The day is done...

I have been sitting listening to the TV and looking at photos...couldn't resist posting this one again.  I know of at least one person that will enjoy it.
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Its been a good day, as days go.  I got to hang out another load of clothes.  That is always a good thing.  I sometimes just look for an excuse to do a load to hang outside.

But today, I did the one losf, and got busy with sewing. I am well on the way to having the baby quilt top finished.  I know I have a crib sized batting but cannot place my hands on it.  I was weary by the time I wanted to find it, so did not do a good search.  I want to find it before I put the borders on the quilt top.

I am to the point where I need a big tote for my battings and pieces of battings.  I would save a lot of time if they were all in one place.

Not newborns....

Everywhere we go, we see newborn calves...well, not just newborn, but ones very, very young.  And one or two that I think were literally just born.  But we are never at a place to stop.  So I ran across this old photo and thought I would post it.
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I finished a couple crumb blocks this morn and I patched a pair of Roger's jeans this evening...the only sewing I have done in a couple or three days.  It was fun.  I actually took my time and did a neat job.   I really don't mind the patching, it is when the material gets so far gone that there is nothing left to patch to that I find patching a chore.
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It got windy, or what we thought was windy as we came home yesterday, but it did not hold a candle to the wind today.  It was there when I woke and though it may have slowed down some, it was till strong.  All day long.    And it felt like it was direct from an iceberg.  I am not sure if it got above 50º today.  Such a change from yesterday's shirtsleeve weather.

Moo-oo-ooo

Just a few shots from the road...well, paused in the road.  The calf was a bit afraid.

The other cattle could have cared less...

they looked at us, but we were of no concern to them.

The little guy moved farther way.
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I feel pretty much back to normal today...did not sleep Friday night.  About the time I would be nodding off, one of the cats would do something.  I finally just sat and read.  But yesterday I was wiped out all day.  Didn't do somethings cause I figured I would just mess things up.  I have learned not to sew anything or do any cutting when worn out like that.  I went to bed before midnight though!  Did not get up till 9½ hrs later.  Felt like a new person today.

We ran to Walmart for a few things, and on the way there we passed through part of the strip pit area and then by these cattle.  I bet no cows anywhere have had their pictures taken as often.  I sometimes wonder if their owners see me...they are just catty-corner  from them.  I usually feel that the big cows expect a treat so feel like they are treated well.
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Now, for a little bit of fun...imagine catching this when ice fishing!  Edited to add:  I don't know why I said fun....I mean to say time for something amazing.

Hi, Sandra!

Every time I see a cow on someone's blog, I think of Sandra, the Madsnapper.  So, I thought I would post this for her.  Any time I see a good cow picture, I think of her, sometimes even tell her about it.

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I have started a new project in the sewing department.  Another quilt of course.  It is going to be a slow process.  I don't even know how many 'blocks' I have to make.  The blocks in this quilt are actually triangle shaped when finished.  Maybe I should call them units. 

I actually took time to make a sample block from some of my regular fabrics.  It goes together easy.  So I have started to cut the batiks.  It is batik fabrics my daughter bought...plus some from my stash.  The best I can do, it is still somewhat slow cutting.   So it will be a while before I have anything to show you.
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We are supposed to get freezing rain tonight....I am hoping that it does not get bad.  Have things to do tomorrow, and may not be on here much but will probably catch up with you tomorrow night if nothing else.

Cold critter...

I don't know why I haven't posted this before now.  Also, it looks sort sepia-ish, but I haven't done anything to make it look that way.
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It is still cold in our neighborhood;-)  We are looking forward to some days above freezing later in the week.  I just hope the temps stay up long enough for some of this white stuff to melt.  

Cold critters

Though these were taken January 8th, everything is facing cold temps again.  It is 13ºF as I type this and part of the time the wind is just whistling.  I was up at 4:00ish this morn and it was howling then.  The snow we got has been blown and drifted till it is impossible to tell how much we actually got.  Bubby was just dying to be let out this morn....he was not out 5 minutes till he was demanding to be let in again.  And he came flying in....none of that sauntering in so slowly that he does a lot of times.

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The toot is still here....our plans are to meet today.  I guess we will wait till up in the day a bit to see.  With the warm temps of the past two days our roads had melted, but were still wet so they will probably be a sheet of ice here in town.

It is sure going to be quiet when she leaves...she has giggled and giggled.  When there is nothing to laugh about, she makes up something.  And has such a deep belly laugh.  One night she discovered how it sounds different in the bathroom if you yell in there, so was in there yelling first Papaw and then Mamaw, and after each yell, she would just scream with laughter.  Roger was outside and said it sounded like we were torturing a child inside.  

Then we have a couple mystery games on our computers....the kind where you are to hunt for objects.  Wow, does she ever love them.  And some of them you have to figure out how things work and she is doing that.  Just growing so much.

Just a little post...

