Other Turtles from Kentucky

I've been working at getting the photos from the Sheltowee Trace Trail labeled. So many of them are just big rocks, that I need to do this soon before I forget why I took some of the pictures.

But I'm only up to day three so far, and I showed you one of the turtles that the city of Morehead, Kentucky, has adopted as the symbol of their city. But there were a lot of them. And I certainly didn't get pictures of them all. Here are the pictures I did take.

This one may be my favorite, although they all have very interesting decorating. This was in front of the library. I love the books painted on the shell, and the duck hitching a ride and reading is awesome.

I don't think there is a particular name for the painted animals that a city adopts. They are a kind of folk art or street art. Sometimes they are called public art trails. For example, Rochester NY has horses. I have pictures of painted moose from somewhere, but I don't recall where.

This one is more natural looking, but in nice colors.

I also really liked this one. It's not supposed to be a skeleton, just a black and white paint scheme.

Here's another very detailed one, with a garden scene on the shell.

Sometimes simple is very effective. Just red and pink.

The last one we saw was quite a ways out of town at the Cumberland Ranger Station.

I enjoyed seeing these a lot, but only put one in the blog post about the hiking day, so I decided to share them now.

I got my butt in gear and worked on several things today. Put away some more of the garden things.

See Sheltowee Day 3

test

 

This is other text

This is the beginning of the sentence picture of turtle and this is the end!

See True Blue Gumby II

Halloween Decor from the ADT

 You know I'm not a big fan of Halloween.

But there were a few fun things from the American Discovery Trail hike that I pictured and saved for today.

I like this the best. These are huge black Elephant Ears, probably in the Colocasia genus. I really liked how dark these are.

They were part of the outdoor displays at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. They were not open when I walked by (first thing in the morning), and I wasn't willing to drive downtown later to visit. But I can put it on my list of places I'd like to see another time.

To go with the black, they also had orange.

In this one the early-morning light added orange tones to the landscape. Even the traffic cone contributed.

On the second day of the ADT, this rat (I think... ears seem big for a mouse) was guarding a stone wall. I liked that it was sort of spooky but understated.

I didn't manage to do very much today. Sigh.

See Best I'm Gonna Do

Last Gasp? of the 2026 Rock Garden

 The rock garden is pretty weedy. It did not get weeded in September or October. And it's not looking good that I'll go through it yet this year. But there are a few final things to see.

This is just a color shot. The red in the middle is the Sedum Elecombeanum. It reliably looks great in all the seasons. Sembervivum 'Black' behind it, and just some moss phlox and a stray vine from the vinca in the front.

The Sedum 'Atlantis' continues to be one of my favorites. The larger patch still looks nice, and you can see the tiny red buds of next year's growth down near the ground.

Here's the old standby, Sedum 'Autumn Joy.' It still has a little color.

This one makes me really happy. I just hope it survives the winter. This is the variegated Sedum sieboldi that I got in August. Despite being new, it got one flower stalk. And the leaves seem to also turn red.

Finally, the Gaillardia 'Spintop Red' is still blooming! It will probably keep it up if I'd deadhead the old flowers. We've had a killing frost, but it's still hanging in there.

I'm working on putting garden things away. I'll keep the tools out for a while in case I do a little weeding.

And it might happen. I'm finally starting to have some extra energy, and not feeling so sore and unwilling to move much.

Spent most of the day working on things on the computer. And that casserole I made yesterday? Meh... it's OK, but definitely not worth the time and energy to make.

See Final Hurrah of the 2025 Rock Garden

A 50-Year-Old BLT

 After almost a year of this sitting in my kitchen while I got over feeling sentimental about it, this will be leaving the house.

I made this wooden stacking toy for toddler Steve about 50 years ago. It was an astounding flop. The post isn't sturdy enough to stand up to toddler enthusiasm. He thought it was boring. Well, I have always liked to make things, so I got a lot of fun out of that, but no one except me has ever thought this was interesting!

Here are all the pieces of the sandwich laid out individually.

Here it is stacked up without the top piece of bread. I still think it's cute.

And a boring top-down view with the top piece of bread.

This is available to anyone who wants to pick it up. To be really perfect, the bottom "plate" and the slices of bread need to be repainted. The light colors have gotten stained. I'd mail it to anyone who wants to pay for shipping- but it's probably not worth it. If you want it and I see you occasionally, let me know and I'll hold it for you. After all... it's been sitting around here in various places for 50 years. Another little while won't matter. No takers... it will be going to a donation place.

In other news: I made a casserole that is good, but not worth all the bother it was to make. Won't keep that recipe. Washed more dishes. Must have done something else. Hmm.

See Best Things I Made in 2018