A nuisance but striking

Today I had a few starlings at the bird feeder chowing on the suet.

They are pretty birds even though they are considered nuisance birds due to their habits of traveling in huge flocks, which can be hard on food supply as well as air travel.

Regardless, I enjoyed getting a close look at him.
I read in Peterson's Field Guide that the yellow beak has to do with mating.

A pain in the....well, you know

Arlene, a Colorado friend, sent me this cute card and it was so perfect I thought I would share it.

Day 5 of arm in a sling is better than Day 1, although the improvement day to day is hard to measure.

9 days until I see the doctor and then get a fiberglass cast, for better or worse.

Enough with the wah, wah, wah.

My photo taking has slowed down, but today was warm enough that I sat outside for a bit and watched a pair of cardinals as they called back and forth and perched in a tree at the edge of the lawn.  I took a couple of snaps, will post if they are decent.

Sunshine today feels great, hopefully Spring is not going to take another detour.

The Arm

Slowly figuring out how to manage life with one arm. Successful trip to Walmart and back today. Everything is just slow motion, so will need a big dose of patience.

Here is a self portrait from this sunny Sunday morning.
Dad wanted to know if this picture was a Wisconsin stick up.

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New stuff

I got myself showered and dressed and drove to the salon today.  

A new short hair do will help make this "one armed bandit" gig more tolerable.

New do; New splint.

One day at a time, and if we continue to have sunshine like today, it will be fine.

Life is good.

Beautiful Morning

The sun is out and even though the temperature is on 6 degrees, it is a beautiful morning.

And I fell in the driveway on ice and think I broke my left wrist. Waiting for a ride to the ER now.

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~~~

So, a quick slip on the ice in the driveway this morning and a broken wrist as a result.  This will be inconvenient.  Sis in law Lois came to my rescue and good ortho guy set the fracture and now a cast for 4-6 weeks.  Bummer.    At least it is my left wrist this time.

Bet he is wishing that his flight had been delayed - version 2

I finally saw my first robin this morning in the middle of a Spring blizzard.

The "Kaija rule" is that when you see your first robin of the Spring, you get go to Dairy Queen, but that will have to wait until the blizzard ends.  No travel for me today.

I bet this guy is wondering what the heck he is doing in Rice Lake on such a lovely day...

Nice welcome home weather, eh?

Several cardinals have been around this morning.  

They seem to always show up in a snow storm.

Spring snowstorm cardinal

Most of the schools in the area are closed, I guess I'll have a snow day too.
~~~~~
Version 2:  The Shoveling

It's 10-12 inches of very heavy snow, even pushing off the driveway is almost impossible.

This looks like a picture I took during a big snow in January...March now, hello! Time for melting.

I gave up after clearing about 10 feet.
If the nice neighbor with a snow plow doesn't clear the driveway, I'm home until it melts.
P U!

The whole driveway is 10-12 inches deep.
The newspaper guy got here this morning, but the mailman did not.
Spring! Bah! Humbug!

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

The weather has definitely turned to spring.  Warmer temperatures and rain instead of snow are welcome.  This weekend I headed Southwest to Waumandee to see Colorado pal, Roche, and her family who live in Wisconsin.  I spent Friday night with Kris, Lora and Anders and then went to Fountain City, WI on Saturday morning.  Roche's Mom, Betty, is living at St. Michael's Lutheran Home in Fountain City.

I had a good visit with both Roche & her mom.

Fountain City is on the Mississippi River and I mean ON the river.

The view from St. Michael's is pretty awesome.  The driveway up to the home is just about straight up.

Fountain City, WI on the Mississippi River

After lunch, Roche's brother John brought his border collie, Annie, over to visit Betty.

Annie did pretty well there, although I did think she was going to bite me on the butt earlier in the day.

John Rosenow & Annie

The town of Fountain City has experience with flooding and this year the threat is high.

The community was working hard to sandbag and button up buildings as I left Saturday afternoon.

The danger of flooding is high and the damage could be bad.

These young men had their work cut out for them.

I sure hope the water does not get as high as these bags are piled.

After my visit, I headed back to Durand and spent a second night with Kris and Lora.

The weather was nice enough that we sat out on the deck for a bit while Kris grilled venison tenderloins (which were delicious).

Anders is such an outside loving kid, he was happy to be out there, even though it was a little chilly...that's what pockets are for.

Anders, getting to be a big guy now.

It rained most of the way home on Sunday, I saw this wet, immature eagle just after I got off Hwy 53 onto Hwy 8.  The immature ones are not very attractive, especially when they are wet, but still I had to stop and try to take his picture.  If he wasn't so impressive, he'd be pretty ugly.

Immature & wet

Back home now, just in time to see my NCAA brackets go down the drain and in time to be snuggled in the house during a good thunder, lightning, rain & hail storm.

Welcome Spring!

Aprons anyone?

Last week I attended a sewing class through WITC in Cornucopia, WI.  My friend and classmate formerly of Luck, Mary Stenberg, was the instructor.  The topic of the class was Re-purposing a man's shirt into an apron.

I got a few shirts from Gus that were headed to the Goodwill bag, and I made an apron.  

It was so much fun.

So, here is the shirt...before.

One of Gus's dress shirts before...

Deconstructed.  Collar, pocket, cuffs, plackets, & shirt back.

Re-purposed collar as waist band, and button holed placket as apron tie.

Re-purposed buttoned placket & collar.

Re-purposed pocket.

Re-purposed shirt back as apron skirt.
Final product.

 The ribbons were also reclaimed.  They had been part of the packaging for Christmas cards and I had kept them because they were so nice.  By splicing them, I could use them for the border around the hem.

Apron 2

Apron 3

The class was so much fun.  I can't wait to sign up for the next one.

I had not sewn for years, but this got me interested again.

Mary is a really good instructor and shared several fun tips.

So, the office has been rearranged and a sewing center has been created.

Of course I had to buy a few of the new handy sewing tools too.

I'm hoping to give quilting a try, we'll see.
~~~

