e-i-e-i-o for Barn Charm

I normally do not join both my blogs to the Barn Charm meme that Tricia hosts, but I am so anxious to show this one that I am making an exception for it. On our drive yesterday, we happened across this barn....the first time we have ever seen it. It immediately made me think of Lorelei...she used to love Old McDonald had a farm..
I would love to know the thoughts of whoever did this...and I would like to tell them I love it!
If you have a barn, won't you link it to Tricia's Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily? Or if you just love barns, you can go there for links to see more.
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I was just sitting here thinking bout all the beautiful country and unique things we have seen in traveling the county roads going at a snail's pace part of the time. I bet there are people that have lived here all their lives and not seen any of it. I have lived here 30+ and am just now seeing it. Any time we go anywhere, we always see roads we wish we could travel down. And if we stayed in the car 40 hours a week, it would be hard to cover all the area.

Most people have jobs they go to every day, and things to do once they get home so they don't have time not energy to ramble around. I know when I worked at the orchard, I had little energy left for anything other than the things that were absolutely necessary. So, I am not being critical...just making an observation.

But if you have the time, take a round-about way going to and from things...it is fun to discover new things and places.

Down a county road....

Just to get out a little bit, we headed north....I was sort of looking for the place in the post day before yesterday with all the big rocks....we didn't find it but we found the road in the first photo above...we have been down part of it before, one time.
I recognized this barn, and have posted a different view of it but cannot supply the link at this time.
We have been through this bridge before, but I did not remember it at all; the other time we were through here it was in the summertime.
This is a view looking back down the valley from the bridge....we want to go back when spring has arrived. It will look totally different.

Memories......

If you don't like bluegrass, you may not like the videos in this post...but they fill my heart with memories...not so much the entire songs, as phrases from them. So listen if you want, or don't...they do have the bluegrass instruments, but don't sound like what I used to think of as bluegrass. So give them a chance if you dare.


These are views I have pasted before, but ran across them last night when I was trying to upload some more of the photos that I deleted a couple years ago. Then, we were watching a couple shows on PBS tonight....the last one was one of the guy above, the one that sings second and plays mandolin. His name is Sam Bush and he used to play with New Grass Revival...now a mandolin is a lonesome sounding instrument to me. And I love them...and the whole tone of this song pulls at my heart.

See that line of trees in the photo below...it is the creek in the picture above...and when I was a kid and it rained a lot...the creek would flood and cover that whole field...and if it didn't flood a lot all the crawdad holes would have water bubbling up out of them....

Have you seen crawdad holes? I will try to think and take a photo of some when I go home. But for now check here...that field would have them all over...and when the water was bubbling, it was not uncommon for me to get down on my hands and knees and take a drink. I don't know if anyone else did it, but I think they did. How we didn't catch some awful disease, I do not know. Must have been God watching over us.
We are planning on going down as soon as it gets good and warm, but hopefully before the heat of summer....and the Lorelei and her mommy and daddy might drive down, too.

Speaking of them, they did come today. First they stopped at a bank in Terre Haute to close an account they had there...Sarah said when they went in Lorelei started just crying, wanting to see her Papaw and Mamaw...

And from there they ran by the hospital there to see new baby on Jeremy's side of the family...and all the time they were there she was wanting to come see Mamaw and Papaw. She comes in here just like a big girl....as if she owns the place....she for sure owns our heart. Sometimes I just hate for her to grow up, but I know that is the plan...and really I wouldn't want her to stay a child...it is so fun watch her learn how to do things and to see her figure things out. It is sort of that she just changes so much in the few days we don't see her.
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I am posting this song...you may or may not have heard of Ralph Stanley...well this one is from his son. While I have never been a big fan of Ralph Stanley, Sr.....I love this one by his son, Ralph Stanley, II It has that lonesome sound to it that I am in tonight. He was on the first show we watched tonight...or at least appeared to sing this song for his dad. In this song, the Carter that is mentioned is his uncle.

Photo overload....

In the fall of 2009 we came across this place...neither Roger nor I can remember exactly where to find it.
We know it's north of here...and I keep looking for it in our travels.
We both love finding places like this...
especially in Indiana.
This looked like an entrance to a cave....

