Last post

Someone had fun with hay bales...I hate that I had to look into the sun to take this but it still makes me smile...so I thought I would have my last post of the year leave a smile on your face.

I think the biggest happening for us this past year was the appearance of our first grandchild. Lorelei has sure added joy to all our lives. It is hard to believe that she will be a year old in less than two months! Can you believe that on February 9 she will be a year old?

Happy New Year to all!

Remembering last Christmas

Before you even look at the pictures below, I hope you will go here and here. That was what was happening with our Bubbie last year. As our Christmas came and went this year, I could not help but compare it to last Christmas. Last year I would be fine one minute, and the next my heart would just be breaking. All because of this fellow. And I had the music from above playing on my blog during that time...though I love it, it sure brings back bittersweet memories for me.
This is the way he sleeps most of the time. In fact his mom and brother also sleep like this, but not as much of the time as he does.
Before his accident, he never, ever sat with me or really wanted my attention unless it was to wake me up so I would let him outside. Now, he comes and sets with me sometimes when I am watching TV, or comes and curls up against me in the wee hours of the morn. I definitely feel like he knows we saved his life....and he is not even a jerk with his brother and sister. Before the accident, he drove them crazy with tackling them and wrestling with them. Now he seldom attempts anything.

And you can't even tell that anything was ever wrong with him. He is still curious, and loves to find an open cabinet door, or any door for that matter that isn't normally open. Roger does call him the Court Jester....
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I have been trying to decide on a new sewing project and spending a lot of time trying to make a decision. When I could not make a decision, I finally went down and just started cutting squares. Big squares at that...when I think I have enough cut, I will start to sew them together. I am in the mood to sew!

And to read. Lately, I have acquired several books....most of them things you probably have never heard of. Right now, I am reading Outlasting the Trail: The Story of a Woman's Journey West. This is considered a work of fiction, but it is inspired and based on true events. I can tell it is one I am not going to want to put down.

Cold, winter weather is always a good time to read. I told Roger, if I didn't have such good new books awaiting me, I would be tempted to read Long Knife by James Alexander Thom. And I might just read it anyway.

A good time was had by all

I am not sure if I mentioned before, but we did our Christmas yesterday....the day after. It makes it so much easier on Lorelei. She has so many people to visit, that it is more fun to wait and just have her the day after. It is easier on her mommy and daddy, too, because she is in a much better mood.
She was just a happy little girl yesterday, and kept us all entertained. Just busy all the time. She has to check out Shelby every so often....and that is okay as long as Shelby knows she is coming....not that she would hurt Lorelei on purpose, but she does not hear anything at all...and Lorelei does not cause enough vibration in the floor to warn her....so if she is startled she jumps up. And then there is the possibility of her stepping on Lorelei.
As you can probably tell by these last two photos, she is a born mom. She is just so gentle with Lorelei.
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We finally got some snow today....we have been having flurries the past few days but it never amounted to more than a skim of snow. Now we have 3 inches, or maybe 4. Believe it or not, we went to Terre Haute this morn, thinking it was only going to be flurries again. I took my camera with me.

On the way home, I mentioned going by Green Valley, just to see. It snowed harder and harder for a while, and everything was slick as could be. We were on country roads so only passed 3 or 4 cars...nothing was happening at Green Valley. We did not see anything moving at all, so continued on in a round about way that we have went before. We finally saw a flock of turkeys that were too far away to even attempt to photograph.
This is when it first began to really snow....to see a bit more be sure and visit my other blog. We did make it home safe and sound, glad to get here. We had leftovers--always the best part of holiday meals.

Merry Christmas!

One of my blog friends sent me these mug mats the other day! Aren't they cute. They are so cute and adorable...I think I might put ribbons on them and use them as Christmas ornaments or decorations.

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a Merry Christmas...I wish you peace and health in the coming year.

Northern Harrier

I ran through the strip pit area again this afternoon...as you see it was a drab and dreary day. Even though I did not see it rain the whole day, it had rained last night and everything is just saturated.

