Caleigh O'Shea's Blog

Leaves do miraculous things. ~Hal Borland, American writer, journalist, and naturalist

This is the Red Oak that my son Domer helped me plant last year:

Red Oak, September 2024

I did the best I could with its care — watering it, talking to it, and trying to keep the bugs off it.

One of my neighbors (a Master Gardener, no less) advised me to buy that green bag zipped around its trunk so I wouldn’t have to guess how much water to give it. She said a slow, steady drip would provide a proper foundation.

Still, the nasty Japanese Beetles chomped on it with glee. Notice the ragged limbs on its right side:

Red Oak, November 2024

Notice also how miniscule it looks, particularly in the number of leaves and that skinny trunk.

Red Oak is supposed to be a fast-grower, but I started to fear I’d never have shade.

What a difference a year makes:

Red Oak, November 2025

I hose-watered it this year — deeply and on a regular basis throughout the growing season. I sprayed it with something called Neem Oil and banished the bugs. And my oak grew taller and fuller, with a much bigger trunk and leaves that were almost as big as my hands!

And notice that delightful red-orange color!

I guess I did something right after all. Or perhaps, the tree is thriving in spite of me.

Anyway, Happy Fall, y’all! And Happy Thanksgiving feasting! I’m taking a bit of time off but will catch up with you in December!

Around and around the house the leaves fall thick—but never fast, for they come circling down with a dead lightness that is sombre and slow. Let the gardener sweep and sweep the turf as he will, and press the leaves into full barrows, and wheel them off, still they lie ankle-deep. ~Charles Dickens, English novelist, journalist, and social critic, from Bleak House

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. ~Hal Borland, American writer, journalist, and naturalist

Do

You know

What a joy

It is to see

Autumn exploding

In brilliant shades of bronze,

Scarlet, lemon, and orange

When nobody thought the leaves would

Do anything but turn brown and drop

Before winter’s chill could make the trees bare?

 

 

Note: Poetry form is Etheree.

October sunshine bathed the park with such a melting light that it had the dimmed impressive look of a landscape by an old master. Leaves, one, two at a time, sidled down through the windless air. ~Elizabeth Enright, American writer, illustrator, literary critic, and teacher

I Monkey here.

After I upchucked my lunch, Mama decided we should go on my Walktober (something about her being okay with vomit outdoors but NOT okay with it inside on her carpet — huh).

Don’t feel sorry for me, though. After everything was up, I felt just fine and was raring to GO. Tag along while I show you some of our Fall color (such as it is).

Let’s go, Mama — gee, you’d think she was the one vomiting!!

Here’s a red tree with lots of green still hanging around:

And if you’re partial to orange, look at this big fella:

Or maybe you prefer yellow:

I told Mama you’d probably like some Fall decorations, too. Not the creepy skeletons and witches, but something tamer. Who doesn’t like pumpkins and mums?

And since it is Fall, I couldn’t let this one slip by. There’s a set of twins living here — we guess their high school buddies weren’t impressed by the mock graveyard and decided to paper the yard:

It’s funny how some trees are just beginning to turn, while others are nearly bare:

Here’s pokey Mama again, trying hard to get an artsy picture. C’mon, Mama, does anybody really need to see more leaves, when there are so many interesting smells around?

This is different. I think it’s called prairie grass, but who cares when it tickles as you pass it by?

Mama says we did my Walktober too late to capture what must’ve been a brilliant red tree:

But this one made up for it:

And somebody better get out their rake:

All right! Another successful walk and not a speck of vomit!

I Monkey hope you enjoyed our excursion. Get out and take a walk of your own, post about it, and hook it up to the Official Walktober Post so Dawn will know to include you. We all want to see where your travels took you!

Signing off,

Monkey your walking guide

Nowhere can I think so happily as in a train. — A.A. Milne, English writer best known for creating Winnie-the-Pooh bear

Once again, it’s time for Walktober!

(You can read the details about it — dates, etc. — at Dawn’s blog. Join us if you can — the more, the merrier!)

This year, I decided to change things up a bit. The walk I took last year was breath-taking but having talked to others who live in that area and learning how desolate (and potentially dangerous) such a solitary walk could be, I opted to surround myself with living, breathing humans!

