Category Archives: Miscellaneous

1st snow of 2018 , BananaNut Flats

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1-4-2018 We got our 1st snow of the year.
Well, it was most of a dusting and only lasted an hour, but I’m counting it.

1-5-2018 This morning, I made a batch of banana-nut flats.
I really like the way they turned out.
I enjoyed a couple of them with strawberry cream.The heat from the oven and the aroma of the flats baking sure made my home warm and snug.

It’s 12° here, that’s been the norm for several days. It’s forecast to warm up to the high 40’s sometime in the next few days, I’m so looking forward to it.

You all bundle up and keep warm.
Stay safe during these cold winter days.

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Eclipse 8-21-2017

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There was heavy cloud cover over the mid-day sun 8-21-2017 . I was disappointed that we may not get to see the eclipse. In the breaks in the clouds, using our handy-dandy eclipse glasses we could see the moon moving in the path of the sun.
We figured that we wouldn’t get to even see a smidge of the full eclipse… we were wrong. At the moments of the total eclipse, the clouds thinned and we could see the shiny ring of the sun hidden behind the moon.
It was a beautiful sight. I’m so thankful that my husband and I got to share the event. My husband took a few photos and they turned out pretty good. As it turns out, the clouds helped us enjoy the view better and I think helped our camera get blurry yet pretty good pictures without burning it’s internal workings to goo.



It’s interesting what happened in the span of that couple of minutes of full eclipse.
A comfortable quiet fell on our area as the world became twilight. The temperature dropped to a degree of most-pleasant. A flock of buzzards crossed the sky flying to their roost. The hummingbirds disappeared into the woods leaving their feeders abandoned. A big beautiful bright star glowed in the western sky. Next to the fiery ring of the eclipse, smaller stars came out but were barely visable through the veil of clouds.
After a magical couple of minutes, the sunrays burst forth from the right side of the moon. Within seconds the world was back to an odd feeling normal. Curiously, the clouds burned off quickly.

We realize another full eclipse will happen again in a few years, but not in our path… unless we move or travel to see it. So being in the right spot at the right time, without planning it, makes this one is especially special to us. We feel blessed to have shared this event together. It was awesome!

Wishing you all an awesome week!

 

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Black Swallowtail Caterpillars, Sunset, Moonrise & Ice Cream

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I’ve always wanted to have black swallowtail caterpillars in my flower beds. They’re so bright and pretty and make beautiful butterflies.
My blogging buddy Patti has a flower bed and posts pretty photos of the black swallowtail caterpillars. I asked her about them. She told me to plant fennel for them.
The only fennel I could find is a bronze fennel. I bought 4 peat pots of them. I planted 2 in my herb bed and 2 in one of my small flower beds. The 2 in the herb bed are flourishing, but the 2 fennel plants in my flower bed are slow growing.

The fennel in my herb bed is where the caterpillars are. There’s oodles of the lovely critters munching in the fennel.
“Thank you so very much Patti! I’m glad I listened to you.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan the ones in the herb bed very well because I bet the birds who come to bath in our bird baths will eat up all the caterpillars. But the birds haven’t eaten them all so far, so maybe a few of the caterpillars will mature into butterflies.However, Maybe the fennel in my small flower bed by the porch will take a growth spurt and the butterflies will lay some eggs on them. The birds never are in that flower bed because my rain chain and dangly chain keeps them scared off.

Oh yes and also, I planted a small dill plant in the herb bed and was surprised to see that it has 2 black swallowtail caterpillars on it. I didn’t know the caterpillars would hatch and grow on dill. Cool!~*~
June 1 2017 had a glorious fiery sunset.
It was a beautiful sight to see.

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June 2, 2017 was clear and the moon in it’s first quarter stood out clearly in the early-evening blue sky.~*~
Oh one more thing, we won the lottery! That’s right folks our ticket brought in a whopping $2.00.
We were selfish and blew the whole winnings on a couple of vanilla ice cream cones.
The ice cream was a rare fun treat and a tasty way to enjoy our lottery winnings.

Wishing you all joy and fun
and oodles of good fortune.

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1- 12-2017 Weather Report – rainy, warm & windy

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p11101131-12-2017 67° Windy, Cloudy and rainy
The wind feels like a warm Spring wind, it’s amazing.
If it wasn’t so dreary and damp out it’d be a lovely day.

This post ends up my 12 days of January weather reports.
Now I’ll wait and see how they compare to the months ahead.

There’s a gnome-hater in our midst. I’m not sure what critter it is, but hate gnomes, it does. I stand my gnomes up and within a night or two, something knocks them all down.
I suspect that the critter was foraging and knocked them over when it rooted underneath them with it’s nose… or it hates standing gnomes. :/p1110064

Wishing you all great weather the rest of the winter.

 

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*just a note* – I had to drill holes in the bottom of my mushroom birdbath to keep it drained and dry because when it held water, it peeled and turned icky and stunk. It’s real disappointing.

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1-10-11-2017 Weather Report – rainy

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p1110049It’s 57° a cloudy gray rainy day today. The bird bath is full of rainwater instead of snow.

I decided to wait and do the weather report for the 10th day and 11th day together since both days were forecast to be the same warmer and rainy.

Only one more day and then I’ll have the first 12 days of the weather this year to compare the next 12 months too.

Here’s hoping this 11th day of 2017 is good one for you.

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2017 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Name

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2017 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
~Names~

“Humans love naming things — look around you,
and I bet you’ll see dozens of names. This week, take a photo of one!”nutrasocks1Ever seen socks with ‘Nutrition Facts’ on the packaging?
These were a first for me.nutrasocks0Joe Boxer went the extra mile to add a smile
and a bit of fun to their product.
Now that’s what I call positive creativity!

 Wishing you all fun with the WP photo challenge!

 

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1-8-2017- weather report – frosty

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p11009041-8-2017
5°
Clear and cold.
Heavy Fog made a frozen coating on the trees & plants.
There’s still have quite a bit of snow laying around.
Hopefully there will be enough sunshine to melt it away.
The forecast for the highs today are near 30°.
We’re thankful for the clear skies.p1100963

I hope your 8th day of 2017 is sunny and pleasant.

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