The Last of November........

The drab and the dormant is all that is left out there.  Snow would probably make it look better. The ice on the stairs keeps us careful as we carry Button down the stairs.  His soft fur soaks in a lot of water when he goes out in a rain or even in a sprinkle.

Outside looking in shows the glow of the light on the kitchen counter. Not much really can be identified in the photo but it is the mood that counts anyway.

I seem to be low in photos as we transcend through this crappy weather.  Nothing too much is peaking my interest so I have not taken any new shots.  I must do something for tomorrow or I will be a photoless blog.

The box is a cool looking one as it used to hold these angels.  Now it holds the ornaments that go on the angel tree.  Our intentions were good but the tree sits on the floor and only one of the three boxes are downstairs ready to be hung.  Maybe after school it will happen. As I look out the window right now it is not very bright.  We are promised lots of weather but they have not hit the accurate prediction for about two days.

I am a librarian today and should be one for the rest of the week.  We will see if my schedule changes at any time. Thank you for stopping by today.

Sunday's a Slow Show......

A fish portrait of moving fish.  The camera just didn't think that I was to get a focused shot of them.  Motion, light conditions  and my lack of patience gives me a blurry fish world.  The new calico fish looks larger that it really is.  The fish next to it are smaller.  My algae eater continues to clean as you can almost see through that back glass.

Barney turns his head away believing that I am not taking his picture because he isn't looking the other way. He continues to get brushed as often as I can.  He keeps shrinking in size as I take off more shedding hair.

It is time to start the decorating process.  We have a tree in the dining room but no decorations are placed on the tree.  All my smaller trees stayed up and assembled this year.  All I have to do is carry them down from upstairs and start placing on ornaments. It seems to be that we are both moving slow but as the snowstorms hit and as the week begins we will get into action.  We are predicted to be seeing snow this evening and it is called a winter storm by the forecasters.  We will see how well they have done in their prediction.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday Stuff........

Our air temperature didn't warm up enough to melt the ice off of my weather rocks.  The iron ore rock shows the shine of all the ice.  The Lake Superior round rock is too textured to show its shine.  The round one is not frozen down to the railing but the flatter rock is frozen solid. I guess I could take the round rock and hit the other one to break it loose.

The blurry bloom is in the room with the birds and aquarium.  I think that it is one of my more favorites so I didn't take it to the basement.  It started blooming more so I would keep it around for a while.

The rescued shelf hasn't been hung yet but it sits on the buffet now already collecting loose things. I am going to hang it on the wall behind it but things seem to not just happen that quickly.  Most of this needs to be put back into storage down below in the buffet.

I had to move a different tv into the kitchen so I moved containers out of there of loose change onto the dining room table. It is sorting time again.  I am treating the process like a picture puzzle and I will work at it different times of the day until it is done.  Eventually they will all be put into rolls and taken to the bank.  I don't know why we have so many nickels. I don't do this very often but it does all add up wants I get them ready to go to the bank.

 I found a marble among the change.  I don't remember where it found but I must have emptied my pockets with that in there. This is possibly one I found out in a loose gravel driveway.  It would be interesting to know the travels of this one old marble.




We ventured down to Wallymart yesterday to get a few groceries.  It was not as crazy in the afternoon as I bet it was in the morning.  Yet, crowds that are larger than normal provides the opportunity to see more strange or irritating people.  One man was on his cell phone, a youngster compared to me, who was yelling into his cell phone as he traveled through the store. He is one of those that thinks he has to talk very loud if the person is far away from him.  Other people like to hover in areas and have family conversations blocking whole aisles.  We were glad to leave the store as soon as we could.

I take a shot and don't even bother to deadhead the plant.  I am getting senile. It is the only one that I have blooming right now.  I guess I need to slow down to take photos.  No plans for today.  I have things in the back of my mind that I can think of to do but I am just going to take thinks as they appear.  I hope the weather isn't too bad in your area today.   Thanks for stopping by today.

Friday All Day.........

A little bit of ice is coating everything this morning.  We escaped the snow that was predicted and it will get above freezing for the average temperature today.  I expect the ice will be gone by noon.

With a down turned shot you can see that I brought the angel in under the porch roof. It didn't get an ice coating and will make it to the basement soon. I need to get a new arrangement out there for Christmas.  Maybe that will happen today but I don't like to put things down in writing anymore.

As I was taking out the last of the garbage I notice that the ice has helped to make the leaves brighter and shiny.

The little house in the flower garden is an old ceramic one made by one of my students.  It would be nice to set up a little village of those houses in this garden. My luck I would set it on an area where a spring plant would want to sprout up from the ground.

