Beware - may be frightening!

Take care when viewing this first photo. You might not want to let little children see it unattended!

A couple weeks ago when Courtney was here, I was busy with something in the house, so she went out to visit the kitties by herself. She didn't stay out there very long (even though I'd told her I'd be out there "soon"). When she came back, she told me she'd seen a nest that had a face!

I asked her where this nest was, and she said it was way up high by the ceiling. I thought it sounded pretty intriguing, so we headed back out to the machine shed to take a look.

She sort of pointed it out to me, but she wouldn't look directly at it. It seemed to be too scary to look at!

I finally saw what she'd seen! A nest with a "face", indeed! Can you see it?

Pretty wicked-looking, huh?!

I assured her that it was nothing but an empty barn swallow nest, and that it only looked like a face. So she was able to then look at it a little closer herself. It also helped that a barn swallow landed in it for a few seconds. That was even more reassuring.

All in the eye of the beholder. :)

On another odd bird note, look what I found in the birdbath one day:

(Excuse the grossness of the bath. I've given up trying to keep it clean. I just scrub it with a steel brush occasionally when I change the water, and call it good. I did bleach it before I put it outside this spring, but that cleanliness didn't last long.)

It's a robin's eggshell. Have a closer look:

I wonder why. Weird.

Photo(s) of the day

We've had a lot of dragonflies around here the last few days. Today I noticed that some of them had white bodies. I don't recall ever seeing any like that before. Fortunately, one of them liked hanging around just outside our back door, and I was able to get these pictures of it.

(Click to enlarge.)

Kinda cool, huh? Have you ever seen any like that?

Corn update and prettiness along the way

This was the corn status on July 5th. It's been growing fast in the heat we've had. The corn had recently been sprayed, so I didn't let my little measuring assistant go into the rows.

Currently blooming in the wildflower bed:

And in the yard:

I've never seen so many buds on the day lilies before. I guess they've enjoyed all the rain we've been having.

Boo Hoos for boo-boos

I decided after those last two challenging bags I made here and here, I wanted to sew something EASY and fun for a change! I recently came across a little Boo Hoo Owl tutorial here that I thought would be just what I needed. Here are the results:

They are actually little ice packs! They're divided inside, so the front part is stuffed with fiberfill and the back part has rice to hold the cold. You keep them in the freezer (if you can get 'em away from your kids, that is) so they're ready for the next booboo that needs some chillin'.

They're super easy to make and take very little time. I made the one on the left to keep here. I sewed the felt pieces on by machine and of course hand stitched the buttons on, all before sewing the body parts together. The one on the right is Courtney's that we made yesterday. I had the bodies cut out, and she picked the colors for the rest. Together we glued the felt on. She helped stuff them both, which was lots of fun. She does love the fiberfill! ;)

Here are a couple of photos for size perspective:

Josie always likes to be in on the act!

And of course here's my little assistant:

I forgot to take pics of the backs before Courtney took hers home, but here's mine. The fabric is another bit of the fat quarter bundle I won. Since one quarter had owls on it, I thought it was perfect for this project!

Yep, a bag of peas works great for booboos, as do numerous other things (such as real ice packs), but don'tcha think these would make any child's owies feel better a LOT faster?! ;)

Thanks, Jenna, for the tutorial!!

They were so fun to make! I feel refreshed. ;) Now if I ever get (at least partially) caught up on house cleaning, weeding, etc., etc., maybe I'll be ready to tackle another more challenging project. I'm trying to decide what it's going to be... I have a few ideas!

Happy 'WHAT'?!

Just before this weekend, I received an email from an internet friend who is originally from Singapore. She wished me a "lovely Independence Day". Then she said: 'Why do people call it 4th of July when it has a proper name? In Singapore we say "Happy National Day!" We never say, "Happy 9th of August!"'

She has a point, doesn't she? Why DO we say that? Does anybody know how it got started? I did a little (VERY little... mainly Wikipedia) searching, but I didn't find anything. What do you think about it?

Whichever way you say or think of it, do have a good one! And I hope you get to see some of these tonight, if you haven't already!

(Not my photo)