The Northern Harriers are back in full force....I was never very close to any of them....for more than a few seconds. But in the distance, I seen seven in one spot. I have no idea how many are out there...they are amazing. And fast! I can be watching one, and glance away just for a few seconds and look back and it will have disappeared! Even if they are high in the sky.

They tend to hunt while flying just a few feet above the ground....then they disappear into the background. Yesterday we saw one catch something...Roger thought maybe a muskrat. It snatched whatever it was and flew over a little hill, so no chance to take a photo.

Open up and say Ahhhh

I hope you don't mind another Lorelei video...be sure and have your volume turned up till you can also hear the TV. This one is very short.
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I think I am at last totally done with Christmas shopping, but I do have things to wrap. We made a run to Terre Haute today, came home and picked up things here. Vacuumed and mopped, etc. Then sat and watched a little TV before heading back out to go do some grocery shopping. Plus this run was when I actually finished the grocery shopping. It was almost 11:00 p.m. when we got home!

Coming from from Terre Haute today, we made a run through the strip pit area before we came home. I will be posting a photo of a short-eared owl on my other blog either later tonight or tomorrow. We also saw swans and a few geese, but not near the geese we saw last year.

Movin' and groovin'

Just a short quick video of Lorelei...notice the position of her one hand/finger. I am not sure what she was listening to but she was enjoying it. We go babysit tomorrow for at least half the day. We have to be over there by 7:30 at the latest so I have got to try to go to bed tonight!

We have been getting a few snow flurries right along, but all we have is just a skim of snow on the ground. Even if all had stayed on the ground that fell yesterday I doubt we would have half an inch!

Quilt finished and received

I finally got this baby quilt finished and mailed....I made it for Jackson, my great nephew.
I had it ready to quilt the first weekend that Roger was sick last month, but didn't work on it any more till the week before the one that has just passed. It did not take long to finish it once I started. It was mailed this week, and has been received. I didn't show it previously in any other stage because I wanted it to be a surprise.

I am just itching to start something else, but haven't decided on what. I really should quilt some of the tops I have already made. I have 8 tops that need to be quilted, and probably more. Those are just what I can think of without thinking very hard!

Ready or not?

Click to enlarge
A house up the street from a few years back.

I wonder if everyone is ready for Christmas....I am...almost. I still have a few things left to wrap. And actually need to get gifts for the little kids next door. And I have yet to get in all the fixings for Christmas dinner. But that is not that much left to do.

Neal and I were talking the other night...our talks always include talking about childhood and the things we remember. I was telling him, the one memory that really stands out in my mind is all the cakes mom would bake at Christmas. There was a metal cabinet that had two shelves up top behind glass, and those two shelves would be full of cakes! I could not remember if it was just a year or two that she did that, or every year.

He said he thought it was every year, and that he helped her bake them. So, I told him I didn't remember actually eating them...he thought that she gave most of them away. Which makes sense...I just can't imagine not remembering eating them.

I cannot remember the variety that she made, but know she almost always made a jam cake...it tasted sort of like a spice cake if I remember correctly, and she always made a caramel icing for it. She also made a stack cake...at least that is what we called it. She had no written recipe, and did not measure a thing....but she made this dough. I know it had eggs and sugar in it, and other than that I can't recall what else. I know I liked the dough raw, better than baked.

She would divide take a dough ball about the size of a fist or maybe just a bit bigger....she would pat that out flat in a greased iron skillet. She kept two iron skillets in the oven and would make anywhere from 8 to 12 or 14 layers.

For the filling in between the layers, she used dried apples and cooked them down to something similar to apple butter but with more texture if I remember correctly. ( I know water and cinnamon were added to the apples, but think there were other spices, just don't recall what all.) That was a cake that company always enjoyed. I have never seen the cake made by anyone else, but I did find a recipe that sounds right here.

Thinking back, that is one of my favorite memories.

A visitor today

Lorelei stayed with us today....she is quite the character. Never still a minute. Wait. I take that back....I put her little jacket on her, and wrapped her blanket around her. Loosely. It wasn't cold, just windy. And we sat in the swing on the front porch once again. It has been ages since I have seen her that still. She just sat so quietly, not moving at all unless a car passed. She totally loves cars...I don't know what it is about them but she watches them as far as she can see them.

