Pillowcases, Catkin, Grandkids

My newest sewing project was making pillowcases for the Grand Kids. I found some fabric inspired by a book called "Where is Catkin"? The book was illustrated by Julie Paschkis, she designed fabric from her drawings. I bought the book also. Sent  it all to the Gkids for Valentines day with small heart shaped boxes of candy for all.  The Pink is for Addy the yellow, Riven.

SNOW, Hummingbird, Sapsucker

We had a total of 11" of snow mid January over about 5 days. I love the big fluffy flakes.  It gets so quiet too.

The trees were covered in 5-6" of snow with an icy undercoat. We tried to knock  the snow off some branches but the ice coating made it very difficult.  The trees and bushes look very pretty with the snow flocking, but it is hard on some of them. We had a lot of broken branches like this one on the peach tree.

The snow started on a Friday, we had plenty of supplies so we did not leave the yard until the next Thursday. We took Jim's truck. When we got back home he parked it behind my car rather than in it's usual place by the fence and trees. The next morning we went out and found the top of our pine tree broken off and laying right in the spot his truck would have been had he reparked in his regular place. It would have damaged the canopy shell and maybe even the roof of the cab. You can see the tire tracks made by the truck when He pulled out the day before, with the tree top right smack in the middle! Yikes! That was a close one.

We have been able to keep a hummingbird around all winter this year by keeping the feeder out and full of sugar water. I have two feeders, and either bring the outside one in at night if the temp is going to be freezing or just put a new one out very first thing in the AM. During the snow the little hummer used the feeder often, all day. When it is not so cold and bugs are available we don't see it as much. We put the feeder right in front of the window so we can watch it .

 During the snow we also had a Sapsucker just outside, off the deck working over the Fir tree. He pecks little holes all in a row, just deep enough to get to the sappy layer. He comes back throughout the day and eats the sap. He has many of these "hole" gardens on the tree and works at them constantly.

Sadie doesn't react to the snow like some dogs do (Rudy), by getting silly and playful, She just takes it in stride and carries on.

One more snow picture. This is a picture of the county road when we went out to get supplies. Not plowed nor sanded.  Hard to tell where the road is, you can see branches hanging over the road too. The main roads weren't much better. Parking lots! Slushy messes.

Hawk and Eagle in cottonwood

The local Eagles have been showing up pretty regularly this winter. They have a few favorite perch trees around the lake. We are lucky one of those trees, a dead cottonwood, is on the lake shore in front of our house, maybe 300' from the house and 125'+ high. This was a nice sunny day. Between Jim and I we probably took 30 pictures, of those all but 4 or 5 were deleted! I really like the ones of the eagle taking off from the branch, it's a good look at the underneath tail feathers and the talons.

Also a Hawk has been hanging around the lake for a few weeks. It sets in trees and warms it's wings. I don't know what kind of Hawk it is, do you?

Maple in Autumn

This is a beautiful little Maple tree in full fall foliage colors. We don't remember when or where we got it , years ago. It was planted by the south fence and didn't really do very well. Once we moved it to a spot with more sun exposure it really shows off its delicate shape and fall colors.

Bald Cypress

I planted 5 Bald Cypress about 20 years ago. They were all about 4-5' tall and pretty skinny, trunk wise. They are planted in a very wet area, some years it is flooded, not just all winter but all summer too.  Two of them were gnawed down by beavers, after that we wrapped the remaining three with chicken wire about two feet up, that seems to have saved them.  We have not bushwhacked our way in to see them in years, at least 5 years. We can see the tops  (25-30 feet tall) up above the scrub willow so we knew they were still there. Today we whacked our way back to see them, and boy howdy have they grown. The chicken wire has almost grown into one, I will cut it off soon, before the rains start, but the others seem to have a bit more growing room. I looked, but couldn't see any Cypress Knees, I don't know how old they have to be before they get Knees, or what conditions are necessary for them to form. Anyway, here are a few photos, one with Sadie, (for scale). One tree is still skinnyish, it has always been smaller. I bought the young trees from several different nurseries, so I guess the small one came from inferior stock. The trunks are really interesting, they're staring to look like swamp trees! I hope they don't attract any Swamp Monsters!

Delbert McClinton

I went to see Delbert McClinton last night, Jim didn't want to go. It was up north at the Skagit Valley Casino.  The venue was just a room with chairs for about 450, very small, not a bad seat in the house. The show was very good. He is a great R&B singer and harmonica player. He played all his great songs, lots of dancing going on, we stormed the stage for the encore and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.   We have had really nice weather this September, way better than summer. When I left to come home at 11ish it was 75 degrees! It had dropped to 66 by the time I got home.

WOW! Can't believe it's been since February since I have posted. I quess things have been pretty dull around here.  Well, here's a little something to brighten your day.

For 4th of July someone took these poor innocent white orchids and dyed them blue. Yes, they are lurid! There are not as many now as there was before, so someone is buying them.