Addendum:
I forgot to post photos of the apron that I made in class.
I was a little intimidated when I first got to class as I had not sewn for so long.
But with Mary's encouragement and the camaraderie of the other experienced sewers in the room,
the day flew by and I went home with a finished apron.

Finished product

Saved the labels and reattached on the apron tie.
Might have to send these pictures to Cabela's.

Saved the hoop of the back of the shirt and re purposed as a loop for a hand towel.

Thought a red kerchief would work for a hand towel.

Yum...Road Kill

On Tuesday I drove to Luck in the afternoon and saw 7 eagles on the trip.  The snow banks along the road have melted to reveal the road kill from the winter.

This big guy was having lunch and I was able to get a few snaps of him.

Yum?

Now he sees that I have stopped along the road.

Off he goes

He perched nearby, waiting for me to leave so he could finish lunch.

His beak was bloody.

He waited patiently until I drove off.  I saw him there again when I came back a few hours later on.

On my way back from Luck, I came upon this juvenile eagle on a deer carcass.
The lighting was dim but I got one snap as he flew off to a very distant tree.
I wonder if the folks who are driving 48 between Rice Lake and Luck are starting to recognize my car pulled over.
Maybe I should have a bumper sticker that says "I brake for deer carcasses".

 I only got a shot of him as he flew away.

Working on it

I'm still working on my update about my sewing class, but thought you might enjoy this photo of a Downy Woodpecker working on the suet block yesterday morning.  I saw a house finch yesterday, so hopefully our summer birds are on their way home, bringing Spring with them.

The end of a great season

The Luck Cardinals boys basketball team had a fantastic season this year.

Conference Champions

&

Regional Champions

Nevertheless, when their season ended after the first Sectional Tournament game,

it was pretty hard to take.

Here is their last game of the 2010-11 season condensed into 2:11 minutes.

 Click here for the YouTube video: Luck Cardinals vs. Drummond

As you'll see in the video, it was a closer game than this scoreboard reflects.

~~~

Congratulations on a great season.

Lots to tell...some now, more later.

All of my basketball teams finished their seasons too early this year.  Luck boys, Luck girls and Steven's Point Women.  It sure was fun watching these kids play ball this year.  Those who are seniors will be sorely missed next year.  But, more about that later once I have my pictures sorted.

~~

I had to make a trip to Barron on Thursday morning.

As I crossed the Red Cedar River, I noticed that is was looking very pretty with a little snow along the edge so I stopped to click a few.

By chance, I caught this duck coming in for a landing.

Off he goes to take care of his errands.

~~~

I have a story to tell about sewing too, but like I said, more later.

It has been a busy couple of days, time now for a little siesta.

Girls Can Jump

I don't think I've done a post about the Luck Girl's Basketball Team.  I've watched several of their games this season and Tuesday night they won the first game in Regional Tournaments against Shell Lake.  I won't see the second game because I will be in Mason, WI overnight, but I hope they win the Regional Championship so that I can catch up with them at Sectional Tournaments the next week.

A few snaps from Tuesday's game made into a video.

Click here to view YouTube Video

Love it here

Sometimes I get surprised by how much I love it here.

My house in this location is so perfect for me.

My little bird pals drop in to entertain me.
I love the winter snowscapes & scenery.

And I don't miss the city.

This Pine Siskin was ignoring me.

Chickadee snubbing me.

A winter sunset off Hwy 48 between Rice Lake & Luck, WI

Rush hour on SS.