Ben helping me wash Tracie's car

Listen to eyeoriffics Playlist

Monday morning and all is quiet`

I'm here in Barrington Illnois to take care of my 3 grandchildren. John age 12 Kelly age 10 and Emily age 8. Rich, my son and wife, Maria went to hospital for some testing at Northwestern Hospital . I'm here to take care of the children and the dog, Izzy and the house. It was a flurry this morning with everyone getting up getting their breakfast and packing their school bags and getting out the door. After they all left, the house got real quiet.. Izzy and I went outside to play ball. What a beautiful fall day today is,, so wonderful, quiet and just plain lovely.
I decided after awhile I would come inside and get on the computer and check on my e-mails and see how my FarmTown is doing on Facebook.. Good thing I did that, the my crops were ready to harvest. I really enjoy FarmTown ~! IT's a lot of fun~!
It's almost lunch time and I think I'll have a peanut butter dill pickle sandwich and then play with the dog somemore.. I'm reading a really good book, so I think after lunch I'll go outside and sit in the sun and read for awhile.
Going to ask Rich how I can get my pictures downloaded from his computer. I have some new ones to be published..
Have a great day everyone..~!

Here we are again at Old Threshers in Mt.Pleasant, Iowa.. Ben is experiencing a lot of new things today.. He loved riding in the caboose of the steam engine train with his Mom and Dad.

He loved walking and was good at keeping ahold of my hand.. He loves to run and run and run. We were getting ready to get on the train for a ride.

Here he is riding the steam carrosel with his other Grandma Joann. He had a great day riding on the horse. He got to ride twice because he had such a good time.

Later he was with Grandpa Dee Dee looking at the 1,000 of different tractors that are on display.. He was one tired boy at the end of the day.

Here is Ben conked out after a hard day at Old Threshers. He has his bunny, Nibbles sitting on his lap.. We don't dare go anywhere without Nibbles. Nibbles is a rabbit. We are back home now and he is sleeping in the car. He took a 2 hour nap.. When he woke up ~ what did he want to do? Ride on Grandpa dee dee's John Deere 530.. He loves the tractors..

Ben at Old Threshers,Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

Ben and Grandapa Dee Dee and GranAnnie all went down to the Old Threshers Reunion over labor day. He really enjoyed himself. He loves John Deere tractors so he was in his heigth of glory. He even got to ride on one with Grandpa Dee Dee. That is what Ben calls him..
He loved seeing the BIG steamers.. He kept saying "Hot ~Hot". he could feel the heat coming off those big boys. This steamer is owned and operated by John Johnson from Springville.. He had burned his hand and had it wrapped up with a bandage and big bag of ice. Later we took Ben where there are sandboxes.. He loved playing in the sand with all the tractors and toys.. It was good for us. We could sit and relax and watch him play in the sand.

IT was a great day and at the end of the day Ben was out like a light.. Sleeping and dreaming of riding on John Deere tractors.

Very Relaxing

This evening as I sit reading all my favorite blogs I decided to get my foot bath tub and put some of these invigorating peppermint crystals in with the almost too hot water. Ahhhhh~ in goes my feet.. Oh my goodness that feels so good. I went to a bed and bath party (I don't like to go to parties) and they sold these plastic tubs just for your feet to fit into and have a good soak. These plastic tubs have lots of ridges to rub your feet against and it feels so good. I would highly recommend one of these to all~! Step #2 is rub your feet with this wonderful peppermint pumice foot scrub.. Makes them smooth. plus gives your hand a treatment of smoothness too. Step #3 Now put on the soothing peppermint cream and your ready for bed.
I would highly recommend doing this nightly. When I do this my tired feet feel so good and makes it easier for me to go to sleep at night. I especially like it in the winter time because it warms your feet up. I hate going to bed with cold feet. Seems like it takes half the night to warm them up.
Sweet Dreams ~ nitely noodles~!

The things one sees outside their window..

Today I was looking outside my picture window and noticed something peculair.. WOW~! I think it's a praying mantis.. I grabbed my camera and went outside to take a look.. It was so cool. I think this is the first one I have seen at this house. I don't know what he was trying to get but he stayed there for a long time. I read once they like to get hummingbirds..Wonder if that is true.. My hummingbird feeder is not at this part of the yard.. He was very interesting to watch.

