Downey Woodpecker

Hello everybody. I apologize for being so far behind. The above Downey is a watercolor manipulation. I love playing around on Photoshop, especially if I get bored!

This is the same pic, just cropped and turned black and white.

This is the original shot, cropped down.

Same bird, different shot. This one is "lighting effects"

This is one of my Santa ornaments. As you can tell if you have sound on your computer, I still have my Christmas music on here. I love listening to it. I usually start listening to Christmas music right after Halloween!

This is Salem under the Christmas tree. He has been practically living there since the tree went up.

this is one of the neighborhood kitties that I started feeding here at the new house. She has such a sweet face.

This is out on 2oo N, 100 E. I have wanted several times to stop and get pictures of this pond while it was iced over with snow on the ground. I finally got around to doing it.

Christmas was pretty good, all things considered. Lyle, Ryan, Melissa and Cody came over for Christmas Eve dinner. We exchanged gifts. Lyle broke down. I knew he would. We all wanted Mom here for Christmas, but it just didn't work out that way. Today(December 30) would have been her 68th birthday.

Gonna go for now.

Love Ya

Lisa

Who Left The Freezer Door Open?

BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! Man, is it ever cold out. It is currently -4 degrees F! The wind chill factor is about -25 to -30 degrees. We usually don't have it that cold until January.
This picture is the hornet's nest in our next door neighbor's back yard. Fortunately, it has been broken, so no hornets in the spring, not for a while at least.

I caught a shot of this female cardinal up in our cherry tree. I tried to get a shot of her while she was at the feeder and on the ground, but she didn't feel like holding still for any length of time.

Believe it or not, this is the first Red-headed woodpecker I have ever seen! I have seen Downey and Red-bellied, but never Red-headed. (S)he showed up a couple of times the other day, but not at all since.

this is the same woodpecker. This was actually the first pic I got, but when I loaded them onto my post, it put everything in the wrong order!

This little dove had been in my feeder, but when I stepped outside to get the shot, it jumped down to the ground. At least it didn't take off. This same pic was on the front page of the local newspaper on Thursday.

Mom's viewing and funeral are tomorrow, (Monday). Here is a link to the funeral home if you would like to leave an on-line condolence. If you don't want to, that's okay. Her name is Myrna . http://www.keplingerfuneralhome.com/.

I'm going to get off here so I can get to bed. We have a lot to do tomorrow, as we are having the after-service dinner here at our house. The funeral home already brought a couple of tables and several chairs.

I would like to thank everybody for leaving condolences either on my last post, or e-mailed directly to me. It is greatly appreciated.

Love Ya

Lisa

Mom

I just wanted to let everybody know that my mother, Myrna Towns, passed away at about 6:30 this morning EST. I want to thank everybody for your well wishes and prayers. I'm not sure when the funeral will be, but all arrangements are already made.
Love Ya
Lisa

Candy Recipes As Requested By Don't Feed The Pixies

Okay Pixie, here's the recipe!

Divinity

4 C. white sugar
1 C. white syrup
¾ C. water
Place above ingredients into large saucepan over low heat. Cook to 255 degrees. Pour over 3 stiffly beaten egg whites at a slow trickle. Stir constantly while syrup mixture is being poured in. (Best if done with 2 or more people). Once the syrup mixture is blended in with the egg whites, use an electric mixer to begin the stiffening process, adding vanilla during this process. (1 tsp. if pure vanilla extract, 2 tsp. if imitation). You may add food coloring at this stage, if desired. Once mixture is stiff enough to start to bog down mixer, switch back to large, very strong spoon. Continue stirring until shine is gone from mixture. You may add chopped nuts during this stage, if desired. Once the candy is set up, use a spoon to dip out small bite-sized amounts of candy onto foil or waxed paper to dry. Dip finger into water between scoops to push candy off spoon without too much stickiness to fingers.

I'll post more later. I have to work at the middle school cafeteria today and was invited to their Christmas party afterward at the Pickle Lounge (bowling alley).
Take care & I'll talk to you later.
Love Ya
Lisa

Christmas Candy

Sorry I'm just now getting around to posting this. I would like to thank Merle from Merle's Third Try as well as Nancy from Nancy's Nonsense for this award. They both presented it to me at the same time! Stop over and visit them! I really don't know who to send this to at the moment, so I will post the names of the recipients on my next post.

This "bedspread" is actually several batches of homemade divinity. I went with my Aunt Pat over to my Aunt Linda's on Sunday to make the candy. My cousins Cheryl and Julie were there as well as Aunt Linda's step-daughter, Cindy. Grandpa rode over with us. He mostly sat in the living room and watched the Colts football game.

This covered bridge is in one of the local cemetaries. It is at the Garden of Memories north of Muncie. It's not very old. It wasn't there when I moved to Florida 21 years ago. It spans over a creek between the actual cemetary and the funeral home.

