Furnace fixed, and other stuff....

I feel like a bird that has been set free....the furnace is fixed and is running just fine.  I wasn't really worried about it and it is not cold so the space heaters were more than adequate.  Still it feels so good for it to be done.  I know part of it is cause I have to stay where I can hear the door or be here to get the door cause Roger would never hear him if he knocked...and cannot always answer the phone if I have them all first.  Anyway, it is done.  That is one thing I am very thankful for.

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I actually saw a Red-winged blackbird the other day but this is my first pic of one this year.  To me they are as much a sign of spring as the robin is.  Maybe even more so.  When Sarah lived in Indy, I remember seeing robins when we were there at Christmas.  Anyway, I was thankful to see it....

Talking about birds leads to a question...did anyone else notice the big birds flying above/around the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off Japan because of the coronavirus?  Did anyone know what they were.  I could never catch a good glimpse of them but I so wanted to know.  Did any other birder notice and wonder?

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My heart has been so full today...thinking about everything...about first one thing and then another.  Thinking about home...about Tennessee...thinking about Roger and his friends...realized today that the guy that worked on our furnace reminded me of someone Roger would have liked before his stroke.  Not that he don't like him now...he likes everyone. It is hard to explains...anyway, I guess that will always be my comfort zone.  Someone that reminds me of him/his friends.

Below is an instrumental with photos from around home.  The little white house that is the 'cover' photo is one we passed every day we went to school.  Well, for me almost every day...I did get a few rides.



I hope everyone has a nice week....

Almost great shots...

I thought I would post a photo or two...

These are from right outside our dining room window.

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It is a cold night here in the Heartland.  Was slushing as it got dark...you know a cross between snow and rain.  It is supposed to get bitter cold tonight, too. 

Roger and I both have horrible colds...his throat was sore and his cough is a real cough, not his chronic cough.  I had scratchy throat yesterday an today I have all the typical symptoms of a cold...runny nose, watery eyes, scratchy throat.  Hopefully the symptoms won't last too long.  Daughter and I had planned to sew Saturday but we have cancelled that.

I continue to work on my leaves...I have 39 finished...no new pics.

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I am reading Adventure North by Sean Bloomfield....I got it for free back in 2017.  It is a pretty good read.   I get two or three newletters that give lists of books that are either free or low in price.  I have got some good books that way. 

I hope everyone else can avoid this cold...it is no fun.  I don't feel horrible...I just don't feel good.  LOL 

Where to begin....

I don't know where to begin...but it is not like there is a lot to tell.

I will start with these pics from yesterday.  We had just got home and I got out of the Rav4, and first noticed a hawk.  Alright!  So happy to see it.  Then I saw a Turkey Vulture, but then way, way on past it, pretty high up, I saw this!  It was so far I could not see that it has the white head, but just recognized it by how it flies how it looks in flight.  It was an overcast day and these were the best I could get.

Then Roger says "Is there two?"...I was trying to hold my camera on the one and had sure not noticed another and said no but when I brought my camera  and looked up, yes, there were two!  Just made our day.   BTW, both photos are cropped pretty heavily from the original.
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I have finished 8 more of the appliqued leaves but haven't taken a photo.  I suppose they are pretty boring to people that don't quilt.  I need another design wall to hang them on since daughter and I have the current project on it that I cannot show.

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I have been getting messages from people over on my other blog that sometimes they try to comment, and they get the page where they get the CAPTCHA thing...I wondered has anyone else had problems like this?  These people have their photo blogs on another site other than blogger.  I have had word verification turned off for ages and ages, and I just moderate comments that are on posts a few days old. 

ALSO, sometimes I get the message that someone has left a comment, on this blog, but never on Time Stand Still.  And on this one, I got them for a day or two recently and now back to not getting them at all.  And I quit getting the notice that a comment needed to be moderated ages and ages ago.

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I just read Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser.  It took me forever, and I do mean forever.  So long I am embarrassed to tell how long I think it took.  Has anyone here read it?  It has really left me sort of stunned, and I don't really know what I think even.    It sure was not what I expected in so many ways.

On the other hand I am reading :

The Dark Heart  A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator by Joakim Palmkvist....I got it free a while back.  It is set in Sweden and I was afraid it would be hard to follow, but instead it is hard to stop once I read a page.
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How about a fun shot?  A two headed swan!

It isn't of course, but if you expand the view you can see that it is two side by side.   I did not know I had got this till I downloaded the pics and were looking through them.