Thursday's Things......

The cornflower is shot but yet puts out a sculptural form in the winter time.  I try to get them clipped back before winter but if not I really don't mind them.  It is bad thought if the gardener hasn't removed them before the green comes back.

This is an unusual looking trunk.  It is the ornamental pear tree with bulging side pieces.  It doesn't look strange when it is all leafed out but in the winter it has the side branches showing.  The red is a set of fall leaves still hanging on the tree. I see I have a good shot of the garbage bin in the background.

A visit to my sculpture garden sort of, I call Bucket Full of Snow.  I take for granted that it sits there year round and sometimes the snow makes it seem to be a lot more noticeable. It is weathering into a patina like carved marble, but it isn't. 

I will finish off my post with a cheerful woodpecker.  I bought another cake of suet but I didn't pick up another wire basket for it.  I think that I could have more at the feeder at the same time if I put up another one. This big red bellied sends the downy woodpeckers fleeing.

I am head teacher today in the special education room at the middle school level.  I really don't do any bossing but just join the team that is already working smoothly.  We had another late start today as the negative temps. are difficult for kids waiting outside for buses.  We have two loads from each town kids and then all the country kids all around both towns.

I am helping sit with the neighbors terrier as she is in the hospital with lung congestion.  She  may be hospitalized three of four days, so I need to schedule her in twice a day.  Hopefully the son of the neighbor will check in on the dog also to keep it from being bored.  Our neighbor leaves the tv on for her to keep the dog company but Penny doesn't know how to change the channels yet.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Winter Wonderful Land........

I was out into the elements yesterday afternoon as it was snowing.  School had been let out early due to the impending storm.  I had time to take shots after I had scraped the sidewalk for our Button dog.  He does like a nice cleared walk when he has to go outside.

I put out some fresh seed and only one bird had enough sense to come and enjoy.  Later when it was getting dark a large group of juncos and one female cardinal came to enjoy the seed.

To add color I will share my table arrangement outside our porch door.  The fake poinsettias have a dusting  of snow on them.

School was started late today and I joined the staff as a special education assistant today.  I will follow a couple of students to their class and help monitor study halls of special needs students giving them any help that I can.  Sometimes they need a bit of company as they go through school and nothing else.  Thanks to you all for stopping in today.

Lost is Found......

I didn't know it was lost.  I had worked on the gate so it would open and close smoothly.  I was taking a shot through the slots and once the picture was taken I noticed an extra thing in the picture.  It does look like a great place to hang a hammer.  I have so many from my dad and brother that I don't usually miss any hammer when it gets misplaced.  This is one of my better hammers and I am glad that I found it.

If I were to frame this photo and place it in an art gallery I would named it 'Tennis Ball'.   Can you find the reason why?

The wooden pump created from barn boards is a creation of my own imagination.  I pump water through a hose into it so the water can come out of the spout to help in the filtering of the water in the fish pond.

More snow to come as school is being let out early.  A storm is approaching Iowa from Missouri.  We  had an inch or more of snow this morning that fell in the night.  So more is coming and then the wind will start to blow.  I think it will be a 12 hour siege before we will be able to leave our houses.
 
I am at school today being a sixth grade English teacher.  All sixth graders either as Literature students or English usage classes.  I will see them twice for each of the kinds of classes.  It gets to be a long day doing the same age group continually. But school is to be let out early today at 1:30 duty to the impending doom.  It is better to get the kids home before a storm rather during a storm.  I hope all are ok out there and thanks for stopping in today.

Monday's Moves........

 

I had to take about four shots to get this one in focus.  I was glad to see it eating suet.  I am guessing it is a nuthatch. It flew in right after a large group of juncos and sparrows had fluttered away in mass.

When I had edited the first picture, I thought I would check this one to see if the bird was in better focus.  I discovered another on the bottom floor of the feeder.  I believe both of them are white breasted nuthatches.  I usually only see one at a time and it would be easy to think that there was just one. The guy on the suet feeder had crawled up and down the posts of the feeder like a little acrobat which is characteristic of their behavior on trees.

I also shared a similar picture of this squirrel on my Photo a Day blog.  The glare spots have been reduced from the double panes of windows.  I still have an orb over his eye.  The paranormal people would say that it is a ghost but it isn't today, just the sun reflecting back and forth between the window and storm window.

While I am lacking any color in my blog I decided to share this new finding.  I had noticed a brochure at the town grocery store which was sharing the positive sights to see in the small town of 1000 people.  At the back of the brochure I was surprised and glad to see the photo of our mural in it that we painted over three years ago.  It is 6 foot by 6 foot in size so the photo doesn't quite suggest it's true impression as when you see it.  It was a big job for the two of us to paint but it has up to now not been advertised very much.  It shares a spot with our small swimming pool, the social center sign and the Masonic crest that decorates the top of one of our old bring building on main street.

I am sitting in the study hall of the middle school today.  It will be a long day of student sitting but it won't be too bad of an assignment.  I didn't get called in until late, 30 minutes after school had started.  I wasn't ready to be at school but I made some abbreviated changes to my clothes and appearance and showed up for the job.  The principal was glad to see me.  It is sunny again today with a temperature to be 25 degrees F.   We are still having very cold nights.  Snowstorm is on its way by tomorrow.  I was glad I was called in late as I didn't figure I would get work tomorrow with the weather.   I hope all of you are staying safe.   Thanks for stopping by today........stay warm.

Sunday.........

