Tuesday, December 30, 2008

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

Monday, December 22, 2008

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

Thursday, December 18, 2008

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

Friday, December 12, 2008

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

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

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








Monday, December 1, 2008

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