Ben holding his bluejay feather

Here's Ben holding his blue
jay feather. He thought
it was so cool. He would
hold the feather with one
hand and then with
the other hand he would
stoke the feather in a
upwards motion.
He studied that
feather for along
time. He loves nature.

I think this is a Minx cat.

This morning got up and was having my first cup of coffee.. This big yellow cat came out of the soybean field and planted itself right under the tree where the bird feeders are..There are so many goldfinches right now one just can't count them all.. My husband Dave says "Hope he gets his tummy full with catching ground squirrels "...We have a lot of them.. I said " I hope he doesn't get my birds"... He stayed about an hour and then got bored and left through the soybean field.. Don't see many cats in our yard... I was surprised when I saw he had no tail. Well, he had a stubby one. Hope he stays home as I don't want my birds captured by this big cat. He can eat his breakfast before he comes next time. I think he thought he owned the whole yard ~ he walked like he was a king.. real regal.. I love cats but not when they try and get my birds.

Looking at the sweet dollies in this picture brings back so many great memories.. Kelly my niece went to the estate auction of my Dad's house and she was able to purchase these dolls for my sister, Lynn and I.. She cleaned them up and made some of the dollies new clothes.. She even put on a new wig (blond) for my favorite doll, Mary. She is going to mail these dollies to us in a few days.

We were so excited in knowing that our dolls even existed. We fiqured over the years that they would of been put into the local dump. These dolls have been played with over the years so much it's a wonder they even look this good. Kelly said she washed them up and washed their clothes . We girls sure loved our dolls. We remember spreading a blanket in the front yard & dressing them. David's pony had a colt named Topper and he came running
to a screeching halt at our blanket one day and commenst chewing and slobbering on our doll clothes. Two screaming little girls playing tug of war with a colt's
chompers. We acted quickly and were excited trying to claim our dollies clothes.. They were all slobbered with horse slobber, Yuck~! Topper was not at the top of our list anymore in liking him.

We just thank Kelly for retreiving our dolls for us and it will be nice to have them in our homes again.

Helping my Grandpa's fix the tractor~!

This morning after breakfast we drove over to Ben's other Grandparents ~ Jim and Joann. Dave was helping Jim fix his John Deere tractor.. Ben was in his heigth of glory. G-Joann gave him a small toolbox and off he went with his tools. It was so cute watching him walk from the house to the shed where the old tractor and the grandpa's were working carrying his toolbox. I wish now I had taken a picture. He tried every bolt on that tractor. His little hands were working hard . He has been around Dave enough that his tongue is in motion constantly working ~ working. It's so cute. He is in training on how to fix old Deere

John Deere tractors.. They were working on a J.D. 520. He loves those old tractors and his sound effects are so unique.. It would make my throat hurt making that noise that he makes. I should tape it so when he gets older he can hear what he sounded like. After the tractor was fixed of course he got to ride that tractor with Grandpa Dee Dee and Grandpa Jim. What a treat that was for him in one day.

He brought his Thomas Train Engine and all his other trains and actually set up his train track right there on the floor of the shed where they were working on the tractor.. He layed on the floor to make sure the engines were on the track and then he would crawl around the floor so he could take his engines all around the track.. It was most fun to watch him and the noises he makes for each train. He knows all their names .

Noon whistle blew and we went in for lunch.. He ate a huge lunch.. Sliced Ham, hot dog, dill pickles, cottage cheese, a large slice of bread with butter. sliced apples and for dessert a banana pie with whip cream. Yum Yum~! Grandma Joann has a table in the living room that he makes his small John Deere Tractors farm. He has disks, hay bailers, wagons, even a plow.. They all hook up to his small tractors and around and around the table they go .. Ben making that noise that he makes to make the tractor go.. Priceless.

We had a fun day talking, playing and exchanging chit chat. After Thomas the Train was over on public television we went home. I put Ben to bed and he was asleep in less than 5 minutes.. He took a 2 hour nap.. GranAnnie took a nap too.