The light dusting ended up looking like this by the end of the day yesterday.  It did clean up the landscape as all the brown of leaves and dead plants were not that good looking. I like how the snow settles in on the mugo pine shrub behind the bench.

Iowa's valuable corn gets fed to the squirrels.  It is valuable for food and for creating ethanol to add to gasoline also.  The feeder that I keep up gets one ear a day.  I really don't know how many squirrels out of the four actually get to eat at the feeder.

  I shared this on my photo a day blog today also.  I took the shot on Saturday and this morning I do have juncos showing up at the feeder.  We are very cold again and will stay that way even though the sun is shining. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

A Journey........

Don't you just love the special effects.  It actually was snowing this morning while I was out and about on the property.  The apple tree that gave us so many apple pies,  stands strong in the foreground.  I should prune it now but I won't today.  The actual snow is a gentle one and as you can see is a light one with the coating of it on the ground and the tree branches. If the special effects keeps going we should have a foot of snow before long.  Actually we should get about an inch or two and it will be done by afternoon.

This is one of my reality shots with the fallen ladder from the strong winds last week and the wood bench covered with junky wood.  The old wooden wheel barrow stays out as I don't own a garage.  The lawn mower handles stick out from under the lean to roof.  I roll it out so I can get into the door and have to push it back in under the shed roof porch.

 

The winds of the last few weeks kept me busy retrieving and returning my neighbors garbage containers from my alley.  He is a  young guy and has many containers that roll down the alley anytime the winds blow.  He leaves them out on the curb all of the time instead of returning them to his two car garage.  He can't see them from his house and I do. I become concerned that a rescue truck or city truck would need to go through there and not want to hit them.  It would not be good for the vehicles nor the containers.  When it is 14 degrees out there it means I do it in a hurry. 

 

The phlox were slow to die down this fall so I have a stand of them in the snow.  They don't look as good as grasses but they do collect snow on the tops and have a good stem color.  The ancient side walk that goes toward the bridge is to the right of them.  I am certain that the walk went to the outhouse when there was one on the property. The only other reason the walk would be there would be for a coal shed.  On my wife's farm they had a fancy walk that went way out to the chicken house and also the outhouse next to it. 

You can see we are not getting much snow as the tops of the post are barely covered.  Barney is brave enough now to cross the bridge but we first got him he would circle around it and not cross it.

Out by the river birch rests the bicycle.  It has become a part of a small flower garden that I plant around it.

I shared this on the my Photo a Day blog today also.  Stewart was out for his walk this morning.  He gets to walk all over town.  I am not sure but I think the owners are walking for their health and he gets to go along.  I was at the other end of town and there he and his owner were walking.  It was a long way from home.

I have the day off today and it is a good thing.  I am not planning much and hope nothing too hard in the way of work shows up.  I shoveled a little bit for Button out on the back yard walks and I put feed out for the birds.  They are just now at late morning discovering there is something there.  I will be watching to see if I can get some new photos. Soup and sandwiches for lunch and maybe some watching of "how to" shows will be nice for the afternoon. It would be a good day to have a hot drink and rest.  I can hear some hot chocolate calling me right now.   Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope all are well and staying safe.  See you tomorrow. 

Dreaming of Spring...........

I bought seed packets of roma tomatoes and a steak tomatoes.  The jade plant had excess water in it and I had drained some of it off the pot while at the store. Whoever waters the plants there goes beyond over watering.  So when I got home the seed packages which were in the same sack as the jade plant were soaked with water. The soil was so saturated that more drained out into the sack.  I am hoping that it didn't absorb completely through to the seeds.  I am thinking I will plant them inside late February this year.   I want to put a light on them this time to improve their growth. I am tired of putting out struggling plants as it stretches out the maturity time.

I was reading a blog about how to set up a new planting area.  I think I will try the process of placing newspapers down on the ground and putting soil on top of them to get the weeds and grass destroyed.  My problem this year will be that the frost line is 27 inches down and it will take forever to get soil thawed. I also think that I should have done it in the fall so that the winter would help to kill off everything.  I will probably try it anyway.  This small flower garden really isn't there anymore and I will let it grass over completely.  I usually planted my zinnias in this spot.

My two large pots of agapanthus plants are in the basement keeping warm. When I go down into the basement they are green and healthy with shiny leaves basking under the basement light bulbs. I have decided to plant out one of the pots of plants into the ground this spring and see if I can get them to bloom.  I know they are a southern plant and they grow wild in California.  I will thin out the second one and put half of it into the emptied first pot.  I know someone who would like a start of this plant and we will have to work on that happening.

As you can see my theme today is of things to happen in spring.  I am almost in mental overload of dealing with snow, ice and the very cold temperatures.  I will snap back into reality when I go to get into the car this afternoon after school. 

I am in the resource room again today.  The teacher's husband fell from a ladder outside last Sunday and broke some bone in his back.  He is my age and I am sure healing will take a while.  I bet his wife will be back to school on Monday, once they get him into a rehab home.  I have Saturday off and we will be home as the southern snowstorm is coming our way.  We have food to eat and as long as the electricity is on we will be fine.  The thought of being home all day sounds pretty good even though I did have last Tuesday off. I am suppose to be retired but that is a laugh.

I hope you all are doing well out there.  I know that Georgia is suppose to warm up and I know that Minnesota probably has not had a thawing day yet. The east coast doesn't stay the same for very long hot or cold.  I bet Florida is still warm and Texas is always fluctuating.  Thanks everyone for stopping by today.