Spring Snow Days

On Sunday morning we awoke to the snow coming down.  The forecast for our area was 7 to 12 inches.  Some of it melted as it was coming down and throughout the day.

Sunday Afternoon

It snowed all day Sunday and by Monday morning I measured 8 inches--but it had still continued to melt overnight.  Who knows how much we would have had if it had just been a few degrees cooler.

Monday Afternoon...

I gathered the kids up and we went out to build a snowman.  After a while the little boys got tired and wandered off.  Daughter #4 stayed out with me as long as she could before she felt too cold.  So there I was out in the front yard, a grown woman, building a snowman all by myself!!  :-)  I gave him an Easter basket for laughs!  Happy spring, right?

Tuesday afternoon this is what it looked like in our yard. 

Everywhere we had been walking was mostly melted with

the warm sun shining down.

I got my suet feeder full of yarn scraps put up!

I hope we see some of the bird nests with these scraps in them.

Visit Juniper Moon Farm for directions.

(Yarn scraps must be between 4 and 8 inches long!)

Q Aftermath

Well, we did get some snow.  And some sleet.  Actually it was sleet, then snow, and then more sleet.  About 7 or 8 inches total.  The top was thick and crunchy enough for the Dachshunds to walk on!!  But the temperatures were above freezing today and everything is already melting into history.  DH and his uncle took turns playing working hard with the snow-blower to clear pathways to walk and the driveways in case we needed to go somewhere.

The Robins here don't migrate.

The other day I was walking one of the dogs and

I discovered a whole flock of Robins looking for

treats in the wooded area next door to us.  There

were at least 20 of them and I wished that I had

had the camera with me because I've never seen a

whole group of Robins like that before.  :-)

The sun was trying to peak out of the clouds and was

very pretty on the snow.

By the time I got the the picture I wanted the sun

had went back behind the clouds.

But here it is!!

The sun and snow are just beautiful together!!

Son #6

Does anyone else's children like to lay down in the snow?

Crazy!!!

The three youngest boys (#4, 5, 6)

Son #5 is ready to attack with his Bokken sword and the

other boys aren't even paying attention!

Behind the boys is our mobile home that we are slowly remodeling.  We have been working to replace the windows and rotten wood (LOTS of rotten wood).  Whenever we get a warmish day DH works on it as much as he's able.  We have the one new window in at the left side and have removed one that was leaking badly between the new one and the large window beside the door.  The large window beside the door is ready to be taken out and 2 new smaller ones ready to be put in--in place of the 1 large one.  We are also replacing the blue vinyl siding for white siding to help keep the heat down in the summer.  We have so many enormous shade trees growing all over the property--except to shade our mobile home.  Go figure.

Anyway...

So, now I'm pretty much done with winter.  Can we have some spring soon?  Please!!

More Pecan Miscellany

I took my boys plus my youngest nephew to the Conservation Area again today.  We had actually went back to pick persimmons but that was on the tail end of the journey.  While they played on the rocks and shuffled around in the leaves I picked more pecans.  I hadn't intended on doing it but I looked around and noticed how nicely the ones laying there on the ground looked--like the ones I picked last year.  Bigger, browner and with prettier markings.  We had recently had some heavy rains and winds so it appears that the nuts that were left on the tree were knocked down.  And there were lots of them.  I managed to pick, on my own, a little over half as much as last time (with the 4 of us picking) in about half of the time.  Not bad.  (No pictures today because my camera is missing.  I'm sure it will turn up soon.)

Our little local grocery store sells cracked pecans from King Hill Farms located in Brunswick, MO. 

A few years ago we visited their farm and little store while DH and I were on a drive.  Great place!!  They sold the largest hickory nuts I had ever seen.  :-)

Anyway...  I decided to buy a bag of the cracked pecans from our little local grocery store because I was curious to know how large their pecans turned out this year compared to the ones at the conservation area.  And here's what I discovered...

King Hill Pecans on the left.

My foraged pecans on the right.

Theirs are bigger and more nicely colored.

Probably a different variety of tree.

Still yet.

They seem quite small. 

No matter.  They will be greatly enjoyed.

Also wanted to mention...  I've decided to use word code verification when posting comments here for awhile.  I know it's a pain but someone is spamming me and I'm getting a bunch of comments for a bunch of junk.  Thankfully it's just going to my spam folder but I'm getting tired of it.  Sigh.