When Mommy got home tonight to pick up Ben

When Tracie came this evening to pick up Ben he was so happy. I showed her how he was trying to read the Thomas the Train books that I had picked up at the library last Friday. They are easy readers. Of course he couldn't read them , but he sure was telling us all about what he thought was going on in the books. He loves Thomas the Train and all the other engines.. At his house he has a train table that has the tracks, lighthouse, mountain that blows up,swinging bridge and lots more stuff. He plays and plays with all his trains. He knows all their names.

Rocco was feeling lonely so he jumped up on my lap and it made for a perfect picture of Ben,Rocco and Grannie Annie. Rocco gets to come to Gran-Annies house when Ben comes on Mon. Tues. Fridays.

Today Dave, Ben and I drove to Jesup, Iowa to pick out the new color steel that is going on our pole shed. We stopped at this farm store where there was a beautiful parrot named "Checkers".

He was saying "Hello" to us as we entered the store. Ben thought this parrot was pretty cool until it got on my shoulder. I just laughed,,this is the first thing that Ben the fearless has a fear for.. I just thought it was so funny. This parrot wanted to get close to Ben so bad.. No Way~! Ben didn't want anything to do with this bird. We looked at all the toy John Deere tractors which Ben just loves.. He had 6 boxes of tractors laid out on the floor for Grandpa Dee Dee to buy.. One tractor was $35.. Needless to say we told ALL the tractors good-bye and got to the car fast. We had a great day.. stopped at Burger king on the way home. Ben had 4 chicken strips and fries and a chocolate milk shake.. his favorite. lots of ketsup please.. We arrived home just in time for his afternoon nap.. 1 1/2 hour today. When he got up he was a happy boy.

Lazy Daisy Day~!

Went to church this morning and sang all my favorite songs.. I love the singing. Pastor Jack's sermon this Sunday was right on target... at least for me.. He talked about that when we die we can't take any of our stuff with us.. I decided that the best thing I can do is go through my stuff and pass it on. I pity my children when I die,,they are going to say "What did Mom save this for?" I always think I will need something for a rainy day.. I heard from someone that if you don't use something for 6 months pass it on or get it out of your house. I have a lot of that. Well, what do you do with all the children't books you collected.. I love children's books. This week I'm going to try and take one room at a time and take everything out of the room and sort it all out.. Place into three piles: Keep, Pass On,, Throw away~! My brother sent me a big box of chicken/turkey wish bones.. There must be over 200 of those little/big wish bones. Now what does a person do with those.. When you open the box ~ it smells like chicken.. My sister thinks I should spray them with lacque and put them in caches for geocaching.(http://www.geocaching.com/). Can't put anything in a cache that has a food smell.. Raccoons will pry open the container and yum yum... But with lacque sprayed on them maybe the smell will be covered.

My friend , Carrol called me today and asked if I had any tomatoes.. I said "No". this year it's been so cold that and rainy the tomatoes have not grown very well. The peppers are going strong and the brocolli.. I think I must have a rabbit in the garden.. The tomatoes I do have there are little teeth marks on those tomatoes. Looks just like buck teeth that a rabbit has in it's mouth.. I think it looks so cool.

Ben will be here in the morning ready for a tractor ride. He loves the John Deere's that Grandpa Dee Dee has in the shed. Just open the door and he climbs on them like he owns them. The first time he went into the shed he had to have help getting up on those tractors. Not anymore.. Ben is 2 1/2 years old and has no fear of anything.. He runs instead of walking and is really busy. We call him "Rascal Shorts".

Flowers in Bloom~!~!

Flowers are in bloom in my garden and it is so beautiful.. I was trying to get a picture of the bunny that lives in this garden. He would not peek out of the sedum so I could get a picture. He was in the yard earlier eating fresh lettuce that I put out for him. He would not let me take his picture today . I just got the flowers. So enjoy them and know that it's only 68 degrees again today. Nice fall day..

The summer guests

Today I sat outside in the yard to read my book. "The Lost Choice". written by Andy Andrews.. Great book , everyone should read this book. While sitting outside I could see one pair of ground squirrels running from the garden to the house to the garden and back to a hole next to where I was sitting. I have another pair that lives in the big rock next to the driveway.. They would run from the bird feeder to the house and then back to the rock. Whenever these two pairs saw each other they would chase each other all over the back yard.. When they would meet and get close to each other they would kick box and roll each other over and over in the yard. It was so fun watching them.. They were both busy gathering black oil sunflower seeds and taking them to their nests.. Their mouths and pouches were chuck full of seeds. I went into the house and got some marshmallows. I threw them into the yard..It was so fun watching them trying to carry them and then to get them down their hole to their nest. It was great entertainment. What a treat~! Won't be long and winter will be here and they will hibernate ~! But they will have plenty to eat ~ sunflowers seeds and for dessert marshmallows.

