Cool beans...

As the sun moves north, I get a great view of the old oak tree to the east of our place. The skies have offered up a few nice sunrises this week.

 

Other projects I have going on are fun and playful.

This Steampunk Character Minifig is one that I've been pining for! So many possibilities for portraits and cool dioramas I can make from junk stuff!

I actually made Digital Backgrounds for this guy...Cog and his dog Gear. 

Oh I do so LOVE Steampunk! If I could dress like that and just walk around our little town, I'd be happy for the stares. 

In fact, I'm looking at getting some tiny craft Steampunk gears to make a diorama of my own for just this character!

Next we have Boooo! How on earth did anyone know that I also secretly coveted this crazy blue monster???

I had even imagined how I'd photograph him in an eerie way.

In the early afternoon I took a break from indoor things to do outdoor things and take Charlie into the valley to see if we could find a skunk cabbage or a Marsh Marigold.

We were 'skunked' on the skunk cabbage, but the Big Spring had a few Marsh Marigolds popping up!

At the start of February, I went to a large dry run that was filled with ice from a small spring. The dry run is a 1/4 of a mile long and filled with boulders and rocks.

In the winter the ice forms in the run and actually covers up the boulders.

The layers of ice formed over the winter are too many to count!

Meltwater has created a canyon in the thick ice.

In this spot I measured the ice. It was up to my hips which is well over three feet thick. I just cannot wrap my mind around the power of ice and the power of water. Nature is simply amazing. I'm almost sorry to see winter go because the ice will leave and I'll have to wait again for cold weather to enjoy it.

Once spring really starts I will enjoy hunting each wildflower in the forest.

Until then I will continue to await the appearance of the skunk cabbage flower. It is quite an unusual flower and generally shows itself in late March and early April.

Meanwhile, my partner in 'crime' is assisting me in some Lego Therapy.

And I am thinking up new ways of presenting Legos. The dirt pictured below is simply dried used coffee grounds.

"Our birds may be small compared to you guys, but they have magical powers too!"

I have these awesome Aarakocra Rangers now who may join with Princess Sara in her quest to save the Magical Dragon Egg from the Rock Monsters...

Yep. Good versus Evil. Who can resist a story like that?

I'm still working on a couple of more 'scenes' for the other minfigs I received as a Happy Up Day Gift!

Never on a Sunday

I finally got off the farm and out for a hike! Whoo Hoo! I got out to Duck Egg County Park. 

The footing wasn't very good. I would have done better with snowshoes which would have floated me over the rough tracks. Another rookie mistake.

I still made it from the lower parking area and out to the pond.

Photos from crossing one of the footbridges over
Springbrook Branch of the Bad Axe River.

My whole idea was to do a morning hike, stop in town at the Walmart and grab some groceries, grab some gas, and my last stop was to be Culver's for a nice salad and a Shrimp Dinner for Rich.

Walmart was a mess a total mess. Apparently they are getting ready to remodel also. Which made the weird Sunday crowd even worse. Everything was in the wrong place, departments were shoved together and some of the food shelves were empty.

It threw me for a total loop. I hurried through and got what I just barely needed and got out. I wanted to smack myself in the head for going on a Sunday during the middle of the day. 

I got into Culver's and got in line to order. There was that Sunday crowd again. Nothing against OLD folks, but wow. An old fella at the order counter was getting his undies in a bundle. It was super busy. I stood quietly waiting.

The old fella got loud and started cussing at the young man behind the counter who was desperately trying to figure out how to make up an order of 2 Pints of coleslaw and how to charge him. The old grumpy dude got louder and started to yell. 

I thought Dude! Coleslaw doesn't come in pints at a fast food place!

He started yelling for a Manager and indeed the Manager came out. At the same time one of our local fire fighters walked around to the counter and asked the elderly guy if he was okay. The old guy started getting loud again. It was a grand scene.

Long story short. The Manager calmly told the old grouch that he would not serve him today and he was sorry that he had trouble but he could not serve someone who was verbally abusing his help and causing a problem in the order line. It was done politely while us onlookers felt like grabbing the old sour puss and tossing him in a dirty snow bank.

But we didn't. The grouch was calmed down and shown the door and we all just looked at each other. The Manager addressed everyone in line with an apology and asked us to enjoy our meal and weekend.

Huh.

Just as I was ready to place my order, a lovely elderly lady with a cane brushed me aside and placed her order. I say lovely...because surely I don't think she even saw me. Besides, she was dressed up as if she'd just come from church. 

Finally, I got my order placed and walked out to the car. Forget the gas! I was headed home.

I thought to myself ... Now I remember WHY I -- don't go do things in town on the weekends.

And this song popped into my head....
I recall my mom and us singing this in the car.
Connie Francis---->

Never on a Sunday

And of course, now I can't get the song out of my head.

Sunday Arty Stuff

I am doing a photo album of just 'tree' stuff. I'm trying once again to follow some of the local trees on our road and the forest through out the year.

It isn't just about the trees themselves but more of a study on how the trees shapes just amaze me. They are an artform all their own.

Below: Apple Blossoms

I think I like this one below a bit better...
for its artsy minimal effect

Below: Cherry Blossoms in the morning light

Abstract

Below: Cherry Blossoms in Neighbor's yard

Birch tree

Oak Tree with catkins

Most of these photos were taken in mid May. That is how far behind I am in addressing my photography. The yard and gardens sort of took over and I'm just about finished now except for planting sweet corn [I'm going to do a no till experiment that may fail miserably].  