We ran around all day today, and during that ran through the strip pit and by the farm that has the cattle I photograph quite often.  I was so relieved to see them...the last time I was by there I did not see hide nor hair of them and thought maybe they had sold them.

It is also the place that had horses I photographed sometimes.  I do think they are gone....I have not seen them in ages.  And I miss seeing them.  Always feel like the animals at this place have been handled a lot because they always look at us as if they expect a treat or kind word or something.
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We have just had regular cable TV forever...this evening a kid came by with DirecTV.  Roger has been wanting to try something new forever...and truth be told I have too...but all the places I check do not have our favorite PBS station, and this is one of those that don't have it.  But the PBS station it does have has Masterpiece Theater/mystery and that is one show that I just would not give up.

Anyway, does anyone that reads this have DirecTv and do you like it?  What has been your experience with it?  It does have the Game Show Network which I would enjoy sometimes...but it does not have the Outdoor Channel, and Roger will miss that.  I just now noticed it is missing, so will have to remember to tell him in the morn to see if he still wants to change...not that he watches it a lot.  But it is something that he does sometimes.

Critters...

Maybe one of these days I will get a good capture of the Northern Harrier...I am happy that this one seems to be staying out at the strip pits. I passed through them on the way to and from Paris yesterday....I got the capture above on the return.
And these cows belong to a farm about a mile on west of the strip pits...I stopped to take a picture of another calf, but before I could get out of the car it had laid its head down and would not look my way for love nor money. I thought his one had a cute little face, too.

This farm did have 3 horses, for the longest time. But I have not seen any of them in a long time so don't know what happened to them. They were well loved...always raised up and looked if we passed or paused...even if they were on the far side of the pasture. You just knew they were thinking someone had come to see them...but in all the time I have been there I have never seen anyone out there.

Something for me??

I couldn't help but think that this little fellow was hoping I had something for it. I say fellow, but I have a feeling it was a little gal. We seen it up by Shipshewana...I assume they are raising it by hand.

When I was a kid I helped to raise a couple calves....we didn't use a bottle, but a bucket that had a big rubber nipple on the outside similar to this. Ours was made of metal, and it also had a way for us to hang it from a board if we wanted. But I never wanted to...feeding baby calves was a fun thing to do in my opinion. And still would be for that matter. We didn't raise very many that way, and now I cannot even remember where they came from.

Then later, when Roger and I lived in Tennessee we raised two on bottles...I don't remember why we chose bottles. Either way was fun....

We would buy the formula in what I assume was 25 lb. bags and mix a bucket/bottle of it and head for the barn. Of course we mixed a small amount to begin with and increased the amount as the calf grew. I know we had to teach a calf how to use the bucket, but it was never hard to do. Since then, I have heard so many times of calves just being taught to drink it like it is water and I wonder if that would have worked. I still would do it the way with did it or with bottles, simply cause I would enjoy it...but when you hear of something being done different to the way you have done things, you tend to wonder how well it works that way.
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I did get my project made yesterday...I am so relieved to have it done. Now I can start on something fun...I have another small quilt top I want to make. Then when it is done, I want to quilt it and the other baby quilt that I just recently made.

For right now, I have to head to Sarah's....she has more packing to do.

Camera Critters mixed bag

If you want to join the fun of sharing your critters this week, click on the badge above to go join Misty's Camera Critters meme. Just make sure you sign up for the right day...I am posting this early and will join when it opens. There are always some great pictures, and usually some that make me laugh as well.

First, I would like to ask a favor of you if you are very familiar with hawks and did not see this already--would you go down and take a look at my Sky Watch post and see if you know what kind of hawk the one in the first picture is and tell me what you think or know for sure.
Now, to today's post...the one above is of course from the strip pit...there were several of these. What do you think they are...are they trumpeter swans? I took several pictures and this is the best...it was so darn cold I couldn't hold the camera steady.
The calves above are on the way home from the strip pit...at least on the long way home. I wonder if the owners see me stopping and taking photos...I stop quite often to take a few pictures. I hope this summer that I can see someone out and talk to them though I am pretty sure by now that they have figured out I mean no harm.

And do you know what kind of cow the brown one is...I have seen a few here and there but am not really familiar with it. I have been doing a quick google, but being that I have no idea what it is I am not having much luck.
And I just had to include the ones below.
As I have told you before, Puss Puss really loves Roger. She is definitely his girl. Isn't this just the most utter look of contentment?

Cows...

Cherry Blossom and the front half of Betsy

These are scans of old Polaroid shots...not good quality and I didn't take the time to try to improve them with photo shop. I have not got to stay home one single day since Thanksgiving and I am running on fumes. I am not getting my daily fill of blogs, and having less time to work on mine, so please bare with me.

Starting from the cow cut off on the left hand side:
Betsy, Shorty (I think she was Betsy's daughter a year or two previous to taking this photo, can't remember for sure,) the Red Devil (what my future sister-in-law later called her) and then one of a set of twins that was Betsy's and by the way, it was her
second set of twins.

