A June Birthday

The Stella d'Oros have reached their peak for 

blooming this early summer.  It is so very hot and

dry right now.  The temp tomorrow is supposed

to reach 106!!  How we will survive July and

August if this keeps up, I don't know.

 

Chicory, a wildflower that grows in the fields and along side the roads.

The heat may slow me down, but it doesn't

slow down the march of time.  I ask this question

quite often lately...where do the days go?

This month will soon be over.  

But, before it ends we have a birthday to

 celebrate!  Our son will celebrate 35 years 

in a few days.  

 

He will be home for his birthday and will

bring his pup, Marley, with him.  It should

be interesting with 2 kitties that are still

getting acquainted!  I hope we can keep things

calm.  Our son travels a lot and

puts in long hours and needs some R and R 

every chance he gets. 

It wasn't too many years ago, or so it seems, that we 

were going to baseball games in the heat of the summer.

Our son was a pitcher and played first base and

occasionally other positions.  He was quite good at

pitching, as was his dad in his heyday.  I'll never

forget one particular game that he pitched a no-hitter.

It was exciting...he pitched the whole game

and it was against a team from a much larger town. 

We are looking forward to sharing his birthday

with him.  He is a lot of fun to be around as well

as just being an all-around good guy and a

wonderful son!  We love him very much!

Happy Birthday, Brett!!

I will be taking a blog break for a few days.

Enjoy the rest of the week and weekend!!  

 Until next time... 

Barn Charm

I pass by this barn often and just recently thought

to pull over on the shoulder of the highway

to snap a photo.  The traffic was light that day so

it wasn't too difficult.  Too bad I can't get a 

shot of the front of the barn.

This building sits fairly close to the barn.

  The little sign on the front says

"The Hen Hotel".

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

Birdwatching

This bird is seen every now and then at the finch feeder.

I'm not sure, but think he's a House Finch.  Or is

he a Purple Finch?

 

It's so hot here lately and I'm having a hard time

keeping some of my flowers alive.  Several

have just given up in this heat.  I've replaced 

flowers in a few pots 3 different times!  

Part of the trouble is that 2 little kittens have

 decided the pots are their potties!! 

My dear hubby went down to the creek for 

me and brought back several little flat rocks for

me to fit around the flowers to keep out kittens.

Isn't he nice?  Mama kitty is too hot to be

bothered with chasing the birds.  So, they're safe

for the time being.  I hope!  

Until next time...

What color?

The roofing contractor came by the other day to give us a bid and left us a sample board of different colored architectural shingles.  About the time I think I know which would be the best color, I change my mind!  I need help!!  We've got white shingles on the roof now, which actually looks like light gray since it's aged.  Roofing guy says that many are going to a black or gray shingle in the bigger cities, but smaller towns still using white with red brick.  As you can see in the above photo, the brick on our house is all red, there aren't any variations in color.  Unless you count the mortar they splashed on it in places!  The trim on the house is painted white.  We don't have shutters.  Ideas?  When you are going to spend thousands of dollars, you want to pick the right color!   I will say that green or brown tones are not an option.  I'm leaning toward a grayish color or black.

If anyone remembers that we were going to remodel our bathroom...that project is still awaiting the carpenter!   I'd like to get a different carpenter at this point, but the man to do the work is my daughter's former FIL, and she is still friends with her ex-inlaws, so we don't want to cause hurt feelings there.  He has a full time job and does carpentry on the side, so he works when he has days off or after hours, etc.  Hopefully, he'll get to this job soon.  We've had everything bought and ready for months now.  It's time to get the show on the road, as they say!!!

I've been having a hard time keeping some of my flowers going in this very hot weather we're having this year.  I bought a few replacement flowers again yesterday.  I wanted to get them planted today, but haven't gotten motivated to do so.  They can wait another day.  Hubby gets off work at 2:30 during the summer, and we have a date this afternoon!   Hope your day is a good one and that you have a beautiful weekend!!

Until next time...

From my window....

We've been seeing 3 deer almost every evening in our pasture.  I just know they are waiting for the garden to grow a little more.  

Look at the velvet!  That will be rubbed off the antlers in the fall and the antlers will come off later in the winter months.  New antlers are grown in the spring.  

These shots were taken in the late evening, so I enhanced the color a bit in order to see the deer better.  These shots were taken out the window.   Do you have deer in your neighborhood? 

Until next time...

