These two bucks were in the field just out our back door this morning, playing and locking horns. I thought I had my camera in video mode when I shot this first picture and was disappointed that I didn't get a video of them playing. Very shortly after snapping this photo, they went on their way.
But...................wahoo. I decided to keep watching (with my camera in VIDEO mode...this time) to see if they would continue to play. It seemed it was the larger of the two bucks that wanted to keep playing, thus, I did get some footage. The first footage I took was from inside our home. I wanted to see if I could get a better shot so I snuck out the back door and stood on the porch, waiting for my moment. Sure enough, the larger buck slowly moved towards the smaller buck and started to engage in another bout of play time.
I found the cutest idea to make a handout for the Young Women in my ward. I got my idea from SugarDoodle, and took it from there, making up my own handout. I love the SugarDoodle site, giving me many ideas for my calling in my ward. If I have the idea, I can usually come up with something but it's the IDEAS that give me trouble. Don't ya just love people out there who are so generous and willing to share their ideas? - I DO! Here is my version of someone else's idea.
After all my hard work of making the handouts and tying them onto "U-NO" candy bars, I had my husband read my blog and he noticed a mistake in the second line of the handout.......it stated: who love you. It should have read: who loves you. Yes, I could have just let it go and explain to the girls that I made a mistake and yada, yada, yada. But to those of you reading this blog who know me, you know that wasn't going to happen. Of course, I had to fix my mistake, re-run copies of the handout, cut them out, and re-tie them onto the candybars.
After much research, my husband purchased a Portable Indoor/Outdoor Kerosene Heater for an emergency heat source. As a trial run, we have it burning in the dining room area this morning. It actually puts out quite a lot of heat. It has a heating capability of 1,000 square feet and will run for 12 hours on its 1.9 gallon capacity. We can smell a little of the kerosene while it is burning but not too bad. It states that if you light it outside then bring it in the house, you won't get the smell. My husband lit it outside first but I guess he didn't wait long enough before bringing it in the house. Either way, it's not too strong of a smell.
If you are interested and want more information about this heater, go to the following site. It is on sale right now for $109.
I needed to go to town today to fill the car with gas and to pick up some groceries. Can you imagine how much money we would save if we didn't have to eat. We'd all be millionaires - Woopiekiay! After leaving the grocery store, I headed for home when a thought came to me.......you haven't been to the mine hill bridge for awhile, why not take a little detour and go there. I like taking pictures in that area........it seems there is always something there. I wasn't disappointed in the detour. I noticed some ducks swimming on the river so I decided to video them. There were quite aways off so the video is pretty poor but when I turned and looked on the other side of the bridge, there was one a lot closer so I took a still photo of him. I've never seen one of these ducks before so I came home a Googled it. It is known as a Barrow's Goldeneye (diving sea duck). They are a long-lived duck, living up to 18 years. The duck was named after Sr. John Barrow, a fellow of the Royal Society.
OOPS......Good thing I have my bird-watching sister around. She wrote and told me to check out the Common Goldeneye. I checked it out and although similar, my duck seems to be the Common Goldeneye. Thanks, SIS!.....and here I thought I was being smart and could do it without my sis....what on earth was I thinking?! - HA!
It was nice going to Lehi for Christmas but I sure missed the wide open space and the wildlife we have here at our home. As my husband and I sat down for dinner last night, the deer started coming on the yard to get the crab apples. There were a bunch of deer just over the fence but only 3 came on the lawn. You know, I just never get tired of watching them. As for my videos, the first two I loaded from my computer but the other two I couldn't get them to load from my computer so I had to load them to YouTube first and then to my computer (this is the norm). All the other videos that appear after mine have played....MOST ARE NOT my videos and aren't worth the time it takes to watch them. I tried one today and whew, pretty vulgar. I wished I knew how to get mine to load from the computer so they are not attached to YouTube videos! Sorry! If you want to view my video again (the bottom two that were loaded from YouTube), just use the replay button at the top left-hand corner of the video you previously viewed.