I don't know how many have noticed that I always say cows, I very seldom use the term cattle. I think it is because when I grew up, we lived on a farm, and just had a few cows. It wasn't like they were all a certain breed...not sure if we had any two the same mixture.
And each one had a name, and I think most knew their name. Each had a distinct personality. They never had the run of the barn, but when it was winter, they were turned in at night and each had it's own stall, and they always went to their own stall. I don't know how they knew which was their own, it wasn't like we spent time teaching them that. They just seemed to know.

Besides these, we had Daisy, Sally, Jinxie, I think one we called Blackie that was never really a pet, Patsy, and I know I am forgetting one or two. I really wish I had a picture of Sally...she was half Charolais and half Hereford--at least I think she was. Maybe one of my brothers will tell me if I am wrong. But if you just seen the front of her from her front legs on, you would about think she was a bull. She was tan with a white face, and her neck was thicker though not exactly like a bulls, but at first glance, I don't know if you would notice, and she had a big wide set of horns.

But she was sweet...just always gentle. And the Red Devil was her calf...and grew to be the only cow we owned that I was ever half afraid of. I can't remember her ever doing anything to me, but I just never liked her. I felt like she would not have minded harming me if I got in her way a little bit. Why she was that way, I will never know.

One of my other favorites was Shorty....she was born out in the pasture and a horse bit her neck. It had a big scab come off it in the shape of the bite and my mom and I doctored and doctored her neck to get it well, she had a scar the rest of her life. She was probably the most like a true pet....I remember going out in the pasture to see her calf when it was first born. I started back home and she started bawling and bawling....I went back and picked the calf up and took it and her to the barn and put them in their own stall and she was content. That probably sounds a little bit far-fetched, but it is the honest truth. She just stopped bawling when I went back.

That is just a little bit about the cows, each one was an individual to us, and we never thought about butchering one when I was home. And even though we knew the calves were to be sold, we always hated parting with them. About half the time, we kept the calves in the barn and turned the cows into them and let them stay in over night.

And those calves that were raised in the barn were really spoiled...going to the barn was never a chore for me. I never had to get up and go milk before school or go feed before school though. I know Neal did, and probably my older brother, George, did too at one time. But I fed and milked in the summer and after school as I got older. We usually just had one cow that we milked at a time...just enough for us.

And my mom sometimes sold milk and buttermilk. I think for a dollar a gallon. I don't know if she ever sold butter or not....

It is getting late and I am rambling, so I will just hush for the night.

I finally found my favorite cow picture...I took several and this is the best in my opinion. I don't think I did a good job of capturing them, though you may get a little bit of the feeling I had. It was like I was a visitor at their house and they were just waiting for me to come on in. This was taken several years ago, with B & W film. I will always love black and white film for some things.

I have spent hours on-line trying to come up with a plan for a couple baby quilts and nothing has caught my fancy yet...I usually see something and play off it. I feel like even when I go to sleep that I am subconsciously thinking about it.

I have had a couple or three frustrating days, starting Thursday afternoon. I just thought I could go pick up the B&W pictures I have...I could not find hide nor hair of them. Friday, I went to the mall to return some things...I had the gift receipts for two places. Neither one would just give money back since I didn't have the actual receipt...I didn't mind bad at the one because it was a major dept. store.

The other was Finish Line and I did mind because they didn't have anything to fit my body! I am not done with it yet...I did just let my daughter spend the money. But I plan to get on line and write them and just tell them I won't be spending any more money there--it is usually where we buy our tennis shoes, and also I had spent about $100 on daughter there...so, even though it isn't much. Also, I am thinking of going in there at some busy, busy time and buying a dozen pair of socks, buying each one separate and tell them why--because they are gifts and I want someone to be able to return them with ease....then taking them back the next day.

But it wouldn't be quite fair because it isn't the kids' fault that works there. So I won't do it. But it sure crosses my mind. In all honesty, from now on when I buy gifts, if what I buy at a store is going to two or more people, I will pay for each person's separately because that is the policy in our mall...to get in-store credit...not actual cash. Which isn't too bad if it is a major dept. store...but still what if there is something somewhere else that you really want?

Anyway, that really frustrated me...I had a gift certificate to Joann Fabrics but just came home I was so aggravated. Then, looked for pictures again. No luck.

Yesterday, DD and I went looking at houses for sale in Terre Haute and I did go to Joann's and got a fabric fix. I got several fat quarters, plus some slinky type fabric to make a pair of pjs. I am trying to get up my nerve to go cut them out.

Oh, but that is not the end of Saturday...cancelled checks were awaiting me when I got home. So last night I decided I might as well balance the checkbook and get it done and over with. When I went to put them away, I decided to dig a little deeper in that drawer which is about the second place I had looked for my B&W pictures--and there they were!

Now to get off my bottom and go do something.....