2nd Annual Pecan Gathereing

Yesterday we visited the Cuivre Island Conservation Area for our 2nd Annual Pecan Gathering. :-) I hope to make this a yearly event. It's a lot of fun--well, at least for me.  I took the boys along to help.

Son #4, Son #6, Son #5

Pretty little pale lilac colored flower

A beautiful fungus

It looked almost magical and I half expected a fairy to be hiding nearby.

Another type of fungus

I don't know anything about what's safe and what's not.

So I just take pictures of them.  :-)

On a fallen log at the edge of Cuivre River

A new addition this year...

Large boulders lining the sides across from the parking area.

They don't have any graffitti on them yet and are very nice.

A big hit with my boys, in fact.

Son #5 listening to an Adventures in Odyssey.

He wasn't thrilled about picking pecans.

He was hungry, bored and quite grumpy.

He really doesn't like going places.

Son #4 hopping across the boulders.

He jumped across each one of them.

Son #6

He had a lot of fun and even enjoyed picking the pecans.

There were woodpeckers everywhere.

It's hard to see but this is a Redheaded Woodpecker.

Leaving the conservation area.

Beautiful fall scene.

The sun broke through the clouds on our way out.

Our booty!

The quarter is in there for reference to the size of the pecans.

Small.

The heat and drought conditions were NOT a friend to the

pecan trees even though they were so close to the river.

The pecans to the left of the quarter are this year's pecans.

The pecans to the right are some I saved from last year.

Can you see the difference in the size and color?

And I thought that they were small last year!!

No matter.  We will use these with thankfulness

and enjoy each delicious bite!  :-)

Now my girls want me to take them out there next!!

Some Visitors

We've had some visitors lately...

Guess who's come to dinner...

Newly hatched squash bugs on a pumpkin plant.

Those guys are just creepy no matter what stage they're in!

I've been using Pyola once or twice a week and

still having a terrible time keeping up! 

"By the sweat of your brow" is taking on a new meaning!!

And a welcome visitor...

Mourning Cloak Butterfly

Doesn't it look quite weary and tattered?

Amazingly, it was able to fly away without any apparent trouble.

Son #1 brought his family for a visit last weekend.  We're always so happy to see them. 

Grandson #1 was excited to be able to play in the swimming pool

and the littler ones (and mommy and daddy) were content

to play on the teeter totter.

Daughter in law sent me this picture today...

Precious!

From Left to Right: 

Grandson #3 1 year old next month

Grandson #2 3 years old

Grandson #1 4 years old

This holiday weekend we will be gifted with a visit of the remnants of Isaac.  They're forcasting 2 to 4 inches of rain for our area and I will be happy to see it!!  Hopefully it's not the "gully-washer" kind and comes steady and gentle to moderate.  Hey, I can dream, can't I?  :-) 

Have a blessed and wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!!  :-)

P.S. As of Thursday morning they've updated our rain forcast to be 6-12 inches. Joy. NOT!

Of Butterflies and Teeter-Totters

Yesterday Daughter #3 found a little butterfly that was in need of some energy. She enjoys feeding the butterflies whenever she has the opportunity.  We had a cup of Koolaid on hand and that worked perfectly (though maybe not the healthiest option!).  There's still so very few flowers due to it just being early/mid spring and all.  An early spring is hard on butterflies.

Red Admiral Butterfly

See the butterfly's long straw-like tongue in the very front?

It's sipping up the drops of Kool-aid on her finger.

Last weekend when we made the trip to take Daughter #2 back to my sister's to start her job we had to make a trip to our former neighbor's barn to pick up a load of our stuff (sadly we still have way too much stuff there though we've already brought back several loads! It's mostly DH's business stuff but we have some personal stuff there too). We had room in our little trailer to bring back the teeter-totter. Now mind you, most of the kids are kinda big for this toy (ya think?) but that doesn't stop them from playing on it using it.  I caught Daughter #1 and Son #4 having some fun. 

I thought that maybe they were meditating on levitating

but Daughter #1 said that she was just trying to find some balance in life.

Giggle!!

I've been playing around with picture edits on Pixlr.  Just briefly.  I miss Picnik desperately but I will hopefully survive.  It's always hard to leave behind the familiar and try to stretch the old brain to learn new programs.  :-P  I'm still struggling to navigate the changes here on Blogger.  :-(  Sigh.

