Railroad Photo Adventure

OK, here's the deal.......just as I stepped into the house after morning chores, my cell phone sitting on the kitchen counter beeped that a text message had come in. Good thing I heard it, for I rarely remember to check my phone for messages. It was from my son, informing me he had forgotten his retainer at home this morning, and would I mind running it to the school office for him.

My first thought was: Yes, do it. My second thought was: No......let him go for a day without wearing the retainer. Third thought being: By all means, yes, do it, and take the camera along and do some hunting for photo ops on this snowflake-filled morning. The third thought clinched the deal, so I quickly changed out of my stinky chore coat and jumped into the Envoy, backing it to the barn so I could shout my plans to Husband, who was running the noisy straw-chopper. I left out the part about photo-hunting.......he wouldn't see the need of doing that. If there's one thing I learned early on in my marriage, its this: if I get an idea to do something......the best thing to do is just do it, and tell Husband about it afterwards, because he rarely holds high opinions of activities not directly connected to cows and chores. Go ahead and criticize me as a bad wife, but we all figure out what to do to survive and thrive.

After dropping the retainer off at the school office, I headed for some roads down by the Wapsipinicon River. (If I would have told Husband I was intending to drive over by the river, he'd have frowned and said......"If you get stuck, don't call me.") I wasn't worried about getting stuck anywhere. The roads are a bit sloppy, but not deeply muddy.

My destination was an old metal bridge.......photos of it I'll post another day. This photo was taken from that bridge, looking north towards a railroad bridge.

In thinking of this area, I had anticipated quietness, but instead there was a loud commotion going on in the woods to the north.......like someone cutting trees, possibly. Sure enough, when I looked down the railroad tracks, here's what I saw:

This machine was trimming trees on both sides of the tracks. Interesting......I'd never seen one of those before! This railroad track has seen increased use the past couple years, ever since an ethanol plant was built near one of the neighboring small towns. Obviously, a railroad track would need continued maintenance, including tree and brush trimming in wooded areas.

Then I looked the other way, and saw another vehicle coming down the tracks in the distance. See the stray branches on the tracks......maybe that next vehicle contains workers who will remove the branch cuttings that remain on the tracks.

I enjoyed my morning's adventure! And I learned something about railroad maintenance. My route home also took me past the old pioneer cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried.......photos for another post from there, also. Everything looks amazingly different in a snowy atmosphere like we had this morning. I'm glad now that my son forgot his retainer!! It gave me an excuse to be out and about!

I did put the memory card in the digital photo frame our kids gave us for Christmas, and Husband watched the photos from my morning's adventure while he ate lunch. He enjoyed them, but I assure you, if I'd have told him where I was headed earlier, he would have been way less than enthusiastic about it, and I have trouble tolerating that. Thus, its best to avoid it.