We...my husband, myself, my daughter and her husband, traveled to Utah for Christmas this year to spend it with our daughter and my side of the family. My mother passed away quite a few years ago and my father past away this summer and one of my sisters still lives in the home. I didn't want her to be alone Christmas morning so off to Utah we went. On Christmas eve, we drove around looking at lights.
The picture below was one of those homes that you drive by, tune into a radio station and watch the lights blink off and on in synchronization with the music - spectacular!
My parents living room was/is rather small and we looked all over for somewhere to hang the stockings. My husband came up with the idea of hanging them from the deer horns. Ingenious, and clever. My dad shot this deer many, many years ago. It was his pride and joy. He had it stuffed and over time, it totally rotted out so last summer, he had it re-done but the person that did it, did not do a very good job. The head and cape are much smaller than the original and the hide is pulling away from the mouth and other places. This deer, at the time, was pretty huge, winning a spot in the Boone and Crockett book of big game records. As he was firing at the deer, he shot off one of the horn tips, resulting in the losing of a jeep. The gun that is nestled in the horns is not the actual gun he used to shoot the deer but it is one like it. When all is said and done, it made for a terrific mantel to hang our stockings.
The tree was placed in front of the living room window and the presents were placed on the wall to the right of the tree, in front of the television. The hilarious part about the presents was this....I went into my sisters bedroom to wrap up a few presents when I noticed some bags on the floor that had items in them. Now, you have to know my sister....she has a habit of buying things, leaving them in bags, and putting them on her bedroom floor. I thought how fun it would be to wrap up these items and put them with the rest of the presents, to see how long it would take her to notice that some of the presents she was unwrapping were actually things she had purchased previously. As we had opened quite a few presents and she was cluing in, she opened one of the presents and asked "does this thing really work"? To which I replied, "you tell me, you bought it"! There were many more comments made that had us all rolling with laughter. It's one of those things that you just had to be there. You'll have to take my word for it but we were laughing so hard throughout the process, it literally hurt!
On Christmas morning, we all head down to my brothers home for breakfast and the "UGLY" gift exchange. For the ugly gift exchange, everyone brings something they think is pretty ugly, we put a number on the gift, everyone draws numbers and you have to keep the gift you draw out for. This is where the fun part comes in. Whatever gift you receive, you need to display it prominently in your home for the entire year. It's fun looking and being creative for the entire year in buying and embellishing the gifts. One year I got a plain black "piece of art" that I kept on my mantel for the year. My husband once stated that this so called "art piece" looked like a rabbit so for the following Christmas (last year) I decorated it up and gave the bunny as my ugly gift.
Well, the laugh was on my sister when she opened up her ugly gift this year. My niece and her husband got my bunny last year and let's just say, they made a new and improved bunny. Would you look at bunny now! They drilled a hole through the top of bunny and turned it into a lamp. Can you imagine this bunny sitting in your living room for an entire year. - HA!
It's all in good fun and when people come to visit your home, the comments you get make it even better. It's a fun tradition and it's a fun time for everyone, waiting in anticipation to see what your gift will be and looking at all the others, while laughing it up! Yes, definitely yes, it was a Christmas to remember.
Let's just say I have a little fixation (fix.a.tion - an obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something ) for cameras.Although not the real expensive ones, but the ones, did I say ones?.....I meant more. I just purchased me a new one from Amazon. It is like the one I have but a newer model and I got a good deal on it. Now, I'll always have one for the home, did I say one?....I meant two for the home and one to put in my purse to have with me at all times. NO MORE MISSED PICTURES FOR ME! Unless of course I forget to charge my battery or I don't have a spare SD card, which has happened in the past. I was talking to J.M. at the school one time and she told me how many cameras she had gone through and it was her inspiration that prompted me to buy another camera just in case (wink, wink) one of my other cameras goes on the fritz. This is what my new camera will look like when it arrives.