One last shot of the last green thing growing out there.  It is a golden privet that I planted last year.  It is getting its roots established and should be much larger next year.

I was just thinking while blogging that it is almost time to start the Christmas decorating thing.  We will do it and enjoy it as each thing is put up in the house. I haven't mentioned this out loud to my wife yet so we will just see when the thought hits her also.

I mentioned that I need to straighten out the edge of my deck.  I can see that happening the next couple of days.  I can draw a straight line with a large square and cut the outstanding crooked edges. I now have a platform in which to work from now that puts me closer the the roof that needs to be built. With rain and snow the past few weeks I can see how I need to get this done as soon as the weather permits.

I hope everyone enjoys this Friday.  It really messes with my brain knowing which day of the week that it really is.  It will seem like a Saturday all day and then we will have another one tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Thankful for my Blog Friends.....

It is a cool gray day today.  We are having scattered rain conditions.  I never know when I take the little dog outside if I will get wet or not.  There are scant snow piles left but in the most part all the snow is gone. We are staying home today and the weather forecasters seem to think rain and ice is a possibility for Iowa.

I have been seeing many a pecan pie on the blogs these past two days.  I have an entry to the pie photos of my wife's mince meat pie.  I was raised on mince meat as a kid from my grandma's pies to my mom's pies.  My wife does make the best.  The older pies were full of beef, sometimes that was leftover meat.  Today the meat has left the recipe and all the different raisins and apples are a big part of the pie.

We were at a pie place yesterday and there were mobs of people picking up pies.  The customers had to ask for an appointed time and appear at the time to assist in getting the large group of customers through the line.  French silk has become the newer generations' traditional pie at this time of the year. We had a pumpkin supreme at the place and that was a new and different version of pumpkin pie.

This blurry squirrel shown here is at work already gleaning a good amount of seed to eat for then and later. I have to move into the focus photo again from the dining room window but so far I have just been taking quick shots.

 
I shared the downy on my photo a day blog today.  It is nice to see a woodpecker back at the feeder.  When we get a good snow cover more kinds will be showing up at the free food center.

The neighbor girls were out riding bikes in the cold and doing some skate board work.  I am sure the parents were glad to have them outside for a while.  I think someone else was let outside by the girls.  She doesn't seem to like the cold so she does head back home quickly after she has been out for a while.

Our family is growing right now as we speak.  Our kids in Chicago area are expecting another child.  AJ has grown fast and he will be 3 in February.  He will have a little sister or brother in May.  I haven't shared this for a while as it takes time to realize what is really happening.  We are thankful for our kids in the Chicago area and our kids in Maine.  They will be having their Thanksgiving in Bucksport, Maine at grandma's.  The others will be at AJ's grandma's with a large family get together in southern Chicago area.  We are glad to be home today as we are in severe weather warnings starting at noon. The storm itself won't stay inside the lines that they have drawn but it looks like rain, ice and snow are going to be joining us today and stay for 12 hours.

I wish all of you a great day and thank you for stopping by today.  Save room for dessert as you go through your day.

Wednesday's Wee Post......

The snow is melting and is almost gone.  We still have bleak looking days as it is the normal for this time of the year.

The vine is now gone for fall but I am sure it will be back next spring.  The wild vines do survive Iowa winters easily. We are have sunshine right now but we are promised rain and snow mixture by tomorrow afternoon.  No big plans for Thanksgiving this year but I do hope everyone has a great Big T day.   Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Sharing Time......

I like finding patterns in the things that I see.  This one has very little important features but the overlapping lines are interesting to see.  The cyclamen that usually blooms on the trellis took a break from that this here.  I had a mediocre vine and no blooms.  The snow was melting yesterday and will be again today.  We have a muddy ground underneath the snow as we haven't frozen hard yet for any long period of time.

The new starts of the iris have done well as they have leaves still projecting from the snow.

This is just the beginning of the long winter.  These leaves will be withering soon and all will be flat.  The whole scene is in transition as we are not completely into the season.  It would have been nice to have the summer last a whole lot longer.

The lazy man scooping process as I only did one shovel width.  It did warm up so that the energy I saved worked out well for me.  Blue paint is waiting to be put on the new gate when it is warm enough.  The wood was so wet from the process that it went through to get it to be waterproofed.  It takes a while for the wood  to dry out even while it is stacked together for a long time.

The neighbors put in a backyard fence for their two dogs but once in a while they do hit the street with them.  They are like our Barney and really love walking the town.

