Countrywindows

Apple Tree

2011-05-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

My son planted this apple tree about 20 years ago, so its been part of the family for a long time. I was out looking at it the other day and noticed that one big limb was split and the leaves were falling off,and the rest of the tree some of the leaves were turning yellow. I took one of the leaves to a nursery and the lady told me, it was getting old. So I said the yellow is like the gray in my hair? She was saying that most orchards cut trees down at age 10 and plant new ones. The tree still looks healthy and I'm not going to take it out of the family till all the limbs are dead.

Spring Thaw

2011-03-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know about everybody else, but I'm ready for spring to be here. The birds have been singing in the mornings and it has been where the weather is cold one day and warmer the next. The early flowers are starting to bloom and the trees are getting buds on them.

Apple tree in the winter

2011-01-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

The last time I posted on my blog was back in the summer when my apple tree had all the apples on it. As you can see its winter and the tree got a limb cut. It had so many apples on it that the limbs were breaking or hanging to the ground.

Loaded down apple tree

2010-07-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

For the last several years I have been giving my apple away to people. I have so many on this tree and this year looks like another bumper crop again. The limbs get so heavy with apples that last year it broke a limb toward the top of the tree. I try and trim the tree every year but dont want to take too much off. My son planted this tree for a cub scout project 20 years ago.

Flower garden in bloom

2010-07-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year when all my flowers are in bloom and the bees are finding pollen. I was watching some finches pick seeds from one of my flowers, they dont hurt the flower, they just spread the seed. My glads have been coming back every year without digging them up each year. We have some cold winters and supposed to dig them up. Still waiting for the hummingbirds to show up, they seem to be late in my area for some reason, each year.

Capturing the Kansas wind

2010-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

I was on my way out to Colorado this last week for a short vacation trip. I havent been out to the western part of the state in a long time. Off to the distance I could see rows and rows of wind turbines. I had seen on the news months ago that people were against building the wind turbines; too much noise, eyesores, taking up too much farm ground, etc. I did some research online about the noise of the turbine and a bird singing made more noise. There were 50 of them in the first part of the area I saw. This is supposed to make enough electricity for 37,000 homes. They are placed on tops of hills where most of time there is no grass growing anyway because of the wind and lots of flintrock in this area. All the land that these 50 take up is only 2% of the total land in that area.
Each turbine is 250 feet tall. Each of the three blades weigh 17,000 lbs and the base of the turbine is 50 square feet of concrete that is underground.
There are several other states that have turbines and make more electricity than Kansas: Texas, California, Iowa and others.
We have an electric plant close by that is ran by coal. Each day loads and loads of coal are shipped to it by train. People are hoping that wind energy will cut the use of coal in the future.
As wind doesn't blow enough all the time to turn these huge turbines, there will still need to be backups to provide electricity for homes and bussiness and such.
I just saw these turbines as huge gentle giants, doing what needs to be done, and that is save energy or find alternative ways to make it.

Building a barnwood frame

2010-04-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Going to go through the steps of me making one of my barnwood frames.
1. Maybe the hardest part, and that is finding old weathered wood. I sometimes have people that see me at a show and ask where I get my wood and tell me they have some I can buy or have for free. I have purchased some from a listing on craigslist, or maybe even at garage sells.
2. I cut the edge of the boards to get my edge for the side of the frames, then I cut the rest of the board to 2 inches for the frame.
3. I take the 2 inch board and cut them down to the size of frame I'm building, then I cut out the back of it for the glass and print to go into it.
4. The next step is to cut the 2 inch boards corners to a forty five degree cut,then I put each of the 2 inch boards in a jig, so I can use the v-nails to hold the corners together.
5.I cut out my wood that I use for the front of the frame into forty five degree pieces of wood to place on the front of the frame and use clamps to hold them in place while the glue dries.
6.I then install the weathered edging that I had cut off the outside of the board to the outside of the frame.
7.Then the frame is complete.

Guess Phil was Right!

2010-02-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

We got more snow last nite here in Kansas.I don't know if the groundhog knows what he is talking about or not! Was hoping for no more snow this year, we have had more snow this year than when they started keeping record. I took this picture this morning of a blue spruce covered in some ice and snow.

Squirrel proof bird feeder ?