And she mimics us....at least Roger. If he coughs, she coughs. It is just too cute for words. And any of us can initiate a yelling contest. And she smiles the whole time. When she crawls through the house, she looks like a little wind-up toy. Specially on the linoleum in the dining room and in the kitchen.

I only hope everyone gets as much enjoyment from their kids as we do her. Her mom and dad are just so good with her. And her aunt is wonderful with her.

I never talk a lot about my older daughter...but I am just as proud of her as can be. I showed Lorelei some pictures of her today and when she saw them, a smile lit up her whole face. This daughter somehow inspires that in kids.

When she was in college, she worked at a mini mart for about 3 or 4 years while going to college. So many of the kids that came in there reacted to her in ways that astonished their parents. One or two would always have to kiss her good-by, all the time the parents saying their child never did that with anyone else. Then there was another couple that had a little girl about 3 yrs. old if I remember correctly....they would try to get gas without bringing her in. They would come in and warn my daughter to stay away from the window, but if their little girl seen my daughter, she would insist on being brought in. And my daughter would have to pick her up for just a couple minutes. The only thing I can think is that she made them feel safe.

Road to memories

As I sit here trying to type, a cat is at the front door wanting in. With four cats, there is one wanting in or out continually. When it is really cold, sometimes one will want out and when we open the door and it feels the cold, it will either step out and turn around and run back in or sometimes they don't even go out. But it has to be really bitter cold/wind for that.

Anyway, this road to the barn reminds me of other roads, other barns, other times and places. But mostly I think about our barn. It sure seen a lot of life. Just the normal day to day chores of feeding the pigs, and we always fed Old Bob, our old horse a little extra every day. I think it was corn ground up with some kind of sweetening added to it...maybe molasses? I don't really know what was used--I just know it smelled good.

And how many of you know that pigs will eat coal? Honest to goodness, they do. A few times during the year, I would have to get a bucket and gather it full of smaller pieces of coal, the various sizes of crushed rock. I don't know how mom knew they ate coal...and I don't know what it supplied for the pigs but they ate it like the pigs they were. Totally enjoyed it. And I know mom thought it supplied something they needed. And I have heard a neighbor talking about his pigs and thinking something was wrong, and mom told him to feed them coal.

And in the summer, two or three times a week mom or I, or both of us would cut a big armload of what we called horseweeds and carry them and throw them in the pigpen to the pigs. I have been trying to find a decent picture of what we called horseweeds but can't. What is listed as horseweeds in a google search is not what we called horseweeds. I just had a thought googled ragweed, then clicked images. It came up as giant ragweed. That makes sense because of the flower head--it is similar to regular ragweed.

In the summer, my sisters would usually come home for at least one visit...and soon as they got in my nieces and/or nephews wanted to go to the barn. The one thing I remember them really liking to do was to shell corn for the pigs. It was an added bonus if we happened to have a calf that we were keeping in the barn! I didn't realize it when I was a kid, at least not at first, but a couple of the nephews would try riding the calves if they were any size at all!

That is just a few of the memories that flood my soul when I see barns...so it is no wonder that I love them.

Case Cabin

We were out yesterday and went through Bridgeton and Mansfield. I took these pictures but am hoping it snows before the season is over.
I am sorry I haven't got the history of this house, and there is no excuse. Roger used to work with the lady that has this cabin, and we have even seen her up there and talked to her. Their farm is not too far from Bridgeton.

I will be posting another house that she has crafts in over on my other blog, Time Stand Still.

Mama Squirrel

I took these yesterday....and I put a couple others on my other blog, Time Stand Still. I was wanting her to flip her tail up over her back till you could see how much is missing but she never once flipped it up.
She is never on any schedule in coming. Though I think now that it is colder, I do see her more. There was one time earlier in the summer when I was just sure she had gotten killed. There were 3 or 4 weeks in a row that she didn't show up at all. She is a little piggy right now, and just eats and eats and eats. I suppose she is trying to build a layer of fat.