So I went over to investigate....I crawled up in there...
There was barely room to stand up in, and not really any sort of room at all. It was dark, so I just used the auto everything setting on the camera and shot a couple of photos.
I kind of thought the roots looked creepy....

I have been having a lot of fun lately strolling down memory lane by looking at these old photos. They bring back so many good memories.

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Tomorrow the Toot is coming for a little visit. I cannot wait to see her. She was saying 'spectacular' to me on the phone tonight and doing a pretty good job of it.

Say kleenexes....

I was signed into my account that I have for Time Stand Still for quite a while.....when I got done I changed back to this gmail account and had the above video waiting for me. Have your sound turned up....she can say kleenex singular, but not plural.

And later Sarah could not get her phone out in time, but Lorelei was on the couch and had her legs wrapped in a blanket...she yelled, 'Look, I'm a mamermaid!' meaning mermaid.

Does he make you think of Rawhide?

Occasionally now we see cattle with these real long horns, this time this one was the only one in this cattle lot. Anytime I see them, the old western Rawhide pops into my mind. I wonder if I would like it as much now as I did when young.
Anyway, this is the barn he belonged to....one of the nicer ones we have run across. How would you like to have to put new roofing on it? I totally understand how some don't have the money to keep the barns in repair...but am so thankful to find ones like this that don't seem in too much danger of falling down.
All eyes were on me as I took these pictures...they did not seem menacing but more as if they wondered I had something for them. The house was right on to the right where you can't see it. So they are probably used to being handled. The only thing missing for me was a young calf.

There isn't anything much cuter than a baby animal of any kind...and calves with their big eyes and long lashes are right up there at the top of being beautiful. At home, each cow was named, as well as most calves received their own name. Since we usually milked at least one cow, I can remember carrying a calf to the barn a time or two after it was born, till the cow would have to come in to it.

For a while, we would milk some of the milk and leave the rest for the calf....I was never a milk lover, so don't remember drinking it a lot. But I do remember when I went to school, it being strange to have a box of milk with my lunch. Just tasted different. I can also remember noticing the difference between the taste of evaporated cream or real milk in coffee.

I will leave you with straight-on shot of the barn...I don't think I have ever seen one built just like this one...I don't know what you would call that part that sticks out at the peak of the roof. Have you ever seen one built like this? I don't know if the bottom drops open or not. Believe it or not, I did not notice this part till I downloaded the photos.

It must be maple sugaring time again!

In our rambling over the weekend, we came across this sap collecting sight! We have not run into it before, and to be truthful, I am not sure which county we were in. It was north of us. I have never seen the bags like these used.
I wondered if they would be easy to poke a hole in...wondered how they are transported, or are they just emptied into a container and put right back on the tree. Probably just emptied and put back in place. I really know next to nothing about the process of collecting sap and making the syrup....but will be learning some from my blog buddy Judy, over at Daily Yarns 'n More and Through My Lens as they make maple syrup for the first time at their Gentle Hearth Farm.
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When we were kids, sometimes something sweet was what we had for breakfast. Mom usually kept Bob White Syrup for our use....it was dark and thick and really yummy if you like syrup and butter and biscuits. If she ran out, sometimes she would use water and white granulated sugar, and I think vanilla flavoring, but it is possible that it was maple...she would cook the water and sugar on the top of the stove till it became a thin syrup. I am not sure when she added the flavor, but would think near the end. Pour a little of that in our plate, add butter, and dip one of her homemade biscuits in it...

The other thing she made was a chocolate syrup. She made it using flour, sugar, cocoa, and what else I don't know. I don't remember if the liquid she added was water or milk....and I don't remember if she added any vanilla. I just know that it was so good...it was thicker than water but not slow like molasses. And there was nothing better in life than to have it and add butter to it while it was still hot, and dip one of her biscuits in it.

I think I have mentioned her biscuits before....I have never tasted any like them anywhere else in my 55 years of living. As with almost any of her cooking, she did not follow a recipe with measurements..not for the chocolate syrup, not for the homemade version of syrup, and not for the biscuits.