Maybe tomorrow I'll put some cheetos out in the yard.. It will be fun to see how they get those big puffy orange sticks into their nest..

My Goldfinches have been very busy at the feeders.. I have to fill my feeders everyday now.. The males are bright yellow now and they just shine so bright at the feeders. I'm sure they are busy with their babies as the milk weed has busted open and all the seeds are flying. Great nesting material for them. The Hummingbirds love the milk weed too.

Picnicing & Playing in the Park

Today Tracie, Ben and I went geocaching and only found two.. Lunch time came and I had packed some things for us to eat.. We stopped at a park where Ben could play on the swings, slides and climbing fearlessly on anything that had a step. He has no fear when it comes to playing on playground equipment.. He has so much fun and it's so much fun to watch...
We had a break in the playtime and we ate peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches, chips, and plums for a fruit.. He wouldn't let me take a picture of him eating the pickle.. He took one bite and ohhhh-weee what a face.. pucker up ~ shake the head and spit spit spit.. He just wanted peanut butter on his sandwich..
He loved the plum.. It's a very sunny day and very nice out.. 68 degrees.. It almost feels like fall weather now and seems so strange. August usually is in the 80-90's and lots of humidity.. This is really nice...
He had lots of fun playing and climbing and when it was time to go he had a hard time saying 'Goodbye to the swings, slides and the alligator. I told him we will come back another day...He said sadly "O.K."

Yummy Sweet Corn

Here is Ben eating his sweet corn. He is 2 1/2 years old and he loves his corn.
I take care of Ben on Mon. Tues and Fridays.. We have lots of fun. His favorite thing to do is go outside into the big shed and get on the John Deere Tractors.. Grandpa Dee Dee ~ that is what Ben calls him.. Grandpa's name is Dave. They go out first thing after Ben has his breakfast and Dave gives him a ride on the 530 John Deere in the pasture down to the creek and back.. You can hear G-Dee Dee telling him where everything is on that tractor.. gas cap, fly wheel, exhaust pipe, brake, steering wheel and all the other parts on the tractor. Ben is repeating everything Grandpa Dee Dee is saying.. So cute. Ben is being trained to love tractors ~ especially John Deeres..
When I put him down for a nap he brings out his favorite magazine "Green Magazine". It's a monthly magazine about John Deere tractors. I read to him and he just loves it. He also likes the magazine called "Two Cylinder"..That also is all about tractors.. Yesterday we read all about brakes on a John Deere. Ben loves it~! maybe someday he will be the owner of his own John Deere or maybe Grandpa Dee Dee will just give him one of his..
Grannie Annie is teaching him about the birds.. Yesterday the goldfinches were heavy on the feeders outside the window in the living room. He would say Goldfishes when he saw them.
then he would giggle.. This morning I was noticing on the picture window lip imprints.. Ben likes to put his lips on the window and breath on it and make breath marks on the window. He thinks that is such fun. There are Ben's lips all across the window from left to the right. I just left them on there for now. They look so cute.
Today we are going to go geocaching. I called his Mom to see if they were up and I could hear Ben in the background saying "Hi GranAnnie". What a wonderful gift God gave us~! Grandchildren are such a treasure and I love all my grandchildren. all 7 of them.

Hummingbirds are busy

Today I sat in the lawn chair for 1 1/2 hours watching the hummingbirds drink at the 2 feeders that I have.. Won't be long and they will be gone. I keep my feed out until I don't see them for several days.. Last year they were still here at the end of October. They are in the garden quite a bit drinking the sweet juice from the Cone Flowers, and the Zenia's. I love these little birds. They look so fragile but they are really strong.
The goldfinches are in big numbers now .. The Red-Wing-Blackbirds, Grackles, Starlings have all migrated.. It seems early for them to be gone.. So now the goldfinches and house finches are in their glory because they don't have to fight the big black birds for the black oil sunflower seed.
Today was a high of 63 degrees and very chilly. Rained until noon and then the sun came out and made everything look green. Had to wear a jacket while sitting in the back yard watching the birds.

