Yarn Bomb

We are almost finished with the Yarn Bomb piece.  Last June one of the local Irish businesses was the victim of a hate crime.  We decided at Fiber Follies at the Irish Center we needed to do something to show support.  We came up with the idea of creating the few blocks between the Irish Center and Browne's and trying to show some love and unity.  The name of our street is Harmony-Ville (the banner for that is almost finished).  Our motto is All of Us Together As One.  We started with the Irish center on the left with some houses, Redempterist Church, VFW, more houses and ended at Browne's.  The 2 hearts will be put together on the right side of the piece.  The 2 banners will be at the front of the left side.  We will also put up sheets on each end that tells the story.  We are almost there and next week we will start putting together the piece on a backing ready for hanging.  We started this last August and it is finally almost done.  While it was fun, it was a ton of work and not sure I would take on something this large again, but then never say never.

Is it Christmas Already

I went to water my plants this morning and look who is blooming, my Christmas Cactus.  Lately she has been blooming around Easter.  Not full on blooms like at Christmas but she has a few blooms with some buds coming on as well.  Maybe the bitter cold and snowy winter has made her bloom all the more.  (My Vinca is blooming constantly as well but she always blooms).

Egg #33

Last night at 10:31pm Mom Decorah laid the first egg of the season.  We all know there is a new male and he is very young.  I hope his eagle instincts kick in and he helps mom out.  I know she will teach him as she was taught by Dad, but he has some tough shoes to fill at this nest.  So the season has began and here we go with new history being created at this nest.  Good luck mom and DM2 on your adventure. 

Round 3

Can we be done with Winter already?  Enough of this crap.  Round 3 hit yesterday with 3" of heavy wet snow on my deck.  This is what they call a heart attack snow, it wears you out to shovel within 5 minutes.  My dad's cardiologist was on TV today and said anyone over 60 should not be shovelling snow.  Well my deck needs to be cleaned but I just get to shove it under the rail.  Love that my deck guy did that so I can scoop it off onto the ground below.

We have some guy in a pickup with some big piece of equipment on a trailor stuck at the entrance of my cul de sac.  You all do know when you enter my street it says DEAD END, did you think you could turn that thing around in the cul de sac behind me. Some people, here's your sign.

My neighbors left their car open overnight, whoops.  They aren't real bright anyway.

 The deer were up again over night looking for food. 

Mom Fooled Us

Oh mom you know how to get us good.  I turned on the Decorah nest this morning and here is mom in egg laying mode.  After an hour she flew off.  I thought we were about to have an egg as it is time. She usually lays in the evening around 6:30pm but that was with Dad. Now she has a new spouse and who knows if or when we will have eggs.  Good job Mom freaking us all out.

Week 6 Color

*  If I were to be welcomed into your home what colour scheme would I find to be most prevalent?

*  Is this colour scheme true to your personal taste today or does it reflect a season past?

*  Have you been inspired by this week's study to make any changes to your current decor, wardrobe or personal style?

I grew up with a grandmother who never shied away from colors, the brighter the better.  Grandma always had those slippers with the very bright colorful jewels on them. She also wore her color.  She gave me the love of color in the scraps of material she passed on to me. Grandmother worked for Cole of California and often brought home leftovers.  One of the things us grandkids got to do was go through the box of fabric she kept in her bedroom to pick what we wanted.  I remember one of my favorite dresses was a silk like fabric. It had wedges of yellow, blue, purple, and orange on a white background. I made a simple A-line dress and wore it all the time. 

My main floor is full of what I would call spice colors. I just painted my dining room sage green (which will be the kitchen color as soon as I get that pink flowered wallpaper off the walls, ick).  My laundry room will be turquoise to match my lime green and turquoise curtains.  My living room is currently terra cotta to be soon a light teal.  My room that leads in from the living room is a dark yellow color because it gets a lot of light and my plants live there, it needed a bright color.  My bedroom is periwinkle and my bath is turquoise.  My main bath upstairs is blue, yellow, and white.  My office is yellow and my sitting room is yellow.  The guest room is currently mint green soon to go to white with a red accent wall.  My front door is blue (Dodger Blue), my kitchen door leading to the deck is purple and my basement door is a light green going to eggplant this Spring. 

I love color and would have a purple house but selling that would not be good and I have never seen purple siding.  I love periwinkle and cobalt blue.  I am not a pastel girl nor do I like the fall colors brown, green, orange, gold, etc.  The brighter the better.  My closet looks like lots of blue, purple, some bright pink, white, black and gray.  

I believe choice of color is a very personal thing.  You like what you like and should be ok with it.   How often do you see people buy something in a bright color in the middle of winter just to have a splash of something happy.  I say use whatever color you want and embrace it. 

Isn't He Gorgeous?