2010-01-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to find some kind of way to keep the squirrels from eating all the sunflower seeds out of the bird feed and the song birds not having any. I tried the pepper on the seed, didn't bother them, grease on the pole of the feeder, and many more. I saw a article in a garden magazine on stretching a rope and placing plastic bottles on each side, so that when the squirrel ran across the rope it would roll off when it hit the bottles. So far this has worked and the songbirds are eating the sunflower seeds. With all the snow on the ground, and the extreme cold, this is one way to help the little birds survive.

Featured in a Blog

2009-12-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was featured in a blog, by one of the Kansas Etsy team members! You can go to the link and read a little about myself! Check to the bottom right side of my blog, where it says I was in a blog!
http://simplyinvitingcards.com/blog

Craft Show

2009-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

I did my last craft show for the year, saturday. I sold several of my prints framed in nice 16x20 frames at this show. Last year I sold 8x10 and 11x14 frames, I had several people say that they were too big. So what did I do this year, I made bigger frames and they sold. You never know what people want, if you did, I would be so busy making everything. It makes me feel good for a person to spot a photo from across the room and make a beeline over to it and pick it up and say, " I want this".
I have had return customers from the year before stop by and see what I have new, and tell me they bought a certain picture and its still very pretty on their wall.
So I guess I will keep up the good work!

Photos Accepted in Craftgawker

2009-10-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have four photo's on craftgawker now! Some people would say," I have been trying to get my photos accepted on it." I have mixed feeling about the site, I have my stone bridge print on there, that has gotten over 1,000 views since I have had it on the site. The other ones get around 50 views a day. Some people say that views will maybe turn into sales. I have lots more photos that I would submit to the site, but I want to wait and see if this type of advertisement is going to work.

Arts and Craft Show

2009-10-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

I had a show last weekend in the town I live in, which made it nice that I didnt have to travel very far. I tried something different this year that I havent been doing. I had some of my prints enlarged to 16x20 and framed them in nice oak or some in a gold frame. My framed print of the stone bridge in my shop sold right away, and some people who had seen it earlier and didnt buy, came back and wanted to know if I had another one like it, sorry charlie! You snooze you lose. So I guess I need to send off for some more prints. I sold my homestead print also, and several prints in the 8x10 size. It was a pretty good show considering the economy and such.

Highway Garage Sells

2009-09-21T06:46:00.001-07:00

I spent most of the day saturday with my girlfriend driving down a busy highway that goes across kansas and goes east and west to adjoining states.Every year they have what they call a treasure hunt. People set up along the highway or in towns along the route. We even went to several farmhouses off the highway. You can find some neat things at garage sells. I like to look for nice frames that I can either use the frame or use the glass out of the frame. A really nice frame can cost well over 100 dollars, and glass can be expensive too. I can in turn save my customers money on my frames, because I dont have alot of money invested in making them. And of course I like to buy tools,and outdoor equipment. You see items on tv where they paid a dollar for them and find out they are worth thousands.

Staring Contest

2009-09-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what animals are thinking or would like to say to you if they could? This black monkey just stared at me while I was taking several of his pics. Sometimes it would just seem to look like it was saying "What are you looking at?"
Animals are just as smart as we humans are, or alot of times I think they are smarter than most of us.

Hummingbirds are back!

2009-08-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

I spent a fortune on flowers to attract them back,I have had my feeder up all summer. The two just came back a few days ago. My theory is that they are male hummingbirds, and they have been raising a family all summer. Now that the kids are gone away from home, its time for the guys to go to there bachelor pad and hang out,maybe have a few sips of that sweet tonic, till they go south. I havent tried to photograph them again this year, but I will set up a tent or something and try again this year, to get one in flight.

Matted Prints

2009-08-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have started to mat some of my prints in my shop, to see if people would like them better than just a plain photo in a 8x10 inch frame. I have matted several of my prints and framed them to take to shows. This rose in a black mat,framed in a black frame is very pretty. Sometimes I'm at the craft store buying mat board and overhear how much they charge for matting a print,I know they have overhead and other things, but they charge a bunch. And sometimes people like to mat their own photos to go with their frames or decor.

Happy Faces

2009-08-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

I was out taking pictures the other day and found this tall and pretty sunflower! Sunflowers remind me of being happy,brite and just happy to be alive! They like alot of flowers are fun to watch them point in the east in the morning and slowly turn toward the west in the evening,following the sun. When I was growing up, I would pick a big sunflower and bring it home and take all the seeds from the pod and have mom put them in the oven and sprinkle salt on them and bake them. They of course didnt turn out as good as the kind you buy in the store.

