Wordless Wednesday

 

~American Tree Sparrow~

Until next time...

Barn Charm

This red barn was snapped in between our 2 snow storms and the sky was 

overcast that day, so I brightened the photo a bit.  Below is the same

 barn from a little different angle.  

We still have plenty of snow on the ground, but it's

 beginning to melt with the warmer temps.

Be sure to visit Barn Charm

to see many different barns around the country.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

For The Birds

The weekend was pretty quiet for us.  Hubby was catching up on some much needed sleep after working such long hours helping to restore power in our county.  So, I chose a quiet activity by picking up my camera and heading to my window overlooking the back where I feed the birds. 

I had decided to quit putting out suet because it was just attracting the starlings like crazy, so I doubled up on cracked corn with some sunflower seeds mixed in.  The birds were really out in full force the last couple of days and I was delighted to see a couple of Red Headed Woodpeckers in the mix.  They are my very favorite woodpecker.  I love the bold red, white and black colors.  Did you know that they are also referred to as a "flying checkerboard"? 

It was cloudy for most of the shots above and my windows are still dirty, but I was thrilled to get a chance to snap this beauty. 

He seems to be looking right at me in this photo.  Actually he did fly away several times when he saw me get close to the window and I had to be as quick as I could with my slow camera to even get a shot.  Like most birds, he wouldn't sit still for long.  I call him "he" but he might be a "she" as they both look alike.  That was a little tidbit I learned when I bought my first bird book long ago.  

The Red Headed Woodpecker population has severely declined in the past half century due to habitat loss and changes in their food supply.  I will do what I can to keep food out for these little beauties and for all of my feathered friends, especially during the cold, winter months.  Hope your weekend was a good one.  Happy Monday to you!

Until next time...

Friday Favorites

It's Friday!  Did you ever listen to Paul Harvey on the radio?  I always loved hearing those words "Hello, Americans, it's Friday!" at the beginning of his Friday broadcasts.  He was my favorite newscaster and I listened to him for years.   

Today's Friday Favorite from the past  is the old copper boiler in the photo above.  Stormy had to get herself in the picture, but I think you can see enough of the boiler to tell what it looks like.  I had to dump the magazines out and move it to a spot where the light was good enough to get a shot.  The lighting in my house is never very good for photos.  

My dad gave me many things, but he was never one to go to a store to pick out a gift for any of us.  Many years ago, he came by my house and brought me the copper boiler that he had bought at a farm auction.  He loved to go to estate/farm sales and often found a very good bargain.  I was the very happy recipient of this bargain!  It's great to put magazines and books in and it's one of my favorite things that my dad gave me.  

Dad's birthday was on March 2 and he would have been 100 years old tomorrow, so I thought it was fitting to share a favorite treasure from the past that he had given me.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The snow just can't seem to completely stop falling.  We have had a few flurries each day since the second 12 inch snow that fell Tuesday.  My lineman hubby has been working very long hours helping to restore power to the rural areas.  A couple of nights he got in around 2:30 am and was back to work at 7 am the next morning.  He actually got in at 11:30 last night and went in again at 7 this morning.  He told me that about all they had left to get hooked back up were some individual outages.

Most of the people are very grateful for all the hard work the lineman do in this bad weather.  But, there's always a few who have to get mad and say stupid things.  They just don't have any idea what these men have to do to get the job done and in difficult weather conditions and on very little sleep.  One man posted on Facebook that "if the linemen would quit sitting on their butts in their trucks and actually work, then maybe the power would get restored sooner."  

Well, fella, just in case that was my hubby you saw "sitting on his butt doing nothing", he didn't have his usual bucket truck but was in a lighter truck and had seen a downed wire that was also a hot wire, meaning energized, and was watching to make sure no one got into it and got electrocuted.  He was also waiting on a bucket truck to come so that particular line could get rehung.   I know all this because he took the opportunity while waiting to call me to check in and see how things were at home.  

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest.  As I said, most folks are grateful for the linemen who work long hours in less than ideal conditions to get power restored.  They know how badly people want power.  Some of the linemen live in the country themselves, so they know what it's like to not have power, too.  We have had other co-ops send crews to help out, it's been that bad.   

Hope your weekend is a good one.  I know someone who will probably want to sleep the entire weekend! 

Until next time... 

More Snow and Beginning A New Project

We got another 12 inches of the white stuff!  

 

 

This snow was very wet and heavy and caused much havoc with trees and power lines.  We were without electricity in our home for over 7 hours yesterday.  My hubby, who is a rural elec. lineman, was called to work around 6 am yesterday and didn't get home until the wee hours this morning.  He didn't get to sleep long and it was time to go back to work.  They have many broken poles to replace and quite a few folks are still without power.

Another shot out my kitchen window overlooking the back acres.

The bird feeders weren't as busy today as they were in the last snow.  

I had to have something to do instead of fretting over the lack of electricity, so I got out my purchases I made the other day at the craft store and got to work.  The scissors, glue and magazines were already here.  I bought the sketch books and decorative papers.  When you start a project, do you ever get sidetracked?  So do I.  Which means that I didn't get as far along yesterday on this particular project as I would have liked.  Hopefully soon, I'll be able to show you what I'm working on.  What fun projects have you been working on this winter?

Until next time...  

Barn Charm

This barn was snapped last Saturday.  We had just begun to melt a wee bit from Thursday's snow storm in which we got 12 inches of snow.  As I type this Monday night, we are in the middle of another big snow storm!  Hurry spring!  

