road sign

My friend, Cheryl, and her husband, Don, also went looking for sandhill cranes this past week. Cheryl sent me this road sign photo & is allowing me to share it here. That's one thing I love about taking photographs. You set out intending to photograph one thing & find other things to photograph in the process. Cheryl did get some crane photos too & will be getting them onto her website here so check it out. She also directed me to this site to view some beautiful crane videos. Thanks, Cheryl!

road sign

I took this photo last week when Joan & I were driving around trying to find sandhill cranes.

angel

My sister, Nancy, gave me this angel recently that she crocheted. She did a great job with it. It would fit nicely as a tree topper on a small Christmas tree. It would look pretty sitting on a shelf. But I decided to hang it from my rearview mirror in my CR-V. It's the first time I've had something dangle from my mirror. It doesn't seem to hinder my view & seeing there is a small reminder to drive safely & it makes me think of Nancy too. Thanks, Nancy!

Herb

Today is Herb's birthday. He is Don's stepfather. He married Mavis when Don was about six years old. Don always saw that as a blessing; Mavis had a pretty strong personality & Herb helped diffuse that a little. I took this photo of Herb last July while we'd been driving around the Eagle's Nest area in northeast Nebraska where Mavis grew up. Behind him in that cluster of trees is where Mavis' grandparents lived. A few buildings still (barely) remain. Anyway, Herb turns 88 today. He moved off the farm after Mavis died & now lives alone in small town Nebraska & is doing well.

Palm Sunday

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Some of you may celebrate the event in your church this weekend. Some of you will not. But either way, many of you have spent time in church on Palm Sunday. A column in today's paper brought back some memories of childhood on Palm Sunday. It made me laugh. You can read the article here. And get a gentle reminder of what it means to be Christian.

fire hydrant

When I walk the dogs we pass by several fire hydrants. And we loiter around a few too. There's sniffing & other business to be done. This particular fire hydrant is close to our home & it caught my eye with the cracking paint & the yellow colors that were mingling with the red ones . . .

Sandhill cranes

On our return to Lincoln on Tuesday, Joan & I detoured off Interstate 80 in an effort to get a better look at the cranes. We'd seen flocks of them in the brown cornfields when we were headed west towards Kearney mid morning. Now that it was mid afternoon they were harder to find. The ones we did see were still in the fields but not close enough to see well (or photograph well). But it was my first time catching sight of them during their migration through Nebraska.

pets

I accompanied my friend, Joan, to Kearney yesterday. While I was waiting in her living room for her & her daughter, Carlita, to get ready I entertained myself by photographing their pets. It was after we had gotten Jack over twelve years ago that I noticed that everyone has a pet (well, almost). I think that's great! We love our dogs. Anyway, Chester is their miniature dachshund. He is cute & cuddly & is Joan's "baby".









Javy is their border collie who watches out the window all day waiting for Steve to get home.





And Freda is one of their three cats that was hanging around catching some sun rays.

first day of spring

My brother, Don, sent me these photos from Oklahoma taken on the first day of spring. He has a regular bird sanctuary in his back yard. He took these photos from inside his house. I especially like the one of the bird flying away.

clothespin bag

I went back to the tag sale yesterday. Don needed to see if there was anything he wanted. The rooms had emptied out considerably but that only made it easier to see what was left. Like this clothespin bag I noticed hanging up in the garage. Fifty cents (most things were now half price). I considered that a bargain although I do not have a clothesline to hang it up on. And the bottom of the bag is thinned from hanging in the sun. I'm thinking it may be easy to sew a new bag for it. And Don came home with a few things too. Hardware for hanging things on the wall. Maybe a few drill bits. Worth a second trip . . .

tag sale

Tag sales are a regular occurrence here in Lincoln. I meant to go to one in my neighborhood last fall but there was a line out the door & down the sidewalk. I stayed away. But there's one in my neighborhood this weekend. Just three houses away. Started yesterday morning at nine o'clock. I watched the cars parking in the street & finally at ten minutes before nine I made my way over to see if they were letting anyone in the door. I was given a number (#84) & told it would be at least half an hour before I'd get inside. So I went home & walked the dogs only to return to the house & find they were letting in everyone. My #84 didn't matter!

Everything was already "tagged". The usual things you'd expect from a long life in one house. Quilts. Furniture. Kitchen appliances & dishes. Lots of knick knacks. Doilies. I ran into an former coworker, Sue, who nabbed a fur collar she was sure was made of real fur. Rotary dial telephones (I carried one around for awhile then put it back). Garage stuff. Old stuff.

What I finally walked out the door with though is something I've always loved . . . books. Paperbacks were fifty cents & hardbacks were $1. I found this Frankie Yankovic polka book that included the music for the Beer Barrel Polka! I couldn't pass that up. I'll be thinking of dad when I'm trying to play that.





I found other guitar music books (yes, Christy, I still pick up my guitar).



There was this old photography book. The cameras may change but the concepts don't.



And of course another cookbook. I tried the blueberry recipe that had a blue star marking it. It calls for a long baking time & my cake ended up dry. And I only baked it for an hour. If I make it again I'll have to decrease the baking time even more. But it was a way to use some frozen blueberries.





So it was an interesting tag sale. I'm happy with my $11 of purchases. I also got a tour of another neighborhood home (it needs lots of updating). The tag sale continues today, but I plan to stay home.

springtime at the ranch

squash soup

It's been a winter for soup making & I've wanted to try making squash soup for awhile. The other day I tried a recipe from a blog titled "Simply Recipes". A curried squash soup. The soup turned out great! Cutting up a butternut squash does take a little bit of effort & a sharp knife but it was worth the effort. I used my carrot peeler on it. Get the recipe here and other good recipes. This would be good with a grilled cheese sandwich. I did not have cilantro or sour cream on hand for garnish but I did have a piece of fresh ginger that needed to get used.







Austin has a roommate that says he doesn't make anything that takes longer to prepare than it does to eat. That leaves out a lot of good food . . . like soup.