Wild Turkeys - Strutting Their Stuff

Ask me if I am excited about this blog.  As I was driving down the road today, I was talking to my friend on the phone and she stated that she was standing at her house and it looked like there were some wild turkeys standing on the road.  Immediately, my camera mode kicked in and I started asking her question after question after question......where exactly are they...how far from your house....are they right in the middle of the road.....yada, yada, yada.  At that point, I was only a few miles from her home so bee-lined it, I did.  When I spotted them, I slowed down and drove slowly to where they were.  I rolled down my window hoping to get a good picture of them when to my surprise, they strutted right over to my car.  I don't know if this is the right terminology or not but I'm going to call it P.P. (Photographer Palpitations).  I was pretty excited about getting photos of these fellas.  What a moment for me.  I've never been this close to wild turkeys before.  My first thought was.........I sure wished my father was here to see this.  After shooting shot after shot, it dawned on me once again that I had video mode on my camera.  At this time, the turkeys were moving away from my car so I hurried up and dialed video mode on my camera and started rolling the action.  Can you believe it....I only had about 1 minute of video action when my camera flashed...insufficient memory.  Go figure.

If you would like to view this video in a larger format, just click on the address below. If this does not work, just copy and paste the link into your internet address bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVqkgUzhpc8&feature=youtu.be

No Comparison

Here's a photo update to my last blog.  Remember I was telling you about the pretty picture I took from my dining room window.  Shortly after that, the sun came out so I ventured outside to get a closer photo of the same scene..............WOW, no comparison in the two pictures.  The last one I took is much more beautiful with the sun shining, highlighting the fence posts and weeds.  While I was out, I decided to take some more pictures but that didn't last too long.  Strong winds came up very quickly, blowing very cold air around my face & body and just about froze me before I got back to the house.  Burr-r-r-r-r-r-r.  Anything for a better photo, right?

Ah, Mackay

This morning when I got up, and to my surprise, we had an inch of new snow. I was looking through a pair of binoculars at the deer in the field just behind our home when this came into view. I thought it was beautiful. I decided to take a picture of it from the comfort of my home. This shot was an entire field length away and I was taking it through my dining room window using my 14X optical zoom and without a tripod, so it is a little blurry but still, the scenery was too beautiful to pass up. Right now it is snowing and wouldn't make for the best photo but hopefully it will clear up soon and I can go outside and get a better shot of this area.  Ah, Mackay......what a beautiful little valley for taking photographs.

God's Country

Yesterday, after I had driven down off of the mine hill and was cruising around town, I came across this site.  Wow, Old Glory and Mt, McCaleb in one shot..............just goes to prove that Mackay is, of course, God's Country.  I spotted the flag flying as I was coming down main street and decided to drive one block down and head down a back alley to take this picture.  Mt. McCaleb is a photographic opportunity for many people who take pictures.  What a majestic mountain.  One lady here in the valley is actually making a photo book that is titled: McCaleb Moods.  She told me that everyday there is a different photo you can take of the old mountain and they are never the same.  I can believe that because since I have started taking pictures, I have a lot of Mt. McCaleb in my photo files.  Yessiree, you heard me right................God's Country.

I am behind mainstreet in this next picture just to show you the flag I noticed before taking the picture of it in front of Mt. McCaleb.  This building, believe it or not is right on our mainstreet.  Of course it doesn't look like this from the front view but it just goes to show you the story behind little old towns.  You can't help but love the atmosphere you get from little, small towns.

Licking My Wounds

For those of you who know me, you know I am a totally wanny when it comes to shot needles.  Today I needed to go and get some blood drawn because I am on high blood pressure pills and they said they needed to do a blood draw to make sure the pills were not affecting my liver or kidneys.  If that wasn't bad enough, when the nurse was stretching the band to put around my arm to make my veins stand up, she accidentally (so she says) let go of the rubber banding and popped me right in the side, a good one.  We laughed till we were almost crying.  After that experience, I decided to go for a ride, while licking my wounds, to see how the mine hill was.  Now if you read my Mine Hill sledding experience that happened on Tuesday night, I'm going to take you along the road that we were trying to get my car off of.  Not too steep, but steep enough when you are trying to get your car off an eight tenths of a mile, solid snow/ice packed road, in the dark.  I can't believe the difference three days makes from being really snow/ice packed to bare roads.  Enjoy the views as we head down the same road while picturing in your mind the events of Tuesday night.

