I Love Spring!

It is spring!  I think it’s my fave season – at present, anyway.  I’ll probably change my mind in a week or so, but for now it’s my fave.  Gee, I’m getting into this cyber-talk or whatever you want to call it.  I still can’t tell a ‘short’ story – I love details.  Just ask my kids.  When I tell a story about something they are standing there with their heads shaking, their hands motioning to help me get along with the subject and then there’s that eye-roll thingy that they do.  The Marine is especially bad at that – he’s use to the hurry, hurry, hurry life of the Marine Corps.  I called the base for him, knowing that he should answer the phone, but I was soooooo confused when someone at the other end said, “hellosgth======speakingcanIhelpyou?”  Now you have to imagine this being said at an extremely fast pace, I mean extremely fast. There was no punctuation in there at all, just “hellosgth======speakingcanihelpyou?”   All I could say was, “huh? who is this?”  From the other end I heard, “Mom, it’s me.”  “Oh, OK, I couldn’t understand you.  Could you please speak a little slower?”   I found out later that they all speak like that – I guess it’s a Marine thang!

OK, back to the story.  See, I told you I couldn’t tell a short story.  I’ll be off track again before the end of this post.  I’ll try to control myself, so stick with me and if I begin talking like a Marine just slow me down. 

Oh, yea, I love spring, it’s my favorite fave season of the year.  Tully and I took a fast walk around the yard yesterday and I snapped a couple of photos of some the new flowers that are out.  My daffodils and tulips, except for a couple in the front yard are all spent, caput, finished, dead,  but, the lilacs are blooming and they smell sooo wonderful. 

Oh, yea, another thing about spring is that my “adopted ladies” are laying their beautiful brown eggs again and so are those cute little gals with the hairy legs – oh, that sounds nasty.   They are cute, hairy legs and all and they lay the cutest little white eggs you ever saw.  Takes about three of them to make a good large egg.  Mrs. Carpenter just ordered some new baby chicks and I can’t wait for them to come.  She also got a new rooster.  Boy, is he ever a good cockadodoodler.  That fellow starts about 5:30 in the morning and he doesn’t run down all day.  I know what his problem is.  She has him in a pen all by himself.  What respectable rooster wants to be shut up in a pen all by himself when there’s a dozen or so big fluffy nice hens running around outside.  Poor guy.  Maybe next week when she turns  him loose with the “ladies” he won’t want to crow so much or so early or so late in the evening.  I’m going over and have a talk with those “ladies” and get them all riled up – I know, I’ll read that article to them that was the new Redbook magazine.  Well, maybe I’d better not read that to them, I really don’t know how they would react to it.  Those of you that get Redbook, know what article I’m talking about.  “Let me tell you ’bout the birds and bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above….and this thang called love”.  You’d much rather read those words than to hear me sing them to you.  If you really want to hear me sing it, just give me a call.  OK, I’m off subject again.  I have a feeling that I just spiked the sales of Redbook for this month – wonder if they will give me a cut of the sales?  The Marine is rolling his eyes (he would be if he were here/heaven help me if he reads this) and the other kid is ignoring me.  He does that when I get this way.  I think this is a story I will have to keep you informed of, so stay tuned.  I’m talking about the chickens and the rooster, not the kids.  Gee, the Pioneer Woman has her “High Heels and Tractor Wheels” saga and I have a saga about the rooster next door dreaming about the day he gets turned loose with all those fluffy hens.  They’re all fluffy but one.  Tully decided he would “play” with her a couple of weeks ago, she’s fine, just minus a few feathers.

Back to the subject….oh, yea, spring.  I’d better post a few pictures of some of the things that I get excited about now that it’s spring.  Enjoy.

Aren’t those just beautiful?  Those gals do a great job.

Oh, I’ve got to go and cut some of these to bring into the house.  Gosh, I wish you had a scratch-n-sniff computer screen.

This is a bud on the quince tree.  Soon it will turn into………

……..this.  Isn’t that pretty?  The honey bees just love’em.

Well, that’s all for today.  I’m going to make some notes for my “birds & bees” talk with the “ladies” next door.

See you all later – Sharon

Snow….continued and continued – Yuck!