June Note Card Party

It's Note Card Party time at A Haven for Vee.  

I don't have a particular theme for this

month, but most of them include water.  It

must be because of the very hot weather we're having.

Most of the photos were taken last year.

This really looks inviting on a hot summer late afternoon.  

A favorite little park I like to visit includes a one-room

schoolhouse very similar to one I attended as a youngster.

The Lake of the Ozarks is a popular summer destination

for many Missourians.

This is one of the several lakes very near my town.  One of
my favorite places to go for snapping sunsets.

Speaking of weather, I had to laugh at something I saw

  on the Weather Channel tonight.  It gave our

temperature as 94 degrees for tomorrow and winds

at 200 mph.  Say what??  200??  I sure hope that was a typo!!

If you don't hear from me again, you'll know the

wind carried me away! 

To see more Note Cards, be sure to visit here.

Until next time...

Barn Charm

My photos this week for Barn Charm were taken at Warm Springs Ranch near Boonville, MO.  This is a Clydesdale breeding farm  established in 2008 and is home to more than 100 Clydesdales ranging from foals to stallions.  Tours are given at this farm and my daughter, with a few helpers, took several young kids from her school last year.  These photos are hers, but since she borrowed my camera I borrowed her photos!  I thought you might enjoy a little tour, too.  

Look at those feet!

Just a few of the stalls inside.

He doesn't look too happy about being watched 

while getting his bath.

If you would like to see more photos and learn more about Warm Springs Ranch and the Clydesdales, click here.

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

Deja vu

How was your weekend?  It rained here and I just had to take a photo of the puddle at the edge of the patio from my window. We got nearly 2 inches of rain that started Saturday evening and lasted into the night.  I'm telling you...it was an event, since it had been about 2 months since we've had any rain to really make a difference.  

Now, about the deja vu.  

Hubby was on-call this weekend and had to work during the storm that came through.  He was out until around 3 am Sunday morning.  When he came home, he brought a surprise with him.  

This little kitten was standing in the rain all alone, crying for help.  Well, none of the other linemen wanted to deal with the kitten so my soft-hearted hubby brought it home.  

This very same thing happened almost exactly 3 years ago.  Hubby had worked a storm restoring power and when the job was finished and he was walking to his truck around 2 am to come home, a kitten appeared out of no where and he brought it home.  The kitten was named Stormy and the rest is, as they say, history.  

What's so amazing is that the last time this happened it was also in June, my son was also visiting that weekend, and the linemen helping were the same men that helped 3 years ago.  Normally, only 2 lineman go out on a call, but this time the same thing happened as 3 years ago and they needed a third lineman to help out.  What a coincidence!! 

It may not look like it in this photo, but this little kitten that was abandoned at the co-op building was starving and is so thin that I just cringe when I run my hand down its  back and feel its little bones.  We have fed the bottomless little pit countless times.  She's really sweet and friendly, but we're going to look for a home for her.  We have tried to introduce her to our little family of kitties outside, but they aren't being very sociable.  And, of course, Stormy, our inside kitty, does not like any other animal around.  

I don't understand how people can abandon these little animals, if that is what happened.  How do they expect them to find food? 

I wanted to share our deja vu moment.  It is strange that the exact same thing happened 3 years ago.  How about you...any deja vu stories to share?  I'd like to hear them!  

Until next time...

This and that...and an anniversary

The two little furballs continue to be a source 

of entertainment at our house.  

It doesn't take a lot to amuse me.

I enjoy simple things, simple living.

 I could spend hours watching the kittens,

the birds, and tending my flowers. 

I don't enjoy seeing my flowers having problems.

My coreopsis has developed a fungus of some sort.

The leaves on some of the plants look ash colored.

If you know what this is and what I should do,

please let me know.

 I went to Columbia today 

to do a bit of shopping.  Don't tell my hubby, but I

bought a few more flowers.  Not many, but I couldn't

resist the sale at one store where the sales person told

me that they were being invaded by Japanese beetles in

that part of town.  I looked the plants over

carefully before bringing them home!  

June is the big month for weddings.  There are many

of you celebrating wedding anniversaries.  Yours

truly and hubby celebrated 41 years this week. 

   How can that be?  Why, we must have gotten 

married at a very young age!  Actually, I married a 

man who was 2 1/2 years younger than me and had 

just returned home from the Vietnam War when I met

him.  I didn't know how to cook when we got married.