We're planning on a little housework catch-up and some garden work this weekend.  Love to have my hands in the earth! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!

Easter Reflections...

I hope that everybody had an awesome Easter Sunday...

Celebrating our Risen Lord!!

We had a great weekend!!

Son #3 came for a visit and brought along Daughter #2 and

 my sister's 2 youngest kids...

Cousins #5 and #6.

It was a blast!

Easter booty!!  Woo Hoo!!

We don't really eat a lot of candy anymore--but we do

indulge on Easter.

Son #6 was my egg coloring helper since

most of the other kids were having a good time

with their guests.  He really had a lot of fun getting

to do the eggs without his older brothers (or sisters)

taking over the project.  :-)

The birthday girls.

This year their birthdays fell just a few days before Easter.

Daughter #2 has her birthday one day before

Daughter #4.

One year, when Daughter #2 was just 3 or 4, her birthday

fell on Easter.  She was really angry to discover the next year

that it wasn't on Easter again. 

She fussed and fumed for weeks!!  ;-)

This year Son #3 took the Birthday Girls and Cousin #5

out to the movies to see The Hunger Games. 

Of course they loved it (though they said it was stressful).  :-)

Daughter #4 and Cousin #5.

Best Friends!!

They are just a few months apart in age.

The "little" boys.

Bundles of energy, always on the go.

All the kiddos present.

They're so goofy!!  Never a dull moment!!

Do you see the ball that Son #6 stuck up his shirt?

My Kombucha was a huge hit!!!

I gave Son #3 his own gallon jar to brew at his own place.

What a ham!!!

All in all a wonderful weekend!!

So many blessings to be thankful for!!!

Thank you Jesus!!!!

Sock Loop Potholders

We love to make potholders. It may have been the first useful craft I learned (not counting hand stitched Barbie clothes). No matter what colors or patterns you use they always come out nice. :-)

I've had these sitting around for awhile. They're mens tube socks I bought at WalMart.

I cut them into 1" +/- loops. I can make 18 to 20 white loops out of one sock.  I cut from the grey edge until I reach the ribbed part. I also use the grey toe end. I cut the sewn together end off and trim any white off the other end.    The kids play with the ribbed sections using them for pretend gauntlets, fingerless gloves or sweat bands.  :-)

Caught red handed!! I don't use rubber gloves when handling the dye like I'm supposed to. Shame, shame. So I walk around for a day or so with discolored hands--depending on how many loads of dishes I wash. :-)

I use powdered Rit dye.  This go around I used...

• Navy Blue
• Royal Blue
• Dark Green
• Teal
• Purple
• Wine
• Mauve

(I also kept some plain white)

I used a heaping teaspoon of dye, 3 heaping teaspoons of salt and a generous teaspoon (which means: pour until it runs over) of laundry soap in a large stainless steel pot with 3 quarts of hot water.  I add in the loops and set the pot to warm on a low fire for 25 minutes.

This is what we ended up with more or less.

 I figured it ended up to

be around 650+ loops which will do about 17 or 18 potholders.

If all goes well. :-)

The boys and I have enjoyed working on them in the evening each night and these are what we've done so far... 

I'm using this plastic loom with a plain old safety pin to weave the loop through so that I can save the metal loom (the "ears" are bent so that the loops don't pop off) and the loop hook for the kids to use.  I have use a rubberband to keep the first end from coming loose.

We still have lots of loops left and I imagine the last few will be rather... ahem, "artistic".  :-)

Our family are huge Stargate fans (well of SG1 and Atlantis anyway).  We've been re-watching the Atlantis series and really enjoying it.  I've never really liked Jason Momoa's character Ronon Dex...

though everyone else in the family thinks he's great.  I don't know why I didn't really like him--but I didn't.

The kids always talked about how much that Son #3 resembled Jason Momoa...

the caveman brow, the hair (kinda), the facial hair, the violence--oh wait a minute--maybe not the violence so much.  :-)  The eyebrows are different of course and nothing is exactly the same.  But there is a similarity. 

One day he sent me this (excuse the cursor on his beard)...

Pretty cool huh?  Funny thing.  This time as we're going through the series I'm finding myself feeling much more fond of Ronon.  :-)