Rainy Day~!

Oh I like rainy days~! You can stay inside and play. Today I looked up Piliated woodpecker on the internet and up came the big bird. 16.5" wing span 29" weighs 10 oz. That's a pretty big bird. Considering a Cardinal weighs 1.6 oz.

My daugter, Tracie and I went geocaching (www.geocaching.com) in our area last Sunday. In the woods I heard this LOUD pounding sound. Tracie said "What was that?" I told her it had to be the Piliated Woodpecker. It sounded like a hammer hitting a metal building. We looked toward the noise and sure enough there was the big bird getting bugs from the trees. Did you know that these birds tongues wrap around their brains so they don't come loose? Picture this : they lose their tongues they lose their brains. Oh my. Not good.

Had a great time reading and looking at all the pictures that are posted for the piliated woodpecker.

I'm back blogging

Well here it is 15 of January.. Where is the time going? Just yesterday it was "Happy New Year".. Jan 1, 1906.
Today I went out to feed my birds.. Yikes~! they were hungry. I have a peanut feeder and the woodpeckers were sitting on the branch waiting for breakfast. I have a suet log for them and yesterday I filled it for them with the peanut plugs. Oh my, they were very very happy. Thank goodness Mrs. Squirrel hasn't found this feeder. Hope they can't get on the wire that the feeder is attached to. When you have squirrel's ~one must give up when trying to get them not to eat the birds food. Just feed them and make them happy.
A mouse got in the trap under my sink this morning. I threw it out into my yard and Mr. Red Tail Hawk came swooping down and picked up the mouse with his mighty talons. Oh that was so cool. Yes, I know ~beware they like songbirds too.
The weather here is very mild.. 45 degrees today. That is too warm for winter in Iowa. I think it was warmer here today than it was in South Carolina. It is light jacket weather.
Ta Ta For Now~!

Hummingbirds are out of breath

The hummingbirds arrived today.. YEAH~! This morning I had one and just before dark I had two.. Hopefully more will come tomorrow and then drop their suitcases in my yard and stay all summer. After that big long flight they looked like they were panting. Ha Ha.. They took a lot of drinks from the two feeders that I have out for them. They were in competition with the Baltimore Orioles, They arrived today and they were hungry too. I made extra food for the feeders tonight. Don't want to run out of food with all this excitement in the yard. The Orioles have two bowls of grape jelly so they won't go hungry.
The red-bellied woodpecker has a mate and they are nesting in the tree right outside the house in the big tree by the driveway. That is where I have 5 feeders. They have been chowing down on the black oil sunflowers and the grape jelly. Didn't know woodpeckers had sweet beaks. They are fun to watch.
Put out a pile of small sticks for the wren.. In one hour they were gone and he was singing in the tree. Tomorrow I'll help him out and gather some more sticks for him.. Oh how much fun I'm having. Thank you God~!~! For the birds. What a blessing it is to sit in the yard and watch all this activity. The only thing missing is my sister Lynn and my brothers Dave and
Leroy.. What a magic moment that would be if they were here~!

Rhubarb Crisp

Today I made Rhubarb Crisp.. It was soooo good. I took 1/2 of it to the neighbors.. The Starry's. They were so delighted that I brought them dessert. Kim said she bought some vanilla ice cream and they would have that with the Rhubarb.
Conner their son, who is 8 showed me a baby rabbit he found. He said that he was going to take it back to it's nest.. There are 4 other babies there too. They were so sweet. I held it for a minute and it was so little. Isn't Spring just wonderful.. Lots of babies to hold.
Today I put up the hammock out by the Olive Tree. I have a finch feeder hanging really close and it was fun to watch the goldfinches come to feed. They are just about 5 feet from the hammock. My friend Sharlyn called me today and said "Get Ready" the Balitimore Orioles are here. So I put out the grape jelly for them. . The red bellied woodpecker loves the grape jelly. Hope he shares with the orioles.

