Question of the Week

My Favorite Sign of Spring?

I have several favorites ~


I thought of spring yesterday when I was cleaning my
livingroom carpet and had my jeans rolled above my
ankles ~ reminded me of being barefoot and wearing capris!

Sign of Spring ~ when we get wet rain instead of
frozen rain ~ we are still a ways from this since
my yard still looks like this....

That large bump on the other side is the "Hoefs Rock" ~
which has been hidden by snow for sometime now!

Another sign of spring will be when the flower gardens
reappear and all those sleepy flowers wake up
and start showing up!

The Peony bed.

Rhubarb

This season will be changing again soon ~ it will be
time to put all the snow gear away ~ but for now
we are enjoying the sunshine and the warmth
that it is putting out and lets not forget the 
extra daylight at the end of the day.

and taking little naps


What is your favorite sign of spring?  and has it
arrived yet?

Saturday Frost

Occasionally on the weekend I will have a day

where there isn't much pressing ~ no schedule

and usually by myself.

Last Saturday was one of those, I had a list of

errands to get done but that was it.

These type of days as I am driving and see 

a picture opportunity I stop....  this particular 

Saturday morning was very frosty and in

some locations foggy.

On my return trip back, I had to stop and

get some snapshots of one of my favorite barns

and a shed or possibly an outhouse that I have

photographed before - so put a little different twist

on this time and zoomed close in.

Then I came upon this.... of course, I had

driven a ways down the road and had to

convince myself to go back..... 

Now if I would have had a larger camera with a big

zoom --- ohhh my my wouldn't have that been cool!

Seeing Blue...

Last week the feeder was busy with blue.... although

they are a mean bird they sure are handsome.

Usually any move sends them off into the pine trees..

they either thought I was still on vacation or finally

realize that I can't harm them from the other

side of the window. 

They even sat in the trees long enough posing so

that I could get some decent shots.

Sunday Stills 2.24.13

This weeks' Sunday Stills Challenge is

Sunrise/Sunsets....with a building

I almost didn't get this challenge completed this week...

we haven't had much sun and then when we had

sunsets I wasn't thinking about it....

today I was determined not to let that sunset

get by me....  better late than not at all.

To see other sunsets around the country, 

click  here.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Before the holidays I stumbled upon this gal

who made cute little stuffed animals ~ custom

to resemble your special 4-legged friends.

I began communicating with her and found out that

she also resides in the state of 10,000 lakes ~ Minnesota.

At the time she was being bombarded with

last minute Christmas requests ~ so I delayed

in sending my photos and request in until after

the new year.

I sent in pictures of my horse, Ace, which I warned

her may be more difficult because of all of his spots.

My request was completed and shipped this week,

just in time for my birthday!

He arrived today....

I am so thrilled with him.... his creator resides in Minnesota ~

she raises Babydoll Southdown Sheep which are nicknamed

the "teddy bear sheep" and look like this:

(copy from the internet)

in visiting with her I just knew we had some things

in common ~ she is certainly a true "country girl"....

she raises the babydoll sheep and uses their wool to

create the stuffed animals by felting the wool.    She

actually has the sheep to keep the weeds down on 

the vineyard her family owns.   

And a working family they are ~ this is how she described what

she did....  500 cattle, pasture hogs,

500 boiler chickens a year, ducks, the sheep... along 

with the vineyard they also have a public pumpkin patch, 

an apple orchard and run a cabinet shop...

And that isn't all.....  she is a mother of eight!

Meet "Ace" ~

she even included the mark on his leg that

resembles a heart.... (ahhhhh)

Isn't he adorable!

Suzanne ~ if you ever find time to read this ~ 

thank you!

Another Birthday....

Yesterday another birthday came and went...

This picture was my first birthday ~ along with my 

maternal grandmother, Grandma Helga.

I had many surprises this week ~ life is good!

Lots of greetings ~ wow thanks now to facebook

you get many more greetings than you would

every think. 

I enjoyed a massage, will go out to dinner yet

this week ~ enjoyed some angel food cake

with strawberries and have some

shopping to do.

I received a couple calls from cute little niece in

Louisiana ~ the second call she sang Happy

Birthday to me just perfectly!   "love it"

You that follow my Chalk Painting projects will

be happy to know that there are more projects

coming ~ I have some gift certificates to be

spent on paint supplies!     Thank you to my lovely

family!   

I have been contemplating what "middle age" means...

there seems to be a very broad definition.   

Guess to me it doesn't matter.... we are buzzing along

doing things we love to do ~ looking forward to the

future and just enjoying life day by day...

Hither and Thither

Hither and Thither ~ where we talk

about anything!

Back to work today after having six days away

from work.  We spent a wonderful week full

of snowmobiling in the Spearfish Canyon of

the Black Hills, South Dakota....

It is hard to go back to work... almost feel like

I will have to be re-trained... (not really but

somewhat... one of my duties had a software

upgrade and that involves some changes).