For them she had a pan that she always kept in the flour bin, and it held more than 25 lbs of flour. She, along with most of the mothers of the children I grew up with would never have dreamed of buying a 5 lb bag of flour or cornmeal. Making biscuits and cornbread were just part of their daily routine....they never gave it a second thought.

But back to her biscuits, she kept a little metal pan in the flour bin....and it always had a bit of flour in it....she would add more flour to it....by the time I was very old it was always self-rising flour. She would make a well in the flour, add a dollop of lard, and start mixing with one hand while she added buttermilk which she poured from a gallon jar. Homemade buttermilk, at that.

She did not fool with it long till she had it the right consistency. Then, unlike most people that roll out their dough and use a glass or biscuit cutter to get the same size biscuit each time...she just pinched off a small section of the dough, kind of held it in one hand and cupped the other over it and rolled it around...then placed it in a baking pan and flattened it a little bit. And all her biscuits were uniform in size...until maybe the last little bit of dough.

She always made a 9 x 13 pan full of biscuits, and if there was a little dough left over, sometime she would make a big biscuit and place in another pan...I almost think she made a big one in fun.

Those biscuits were delicious...they were not flaky at all. But were sort of holey...and were just so good. I would give anything to have some of them once again, as well as some of her dumplings.

I have tried making biscuits and I just do not have the knack for it at all....dogs won't eat my biscuits. And I am dead serious...it has been a long time since I tried and I keep thinking one of these days I will start experimenting again but I never do. At least I can make the good old southern type of cornbread with no sugar.

Sometimes, at night when I want a snack but nothing sounds good, I will just make a pan of cornbread. And nothing tastes better. As a kid growing up, I would never have imagined a time would come when I thought cornbread a wonderful snack.

Look what we saw!!!!

We were out and about yesterday, hoping to see something. I was mainly hoping to see eagles....and maybe deer and turkeys. I 'may' have seen an eagle...in fact am almost positive I did. But we were driving too fast and it was just there and gone, so I am not positive.

But look what we did see--Sandhill Cranes! These we only saw in flight...but I could hear them. They are so vocal! You can look here and here to see other posts with better pictures. Or go here to read about their life history...it is interesting.
I wonder if they were looking for a place to rest, or were they just headed north...I have no idea how they do when heading back to their nesting grounds. I hope we can make it back to Jasper Pulaski a little later on...I just never tire of seeing them.
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We had another almost sleepless night the other night and I have just been out of sync the past couple of days. This time, it was basically cause we were having such nice weather and I was hyper...I could have stayed up all night. Every so often, I do have a night where I just stay up all night...usually I sew. This time we both read, and reading will help me settle down. We went to bed at 5:00 and I got up at 9:00, so hopefully no more nights like that.

It is doing nothing but rain here today...everything is so saturated. The Wabash River was almost out of its banks yesterday, so bet that it will be flooded after this day is through. Every time it floods, I think of George Rogers Clark and his men crossing it during flooding, on their way to battle....when they went to take back Kaskaskia from the British. They had to be men of iron will.

Anyway, of all days, I have laundry to do...I had much rather hang it outside but it is supposed to turn back chilly and even chance of light snow tonight. So, I will just dry them in the dryer and be done with it.

As I sit here, I hear Puss Puss crying in the basement....that is a sign she is looking for something, or in the process of carrying something up here. Usually something of Roger's. She has really been in that mood lately. I told in an earlier post about the plastic tubing, and the pipe cleaner...well, a few days later, she kept bringing this little plastic bag up...it was something that belonged to Roger but I don't know what it was. I know she brought it up at least three times....then the other night she brought up this whole bag of cleaning patches. It is little squares of cloth he uses to clean rifle bores. Only, with them, since the bag was bigger, there was a whole trail left behind her when she brought them up.

There is never a dull moment when you have cats...

Barn in weeds.....

All the weeds in this pictures seem to indicate this barn is not used much, but it reminded me of something one of my brothers and I did one time.

I don't remember how old we were, but we were in a barn up the road from our house. It is one he now owns, but back then it might have belonged to the previous owners. On past that barn was this creek...it had a kind of swampy feel about it. I don't ever remember doing much there...just one of those places you don't pay much attention to.

