Grandbabies, Pheasants, and Mountains of Snow

 Anyone else just love sewing notions??

Besides double-seaming the satin binding,
I hand sewed the mitered corners closed. I've learned from experience that babies like to stick their fingers in the corners and undo them.

Hi friends,

I was sorry to miss Terri's Wednesday Medley because I was hurrying to get a baby blanket done for grandchild #12, due a couple days ago.  (The 11th was a great-grandchild, remember? I've still not recovered from turning 70 AND getting our first great-grandchild all in the matter of a couple weeks last summer.) It's kind of late, I know, but I had ordered the fabric from fabric.com and after waiting for it to arrive, I suddenly got a notice of a refund from them. No explanation, just a refund. Okay, so that means I need to go out and find fabric. When I chose this particular fabric (shown above) in a local shop, the lady looked puzzled and said, 'This isn't very babyish.'  I told her that as soon as this child is old enough to realize that he even has a blanket, he will like the moose and bears on it. Besides, it's a gorgeous shade of green and this flannel is of incredible quality. In case anyone wants to know, it's called 'Return to Cub Lake' by Holly Taylor. And of course the flannel and the satin binding couldn't be found in the same shop. That would have been just too easy. ANYWAY, it was a delight to make and I will look for that artist and manufacturer another time, Moda Fabrics.

Now on to the matter at hand, or the matter that everyone in Wisconsin is talking about: the long, snowy winter.  This is the kind of winter I remember as a kid.

I was only four years old in this photo, but I do remember that when we were kids, we would carve thrones and dishes out of the huge snowbanks, and also make tunnels. I'm wondering why my mom didn't make me wear a jacket. But at least I'm wearing tights and a sweater. It could have been March, Wisconsin's snowiest month, typically, and warm enough at times to stand outdoors for a photo.

 The backyard

 The backyard again

 The top of the driveway, having just been plowed
by
this
guy:
Son #2

And this is the pose he gave me first time:

 Very funny, Rob!

 On the way home from town today
I love our rolling hills!

 Good thing we know what that wee bit of red means.

 So you get the picture.
We've had a ton of snow
and more expected.

 But this morning's sunrise was beautiful.
I love seeing all the bunny tracks in the snow.

Besides feeding the birds their bird seed, we're putting out corn for the other critters too. It's been a harsh winter for those poor creatures. Everywhere we go, we're seeing pheasants along the side of the road, looking for food. A month ago, we were unusually snowless (for January), and they could find lots to eat. But now, everything is covered in far too much snow.

This poor (huge) fella was sitting on an old bird feeder just outside the office window. I think he was keeping an eye on the other bird feeders, besides eating cranberries in the nearby cranberry bush.  It looks like we won't have any cranberry bushes next year. The bunnies have completely girdled all the cranberry bushes. It's a pitiful sight to see them gnawing on the bark of the bushes. They are so hungry. And yet I know it will irritate me next summer when they're eating my peas and beans (IF I plant them).

 And checking in on the Christmas tree on the porch:
Still going strong. No needles dropped yet. It's been well below freezing.

 One more glimpse of the walkway.

 Tommy & Smokey
(Tommy looking rather sassy, wouldn't you say?)
:-)


*** UPDATE ***

In the wee hours of the morning, February 28, grandchild #12, Tobias William, was born.

Praise God for this new little one!

 7 lb. 15 oz.
and just missing his auntie's birthday by a couple hours.





***

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Have a great Thursday, everyone!

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The Barn Collective

November 6, 2014

November 6, 2014

 Our driveway
November 14, 2014

Our driveway
April 14, 2013

Thought I'd add this late note:  I was just on my way home and listening to the radio. They were talking about the deer situation in Wisconsin because deer gun season starts next Saturday in Wisconsin. As you may know, I dislike deer hunting. I love 'my' deer that eat in our fields and sleep in our yard or in the woods. BUT, I'm becoming more worried this year that this long winter will mean more deer starving. That's not a good thing.

