Itsy-bitsy

 From the archives...

From a dead tree...

 Taken a few years ago...

Heads or tails...

 I went back in time to find this one.  I guess I could have titled it 'At Rest.'

Touch of gold

 I love the golden hues of some leaves...such as this from the cottonwood tree next door.

Cute critters

 More from 'the store' in Arthur..

More from the Arthur store....

 Does anyone besides me remember these bowls?  If you will notice the background...almost every inch is filled with something.

Need a hammer?

 In keeping with the tool theme, I thought I would repost the following.  I go back and read it every so often and still think it funny and appropriate.

Also, this is a sample of what is in the store that had the metal cacti out front a couple posts ago.  That store has a little bit of everything.  Mostly old, antiques.  I have never got to go in and look all I want to.

Tools and their use:

DRILL PRESS:

A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL:

Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ' Oh sh--.... '

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL:

Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

SKILL SAW:

A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS:

Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER:

An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW:

One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS:

Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

WELDING GLOVES:

Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH:

Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.

TABLE SAW:

A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:

Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG YELLOW PINE 2X4:

Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR:

A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.

BAND SAW:

A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:

A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER:

A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS:

See hacksaw.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:

Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:

A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

PRY BAR:

A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER:

A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER:

Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC ' S KNIFE:

Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines , refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL:

Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ' DAMMIT ' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

From the highway

 Coming north from Terre Haute, I spotted this Bald Eagle over across the highway.  I had to do a double take to see that it was an eagle.  I went up to the next left turn lane and came back down the highway and pulled off to the side to get this photo.  It is a cropped version of the picture I took.  With my little point and shoot I was having a hard time seeing what I was getting.

As seen in Arthur, Illinois

 You never know what you will see outside this store in Arthur.    

Virginia creeper from another year...

 

Virginia Creeper comes in such beautiful colors in the autumn of the year.

A re-Post

 The following was posted over on my other blog a few years ago...I really debated putting it here, but thought why not.  The photo was part of the view from around home.

About Me

Click to enlarge.

I am Rose, or Rosemary, depending on who you are talking to, 

the daughter of Sarah and Ellison, 

youngest of eight children that survived to adulthood, 

of those eight I am one of the two that was born in a hospital, 

and probably the only one that does not actually remember living without electricity. 

 

I lived in the shadows of the East Tennessee mountains till adulthood 

Claimed by them as if a part of the evening shadows that filled our yard so quickly come evening, 

Filling me with their peace till no place else can ever totally claim me.

I feel as if I were a part of the very earth from that place that will forever be home. 

 

I grew up knowing how to sew on treadle a sewing machine 

and do the wash with a wringer washer, 

and sit by the fire and dream. 

Helping to raise about all the food that we ate, 

Planting, hoeing, picking, cooking, eating, canning, freezing,

Making sure every jar on the place was full and the freezer so full it was almost hard to close. 

 

I ate mustard greens and cornbread, 

and still do to this day 

And ate fried taters and soup beans and considered them as fine a meal as could be had 

Grew up watching my mom make biscuits from scratch, 

never measuring a thing 

She made pies and dumplings and cornbread the same way. 

Oh, what I wouldn't give for some of those biscuits or the chicken and dumplings... 

the cornbread I actually make myself--the same way--never measure a thing. 

 For entertainment there were swings in the tree, 

Barns to play in with hay in the loft 

Creeks to wade, 

a pond to swim in,

fish to catch 

Calves to play with a horse to love, dogs to hug, 

And each other 

We had hide-n-go seek on summer eves after dark, 

Sitting on the porch and talking, 

Listening to the whippoorwills 

While planning the work for the next day. 

 

And there was ball--baseball, basket ball, football, and whiffle balls. 

I must have drove my brothers nuts, 

But with four of us, we could always play something 

We didn't own a baseball bat, 

but would find a stick or short board and whittle a handle, 

That served the purpose just fine. 

 

The three siblings that were close to me in age were my brothers George, Neal and Robert 

So some of what I like about myself is due to them 

I am not a woman that is afraid of her shadow 

I can use an axe or gun or rifle as easily as my sewing machines

 I come from a home that had guns and hunting and that was just a part of life. 

We were taught to be responsible from a very young age... 

 We didn't get fireworks on the fourth of July--too afraid of starting a fire 

Our time for firecrackers was Christmas--at night. 

We always hoped for snow, but it didn't matter 

Just build a fire and have a brick of firecrackers and a few M-80s to made a big bang 

Specially when you collected the firecrackers that didn't go off the next day --

unroll them and collect all the powder, 

get a piece of fuse,

 bore a hole in a chunk of wood, 

pour in the powder, place the fuse, and make or find something to make a plug and Presto, you have an even bigger bang

And we survived it all!

Big Beauty

 I seldom get to take barn photos now, so will post this one from the archives.  

N894CP

 We seen this somewhere in our travels...

Yellow

In the autumn of the year, there are so many yellow flowers to be seen.   

 

Tiny fellow

 Can you see it...it is a tiny thing....

B&W

There is  nothing quite like low-hanging clouds.

Eastern Kingbird

 Photographed August 26, 2020....

Butterfly

 This is from the archives...I don't see them very often.

And the road goes on and on...

 I photograph this view several times a year...any time it is late evening and the sky it interesting.

 

While here, might as well show a view or two of the milo that grows out there.

Bottoms up!

 I debated on what to title this post...I originally was going to say Digging for Gold or Going for the Gold...but then I thought Bottom's up fit.

From the driver's seat

 A quick snap from the car as we were leaving town last week.  I was at a 4-way stop.

Two in one

 There was only the one Tiger Swallowtail the other day, but at least two or three Monarch Butterflies.

One more

 I am trying not to go overboard, but had to show another photo from last night.  This is part of State Line Farm.  It is on the Indiana/Illinois state line.

September sky....

 A quick drive through the strip pit area did not yield any wildlife shots, however it was worth going for the sunser.

Painted Lady

 You just got to admit that the bottom side/side of the wings that is showing now, has a beauty all its on on the Painted Lady Butterfly.

Magic

 The background of this shot is pure magic to me...it does not look real.

A blast from the past.....

 I ran across the photos this came from and cannot resist posting one now...you will probably see more as the days go by.

From my yard....

I planted this hibiscus this year .  It has been well worth the money.  Most days it has just had one or two blooms, maybe three every now and then.  But this week it has outdid itself.  It had 7 one day, I think 8 another day, and today it had nine big blooms!

These are taken with my phone.  

 

From the swamp area....

 Another shot of a Monarch butterfly...taken on the last trip to the swamp.

A photo from the past...