Images.......

I thought I was seeing ghosts.  I took a shot out the door through the storm door. It seemed to have a special look to it that I liked.  Up in the corner was a mystery for me that I could see things in the sky. I had to study it long and hard and  I now realize that the glass storm window that I was taking the photo through was reflecting the stuff piled on the kitchen counter right inside the door. The white bucket like container is what I use to take birdseed out to the feeders. The rest is the general clutter you get around a sink before you wash the dishes. Mugs and bowls and whatever else that was sitting there.  No ghosts this time but a special effect that I probably couldn't recreate, even if I tried.

It is corn.  Shelled corn was rare at my dad's farm as he didn't have a sheller.  He also didn't have a big combine that would shell it as he picked it.  It all came on the cob and was stored in corn cribs. A crib allowed the corn to be protected from the weather above and yet was open on the sides with slatted material so air could get to the corn. Corn on the cob would have to be dry or it could get moldy. My dad had his cribs lined with snow fencing. I bought my corn shelled like this in a fifty pound bag for 10 bucks. It was meant to feed the deer but I buy it for the squirrels. I remember when people would play bingo and corn kernels were used to mark their spaces.

I haven't shared a report on the amaryllis for a while but here it is.  It doesn't act like it is going to be a normal looking bloom but I will just wait and see.

I am in the middle school wing today teaching English.  We have spent a lot of time on punctuation and parts of speech identification.  I can probably identify most parts of a sentence now after being around it for the past semester.  They are all eighth graders and it has been a pretty good day.  I watched with the class a couple of speeches that they now tape to share for a grade.  One of the speeches was on how to wash your guinea pig.  The other that stuck out was a boy showing how to open a coconut.  That was a dangerous looking speech and loud as he used a hammer to open the coconut.

It is Thursday and I am glad that Friday is coming.  I will be in the special education room in the high school tomorrow.  We are warming up a little but it still is not melting any snow.  Thank you for stopping by today. 

Quality in Decorative Design......

I know it isn't Christmas time anymore.  I had this sitting on the table ready to box it and I thought I need to take some shots of this.  I bought this Santa on a sale from JC Penney years ago.  We don't do much Santa stuff in our decorating but this item really caught my eye.  The detailing is something you couldn't buy today at Hobby Lobby.  The gold design on the material of the coat is perfect for the piece.  Fur like edging and a gold cord for a belt. The hat has the same cloth with gold decoration.

The strap for the bag has gold braid and the bag itself is filled with beaded items and a rose. The total appearance of it is such a good quality.  Knowing that I picked it up on a sale for 7 bucks before Christmas makes it seem like a steal.  At the time I bought it lots of these things were being massed produced and merchandised in a variety of kinds of store. Crafters don't always do things like this in great detail but this one always impresses me when I dig it out of the box.

The teddy bear is a great character for Santa to carry around with him.  The dark green cloth is in great contrast to the red coat. Critiquing an ornament is a first for me but I like pointing out well designed things that really are a work of art.
I am in the middle school today doing English and a couple periods of physical education. I will work all 8 periods today and I am hoping lunch is scheduled in there somewhere.  Sometime it is not.

Warming up to 11 degrees F.  makes it feel warm after being in the negatives for so long. Thank you for stopping by today.

I will be proofing this blog later today so if  you read it early morning I hope there are not too many mistakes.

Tuesday's Times........

A Mexican souvenir purchased by my parent many years ago.  It is a clay object that is made from white clay.  The potter gets the shape and then coats it with a red clay called slip.  Using a sharp tool they scrape the design onto the clay body.  It gets fired one more time to set the red clay onto the white clay object.  Quality wise it isn't so great.  The character of the craft is very good.  It looks like a young artist made the designs as they are not very uniform.

From the wildfowl collection that I have, I share a duck with a design that does not begin to match a real mallard duck.  It is neat to see and has decorative value. I am not sure anyone could use it to help them identify the duck that they would see in the real world.

This is a great sculpture of the mallard hen duck.  The touch of green feathers under the wing is the old real bright color that they have showing.

 The wood duck in real life is one of my favorites.  I like all the colors and line designs on it. The stripes on it remind me of a Chinese duck. My poor figurine has the end of its beak chipped off.  I intend to repair it even if I have to use chewing gum to extend it back to what it use to be.

I am straying here because it is just "show and tell" today anyway. This is an oil painting that I did of a wood duck back in 1989.  I never sold it and I don't know why.  I am glad that I still have it on the wall. I actually looked at a reference photo from National Geographic that was about 3" by 6" in size to create the painting. It was back when you couldn't get on a computer to research a photo. You couldn't get on a computer back then anyway as people didn't have personal computers. The duck is resting, standing on one leg.  I may have not illustrated that correctly but it is what it is.

There is actually a noticeable change to the amaryllis bud.  The stem is still short but the blooms look healthy.

I am an English teacher in the high school today.  I had Monday off so it is hard to not think that this is not Monday.  I guess the week will be shorter by the time I get to Friday.  We are to be getting snow today and it has warmed up a little.

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Saga Continues......

