Who all had snow?

 I meant to publish this yesterday, or last night at the latest but it did not get done.  On the ground, I think the most snow that was there was half an inch or so because it melted as it fell.  But on our Rav4 there was at least an inch.

I have one iris that has been blooming since before the 17th...and it is still just as pretty today, and there is a second bloom.  The first one will be posted over on my other blog later tonight.  

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The other day I had to run to Walmart, and took a detour through the strip pits.

 

I took a back way there, watching all the while for a hawk or an eagle.  Way across a field, I thought I saw a white head.

I swear he was so far, I was not even sure it was an eagle.  All I could see part of the time was what I thought was a white head.  So I got out and zoomed in and took pics.  These are just a portion of the originals....I am always so happy to see an eagle.

I had to snap a pic of the redbud against that blue sky...they are so beautiful this year.

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I have been working in our basement a bit off and on...trying to get rid of some of the clutter.  I have a lot of stuff, then add to that Roger's things.  He has a lot of things used in making fishing lures.  I wish I knew someone that did that kind of stuff but I don't know a soul.  None of his buddies do.  He does not mind if I get rid of it...he knows he will not use it again.

His books on making knives and gun-smithing are even harder to get rid of.  I am going to try to think and see if one of our daughters would want them.  If not, I think we have a nephew that might.  I just cannot seem to remember to ask Sarah.   

I even parted with more books...just six of eight.  But that is that many.  And even got rid of some fabric that had been my mom's...I have kept it for years...but it was not 100% cotton and I will never use it so why leave it for the girls to deal with when something happens to us?  But I really need to buckle down and find homes for some things or just donate them to reduce the amount of stuff in our house.

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I came across this little video when I stopped to take a break.  Well, just seen this second video and have to share it or else I will forget.  Neither one is very long

 

 Here you go...all you grands out there have a kleenex handy.

 

Binding...

I got the binding sewn to the quilt....all that is left is to flip it to the back and hand stitch it down.  I would actually be pretty easy to stitch it by machine. but I will enjoy the hand stitching.

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We actually went for a drive this afternoon...headed up to one of my favorite places...what we call the swampy area.  There were Wood Ducks and Canada Geese, and I saw a Great Blue Heron in the distance.

When we first got there, there were half a dozen of the Wood Ducks right beside the road.  But the minute I slowed down and rolled down my window, they flew away.  This guy was too far away to hold steady on.  But you can at least see that he is a Wood Duck.

I saw three pairs of Canada Geese and heard more....

It was so nice to be out and see a some nature.  I did not see a single turtle...I don't know when I will start seeing them again.  I saw 5 or 6 hawks...one of them I seen on our way there, and I think I saw the same one on the way home.

And I spotted two more Bald Eagle nests...the one I could not see anything on, but this one had one on the nest.  Both nests today are where I have room to pull off the road and look.  The only thing with this one, I didn't have much room to look without a bunch of bushes obstructing my view.  And it was so far away, I could not really tell that that stem is in front of it till I downloaded the pics.  There will be a slightly better view later on my other blog later tonight.   I also saw two Bald Eagles in flight.

All in all this has been a good day...I really needed some time out and seeing something different for a change.
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When we had been home a while, Lorelei sent me the above pic.  When she was around 2 and 3 yrs. old, this little Chick went everywhere with her!  And heaven forbid that it be forgotten.

I cannot see it/think of it without laughing.  It also went to bed with her.  She would come here to spend the night, and of course the chick went to bed with us.  Well, she would play with it, and sometimes actually hide it, other times she would lose it. And she would have me up at all hours looking for that Chick!  Sometimes it would get between the layers of the cover, other times she would have slid it down between the bed and the wall.    It is funny now, but it was not funny being woken at 3:00 a.m. with an upset toddler...and having to find this little thing.  It would fit on my hand...there were times I had to take the cover off to fine it.  Now it is just a fun memory.
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I hope your weekend is good...

A bit of this and that...

I decided to do one more puzzle....it is a hard one for me.  I have not been able to sit and work very much, but when I do, it is very slow going.  If I don't change, I will be next month getting it worked.

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We took backroads home...by the the dam, and by Mansfield, on through Bridgeton...We saw 4 Bald Eagles, two of which were juvenile.  I put my best shots of one of them over on my other blog.

The one above was the first one we saw...not far off the highway. 

There were gulls...

as well as white fronted geese.  It is the first time for me to see white fronted geese up there.  There were also some Canada Geese but they were not where I could photograph them.

Not much as been happening...we are almost totally over our colds.  I never did get the coughing part, but I think some of Roger's coughing is from the cold.  With that chronic cough, it is hard to tell if it is his normal cough or it is a cold.

Lorelei is here for the night...so that has made our weekend!  I hope yours is a good weekend.

I done it!

I could not wait any longer...I had been trying my best to wait till at least the day after Christmas but I just could not wait any longer.   I love puzzles of snow scenes best of all....it being Christmas is a bonus.