Flower garden and humming bird update

2009-07-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is almost the end of July and my flowers I planted for the hummingbirds are so brite and pretty. I dont know where the hummers are this year, but they sure didnt come back to my garden this year. I planted some gladiola's last year and didnt dig them up. Here in kansas our winters get cold enough that you are supposed to dig them up every year. I have several glads that came up and are blooming. I have a pic of one of them that made it through the winter.

A little kansas history

2009-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

I was in coffeyville kansas, the last few days. A town where some a event took place back in 1892.It was on a sunny morning October 5, that five horseback riders entered coffeyville from the west at about 8 in the morning.Three of the men were Dalton brothers and one of the others last names was Power and the other Broadwell.The Daltons have lived around coffeyville and were lawmen in the oklahoma territory. The daltons soon found out that their wasnt much money in being lawmen, so they turned to robbing trains and banks in kansas and all the way out to california.There were two banks in coffeyville at the time, the Condon Bank and the First National Bank, so that made it very appealing to the gang. Three of the men went into the Condon bank and the other two went into the First National Bank. The teller at the Condon bank told one of the daltons that the bank safe had a timer on it and it wouldnt open for another 40 minutes,later was found out that the safe did not have a timer and it had 40,000 dollars in it. After several minutes had passed while waiting for the vault to open,a passer by spotted one of the daltons and recognized him and went to get help.Nobody in the town wore guns at that time, so they had to go get guns and they set up post in the hardware store, that still stands.The marshall of the town was a school teacher that had taken the job as marshall while school was out. He came out and was shot in the back, a shoe maker was shot and Charles Brown. The three that were in the Condon bank,made a run to their horses.The only member of the dalton gang that survived was Emmettt Dalton. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in 15 years. In one of the pictures, it shows the headstone of two of the daltons on it and a metal pipe beside it. The pipe was the hitching post that the horses were tied to during the robbery, the hitching post was the only grave marker, until Emmett got out of prison, he came back to coffeyville and had a headstone made and he placed it on his brothers graves. Emmett then moved to california.

Crackle Barnwood Frames

2009-07-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have been building the barnwood frames for several years. I started out with just the plain frame with just the outer lip on the frame, then changed to putting the corner pieces of wood on the corners. I have used the faded red barnwood and several different colors of the faded wood. I was thinking the other day of when people did the crackle look to furniture to make it look old. I'm going to try different base colors and outer colors on the frames and see how they sell.

The task of feeding the little ones!

2009-07-09T13:10:00.001-07:00

I have a pair of robins that I spend alot of time watching. They both take turns gathering up bugs,worms and anything that crawls,to bring back to the nest. I love to watch them run a short distance, cock their head and then, the head goes down and catches a bug. They,like alot of birds, must have keen eyesight to be able to see the smallest bug in the grass. A couple years ago, I had a nest of robins in a tree in my front yard. They had built the nest only about 6 feet off the ground. I got a my step ladder, and looked into the nest,there were two fuzzy little robins, I snapped a couple of pictures of them. These two robins use my front yard as the main gathering place for bugs, sure didnt know I had that many bugs in my grass.

Is it clear MOM?

2009-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have been cutting wheat the last few days. Yesterday, I got out of the combine to make a call on my cell phone and a little fawn came out of the woods and came within 20 yds of me, of course I didnt have my camera with me, with all the dust and such. I was driving around the fields today and spotted this doe with a fawn in the background. She was checking to make sure it was safe before the fawn came out. Of course when she saw me, the tail went up and they ran off. The little fawns are just like my kids when they were little, they wanted to see what was going on and really didnt know what danger was, so mom and dad had to teach them.

Where are the hummingbirds?

2009-06-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Last year I attracted two different kinds of hummingbirds. This year I havent seen a single hummer. From what I have read on the internet, they are supposed to come back every year. I have had my feeder up for a couple of months now. I spent my last dollar at the garden shop, for about every flower they had to attract them. If you are a avid know your hummingbirds, then let me know what else I can do. I have talked to several people in town and they all say they have hummingbirds. Here is a pic of my feeder and some of the flowers.