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm 

Until next time....

I Think The Rodent Was Wrong!

We just shoveled our way out from under the last snow storm which began last Thursday and now we are facing another big storm due to arrive sometime tonight and into tomorrow.  That is our snow shovel in the driveway above.  We got around 12 inches last week and we might get 8 inches more with the next storm.  Now I know those of you who live in the northern states and out east are probably already yawning, but this was our first significant snowfall this year and it was a Big Deal to us!  

It was snowing so heavily that you can barely see the pond.  I was shooting out my dirty kitchen window that morning and was amazed to see that the finches were busily eating at the feeder during the blizzard.  Take note of the amount of seed in the feeder.

 

We had a break in the snow in late afternoon and the sun came out very briefly.  Check out the seed in the finch feeder now.  The finches didn't let a little blizzard stop them from eating, but they were a bit messy judging by all the seed on the snow below. 

Stormy wasn't concerned about the snow storm at all.  While I was pacing the floor and worrying about my loved ones until they were safely home, she decided to take a nap at one of her favorite spots when I'm in the kitchen.  A lot of cups of hot chocolate and coffee and bowls of soup were fixed in this kitchen those snowy days.  

It did warm up above the freezing mark over the weekend and a bit of the snow melted, but we still have plenty left.  The sun looked so good and I thought that Saturday would be a good day to get out.  I was getting cabin fever.  So my husband and I hopped in the car and went to one of my favorite flea market/antique malls.  We spent a couple of hours or so looking around.  We weren't alone, there were a number of others browsing and I decided they must have had cabin fever, too.  I didn't find what I was looking for, so we came home with only a few books that I couldn't resist and 4 Paula Deen magazines that were only a quarter each.  How was your weekend?   

Until next time... 

Friday Favorites

My favorite place in all the world for many years was the farm I grew up on.  The house in the photo above was my very first home.  This house burned down when I was 9 years old.  In this photo, you're really looking at the back of the house.  The little house you see to the right of the photo was a guest house.  When my parents owned this farm, the guest house was used for storage.  The yard was filled with jonquils and peonies and lilac bushes blooming in the spring.  In summer, there were roses and hollyhocks.   

A couple of years after the house burned my parents had a modest ranch-style home built.  My dad, who loved the Ozarks and the rock that many used for siding in that area, had rock delivered to side our house with.  I didn't like it, but he didn't ask for my opinion!  You can see a closer look at the house in this post.   It was always referred to as The Rock House.

Here is an aerial view of part of the farm.  It covered over 550 acres and had 5 nice ponds, one of which isn't seen in this photo.  A creek ran through part of the acreage.  I posted a photo of an old barn that was on this farm a few weeks ago.  A metal building, which you can see behind the pond nearest the house, was put up very near where the old barn had stood.  The building to the right of the house is a long machine shed where tractors and such were parked.  The bare looking spot in front of the house is where a large garden was.  I don't remember what year this photo was taken, I believe I was in high school at the time.

See the trees in front of a pond below the back of the house near the middle of the photo?  That is where the house in the first photo that burned used to stand.  You can still see the guest house between the garage and some grain bins.  Those buildings weren't as close together as it appears to be in this photo.

I have so many wonderful memories of living on this farm, although it could be a bit lonely at times during summers when I rarely saw any other kids except my 2 brothers.  My brothers were helping on the farm as soon as they were old enough, so after my chores were done I was often left to my own devices.  A lot of time was spent horseback riding and fishing or playing with the pets.  When the boys weren't busy in the summer, we would go swimming in one of the ponds...usually the one nearest the house.    

Very often, I could be found looking through the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalogs daydreaming and many hours were whiled away playing on the piano I talked about last Friday.  I loved music and reading, but I also loved the great outdoors and enjoyed each of the 4 seasons.  It was during those years on the farm that I became a birdwatcher.

We had a utility pole with a transformer just behind the house at the end of the white plank fence.  I don't think you can see it in the photo above.  Anyway, we had a mockingbird that just loved to sit atop the pole and sing his little heart out.  I loved to watch him because while he was singing, he would fly straight up in the air and turn a few flip flops before landing back on top of the pole.  He was quite entertaining!   He also was a bit of a nuisance and tripped a loop several times on the pole which knocked out our power.  It seemed to happen 2 or 3 times every summer!

I have so many stories I could tell about growing up on the farm, but I'll save some of those for another time.  When my dad eventually sold this farm, it was a sad day for me.  Even though I was married and had my own home by then, I left a piece of my heart behind there on the farm.  It will always remain a favorite and cherished memory.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Friday!

Until next time...

February Note Card Party

Isn't this month rolling by fast?  It's once again time for Vee's Note Card Party.   I just mentioned in a previous post that you never know what you'll see in our back yard and Back 6.  So, for this month's note cards I'll show you a few of our frequent visitors.  I think they would make nice note cards for the person who loves the great outdoors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our little critters who had no idea they would end up on notecards!   Be sure to stop by Vee's to see what others have chosen for this month's party.  Better yet, select 4 photos that you have previously shown on your blog and join in the fun!

Until next time...

Barn Charm

My barn this week is again a drive-by shot while driving through part of Iowa a few weeks ago.  The barn is one of many abandoned barns we saw dotting the winter landscape.   It probably isn't noticed in the summer when the trees in front have leaves.  

This shot of it isn't very clear, but I liked the background.  It was a beautiful drive with just the right amount of snow making the landscape pretty but leaving the roads clear.  Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm.