Hickory chickens....

I know they are morels, but I like the more whimsical name of hickory chickens.  We heard them called that down home.  This one was actually growing here at our house in 2009.  It was growing under the edge of the trailer.   Roger was mowing the yard, maybe for the first time.  We had had the big old maple tree cut down the year before and it was near what would have been the old stump.  I don't expect to find them here this year, but do hope we get to find some at our 'mushroom hunting grounds.'
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It is going to be partly cloudy this day...has been overcast ever since I got up but I am finally seeing just a tiny bit of blue sky.  I was so hoping for a totally sun filled day.  At least, it is still supposed to get warm again.

Yesterday I got to sit outside and read!  For the first time this year.  We spend a lot of happy hours sitting on the porch--and I don't care how hot it gets, I will be out there for a while every day of the summer.

I am still discarding...just a few items at a time.  I am convinced that we all have more than we need.  To be able to get rid of as much stuff as I have and not even miss it tells that story.  I think if nothing happens I am going to have Roger give me a hand today in getting some things down where I can go through them.

Then there is the boxes...am I the only one that hangs on to boxes that electronics come in?  I tend to hang on to them for a while in case I have to send them back.  I do eventually throw them away--just wondered if I was the only one that holds them for a while.

One more shot of snow....

I just cannot resist posting another shot of the snow...I have a feeling we won't be seeing any like this for a while to come.  It is supposed to be in the 50's by the weekend.  I cannot wait...I am just so anxious to go outside without having to wonder will I need a jacket.  I can't wait to sit outside to read....or to have breakfast on the front porch.  Just so many things to look forward to.
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I am slowly but surely working on getting rid of things I don't use, can't wear, or just no longer want.  I keep slimming down on the number of books I am keeping.  I think I am about down to the bone in that regard.  There might be a few more, but very, very few.  Most of the ones that are left are treasured....I have several photography books that I cannot bare to part with though I seldom look at them any more...one is about worn out literally.

Then I have my Alaska books...can't get rid of them.  Nor my diaries and journals of people traveling west by wagon train...or some of them are just journals of people/immigrants after they are living there.  I would love to have some of these in digital format...specially Sod & Stubble by John Ise and Grass of the Earth by Aagot Raaen.  Even though I have the physical copy, I would love to have them on my kindle.

Back to de-cluttering...I keep telling myself if I get rid of just one thing a day, it will help.  But usually, when I go to find one thing, I find a few more.  There have been days when I didn't discard anything, but still my sister-in-law and I are working on this idea together...we report in to each other almost every day and it really helps to keep me motivated.

Scenes from the wonderland...

The scenes I am about to show you no longer exist...all the snow is off the feeders.  Hardly any snow clings to the trees.  I guess that is the one thing about snow this time of year....it generally does not last too long.

Roger did knock the snow off the big feeder when he filled it....but the other is all gone, too.  And it was really clinging to them yesterday.  I tried to knock it off and it just would not slide off.

This old, old chair is always left sitting outside.  I generally keep it right by the clothesline to sit my basket of clothes in.  I am thankful I don't HAVE to hang out clothes in this type of weather.

We did go for a drive yesterday...I had missed being out any in the other snows we have had and just could not resist the temptation.  Did not see any animals at the strip pits...and not many humans on the road.  I guess they all had better sense than us.

But oh, my, this type of weather sure brings childhood to mind.  I almost always had these little cheap snow boots...and they almost always had a leak.   So, mom always saved the plastic bags that bread came in...I would put my stocking feett in  them and then put my boots on and I was good to go.  Most of the time I went by myself...with the companionship of whatever dogs we had at the time.

It was a whole new world to explore...even though I was as familiar with the land as my own hand almost, everything seemed new and improved.  And there was the snow to eat...when I was a youth, I would have been taking bites of snow from any object heavy laden with it.  And I admit, I did take a bite of snow yesterday...but I don't make a habit of it any more.

There just is nothing more magical than a whole new world covered in snow.  And even though I am ready for spring, I really have enjoyed this winter wonderland.

It's a white, white world....

We actually did wake up to a white world this morn...much as the photos here..by 2:00 or so in the afternoon, a lot of it had melted.  Certainly not much left on trees...in fact none on this bush...

And nothing at all left on the birdfeeders...poor babies. They need food.  We had been out for a drive, got home around 2:00 or so...and by 4:00, it was snowing again.  This was the scene when I looked outside about 5:30.

And this is what the tree across the street looks like now.  My tripod is in the Rav, but even if it wasn't, I would probably just have snapped this anyway.  As you can see it is still snowing heavily.

Gone lonesome around here....

The Lorelei came for a visit...it had been 2 weeks since we had seen her....I swear I felt like she had grown a foot.

She was just so happy to be here...she sang and hopped and ran and just was all over the place....

As you can see by the photos, she was nothing but fun.

She picked dandelions and chose rocks for her rock collection...I am pretty sure she is going to have a thing for rocks.

And you should have heard her looking at my books about hawks...I think she is going to be interested in any and every thing.

The house just seems so quiet and lonesome when she leaves.  It isn't so much that she is loud...it is her happy spirit.
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It was warm enough today as you can see by Lorelei being outside in short sleeves.  However, looking at the radar it honestly looks like snow is on the way.  When I let Bubbie outside a few minutes ago, I could feel the cold moving in.  I am wondering how much we will actually get.

On the way home from Indianapolis...

There is something about this barn that I love.  A while back I tried to snag a photo of it on the way home from Sarah's.  This was the only one I managed to get.
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Lorelei and her mom are here for the weekend.  I have a little story to tell about Lorelei.  I don't know why I haven't told it before now.  It is about her birthday party weekend.  A couple of Sarah and Jeremy's friends spent the night there and were there the day we celebrated her birthday.  I do not know what it is, but she always loves their friends.  I don't care it it is just a group of Jeremy's guy friends, she loves them.  And they are good to her...even the ones that are not married and don't have kids are very good with her.