Bats Over Austin Texas

2009-06-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Austin has a bridge that is downtown Austin that has bats that live under it. At a last estimate of how many, it was 1.5 million. Each nite about sundown a big crowd gathers around the bridge, down on the water that goes under the bridge, on grass of the banks of the river, and on the sidewalk of the road that goes across the bridge. The place my son had picked out for me was already full of people, so I had to work my way into the crowd. I got down to the bridge just a little late, and got a photo of alot of them that had already taken off into the evening sky. At one time the city was going to try and exterminate the bats, but locals told them, how many bugs, including the biting mosquito that these bats eat each nite. When they were coming out from under the bridge, there were three sections of the bridge that the bats were coming out of. It was kinda like in a horror movie with the sky full of bats. It was just a solid flow of bats that were so thick, you couldnt get a picture of them, because they were flying so fast and so many.

Austn Texas

2009-06-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Finally did make it to austin to visit my son. We spent most of the day saturday,visiting a 200 acre flower garden and butterfly garden. They had flowers for it seemed like miles, hummingbirds were all over the place and native butterflies. I went inside the butterfly house,where all the butterflies just fly around in a enclosed netting with all kinds of flowers inside. Several people were having the butterflies land on their fingers. The roads were full of motorcycle, they had a big motorcyle gathering in austin and Evil Knievil's son Robby was going to attempt to jump two budwiser trucks, long way that measured 180 feet. With the motorcycle gathering going on, I didnt go to the jump, but did read he did make the jump without injury. Going to take my son out to eat,so will blog later.

Slow trip to Austin day 3

2009-06-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

Made it to Port Lavaca, a port along the coast of Texas. I could sit on the beach for days and enjoy the sand between my toes and the smell of the saltwater and fish. The port is not deep enough for the large ocean lines, so took some pictures of the shrimp boats. I took some pictures of some small fiddler crabs that were along the rocks. Took pictures of some pelicans and different sea birds. Of course I had to find a seafood restaurant to have fresh seafood. I had the red snapper and fresh shrimp that had been caught fresh by the owner of the restaurant. I'm on my way to Austin to see my son.

Slow Trip to Austin day 2

2009-06-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm running a day behind on my posting of my trip to austin texas. On day two I went to a very pretty botanical garden with lots of flowers around the garden. They also had a place in the garden that was called the crystal bridge, it is a huge dome shaped building with three floors of waterfalls,rain forest and some butterflies and lizards. Day 3,heading toward the coastline of texas.

Slow Route to Austin Texas

2009-06-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

I have started a trip to see my son in Austin but have decided to take the slow and long about route to see him. Day 1 has ended me up on Oklahoma City Oklahoma. I spent part of the day at the zoo. This is one of the pictures I had taken of a Great Horned Owl. Then Ifound a motel to stay at. The lady at the desk said I should go to a section of town called bricktown. First thing I did was find a place to eat called pearls crab shack. I had a big pile of jumbo shrimp, they even game me a bucket to put my shells in. Had to walk off the dinner, so walked down to another section of bricktown,called the bricktown canal. I have been to the river walk in san antonio texas,and it wasnt as nice as it, but you could take a boat ride down the canal, and get off at any restaurant that bordered the canal. Sure would be fun to be in Venice Italy and ride the gondolas instead of a plastic boat. Tommorrow headed to another part of Oklahoma City,where there is supposed to be a very pretty botanical garden, I will take pictures at it and post a second day of my trip.

Etsy Front Page

2009-06-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

As I do every day I always sign into my shop on etsy.com. I opened it yesterday afternoon and I had several convo's saying my barnwood frame had been on the front page of etsy. I also found out that I had sold two of the frames and I had lots of views in my shop and lots of hearts. I would have never thought that anything in my shop would be chosen for the front page!

Yucca Plant not Yuckie Plant

2009-06-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

I got this yucca plant probably 15 years ago in southern texas. For the first 5 years or so, it didnt flower or nothing. Last year it had 3 stalks with flowers and this year it has 5 stalks. There are 40 different types of the yucca family. I have this growing in my flower garden, which one day will take over my garden. While I was pulling weeds from the garden,my neighbor wanted me to come over and look in her hanging basket to see if she had some little bird eggs in it like she did last year. I climbed up on a ladder, and not only did she have eggs she had one little baby bird in this small nest. The nest is of a swallow, which like to nest under bridges,underneath overhangs and such.The next is just outside her kitchen window, so she gets to see the mom go up and feed them all the time.

Bumblebee on my Back!!!!

