The Hunting Times

 Nope, it isn't the Northern Lights.  Just some low clouds as the front that dumped 2" of rain finally passed on through.  And, they reflected the lights from Lafayette - approximately 15 miles (24 km) away, population 73k.   You can see the lights from our neighbor's homes and a car coming down the highway.  And the beans have all been harvested. The yellow glow in front is from our security light on the power pole out front.  Photo taken facing W at 8:11 pm on Monday, 25 OCT 2021.  The sun set at 6:50 pm local time.  It's been gone for an hour and 21 minutes.  Yet it looks like a sunrise is about to happen. Taken with an iPhone 11 Pro with no filters, no touch-up, and no PhotoShop. Lights reflecting from Lafayette. Photo by God and Mother Nature.

 Krueger, Heath, and I took off last Saturday for a nice ride around the SE side of Mulberry.  This ride included some hills, like Cullom and Bailey's Bridge.  These are nothing for real bikers, but we found them challenging.  It was a beautiful day and a swell ride. Saturday, 16 OCT Then yesterday, Krueger and I rode due E of Mulberry.  This was an interval ride where we were to get our heart rates into specific zones along the way.  Ride hard, rest, ride hard, rest, repeat.  For me, I didn't get much "rest."  Also, I have a 3X10 gear set on my 2012 mountain bike and I was riding on the road.  Not the best set-up but the one I got.  No worries.  I'm out getting exercise.   The weather, however, will soon not cooperate with outside excursions - at least not for me! Saturday, 23 OCT

 Took the dog out for a walk tonight and caught the end of the sun going down. Sun going down at 7:45 pm - facing W, walking out driveway. Moon coming up with a star (iPhone 11, night mode). And yep, there's Tiki on the driveway. The crops are still in the field as it is too wet to harvest.  We received 2.33" of the wet stuff over two days.  I did get into the yard to mow this afternoon.  At least that's hopefully done for the year. Been cool. Fall-like.  Lows have hit high 40's and highs never got above mid 60's.  May warm up to 70 this week, but then Fall kicks in full-time come the weekend.

 It was a bit breezy this past Saturday and since it was also the Feast of the Hunter's Moon weekend, we had the Ampitheater all to ourselves.  Yes, it did rain most of the week.  But the trails were not too squishy to get in a nice ride. The goal today was to ride for at least 60 mins keeping our heart rates between 120 - 130 bpm.  Take a look, I think that Michael and I did a pretty good job at that. We made three complete loops around the trail in 92 minutes.  10.9 total miles.  BPM = see below. Average heart rate right on the money for a 90-minute ride! See the three peaks?  That's the climb back up to the truck at the end  of each loop.  Yep, I had to work! Three loops around the same 3.6 mile track right along the Mighty Wabash River

 I went out to the flag pole / flower bed area where our old weather station was installed on the Hoosier Homestead Farm sign post.  My intent was to install our new weather station.  But before I could do that, I saw this little guy warming himself up in the little sun that we had.  Awesome Camo!  Well done Mother Nature. Little dude is sitting on top of a weathered 2x4 that he seems to match really well.  At least no predator had found him yet.  He hopped under the roof of the sign when I started to unscrew the old weather station. The new station I put up is the Ambient model WS-2902C with WIFI and solar power.  It tracks more stuff than I know what to do with. Check out the dashboard at:  www.ambientweather.net and search for Seager Ranch or stations near Mulberry, IN.  We are the only one there currently.  Awesome detail.  Updates once every 60 seconds or once per  Weather station kit - outdoor unit in back, Indoor di...