I know sometimes it would have big orange fish in it and we had no idea where they came from...and I am still not sure what they were. I don't know if they were fish people had in aquariums and turned loose there or what....down there, at that time, was not an area where people had aquariums.

Anyway, back to the point of this little story.....

I don't have any idea what my brother and I were doing, but we were up in that barn. He had an old homemade bow. There were a couple other kids out by the creek....they would probably have been about a block away from us...just to give you an idea of how far away they were. Of course by the barn were all kinds of stick weeds...my brother would have me sneak and get some of the weeds...it was late fall so they were dry and could just be broken off.

I don't know what he used to give the stick weeds weight enough to fly, but he used something and would shoot them almost straight up while aiming through a crack in the barn wall. (The 'arrow' was actually sticking through the crack.) I don't remember how many he shot before one hit close enough to the boys for them to even have a clue...I am not sure they ever knew for sure what was going on. I can remember them glancing around like they heard them hit. And I remember us just laughing and thinking we were really being funny....

I have no idea what possessed us to do that...I am sure we could have hurt someone. We were not trying to hurt them...we didn't even know them. I suppose we just wanted to be mysterious, or just the fact that they didn't know we were there was funny.

Wildlife report....

Night before last I made a run through the strip pits....I went through the first time kind of early...right around 3:30. Right after entering the area, there is a strip pit...and it was covered with geese. They were walking on water ice....and sitting on ice as if they were sitting on water. I could not help but think how cold that would be!
I paused and took a few pictures, and continued on through...I seen one single Northern Harrier, and not any other life of any kind. No birds flying, no ring-necked pheasants, no deer.

I decided to head on over into Illinois...originally thinking I would go to Paris, Illinois to take a few pictures in town just to have something different to post. However, I took off through the country to see if the geese were feeding in any of the fields. Other than one right there close to the strip pit, I just seen a few others too far away to photograph.

And did not see anything else in the wildlife department to photograph while out. So, I headed back home, and finally had three deer run across the road in front of me. This led me to run back through the strip pits on my way home.
This time there were red-winged blackbirds...so at least they are moving back through. There wasn't a lot of them, but sure more than when I had passed through earlier. So, I went on, trying to keep an eye out for pheasants....no luck. Looked for short-eared owls...no luck there either.

I finally spotted a herd of deer on a far hill...at least 8, maybe more. Too far to count. After seeing them, I finally spot a single, solitary male pheasant, and next were three Northern Harriers. Not a lot to see compared to other times, yet it was good to see what I did see.

After I left the strip pits, the first thing I saw was another herd of deer. I guess you would say herd. Just on down the road a mile or so from the red barn...four deer ran across the road and I could see 4 more deer waiting in the weed patch....I slowed down and was going to try to take a photo but a dog on down the way started barking at a truck that was coming from the other direction...so they ran back the other way.

So, I continue on my way home...by then there is a vehicle behind me. Soon as I could, I pull to the side of the road till they can pass me. I want to go slow. I am out to this farm field by then...there are 6 deer out in that field, plus two turkeys. So, I am thinking well, that is probably the end of what I will see...

But I continue on...just creeping along. I thought just maybe I might see a heron at this little creek I had yet to pass...but before I got there there is this woodsy/weedy patch and in there are more deer! I counted at least 6, two of them are in the photo above....but it was getting really late and I have a feeling I missed some. They blended in so well with their background it was hard to spot them.

So all in all it was a good evening...

Today

Today...
I hung my clothes on the lines.
Today...
I felt the sun warm upon my neck.
Today...
I didn't need a jacket.
Today...
The kitties stayed outside.
Today...
Spring was in the air.

Windswept skies....

This picture is definitely best if enlarged...but it does not do the sky justice. None of the ones I took did. So am just showing this one that has the Little House on the Prairie in it...at least that is what I have named the farm. If I knew their address, I think I would print one or two and photos and send it to them.