MeRrY ChRiStMaS to me. Wahoo! Oh, my husband doesn't know it........... yet.......... but when I went to purchase this camera, it came off of his charge card. Don't know how that happened! But yes, for those of you wondering, I will pay him back (Ahem).
Here are some pictures of my little Christmas tree, with most of the ornaments being handmade.
I used to have a tradition where I made a new ornament for each year, but as I've gotten older and the kids have left the nest, I have let the tradition go by the way side. I then moved on to buying a new ornament for each year but I haven't done that in a few years, either. I know.....Bah-Humbug! These are a few of the ones I have made over the years.
My most favorites, however, are these.....my Drunken Rudolph. When I first painted this one, I just loved him and thought he was so cute and then my husband pointed out that he looked "sloshed". Just look at him with his droopy eyes, red nose, and silly grin............. sloshed, right. It's amazing he found his way to all those homes, let alone landing on roof tops. We have laughed about this for years and he hangs towards the top, front/center of our Christmas tree every year, still giving us laughs. I tried to duplicate him and make one for each of my daughters a few years ago but as much as I tried, I couldn't get the same effect. I guess there's is and only will be one Rudolph in this home.
My baby daughter......who is now 26. This was one of those ornaments little children bring home from school. I don't remember which teacher did this but it is an ornament I will treasure forever.
My little Kitten in the Mitten and my bright Red Bell. My mother made both of these. She was such a dear lady. Oh, how I love memories, keeping our loved ones near.
The angel that tops our tree is another favorite. I purchased two of these one year from our local lumber yard, one for me and one for my mother. My mother collected angels and I wrote a poem and attached it to the one I gave to her and watched her cry as she read the poem. Tender. These angels, however pretty they were, were not made very well. The inside had lights and it wasn't long before we noticed that the lights were too hot and were melting the plastic on the inside.............even leaving big burn spots. Whew, that could have been a fire hazard. I told my friend about it because she used to work in miniatures and I thought she might know of a way to fix it. We were both sitting on my living room couch working on the angel lights when.....POOF....it kind of blew up, literally. It really scared us both and we laughed a good one. So now, my angel sits atop our Christmas tree every year, holding one light that I string up through the bottom. My little tree may not be the picture perfect, the kind you see in magazines, tree, but its branches hold many memories
I should have posted this blog around Halloween time because what I am about to reveal should literally chill you to the bones. It's sure put a scare in me! I bought a package of hamburger buns in September when my daughter and her husband came home for the annual Home Town BBQ.
With everything going on, we didn't get the chance to use the hamburger buns. I put them in the bread drawer thinking we would use them later in the week. I still didn't get around to using them and I noticed they still looked really good so I decided to keep them just to see how long it took before they started to mold. Well, here we are, 3 MONTHS later, and the bag of hamburger buns still look pretty appetizing................good thing there's an expiration date on the bag. Would you take a look at the date! This package states that the buns are: Best By Sep/17/11. Is this scary, or what!
I decided to take the buns out of the bag to see if I could actually find any mold on them. Out of the eight buns in the bag, I could only find one that had started to mold and it was only a tiny spot on one corner of the bun.
WOW, does this tell you anything about what we are consuming, daily. Makes you wonder how many preservatives are put in our foods. Maybe that's why people are living much longer and the life expectancy is higher than in the past...........WE'RE ALL FULL OF PRESERVATIVES! - HA! I love the name brand of these buns: WONDER.......Does it make you wonder?