Well, the day of her party, John was sitting at the dining room table...not eating, but I don't remember what he was doing.  And she was up there right beside him, talking to him...he was talking to her and not trying to ignor her or anything.  She looks up at him and asks, "Don't you have any friends of your own?"

The ones of us that heard it cracked up...and every time I have thought of it since, I crack up!
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It has been a couple weeks since we have seen her and I swear, she seems to have grown by leaps and bounds.  It is as much her actions as actual growth.

It was warm enough till she got to play outside for an hour or two this evening.

But according to the weatherman that is not going to last.  It is supposed to start snowing tomorrow night and continue through Sunday...and 4 to 7 inches is predicted.  I am hoping they are wrong, but if they are right, I am going to try to get out for photos.

Fresh from the strip pits....

For the first time in ages, I had time to spend at the strip pits.  It is either feast of famine out there now. A few days ago, coming home from somewhere, we just drove through the strip pits...we had to really search to see a blackbird even.  Tonight I had barely turned in till I seen one of these dudes....a ring-necked pheasant.  Not this one...the first one I saw was gone in short order.  He was close to the road and took off running the minute I slowed down.

Before I forget, all these photos are definitely better if you click to expand the view.

And here is another hiding from me...when I tried to walk closer, he stood up and ran in the opposite direction.

These first two shots were cropped.  Notice the second one, look at the bush in the background.  See that grayish thing right there at the left side?  That is a short-eared owl.  They were out there tonight, but none were cooperating.  Most were farther away, and if not, I would be shooting straight into the sun so no pics of them.

At the pond that is right at the edge of the road, this is what I saw...sandhill cranes!

There was probably 75-100 of them...maybe one of these days this will be a stopping place for a large number of them.  The past three or four years, I have seen 3 or 4 or 5 a few times, so I was really excited to see this many!

Remembering what spring looks like

I was looking for another photograph, while kind of looking for one to use on here at the same time.  I came across this and thought it is just the ticket!  Don't you love how things are such a fresh green in the spring?

This is the real deal...no editing done on this other than I did hit the sharpen button but that did not really change it much.  I am so longing for shirt sleeve weather.

We did have sun again here today...had sun all day long yesterday, too.  I hung towels on the clothesline yesterday and today I hung sheets and a blanket.  I don't think it took the sheets two hours to dry.  I used 5 or 6 clothespins on each sheet--if I hadn't I think the fitted sheet would have taken flight and left the area.

When I looked out, it had turned itself inside out and the only thing holding it on the line was the clothespins--in other words it was no longer draped OVER the clothesline. I know from experience that two or three will not hold a fitted sheet on when it is windy like it has been. I glanced out last year or the year before to see one hanging by one single clothespin...I considered myself blessed to have seen it in time.

I have been trying to declutter a little bit.  I just try to pick up a bit here and there and either trash it or put with stuff I am going to donate. Some days it is only one or two items, others it may be a dozen things. Today one thing I got rid of was a rice cooker. I used to use it fairly often, but it has been years since I used it so out it goes.

What I want to know, does everyone have stuff sitting around that they don't use.  I have really gotten rid of a lot of stuff the past year or two and it is not even missed.  I cannot help but think I don't want the girls to have a total mess when I die.  Besides that, it would be easier on me if I had less to mess with.

We pass this barn when we go north to Willow Slough...we are always going about 65 mph, and there is just no way to get a good shot of it.  The ends have the Purdue University symbol and the front has the Indiana University symbol.  Wonder what it is like in that house when the two play each other during basketball or football season?
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It is bright and sunny here today.  I am actually thinking it looks like it will stay this way all day but I would not bet on it.  Not sure what the day will hold for me...it would be a good day to get out some.  I need to make a Walmart run, but not sure I will even do that.  It would also be a good day to hang a load of laundry outside.

I need to decide how to do the quilting on a baby quilt...it is layered and pin basted and waiting on the quilting.  I even have the binding made.  It is just those pesky little decisions about how I want to do something that slows me down.

No matter what I decide to do, I am definitely going to enjoy seeing sunshine for more than a few minutes.

Flashback....

I was looking for another photograph, saw these and just had to post them.  They are taken by Lorelei's mom and they are a couple of my favorite photos of Lorelei and her dad.  The odd thing is I have one of Sarah and her daddy just like this, or did have.  I think it is at Sarah's house right now.

There is not doubt about it....she loves her daddy.

To blog or not to blog...

I really cannot decide if I am ready to start blogging again or not.   I think things have settled enough till I can...but I am so out of the habit it might take me a while to get back into the daily grind.  Part of what makes it hard for me to blog is not having any new material.  We only yesterday took our first fun drive in ages...

Anyway, I have been somewhat busy when I had the chance...and got this quilt finished.

It is machine quilted of course...on my Juki 98Q.

The front is just regular cotton fabrics but the back is soft flannel...

It is a good size for snuggling under on the couch....it measures 66 inches wide and about 80 inches long after washing.

I don't remember where tis was taken, but sure like the looks of it.  I may have even posted it before.  Just thought it was fitting though, cause I have been talking to Lorelei and asking her if she remembered going to the creeks and she does.  And she wants to go again.  Hopefully, it won't be so dry this year and we will get to go.  She had a blast a couple years ago when we took her to Big Walnut Creek and to Mansfield Dam.
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Lorelei just got up...I need to find her some breakfast.  She really slept in today.  We are home for a few days at least...not sure how much blogging I will do.  Hopefully, I will have some time to spend catching up with everyone.