Still cold

A photo from January,1996 of the covered bridge at Bridgeton, Indiana.

It is still cold here, but supposed to get all the way up in the thirties tomorrow. We will think a heat wave has hit. I will be thankful for it!

We kept Lorelei today while her mom did some errands and a bit of Christmas shopping. She is such a happy little girl. And have I told you that she loves books? I didn't realize Sarah had stuck some of hers from home in the diaper bag, so I got out one we had for her for Christmas. She looked and looked through it. She will sit and sit looking through and talking about the pictures....what she is saying I do not know, but she is very intent when telling me all about them.

Her other thing is to reach for her papaw every time he passes. He carries her around and shows her everything and tells her about each item. And while it is okay for him to leave the room I am in with her, she does not like it if I leave the room and leave them behind.

She also enjoys going after the cats and Shelby...not all the time, though she does crawl up to Shelby fairly often and talks to her also. Shelby doesn't know what to think...she is sort of afraid of being hurt inless I am right there. Or maybe she is afraid of Lorelei being hurt...not sure which it is. If I am right there about as close as possible she is fine with it. But if I am standing up, she gets up, too.
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I have went back to moderating comments....I tried just using word verification and it did not slow them spammers down at all.

Bright Eyes

I am sitting here with my computer and a cat in my lap, so it is a chore to try to type. So, I would like to take just a minute to encourage you to click each photo and enlarge it.
Lorelei was one busy little girl today...in fact, I think she is a busy girl every day.
And a happy kid at that. But oh, does she have a temper!
There is a corner in their living room where there is an antique lamp table... and she always wants to crawl back under it. I have a hard time getting her out from back there, so I just don't let her go. She gets mad and starts kicking her feet, and does this grunting thing till you know she is unhappy.

I think you can see her tooth in this one if you enlarge it!

However, usually if she is offered other things such as a book, or to go look out the window, she forgets all about what she had started to do.

Cold!!!!!

This is from a few years back, but the cold feel to the picture certainly describes the feeling of this day.

I just let Shelby out, and three of the cats went out....the wind is so strong it about took the door out of my hand. It is funny, the wind literally howls in the winter. I suppose the foliage of the trees in the summer dampens that sound. That is my reasoning at least, whether it is wrong or right I cannot say.

Now, the fourth cat is out. I hope by the time we leave to go babysit Lorelei that they are all back inside. I don't like to leave and them be out in this type of weather. But two of them have been at me for the past hour at least to let them out. The boys of course....the girls tend to wait patiently most of the time.

The coldest weather so far is supposed to be headed out way. Mama Squirrel was a real little piggy yesterday. I told Roger then I wondered if she was trying to get enough food in her to last for a few days of sleep. Looking back, I bet she knew this weather was coming. I do hope she has a nice hole she sleeps in across the street.

It is about time for my alarm to go off, so I best go shut it off. I have been so off schedule with my sleep, I thought I best set it to be sure I am up early this morn. I hate it when I sleep half the day away....the rest just seems so short and I feel so far behind.

Christmas time's a coming

I got to see Bright Eyes today...but didn't have my camera with me. She is changing so much. She tries her best to tell us things...and has Da-Da-Da down pat. She loves to look out the window...she just looks out and jabbers away. She has the most mischievous grin imaginable. I go Wednesday to watch her a while for Sarah and hope to get some better pictures of her.

Just to let you know I am alive

I just thought I would do a post to let you know I haven't quit blogging, just been a bit under the weather. I came down with a really bad cold Thanksgiving day and have not been able to totally shake it. I don't feel bad; the worst thing is trying to get sleep because when I lay down I start to cough.

We have a new nephew--actually a great nephew. His name is Jackson. He was born December 1 and weighed 9 pound 4 ounces! and was 20 1/2 inches long. Welcome to the world Jackson!

I have not been out with the camera in a while, so I will start with a video of Lorelei. She is changing so much....as adorable as ever.