Precious babies

Today while I was mowing the grass down to the creek, I passed by the bluebird nesting boxes. In one was a sparrow and she had 4 babies. They were nestled in a nest with lots of grass, feathers from a pheasant, cardinal,bluejay, a small piece of plastic.It also had rabbit fur. The baby birds were so pink, no feathers. They were bald all over. I picked one up and held it softly in my hand.. It was moving around and opening it's mouth. Mother sparrow was having a fit,, I told her to cool it~! You know it's a myth that if you hold baby birds, the mother will smell your scent and the mother will abandon the baby.. Not true.. Birds can't smell. I carefully put the baby bird back into it's nest, closed the door of the box and then I drove the lawn tractor ahead. I stopped the mower and just sat and watched,, Mother Sparrow was back in the box and checking out her babies.. Pretty soon Father Sparrow brought some bugs for his kids and everyone was happy again. There's just something about food, it helps to soothe the nerves. Bugs is Comfort Food for them. I'll take some Chocolate please...no bugs~!

Nesting Materials and Noisy Wrens

Received my new all time favorite "Birders World" magazine. There was article about nesting materials. It said that if we place twigs in small piles around the yard the Male House Wren will gather it up as he has a big job. He just doesn't build one nest he builds lots of nests for his sweatheart. When she comes to meet him, she inspects his nests and OUCH~! She chooses the nest site that she likes and then she tears the nest apart that he maticulousy built just for her and the off spring. She throws all the twigs out of the nest and rebuilds it herself. That is a lot of work. When she is done they are both happy. He sits in a near by branch and sings his song of series of bubbling liquid trills. If you have a nest nearby your house forget about sleeping in ~in the morning.. This little guy will wake you up at 4:30 and keep singing until you say "Uncle" and you get up and make coffee and go outside and hear the musical spring songs of all the birds. What a joy~!~! I love spring and all that God has to offer us in all the things that he made for us to enjoy.

Apples and Oranges

This morning I put out new oranges and apples. The ones I put out yesterday morning are gone~! The red bellied woodpeckers just love the fresh fruit. Good thing I have a lot of apples and oranges to keep them supplied. I also noticed the downy woodpeckers, the black capped chickadees and of course the robins all found the fruit. It's quite a gathering of birds in my garden.
Today I'm going to move the bird bath. The feeders are right outside my big window in the living room. That way I will be able to see them better up close taking their baths. They sure do use it a lot to wash up everyday.
The beautiful spring songs are getting more stronger everyday.. The Cardinal's and the Orioles are trying to oudo each other in their songs. The poor females should be overwhelmed by all this attention that is given to them this time of year. The grass is getting greener and the temperature's this week being in the 50's should bring out the worms and the bugs.
Those dog gone asian beetles are everywhere in the house now. They are flourishing with the warm weather. Coming out of the woodwork. I wouldn't care so much, but they leave a bright yellow spot on everything. Get out the dust buster~!~! v-v-v-r-r-r-oommmmm~!

Perty-Perty-Perty

The birds are all busy with their musical singing. The males are trying to outdo each other with their body lanuage and their singing. Mr. Cardinal is yelping how pertty he is,, he sings "Perty=Perty=Perty"
Cleaned out the bluebird houses and they were filled with sparrow nests. Lots of pretty feathers~bluejay, pheasants, goldfinches, mourning doves. Sorry sparrow's your not nesting this spring. The bluebirds are here and they are going to have first chance.
I love the spring songs that the birds sing. The geese are back on the pond and they are squaking and honking when another bird comes near their water. Very territorial.
Starlings have learned to hang upside down to get at the suet. They must of lifted weights this year while they were wintering in the south. Usually they can't hang upside down, but this year they are deligent in getting that good home-made suet.
They could of stayed in Florida, that would not of hurt my feelings. The red-wing blackbirds loved it while they were in South Carolina, don't know why they didn't stay. They like to sit on my bluebird houses and not let them make a nest. Do they think they are in the army with those stripes on their wings? I call them sargent birds. They are very bossy ~!
The bird bath is busy with all kinds of activity. It needs refilling every day. Splash, Splash, Splash.

Blue birds are back~!