At Thanksgiving time I was asked to give a talk in church. The topic, of course, was on gratitude/thankfulness for the things God has given to us. That morning as I was putting on my nylons, right, you guessed it, I put a big hole in what I thought was my only pair. Luckily after searching my dresser drawers, I found another pair. Right there and then I thought about how thankful I was for nylons. Being a red-head, nylons become very important when you realize how white your legs are without them. Not a pretty picture. Anyways, I mentioned that in my talk about how thankful I was for nylons and how they covered up my walking glow sticks (legs). Well, tonight my husband and I went to the church for a ward Christmas dinner. When I was walking out of the church a lady presented me with a bag and said a person had told her to give me the bag and it's contents but I couldn't open it till I got in the car. Lookie, lookie what was in the bag. Is this just too funny, or what? If you can't tell from the picture, there are 4 pairs of nylons and a package of knee-hi's. I love this persons sense of humor...........whomever it is?
I was looking out my dining room window the other day observing this Magpie, and of course, taking pictures. You know, Magpies are such a pretty bird and on the other hand.............why are they such an obnoxious bird. I almost think we have more Magpies around our place than we do mosquitoes, if that is possible. Their beauty is the only thing that is tolerable. They come in and literally steal pet food, and when it comes to singing, they remind me of Johnny Cash (my daughter just called and mentioned Willie Nelson & that is who I meant to put on the blog)...they have no voice. It's not a pretty warble or tweet, it's a SQUAWK - YUCK!
And just when you think there isn't really anything good worth mentioning about a Magpie, this little fellow does this....showing in all his splendor, the beautiful detailing of his black and white colors. Yes, black and white are colors (a debated issue), in my opinion, as I tell the Kindergarten class. I think he was doing the Hokey, Pokey, or something like that. Anyways, it amused me at the time. On the other hand, I will give credit where credit is due. The internet states that Magpies are believed to be one of the most intelligent of all animals.
I know, I know...........I'm easily amused. But when it comes to my camera, I'll try most anything. The other night I was taking some pictures when I almost (almost being the key word) flipped my camera on the floor. But the cool thing was, look at the picture result. It is a picture of my carpet, all psychedelic and weird looking. You can see the swirls where my camera took a turning motion.
I thought, cool. So from there, I went around the house spinning my camera while snapping pictures. This is a picture of my couch. And no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I do have one of those old, vintage couches with the brown and orange flowers on it that just won't wear out.
From the couch, I moved over to my mantle. I have greenery, lights, and other objects sitting there which made for another interesting photo.
I took the above photos with the intent of never putting them on my blog. The other night after getting my Christmas tree up I thought................................................you got it, I remembered spinning my camera and taking photos. The following photos are of my Christmas tree.
See, I told you.............easily amused. These would make for some pretty interesting backgrounds for other projects, too. You never know!
We had a small herd of deer on our lawn by our dining room window this afternoon and this time I actually thought to get them jumping the fence, ON VIDEO. I keep forgetting that my camera has a video mode. I've only used it about 4 time in the year I've had my camera. And no, you don't need to adjust your viewing pleasure.......it's just me, wiggling the camera. Oopsies!
While I was downloading this video, Evan went out and counted the deer and he said there were at least 30 head in the field. Gotta Love It!
Last night as I pulled into the driveway, this little guy went bounding around to the other side of the house. I got out of the car and very quietly, crept around the house, hoping he would be there. There he stood, looking me straight in the eyes from the other corner of the house. I already had my camera ready for the shot and was able to get this one before he leaped across the fence.
Tonight when I came home, there were two does on the back yard. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, they leaped over the fence and were on the run. I didn't pay much attention to them because they were on the run and I knew I couldn't get a picture. I turned the car off and just sat there a bit looking through the mail. When I looked up from reading my mail, the two does were jumping back over the fence onto the yard. One of the does came right over to the car and started eating. My windshield was terribly dirty but I thought...why not try and see if I could get some good shots.
Here she is looking off to the left, with ears perked up like she heard something.
In this picture, you can see how close she is to my car, as you can see my dashboard and windshield wipers. It was nice just observing her. Seconds later, her ears went up and I looked into my rear-view mirror and noticed that my husband had pulled into the driveway. Off she bounded, once again, never to return. It was fun while it lasted.