2009-05-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was out checking my blackberry bushes today and saw some bee's around the blooms. Went inside and got my camera and wanted to get as close as I could to this big bumblebee,guess he didnt like his picture taken. I heard it buzzing around my head and then it landed on my back, Nope it didnt sting me! Guess it was like me, I dont like my picture taken either. Some of the honeybees had their legs so full of pollen, I don't know how they were flying around. Guess I need to invest in a bee suit.

Memorial Day Event

2009-05-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

I went to a zoo in our capital of kansas,topeka. The part of the zoo I enjoy the most are the rain forests. I took this picture of this bat in a tree,they were very active for being during the day. I have a picture of the otter on my etsy shop. The otters were playing in the water and climbing around on the logs, I have seen a few in the wild,and they play alot when I have seen them. The kids are so cute when they are at the petting zoo, the little girls they squeal and laugh and most were afraid to pet or feed the animals. The little boys would alot of times have almost their entire hands in the mouth of the animals.

Spring Flower Garden

2009-05-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

I have started to plant some new flowers to my flower garden this year. I went to the garden shop and told the lady I wanted flowers that would attract hummingbirds. I purchased several plants,the cardinal plant,two different colors of snapdragons,reds and purple salvia plant, and others. Last year I did attract two different types of hummingbirds. I did get a picture of one of them in flight, but this year I want to get a even closer one of them in flight. The green concrete leaf I made last year, from a example in a garden magazine I had read. With all the rain and warm temps here in kansas, not only is my garden doing well, but I seem to mow the grass about every day.

Oregon Trail

2009-05-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

I took a trip about 40 miles north of where I live, to a place where wagon trains stopped on their way along the Oregon Trail. Can you imagine loading up everything you own, your kids, pets, into a covered wagon and heading on a journey of 2,200 miles. Your destination would be Williamette Valley in Oregon, with its promises of free, fertile land for farming and a new life. They had walked alongside the wagons for 14 days, until they reached a place called Alcove Springs. The party had stopped there because the Big Blue River was swolen from all the rain that the area had gotten. It gave the party time to rest the oxen and to replenish the supply of wild game and fish. The spring has never been dry, even during the Kansas droughts. One of the party's was called the Donner-Reed party. The party had to wait from May 26-May 31 1846 until the river was low enough to cross. One of the Co-leaders of the group was called James F. Reed. I have a picture where he carved his initials and date in a rock along side the springs. After the party crossed the Big Blue River, they started into unfamiliar land, trying to take a short cut, which made them late for reaching the Sierra Pass, and the pass was snowed in. If you have read about the Donner party, then you know the rest of the story.

First Craft Show of the Year

2009-04-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

Just had my first craft show for 2009. The crowd was slow saturday morning with overcast skies and chance of rain. It ended up not raining and being a very nice sunny day after lunch. The crowd did get larger,which is good for selling. I sold 25 of my prints and a framed barnwood frame and did get a few requests for me to take some photos for some people. I was set up in a circus type tent, which is good from rain and most of the time the kansas winds. Sunday afternoon the wind did get up and pushed the side of the tent into my display,knocking off one of my frames and breaking the glass. Most of the time I do enjoy talking to my customers, and having people come and say they had purchased a print from me last year and have it hanging in their house. I did manage to take a picture of most of my display.

Resting Dragonfly

2009-04-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

My grandaughter and I were out enjoying a day of fishing one day and she has the ability to interact with animals and insects. She just put her finger out and this dragonfly landed on it. Of course I dont go anyplace without my camera, so snapped this picture of her and the dragonfly. When she graduates high school, she wants to go to vet school and be a small animal vet. She will do good at this,she loves all kinds of animals and such. If she sees a turtle on the road, she will have me stop and she will get out and pick it up and move it to the ditch, so it wont get ran over. It has still been cool and rainy here lately,so nature is having a slow time showing its colors and seeing all the dragonflies with there wings of glass.

Butterflies

2009-04-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

I met a lady on etsy that has a very good knowledge of the butterfly family. I have asked her several times on what kind of butterfly I had taken a picture of, because alot of times at shows kids will ask me, "what kind of butterfly is that?" This talented lady sells different items in her etsy shop that pertain to butterflies. I purchased a two framed butterflies,that I cant wait to hang on my wall. This is a link to her shop to take a look at her great work!http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6150819. If the spring weather will ever stay around here in kansas, maybe I will get a chance to take some pictures of more butterflies around kansas.

