A Two Seater.........

I did get my little project done after blogging on Thursday.  I took down the old corn feeder which was hanging by a nail.  The squirrels had eaten away the platform in protest of their not being any corn to eat.  I didn't put much thought into the design of the feeder other than I knew it had to hold a squirrel and be braced somewhat to hold the creature.

I went through my wood scraps and visualized the product from the available pieces in the pile.  I found walnut pieces in my pile as well as birch and red oak.  All three of those would be too hard to drive a nail.  So I took wood pieces from scrap projects of the past.  I had to think long and hard about the platform board as it was a cabin siding wood piece with tongue and groove.  I finally figured out that it was leftovers from the siding on my garden shed which was made over 10 years ago.   I pulled the scrap pile out recently to have in the basement for emergency burning in the fireplace.

Once constructed I took the new feeder out and nailed it to the tree.  It took an hour before the squirrels discovered it.  There could be two creatures sitting on it at a time but that won't happen as the are too competitive for that.

By the way the corn was consumed and or stored I can see that I will be buying more corn in a couple of weeks. I does seem to keep them out of my bird feeders  right now but I am sure they will like the millet and sunflower seeds too and will still invade them.

We had wind yesterday and it did warm just a little but then it dropped again to 6 degrees F. last night. This morning we are on the edge of a snow that gave us a good coating of white stuff but now it has calmed down.  We are promised high winds this afternoon so we will be staying home.

The sparkle tree shown at left is down but I am accumulating boxes to start working on the rest of them.  I am in Saturday school again this weekend.  Teachers who do work all days of the week really don't want to come back for a half day more.  I didn't work on Thursday so I automatically volunteer to do it if the competition (full time staff)  doesn't want it.

I had a crowd of 12 last week serving Saturday school but this week I have only 4 boys.  The young ones are already bored and even technology isn't keeping them entertained.  I will give them a break after the first hour to go run off some steam. 

The ever changing weather is making me weary.  I don't like the severe cold and the wind is frustrating.  Sunday we are expected to get up to just freezing, 32 degrees, and I will believe it when I see it.

I use to hear from older people than me say that people waited until winter to die.  It has been a tough month of people who have passed away December through January.  Not having close family around we hear of deaths through the internet papers and usually the death is reported two to three weeks later than the death.  I had a first cousin whose husband died at the age of 56 years early this month.  That was a shock as I don't have contact with them much except seeing them at funerals. I didn't know he had died so I didn't make any funeral.  They live in Corning, Iowa.  I still have to make phone calls.  My mother died in 2008 and this past few months two of her Bridge card players have passed away.  I follow the local paper in the  Osceola area on the net just to see who is passing away.  I know a lot of them as members in the communities where I use to live.  My parent's friends or neighbors show up and I have to dig into the obit to see if I do know who they are.  I have a lot cousin's whose extended family, not related to me, who have passed away. 

All of this reminds me of my Uncle Donald's funeral many years ago when a handful of people were at the top of the hill of the Murray Cemetery.  It was 4 degrees, snow was everywhere on the ground, and the funeral tent was flapping madly in the 35 mile and hour wind.  Some just stayed in the car. When the casket was brought to the grave it was myself, my dad, my cousin,  the wife, a neighbor women from the farm and the minister were all that were there.  I guess the pall bearers had to have been there but they were few and they went back to the cars to wait for the final farewell. It was almost more of a surreal experience rather than a real one that happened that day.





Getting off of the death scene I will share a new life.  He is doing well and continues to grow.  I expect to see him walking in pictures before I see him walking again. His chattering also will be close to words as we heard some words from him over Christmas.







Well I will close this down for today.  I will head home after Saturday school duty and hunker down at home.  It is a good day to drink coffee and watch the birds or tv.  I don't have any major framing to do and that is good.  I have to deliver the diploma frame job but the weather has to be better.  I am hoping all of you are doing well and thanks for checking out my post today.