My job when I lived at home was house cleaning.

So, I at least knew how to keep the house clean.

Poor hubby had to put up with some burned food

until I learned how to cook, which really didn't take

all that long.  We decided on having a baby right

away, so our daughter was born almost a year 

later.  Five years after that, we had a son to make

our family complete.  It's been an interesting 41

years.  I pray that there will be many more!

Until next time...

Barn Charm Tuesday

Once again it's time for Barn Charm!  My offering this

week is a barn that I've driven by many times in the past.

It is on a county blacktop road that takes me to the

farm where I grew up and once a year or so 

I like to drive through the area. 

 It looks like they started painting this old barn and then 

abandoned the project, doesn't it?

The house on this large farm is still well cared for, I

hope they take will care of the barn, too. 

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

Birds on a wire

"There she is again with that camera in hand."

"I'll just try to ignore her."

"You're still there?  What's a Goldfinch gotta do

to have some privacy around here?"

You may have guessed that I love watching and

snapping my little feathered friends!    

I have a few shots of birds that I'm not positive

 just what they are and will be showing 

them another time.  I'm hoping some of my

fellow bird-lovers can help me identify them.

A lot of my shots are taken of the birds 

on the utility wires or cable wire,

  thus the title "Birds on a wire".

Until next time...

Of blogging and birds...

Are you ever tempted to chuck your blog during the spring and  summer months?  

I honestly think about it when I'm really busy.  Then a very hot day comes along and I don't want to be outside or even work inside with the a/c on and I'll find myself back in blogland.  I just know I might miss something really interesting.  Now, I can take short breaks, but for several months?  I don't think so.  So, I'll keep slogging blogging away as long as I'm able.  Besides, there's always a new bird photo to show or a flower or a furry critter or.....

 
a Great Blue Heron, who is a frequent visitor, walking toward the pond.  This photo was taken a few days ago.  The grass is getting more brown with each passing day without rain.  You might see the drier, more brown grass, in the first photo, behind the daylilies where the large hay bale is in our pasture near the pond.

My bluebirds are still around.  I had wondered where they were when I didn't see them for a few days.  I suspect the increasing kitty population has had something to do with their increasingly infrequent visits. 

Speaking of kittens, I was asked yesterday about where they sleep.  We have a large patio nearly the length of our house in back and at one end of the patio is a small storage building.  We started leaving the door slightly ajar when the mama kitty started hanging around and it was cold outside.  She was a feral cat, but quickly became used to us and is now very friendly.  Now, we're working on taming the kittens...the black is coming around, the gray is very wild!

Until next time...

Cutie pies

Look what's new at our house. 

Aren't they just the cutest?

 Their mama is a gray kitty that wondered

onto our property and decided to stay.

Free meals and a place to sleep probably

had something to do with that decision.

 With Socks, the neighbor kitty, hanging around

too, I suppose these two were inevitable.

  

This one is the biggest kitten and the wilder one.

The smallest kitten is the most playful and

friendly and can be picked up occasionally. 

 We haven't had many kittens in recent years,

 so we're having a lot of fun watching

 this pair play together.

It is impossible to keep a straight face

in the presence of one or more kittens. 

 ~Cynthia E. Varnado

 

We've reassured Stormy that she is and

always will be Number One!

Until next time...

Time for Barn Charm

This barn in mid-Missouri was shot in late April.

 Wonder why they put some silos so close to

the barns?

 The building you see just over

the left side is the farmer's house. 

I'm linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

My Friday

A happy June 1st to you!  I was so happy to capture

my first Baltimore Oriole yesterday evening.  I shot

this out of my window, so it's not as clear as I'd like,

but I was thrilled to get a shot.  He's a beautiful bird and

I've been looking for him all spring!

 

I'm puppy-sitting my son's pup, Marley, today.  

Marley and I are going outside in a few minutes to

plant (or I should say replant) a few pots.

The petunias have not been doing well so far.  Some

years I have good luck with them and other years they

won't last very long.  This time, I'm replacing the 

dying petunias with a different flower.

We had a few clouds and a tiny bit of rain the 

other day, but we need so much more.  It's

very dry right now.  We have much cooler

temps today and that is nice!  

This is a busy day and has been a busy week, so 

I'm going to turn off this computer and 

get back to work.  I'm hoping to catch up on what 

everyone has been doing very soon.

Have a wonderful day and weekend!

Until next time...