I also have a rough spot in the yard that I'm going to dig up a bit and toss in a couple of packets of wildflower seeds.

Today looks like a good day to just chill out.

One Longgg Day

I woke up at 4ish something o'clock, that gave me time to drink my decafe and pretend that it was caffiene coffee thta would give me a jump start on the day. Sunday was the lunar eclipse day! Yipee! I get excited about the strange things.

Charlie and I went for a nice early morning walk to check out the different trees I had tried to ID last year to see if I'd learned anything. 

By 7, I'd finished up my crazy Saturday blog stuff and went out to wash stock tanks and move critters around. Well. Let's keep it short. I was like a busy bee all morning.

I promised myself that I'd take a midafternoon nap because I wanted to stay up and watch the lunar eclipse. Hah. I didn't take a nap. I went Morel hunting and it was a flop!

Me, waiting for the sunset before watching the moon come up.

Sunset:

Moon rise...I was afraid the clouds would cover it all up but we got lucky!

The photos didn't turn out that well. I am not that great at doing moon shoots yet. The clarity still evades me, but these are some samples of what I got.

I tried to get the clouds moving through and it just really flubbed up the photo! 

The following is 57 seconds of the first half of the eclipse. It is wiggly because the moon of course kept moving out of frame. IF I had a movie/video editing program I suppose I could have edited the clips to make them all nice looking. However I rarely do any video work. ON1 has a nice time lapse feature which I used to do the sunset ~~ that was 27 seconds in camera and like 3 seconds at the frame rate the program has for choices. 

Keep watching to the end because it looks like the moon disappears...it does into clouds but I recorded until it went black!

57 seconds of the eclipse:

I didn't get to bed until wayyyy past my bed time. 

Monday proved to be a most excellent day.  More on that tomorrow.

Sunday

Today is Mother's Day and a fine day to just chill out and relax.

Charlie and I worked on the east side flower bed yesterday. Well, he supervised.

It will look much nicer after I put the mulch path back in and put in some annuals.

I am taking my time and enjoying the process. I have to go all the way around the house but this is the most colorful summer flower garden I usually have.

Our farriers Danny and Dan were out Friday and I showed Danny how I was using his Horseshoe Sunflower he had created. He'd made it originally as just a garden decoration, but I thought it would make an interesting Oriole feeder.

I was absolutely right!

The Orioles do knock down the oranges. I just sent these photos to Danny so he can see how I've used his creation.

He also made me a  handcrafted Shepard's Hook last fall. I gave him a price I'd pay and told him to surprise me with a design.

He did, and it is gorgeous. I set it up for my Hummingbird feeder.

Funny how even the goldfinches loved the design!

I couldn't get the whole hook's design in one shot. There are vines and delicate metal leaves twisted around the hook. It is delicate looking and just plain gorgeous. I'll keep that where I can admire it all summer long. My other mundane hooks can hold hanging flower baskets.

Somewhere in one of my older blogs, I have photos of the hooks Dan made for me. They are works of art themselves. Metal leaves and twisted vines look delicate but aren't. I just need to finish off a nice 2 by 4 and mount it by the back door to display them.

So today will be just a quiet day. Reading and enjoying the soft rain that is falling.

All in a Sunday

All week the weather has been pretty darned yucky. Perhaps I got the March blahs?

That beautiful weather we had last weekend spoiled me for the weather we had this past week. Sure I went out and played in the rain one day, but snow and sleet mixed on and off for the rest of the week was just too much bleh for me. The winds howled and icky stuff came down from the grey sky. [How's that for a weather summary?]

I thought a quick trip on Sunday morning to the KVR Ponds would be a great way to chill out after crummy weather.

It was 15 degrees when I walked from the Visitor Center down the steps and over the rock blocks to the valley. I didn't hear much noise. Last time I'd visited during the warm weather, every bird was making a racket. The red wing black birds had been swarming the area.

It was pretty quiet considering that the KVR website had said things were picking up at the ponds early this week. After the past two days of freezing temps the ponds had ice on them again.

Pond Ice:

However, I did find signs of the coming spring.

Pussy Willows:

I found a couple of new spots to 'spy' on the birds, but still was far enough off not to bother them. 

Geese and Sandhill Cranes:

I heard some cranes coming and tried to do a panning motion to catch them in flight. I didn't do so well, but I tried.

Flying Cranes:

Next I saw a group of 10 soaring Turkey Buzzards. Uffdah, they are back which means they will compete with the Eagles for food. 

I was so tickled to see and then get a decent shot of a female cardinal on the way back to the car. I like this shot better than the photos I've gotten of them at our feeder and pine trees.

Female Cardinal:

The biggest surprise was when I thought I saw a Bluejay then I realized it was a Kingfisher! This is the second time in my life I've seen these guys, but I've never really looked before.

Kingfisher:

I did see Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese and they were hiding on the far side of the pond in the marsh grasses.

Charlie was happy to see me when I got home....and the other half was doing his morning nap. He says he has to nap to have energy to have lunch.

Charlie was a nag all afternoon. He wanted to get out and hike.

I finally relented and off we went. Charlie was tracking something in the woods and kept stopping to sniff and then chase the scent on the ground as if he were some sort of tracking dog. I only wish I could share in his sense of smell and figure out what it was he was chasing.

He had a lot of pent up energy and I just followed him through the woods.

He did end up leading me to a neat spot with some mossy logs that had more cool lichen on them.

But that is for another time.