It may be dry...

but we have frogs!

I've been watering trees and flowers and that's where the froggies are hanging out.  I think it's a smart plan.  It's about dry as a desert everywhere else.

This guy froze in place and I was able to get a close up picture.  Wasn't that considerate?

And on another dry(ing) subject....dish drying to be exact.  This is the towel I embroidered for myself.  An cross stitching duckie.  Cute?  Yes?

Sorry about the wrinkles but I've been using it. 

Something is in the backyard!

Butterflies!

These were taken in our backyard...

a little while ago when the lilac bush was blooming.

They were swarming around like last year but I just wasn't quick enough to get a good pic.

They sure are pretty.

And at the farm, while I was babysitting the grandbabies, I spotted this out the kitchen window.

A swingset you say? Well, yes, that too. But if you look really closely...

You see it now?

Yes! A deer!

It saw us too!

Springish

The calendar has been saying spring for a few days now.

The juncos are back. But the grass is barely thinking about being green.

The robins are also back and are hanging out at the local watering hole.

I searched the yard far and wide to find something trying to be green and found these flowers. But there are no leaves popping out. And there are no spring flowers showing around town yet.

If I knew how to put audio on here though, there would be a symphony of birds singing. From early in the morning to sunset the birds are singing their hearts out.

What a wonderful thing after the silent winter.

And as for knitting:

I've almost finished the potholders. A bit more knitting and then a good hard felting and they'll be good to go. Yay!

WIP, Reading and a Window Visitor

Look at all that! Looks like I've had a case of cast-on-itis. There sure is good choice to pick from for whatever knitting whimsy strikes.

I'm about 11% (what can I say...it is how Kindle tells you where you are) into this book. It's good. And it is the winter that we aren't getting this year. Shh, don't tell anyone but I kinda am missing our regular type winter.

And while I was taking pictures by the best light source this time of year (patio door), look who showed up.

The bold cheeky little critter. I got a couple mug shots of him.

Front view.

Side view.

And when the kitties discovered him he ran so fast I didn't even get the thought put together to take a picture much less press the shutter.

But the kitties knew what was up. Up a tree!

Good morning!

It's that time of year when I'm actually up to see a sunrise!

It really is a nice time of day...

The 3rd Iceling is coming along... So many boy babies in our life... Whoever is in charge of these things, maybe the next baby that comes into our lives could be a girl?? Just hoping...

Deer hunting season opens at noon today. I wish everyone good luck but please be safe and also know what you are shooting at before you pull the trigger. And for the out of state hunters, please don't leave your vehicle parked in the middle of the road with your doors open. Other people drive on the gravel roads too...we aren't as nonpopulated as you might think!

This 'n That

The Basic Chic Hoodie is really coming along now! Even Claus had to check it out...

I thought the hood was going to take forever to finish. But the hood is done! Finally! Yay!

Here is a better picture so you can actually see that I have both sleeves finished...

Oh! And a big Thank You to Kym for putting in her notes on Ravelry, about the Hoodie she did for Erin, how many stitches she picked up. (Not good sentence structure but I can't think how to improve it right now.) Amazing amount of help for me...cuz I made mine longer too.

I've got one side of the button band picked up and have done a couple rows. When that is done the next question will be how many buttons do I want and then to figure out the buttonhole placing...I don't really like the buttonhole part...

And the kitties are again bird watching or maybe squirrel or gopher watching. Both squirrels and gophers come right up to the window so the kitties get a really good look at them. There are tails really twitching then!

It is so sunny and calm out. I should get out and whack down the flowerbeds for the winter. And I should go do quarterly reports at work. And I should clean the kitties' litter boxes. But what I really want to do is work on my cardigan.

Footprints in the snow

You can tell who has been in your yard in the winter. There are lots and lots of footprints in the snow.

There are bunny tracks.















There are squirrel tracks.




















There are birdy footprints and right next to them are....




















kitty cat tracks!
















But the footprints I enjoy the most are made by the grandkids!




















They had lots of fun and so did I. :)

In the air. It's a bird. It's a plane. No it's...

No they aren't birds.

Look closely.

Butterflies!

Blue Jay hunting

Teddy & Maddie doing their cat thing. Bird watching/hunting.

Their tails were really twitching back & forth.

This blue jay is either brave or is a bird brain! ;)

At the very least his stomach won out over any common sense...

Sunset over soybeans

I took this a couple days ago. The sunset was actually quite a bit more colorful...the sun was a pretty peachy orange. But, you know, a cell phone can only do so much.

Soybean harvest is moving along now. We had our Indian Summer today and maybe tomorrow. Usually it is a bit longer than that but we'll take what we can get.

So the warmer weather combined with no rain for at least a week and we should be able to finish up the soybeans, edible black beans and corn. What a relief that will be. And this is a first....we have enough people working that someone can work in the combined fields putting on fertilizer or just cultivating to be ready for next year. It's a good thing.

At noon today deer harvest, oh, ah, I mean deer hunting season started. I wish everyone lots and lots of luck. There are so many deer that driving at dusk is quite a hazard. I've hit my fair share of deer and really don't want to again.

This warm weather really isn't what the hunters want though. Cool to cold is good so that if they get a deer they can hang it outside and it will stay cold until they can get to processing it. I guess someone is unhappy with the weather no matter what it is.

"What the Heck?!?"

Little robin red breast seems to be saying, 'What the heck is going on?'. Yup, we've had more snow and it isn't leaving. It should. Nobody wants it. It isn't welcome. But it just keeps staying. It's like the visitor that doesn't realize it's time to go.

We've got soybeans, pintos and black beans, and corn to harvest. The corn can be done with snow in it but the beans grow too close to the ground to get harvested with snow laying in them. It is getting to be freak out time in this part of the country.




















As soon as I finished the Upstairs Shawl on Sunday I started these socks for DH. I knit him a pair before but they are pretty big on him....he likes his socks on the tight side...anyway he asked for a pair that go higher up the leg too. So the only way to do that and not have to worry about how much yarn you have left is to do a toe up. Something new to learn!

This is a different cast on than what is usually done I think. I didn't have any size 2 circular needles for the Turkish cast on so I kept hunting for something different. This one is, cast on 12 stitches, knit a row and then pick up 12 stitches on the other side. It's a bit ridged but I had DH try them on and he said they didn't feel bad. And these will be house socks and not worn in shoes. So far so good!

The yarn is Jitterbug and I have 2 skeins so I should be able to get those socks quite aways up his leg. His foot does measure 11.5" from toe to heel though, so the foot will take up a fair amount of yarn too....

Birdy in the backyard

I'm not sure what kind of bird it is...DH's cousin said it is a grouse. But I was pretty impressed with myself that I was able to get a picture (although not the greatest)of it as it trucked on through our backyard. Cool.

Click on it to hugely embiggen.