I warned you that this would be continued, but this is ridiculous!  The snow began again about 6 am Monday morning and now it’s Tuesday morning still snowing.  We’ve had a few breaks but they say we will probably get another inch or two before it’s all over.   Yesterday we were getting 1 – 2 inches per hour at times.  We’ve gotten somewhere between 8 to 9 inches so far and that’s on top of the 12 we already had.  The Pressman had to wait for BAH (sounds like a lamb, doesn’t it-no way)to get off work yesterday evening because his little car doesn’t like the snow and neither does he.  He (BAH) was use to hopping on a bus or the subway – around here you might hitch a ride on a  cattle truck or semi – but none of those conveniences around here, just 4x4s and lots of prayers.  BTW – I have to get this off my chest – PEOPLE, please clean off your headlights, tail lights, turn them on and for heaven’s sake, give turn signals!!!   ARGH!  It’s not all that easy to stop in this stuff!  Now, I’m back to my calm and collected self.  Anyway, I had the pleasure of taking the Pressman to work this morning so that I can come home and take BAH to work this afternoon and probably pick him up sometime tonight.  I thought I had gotten rid of the job of running my kids around a long, long time ago.  I think I will call the airline and see if they have any flights to southern California – Marine, I want some of that sun you are enjoying right now.  I guess I can dream but now it’s back to reality.  The driveway is drifted in, the roads are drifted over and it’s blowing around like crazy out there.  Tully enjoys it.  He goes out and hops from snowdrift to snowdrift, does some art work in yellow and brown on them and comes in with ice balls frozen everywhere, shakes it off all over the kitchen floor and finds a quilt and makes a nest.  He’s so spoiled – just like the rest of them around here.  OK, I’ve vented enough.  In a couple of weeks I’ll be complaining about all the mud from the melted snow – I think I’ll stay in Cali for a while.  I can dream, can’t I?  Before I get too depressed I’d better post some photos.

This was the view from my kitchen window on Super Bowl Sunday.  The sun was finally shining!  Remember, I told I was a fair-weather photographer – I took this through the window in the kitchen.  If you look close you can probably see the water spots – Ha!Ha!  This was after the first round of snow on the 6th of February.  See that driveway – I didn’t think so.  We didn’t leave the house all weekend!

This was the ending to the second snow storm of the month.  Look at the size of those snowflakes.  They were beautiful.  Tully and I went for a walk and I was going to take pictures, but my battery was dead, so this is all I have to show.  This was on the 9th.

This little guy was sitting in the maple tree in the backyard the other day between storms.  Looks like a meadowlark, but I didn’t know they had that bright of color this time of year.  He hung around for a long while and I’ve seen him several times since.  Mrs. Carpenter said she had seen him around too.Tully loves playing in the snow.  Today is was over his back in places but that didn’t keep him from rooting around hunting for a mouse or two.As you can see, the sun didn’t shine and the wind began to blow, so it was time to head in for a cup of hot coffee and a nice cozy quilt.

On Friday morning we woke up to fog – fog?  It’s very cold outside.  I’m talking single digits and we have fog.  As daylight began I looked out to find the most beautiful sight I had seen in a while.  We had what is called hoar-frost on everything.  The tree branches glistened in the sunshine and it sparkled like diamonds across the front lawn or what use to be our lawn.  It was now a blanket of sparkling white diamonds.  Who could have guessed that an old green clothesline could be so pretty……….or the Rose of Sharon that I threatened to cut down last fall, but didn’t get around to it.  Look at that blue sky.  The sun was shining for the first time in a very looooooonnng time!  This is my Adam’s County rose.  Can’t wait for it to bloom this summer.  I can smell it already.  Spring…spring, where art thou?  OK, Chicken Sitter get back to reality, snap out of it.  It’s 24 degrees outside, the snow is drifted across the driveway and???? there goes a horse and buggy trotting  down the road?  Brrrrrrr!   That’s another story for another time.   The weather forecast for the weekend says – you guessed it – snow again on Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday.  Sunday night – nothing.  Monday morning – it’s here again.  Three, 3, three snow storms in 10 days. Another shot from the kitchen window.  The only thing out there is one snow plow that went by a few hours earlier and that nasty European blackbird, that I wish would go back to Europe and the snow.  That is Douglas Pond in the distance.  It’s much prettier on a sunny day, when you can see more that 100 feet in front of you. Looks a little windy out there, don’t ya think?  This was pretty much the story the rest of the day.  Now it’s just snow and blow.This is the base to my bird bath.  It’s about 30″ high and it is about 2/3 covered.  Yes, my bird bath base is still sitting outside and as you will see in the next pictures my greenery is still on my window box ledges.  They have been so pretty through the snow storms and besides, it looks so naked after you take them down.  Let’s face it, I think it’s going to be awhile before spring pokes it’s head out from under this snow.  Then comes the, oh, I hate to say this…..mud.  Please, can we just go from snow to green grass, I’d much rather mow than clean up m…u…d.  I have a hard time getting that word out.  Oh, no!  The weather is on – did I hear him say, “don’t kill the messenger”.  Did I hear him right?  Snow chances are very good for Sunday and then again on Tuesday.  They will give more information on the evening news.  I’m going to get on the couch with Tully and make him share  his quilt.  This is the end to this boring weather saga.

