More chic pics

Just had to ask, didn't you, Grace? Well, here ya go:

She does, indeed, lay eggs!

Kind of unconventionally, however. ;-)

They get there in an unconventional way, too. They're fed down through an opening in her back. Just to avoid Courtney asking too many questions about where they come from, y'know? LOL

And indeedy, the baby chick hatched from the egg!

So there ya have it. And we still don't know which came first! Okay, 'I' know. ;-)

And I did not make the patterns for these birds. More on that later.

The "Unblanketing"

Okay, here you are, my patient(?) readers! I hope it's worth your wait!

Courtney sure loved them. They're made of fleece, and are very soft and cuddly.

More explanation will come later. For now, I have to work on expanding the family. (The CHICKEN family, not mine!!)

Here it is!!

Sorry to keep you waiting. My latest sewing project has taken longer than I anticipated (don't they all?). BUT... part of it is now done! Courtney got to check it out this morning. It got her A+ stamp of approval! In fact, she's been carrying it around most of the morning... she's delighted with it, to say the least!

AND... it made the grade for her daycare! Here it is, taking its first nap. It even rated use of the other baby's blanket!

Oh. You're STILL wondering what it is? I mean, can't you TELL? Huh.

Sorry again, but I must consult with my new "boss" (okay, she's the same ol' boss, but the "job" is new) to see if I can unveil it yet. She may insist that I complete the project before I can make it available for public viewing.

For now, though, I must sign off. My little "boss" (the 3-yr.-old one) is insisting we take the new "project" outside for a bit. We must see if the grass is dry enough for playing in or taking pictures in. Seeya all later!

What...?!?!

Courtney stayed for supper on Tuesday night. While I was getting it ready, she and Grandpa were outside blowing bubbles. Or so I thought. When I stepped out the door to tell them it was just about ready but that Daddy was coming to join us, this is what I found!

Hmmm.... napping? Close. The story I was told was that if they let the bubble stuff sit while they rested a bit, it would make better bubbles. Oh, yeah?! Let's see....

There was a bubble, but it looked pretty small.

So they tried again....

Pretty convincing, isn't she?

Oops!

Those legs just weren't cooperating!

Enough resting. Let's test the bubble stuff again.

WOW! Did you see that?! Apparently their theory works!

So I went back in to finish supper. Shortly after that, I heard Daddy drive in. When I went out to call them all in to eat a couple minutes later, this is what I found.

I guess Daddy was giving their theory a test.

So what's the REAL story here??? Methinks it was just an excuse for a couple tired farmers to get a little rest before supper. What do you think?

For Auntie Jess

Courtney worked very hard Tuesday morning making something special to mail to Auntie Jess. And now that Jess has received the surprise, I can show you the "making" process. She had it completed and into the mailbox by 8:00 a.m.!

(Click to enlarge.)

(See, JHRME? You can get so much done when you get up early! ;-) Granted, her arrival at 6:30 a.m. was a bit early for my taste, too, though.)

(Thanks to the American Lung Association for the lovely stickers.)

Just because....

.... I love this photo.

(Looks better enlarged... click it!)

Lovin' springtime!

Ahhhh.... yesterday it was finally warm enough to play in the sandbox on a Grandma/Courtney day! By 8:00 a.m., mind you! Just think, only a month and a half ago there was that huge snowbank in those evergreen trees!

Courtney was delighted to be able to scoop sand again. She must've spent nearly 2 hours out there yesterday.

Yesterday also happened to be Wispy's birthday. Turn up your volume and watch the special cake-making session.

Here's the end result:

Yep, Wispy is 5 years old already... hard to believe I've had her that long!

And what would spring be without that special bouquet?

(Sorry, Mommy... we didn't get the hair combed until about 4:30... just didn't have time! ;-) )

Next sewing project

Anybody care to venture a guess as to what I'm making next? The fabric pieces you can see are felt. There's also some fleece involved. Coincidentally, the colors match the tulips! Totally unplanned. But that's why I decided to take the picture. And no, I'm not making tulips. Or flowers of any kind. Think a little bigger... but not as big as a chair. :-)

I thought if I showed you some of my project, it'd spur me on to hurry up and get it done. I am so pokey.

Naptime at the daycare

Courtney's babies were all down for naps the last time I peeked in. Her babies must all sleep on their tummies (forget the "back to sleep" rule), and they must be covered entirely (except for Bear on the white blanket... he was part of the blanket). Here's the lineup from last Tuesday.

Oops! One blanket short... poor little Star Song (front) had to do without.

And nobody got to sleep in the bed.

Just like having a baby

It's said that a mother forgets her miserable labor pains once she lays eyes on that little newborn. I think it's true (although maybe it isn't an instant forgetting, but rather more gradual over time). Otherwise, why would any sane woman willingly go back and do it all over again?! ;-)

This spring makes me think of that, in that the delightful weather we've been having lately has made the miserable winter we just came through seem only like a bad dream (okay, a nightmare), and it's nearly forgotten in the beauty of NOW.

I thought it might be June before the snow would be melted and the farmers would get back out into the fields again. But here we are mid-April, the snow is completely gone, and the farmers are indeed in the fields doing the planting already. Grandpa has planted many acres of corn the last few days.

The snowy white view from my sewing room window has now been replaced with a lovely green, plus a few other colors. Enjoy it with me.... (This time I enlarged them for you.)

Yes, Grace, I know... Roundup! :-) Already done. But it turned out to be such a clear, crisp picture that I had to post it.

(Fooled ya, didn't I? ;-) )

And very soon (tomorrow?) that lovely green is going to need mowing........

The deer didn't get 'em all!

(Click to enlarge.)

