Good Fences and A Good Barn

 Gated Community
Rural Wisconsin

Some of you who follow me on Instagram have already seen these two photos. The first photo was taken on a recent walk along Fifth Avenue, the lane leading to a neighbor's house.

 November 2 sunset

Last night I was eating supper when I noticed the orange glow in the sky and grabbed my camera. It was a gorgeous sunset. I do hope we can get our poor barn roof fixed this fall, but time is flying by.

I found an old shoelace, and after being entertained for a quite a while by snaking it along the floor and watching the kittens chase it, Mr. C. tied it to a chair. The kittens are having a blast with it! More kitten photos next week, of course, unless you're getting sick of them. Well, actually, I'll keep posting them because...these little critters are so cute and irresistible! They play, eat, and nurse with all their might! Oh. And they sleep. Then it starts all over.

Linking to
Theresa's Good Fences
Jemma's Thoughts of Home on Thursdays
Eileen's Saturday's Critters
Tom's Barn Collective

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Have a wonderful Thursday

The Hodgepodge and Good Fences

1. It's officially summer (in the northern hemisphere anyway). Which summer month is best and why?

August is my favorite summer month because my birthday is in August and I try to get all the kids and grandkids together for one weekend a year, my birthday being the leverage. It worked best the first year, 2013, but hopefully we can manage to get everyone together this August. It's a wonderful time. Family, food, fun, fire...

2. Can you swim? How did you learn? June 27th is National Sunglasses Day. How many pair do you own?

I learned to swim when I was about eight years old, just after water was invented. It was at the Barron Park, where the Yellow River runs through, and I took swimming lessons. I did manage to learn to swim and also get a permanent scar on my knee from a sharp rock.

3. What characteristic do you judge most harshly in yourself? How about in others?

Haughtiness/pride/self righteousness. I hate it in myself and I hate it in others. I try to be aware of it and keep a check on it. It's a horrid thing, so easily creeps up, and I don't like to go down that road. I mean really, as creatures whose very next breath depends upon the grace of God, who on earth do any of us think we are, that we would presume to consider ourselves better than anyone else. We are all God's image bearers. It makes me shudder in disgust just thinking about having a self righteous attitude. I am grateful for God's mercy and grace and the new life, joy, and hope he offers through his Son. I pray daily for the work of his Spirit in my life and in the lives of others.

Askrigg Common

4. Robert Frost wrote the now well known poem entitled The Road Not Taken. What's a road (literal or figurative) you've always wanted to travel, and where do you hope it takes you?

Any long and winding road in Yorkshire or Northumberland. I've explored quite a bit of Yorkshire, but none of Northumberland.

5. Popsicles-yay or nay? If you answered yay, what's your favorite flavor?

I've always loved popsicles, and banana or orange were always my favorite. I'm not sure why they bothered to make lime popsicles at all. They're disgusting. 

6. Brexit-on a scale of 1-10 how knowledgeable are you on what's involved here? (1=very knowledgeable and 10=what's Brexit) Is this news you'll follow or is it something you think won't impact your life in any way shape or form?

Mr. C. and I are both Brexit-Bremain junkies, so I think a 1. Definitely following the news closely. In such a small world, I think that anything that happens in Britain and Europe is going to impact us, most definitely. We're watching closely. I do think it's interesting that the Bremains already want to take another vote. Another vote? Really?You get to do that when you don't get your way?

7. Share a favorite song on your summer play list.

I don't have a summer play list, but the song that most likely will be heard by me is the theme song from Vera or Poirot or George Gently.

Vera, my new favorite detective

(Joe Ashworth's not bad either)

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

 Have a wonderful Fourth!

Zinneas

Linking to Theresa's Good Fences

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Strawberries and Good Fences

 Strawberries from our backyard

 Mr. C. came in carrying a little bowl of berries for me during an especially frustrating time last evening when I was having trouble with my laptop that seems to have all sorts of issues right now, (I mean Really! It's one thing after another) and something as easy as printing out a shipping label became a multi-problem, big deal task. 

I've not been blogging as much, as you may have noticed. If I could post from my Kindle, I'd do it, but haven't figured out how.  Anyway, I've missed you all and I'm going to try to get to posts today. We'll see how it goes.

I wanted to try to get a couple fence pics in here and join in Theresa's Good Fences. There's something about barns and fences that always appeals to me, and evidently to others as well.

 Granary-turned-garage and red board fence.

Fence and out buildings in the Westby area

(I don't remember if I posted this earlier or not. Unfortunately, I'm not out and about getting new photos, so I'm dredging
 the archives.)

The Strawberry Man just popped in with a refill, but I passed on it and will eat the berries for breakfast tomorrow instead. There's nothing like fresh strawberries that have been allowed to sit on the vine in the sunshine long enough to get sweet. Amazing taste!

