Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Barn Charm


I snapped this old faded beauty this past weekend.
She's seen better days, as have so many of the old
wooden barns of this style.  I really wish they would
try to keep some of these barns in better shape so
they will last for future generations to know
 and appreciate and love.

 

 I walked closer to get a shot of the inside.  It was a bit
eerie.  The wind caused one of the doors to
swing back and forth on rusty hinges.  The sound was
one of abandonment.
 

So many of the barns of this style have the two 
small windows where the hay loft is.  I 
thought the knotty wood siding with the faded
red paint and a tree casting a shadow over all
was interesting.
  
I snapped a few quick shots and got out of
   Dodge before I was caught trespassing.
 It really wasn't the eerie sound of the swinging
door that had me hurrying away.  It wasn't.
Was it?

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

Monday, February 27, 2012

Just because

 

Beautiful flowers.  Just the thing to brighten
 up a windy February day.  My lovely daughter
picked these up for me for no other reason than 
Just Because.  What a sweet thing to do!
 Have I ever mentioned what wonderful 
children I have? 


Look closely, you'll see Stormy peeking
through the flowers.  She never misses
an opportunity to get in front of the camera. 

It looks like it might be a busy week here.
Hope yours is a good one.
  
Until next time... 

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Saturday's sightings


I haven't snapped many birds this winter and one of the reasons is that we have had 2 uninvited cats hanging around our house.  One of them, I'm afraid, has taken up permanent residence and the other is a frequent visitor.  


Don't get me wrong, I'm quite fond of cats but I love my birds, too.  The cats have been keeping my birds away from the feeders in the back yard.  Well, at least during the times that the light is good and I want to shoot photos out my window!


This Tufted Titmouse was kind enough to sit still for a few shots today.  He was a little nervous while watching one of the cats watching him.


Here she is looking up in the tree just behind her.  She is almost grown and a sweet little kitty.  We've been feeding her.  After all, how can you turn away a hungry little beggar all alone in the world?  Of course, the other cat that is a frequent visitor is a male.  You know what that means.  I hope we can find a good home for her.


I've been seeing Robins this week.  This shot was taken just before I snapped the photos of the Titmouse and I have no idea why it turned out blurry.   I love the first sighting of robins each year, that definitely tells me that spring is on the way! 

Until next time... 

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Lemons, anyone?


I've been reading recently about how there are a lot of 
health benefits in the drinking of lemon water.

I was at a health food store in COMO to buy a bottle
of calcium and on the way out, I stopped
and picked up one of their free publications.
Inside was an article about Carrie Ann Inaba, one
of the judges on D.ances W.ith the S.tars.  She
mentioned her parents and their battle with cancer
and how it caused her to reexamine her own
lifestyle and health choices and set about finding
out what she could to hopefully prevent getting
cancer in the first place.  One of her new
prevention habits is beginning and ending each
day with a glass of lemon water so that her body
can be more alkaline than acidic.   She had learned
that cancer cells have a tough time thriving in an 
alkaline environment.  

  I don't know what to think about the alkaline vs acidic theory,
some say there is a lot to it but others say not so much.
I have read where lemons have many health benefits.
I won't list them all since they can be found by googling.
I have found out one important thing, at least for me.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Just plain lemon water makes me pucker, I have
to add a little sweetener to mine!  

What about you?  Do you use lemons for any
reason besides cooking or baking?  

Until next time...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Barn Charm


This old relic was seen driving down a gravel road not too far from us.  These are the barns I remember from my childhood.   I was interested to read in Tricia's post that Missouri ranks 2nd in having the most barns.  Texas was first.  I was kind of surprised at the 2nd place, but then Missouri isn't a small state as it is ranked at 19 on the list for state size in the US.  I think a lot of the barns are in my county, so I should never run out of them to snap!

Zooming in, it's looks like quite a large barn.  I don't know how many times this has been said, but isn't it a shame that they are left to fall into ruin?   

Linking to Tricia's  Barn Charm

Until next time...

Monday, February 20, 2012

A Moo-ving Story

Look who is hogging the hay!
 
"Uh..oh...busted!"
   
"Now what do I do?"

"I'll just go back to eating, that's
what I'll do!" 

"On second thought, she might call
the bovine police."

"Maybe I'd better get out of here."

"Coming through!"

"I'm out.  Are you happy now?"

Thanks to my daughter who noticed this scene in the pasture across the road from our house and quickly grabbed my camera and started shooting.  Did you notice the sun was shining?  Three days in a row we had sunshine!  It was great.  Hubby was off Friday and we packed a bag and headed down the highway.  We had a fun visit in Kansas City with our son.  I didn't snap one photo, just enjoyed the company of my two favorite men.

Until next time...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Blue skies, where are you?


I want to see blue skies!


We've had too many cloudy days lately.
 My mood is turning cloudy.
Does the weather affect your mood?
Tell me I'm not alone.

I need to fill my days with cleaning out
closets or painting the beadboard for the
bathroom remodel.  We have everything
we need, we're just needing to give the carpenter
the go-ahead.  He's ready now...we're not.  There
are a few things on our end to do like get
the beadboard painted, rip off the old tiles, 
things like that.  Why are we stalling?  I think
because it's winter.  We I don't like the house in
disarray during the best of days, but winter?
Winter is gloomy enough without a huge mess to
deal with too.  Okay, enough of that.  
 I'll just have to be brave and get started, and know
that when this project is done that I will be 
so glad and the skies will be blue again.


