Come sit with me...

This is how I spent part of my morning on Sunday.

I so love the sounds of the birds out here in the country that I decided to try to capture it.  Unfortunately, the only recording device that I have is my camera!  I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well it did capture the sounds.

I actually made TWO recordings but apparently erased the first one when I was trying to get them to download to Utube.  Which is really unfortunate because I didn't talk in the first one!  No speech at all.  Just the sound of the birds!

(well, and the dogs cracking walnuts ~ which is what inspired this second recording...)



Heading for Home...

*As always, click any image to biggify...*

I left off Tuesday on the return portion of our walk:

The dogs didn't even seem to notice this red-tailed hawk when it flew above us and roosted in a tree.

There's something soothing about seeing this 'preparation for winter".

The turn towards home.

Note the mailbox in the bottom right corner.

Something about this mailbox has always appealed to me.

In fact, I was looking at a post from 2008 and found a VERY similar picture. 

Several very similar photos, in fact!  It seems that no matter how much things change, they also stay the same! 

The creek across the road.  This is the creek that my Grandsons love to throw rocks into.

My place from across the road:

A nicely established patch of Pampas Grass makes a nice foreground for this picture.  I'm going to cut some today to put in a rusty old milk can that I bought for twenty-five cents at a yard sale.  I think it will make a lovely Fall decoration in the house!

Now THIS, is something new...



A walk in the Bluff Country

*As always, click on any picture to 'biggify'
(especially the very last one!)

We're having gloriously beautiful weather in the Bluff Country of South East MN., so I decided to take the dogs for a walk this afternoon.

  Perhaps you'd like to join us...

Off we go.

Both leashes strategically held in my right hand.

Our chosen route for today.

We'll be hiking part way up that hill!

The colors are just beginning to change.

Bella & Sable stay patiently while I take their photos.

Bellamica

Sable

The street sign that marks the intersection of the two roads where I live.

Everything is so beautiful!

The neighbors are baling hay.

If you click to biggify and look very carefully, you can see my house in the lower center of this photograph!

Tomorrow I'll show you our route back home...



Trying to Beat the Heat

Destiny's triplets

The humidity levels have been ridiculously high (93 percent as I write this) in the Bluff Country.  Which makes for miserable days and foggy nights.  I got up this morning just in time to catch a few photos of the sheep before the fog lifted.

Destiny's handsome son, "Tumbleweed".

He is absolutely gorgeous!

Tumbleweed reminds me very much of "Skittles".

Alice and Destiny relaxing with their triplets.

Chance and Serendipity stay pretty close together now that Charm  has gone off to her new home.

What a beautiful morning!

I even held down a branch so the ewes and lambs could have a treat.

Alice wasn't too thrilled with having to share.

By 8:30, the fog was lifting...

Most of the girls went back to the coolness of the barn.

  Leaving me out there to swelter.

DREAM says...

"Don't worry. 

 You'll be the first to know!"

(not even close!)

P.S.  I'm adding a new link to my side bar.  It will take you to my Examiner.com "Backyard Chickens" column.  I don't mean to be pathetic but I get paid by the number of visitors to my Examiner site.  If you'd like to see what I'm writing about (and help me out at the same time!) please visit.

Today's post

  I don't make a lot of money as a free-lance writer but every little bit helps.  They pay me based on how many people visit my column, how many leave comments and how many subscribe to get email notification when I post a new column.  Regardless of whether or not you chose to check out my Examiner column, I'm sure glad that you're here!

;-)

It's gonna be a Bright, Bright, Bright.....Sunshiney Day...

(from my backyard)

A wee break in lambing, courtesy of Dream and Flash Dance ,

whilst I enjoy a glorious day with my two, favorite daughters.

We're going wedding dress shopping for my

Beautiful Baby Girl!

I hope that your day is as happy as mine!
With Love,

Nancy
(and Dream!)

The Lull Between Storms...

The Midwest has been wracked by violent storms over the past three weeks and the Bluff Country is no exception. 

As I was walking out to check on the ewes and lambs the other day, I saw this awesome sky "above my big barn".  It looked like streaks emanating from the roof of the barn.  It lasted for at least a half hour. 

Very eiree!

Then the sun broke out and everything was enveloped in a golden glow.

I turned the expecting ewes out onto fresh pasture...

Not that they NEED any more to eat!

;-)

DREAM says...

"Check this out!  Mom says that in this picture, I don't even look pregnant!  She seems to think that Zest is going to have her babies first and then Godiva.   I wonder how she knows this stuff...?"

Trust me, when it comes to who's going to lamb and when, I don't know much of anything!  But Zest does look like she's the closest, followed closely by Godiva.  I'd say we've got maybe a week to go.  And, yes,  I was amazed at how trim Dream looked in that photo!  It's some kind of fluke of angle and/or light though...she definitely looks VERY pregnant!

We're getting close, in the Bluff Country!

Simple Beauty...

Our bitter cold temperatures have given us a reprieve.

For the past week, temps have been  much more moderate with the result being heavy fog during the evening and early morning hours.

Once the fog lifts, we are left with the most breathtakingly beautiful frost painting on the landscape:

The frost even coats the fences and the sheep.

And it lured me outside, with my camera again.

That's a GOOD thing.

Fall Fell...

Remember this?

photo taken on Oct 7, 2009

Same shot:  Photo taken on Oct 12, 9009

If you click to biggify the first photo, you can see that the pumpkin patch was a mass of giant, green leaves.  I didn't even know for sure if there were pumpkins IN there!

They were there, all right.  Now, all the leaves are gone.  Vanished while I slept.

               Remember this?   

I took this one this morning:

Do you remember when Kimberwood HUNTER came to live in the Bluff Country?

2007!  He'll be leaving for his new home, in Illinois, later this week...

Baby Dreamer!  2006:

DREAM says...

"Some things just keep getting better!"

"Thank you again, Katie, for Mom's Happy Lamp!  It sure does make a BIG difference at this time of year!!"

I do want to sincerly recommend "light therapy" for anyone affected by SAD or depression.  It's made a HUGE difference for me!

(knock on wood!)