I don't have much to say tonight...we did not get a good night's sleep. No reason. Just couldn't get to sleep. Roger went to bed after midnight...maybe half past, and I followed not soon after. He was not asleep when I got in there and that in itself is unusual. We both tossed and turned and tossed and turned some more, talking some. Finally, we got up about 3:00 a.m. and Roger watched a video, and I read. He went back to bed at 4:00, and I read a while longer and went on to bed...and to sleep.

The cats got me up early...had to be fed. I fed them, lay back down and to sleep. The phone rang about 8:30...it was one of Roger's buddies...they talked a while and I went on back to sleep. Got up so late, felt like the day was just shot. So I did not attempt to do anything.

I did hear that it is supposed to be rainy the next couple of days, so I took off on a short drive...the photo above is from today.

I didn't trespass.....

We took a rambling drive on our way home from Terre Haute today....went over through Illinois and on some back roads there. We came across this little house which was posted with 'no trespassing' signs. Well, I never crossed the fence, but I so wanted to take different angles of the house....
as well as this fence and building. I just always love fences and generally the older the better.
I did lean across the fence to take this photo of the house. And I would have taken some other angles, but the road was slush/ice covered and I did not want to get my feet wet and/or fall and break my camera, not to mention my body.

I would have loved to peak in the windows...it was too dark to see what was inside even with my zoom lens and notice, the roof line is still straight and true...

I wonder what the house would smell like now with the windows gone. Would it still have that smell of a real old house...you know the one I am talking about. Or would it just smell woodsy from all the weather that has blown through the openings.

I also wonder how old the house is...if I knew much about the siding it would give me a clue to the age but I don't know and am not having any luck finding the information I want.

Another Hoosier Homestead...

On one of the few drives we have taken this winter, we came across this Hoosier Homestead..it is north of us. I am not sure which county it is in though. A Hoosier Homestead is one that has been owned by the same family for a hundred years or more.
I would love to know the stories these farms could tell. Imagine living here a hundred years ago in the weather we have been having. I often wonder would I have been strong enough to survive.
I suppose though, if you had never known any different, it would not seem as hard as we think it would be now.

Or even if I were younger, I would not look at it as such hard way to live. I think I have become soft as I age.

There was a party.....

In the previous post, I showed a few pictures of Lorelei from the past two years...her birthday was actually the other day...but her party was not until today....we went over yesterday and spent the night there...to hopefully help prepare for the party.

These photos are from today...the theme was Olivia...the TV Pig....that is her on Lorelei's t-shirt.
The first couple here was taken before the party...right after she got dressed. She was not in the mood to really pose...was more in the mood to goof off....
I captured the one above...she was being so goofy....I captured it and was going to try to get a picture of the look on her face but my battery died! I was so happy that I captured even this one of her 'posing'.... She is just so funny.
I was not in position to get her face....the house was totally full. I think besides Roger and I there were at least 40 people there...counting half a dozen children. I wish I had had a video of her opening presents....if it was a gift bag she would just rip the tissue paper from it and throw it over her shoulder....if there were clothes, they got throwed over her shoulder, too!

The clothes part was really funny, cause she really likes clothes. She was just focused on toys and opening more presents. Which shows how much she has changed in less than two months. At Christmas, she would open a present and not really be interested in the next...she just wanted to play with whatever she had opened. Today, she was perfectly fine with going from one gift to the next.
This is her with her mommy and her little cousin, Ellie...isn't Ellie adorable???
And here we have the birthday cup cakes....believe it or not, I think Lorelei was more interested in the decorations than in the cupcake/frosting....

She'll never be one again....

I hope you will take a chance and turn the video on and listen to the words as you scroll through these photos....yes, our Little Lorelei is two years old today! (The music is just a tad bit slow to start...so be patient.)
I went back through this blog and snagged a few of the photos I have posted before....
it was very hard to choose....
I finally just had to pick a few and decided to quit after 10...
Oops, a couple more snuck in...
I have been sitting the past two or three nights going back and scrolling through the photos, and really pausing to look at the ones of Lo...
What a joy it is to have her in our lives....
She brightens up any day...
and brings laughter to almost anyone she meets.
So, take your time and slowly stroll down memory lane with me as you look at these.
I hope she brings a smile to your face as she does mine.
Today on her second birthday, I wish for her all the love, joy and happiness that she has given us.