This was just a "drive-by shooting"! On the way home from aunt Linda's. I was sitting in the back seat, so I didn't have a very good view of what was coming up. I'm surprised that this picture turned out since we were moving.

This is Aunt Pat and my cousin Julie. Julie is trickling the boiled sugar, syrup and water mixture into the whipped egg whites. If you have never made divinity, it's time consuming and hard on the arms, unless you are used to going to a gym. It's very hard to make divinity by yourself! All of us were taking turns doing the stirring.

This is Aunt Pat and my cousin Cheryl. This is almost the last stage of the divinity making. It gets very stiff and hard to stir. A couple of years ago, we broke 2 or 3 spoons! It has to be hand stirred first, while mixing the egg whites and syrup mixture together, then use an electric mixer on it until it gets too stiff for the mixer to run properly, then hand stir again until it loses it's shine. Then it's finally ready to spoon onto the foil to set. Grandpa likes it better while it's still in the mixing stage than when it's completely finished. He likes the texture better.

Aunt Pat taking her turn on the final stage.

Cheryl working on the mixer stage.

Cheryl and Julie working on the first stage. Cindy is in the background.
Sunday was actually our 5th wedding anniversary. Chuck had to leave to head to Tennessee and I went to make candy! Nice way to celebrate an anniversary, isn't it! LOL I got all my Christmas cards out yesterday. I made my own cards this year. Some had to be store bought because I ran out of home made cards.

I finally got my music playlist to work on my side board. What a hassle!

Gonna get off here and finish my house work and fix dinner.

Every body take care and try to stay warm. Happy summer to Merle's Third Try , Jen's Chronicles and Noel About Town Photos and anybody else who is in that part of the world.

I'll try to post a little sooner next time!

Love Ya

Lisa

What A Weekend!

Hello everybody! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. We had our family Thanksgiving at my Aunt Pat's this year. We usually do it at my Aunt Linda's in Anderson, but it's too far for my mother to travel in her condition. Aunt Pat lives here in town. We were going to have it at Grandpa's, but he only has a single-wide mobile home, so not a lot of space.

Mom's not doing so good. We'll be lucky if she makes it to Christmas. She has been turned away from her chemo the last 3 weeks because she has been so weak. She is in bed at least 18 hours a day now and has absolutely no energy. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.


Ryan, Melissa and Cody were over Friday evening. They saw me at the store when I was getting batteries and other things for Christmas decorating. After they were done shopping, they came over. Cody helped me decorate the tree. He actually did a pretty good job of it.


This is the face he makes when ever somebody tells him "cheese it"! Yes, that's me with him.

This is a nuthatch in my bird feeder. They come around here far more than the old house.

This hornet's nest is in my next-door neighbor's back yard. It is actually hanging over our fence! I hope that's not a sign of things to come! LOL

The Black-capped Chickadee is another bird that I hardly ever saw at the other house, but they are all over the place here. Strange what difference 1 mile will do! I have no idea what kind of bird this is. I have never seen one before. He kind of looks to me like a brown Nuthatch. Abe, any ideas?

This is our house decorated for Christmas. Chuck and Michael spent the entire afternoon Saturday hanging the icicle lights.

I saw this doe on my way home from my mother's this afternoon. I had to drive pretty slow because we had snow last night and this morning, and the country roads were a mess. On my way out to her house, I started fish-tailing, and I was only going about 25 mph. I shifted into low gear and kept it there the rest of the trip there, and again on the way home. It was really foggy today, but it finally cleared up this evening. We are supposed to get more snow through the night and during the day Monday.

This is the Blackford County Historical Museum. I have never been inside because they have such strange hours, but I'll eventually make it up there. I just love the old house!

This was the scene at my bird feeder this morning! While I was sitting here at the computer, I could hear them all take off at once. They would all get spooked, take off into the cherry tree, then go right back for a few seconds, then repeat, several times!

This was my first picture this morning. This little cutie is the one that scattered all the seed that the birds were eating off the ground.

Gonna get off here for now and get to bed. I have a lot of straightening up to do around this house.

Everybody take care and have a great week.

Love Ya

Lisa

I Love Delapidation!

Okay, I know this woodpecker has nothing to do with delapidation, but I think she's cute. Not sure if she's a downey or hairy, though. I've noticed her around the past couple of days, pecking away at the frozen suet cake.

This old house is out on north of town. It sort of reminds me of my grandparents' old house before they had it torn down, especially because of the front porch on the right side of the house.

I took most of these yesterday(Friday) while I was driving back home from Montpelier. I had to take an ice scraper over and put in the car so Chuck would have it when he got home last night. Of course, he didn't need it once he had it. He needed one Monday night when he came home. The car was all frozen over, so he just had to start the car and let it run for a while.

This is off 400 East, if I remember correctly. I kind of took the scenic route coming back home.

