Out of School, Watching the Wildlife

This is my classroom before I cleaned it up and put/threw stuff away.

My last day was a week ago today on the 30th.

I went back in this past Monday to finish my room.

I am officially off school.

Woo hoo!

Two different wildlife sharing the corn.

I know I'm not supposed to  put corn out, 

but they leave the bird feeders alone during the day 

if I put corn out.

I take the bird feeders into the garage at night.

There is only this young deer and one raccoon

plus one squirrel.

We did have a chipmunk,

but I found him belly and face up,

 quite dead, on our back porch yesterday.

Apparently, Scruffy is a hunter.

She has also given us one mouse

and one mole.

We didn't let her outside at the other house,

but we do here.

With 8 acres and the fact that Scruffy and George have been indoor cats

for 10 years,

we are okay with them being out for a little bit at a time.

They don't venture far from the house,

and they are absolutely not allowed out from dusk on

due to coyotes.

Here are some close ups of the young deer.

And now . . .Mr. Raccoon.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Corner View: Collections

My mother didn't  have money to buy knick knacks.

She told me that when I asked her one time.

She said she would have liked to have had a collection of Hummels,

but they had gotten too expensive to even think about.

Add to this mix two grandchildren who wanted to pick out a gift

for their beloved Grandma Shirley

at every special occasion  . . .

and . . .

The Precious Moments Collection 

was created.

She finally got so many ( her sister bought her some too)

that she had to buy a special shelf for them.

I  even enrolled her in the Precious Moments' Club,

so every year she received a membership figurine.

She made it clear that I was to get the collection 

when she was gone and Dad no longer wanted or needed them.

He kept them through two moves, but gave them to me

when he was moving  to an assisted living room.

When Mother died, I had the kids each choose one figurine 

to take and keep.

I have considered giving them to my daughter,

but parting with my parents' special things

is something I'm not good at

(and I'm not sure I want to be). 

So it is understood

that Sara will receive the collection when I die. 

I can imagine her kids helping her carefully unpack

each one

and put it in a spot in the shelf unit

(that is now a part of the collection). 

 The soldier was a gift from Doug, I think.
The two boys were given at separate times and were either chosen by Doug or represented him (esp. the first one).

This one represents Sara.

She had a special bunny when she was little.

Mom finally made her copies from my pink-checked robe.

(We thought the original pink-checked bunny

reminded her of me in my robe which she saw me in often

as she was awake a lot at night.)

This was a present from Sara and her family

when I visited them in Texas two years ago.

The couple represents Papa Roy and Grandma Shirley.

For more views on collections,

hop on over to Francesca's.

Corner View: Pretty Eyesore

We own one acre beside my husband's family home.

His sister owns the acre the home is on and she lives there.

We own the two barns that belonged to his dad.

They are full of antique equipment,

 tools (antique, just old, and some just junk),

his dad's antique tractors

and Mike's present ones---

all kinds of stuff.

It's a snapshot of Appalachia,

which is the part of the United States

where we were born, grew up,

and still live. 

This shed used to shelter their horse

and then his niece's goats.

Now it houses 'stuff'.

The entrance-way between the two barns.

I like the old bricks and the rusted gray door surrounded by red steel

 in the big barn

and the weathered, peeling paint of the small shed.

I think it's a pretty eyesore---it all is.

However, if we had built our house here,

the prettiness would probably have vanished

and 'eyesore' remain.

See more at Francesca's

.

Corner View: What Makes Me Happy

Puttering with plants

is one of the activities

that make me happy.

It relaxes me,

nurtures my artistic side,

and is the best exercise 

for the fibromyalgia

(at least for me).

Since this is our first spring in the farmhouse,

everything is new.

I'm mixing what they had

with new plants I've bought.

Back porch

A side yard

Front door area

Tomato plants

and more flowers

waiting to be planted

A fine example of some of the beauty the previous owner

left for me to enjoy.

And enjoy I do !

For more corner views,

head on over to Francesca's.

