Just Shots, No Thoughts........

Thanks for stopping by today.

In The Middle Of The Week.....

They are like dancers on stage as the lean to create their posed look.  The sedum never bloomed fully and what was in bloom this past summer was dead looking or shriveled flowers.  So much for a drought filled summer.  Perhaps we will have more moisture and we can start over in the spring.

This is a hand painted dish that has no markings on it.  I have lost the history to the small dish so it could have been from family, friends or garage sale buying.  The hand painting on this one dish shows a lot of dabbing of glaze onto the plate with the same size and kind of round tipped brush.

The free hand painted lines in gold seem perfect for the design.  The edging must have been difficult as it seems a little bit out of control by the artist.  There are no markings on the back of this plate so it was done by a home artist or factory artist for commercial sale.

This hat pin container has all the look of hand painting on it but it isn't.  It is just s good stencil transfer with a hand painting design on it.

I am in the Special Education room in the morning and will be a study hall keeper in the afternoon.  We will be thawing out today with higher temperatures than normal.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Two Things for Tuesday..........

A blurry barberry bush photo with red orange berries that are hanging in there having not yet being eaten by the birds.  I said it all in one sentence.

This barrow with snow in it reminds me that I haven't brought home my metal wheel barrow from the farm in a year and a half now.  It was down there being used for work in the summer of 2011 and was stowed away quickly at the end of that summer.  We had worked so hard clearing things that I was too tired to put it into the trunk of my car and bring it home.  Perhaps I can get my act together as I missed it all summer and will need it in the spring to haul dirt and sticks and stuff.

My dad made this one solely for the use of planting flowers in it.  I remember it for many years being filled with petunias.

We will see warmer temperatures today as Des Moine will be 39 degrees.  That means we might be 34 degrees today and it will start some thawing.  The furnace isn't being as strained these days and it does actually shut down for some periods of time in the day time.

I am high school math today.  It will be a long day as the free period was first hour and I was assigned somewhere else during that period.  I hope you all have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Changing Things......

The camera takes a photo  that shows it in a natural state.  It really seems redder  in reality than it appears so I pull up the photoshop devices.

I had not known positive what works to turn a color photo into a black and white, but the desaturate does the trick.

Another command that I can't name right now, as I am on a different computer, enhanced the colors and made the photo be closer to its true color.

Another command that reverses the colors, which changes the look and feel of the redtwig dogwood.  I think it is the reverse command but I will look it up when I get back on to the photoshop program on my home computer. It changes the color to its complement, opposite on the color wheel.

I am a tech guy for the last day this year.  They hired a young man to be tech coordinator for the three schools so my work should be done.  I am not sure how that will work out as he isn't in the building only a couple of days a week.  Anyway I was informed that they couldn't justify funds for me as a tech person anymore.  So I will be substitute teaching solely the rest of the year.

I will be assisting the installation of 24 iPads today to be put on a portable cart for classroom use.  It should take the day to accomplish it as there are almost 20 apps to install per computer.  I will be buzzed in the brain by the end of the day.

Thanks for stopping by my posting today.

Winter Outside........

I ventured out Saturday afternoon to help the neighbor fill up here bird feeders.  It was cold but a warm cold compared to the earlier temperatures of the week.  It was gently snowing and when I returned home I thought I would get a few shots taken.

The concret swan seems to be floating in snow as the bird bath has collected a neat pile of snow.  The   dead leaves of a transplanted rose bush leans against the fence.  I hope the leaves are all that is dead and that the rose does live through the weather.  It is William Baffin and I think it is tough enough to  survive in its new location.

There will be no roasting of marshmallows even though it probably would burn.  My wood  pile is building up scraps as the storms keep dropping limbs into my yard.  I have a new batch to add to the burn pile but it seemed too cold to do that today.

Our evening plans will be watching Stargate on TV and maybe sneak in another viewing of the newest Sherlock Holmes movie.  We won't be a part of the 111 million people who will be watching the game. I figured it out that 289 million people will  not be watching the game.  Have a good Sunday whatever you choose to do today.