Tuesday after a holiday will be very busy.... ok I am

ready!

 (the barn at the family farm)

When we returned on Friday, we found lots of snow

from the snowstorm called Orko ~ we had some

snow clean up to do.

The driveway needed to be done along with snow

removal off of the roof of the lean-to covering the wood pile.

We celebrated Grandpa's 80th birthday (hubby's dad) ~ the

second oldest granddaughter and her husband made

the delicious cupcakes.... 

Grandpa's tradition is to make homemade ice cream for

celebrations which he did ~ hmmm it was all so good!

Grandpa is a very active  80 year old... he keeps

busy with fishing, woodworking and lots of

gardening....

A family gathering also meant we had some time

to visit with our great niece, Elise.   She has

grown a lot since we last saw her.... now 

walking and talking!

Macro Monday 2.18.13

Macro  Monday ~ a photo challenge to

take pictures using your "macro setting" or in

other words being very very close to your subject.

This week my subject is my wedding veil ~ soon to

be 27 years old.

Showing the details of the lace and the beading.

To see what others are doing this week for

Macro Monday, click here.

Adventure the First Day

Any adventure can be made a great photography 

adventure ~ and the beauty of the Spearfish Canyon

is splendid!

I didn't leave the Lodge without a camera in hand (oops

the one day I did leave the camera behind while

we went for breakfast ~ there were two deer  within

camera range eating on the side of the big hill)...

The beauty of Spearfish Canyon carved millions of

years ago by Spearfish Creek is captivating to me.

The tourist information says "nature asserts itself here, 

grabs you by the senses, and in some cases never

lets go."  That is so true  ~ 

The "great outdoors" ~ while snowmobiling the trails

and the meadows you can't help but to ponder what

it was like years ago... 

This is our group this year... Lineman Son, myself,

my Hubby and then in the next picture is 

my brother-in-law.

This is my ride ~ I am the only one in the group

with a Ski Doo... I had two sleds previous to this and

although both very nice they were hard for me to

ride... This Ski Doo seems to be the ticket ~ it is

light and very easy for me to handle ~ I have no

complaints and of course I have no trouble keeping

up with the crew and when venturing off of the

trail I don't have to worry about getting stuck... I keep

telling the guys they need a Ski Doo to solve some of there

"getting stuck" problems.. :)

This first full day we put on about 80 miles.... did some 

playing in the meadows.... look at all of this fresh snow!

I have to say my hubby is in his glory... we could hear

him hooting and hollering across the meadows... 

The meadows that day had not yet been touched...

it certainly didn't take long before there were 

tracks all over.

We headed to Cement Ridge Lookout ~ the trails
are very well marked ~ the intersections all look
like this with signage and maps.

The Cement Ridge Lookout ~ at 6,647 feet

it is Wyoming's second highest peak in the Black Hills.  Yes

we snowmobiled in Wyoming too.. the area around this ridge is rich

in Minnekahta limestone which is used to manufacture cement.

It was a clear day so we could see what seemed like

forever...

We Got What We Asked For

We plan, and plan some more... sometimes plans must

be changed.  Our snowmobile trip to the Black Hills in

South Dakota was pushed ahead because of snow.... Snowstorm

Orko was to arrive last Sunday.

So instead of leaving Sunday, we scrunched, we 

skipped some things, we scrambled, hurried and got everything

packed so we could head out to beat the storm.

It worked, we made it to Dickinson, ND all on clear

roads.   Sunday morning some of the roads heading

south to Spearfish were a little icy but what perfect

timing ~ we arrived in Spearfish and to snow.

We tried to stay in touch with family in Minnesota 
since they did get a storm (Orko arrived in full force) ~ along

with a lot of snow!  

We got what we had been asking for in both 
locations ~ SNOW!

This is our second adventure to Spearfish Canyon ~ the
Spearfish Canyon Lodge is a wonderful place to
stay any time of the year.

We arrived to some fresh snow ~

This was our room for the week ~ 


Our first snowmobile ride was outstanding ~ there
was plenty of fresh snow... 

and by evening it started snowing some more.

Our group, for the most part has practiced very 
limited snowmobiling after dark... mostly safety
issues and it isn't very easy to make repairs
in the dark.

With all that fresh air ~ most of our evenings consisted
of a sit by the lodge fireplace, some relaxing in
the hot tub and some needed sleep due to all
of that fresh air.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all have a great day!

Technology is working great right at this 
very moment! 

I am really anxious to share some pictures
with you and get back to blogging....

Talk to you tomorrow!

Lots of Snow ~ Lots of Snowmobiling!

Snow... snow... everywhere!

Will be catching up on blogging soon!

Mother of the Bride and Groom

Our wedding planning is moving along... The bride and future 

son-in-law just mailed out their Save-the-Dates.... 

and more planning is on the way....

We are gathering information on menus for the

grooms supper...  once that is done the groom and

and his bride-to-be will need to decide where

we should have that event.