The bluebirds are back in the area. Well, the male bluebird. He always comes early like the male wren scoping out a home for his sweetheart.
Did you know that you need to have their houses facing East? It protects the nest from storms from the south and the afternoon sun from the west.
If you have pesky House Sparrows that bother the bluebirds visit the website from the North American Society~~ www.nabluesociety.org/sparrow.htm for detailed information on House Sparrow control.
If you get the April 2005 issue of Birders World there is a wonderful article about rolling out the red carpet for bluebirds.

Clean your Micro-Wave

Boom! It’s Clean: An easy (and fun) way to clean your microwave! Fill a paper cup with water and a few tablespoons of baking soda. Nuke it for 30 seconds or so – until the contents explode! The explosion flings cleanser over the microwave’s inside; all you have to do it take a damp paper towel and wipe the cleanser (and any cooked-on grunge) off.

IT's Spring~!~!

Here in Iowa it's finally Spring~!~! When I go outside the birds are singing their spring lovey dovey songs. Time to get out the baby monitor. Every spring when the birds sing their mating songs to each other I go and get the baby monitor. I put one monitor outside and the other one in my kitchen. It's too cold to sit outside and listen, so this is easier. My cat goes crazy the first few days when I do this. She looks all over the house and tries to find the birds. I love to hear the Cardinal, singing Birdy Birdy Birdy...Then the goldfinches with their lilting sweeeet. The green feathers will be molting off soon and their bright yellow feathers will come forth..
Do you know how you know when Spring has really sprung in Iowa? When you see the first red-winged blackbirds. Sorry Robins you are not the first sign of Spring.
What a relief,,Spring is almost here..

Does your head itch?

Today Maria called me and said "Guess What?" I said m-m-m-? O.K. tell me.. She said all the kids have head lice. Oh my, my head starting itching all over. She said, I should comb my hair with a fine comb and then look at it and see if I saw any lice. No lice that I can see. She said Kelly has it the worst. She must of had it for a long time. Well, I'll have to keep tract of my scalp. I was there for 12 days. Have only been home for 10 days. Oh just the thought makes me itch~! Sure am glad that I didn't use their brushes to comb my hair while I was there. It gives me the ebee jeebees just thinking about the little guys crawling all over your head. Can you go blind if you get infested with them? lose your hair? Oh my, just hope I don't get those little creepy crawling things.

Big Fat Mouse

This morning when I woke up I came downstairs and made my first cup of coffee. There is nothing like a cup of coffee to start my day. It's like your whole body says AHHHHH~!~! While making the coffee I looked below my kitchen sink to see if a mouse had been trapped in the mouse trap. Yikes~! there was one mouse and it was huge. It's eyes were bugged out and it was dead. So I took the mouse out of the trap and threw it out the back door into the snow. I thought when I go out to feed the birds I'll take him out to the field.
I went out to feed the birds, the feeders were all empty. While I was at it I cleaned the feeders with my bird feeder brush. There were some port holes that were cloggled. I got all the bird feeders and the suet feeders with new food and I came in the house to get water for the bird bath. As I was headed to go out back door there was a huge red-tailed hawk swooping down from above and landing near the mouse. I ran to get my camera, but by the time I got the camera on, the hawk had the mouse in it's talon's and it was flying off to a nearby tree. So I tried to take a picture of it in the tree, but Mr. Hawk flew off with it's big ole fat mouse. WOW~! I was so surprised. The hawk was so big and was so close. So I took camera and took pictures of his feet prints in the snow. They were huge. When Dave came home I showed him the pictures of the feet prints and asked him if he knew what kind of bird made those prints. He said it looked like a chicken. (We don't have chickens). When I told him he said that was a good way of getting rid of my dead mice.
I called Rich and he said I should throw out some chicken meat tomorrow. Have camera ready and take the picture. Maybe tomorrow I'll get another mouse.

Flamingo's Dancing

If you hummed the nutcracker suite out loud, you could watch the flamingo's dancing back and forth like balerina's. Round and round, doing their perets, spelling wrong) they were so pink they were almost red. They would go into the water and then come back to the beach area. Dancing left and then right. Oh they were so much fun to watch.
They only lay one egg in a mudd mound. Won't it be fun here in the spring when they hatch their eggs we can see little flamingo's. If you want to see the flamingo's go to www.smithsonianzoo and go to the animal cam's that are there and you will find all kinds of animals. Pandas', baby cheetahs, gorilla's, elephants, girraff's, flamingo's, and other zoo animals, it's a window into the zoo that you can see on the internet right in your own home. Cool m-m-?