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Roger is feeling better...but still has not started wearing that hearing aid yet.  She said to wait at least 5 days.  So, when I talk to him, we have to turn the sound off the TV and I about have to about yell for him to hear...but as long as he is feeling good, I will take that.

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We saw this pair of Bald Eagles on Saturday on the way home from Walmart.  Maybe 100 yds from the road.  I was able to pull off thank goodness.  I post a couple more pics over on my other blog.  These were not far from Paris, Illinois.  Believe it or not, we saw another one about 6-8 miles east of these but there was no place to pull off the road.   I cannot believe how many we see.  We may go a month or two and only see one, or even none.  Then it is like we hit the jackpot...I cannot even think how many we have seen in the past month.    When I was a kid, I never expected to ever see one in real life.

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My current read is Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller.  I am really enjoying it.

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas...I  think I am...I think I was the latest I have ever been mailing Christmas cards.

Not so great image and video...

As usual we were headed to McDonald's this morn...a lot of morns we choose to go to one in a neighboring town...for a couple of reasons.  They remodeled ours and we neither one really like how it is now.  Not enough booths, and there is no color...everything is gray and black, except for a few light shades that are red.

But that is not the point of the story.  We always like to go to the neighboring town and watch for hawks on the way, and we occasionally go through the end of the strip pit area.  As we were about to pass the road into that area, I noticed all the geese in the area and quickly turned down the road.  And soon as I did, down the road I saw two Bald Eagles fly across the road  at a very low altitude.

So I spead down the way as fast as I could to get across from the snow geese and to look for the eagles.  I did spot one of the eagles all the way across the field in a tree beside the big strip pit.

When my camera is as zoomed in as close as it will go, I never get good quality photos, but at least you can see him.  When looking without zoom, unless you are really looking you would never have seen it.  That is how far away he was.  I could just see little white dot...I had to get the binoculars out to really see. Then try to find him with my little P&S.

All told today, we saw at least 6 eagles, and two more, but I really think one was one of the first two we seen cause I had focused on the one and did not see where the other went.  And then another one was where we later seen two more...so am assuming it stayed there a while.

Below is a short clip of the snow geese...I recommend turning your sound down  or off...the wind was horrible.



I could not hold the camera steady ....partly the wind.  Partly just me I guess.

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I do have my tree up, and the lights on but that is as far as I have got.  I am thinking we will decorate it tonight...

It is a pathetic tree...I bought it new last year, because it does not take up much room.  But you can see right through it.  But I am living with it again this year.  I hope I remember how much I hate it and next year soon as the trees come out, I want to go look for a new one.

Do you see what I see

The past couple of days have been great eagle days...not for great photos as the following photos will show.

Can you see it...

Click to expand the view to see better.

If you cannot see....it is an eagle on its nest.  And that nest is not 10 minutes from here.  I just could hardly believe my eyes.  It is a good distance across a field.  I was so excited to find it and could barely wait to get home and see if an eagle was on it. 

Day before yesterday we went by the swamp area that is about 20-25 miles from here.  It is one of my favorite places to visit.  It is where we saw our first eagle of the day.

It is a juvenile Bald Eagle.    We went on from there,  and just up the road and across the field we seen the following...

I have messed with these photos to try to get them presentable, but they are still not the greatest.  He was way across another field.

From there we went on to Danville, Illinois and on to the Heron Viewing Park...there we saw 3 eagles in flight but no photos. 

Not the greattest shot...

Not a great shot, but a lucky one nevertheless...it is hard to zoom in on someting like this with my little point and shoot.  That is when I miss having my DSLR with me.   Anyway.  He was fairly high.  Always happy to see one...and this time there was two, and possibly three.  The third one I only got a glimpse of   through the tree tops.  I could not see it well enough to know if it was an eagle or possibly that big old hawk that lives out there.  And the other eagle was going higher and higher.  It always amazes us how quickly they can just disappear.

Bits & Pieces

We saw this juvenile bald eagle a few days ago.  It was midday and I was shooting into the sun.  I was going west, and he was sitting in a tree a few feet off the other side of the road.

This jigsaw puzzle is waiting for me...if I start it now, I won't be able to leave it alone.  I love puzzles.  When we were kids we would usually get a new jigsaw puzzle each Christmas.  I have loved them as long as I can remember.  My favorite part to work is usually the sky, or sky and snow.  and my least favorite parts are dark greens.

Bubbie likes to claim my lap a lot of evenings.  He loves snuggle time.

Some fabrics my daughter picked up for me.  She couldn't resist sending me a picture.  The one with the squirrel and the ones in the right stack are by this designer Tula Pink.  If you have time, look here.  I googled Tula Pink Fabrics and then clicked images.  A LOT of her fabrics have an animal in them.  And they are so cute.  Every time I look I see something I didn't see before.  Roger had trouble seeing the rabbit in THIS one--do you?