I am Larrian the librarian today.  It is not a tough job and yet the kids are a little excited about the break.  They have study hall in the library so I am not just tending books but students of all ages. I just sent a half dozen of them to the cocoa and coffee shop to help them wind down a little.  I have a pot of coffee made in the lounge and we all will count down the periods until we get out of here.  I hope everyone is well out there.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday Morning Blues.......

Sunday was a day for warming up and the sun setting in the west was wonderful.  I went upstairs and took the shot out of our bathroom window.

The sky was so striking as we drove into town.  I need to quit being lazy and go take the car to the west end of town to get the full view.  One of my former students who lives in the covered bridges area of Madison County posted a wonderful shot of it.  Thou shall not steal.

  This is the reason that I am extending the width of the porch roof.  All this moisture is coming down a valley and it is landing in this one spot.  I am hoping when I have it built wider that the water will channel down and away from this area.  I would take a shot of the before area but it is so sad to see I will just talk about until it is gone.

It is so nice to have the cardinals feeding and even the sparrows.  Juncos are out there too as well of some woodpeckers at the suet.

Evidence of the junco is here in this photo.  They haven't been here too long but it is nice to have them here competing with the sparrows. The weather warmed up some yesterday and out in the burning bushes were a pair of cardinals. They have this neat call like a cheet or chit that they call while picking berries.  I don't know if it is a territorial call or just a fun call as they are so happy to find red berries.  I have heard the call many times but don't always see them. On pair is better than no cardinals but I hope another pair comes by too.  Maybe a bigger snow storm will bring in more.

Another Barney shot enjoying the snow.  I let him out yesterday afternoon and he loved rolling in the loose snow.  He doesn't quite like being outside alone the older he gets but if there is enough activity he will keep busy and not notice he is out there and I am inside.  The cold seems to bother him a little but he loves to lay on the top of the steps and watch people and cats go by.


I am a middle school secretary today.  I find it to be a busy little place of activity with deliveries and lost kids or those skipping from class.  Two days before school is out for Thanksgiving break.  I can see kids are anxious for the two days to be done. I am ready to be done for a few days too.

This was taken a few days ago in the day time.  Now it is a full moon showing up in the evening.  I don't know the moon's cycles but I seem to see it is not a regular one or consistent anyway to the earths turning. Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday Stuff........

We don't sit in these.  In fact we haven't set in them for years.   I almost took them to the garbage men this past summer and then I had a change of heart. They are my lawn sculptures.

Snow capped mountain would be nice but we only have snow capped structures.  The feeder needs to be repaired and then set up.  The birdhouse will be headed to the basement once the snow melts off of its roof.

My pet turtle ornament has snow on his nose.  He too will hit the basement the next time it melts.  It sounds like we will be warming up and a lot of these will go away.

I found the brass bells in the basement and made some repairs to the strings.  I just hung them and now they too have snow peaks.

I never expected this to happen but I am a wild bird photographer again.  The eurasian ring neck doves were out and also one blue jay hit the feeder today.

It is Sunday and we will be out for a while.  It will be nice to get home out of this weather and settle in for the evening. Thank you for stopping by today. 

White with White on the Side......

My official "look out" window shows the change in our season overnight.  It started snowing in the afternoon and then stopped in the evening.  The total of 6 inches seems fair and we will get more later in the next few days.  The ground is adjusting as it is still wet and muddy under that snow.  I guess that if it keeps dipping down to 10 degrees F. at night the ground will freeze.

Barney had to have a bite of snow right away when he was let outside.  He likes it but isn't really used to it yet.

I shoveled paths for the guys, especially for Button as he doesn't like deep snow.  I was scooping out ever hour for a while to make it work for Button yesterday evening. I was glad that it then stopped. I could clear him a path and it sort of stayed clear.  A slight wind was blowing that keep things on the surface moving around.

The neighbors three in a row trees always looks like a miniature forest when they get snow on their branches.  The are planted too close to each other so they grow so slowly.  They are short but if I get close enough shot it looks like a forest.

I can hear neighbors pushing snow out of driveways right now as I write this.  The guy has a tractor and scoop and really has fun pushing snow. He usually hits our driveway when he finishes just because.

The Japanese Yew Pine always gives me a great shot of the snow fall.  Those who follow me regularly know this shrub and have named it by now.  It actually can be a snow measuring gauge as a larger snowfall puts the branches on the ground from the weight of the snow.

What was green on Thursday will not stay that way for very long now.  The field lilies had sent up new leaves with all the rain so it was looking like this.  The cold but not freezing temperatures had it flattening and now we will see what it looks like after a hard freeze and snow.

Not much planned for today.  It is a good day to hunker down inside.  Outside work other than snow removal will be limited.  I hope everyone is well out there.  Thank you for stopping by today.