Izzy the Bisquit Eater

The last morning at Richard's house I decided to make bisquits for breakfast for everyone. The grandchildren loved them, lots of butter, jelly and almost all of it dripping down the chin. Such bliss to be a child again and not care that butter and jelly are dripping down the chin onto a clean shirt. Grab a napkin~Quick and catch those drips. Too late.
Walked the kids to school with the thought of coming home and having one of those bisquits with my morning coffee. As I was coming into the house I heard Rich say, "OH MY GOODNESS"~! I turned the corner just in time to see Izzy the dog, licking her lips. You could almost hear her say," "M-m-m- that was good, is there anymore?"
She ate the rest of the bisquits (8) and a whole stick of butter. Reality came quick as Rich said "Izzy, go to your bed, you bad dog". I laughed,and told him, "Well it comes with getting food under the table. When the kids don't like what's on their plate they put it on their spoons and spoon by spoon feed it to Izzy." So why not go for the top of the table. Can't you just imagine how a dog thinks ~"No one is here, breakfast must be over. So I'll just get what is left over." Sounds reasonable for a dog m-? I just laughed and thought of all the dogs we had when our kids were younger and they fed the dog under the table. It's a food chain.
I think what is so funny,is that Izzy only gets 2 cups of dogfood a day to keep her slim. It's a good thing. With the dogfood and peoplefood she gets daily she will become a little lumpy and bumpy. I think that is called love handles.

Seeing Black and White

This morning while walking the kids to school this very ambitious black and white dog almost plowed us over. IT was jumping all over the place, jumping on us, jumping in circles and being crazy. I said to John, "John, this dog looks just like Izzy?". He says, "Grannie Annie ~it is Izzy". I said, "Good Grief". One of the neighbors saw our plight and ran out with a leash. Of course Izzy fought the leash, but after giving her a cookie that I had in pocket, she came to her senses and let me put the leash on her neck. After that I felt like my arms were coming out of their sockets. Izzy was pulling me to school with the kids. She is so strong. Kelly said, "Here Grannie Annie give her to me". I said "No Kelly" she will drag you to school without stopping. After the kids went into the school, Ms. Izzy calmly walked home with me at the end of her leash. What a dog~!
Filled up the feeders this morning. The Red bellied Woodpecker was bawling me out for it's feeder being empty. What a sqawk he has. The squirrels were rushing across the wires at the sound of the feeders being filled. They are very acrobatic. Jumping like leap frogs over each other to see who could get to the feeder first. They have grey squirrels here, they are so pretty.

squirrels are alive

Here in Chicago the squirrels were so hungrey at South Cook Street that when I went out to feed them they came just a scurrying. Do you know how they get to the tall feeders? They stand on each others backs to get to the food. They take turns so everyone gets something to eat. Isn's that nice..No one goes hungry.
The Cardinals are making their Spring call, birdy, birdy, birdy~! Music to my ears. The black capp chickadees are very busy , flitting to the feeders and then grabbing some sunflowers and dasing off. They are so sweet.
It snowed here in Barrington, Illinois and it's so pretty. I love it when it snows you can go tracking. Have you ever been tracking? I saw that Blues Clues was in the driveway. Tracks all over the place. Blues Clues is a dog. I saw some tiny bird tracks they looked so sweet. Other tracks sighted was something that looked like it had slid from the road all the way to the garage. It went uphill. It was made by a small boy pushing the recycle box back to the house. ha ha.
have a great day. Love your blogspot My favorite sister.

Audubon State Park

Did you know that you can visit John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky? Dave that could be a stop you could make on your way here next October.
Audubon lived in Henderson from 1810 to 1819. If you are there at the right time of year you can enjoy the migration of birds. There is a 6 1/2 mile hiking trail that winds through the nature preserve. There are more than 200 species of birds that have been observed along the trails.. If you would like to stay at the Audubon State Park, rent one of the park's six fully equipped cottages or reserve a campsite. There you have it a place to go and enjoy birding...