This one with the grain wagon was also on my way home. Not exactly sure where I saw it. I was zig-zagging all over the place.

This old barn is in southeast Montpelier. I went with Lyle on Thursday and he was showing me some old buildings. I think I have posted another pic of this old barn back in the summer. This old farm was used as a German prisoner work farm back during WWII. Most of the buildings have fallen down, or in the process of falling down. The buildings that housed the prisoners are down, but the rubble remains. Only the barn and 5 outhouses still stand, in addition to a couple of grain bins. They are currently being used by whoever does the farming around there.

This is an old school house on State road 18 east of Montpelier. People lived in it for a long time, but has since been too run down to live in. When I lived with my grandmother, this house was on the way from Montpelier to her house out on county line road. Her house and barns are gone now and 2 other houses have been built on the property. I hate the way it looks now, but I guess that's because it's not home any more.

These two Red-tail hawks were sitting in the tree on the south end of Lyle's woods when I went out to the house the other night. One of them had been in the middle of the road feasting on a freshly killed opossum when I drove up.

Thisis an oil well that has recently been put in a field in Montpelier. That is the main reason Lyle took me out driving around on Thursday. This is on the corner right before my grandmother's old farm. I don't know how far they have gotten on drilling, but there are 3 huge storage barrels near it. You can see that there was a little bit of snow on the ground at the time.

Gonna get off here for now and get to bed.

Everybody take care and have a great week. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love Ya

Lisa

Sixth Picture In My Sixth File

Carla passed this post along to me. I am supposed to go into my picture files, go to my 6th folder and find the 6th picture in that file. Jimmy, here's that barn I told you about. It is located in the middle of a small woods on county road 200 North, just a little past 300 East. In the summer, you can only see the roof because of the heavy foliage, but in the fall and winter, it is very easy to see. I love old delapidated barns and other buildings. They are so cool to photograph. Now for the rules of this post. The rules"…Find the 6th folder in your pictures directory and post the 6th photo in it.
So here are the instructions:* Go to your sixth picture folder then pick your sixth picture.* Pray that you remember the details.* Post it on your blog.* Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged. I will tag 5 friends, but please don't feel obligated if you don't have time. I found it only took a few minutes and was a lot of fun! Here are the taggees.

Fugazi Foto
Libs Private Paradise
Jen's Chronicles
Arlene
Merle's Third Try

TAG, You're it!

Love Ya

Lisa

Winter's Coming!

Brrrrrr!!!! It's cold outside! It is currently 21 degrees. We had a slight dusting of snow Monday, but it was all gone today, except for what stayed in shaded areas. Today was very pretty, although still cold. At least it wasn't as windy as it was yesterday.

I know it's hard to see, but there are a few snow flakes blowing around in these pictures, it wasn't dust on the lens! LOL This is my little red barn out back.

This is our house with snow on top of the bushes and roof. I still have pumpkins out by the lamp and indian corn on the front porch.

These two pics were taken tonight(Tuesday) at Glenna's farm. She got it back in the divorce. She is going to rent it out, and the guy that is going to rent it is going to do the necessary work on it before moving in.

These are the bushes in front of her front porch. I had to go out there and leave a key for the Amish gentleman to fix the busted water pipes and service the furnace. He is the same guy that Glenna had build the house about 15 years or so ago.

These are just several different shots of the sunset on my way to her house this evening.

Different stages and different locations. I kept stopping in the middle of the road to take shots.

Good thing it's out in the country. No traffic!

Almost done!

I nearly blinded myself taking these crazy pics. There were a lot more, but not real good shots.

The reason I am just now posting again after my last post is because the last time, my computer was set up on the floor of the spare bedroom. The desk was in pieces laying around in the room, and concrete floors are NOT comfortable to sit on, especially with osteo arthritis in the hips! OUCH!!!!! So, I finally got a long enough phone line to reach from the phone jack in the dining room out into the Florida room, where we intended to have the computer set up in the first place. I got the desk back together Sunday night and brought the computer out after Michael went to bed. I'm still trying to get everything squared away, but it is taking a while. The spare bedroom and both bathrooms are going to be stripped of their wallpaper and painted, eventually! Most of the carpet needs replaced. Chuck wants to rip most all of the carpet out and put linoleum floors in the bathrooms and hard wood floors in the living room, dining room and bedrooms. Of course, this will all be in the not-so-near future. That's money we don't have! We will just have to be happy with the repainting for now. A room at a time.

Gonna get off here and go to bed. I have been working at Northside Elementary School last week and this in the cafeteria as a substitute lunch lady. It's only a couple hours a day, but every little bit helps. I make more per hour there than I did as a cashier at Save A Lot. Two dollars more per hour. I hope the work keeps up so I can have some Christmas money.

Everybody take care and have a great rest of the week.

Love Ya

Lisa