Speaking of amazing taste, a friend stopped in today, bringing with her a treat of watermelon. I don't even remember the last time I ate watermelon, but boy was it delicious! Summertime: strawberries and watermelon. Can't beat 'em.

I'm thanking God today for good friends, a kind and thoughtful husband, animals we love, and delicious summer fruit.

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone.

Linking to Theresa's Good Fences.

My little pal Tuppence, always nearby.

She's such a sweet kitty!

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Wisconsin Barns and Good Fences

...and a sweet photo I can label 'Throwback Thursday.'
(when grandsons were staying with us and we visited Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls)

 Cattle on a farm east of Westby, WI

 Same farm, but I wanted to get that weathered barn and windmill

 I think that white panel is supposed to be some sort of fence too.
Maybe there's a pig pen behind it. Just guessing.
Or maybe they didn't have anyplace else to store it.
I'm speaking from experience. Don't judge.

 Jake's Scottish Blackface sheep
My favorite

Linking to Theresa's Good Fences 

and Tom's The Barn Collective

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Horses, Sheep, Fences, and a Barn

I've been mostly absent from blogland, I know. I would post photos of the cousin's house that we're cleaning out, but trust me, you don't want to see them. Anyway, by the time we make the 3 hour trek, spend 2-3 days there, and come back again, there's not much energy for sitting at the desk and blogging. So that's my explanation for the absence, and if there are more gaps, it will be due to more-of-the-same.  Thanks for understanding, friends.

SO:

I enjoyed watching this little story unfold.

Can you make up a story to go with the three photos above? I'd love it if you left it in a comment. :-) I know you can do it.

 The Gathering

There aren't many green barns in our area,
and this one is a sage green. Most unusual.

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Linking to Theresa's Good Fences and Tom's The Barn Collective

In the Neighborhood - Wisconsin Barns and Good Fences

 Happy May!!

May is finally here. In Wisconsin, May IS springtime. It's when everything comes to life again after the long winter. March is only a name on a calendar, certainly not springtime. April is just a tease, but May is seriously ushering us into summer. Sunday afternoon was brilliant, with its blue skies, puffy white clouds, and grass growing so fast that Mr. C. was out mowing. I love this time of year.

Right now the woods is carpeted with May flowers!

Brought to you by the Creator/Sustainer who generously give us such abundant beauty.

All of these pictures were taken within a few miles of our farm.

 Cute little hobby farm

 The Woolly Quartet

This is one of my favorite farms on Highway O. I see it every time I go to Rice Lake, and I love it when their cows are put out on pasture after the interminable winter is finally over.

 

 Another set of gates on the same farm.

 Now THESE are contented cows. Look how many of them are lying there, soaking up the sun and chewing their cuds. I think the one on the right front is simply sleeping.

We will be in the Kickapoo Valley of Wisconsin for a bit of this week, so I don't know if I will get another blog post in or not. We'll see how it goes. I will most likely miss Joyce's Hodgepodge on Wednesday, always a fun challenge. But of course there's always Instagram, which is easy and fast and more portable. So if you like to follow the photos of Wisconsin, I should be posting some on there while I'm gone. If you're not on Instagram, I think you can view them on my sidebar.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and sunny skies.

Instagram: @cranberrymorning 

At some point, I will hopefully get this post linked to Theresa's Good Fences and Tom's Barn Collective.

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Wisconsin Barns, Treasures, and Good Fences

We had lots of family here over the weekend, which was great fun, and it was Mr. C.'s birthday yesterday. He's now much older, but still younger than I am. I suspect that's a permanent condition. And as usual when we have company, I neglected to take pictures of them. It's a little difficult to host and take pictures, particularly because no one really wants to cooperate with having their picture taken. Ever experienced that? I figure there's no need to deliberately annoy them. I can do that easily enough without trying.

I took these photos in late March or April of this year in the Westby, Viroqua, Cashton area of Wisconsin. I know, I keep posting photos of that area, but when May arrives, our area will be more photogenic. Right now, in NW Wisconsin we're in that not-so-pretty time of the year. It's the mud and pollen season. Soon those tiny leaves will be much bigger and more flowers will be in bloom.

The church at the top right is St. Mary's, east of Cashton. It's on a ridge, and the road down to the valley is steep, as you can see by the sign.

I think these are Herefords. You can correct me.

Near Avalanche

(SE of Westby)

 But we do have daffodils in full bloom right now, for which I am so grateful!

Judith's Mosaic Monday will now be the last Monday of each month, rather than weekly. Thank you, Judith, for the opportunity to link to Mosaic Monday!

Also linked to Tom's Tuesday's Treasures, The Barn Collective

and Theresa's Good Fences

Instagram: @cranberrymorning

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Have a wonderful day, friends!