Sadly, the Fall colors hadn’t arrived when I took my jaunt. Oh, I’m seeing points of color now, but peak leaf-peeping doesn’t happen until mid- to late-October, and the place I wanted to visit would close for the season by then, so I had to get a move on.

I drove to Monticello (IL) and visited their all-volunteer Railway Museum, one of about a dozen museums in Illinois devoted to the preservation of railroad history.

Historic depot — All Aboard!

My agenda was to wander the rail yards until I heard the conductor shout, “All Aboard!” and pull the whistle. Then, I’d line up with parents, grandparents, and kids; climb onto a vintage passenger car pulled by a historic diesel engine and enjoy a train ride.

Illinois Central diesel engine that pulled our train

Train rides occur at this museum only on weekends. Some trains (like the one I rode) use diesel engines, while others operate on steam. A variety of special events (including the popular, already-sold-out Polar Express), draw train enthusiasts from across the area.

The museum collection includes pieces — some, more than 100 years old — gathered from across the U.S. mostly through purchase or donation. I saw locomotives (diesel and steam), passenger cars, freight cars, and cabooses, many of which are operational; others are undergoing renovation or repair.

Old-time steam locomotive wasn’t pulling trains that weekend

Pullman cars for passengers

Tanker car

Caboose

Additionally, there are all sorts of outbuildings for maintenance and storage, as well as artifacts designed to preserve railroad history.

Inside this car were exhibits and railroad memorabilia

But it’s the train ride itself that’s such a huge draw. Rumbling down the tracks over a former railroad line from the museum through Monticello (county seat of Piatt County) to another depot takes about a half-hour. Visitors can either ride right back (another 30 minutes) or hang out, shop, and eat lunch on the city square before taking a later train back.

Look at that old manual typewriter!

Perhaps it’s growing up in the Midwest in a “train town,” but I’ve long found travel by train to be especially winsome. The gentle rocking of the wheels on the track, combined with the lonesome call of the whistle, makes me relax and breathe as nothing else can.

No wonder so many songs and books relive the magic of trains!

View outside one of my windows — see? The trees really hadn’t turned yet

View outside another window — lots of corn waiting to be harvested

Inside a caboose, where train workers lived while traveling/working

Of course, this was a historic train, not Amtrak. The passenger car wasn’t air-conditioned (though open windows and a nice breeze kept things comfy). The seats weren’t padded, nor did they recline. There was no snack car. No restroom. No sleeping car. And I didn’t even check for wi-fi.

Look at these bunk beds — not sure I’d feel especially safe with that webbing to prevent the top passenger from slipping to the floor!

Still, it made for a memorable Walktober. If you haven’t done your walk — or ride, bicycle, swim, roller skate, whatever — I encourage you to get out and do so. We want to share in your adventure!

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel Butler, English novelist and critic

One of the magazines I casually glanced through many years ago had a regular feature section called “Who Wears It Better?”

Apparently, the compiler photographed two celebrities on separate occasions sporting very similar outfits, yet one invariably came up short.

Maybe the style wasn’t as flattering on them as on the other person; maybe the color or accessories were wrong.

Anyway, I remembered a photo I’d taken of Dallas (circa 2016) and decided to see my two Shelties side by side in glasses. Monk is on the left; Dallas is on the right.

So, who wears those spectacles better?

Love and a cough cannot be hid. ~Proverb

There once was a saucy butterfly
Who clung to a bush by and by
He fluttered his wings
And did everything
To catch a pretty miss’s eye.

Note: Poetry form is Limerick.

For even worse than laziness of body is laziness of the mind and heart. ~May Sinclair, British novelist, poet, and critic

A few days ago, I went to WalMart to pick up some things I needed, and I came out so disgusted and angry I was ready to throttle somebody.

Anybody.

Here’s what happened — and I’ll be interested in hearing if you (as intelligent, well-meaning readers) feel the same way, or if I’m way off base:

I’d finished shopping and was searching for a place to check out.

The self-service lanes were only partially open, and most of the associate-operated lanes were three or four carts deep, but finally, I noticed an empty lane.