In the meantime, let me look closer at the tree. 
 See the bird's nest?
  

I've been watching this nest since the leaves 
have fallen.  No matter how much it has rained
or how windy it has gotten, this little work of art
complete with the feather hanging under it 
is still hanging in there and it does appear 
to be hanging.  I'm curious which bird
crafted this nest.  


I don't think the nest belongs to this cardinal, 
but he flew onto a nearby branch just long 
enough for me to quickly snap his picture.
A bright spot in an otherwise cloudy day.

Until next time...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Barns in twilight


The old and the new.  This photo was taken in mid-Missouri just after sunset in late December. 

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

Monday, February 13, 2012

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day

 

Do you set a special table for your Valentine?  I don't know where I'd put it or if I'd ever use it, but I've always admired silver coffee and tea sets like the one above.  It doesn't really fit into our casual lifestyle, but it is so pretty.  I also love pretty dishes and stemmed glassware and have several sets.  If I had the space, I would have dinnerware and glassware in every color.

Will you fix a special meal or go out for dinner?  I don't usually do anything special for Valentine's anymore.  If it were the weekend, we'd probably go out to eat. 


This is the scene that I woke up to early this morning.  The snow is still falling and the weatherman says we will get between 2-4 inches.  I hope he's wrong! 

It's time for me to go check on my feathered friends and see if the feeders need filling.  I'll say Happy Valentine's Day now.  Enjoy your day!

Until next time...

Thursday, February 9, 2012

A snack idea


The Super Bowl has been played, the Giants won...Yay!...snacks have been consumed.  We still have a few things left over that we're still snacking on.  One being the Spicy Saltine Crackers pictured above.  Have you made these?  The simple recipe is as follows:

Spicy Saltine Crackers
3 sleeves of saltine crackers
1 cup Canola Oil
2 TB. red pepper flakes
1 pkg Fiesta Ranch Dressing, dry

Put crackers in a large Ziploc bag or a large bowl.
Add other ingredients and turn frequently at least
a couple of hours.  The longer you turn them,
the better they are.  
Note:  The crackers are pretty 
crowded in a gallon size bag, 
but that's what I use.

* * * * * * * * 
Thanks for all the suggestions about my commenting problem.  I downloaded Google Chrome and I am now able to comment on the blogs that I couldn't before. 

Until next time... 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Red roofed Missouri barn


Red roofed barn somewhere in mid-Missouri, photo taken in December last year.  Another angle of the same barn below.


Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm 
 
Re: Not being able to comment on some blogs.  Several suggested that I switch browsers if I were using Internet Explorer.  I have been using Firefox for a couple of years now.  Maybe I will try Chrome next and see if that will take care of the problem.  

Until next time...

Monday, February 6, 2012

A long awaited sighting

Last week I mentioned a little road trip that we had taken.  My lineman hubby had told me recently of seeing something in this area while patrolling a power line.  Something that I'd been wanting to see.  It was a nice, sunny day as we headed down the highway.  After a few miles through the countryside, we turned down a small gravel road that runs along the Missouri River.


The gravel road was very close to the river, as you can see.  All the sand you see is from the river having changed its course.   I was standing beside the car as I took this shot while asking Hubby "where are they"?   He spotted one right away, but it took me a bit to find it so I could zoom in.  Finally, I spotted a black dot on the sand across the river.  The place where we stopped was one of the few spots that didn't have trees in the way of a clear view of the river.

 
Here he is!  I was pretty excited to see my first Bald Eagle that wasn't flying over my house such as the pair we saw last summer.   Let's get a closer look.


Isn't he a beauty?  Sorry my shot isn't more clear, but I was just a bit excited and it was hard to hold the camera still with the lens zoomed for the closest shot that I could get.  

There was only one Bald Eagle to be seen that day.  He stood still for as long as we were watching, presumably watching the water for a fish to nab for dinner.  It was a short, but sweet road trip.  I got to get a shot of my very first Bald Eagle!
 

I'm still not able to comment on a few of my regular blogs that I read.  I don't know why.  So if I haven't commented on your blog lately, sorry, it's because I can't!  

Until next time...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Winter dreaming


A real friend is someone who takes a winter vacation on a sun-drenched beach and does not send a card.  ~Farmer's Almanac

I wish I could say that the view above was taken from my hotel balcony recently, but in fact this photo was taken by my son on a December business trip to Destin, Florida.  I love the way the reflection of the morning sun shining through the clouds looks on the water.  

We have had some wonderful weather so far this winter.  This time last year, we were in the middle of a big blizzard and could only dream of being somewhere warm and beautiful such as in the scene above.  Some of you live on or near the water, others live with mountains nearby, maybe you live in the midwest like I do and enjoy the rolling countryside.  If you were taking a winter vacation would you head for the beach or enjoy warmer weather in the southwest?  Are you California dreaming or would sitting before a roaring fire in a ski lodge be your cup of tea?  How about just being content to be at home enjoying nice weather this winter?  That's what I'm doing.  However, I might have an occasional thought or two about walking along the beach or sitting on a balcony with a view like the one above.
 
Until next time...