Give me a break!

I was following this ice truck on my way out of town....can you read it? "We Only Have Ice for you"...

Final graduation for the Astralorps.

We finally opened the gate and let the chicks loose into the regular chicken pen with the other hens. They were very excited, and uncertain, but I'm sure they will adapt. I threw a strawberry in there and they ran towards it then stopped and backed up, then did the same thing again, it was hilarious, finally when one of the older hens grabbed it they knew it must be food!....

May Garden....June 6th, 2009

This was no more than a sprout a few month ago, now we have strawberries already.
The blueberries are growing well also, can't wait until next year...

The Tinest Spider web

This little spider web was no more than an inch across, it was between the wires around the chicken yard. There was a little spider in the middle, which I couldn't see until I used the
macro lens on my camera.....this made me wonder, what would a little tiny spider eat? Gnats?
Still I thought it was a beautiful thing, so tiny and delicate shining in the sun.

Steve's Birthday Party

Steve and Jeannie had a small family gathering for Steve's birthday. The food was yummy, as always, cause that girl can cook!

Steve wanted the first bite....the hard way!

Stormy day in Kinmundy

A storm formed pretty fast and so Bill and I took off to chase it a bit, but like so many storms here in Illinois, it fell apart and we were just sitting in the rain..lol.

New pictures of Lucas and Garret

Shelley called me last night to tell me that Lucas weighs nearly 12 pounds! Wow, he looks so healthy....so cute....
Has Garret learned to love the camera???? Probably not, a lucky shot though. Good picture of aunt Christine too. Thanks for tagging these for me on myspace, Christine....we love you all so much.

Shelley also called to tell me that the deer ate the tops of her tomatoe plants...sorry Shelley, we tried so hard to grow them. Don't worry, I will have plenty for you anyway....that is if the rain doesn't wash the garden away.

Rain on the scarecrow

A garden isn't complete without a Scarecrow...so I used an old halloween costume...looks pretty scary, doesn't she?

Ren-Faire 09...snake, ice cream and the pickle guy

Gone Fishin'

Bill went fishing in a local "bar" pit today and caught 26 bass, they were small, but he cleaned each one. We have a nice big bowl chilling in the fridge in some salt water, going to be great eating. The bar pit is spring fed, so the fish are supposed to be excellent. We saved the fish heads for the fall garden. Bill put them in a bucket and just wrote "fish" on top, I told him he had better change that, dont' want to thaw them out thinking they were actual fish for eating, so he wrote fish guts.....what a surprise that would be to open the bucket and have fish eyeballs looking at me..hee.

The Robin Chronicles

April 26, 2009, chicks are hatched and mother robin begins the endless feeding.
Newly born hatchlings.. 4/26/09
May 3, 2009, the chicks have grown very fast in the last 10 days.
The chicks still depend totally on their mother for food.
May 4th, even one day shows a difference in their appearance.
May 5, several of them are sitting on the edge of the nest, flapping their wings.
Another picture from May 5th.
May 7th, the 4 chicks are quickly outgrowing their nest. What a perfect picture though.

May 8th, the birds were all in the nest this morning, but by afternoon they had all left , except for this little guy........ the last bird standing......

...and Johnny Depp was 20% off......

Mom and I are hosting the Red Hat meeting in July, we are having a luau. Today I went to moms so we could plan the party. So, we made all of our plans, and designed our invitations, which we printed so we could hand them out at our next meeting. We couldn't decide on decorations, for sure, so I went to the party supply store to see what they have. They had completely renovated the store and had lots of new stuff. I found some wall covering 50 feet long, that looks like a tiki bar and a tropical garden, and to my delight, I found a stand up cardboard Johnny Depp,as Captain Jack Sparrow...... even better I got him for 20% off, because he was slightly damaged.... :-) ....I personally think Johnny Depp is perfection, how could he be slightly damaged?????? RRRRR, a pirate is perfect for a tropical luau....Anyway, I bought him for $26.97....and went back to moms with him under my arm....she thought that was hilarious. I stood him up in the corner behind the rocking chair, and he is still there. So, her neighbor lady came over to bring her the mail, but mom didn't hear her come in because she was in the bedroom on the computer. When she noticed her mail was there, she thought she had some 'splainin' to do about the Depster....when she explained to Mary Helen , she told mom that she thought she had finally gone over the edge.... :-).....she was glad their was a good reason for the cardboard Johnny standing in her front room. After the luau he's coming home with me......:-P

Mother's day

Bill and I went to the Orchardview Winery this afternoon. We had a great time drinking peach wine, made with peaches grown right their on the grounds. We talked with the owners and some other friends that were there. We took a walk through the vineyard and sat outside by the fire pit. It was a beautiful day. We stayed until it was time for them to close. They were serving fresh asparagus to the customers, since they grow it there also. My favorite was with mushroom, onions olive oil and celantro...wow, so tasty! The kids all called today, so that made me very happy! I enjoyed the day so much.

Foggy meadow

This field is next door to my house, and looked so pretty one morning when it was covered with fog.

Garret, Lucas, mexican food and tomatoes

Mom and I went to Decatur to visit Shelley, Cary, Garret and Lucas. First we had lunch at the Mexican restaurant. I think Marsha was scared by her food......and Shelley thinks that's pretty funny.
Christine and her birthday marguarita.....Garret's thinking that looks pretty good.

Garret sharing Grandma Marsha's taco salad.
The planting of the tomatoes....Garret helped put rocks in the bottom of the pot.
Marsha, mom and Lucas...
Elvis impersonation....."thank ya, thank ya verrra much"
La la la la la la
What you lookin' at Willis??
I'm cool and don't forgt it, or I'll have to punch you out!
Garret helping us "dig" the dirt for the tomato plants.
Bad mommy squirting Garret with the water hose....hee hee....that was too funny.
Garret showing great grandma the colors of his playdough
After all of the silly pictures, we had to do one that was for real. Aw, he's so cute.

The newest addition to the Yandell family, is the new kitty Roxie....she is hilarious.