Award from JennyD

 

Jenny, I finally went and ‘grabbed’ it. Just copied and pasted onto here. You took a lot of effort to pass this around and help us all learn to know one another better, so I couldn’t let you down. Now I’m sure no one can tell that I’ve been putting off doing this.

Seven things about me:

I’m the oldest of 5 children…have 3 sisters and 1 brother.

I grew up near a border town (Ohio/Indiana). Was born in Indiana (hospital on Indiana side of state line). Lived in Ohio, and had an Indiana address because the Post Office was on the IN side of the state line. I’m happy to say they’ve now fixed the address thing…if you’re on the OH side you have an OH address. I always thought it was kinda neat to live in one state and receive mail addressed to another.

My High School class is having it’s 50th reunion this spring. Okay, so now I’ve aged myself.

I love to go barefooted in the summer. Even walk on the rocks…albeit, very carefully.

I have 2 cats and 1 little dog. Have to admit I’m more of a cat person than dog person. Probably will never get another dog…on purpose.

I thoroughly enjoy cooking on a wood stove. Often wonder what my grandmothers, or even mom would think of that. It seems they were quite happy to quit using a wood stove for cooking. I enjoy it so much we bought a 2nd smaller wood cook stove to put on the porch for me to use during the summer.

While growing up my one goal was to someday be married and have children. I did achieve that goal. Have been married for 46, nearly 47, years. Have 4 children, 11 grandchildren. AND the first great grandchild is due in May.

Well, I didn’t number them, but I believe that’s 7 items. Amazing, made a list and didn’t even mention that my favorite color is blue. Or that I enjoy dishes that are blue. Fact is, that usually is what I’m looking for when Anne and I go treasure hunting…blue dishes.

For everyone who reads this. Just clipboard/paste the award, put it onto your blog and list 7 things about yourself. The deal is to pass it on to 15 more people. Don’t think I know 15 beyond the ones who have already done this. So this is on the honor system…

I’ve enjoyed reading the things you all have posted about yourselves. Some things I knew, others if you mentioned them I never picked up on it.

That’s all for now.

Wash day…

Laundry is all washed and hanging up to dry. It will be ready to fold in the morning. Don’t ask me why I do laundry on Monday, because I can’t tell you. It’s just become a habit that I rarely vary. A little over a year ago I started hanging things on racks to dry in the house. Just out of curiosity to see how much electricity it would save. It cut our bill by 25%, so I felt it was something worth continuing. Of course, in the summer I hang things outside. For winter I have 2 drying racks plus 2 lines up in the multi purpose room, known as the 2nd bedroom without a bed. It’s a sewing room, play room, storage room, TV room, guest room (futon), and drying room. Now whether it’s a guest room or not depends on who is staying. If it’s the kids or the grandkids that’s the room they use. If it’s someone who has a hard time with using an air mattress, then Garry and I sleep in there and let them have our room.

Today has been somewhat rainy. With the temperature in the 40F degree range. We don’t mind not having more snow.

The birds finished ‘off’ their feeder today. I have one filled and ready to put out in the morning. They are 5# feeders. Which means 10 days to go through 50# of sunflower seeds. At $25 per bag that’s $75 per month. Better than the $150 per month, but still a bit pricy. I’m thinking maybe I’ll acquire one of those tube feeders with perches for 6 birds and see what happens…haven’t decided for sure.

The four grandchildren spent some time here today. I was repotting some house plants, so the 3 younger ones entertained themselves by cutting and gluing paper. Made envelopes and just cut and glued for the fun of doing so. After I finished the plants we put puzzles together. I have several 25 piece puzzles that the 4 year old enjoys doing. The 9 year old and I worked on one a bit more challenging…100 pieces. It’s small enough to be finished and put away before they go home. The 7 year old helped, too. The nearly (10 days) 14 year old likes to read, so she did that. Anyway, it was rather nice to have them for a while.

Tomorrow I need to bake some bread. We are nearly out. I usually make 4 loaves and put 3 into the freezer. I’m thinking that tomorrow I’ll make 3 loaves and use the rest of the dough for pizza. Pizza just sounds pretty good.

Okay, I’m quitting for this time. Have a good whatever time of day it is for you! 

Technorati Tags: birds,bread,laundry

Yikes…

…who would have thought bird feed would go up so much?!? I enjoy feeding the birds, well, to put it more accurately…I enjoy watching the birds. Before we ever left Illinois, I had started putting food out for the birds, so it was just a natural continuation when we moved here to Kentucky. Last Friday, Garry went into town to buy chicken feed. I sent $20 (expecting change) with him to buy a 50# bag of sunflower seed. When he returned home, he told me the decision I’d been wrestling with about feeding the birds had probably been made for me. The price had gone up $7. At the rate the birds have been eating it would take a 50# bag every 5 days. They feed a lot heavier when it’s so cold and with snow on the ground. I just haven’t felt I could continue at the same rate, but was concerned about cutting them down when they were depending upon it. THEN, I read a Q&A in a bird magazine that was addressing the issue of being gone and not filling the feeder…would the birds starve. The answer was no. They only eat approximately 20% of their diet at a feeder. And they will move on when an area no longer has the food to support them. I was glad to read this as it meant I wasn’t consigning them to starvation by cutting back on what I put out. Although I might have been consigning us to starvation by continuing to feed them. Well, not really, but….

So we decided that we would keep the suet cakes out and fill one feeder each morning. Yesterday the feeder was empty by 3pm. Today there was still nearly half by the end of the day. So maybe it’ll work. If we have snow cover I’ll probably put more out, as it is, the snow is nearly gone thanks to a couple days in the high 30’s, low 40’s.

We have a lot of birds around here. At times there had to have been 12 – 15 (they won’t hold still and let me count) on each feeder (have 2), more on the deck rail, and probably 30 or more (I’m leaning toward the more) sitting in the tree waiting their turn. Even had a few extra visitors: had some brown-headed cowbirds (late migrators) spend a few days; and common grackles, most often called black birds. Discovered we also have White Crowned sparrows and Fox sparrows…both are ground feeders, so they were making sure nothing went to waste along with the Juncos.

I have some pictures that might give you an idea of the number of birds. Some goldfinches, purple finches, and female cardinal at the feeder. That’s the greenhouse skeleton in the background.  

This is showing the railing, as well as feeder.

Here are some sitting in the tree waiting for their turn. More are to the right and higher up as well.

At the other end of the deck is another feeder with a similar story. Needless to say we have lots of birds around here. I’ll still be feeding them, just not as much so they’ll hunt for more on their own.

Well, I truly hadn’t intended to be quite so wordy about the birds. Since it’s bedtime and I’m quite tired, think I’ll call it quits for this time. I do have more to write about, so will try in between doing laundry and other things around here tomorrow.

Sleep well!

Now we know…

 

This is from one of my husband’s favorite cartoons--- Pickles.