Craft Show Season

2009-04-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

I have my first craft show of the year in a couple of weeks. I have been building barnwood frames,printing off more pictures and just getting things organized. You never know from show to show or from year to year how each show will do. With the economy the way it is, I think alot of people are saving their money or spending it on the things they have to have to live. I overhear alot of comments when I'm at shows. Oh I have a picture like that at home that I took years ago, I should go home and frame it, or I should go out and take a picture like you have, I saw one of them along the road. I try and just smile and and not say a thing LOL. I have had some people in the last few years, say a barnwood frame just wont go with my decore, so I have framed some of my prints in just nice frames. I also was asked if I could make smaller frames of the barnwood, so I went from 11 x 14 to 8x10,5x7 and 4x6. You know how it is, people want something and when you make it, they dont want it anymore.

Ehhhh Whats up Doc?

2009-03-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Its spring and this rabbit is yes, saying whats up doc with this snow? Did get about 7 inches of snow and some sleet. Guess should feel lucky that I didnt get the heavy snow and blizzard conditions they had in the northern states. Just when I was seeing the grass turn green and everything look like spring, then old man winter says, it I aint done with you yet! Just a few days ago I had sunscreen on and drank two gallons of water. This weather also put a stop on the hay shed being built. I cant wait to work on my flower garden,so I can plant more flowers for the little hummingbirds.

Building a Hay Barn

2009-03-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have been busy the last few days building a hay barn with a farmer I have know for several years and do work for him from time to time. I enjoy being in the country on them nice spring days. You get to hear the birds sing in the mornings, the dew on the grass and just the smell of the country air. I rent some ground that I farm, cutting alalfa,planting crops. It was 83 degrees on this day that I worked on the barn. I drank probably 3 bottles of water and used a tube of sunscreen on that day. I have included a picture of the hay barn and a picture of the alfalfa that is starting to turn green underneath the brown.

Is spring around the corner?

2009-02-19T06:50:00.000-08:00

I went outside and took a picture of this robin looking for bugs under the leaves. I havent seen many robins during the winter months. I have started seeing more different kinds of birds in the area, so was wondering if this is a sign of spring to come? As in my earlier post, everything is just the dead brown color now, so maybe when everything starts to green up, it will put color back into the countryside. I have my first show of the year in april, so I have been busy building barnwood frames. I have started making smaller frames then I have done in the past. I was reading where alot of people have the larger pictures on their walls, and they suggested doing smaller frames. So until the color comes back in the countryside, probably wont be taking alot more pictures,unless something just pops out at me.

Winter weather

2009-02-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is bad to say, but kinda bummed out that we are not getting snow. During this time of year, all the leaves are off the trees, the grass is dead,no color to the landscape. In my last blog I talked about getting pictures of animals in the snow. That was the last snow we had, and havent had anykind of moisture since then. The winter wheat looks bad this year, but its tough it can take some time without moisture, but not forever. So some of you are saying we can give you some of our snow, we have had too much this year, and yes some states are probably tired of snow. So unless we get some color to the landscape, probably wont be adding too many pictures to my blog or etsy shop.

Winter is tough on animals

2009-01-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

Afer we had gotten several inches of snow, I wondered out in nature, to see if I could get some photographs of the animals. I did manage to get some pictures of the male and female cardinal, a blue jay, and a squirrel. Winter time is really hard on the tiny birds,especially if the snow gets too deep, they cant dig down like the bigger birds. Some states even put out hay for the deer,antelope and elk and other animals.I know that our winter is not over here in kansas by no means, so stop in later, maybe have a few more winter pictures.

last craft show

2008-12-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

I had my last craft show in odell nebraska. The crowd was good in the morning, just like alot of shows, then after lunch it became boring. I did sell several prints and a few framed prints. I had a request to take a ladies senior picture next spring. I was flattered by her asking, but dont know if I will do it or not. I put in a wood stove couple of months ago and it sure is being used alot in the last few weeks, and winter is not even here yet. I cut and split some wood last week, but thats cheaper than buying it.Maybe we will get some snow and I can take some winter pictures. I would like to get a male cardinal sitting in the snow. Till next time, see ya.

Winter is around the corner

2008-10-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since my last post on this blog. The fall colors are out here in kansas,but in this area we don't have the colors like up north. The weather is changing to more of the winter season that is not that far away. It was 20 degrees this morning with a heavy frost. I was a stone mason for 15 years, so it came in handy for me to use my skills to build a native stone pad and stone backwall for a woodstove to sit on. I rent some farm ground so have plenty of wood to cut. I have a picture of some buzzards sunning in the fall morning. You can see the colors changing in the picture and see the flinthills in the background.