We still have a lot of standing corn in our county. If we get much more snow, the farmers will have to wait until next spring to harvest it.  I know that is not a good thing for the farmers, and I'm not happy about that. But because of it, there is a little glimmer of hope that the deer will find something nutritious to eat and survive (those who don't end up in people's freezers, that is.) And actually, I'd rather have the deer in someone's freezer than to have it die a slow death of starvation. I think you know that my issue is really with people who enjoy killing things, not those who hunt to eat.

***

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Although I usually forget to do it, there is a chance that this post will be linked to one or more of these great linky parties:  Amaze Me Monday and Inspiration Monday and Mosaic Monday and The Barn Collective and    Treasure Box Tuesday and Vintage Bliss Tuesday and KatheWithAnE and Rubbish Tuesday and Our World Tuesday and Tuesdays at our Home and Tuesday with a Twist and  Knick of Time Tuesday (vintage)  and   Tweak it Tuesday and Vintage Inspiration Wednesday and Ivy and Elephants Wednesday and Adorned From Above  and Artsy Corner Thursday and  All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and Good Fences on Thursdays and  Time Travel Thursday and Freedom Fridays and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Saturday's Critters

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours...

From NW Wisconsin,

Where it's always winter,

but

TODAY 

IT'S

CHRISTMAS!!!!

May you have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of HOPE for a fallen world, the promised Redeemer, Jesus Christ our Lord!

And to you, dear friends,

'I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of  wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.'
                                                                    Ephesians 1:16-23

Merry, merry Christmas!

 Christmas Eve with 

our son and his wife

More Backyard Scenes, Pre-Winter

 Flowering Crab

Tuesday night:

I'm scheduling this post because I won't be here tomorrow. We're going to be picking up our Texas daughter from the airport to spend a few days with us. Although I wish the kids lived closer, at least we see them a few times a year. It could be worse. They have no more desire to move back to Wisconsin than we do to move to Texas, so I guess the remedy is to travel. It's definitely worth it.

I have no idea why I'm writing this post. I should be in bed instead. It's been one of those days when all the things I tried to get done sort of failed in the execution, but took a lot of effort and time doing so, and now I'm too tired to do anything else but sit here and go through my photos. I feel too tired to get up and go to bed, and one photo leads to another...

And while I'm on that topic (the photos), let me say that it's really worth spending the $60/year to get Carbonite online backup (no they didn't ask or pay me to write this, but it would be nice if they sent me a couple Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut bars for giving them this plug!)  My old laptop did crash, and if it hadn't been for Carbonite, I'd have lost everything. It was EASY to retrieve all my files once I had my new laptop. EASY. So, anyway, since that experience, I am probably paranoid about losing my photos, so they're backed up by an external hard drive also. 

Cattle-less Barn

For what it's worth, here's how I organize them. (Not that anyone cares, but like I said, I'm too tired to go to bed.) When I take a group of photos, I immediately upload them to my computer and put them in a folder that is named for the month in which they are taken. That means I have a folder named October 2013, one named November 2013, one named December 2013, etc. So all the original photos are in the 'monthly' folders. When I edit a photo, I then save it with some particular name (trying to think of what I would call it if I were looking for it!!! - not always easy, believe me.)

 Frosted Spruce

I used to save edited photos by topic, so that I still have a  folder named, 'Barns,' one named 'Pets,' etc.etc. But it occurred to me one day that since I have a really good search tool in Windows 7, I can edit a photo, give it its particular name, and save it (along with the original) in the monthly folder. That way, when I download them to my external hard drive, I only need to download the newest monthly folder. All my originals for that month and the edited versions are in that folder. I do that late in the day on the last day of the month.

 For example, if I took a photo of Misty in December, the edited version might have a name like, 'Misty with blankie December 2013) I include the name of the month so that if I ever want to find the original, I can easily see that it's in the December 2013 folder. So now all the photos I take in December, including the edited versions, will go into the December 2013 folder. Then, at the end of each month, I drag out the external hard drive and download only that monthly folder (because it has both the originals and the edited versions) into it - and I'm current. That makes it a lot easier than having to download every 'topic' folder that might (or might not) have a newly edited photo in it.

