Lake

I went down on my baby brother’s dock and sat for a bit on Wednesday evening.  Watched the Loons.   I am not sure how many pairs are on the lake this year, last year there were 3 or 4 pairs.  Last year the nasty Bald Eagles took the babies that were born on the North end of the lake…it was heart wrenching to listen to…Loons wailing and crows cawing…

I sat and enjoyed the breeze off the lake.  Only one pontoon was making the rounds.

The Marsh Marigolds are in bloom.  They are Caltha paulustris but another name for them is Cowslips; because they grow on hummocks and cows can slip on them.

Last night my Dad and I went to Bingo…we were losers..so we will try again next week.

Badly needed rain is forecast for the next few days.

 

Hummer and a Bluebird

We have two Humming Birds as far as I can tell.  I still have the little feeder out, I will replace it with the larger feeder soon.

Can you see the Hummer in this photo?

Resting on a branch, making sure the coast is clear.

At the feeder

Bluebird passing through I hope he stays. Not a great photo I took it out the kitchen window.

Chance and I sit outside after supper, there are just a few bees and no skeeters yet.

Far Guy had a crawling wood tick and we heard the first Loon May 16 2018.

Only two Doctors appointments this past week, I have an infection in my eye and it is much better after antibiotic drops.  Far Guy has been woodcarving outside just about every day the weather has been fantastic.

Wistful Wednesday: Greenhouse

Years ago we had a small greenhouse business.  It was hard work with long hours.  I hated watering and felt like I was attached to a hose 12 + hours a day. We opened the business in 1999 and closed it in 2007 when potting soil, plastic and heating costs went through the roof…that was also the winter that Far Guy was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia.

We began with just one greenhouse and expanded to two and then added a small Perennial house.  Far Guy had his own Greenhouse where he grew vegetable plants in four packs… and many tomato plants in small pots. He grew special order veggies.  I grew only flowers…and kept my special orders over in his greenhouse. 

This was Far Guy’s Greenhouse.  Now a days he uses it for a work/woodshop. I use part of it for a glass studio to make glass flowers.  We have a warm dry place to work on rainy days.  I have many projects stacked up out there to work on.  Out of sight out of mind.  I should really take a photo in there but I will spare you.

May 16 2004 My Greenhouse

As you can see my OCD or CDO made an appearance.  Tags just so and banks of color.  Aren’t those Marigolds pretty!  Here in Minnesota people don’t plant much of anything until mid May to June 1st. We will sometimes get freezing temperatures into June.  This greenhouse is no longer here it was sold after we closed the business.

I have been thinking about what I want to plant this year out in my little flower garden under the bird feeders…Salvia of some sort for the hummingbirds…and maybe Impatiens. Some pansies for sure. Years ago I had a Day Lily garden out there then they froze out.

I have my Solar Lights…last weekend Far Guy told our Grandson Adam that it looked like Las Vegas at night in our yard.

Do I miss the business…sometimes…I miss the people that came back year after year.

Orioles

The Orioles scouted out our yard and feeder for a few days before six of them…one female and five males sat like ornaments in the trees.

One Oriole

A few more

Finally the bravest three explored the feeder.

It was fun to watch.  I have oranges and grape jelly in the feeder for them. The oranges were huge so I put out a half of an orange cut in half again.  The orange pieces sit on a screw head.  You have to remember to pierce them before you take them out to the feeder.

The female finally chased everyone away so she could eat by herself, the males went to the bird bath for a drink and poof they all left the yard.

Mother’s Day Visitors

Chance greeted our visitors.

Maddie, Trica with Mikey and Savannah

(Paige was working and couldn’t come, she called us later in the day!)

We had a good visit.  Mikey got his first photo in the wheel seat.

Hey Mikey!

It was a good day, we visited with more relatives that stopped by. I read for awhile and had a nap and in the evening we went for a ride in the Smoky Hills with my other baby brother and his wife…saw 30 plus deer.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jen, Andy and Adam visited us yesterday and we went out for lunch along with my parents. Four generations together.

After lunch I visited one of my favorite cousins who wasn’t feeling like himself last week.  He was feeling better after a rough week…he needed a couple of pints of blood to bring up his hemoglobin.  I told him to eat steak and greens all week!

Then I went over to the church where the children were giving a musical called O Chicken of Little Faith.  It was really cute…two of my Great Nieces were in it Brooke was an egg white and Olivia was the yolk…they linked arms at one point!  My other baby brother was a cat…seems they roped a few Grandfathers in to play some parts…it was well done! My brother wore a grey hat with pink ears…and he said he was really happy I didn’t have my camera.

This was the cute card I got from Jen, Andy, Noah, Adam and Miney and Little Elvis!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Friday’s Birds

I love this time of year, different birds visit our yard.  A Hummingbird flew in and back out again, I have a little feeder out for them.  He/she did not come back.

We sat outside after supper and watched birds.

Purple Finch

Chipping Sparrow

A Butter Butt or Yellow Rumped Warbler. I believe this is a male.

Friday I had a very relaxing afternoon.  I went up North to visit a long time friend  (since 1975) for the afternoon. It was fun catching up!  I came home just in time to help with supper and to reassure Chance that I had not abandoned him forever.

It froze again on Friday morning it was 29 F or 1 C eh!  It warmed up to 58 F or 14 C eh!

 

For the birds

The Pine Siskins arrived, they love the Niger Thistle Seed.  They fight each other for space at the feeders…some are real cranky.

Pine Siskins may or may not have a touch of yellow on their wings and at the base of their tail.

A traveling Rose Breasted Grosbeak stopped by for a snack…I did not see his mate…perhaps he is a bachelor.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

We heard neighbors have Orioles so we put out the grape jelly/orange feeder for them.