Pulling in, I found a young associate playing on her phone.

She looked up, glared at me (that I’d dared interrupt her important business, I guess), and proceeded to ring my items up.

Not a word crossed her lips.

No “Hello.” No “Did you find everything you were looking for?” Not even a “Isn’t it hot outside?”

Nothing.

When she’d finished (basically cramming my things into bags that should’ve been separated so I could carry them), she mumbled the total.

And then she practically tossed the receipt at me, saying, “Here ya go.”

No “Thank you for shopping with us.” No “Have a nice rest of your day.” No “I’m having a rotten day, and I’m sorry to take it out on you.”

Nothing.

Now I haven’t been living in a cave for the past two decades. I know things in our country (and world, actually) are pretty sorry for a lot of people.

Too many folks are out of work (or under-employed). Too many folks don’t seem to know how to relate to others anymore (blame it on the pandemic … or social media).

But this girl looked well fed. Well clothed. And she had a job.

Maybe it wasn’t the job she wanted — or thought she deserved. But, handled properly, it was a job that could keep her off the streets, living in a tent with a shopping cart of her things nearby.

WalMart employees earn about $18 an hour. Which doesn’t sound like much, but if she’d wanted the Big Bucks, she’d have gone to college or technical school.

Perhaps she wasn’t completely and properly trained. Perhaps she never should’ve been hired in the first place. And there must be a place in Heaven for employees with a positive attitude, eagerness to learn, basic friendliness, and industriousness.

Am I stretching too far to see a connection between society’s constant reliance on cell phones and an increase in laziness of mind, heart, and spirit?

Some school districts seem to think so and have banned mobile devices during school hours. Shouldn’t businesses do the same?

He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass. ~Proverb

My mama snaps a photo
As I sit and do my pose
She says that these are peonies
She might be right. Who knows?

Yes, they’re pretty, Mama,
You’re right about that, indeed.
But aren’t you forgetting something
Upon which we earlier agreed?

I said I’d pose for your camera
If you’d reward me in turn;
One special treat is all I ask,
Your forgetting that is a concern.

But I won’t hold it against you —
I’m forgiving just that way.
Next time, bring the good treats,
And maybe I’ll look your way!

Note: Poetry form is some kind of rhyming quatrains, I think.

 

 

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ~Proverb

I Monkey here.

Did you know National Dog Day occurred on Aug. 26 (as it does every year)?

Bet not, right?

Did you celebrate with a furry friend or two?

No? I Monkey thought as much.

You all are as bad as Mama.

Now, I Monkey realize these “pretend holidays” that have been added to the calendar to give folks something to post to Instagram, Facebook, and the like aren’t as well-known as, say, Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day.

But I can’t give Mama a pass on neglecting this one. After all, I distinctly heard the Alexa thingamajig tell her that morning about the holiday. And I know her computer had promptings, too.

Did we celebrate? Did I get extra treats? Did I get to go on an adventure, maybe to the Petsmart to pick out a new toy?

No, no, and no.

Humph.

Now, in Mama’s defense, she did take me on a nice walk, and she did give me treats when we practiced my Puppy School commands. And she did hang around home most of the day, keeping me company, rather than taking off on a solo adventure.

But what about “just because” treats? I’ve been awfully good lately, so why didn’t I get them?

Well, Mama claims she can’t afford to give me fattening treats anymore because I’m turning into a “chunker.”

Humph. Fat-shaming, I say.

I mean, finally, I’m able to enjoy and keep my food down (because of the stomach problems I had when I was a little monkey), so a few extra pounds shouldn’t be looked at askance.

Mama says around here, every day is Dog Day. And don’t tell her, but she’s got a point. She did celebrate International Sheltie Day on June 1, after all.

But for those organized folks who’d like to celebrate National Dog Day next year, here are some suggestions to tuck into your planner:

Donate to your local animal shelter, stuff like towels, blankets, toys, or cashWalk a dog whose owner has trouble with that sort of thing (perhaps due to surgery or old age)Spend extra time with your own dog doing fun stuffDrive through the bank and get a pup treat for your dogPuppy massageSpend time brushing your dog (or take him to a spa)Bake puppy treats (recipes are online)