The last time I painted anything I was in 8th grade art class and that's 60 years ago. OK, I tried to paint part of a cupboard door once and my husband had to rescue the door and me. It is HARD! We both love watercolor and own about 10 paintings, landscapes, all with lots of trees and are … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Lose an Audience
Tonight I tried to listen to a podcast on a topic I care about and closed it out after 10 minutes. I'm not sure how I tolerated it that long. Why? Here are 5 ways to lose an audience: Assume your listeners are stupid. Your verbal mannerisms, language choices, sighs, all these convey … [Read more...]
The Birds of Spring – And a Rufous Sided Towhee
We live in a rural area with a large field behind us and wooded swaths about half a mile north and we get a lot of birds. All winter we have cardinals, sparrows, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, gold finches, juncos, mourning doves, purple finches plus the odd blackbird, blue jay and robin and lots … [Read more...]
Remembering Dad with Ice Box Cookies
My Mom made Ice Box Cookies* her own, special cookies that all of us kids remember. My Dad liked them too... I remember Dad taking me to Saginaw to see the eye doctor. I was about 7 and that was a longish trip at the time, about an hour. Mom packed Ice Box Cookies in a coffee tin for us to … [Read more...]
It’s Been An Interesting Week
It's been an interesting week. Last Tuesday and Wednesday we had a fierce windstorm with winds more than 60 miles per hour. For the first time ever since we moved here 5 years ago we lost power for more than a few hours. In fact we were out from early afternoon on the 8th until evening on the … [Read more...]
Thanks to Loren for Switching Out Our Lightbulbs
I like saving electricity for lots of reasons beyond saving money. It's important, just like recycling. One of the easiest ways to reduce electricity consumption is to switch out incandescent and halogen bulbs for LED lights. We replaced the indoor lights we use the most often already but were … [Read more...]
Warm January Weather Melts the Snow and Shows the Mess
It's been unusually warm the last few days, 40s Wednesday - Friday, mid-50s today, 50 tomorrow, before we get back to our normal high 20s/low 30s. This is Michigan after all, and no matter what the groundhog sees on February 2, spring is at least a couple months away. The sun felt so good this … [Read more...]
Exploring for Mushrooms in Our Winter Lawn
Right now the snow is mostly gone, leaving grass and leaves and interesting mushrooms out for us to see. We had unusual mushrooms in our front yard this fall that I've not seen before. These oval ones all growing in a group remind me of mini loaves of bread. Each one has a crack in its … [Read more...]
Shore Birds on Lake Michigan Fall 2016
We camped by Muskegon in September where gulls and shorebirds were in and out of the water, swimming and walking and flying, busy searching for food. Gulls are smart and wait for people to discard pretzels that fall on the sand. This guy was persistent! (Yes, we gave him and his friends … [Read more...]
4 Myths About Fall Clean Up
There are all sorts of myths about fall clean up. Myth #1. You feel so good when everything is done. Nope. I'm a bit sore and a little miffed I missed the Lions win to clean the garage. Myth #2. Everything looks so much better when it's done. Well, maybe. Some of it anyway. The garage … [Read more...]