Maginon Trail Camera Review- Sponsored

Pretty excited to finally get a #trailcam for our property! i'm always curious to know what is lurking around our property at night!  We've had bear, bobcats, fox and coyotes come through, but have never been able to catch them on camera.  Maginon sent me their WK 30-HD Trail camera to review. 

This Trail cam comes with 8 AA Batteries, Mounting belt, Wall mount, USB cable and Instruction manual. 

It didn't come with the SD card, so you have to provide your own. Once you insert the card, you can set the camera. The camera can be set to take pics or videos or a picture + a video. You can set how many pictures it takes, and how long the video plays.  It was easy to set up, although i still need to change the time/date.

 When i first got it, i set it up in an area where the deer typically come through, but after two days the only thing on the camera was me turning it on. Since i wanted to review it soon, and didn't want to wait days (or weeks) for a critter to show up i decided to set it up in the chicken coop just to see how it captured the images. 

i had fun checking through all the videos that it captured yesterday. Since it was in the chicken coop most of the videos are of the chickens of course, but i also caught my beagle walking past, my husband closing up the chicken coop and a RAT running around in the dark. eek! i'm looking forward to seeing this up in different areas on our land to see what is hanging around. 

According to the description it takes crystal clear day shots in color, black and white shots at night. i wouldn't call the images crystal clear, but  it was raining and hazy yesterday. The images are still good for a trail cam.  i'm going to play around with it some more, and i'm sure i'll be posting lots of videos of the different critters we capture on it.   i set it out again last night on the deer trail, and it took several videos. Although there were no critters in the video,  i could hear something walking around in the leaves so i may have to change the view of my camera.  Tonight i'll be placing it further out in the woods near our creak. i've very curios to see what comes to drink there. 

This is a nice camera, it's durable and waterproof.  It comes with a 3 year warranty.

You can find more information about the #maginon Trail Camera here-  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GDV55DZ  

i did receive the product at no cost and a small compensation for my review, but it did not influence my opinion of the product. My opinions are my own.
#sponsored #referral 

Winter came early- Ice Storm Nov. 2018

 Winter came early this year, with a pretty significant ice storm before Thanksgiving.   Almost the entire county lost power.  Our own power was out for over 5 days.  Kids were out of school and we all had a bit of cabin fever.

It was too cold  (and slippery) to hike the woods, but i did take a walk up the road just to snap a few pictures.  The main roads were mostly clear, except for tree branches that snapped and trees down because of the weight of the ice.  Our road wasn't too bad, but the Parkway was closed for quite a while so they could clear the roads and clean up the mess left from all the ice.

There was a heavy layer of ice on every.  Pretty, but destructive.

We were quite lucky that we didn't have any damage at our house. We have a gas powered generator so we were able to keep the refrigerator and deep freezer running and didn't lose all the food we grew, foraged and preserved in the freezer.  We were able to stay warm with the woodstove and heat water on it for tea.

November is really pretty early for a winter storm. Some years i've grown lettuce and leafy greens into December, but this year every was done by the second week in November. Even the plants in the greenhouse froze solid.

Although it's destructive, ice is always so beautiful. It seems to stop time and capture everything in a thick layer of glistening stillness.  i was not ready for winter to come so early, but definitely gave in and submitted once it arrived.  Some years i refuse to accept winter and fight it, but i've gotten much better at embracing it, slowing down and welcoming the quietness of the season.

I am grateful for the silence of winter mornings, for the beauty and wonder of the glint of sunlight in frost melting to dew, for the early-riser's peaceful solitude that sets a mood of thankfulness, hope, and calm for the dawning day. ~Terri Guillemets

Indian Valley Fall Festival 2018- CANCELED DUE TO WINTER STORM

 The Indian Valley Fall Festival is this Friday from 4:30- 8pm.  There will be bounce houses and games for the kids. The event is free to attend, but wristbands need to be purchased for the bounce house and games. 

i'll be set up to vend again this year.  Other vendors typically include 31 bags, scentsy, Lularoe and many artists and handcrafters.

i'll be set up again this year as a vendor selling my handmade jewelry, lamp work glass and more!

These are a few examples of items i'll for sale this year.  My glass pendant make great holiday gifts!  Each one is unique. They range in price from $10-$15 and come with a cord and a small organza gift bag..perfect for gifting! 

My beaded jewelry stock is down a bit from the market season, but i will have several pieces available. i'm looking forward to making more this winter! 

i'll have lots of crocheted bags, hats and even a couple amigurumi dolls. 

IVES is offering a lot more with their wristbands this year! Bouncy houses, face painting, hair paint, photo booth, games, and balloon animals. We will have an early bird special for wristbands. They will start at $10!! They will be $15 at the door. They will have lots of local vendors! A great time to get some Christmas Shopping done while the kids play! Cake walk, 50/50, and food!! A great time to for families and the whole community!! 

