for this beast!  New engine, transmission and just about every thing else.  Julie, Savannah, Johnny and me were all checking it out this past weekend.  

Proud of Isaac and his EMT accomplishment!

Two weeks all at once is a hard way to go, but he nailed it!

A Saturday with David, Andy, Andy and Zoe…

We spent 14 hours in the Jeep on Saturday. We met up with a buddy of mine also named Andy. We toured a lot of the fun down in Vinton County. Enjoy twenty minutes of the highlights here!

Takin’ a break on the trail.

 Andy took Zoe for a little run while we all took a break out of the Jeeps during our ride this weekend.  

Andy poses on a beautiful day with the Jeeps!

 The dude is a beast.  You can see it if you look closely…

Yummy and sloppy!

Andy got a bun, I didn't.  Not much difference, hahaha.  A fork was required regardless.  Interesting and different!

A nice end to a great day

Man's Rusted Skillet.  They got us both on the first burger listed.  Well, Andy had the second one.  Nice little dive alongside the road just after we got off the trail as night was falling.  We were hungry by then and it hit the spot!  It was a typical trail ride.  A few hours on the road and roughly ten hours on the trail.  It always surprises me the Jeep is comfortable for that long.  I guess I've gotten used to it over the years with my various road trips for work and play.

Leaning over to kiss the trail…

We got some nice angles along the way.  We even had to fold our mirror in for this one!

Our group of Jeeps for the day.

 We stopped at this pretty spot in the woods to check out the old abandoned church.

Another of Andy’s pics.

I liked his better than my version of the same view.  Nice combo of green and the fall colors.  It was a PERFECT day for the trip!

Stump conquered…

Andy grabbed this cool shot while were taking a break at the top of the hill.

On the trail together.

Just before he jumped into the driver seat.

Andy and I headed out for our ride

When we stopped for gas and breakfast, he snapped this pic of the beagle addition in my beagle edition.  Zoe seems to enjoy all the new peeps that want to meet and pet her on the rides.  When we stop for a break, she doesn't want to get back in the jeep under her own power unless someone new has given her a pet. 

The fruit of the vine!?

Julie mad crab Alfredo on a bed of the spaghetti squash she grew on her back porch.  It was from the seeds of one from a previous meal.  Now she has a bunch more seeds to try again.  The food was sooooo yummy!  Having the squash makes it as good as dessert in my book!

Taking advantage of the perfect weather.

I love fall.  Perfect temps, colors, and festivals.  I took a few minutes to flip knives and enjoy a coffee.  You can see how much that stump is just falling apart, and a pretty knife!