Yesterday.....

This was taken yesterday...I know it is a mess with all the cluttered background. I meant to get out and try to take some better ones but never got around to it. The birds were out there all day long....all kinds. There were a couple pair of cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers, finches, sparrows, and starlings. I heard a blue jay once, but did not see it.

I think they must have known today was coming...they worked steadily all day long at filling their little bellies....today there has only been the occasional bird. I would like to know where the others are. Do they have some place they go that is not as cold as others? It is a real puzzle.

Yesterday I tried to keep the cats inside till the birds could eat their fill without fear....but when the cats do get out, they are not very smart. They get right under the feeder and sit and wait. Occasionally a bird will come and the cat will jump. I am thankful that the cats are so dumb that they don't try to hide.

Today has been bitter cold...the house has had a chill all day and I don't have the thermostat down...it is just so cold that it seeps in. The cats go out, only to turn around and come back in in about 5 minutes...and sometimes they go out one door, go straight to the other one and want back in. The joys of owning cats!

Mine!

Roger has been busy again...he has had this knife cut out for a while now...not sure if he had did any of the forge work with it or not. But he finished it for me the other day, and I just today took pictures.
I just cannot take photos that do them justice....I don't have lighting, other than the flash on my camera. But even if I did, I do not understand using it...so you are left with these photos.
It sure fits my hand....feels just right. I don't know if I will ever have the nerve to take it and use it...some of his buddies have used theirs. But I have been know to lose things, so this may never leave the house. It is very close to being like Jeremy's--it is what I requested. I did have him make my sheath a bit different though.

****************
Here, it has turned cold again....3-6" is in the forecast. I don't even know if I hope they are wrong or right. We had a very warm for January day yesterday and almost all the previous snow is gone. But it left one big ugly world behind. Everything just looks dirty and dingy. So maybe to be covering it with white would be a big improvement.

I have things I need to do and cannot seem to quit thinking about other things. I need to focus on more positive things but having trouble with it right now. I have cut a few strips of fabric to start another quilt top. Seems like every time I go down and actually get in the mood and start, something happens to call me away from the task. Then it is hard to get motivated to go back.
***********
I also splurged on myself and bought The Awakening Land. It was a mini series on TV that aired in 1978 which is when we lived in Tennessee. Since watching the mini series, I have read the books by Conrad Richter that it was based on numerous times. (The Trees, The Fields, The Town, or they were all combined into one volume called The Awakening Land.) Anyway, one of the first things I did when we got Internet access was start searching for it on VHS/DVD, every so often, I would scour the Internet....just hoping to come across it. You just cannot imagine my surprise to do a search a few weeks ago and have it actually pop up.

Anyway, that is all from this corner of the world for now...

Red barn in white

This is another drive-by shot....on the way to Sarah's. I wanted to post something but don't feel like dragging out the camera right now for what I want to post about so will put this photo up.
*************
What I would like to know is this: does everyone go to Walmart, or wherever you go, with the intentions of getting just a few things and almost always end up with a cart piled high? I just got home a few minutes ago....I got a new dish drainer. I have a dishwasher and had went to the small dish drainer. Lately, I have been washing dishes more than using the dishwasher, and find I need the bigger drainer.

I about fainted when I saw the price....the drainer was $12.47, which would put it over $13 with taxes. The tray it sits on was $7.97.....and get this, I don't like doing dishes. I don't let them set and set....I cannot bare to go in to cook with a big pile of dirty dishes sitting. So mine are always done up at least once a day, and most times two...occasionally three.

I feel like I have been doing dishes all my life. I am sure I am not the only woman that feels like that....and I don't just hate the job itself. It is the fact that I no more than get them done, till someone messes up some. It feels like I make no headway. I really would hate to see all the dishes I have done put in a pile....it would be a mountain I am sure.

As for how long I have been doing them, I think I started around 4th grade...not sure...could have been a little earlier or a little later. I always did the supper dishes...and helped with either the breakfast or dinner dishes. You would think I could not forget which other one I helped with, but for the life of me I don't remember.

She did teach me to do them and get them over with...every now and then I would try to put them off, and she would tell me I could, but that I would have to get up early the next morn and wash them. She would let me leave a cast iron pan every now and then....which she usually did that night. She was not one to leave a bunch of dirty dishes either.

I can so clearly remember one time, my brothers and I were out playing ball after supper. Mom came to the back door and yelled and told me it was time to do the dishes....so, I went in uncomplaining...it did no good with mom so we basically didn't do too much. Anyway, when I got in, she had them already washed them for me...what she really wanted was to give me some ice cream. There had been just a little bit left, so she gave it to me.

I remember that so clearly....

See, ice cream was a BIG treat in our world....it was something we probably did not have once a month...not even sure if we averaged having it once every two months. And we almost always got butter pecan! You would think I would be tired of it by now, but about half the time I get ice cream now, I will still get butter pecan.

Have you ever had a float made with butter pecan ice cream and Pepsi? In my own opinion, no other float can compare....though now I usually use Coke. Everyone says they don't want to deal with the nuts, but they usually go to the bottom and you use a spoon and eat them last.
****************
Oh, the tests came back negative on Lorelei....and she IS feeling better and the temperature has been down the past two days. I am so relieved that she is feeling better. And her mommy is feeling good. So things are definitely looking up.

Now if I could just have a day or two of sunshine and bright blue skies...I might feel like doing something.