Okay, so that's multiple pics of some of the same tulips. But at least it LOOKS like there are a lot of tulips left. ;-) And there are more than I thought there were going to be.

That was yesterday.

This is today:

(Click to enlarge.)

And these are now on my dining room table, safe from any deer!

The crew

Breakfast time with Mama, Orangey, Orangey, No Name, and Blacky. The two Orangeys are toms... they're always ready to eat. The rest are females and don't get along very well, so they sorta (grudgingly) take turns eating.

Mama and Blacky are pregnant. Can't wait to see babies again!

This next pic is interesting...

It needs a caption. Anybody?

A head start

My garden started without me this year! I haven't planted a thing or even tilled yet. But a few days ago I discovered this:

Yep, an onion!

Two onions, in fact!

And a couple dandelions. They always get a head start on me.

Young crafter at work

Goodness, we haven't seen Courtney on here for over a week... since Easter Sunday, in fact! Anybody having withdrawals? Actually, she wasn't feeling very well last week when she was here, so I didn't get any pictures. But here she is today, doing one of her favorite things... cutting! She likes to color a piece of paper with markers and then cut it into... well... pieces! LOTS of pieces! Confetti sometimes! And then it all goes into the wastebasket... and she starts over. She's becoming a very good cutter! :-)

Sometimes she'll fold several pieces together and make a "sandwich", and then she'll cut through that, too. It's extra fun when little pieces pop off in odd directions.

Here's the little crafter in action on one of her special projects:

Spring does have its down side

Yeah, the deer. What with the busy-ness of going to Chicago, then catching up on everything when we got back, I never gave a thought to what was happening with my growing things outside. I just assumed they were happily maturing along. Well, they were, for awhile. But alas, here's what many of my tulips look like now.

Deer have come to eat them right up in front of the house. Grrrr....! I still have some left... maybe half of them. But this is so maddening! Liquid Fence works... when you use it. I couldn't get the sprayer pumps to work since I saw these tulips like this, so I've since just poured some along the flowers, and it seems to be working, but that's pretty wasteful. I do need to do some more thorough spraying, if I can find a different spray bottle around here.

On Saturday, it was such a lovely day that I had all the windows in the house open. That evening as it started getting dark, I went to close a bedroom window and scared a deer off the lawn in front of the house. I then went to another window and saw 2 deer standing out by the garden (unplanted as yet). I think they have their plans for the summer. I also think I'd better stock up on more Liquid Fence. *sigh*

Then again, deer do have the cutest babies! See the fawn and the fawn story and the fawn update.

I love spring!

Our weather lately has almost been making up for our miserable fall and winter. Almost.

(Click to enlarge and enjoy!)

Here are some spring sightings from this morning. Gotta love those persistent little violas.

The rhubarb is making progress.

And yup, even the asparagus is peeking out. Surprisingly early!

There's another asparagus shoot in the pic below... but I bet that's not what catches your eye. :-)

Yeah, I need to get the Roundup out there, too. TODAY, before the asparagus gets going any farther.

We have a winner!

I'm sure you're all holding your breath waiting to find out who won the contest. Well, I hope you're not really holding your breath, because I'm a little slow at getting the results out, and I wouldn't want to lose anyone from "lack of breath". ;-)

Actually, the snow was gone by Monday when we got back from Chicago, but I didn't get a picture taken until yesterday morning. Tuesday it rained all day, and Wednesday Courtney was here all day but wasn't feeling well, so that brought me to yesterday. It didn't matter, though, since the earliest guess was for April 10th, and that isn't even here yet. So we're okay.

And who is the lucky winner that guessed April 10th? It's Dale! Congratulations! You can pick out which two photos you want printed and let me know.

I'm so amazed (and thankful!!) that the snow melted as fast as it did... I was more inclined to go with the May 1st guess myself.

Here's our proof that it's gone (March 20th and April 8th... less than 3 weeks!):

(Click to enlarge.)

Granted, there is a tiny bit of snow yet on the left side of the pic... BUT... what I specifically intended and said was "the snow Courtney is standing on"... and obviously that is all gone. So don't argue with me (Mark)! ;-) And look at how green that grass is... WOOHOO!

Well, that was fun. Now I'll have to think of another contest... someday.

A sweet story

The day before we left for Chicago, Jess called and said there was a baby bird on a step outside their back door. She said she thought it was a mourning dove... but wasn't it too early in the season for baby birds, much less baby birds already feathered out and off the nest? Anyway, she was worried about the baby there all by itself.

Later that night, she emailed me and said that the mother bird had come and was sitting on the baby for the night. Yay! I told her to take good care of that baby and not to scare it away, so we could see it when we got there the next afternoon.

It was still there when we got there. Here it is:

And zooming in a bit.... yep, definitely a mourning dove.

Jess had talked with a neighbor in the meantime, and the neighbor said that the birds had made a nest in a hanging pot on her landing. See the big pot below:

The nest was right on the top of the pot:

We got worried again the next day, as none of us had seen the mama bird all day. I guess we just hadn't look out at the right time, because later that day, both parents were there. Here's one of them on the ledge right outside Jess and Alex's back door. It certainly wasn't afraid of me, either, as I was only about 3 feet away from it with the camera!

Below is the other parent settled in with the baby for the night.

They all left, however, the following day. Hopefully the baby had grown enough to fly on its own. It still seems to me that it was awfully early for birds to have nested and have young that mature already! I've only just heard the first mourning dove here yesterday! But I thought it was so neat how faithful the parent birds were in caring for their baby, even on a step where people occasionally passed right by it.

Hmmm... I wonder who had to clean up what was left behind by those birdies! ;-)