I am about ready to put all of these things away and maybe leave them out in view in the storeroom. Having not seen them for a few years, it is still a relief to have found them.  Old age sets in when you forget you had jars of ornaments.  I was clued in earlier last month when I saw a photo of one of the jars in one of my past blogs.  I still was confused about it all.

The box has had its contents cleaned and dusted so it looks a lot better.  I have blogged about most of the stuff in there a few years back.  The lidded item is an ink well that fits into the holes that were in our school desks.  I may photograph it and relive the schoolhouse years again with those holes.  The glass containers I have also that fit inside the metal well.

The blocks are a collectors item with their grooves to help them fit together.  The letter U is on one side and an umbrella is on the other.  I had at one time blocks from an old country school but these are not them as they were plain ones with not grooves.  I think these are family blogs from the boys grandparents home.

I am concerned that the amaryllis will never bloom.  It had a stem sprouted out while it was in the box when I bought it.  The stem doesn't seem to be going to grow tall and the bud has been showing color for over a week.  Maybe it doesn't like the dull light and cold weather outside.  I will keep you posted.

It is a day off from school today so I am enjoying being free from work.  The cold weather is not tolerable but we do what we have to do to survive.  We need to run an errand this day and will wait until it warms up to at least 10 degrees F. I was up with the dog in the middle of the night and I noticed that from - 6 it had warmed up to -0.3 at four in the morning. We are in the positive temps now but it will never get much better all day.

I thank you for stopping by today.

Found........Again.

A blurry shot of  a fruit jar of ornaments that I had lost. I have a storage cupboard that my dad had made and it sits next to the birds in the spare room.  The cupboard has two large doors and for some reason things were always sitting in front of the bottom door. We were frantically looking for a long lost ethernet cable that we needed.  We never did find the wire but I found two jars of these ornaments and a box filled with brass bells and children's blocks. I also found an old wooden cigar box filled with buttons and one marble.

The dining room table became an explosion of things as I was going through all that was there. I did discover that the majority of my shiny brites were my moms as she had made thread hangers for each one. When I counted earlier this month I found I only had 3 true shiny brites but I know that I have a lot more in these two batches. 

I know that these are antique but they are not glass.  They must be the early plastic ones that were made, maybe, during the war.

As I sit here in the living room blogging,  I can feel the wind has picked up.  It is a strong wind and the room is now colder.  In a old house you know what direction in which the wind is blowing during the winter time.  We were down to -6.5 F. (-21.3 C.) at 5 am.  We are to warm up to maybe -4 F. as the day goes on.

We have a long future with cold air now so we are truly having an Iowa winter.  We have a light snow that will be blowing around most of this day.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Saturday Stuff.........

The sky is clear and blue.  In Iowa that means it is cold. We will be colder tomorrow.  I have thought about making the birdhouse into a feeder during the winter but it is too tall for me to reach.  I would have to have a pole and bucket system going to get it to work. Birds would love it if there was seed placed up there.

We get to see the glow in the sky this morning.  Even seeing the sun so clearly lets us know that it is a cold day. The thermometer reads 7 degrees F. (-14 degrees C.) It has frozen solid all the snow formations that became because of the earlier thawing day.  Frozen dog tracks are everywhere in the back yard.

I took out shelled corn in a feeder for the squirrels and I was surprised they had not found it.  So I placed loose corn on the tops of three of my fence posts to help lure them in to the feeder.  Now that I think about it a squirrel was hitting the bird feeder yesterday instead of the feeder filled with corn. At this rate I should have corn for a year if they don't start eating it. Once snow starts to fly they will be in for a snack.

Hanging around in the cold it the little garden guy.  I will grab him up and bring him in the next time that I take the dog outside.

I am moving slowly today.  I was looking for a lost ethernet cable this morning and found some brass bells in a box and two jars of old shiny brites.  I was surprise to see them but they were placed in a cupboard that I had the door blocked with stuff.  We were out for a short while this morning but we are now in for the day.  The cold stings your skin.  The wind is starting to pick up and we have light snow flakes coming down. Since I started this blog earlier the sky is now overcast and gray.  Everyone stay safe and warm.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob.......No, Stuart.

One of my students told me this guy is Stuart.  He is one of the  minions from the Disney movie. This guy actually is one that is  round  so people could toss him around like a ball. He apparently has his own carrying case. One student said he was Stuart as Bob has two eyes. If you have seen any of their short stories the minions are quite unusual and different.  One movie short that I saw, the minions were being bomb carriers for a factory.  They kept dropping them and caused all sorts of confusion for the factory.

A room next to the one I am working has an ever changing tree.  It is a Christmas tree at that time but it is a seasonal one all the school year.  The snow/winter tree is up right now and the lights apparently were not on at the time that I took the shot.

The teacher next door also is a Snoopy cartoons fan.  She has all sorts of Charles Schultz characters on her bulletin boards and walls.  This one is in the room I am working.  The teacher was in the army so she is sharing this military one with him.

An associate in the room next door has this poster to share. I do like its advise when it comes to ice skating or certain things in life.

I will finish with the jar of mistake erasures.  It is available to all those who really like to erase all the wrong answers while doing math.   We had a light snow this morning but it is done already.  It is going to be very cold the next few days so maybe it will be too cold to snow.  Thanks for stopping by today...........take care.