This feeder has bowls that hold grape jelly and screws that hold oranges.  My Dad made me this feeder a number of years ago…I painted it bright orange.

I made Hummingbird Juice and will put that feeder out soon.

Dad and I went to Bingo last night…he got to holler BINGO once in the first game of the evening after that we were both silent.  The Blackout/Coverall pot went to a really lucky gal. If we couldn’t win I was glad she did.

Rainy Day Project

Seems like everyplace we look lately there is a project to be done.

Last winter we talked about a different place for our carvings…they were here and there and everywhere.  Our good friend from Oklahoma City had a design in mind for some shelves next to the fireplace. He made them and brought them by a few weeks ago!  He is a sweetheart!!  I sealed them and then they became a rainy day project.  Our fireplace has two heavy duty timbers on both sides of the fireplace.

Before

After

All the carvings were cleaned…I use a small dry paintbrush on most of them. 

There was one carving that just wouldn’t fit…and I have two other carvings a Trillium and a Loon that are elsewhere in the house.

Yes that fireplace surround is a one of a kind.  We went to Menards and picked out three different colors of tile and smashed them with a hammer and it took me three weeks to put the pieces in place. Then the whole thing was grouted and sealed. The gas fireplace is our backup heat source if the electricity goes out.

One more wall in the house was spring housecleaned!

Wistful Wednesday : Graduation 1968

The Class of 1968 is having their 50th Reunion in the Fall.  So much planning and problems to sort out…especially if you are a worrier like my husband.  There were 157 graduates that year.  He has found all but two.   I think he has given up on locating them. He would like to contact them all….Dennis M. Bell and Thomas L. Byars where are you?

The “group” think they have a place for the doings. It doesn’t help that some of the female classmates have their own meeting after the meetings…go figure.

My husband has a list of all those who have died…3 were classmates that did not graduate with them but attended school with them for many years and 21 class members that graduated are deceased.

Only three of the seven people in this photo are living…Far Guy smiling…a Cardiologist…and an Optometrist.

I took this photo in the high school auditorium with a little camera called a Polaroid Swinger. Commencement was on May 29th that year at eight o’clock in the evening.

The gowns are a Blue /Grey color.  They were kept downstairs in a room (Civil Defense Shelter) off the hallway that led to the Annex.  You had to go in and be measured with the gown on…as the school wanted them to all be about the same length…not sure why that mattered. Then you selected a hat …one that wasn’t too big or too small…it had to be just right…then you had to sign for everything…and had to take it all to the dry cleaners before returning it. 

The class flower was a yellow rose and their motto was “We are not flowers in a greenhouse but trees in a storm.”

Golden Birds and a Flat Squirrel

Whilst we were fixing supper Far Guy said “Goldfinches just arrived on the feeders.”  After supper Chance and I went out to sit a spell.

The Goldfinches are sporting their summer finery.

As you can see this one still has some winter feathers.

Chance meanderd around the yard doing his usual stuff…then came to lay down by me and survey the yard…he looks to the right and to the left over and over again.

I am busy with the birds…watching them flit around…then I notice a squirrel that came bounding into the yard and as soon as it saw Chance it flattened just like a pancake.

I wondered who would see who first. The squirrel tried to exit the yard and I told Chance to get him…and Chance chased him off…makes an old dog feel good…the squirrel was in no danger.

We spread some grass seed and a bit of garden soil on some bare spots in the lawn and then sat outside until Jo showed up looking for Odda…we sat and visited for awhile and sure enough Odda came to visit. It was a lovely day in Minnesota on Monday it was 80 something F  26C eh!  We went straight from Winter to Summer.  It is supposed to cool off and rain…so maybe our grass seeds will grow fast!

Asleep

I took one allergy tablet.  It made me sleep for ten hours then I was awake for six hours (during which time I laid down twice) and then I had a four hour nap and I am still exhausted.  It makes you dream crazy stuff too…I have decided to stop taking that particular pill.  Onward to a runny nose and itchy eyes of springtime in Minnesota.

I will shelve this information…it may come in handy for my family someday if I am trying to escape the Nursing Home.  One pill and I am conked out and when awake I am calm  although a bit spaced out….did I care what was happening when I was awake…not so much.

Chance is always good company when I am asleep/not feeling well….he stays right by me.  When he was little I slept with one hand in his laundry basket…just to keep him company so he wouldn’t whine all night.

Green

The grass turned real green after a rain yesterday.

Soon I will have to mow.

The Chokecherries have busted through their buds.  I hope they don’t freeze, even if I don’t make jelly the birds love the berries.

We enjoy the green, and the warmth.  Far Guy is carving outside most afternoons.  We both worked on stage two of the carvings for this years Christmas Ornament…stage one is done…cutting the wood to length…stage two is marking the centers and then they go to the lathe…so far I am just the marker…no lathe experience for me …yet. Stage three will be the actual carving…I have several done and one is painted and totally finished.

Cleaned the leaves and dead grass out of the perennial grass on the east side of the house.  If you do it every year you get two wheelbarros full, if you leave it for a few years it takes many more wheelbarrows and becomes a big project.

 

Graduation: Maddie

Our middle Granddaughter graduated yesterday.  She is a Dental Assistant, she begins her internship soon, first with a Dentist and then with an Oral Surgeon.  She will have a busy summer.

Hey Mikey and Maddie

She did switch to a pair of heels, but these boots are more her style.

She told me one day that she would be saving the world one tooth at a time!

Congratulations Maddie!

We were not able to attend the Graduation Ceremony, Influenza B is still bad…the ceremony was in the Sanford Center which holds thousands of people with a million germs.  So we saw her just before the graduation ceremony to congratulate her and give her some hugs.