Later and no, I’m not going to chicken coop – it’s too darned cold.  Besides, their Mommy is home now.

Sharon – TheEggGather

Snow, Snow & More Ssssnnnnooow!

Well, what else should we expect?  It’s almost the middle of February.  It’s winter!  We’ve had two snow storms here in Southern Ohio in 5 days.  It has taken me a few days to get my head un-snow-logged, but my body is still frozen to the core.    

I’m really looking forward to spring, but for now, it’s still turtlenecks, insulated underwear, wool socks and quilts in every chair and couch in the house.  Oh yes, and the heating pad at the ready.  I’m even thinking of bringing the other one out of the linen closet to use on my feet.  Even spring and summer weather doesn’t warm them up. 

 

In the beginning….God created the heavens and the earth.  OK, that’s another beginning, but He did create the snow also and it began to fall about 5:30 last Friday evening…and it fell and fell and fell……….

…and about an hour and half later, this is what it looked like from my kitchen door.  I’m a fair-weather photographer, especially in the winter.  It continued like this until Saturday afternoon with a few slow times in between.

Sunday morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful but cold.  We thought it was a good day to take a drive around the lake and get Tully out  to have some fun in the snow.

Our first stop was Fisherman’s Wharf.  This is the road down to the wharf at Rocky Fork Lake.  The sun doesn’t shine in this area much because of all the trees and with the snow weighing them down it’s like driving through a tunnel.  At the end the sun was shining bright on the snow-covered lake.

We had stopped at several other places, so Tully was ready to get out and stretch his legs and romp through the snow.  It was almost as deep as he is tall. 

It must have been all the snow and the water, even though it was frozen, but he just couldn’t wait any longer.  Remember, don’t eat the yellow snow.

We made our way to the lake restaurant, to bad they aren’t open any more.  I could have used a cup of coffee or hot chocolate about then.  The geese enjoyed being able to walk across the lake on the frozen water.  There were hundreds of them.  As much as I hate the mess the make of our lake grounds in the summer, they are beautiful.

Our next stop was at the remains of the old McCoppin’s Mill.

We’re off again – to the inlets, that’s what we’ve always called them.  When Beany was little, he and I would go fishing early of a morning almost everyday during the summer and this what we named this area.  On the way to the inlets we pulled over and stopped for a few more photos.  The sky was so bright blue and the sun was just right for this one.  Now we see the geese from the opposite side of the lake.

Next stop – the Rocky Fork Dam, but wait, there’s an old red barn off to one side of the parking lot and it looks so cozy all nestled down in the snow.  Just one more photo before making my way down to the dam.

OK, now, I tuck the camera inside my coat to make sure it doesn’t get snow-covered if I take a tumble, cross my fingers, say a prayer and step very carefully down, down, ooops, a rock ledge, better get over here next to the fence.  Oh, don’t shake it, that would be a great picture with all the snow stuck to the wire.  Easy now, whoops, that was deeper than what I expected.  Oh, no, Tully, I don’t want to play right now, find something to sniff of while I get to safety…..Oh, thank you Lord for getting me down here….Now, are you going to give me a boost back up to the parking lot and the warmth of the truck?

I love going to the dam and taking pictures.  Seeing the water rush over the dam is very energetic and exciting. 

Tully said, “That was dam fun.”  TULLY, watch your language!

 The picture below is a little out of season.  It was take this past fall from the dam while the fall colors were at their brightest.  WOW!  What a difference four months makes.

I hope you enjoyed our short  trip around the lake.  I’ll be posting more photos of our drive on Flickr, so check it out in a couple of days.  Just click the ‘more photos’ on the side of the blog.  When we returned  home it was time to get ready for the Super Bowl.  It was time to fix snacks to munch on during the game.  Take a peak at the earlier post for some photos of the salsas that we had.  Sorry to say, there’s none left!  We also had time to settle in before the next snow storm hit…………to be continued…….

Till the next time,

Sharon – TheEggGather

Sunday Stills – Moods & Emotions

This week’s challenge is to create moods and emotions in the viewer, not the moods or emotions  of the author of this blog.

Check out all the “moods & emotions” at Sunday Stills:

http://sundaystills.wordpress.com

Thanks for stopping by.

Sharon – the egg gather