Glass Decanter.....

I found an item to share today that I blogged about a few years back.  This is the stopper to a decanter that I receive from Iva Horton.  My John and Iva connection gave me a great relationship with step family who acted more like my grandparents than being great uncle and aunt through my grandmother's remarriage.  They gave me a lot of older things, antiques, as they never threw anything away.

The Hortons were making their move from the farm in which they had lived on for over 60 years into the town of Osceola.  Iva gave the decanter to my mom to give to me saying she thought it would be a special gift for me to have.  I regret that I removed the cloth red ribbon that was tied around its neck.  Iva had said that the decanter was her mother's and it had always had the ribbon on it.  Iva never removed it and it was faded in color.  I really don't understand why I immediately removed it as I was college age and was young, stupid and spontaneous.

I am sure it wasn't extremely expensive as it came from a family, like most farm families, who were not wealthy. Iva was from Illinois before traveling to Iowa and marrying John. It probably was a fancy thing to own at its time but I bet came from a country store.

I know that glass is inexpensive to create from heated sand and the item is a pressed piece with the glass being poured into a mold.  The seams do show.  The size of it is about 7 inches tall. It did have a great fall in its lifetime and I had to glue a piece of glass back to the lip of it.  It still is a great item of history.

The photo of John and Iva Horton is shown in the newspaper clipping.  It was their 60th wedding anniversary and the three sons were having a party for them.   I did an article about them on my Sepia Saturday's blog.  It was a few weeks ago that I posted it and since then have thought of so much more that I could share about their lives.




It is Saturday and we are not planning much for the day.  We need to hit the sales at the grocery store that are intended for the super bow.  I hope we are not required to watch the bowl to buy them as we won't be viewing the game.  The sales of select items for the party goers are too good to pass up, so we will venture over to Perry to pick up a few things.  It will be madness as everyone shops the sales and it is Saturday.

It is still cold but not as cold today.  We will reach 30 degrees F. today which is a heatwave compared to where we have been.  It will also be a heat wave compared to all the states north of us.  I see our kids in Maine are going to have our 8 degree temperatures today.  It is only right that we share the Arctic air.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Friday Is Upon Us.......

I didn't get the lid on the water barrel soon enough so it did freeze up.  We had a warm spell last week or so and it melted down leaving this large ice cube.  I will try to get the lid on it soon before the next thaw.  I don't think I had any damage to the plastic barrel with it being totally frozen.  I was lucky as I did loose one last year out by the garden shed when the freeze split the side of the container.

Winter skys reflect back from my kitchen window.  This shot shows it to be a lot brighter than the dark gray days that we have been having the past few days.  The blue bottle stays warmer inside than the -6 degrees we had this morning when we started our day.

Staying ahead of the feeders is a daily task as my open feeders need to be replenished often.  This feeder was snowed in and the birds knew how to push snow aside in order to stick their heads into the holes.  Juncos and sparrows seem to be the only kind of birds that I am getting at my feeders.  The squirrel of course and the cardinal must be visiting a feeder where they are putting out sunflower seeds as my two don't stop off that often.  I need to by seed with more sunflower seeds in them so they will stop more often.

My loyal followers might remember this little shefflera plant that I bought for a dollar.  It stayed small for a long time but now that I enlarged its growing space it is really taking off with lots of growth.

I am freelancing today as a tech, teacher and whatever.  I covered for a guy who's car had a flat on the way to school.  I worked some on the website to update its calendar and announcements.  I also have been assisting kids to get computer problems squared away as they can really mess them up without even trying.  One student drops off his computer to me and told me that it just is not working, dead to the world.  I suspect it needs to be charged.

It is too cold to go anywhere this evening so we will hold up at home trying to stay warm. I am not a huge football fan but will pick up a game at the end once in a while.  The end of the game is the only good part to watch anyway with a little drama and excitement taking place then.  We will watch movies and eat popcorn to entertain ourselves.  Thanks for stopping by today.