Pumpkin Patch Craft Show

2008-09-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

I set up a booth at a local craft show this last weekend. I set up at the show last year and it wasnt the best show, but thought I would give it another chance, and yes I probably did three times better this year. I figured with high gas prices and the economy in bad shape, I figured it would be a flop. I talked to alot of vendors and they all said it was their best show of the year. I have another show in two weeks in lincoln nebraska, which is about 3 hours away. I will have to spend the night in a motel since the set up is very early saturday morning. My dodge truck will get alot of gas to eat on the way up their,I also have a enclosed trailer that I pull also, so that will drag the gas mileage down also. Maybe this show will be like my last one. So its off to taking more pictures and making more picture frames. This picture I have added, sold very good at the show.

Craft Show

2008-09-06T08:54:00.001-07:00

I have been busy getting ready for a craft show in two weeks. I have done one show so far this year and have five more that I have signed up for. I do pretty good at shows,and meet alot of people. One good thing about shows is the people get to see my photographs printed and either framed or just the print. So the next two weeks I will be building more barnwood frames,searching for more subjects to take pictures of and printing off my photographs.

Finally a hummingbird picture

2008-08-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

I finally did get a picture of one of them hummingbirds. Their are two of them, but was reading about hummingbirds and they are very territorial over their area, so the one I have a picture of, wont let the other one near the flowers or feeder. The other hummingbird is a real pretty green hummingbird. The one I have a picture of is the ruby throated hummingbird. The monarch butterflies and the other butterflies are just not starting to show up on my flowers.

New Photographs

2008-08-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

I have a few more photographs that I have taken.My quest has been to take a picture of a hummingbird in flight. I planted several kinds of flowers and a feeder, as you can see in one of my previous pictures. I did have two birds show up and I did get a couple of pics, but wasnt pleased with them, so I'm still trying at that. I have taken a few new pictures of frogs and water lilly.

flower garden leaf

2008-07-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

I found a article in a garden magazine, on how to build a birdbath, using a leaf from a large plant. I found a leaf from a plant my neighbor had. You need sand,leaf,plastic sheeting,concrete and concrete paint, if you want it different than concrete gray. I think it looks really good with all my flowers. I have been planting flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I want to take a picture of a hummingbird in flight around one of my flowers. Will let you know how that comes out.

Taking them Pics

2008-06-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we seem to be getting all the time, it slows me down on getting out and taking pictures. I did take a pic of a robin in a tree, during a downpour that we got 2 inches of rain in a very short time. Guess we have been lucky so far, that we havent gotten as much rain as they did in iowa or along the mississippi, with all the flooding.

Dorothy and Toto

2008-06-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

I took a short vacation last week and while I was gone, a tornado went through my town. Their were 45 houses destroyed and one bussiness completely destroyed. One good thing there were no deaths and small amounts of injuries. My house was about two blocks from the storm, so it wasnt hit. I had my neighbor watching my house, so I called her from texas, around 11 at nite and she said no damage. I running though my mind that I would go home and have no house and all my belongings and keepsakes would be gone. One good thing I did get some nice pictures while I was gone.

Storms and More Storms

2008-06-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

I guess when you live in tornado alley like I do, you can expect severe storms. I had golf ball size hail couple days ago. About 4 miles west of me, they had baseball size hail. It destroyed two new car lots. The cars looked like they had been hit with a bomb, windows broke out and the hoods of the cars looked like somebody had taken a sledge hammer to them. And again today and tommorow we are expecting maybe tornadoes this time, I hope not.

Country Road Trip

2008-06-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

On my saturday morning drive in the country, I searched the roadsides and fields for a sign of something for me to photo. My eye caught the glimse of a horse with twins. I havent seen too many horses with twins in my morning cruises. I couldnt get a good angle at the trio, so I'm going to go back and check again this week. I had a red rose that was in full bloom in my flower garden, I love roses!!!!. I happened to wonder what it would look like after a rain shower had passed by. I took the pic and after I printed it out, my mouth flopped open and it turned out great. I have it on my etsy site, if you want to see it. Until the next road trip, will chat later.

2008-05-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

I loved the sound of the whistle blowing on this old steam engine as it rounded the bend. This is one of the steam engines left in the U.S. that still carries passengers cross country.