Corner View: Good Memories

 My mother made the red outfit for my daughter Sara.

I saved it and now her daughter Abigail can wear it.

Also an outfit of Sara's.

My mother sewed almost all my maternity clothes

and 

a lot of Sara's clothes.

I kept quite a few of them.

Good memories of my mother 

and the time, effort, and love 

she gave to me and mine.

For more views on good memories,

go on over to Fuoriborgo

.

Corner View: Small Things

The gold finches were not eating from the finch feeder.

Mike had put it out with feed in it from Cincinnati days---very old.

He thought it would be okay.

Yet they didn't 'buy' it.

  He refilled it with fresh ,

but before I could wash it.

So two weekends ago, I dumped it

and gave it a thorough cleaning.

And. . . . . 

the gold finches are eating!

A small thing but it is important to me. 

For more views on small things,

head on over to Francesca's.

Hope by Emily

"Hope" is the thing with feathers---

That perches in the soul-----

And sings the tune without the words----

And never stops ----at all-----

And sweetest---in the Gale---is heard---

And sore must be the storm-----

That could abash the little Bird----

That kept so many warm----

I've heard it in the chillest land---

And on the strangest Sea----

Yet never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb---of Me.

Emily Dickinson

My juniors are studying Emily.

Musings--Easter and Family

This is the first Easter 

that I have been part of my Ohio grandchildren's Easter.

(Maybe I can be part of  the Texas ones after I retire.)

Easter is my favorite holiday for many reasons,

but it has been 'dampened' for a long while.

Last year I wrote in the last half of a post

about "why I don't like Easter."

I realized  yesterday that I had been holding on to a hurt

and resentment towards my ex and his wife in one area--

Easter.

Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas

where I readily agree to celebrating

 before or after the holiday

instead of on it,

 I never thought of doing that at Easter.

Granted,  when Doug was married to Mindy,

their Easter weekend was packed full;

however, if I had made a point of having a celebration,

Doug would have made sure they came.

Well the ex and his wife spent Easter in Florida

this year

and his step-brother took his little girl down for a visit,

so Doug was at a bit of a loss.

Enter Mike and me

and a Saturday evening Easter dinner

with an egg hunt afterwards.

Keep in mind, though, that we could not have had 

an egg hunt at our previous home.

Well, I take that back---we could have hidden them 

in and around our neighbor's junk and to- be-repaired cars!

Ha!

(His business is auto body work).

I'll  do a brief commentary on the pics.

Lined up and ready to hunt.

 Dillon and Addy take off together.

(Peyton went in the opposite direction.)

We tried to get Addy to split from Dillon,

because he was beating her to an egg every time,

but she wouldn't listen at first. 

I spotted Dillon through the budding forsythia bush.

I like how Dillon has his tongue sticking out in this photo ---he's really concentrating.

 We finally separated Addy from Dillon and helped her find some eggs.

I posed them on the back porch swing for pictures.
Dillon, Peyton, and Addison (Addy)

                    Here's my wonderful son with his great kids.

Doug has a new girlfriend and she is very nice. She is a lot younger which bothers him, but not her or her
parents.  As for me, I think the numeral does not matter-it's in the inherent maturity than can be found at any age. . . or not.  His last one was closer to his age,but had not grown up yet.

I debated about showing this pic

because of my gut that's showing,

but decided to anyway.

It is what it is and I am who I am.

 They took their 'loot' back in the house and began to open the eggs and discover the treasures.

Peyton always goes off to a side,

but the two younger ones stick together like glue.

There is only two years between each of them,

but Peyton is a 'wise old one' and has been from 'toddlerhood'.

 The Easter Bunny met up with their dad at the YMCA  and gave them their baskets since they would be at their mom's house on Easter.   They were thrilled.  The Easter bunny is much more economical at their dad's house, but that doesn't seem to bother them.  He concentrates on one or two main items and then fills in with little things. They each got a toy or game that they wanted and flip flops or sneakers.

Their dad was happy that they were happy.