Things from my yard....

I am trying to get a post ready to go before I have to get ready to go to Terre Haute. Wasn't sure what to post, but was out in the yard this morn so thought I would show you a few things I captured there.

First of all, here is my handsome kitty, Cougar. He seems to be fully recovered from his cold. He and all the cats were out there with me. Even Bubbie went outside, but he got in the Lily of the Valley and all you could see of him was just bits here and there.
Then we have this. Yep, it is a hornet's nest being built. It is on our old garage....right by the sidewalk we have to use to go to the new garage.
I was about two feet away taking these pictures. Which is fine in good weather. If we always had good weather I would just leave it. But when storms start moving in, it has been my experience that at least honey bees and these type of bees get a little bit meaner.
Do you wonder what I mean by 'my experience?' Well, we rented honey bees and had a hive or two near the blackberries when I worked at the orchard. They set just a few feet off the road...and lots of times I walked up to within 3 or 4 feet of them and they didn't seem to mind. Later on in the summer, a storm was moving in, and I was down there trying to get some blackberries picked, and I was at least 75-100 feet away from the hives and they came chasing me down. No joke. I had to run for my life....well, maybe not life. But I don't like to be stung. By anything.

Several times we had hornet's nests in the apple trees. One particular year, there was one in the Jonathan's....again, normally, I would get right up to them and them pay me no mind. This one day I was picking, and just something about the way they were keeping vigil, I didn't even pick on the tree they were in. I got the one before it and the one after it. I was okay...but I forgot to tell Michael who took over when I left. So he came down the other side of the row...and he got stung two or three times. I guess the storm was closer, because they got after him a couple trees away.

Since those times, I give all bees lots of room if the weather is changing...
Notice the sacs on this bee...
And notice the tomatoes....not a single one is ripe. At least of the regular tomatoes. We did bring one of the little cherry tomatoes in. But have not eaten it.

Not sure when I will be back on...not sure if I am bringing Lorelei here in the morn or just staying at Sarah's.

New to me

The bottom one is some kind of thistle...its heads are not very big at all. The one above I do not know but I think it is pretty.

Rainy days

Please click and enlarge all photos to really get the feel of this day!

If you enlarge the photo above, you can see the rain. This little fellow was shy. It was raining to hard to leave my window down, so you see raindrops on the window. And I took a couple of him, but he would try to get behind his mama. So, decided to go on and not scare him.
We were happy to have time to take a drive over to Arthur, Illinois today. That is Amish Country. It never stopped raining once this whole day long. Not even sure if it has quit now. I wanted to go to a quilt shop, to look for some orange fabric.
On the way home, we took some side roads and seen so many foals. One farm had lots and lots of horses/mares with foals. The only thing with driving over there is there is never any room to pull off the road, and there is always light traffic even on the back roads. So there was no way to count how many there were. I know at least 50-75 grown horses, and a bunch of young ones. Just amazing to see.
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Then, I came home and got on here and have been emailing back and forth off and on all night with my one of my best friends who also happens to be my sister-in-law. Looking at old, old pictures Neal scanned and shared with us. From our childhood. You can see one of them here. My friend is married to my brother George.

Each of my brothers is special to me...I would have done anything for George. I am not sure when that started....not even sure just why I was that way by him but I was. He was just my hero. That about says it all.

Neal was the one I always got to read me stories before I learned to read. I also remember going to the barn with him to milk some times. He could take a full bucket of milk and swing it all the way around--and not spill any. I am talking swinging it overhead, and it upside down. I thought that was magic I guess.

And then there was Robert...he teased me and aggravated the living daylight out of me. Anything he could do to make me yell, or get mad...he done. I can't even remember what all he done now...I just remember flying mad at him. Our mom just let us fuss, and would tell me if I would not respond, that he would quit. And I suppose she was right. I can remember him taking a handful of cockle burs and rubbing them in my hair. He called me Molly simply because at that time I hated the name...he even called me that in his sleep.

Yet we did things together... he had friends come and spend the day and sometimes all night and he always let me tag along in whatever they did. He never tried to get our mom to make me stay home. I was just one of the gang. I cannot even remember what all we done, I just remember being glad they came. I think we used to go to this dump and shoot B-B guns at cans and bottles, etc, and I think we would go and find grapevine swings to swing on.

And Robert was always working on something...if I would have been a willing helper I could have learned a lot. Instead, as I got older I did not want to help him on his go cart or his cars. Now I think how dumb I was not to paid attention and learned how to do stuff.
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There just aren't too many photos of us growing up...a few taken by visitors and a few school pictures. We didn't even get those every year. I have two yearbooks from high school...I may be the only one of us kids to have yearbooks from high school. And there are a few pictures like the one below that my older sisters or someone has taken. And yes, that is me below.