 'Closed for the Season'

So now, when I want a photo of a barn, I can go to my main 'Pictures' file and search for the word 'barn.' Every photo - in any folder-  that's got the word 'barn' in the file name, will show up. Also, that file name will tell me in which month folder I can also find the original.

 Sunset Behind the Barn

The only problem is that with a photo like the one above, I might have it named 'sunset barn silo winter December 2013.' But at least I find it. On the other hand, because I didn't include the word 'birdfeeder,' I'll never find that again, unless by accident. And I don't need to include the word 'snow,' because I'd say that there's more than a 50/50 chance that the photo will include snow. After all, this is Wisconsin.

 Sunset Behind the Barn b

 Early Sunset Reflections

Early Sunset Reflections b

I think this photo perusing, editing and saving can quickly become a compulsive behavior!
What do you think? And do you have your photos backed up?

Have a great Wednesday!

***

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Winter Chores, Indiana and Texas

He was determined to clean the snow off the yard.

 Looks like an exhausting project, doesn't it!

(Their first snow of the season in Indiana.)

***

And we get to see this little guy next week! We'll be off to Indiana, having lined up a dog/cat sitter. 

This is when we take a closetful of Daughter's things to her - things that never quite left our house. I wonder if my missing sheet music is in that closet.

I'm so glad I've got my Kindle to take along for the drive to their house. Obviously, I'm not the one driving, but I am great at reading aloud! Now I just have to get my husband to want to listen. LOL

Thought you also might enjoy the photo that she emailed to me today:

 Hey, it could prove to be a useful skill ?

His mama wrote, 'As a responsible parent, this is the point where I'm supposed to Have a Talk With My Child, rather than laugh and take a picture, isn't it? Oops...[We] did discuss it after we finished giggling; but he was so PROUD that he'd realized the circumference of the baby carrot was the same as his nostril!'

***

Christmas Past - 2011 maybe

I Skyped with the other daughter (see photo above) last night. She told me that over the weekend she and her husband had put up the Christmas lights along the eaves of their house. They were on the roof, she lying on her belly and he hanging onto her ankles as she reached over the edge, stapling the lights to the eaves. I told her she must really trust him! He had told her that he would hang onto her, but if they both started sliding off, she was on her own. LOL  Sure wish I had a photo of the two of them on the roof. Unfortunately, no neighbors took a photo, or if they did, they didn't email it to me. :-)

***

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Horses and Fences on a Sunny but Windy Day

Trying to ignore the wind

by facing away from it

Same pasture

Horses are just to the right of this photo

I took these photos on a sunny, windy day in March. So glad that wintery March weather is over...

...so we could enjoy the springtime weather of April!

  Photo Taken April 19th

I am not kidding.

And now it's the 21st. Snowing again.

Someone, please rescue me!!! 

***

Update: It's now 8:30 PM, and raining like crazy.
Hopefully I will awaken tomorrow to a snowless landscape.


***

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This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and le chateau des fleurs and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and  Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Share Your Creativity and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

Birds, Bunnies, & Downton Abbey

Learning to Get Along

Enjoying a bright January day, the bunny and jays snacked on birdseed that had fallen from the feeder hanging above them. Now and then the bunny would hop, obviously trying to shoo the birds away. The jays would flutter their wings and flit about a foot or two away, but were soon back, crowding and evidently annoying, the hungry bunny.

So.....

Did you watch Downton Abbey on Sunday night? Tell me...what did you think of that episode??  What I can't understand is how Julian Fellowes manages to make me cry even when I've seen the episode before. What a tear jerker!!  I wonder if he secretly delights in tormenting us.

Any lines you especially enjoyed?

Did Julian Fellowes make you cry??

C'mon...I want to know, I want to know! 

P.S. Happy Birthday to my brother who is not reading this anyway. lol

P.P.S.  Why on earth is Al Gore getting so much TV time this morning???  I mean, one interview would have been quite enough.

'Oh, Matthew!'

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This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special