I had not really looked at them before...now I regret it.  IF you take the time to glance, be sure and look at the different color versions.  It can really make a difference, and one or two of them, you can see the animals better in some colors than others.

Eagles from Wed, November 22

Wednesday we were left McDonald's and headed home.  We were not but a 3 or 4 minutes from there and I spotted a Bald Eagle...

And then there were two!  I quickly pulled well off the highway and got out snapped a few pics, but these were the only two I got half in focus.

Peek-a-boo

I think on the very drive Roger and I took after he got home from the hospital, we saw this eagle.  On the way home we crossed over Brouillett's Creek.  I have watched for an eagle to be there for years and years and this is the first time to have success.  He was down on a little sandbar, but when I paused, he flew down the creek and flew to this perch.

Definitely not good pictures, but at least a memory for us.
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Roger is done with with physical therapy but continues with speech and occupational.  He helped mow the yard a couple weeks ago.  That was kind of scary because that is what he did the day he had the stroke.  And the other day we changed the oil in our Rav 4.  It was a struggle for him to remember parts of it but we did get it done.

Please continue to keep him/us in your prayers. 

Summer, Lorelei, etc

First of all, this is Lorelei holding the baby turtle she found week before last.  We took her to the creek for the fist time this year that day....and the very first thing she found and caught it.  She had a bucket and kept it in it or had it in her hand the whole time we were there.  And we were there a LONG time.  She almost caught another one.  Of course she wanted to bring it home, but instead she turned it loose before we left.

Then last week she wanted to go back...we took her the backroads to get there.  And as we were coming up behind Bridgeton, up the creek from the bridge, there were two eagles in one dead tree.

Before we got pulled off and stopped, one of the eagles flew down behind the tree.  But I got several photos of this one.

I was more thrilled than Lorelei with this.

Along with her staying with us 3 or 4 days a week, our older daughter was back in Indiana for a while.
She and I worked several days and we made these:

First the quilt top above,

And then made this table runner at the top of the photo, and that is the backing for it on the bottom.  They were made with leftover fabric from the quilt top.  Both were my daughters design and choice of fabrics.  We both did cutting and both did sewing.  You will have to click on these to get a better view.

Not sure how much visiting I will get done or if I will even try to post again for a while.  Lorelei is supposed to come tomorrow evening, and I know she is going to want to go to the creek again and she has also been wanting to go fishing at the strip pit.

From the Heron Viewing Station

This pair of geese were the first to greet us at the Heron County Park...north of Danville, Illinois.

Next we spotted this pair.  They were quite a distance away.

The photos are a bit bleary.

We had to use the binoculars and spotting scope to identify them.   I took these with my little Canon SX700 HS at full zoom.  Before I could put it away and get my other camera situated, they took off, and one came right over us and tried to nab something from the water  maybe a hundred yards from us.  I couldn't believe it, couldn't react quick enough to get a picture.  There were ducks and geese there, but I somehow felt it was after fish.  And Lorelei got to see it all.

All the time we were seeing a heron or two fly in or leave, plus other waterbirds in the distance.

Finally, a heron close enough to get a half decent shot.

And Lorelei found this goose fascinating...I had to show her daddy a pic of it when he came to get her....

An eagle day for sure!!!!

We decided to go to the Heron Viewing Station north of Danville, Illinois...due to a stop we made, we didn't get there till around 2:00 in the afternoon.  And one of the first things we spotted were two eagles.  By the time I ran back to the car to get my DSLR, there were 3!  But I had missed seeing two of them fighting...

 If you will right click on this photo, and then click to view in a new tab or a new window, it should give you a version big enough till you can clearly see that this is THREE bald eagles.  It is the only shot I got of the three of them.

I did manage to capture two of the adults a few times..

Here again you have the option of right clicking on these to view in another tab or new window...a bigger version will appear if you do it that way I think.

Besides the 3 adult Bald Eagles, there were two juvenile, plus two or three hawks!

A 4 Eagle day!

We headed to Terre Haute this morn...the first eagle we saw I did not get a pic of...as we were on the highway and I did not see him till too late.  He was sitting in a tree watching the river.  When the river is crossed, it is not far till you are in Terre Haute.  We had only gone 3 or 4 blocks when I spotted this one flying...soon as we came to a parking lot that he could pull into Roger pulled in.

these are not very good...I was busy trying to capture this one and Roger says hey, there's another one...

And there was this one.  Both juveniles, and I think definitely a year or more apart in age.  The first one's head had quite a bit of white....

So, we went on and did our bit of shopping, and drove around some parts of Terre Haute I had never been in.  When we headed home we went a different route...I almost told Roger to go back to the way we came but then thought no, we have seen eagles this way, too.  And before we got out of North Terre Haute, I spotted the one below.

Nothing better than seeing eagles!