Upcoming festivals- Fall on the Lawn!

i'll be set up all day selling my glass pendants and jewelry.  Come on out for a fun filled day! 

October 27 , 12 -8 pm behind the Floyd Center for the Arts.

7th DC Trip

Back in October i chaperoned the 7th grade field trip to Washington DC.  It was a jam packed, 3 day, whirlwind adventure.  When we returned home i spent the next day in bed.  i was just ridiculously exhausted, both physically and mentally.

Many of the places we stopped at did not allow photos, so this is just a few of the places we visited. The 7th grade teacher who put together the field trip, did an amazing job to give these kids what is probably a once in a lifetime trip. 

We spent 3 days in DC and saw an unbelievable amount of stuff in that time. Our itinerary was 

Day 1. depart Indian Valley at 6:45

11:30 Udvar-Hazy Space Center & lunch on site 

3pm Spy Museum and Operation Spy 

6pm Pentagon Mall for shopping and dinner 

8:30 leave for hotel. 

Day 2- breakfast at hotel 

8 am Arlington Cemetery 

10:30 Capital tour, lunch at the capital 

12:30 Natural History Museum 

2:30 Holocaust Museum 

4pm Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

 6pm dinner & shopping at Union Station 

7:30 walking night tour of monuments and memorials return to hotel around 10:30 pm. 

Day 3- breakfast at hotel 

8:30 Driving tour of National Cathedral and Embassy Row 

10am National Archives 

11:30 American History Museum & lunch 

2pm Museum of American Indian 

3pm depart for home, and stop for dinner 

home between 9pm-10pm.

Day 1. First stop was the Udvar-Hazy Space Center. There was a lot of interesting things to see, but the kids in my group were more interested in speeding through the museum as fast as they could, making it difficult to stop and read anything. 

There were a some neat things too look at and the building itself is two huge airplane hangers. 

 We were not allowed to take photos at the Spy Museum, but it wasn't my favorite stop anyhow. We  participated in Operation Spy, which is an immersive, interactive experience at the International Spy Museum where you're the spy. The place was in need of some major repairs, we couldn't complete some of our tasks because of faulty equipment and then ended up locked in area when the control pannel that unlocks the doors broke. Our 'spy' agent had to contact help to unlock the doors. lol. The best part of that museum was the gift shop, which did have a lot of fun items.  According to their page the spy museum has moved, so hopefully it will be a better experience for the next groups that go through it. i wasn't really a fan.

After the spy museum we went to the National Mall for dinner. The mall was ginormous. My group (3 tween girls) tried to spend all of their money at the first store we walked in. i've never been in a mall so large, and hope to never have to be in one again. 

 Day 2. Arlington Cemetery. We visited JFK's memorial and watched the changing of the guard ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

We toured the Capital building which was interesting. i most enjoyed the architecture and artwork in the building. Interesting little tidbit- the beautiful chandelier lighting in the Capital building was made here in Floyd, by Crenshaw Lighting. i of course, failed to take any pictures of the lights. :) 

Next stop was the National Museum of Natural History.   They have a butterfly exhibit at the very top of the museum that i wanted walk through, but it was an additional cost and the kids in my group were more interested in spending their money on souvenirs than on the butterfly exhibit. So they raced through the museum and we spent most of our time in the gift shops.

Pictures were not allowed at the Holocaust museum. We only visited the children's exhibit which is called  Remember the Children-Daniel's Story. It was very difficult to view and i can only imagine how devastating and horrific the full museum must be.

Another Air and Space Museum.  i had a different group with this museum and they were actually interested in the museum so we got to causally explore the museum instead of just racing through.  After this we stopped for dinner at Union Station and then did the night walking tour of the monuments.   

At this point i was so tired, my brain just about shut down. i took a ton of pictures, but none of them were really very exciting. It was really cold and we walked a ton, but it was a neat experience seeing the monuments all lit up.  i believe it was close to or even after 11pm by the time we returned to the hotel.

Day 3.  We did a driving tour of the National Cathedral and Embassy Row. i actually really enjoyed seeing embassy row, just wish the bus didn't drive so fast through it all. It made it very difficult to take pictures or really know what we were looking at. 

We also visited the American History Museum and Museum of the American Indian.  Both were interesting, though we didn't have enough time to really see it all. The Museum of the American Indian was favorite and the last thing we did. So we really were rushed for time there.  

It was really neat trip for the kids to be able to see as much as they did. i would like to go back some day and do it on my own time, where i'm not responsible for other peoples kids, following such tight itinerary and i can actually take my time and see the exhibits.