I have a 3rd feral cat that I am feeding and loving on.  He used to live across the street and the *&^%$# people let him out one day and never did anything to bring him back in. They had 2 cats that came and went but I don't blame him for never wanting to go back in that house.  He has finally let me pet him and rub his belly and almost get him in the house.  My goal is this year to bring him in. Not sure how my girls are gonna take to him, but he is declawed and is 2 or 3 years old.  He is so sweet.  Anyway I have been calling him Big Boy but he needs a proper cat name. 

Round 2

Round 2 was not as bad but it started out with some sleet and grauple.  Had almost an inch of snow.  Looks like the ferals came up for a late night snack.

Round 1

We are in the middle of 4 rounds of winter weather events.  Our first one poured snow and I had a little over 3 1/2" of snow.  It was a very dry powder which can pack in the tread of the tires and make it really slick.  Outside of my kitchen window I can watch the cars get stuck trying to go up the hill.  It was a real mess.

 Sunrise the next morning.

 I have the best neighbors. He snowblows my drive and sidewalk. He got a new snowblower for Christmas and loves to play with it. 

 The deer were out overnight messing up my perfect snow.

 This is BigBoy, my big gray feral tom.  He is so sweet, he has taken to laying in the front flower bed during the day time. Some day I will bring him in.

 Several cars stuck going up the hill.

Since someone is out of the car not sure is this was an accident.

Tajari has a Girlfriend

So we know Tajari was moved to his new home.  Well we got a glimpse today of his girlfriend.  She is 14 and he will be 2 on April 15th.  Maybe next year we will have a baby announcement that she is pregnant. She does not have a name yet, but soon we hope.  You can watch Taj's cam at the same place as April's.  Don't forget April is due next month maybe.  Hope I can see this baby be born as I watched Taj's birth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUPOvYzsFyw

Week 5 Playtime

This week I’d love for you to share in the comments below the domestic themed movies or shows which have touched your heart over the years, the ones you go back to or have taken inspiration from.

It may be an entire movie or a television series, but perhaps it's one special episode or scene - what was it that made such an impression on you?

The author talks about when she had children all the rules kind of went out the window.  Creativity grows in children unless it is stifled.  They make up words for things and you have a language between you and the kids that no one else understands.  You mix foods you would never have thought of but they want to try different flavors together so you do. 

The author lists several movies that have inspired her.  I love Blue Bloods not only for Tom Selleck and those beautiful cable sweaters he wears, but the family always has a meal together along with a prayer.  When I was kid we always said a prayer even when we went out in public.  It was just something we automatically did.  I like that they allow that family meal with prayer to be in every show.

I love Doris Day movies.  Pillow Talk and Please Don't Eat The Daisies are my top favs.  They don't really inspire me but I always loved the clothes she wore in those movies.  I have seen everyone and several many times.  My mom calls me and says Doris Day movie on channel whatever.  When I find a Doris Day movie marathon I set to record them and watch them when I have a snow day or need to veg for a couple hours and escape.

Sometimes in the Summer I watch the neighbor boys, they are in grade school and get out of Summer School at 3. I walk down to the corner and get them from the bus.  We always have a snack and sometimes what we eat is pretty weird and we always have popsicles.  We often go to Dollar Tree and the Library and find things to do when we get home from whatever we got.  They love to finger paint and so we put down plastic and just have fun. If we make a mess it does not matter, pictures are laid out in the garage to dry and half go home and half go on my fridge.  They are a lot of fun and remind me that is good to just let go and have fun at times.  

D24 and D27 send Postcards

Remember D27 was the girl who fell out of the nest wingersizing.  We thought she would never leave.

Squeeee! We got two postcards this week - one from D27 and one from long-silent D24! Both eagles are doing well and in the Decorah area. D27 is spending a lot of time in the vicinity of N2B (perhaps not surprising to anyone who thought she might never leave the nest), while D24 has been out in the Calmar area. Brett commented "When D-24 briefly transmitted last Saturday, the two Decorah birds were about three miles apart when the data hits came in. Who knows, they could have been closer than that between hits – maybe sharing a carcass!" We're thrilled that D24's transmitter has started talking to us again and we hope to have more to learn and share in the months ahead. Stay safe and warm, you two - and thanks for checking in!

So how old are the eaglets? D24 will turn three this year and D27 will turn two. We wouldn't have this data without Brett Mandernack and the staff of Eagle Valley sharing their knowledge, data, and maps with us! You can follow the travels of all of our eagles and learn more about them and our transmitter project here: https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/eagle-map/

Congratulations SOAR!

SOAR is where our beloved D20 (aka Decorah) lives now as an education eagle.

They were honored with an award:  http://soarraptors.org/2019/01/soar-wins-award-for-excellence-in-environmental-education/?fbclid=IwAR01nsMFQ7jkhhvS9OdNxvm2SQxmznSuec2QaPuzOp2ISSUNPBSwqSsaJy8