Beauty In Everything

I made some handouts for our neighbor to give to all the Relief Society women in our ward when they have a birthday.  I took them to her home tonight and as I was pulling out of her driveway, I saw some sights that I thought would make pretty pictures.  So, out came my camera..............Ahhh!  I know, some people would look at these pictures and only see the dead stuff, but I see beautiful hues of brown accented by the wonderous snowcapped mountains and a glorious blue sky.  And as for the fence post and weeds, what can I say........I just like IT!

Then as I was headed for home, about 1/4 of a mile away from our neighbors driveway, I looked out my window to see this.  Just look at all the formations in these mountains.  You know, you can see beauty in everything and you don't really need to be looking for it. 

Mine Hill Sledding

You're probably going to ask.....what does this poor quality of a picture have to do with anything.  Well, let me tell you .......... Everything!

Here we go.  It all started with a young women/young men mine hill sledding activity.  We met at the church at 5pm for our AdVeNtUrE.  We hauled the young women and men up to the base of the mine hill where I stated that my car would not go up the slick road, being that it was snowy/icy covered and quite a ways to the cattle guard, the ending point for sledding.  One of the Young Men leaders said, "oh, come on, your car will make it to the cattle guard".  I kept stressing my point but thought, OK, I will give it a try.  Part way up, it started spinning wheels and not moving anywhere.  I told the Young Men leader who thought for sure that my car would make it to the cattle guard to get in and drive my car.  It was pretty funny when in driving gear, we were going backwards.  I'm telling you, the road was basically solid ice.  We backed down to a dry patch where he put the car in reverse and drove the rest of the way up in reverse, where I stated that where the car was on a slope and so slick that maybe we should put the emergency brake on....done.  From the cattle guard, we took a four-wheel drive truck and hauled the kids up to the next flat spot where we unloaded the kids so they could sled back down to the cattle guard.  The kids really had a good time sledding and once they got to the cattle guard, we would haul them all in the back of the truck back up to the starting point.  When it got too dark to sled anymore, I took some pictures of the valley below (thus the blurry night picture of the valley) and I told my nameless young men leader that he was in charge of getting my car off the mine hill.  His sister-in-law stated that she would do it because she had been in much more difficult driving situations than this and that way, while the others were getting rounded up, we would go back to the church and start the hot chocolate.  I turned my keys over to her and off we went.  We didn't make it very far when we started sliding and ended up sideways in the middle of the mine hill road.  There were three of us in the car and the rest were still up a ways so we ventured in trying to right the car so we could get it off the hill.  We were even pulling out some sagebrush and placing it under the tires for traction.  Finally, the youth and other leaders made it to where we were and it took us, leaders and youth, to get the car facing down hill again, where our so called (nameless) young men leader stated that he would take it down the hill.  To make a very long story short, we ended up with many youth on both sides of the car guiding it down the hill and keeping it on the road.  When we got back to the church, my car smelled awful and none of us could figure out what it was.  We went into the church where we had hot chocolate and mint cookies and the youth played some basketball.  When it was time to come home, my car still smelled a little but not too bad.  It was pretty sluggish coming home and I was thinking...man, I hope we didn't ruin my car.  When I pulled in the driveway, it stunk super bad and then it dawned on me............EMERGENCY BRAKES........we never took the emergency brakes off when we were trying to get it off the hill.  Here it is, almost an hour later, and I'm still smelling the burned smell.  Agh-h-h-h-h-h.  Guess my car will need new brake shoes, ya think!  This will be one night that I'm sure won't soon be forgotten............A full night of adventure! 

