Wednesday, June 27, 2012

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... 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

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...

Monday, June 25, 2012

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...

Friday, June 22, 2012

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...

Thursday, June 21, 2012

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...

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

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...

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

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...

Monday, June 18, 2012

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...

Thursday, June 14, 2012

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...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

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...

Monday, June 11, 2012

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...

Thursday, June 7, 2012

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...

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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...

Monday, June 4, 2012

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...

Friday, June 1, 2012

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...