African Violet Happiness

I just love this little African Violet plant that sits in the middle of my dining room table.  It's been sitting there for over five years, blooming off and on all year long.  In these photos I took 2 days ago, it is just starting to bloom.  Before it is done blooming, the top will have a mass of blossoms.  Where it sits, it gets sunlight most of the day from windows on either side of my dining room.  It is really happy growing in that spot so I have never moved it, except when company comes and we need the table space.  I received it from a co-worker and I don't think she has a clue as to the joy this little plant has brought to my life.  I love plants..........my entire dining room is filled with plants.....18 to be exact, and some of the bigger potted plants have numerous plants in one pot.  Plants are a living form of life that I can enjoy each and every day.  I have one plant that I use to judge my watering schedule.  If I forget to water my plants, this one particular plant practically lies on the floor, letting me know that I need to water all my plants.  When I give it, and all the other plants water, in no time that plant is once again standing up tall and beautiful.  Ah, Joy and Happiness...............that's what my plants are.

Valentine Snack Bag Toppers

For Valentines Day, I made some bag toppers for the Kinders and the ladies I go to for Visiting Teaching.  I made two different styles for the Kinders and only one for the ladies I Visit Teach.  Although, the one I made for Visiting Teaching was more time consuming because I cut around the heart so it would stand up.  In the Kinder Valentines, I put in honey, chocolate, and chocolate chip Teddy Grahams and for the Visiting Teacher Valentines, I put in Cherry Yogurt Pretzels that I purchased from the Desert Book Store.  I just love having the Internet that I can research and get ideas from, enabling me to make my own handouts.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.....I'm so thankful for talented people out there that so freely give of their ideas and for sharing their clip art.

Just Sparrows

I know, I know.  Some of you will read this blog and say, "they're just sparrows, Marsha!"  Sparrows or not, they are cute little birds that greet me every day when I get off of work.  I walk out the door and these little birds are all over the ground, some only 6 feet away, eating whatever it is little birds eat.  When I open the door, they don't even fly away.  They just look at me and continue eating.  I get in my car, roll down the window, and just sit and watch them for awhile.  In the last picture, you will notice one lazy little bird.  He didn't even stand while eating.  He just kind of layed in one spot and munched down.

What Lies Beneath

Sunday afternoon, I went for another ride to the Mine Hill Bridge (Smelter Bridge).  When you really look at what lies beneath the river, it is absolutely gorgeous.  I posted another river picture on my blog the last part of October so I wasn't going to post these but the beauty of the river fascinates me so I decided to post them anyways.  The colors were more green in October making the river look like a different place.  It's amazing how you can take a picture of the same thing over and over again and yet it looks like you were at a totally different place.  Life through my lens is never boring..............I enjoy every moment.

Moments Like This

When I arrived at work yesterday and was walking through the building, one of my co-workers asked if I had seen the beautiful sunrise outside.  I stated that not only had I seen it, I was a little late coming in the building because I was outside taking pictures of it.  I love carrying my camera with me at all times so I can capture moments like this.

Following the Example of Jesus Christ

I just finished making another handout for the young women I teach on Sunday.  The lesson I have for this month is: Following the Example of Jesus Christ.  When I was over to Rexburg a few weeks ago, I went to Artco, a printing company that sells items at a very reasonable price.  While browsing through their store, I came across some packaged anchors that sold for $1 a package.  There were 10 anchors in each package and each anchor measured a little over 1 1/4".  They are, or seem to be made of metal as they are pretty heavy.  I thought I could use them somewhere in the lesson handouts I make and sure enough, when I looked at the next lesson I was giving, the handout I thought of fit perfectly. 

Kindergarten ABC Valentine Chart

I like to get on a site called "Pinterest" and look at all the clever ideas going around.  There is anything on this site from crafts to cooking to................................you name it, it's basically there.  While browsing the site night before last, I came across the cutest idea for an ABC's chart.  What made it so cute was someones clever idea to make it a Valentine ABC chart.  While it was still fresh in my mind, I hurried and made me one.  I took it to school this morning and hung it on the Kinder door.  The teacher and I were sitting in the classroom doing our thing while the children were having their free time.  All of a sudden, they all started singing the ABC song so I looked up and they were looking at my chart hanging on the door and singing.  Did I ever mention how cute little Kinders are.  I love my work.  I decided that I would post a picture of my ABC chart in case you've never seen one.  I'm so thankful there are people out there willing to share their cleverness!