Kite and Quilt

One of my volunteer red sunflowers.

Connor flying his kite.

He has flown his kite almost every day since finding his string handle.

We just gave him 500 feet of kite string.

He's going to have to go to the pasture to fly the kite now!

Quilt pictures, as promised.

I have acquired a quilting frame!

I started quilting this using a large hoop.

I quickly realized that wasn't going to work.

There is way too much quilt to move around for a hoop.

My in-laws had mentioned they had a quilting frame and said I could use it if I wanted to.

Of course with my lack of quilting experience I said no.

It didn't take me long to realize that I really did need one.

Not only did they deliver it, they said I could have it.

I'm a very happy beginner quilter now.

This is how much quilting I got done on a hoop.

This is what I've done since it went into the frame.

It's much easier to work on now.

I wonder if I could finish quilting by Thanksgiving?

(Insert copious amounts of laughter here.)

I don't know how a Christmas tree and a quilting frame are

going to fit in the living room at the same time!

One the Mend

We have an empty nest.

The young mockingbirds have survived and play around the yard.

Their flying skills aren't the greatest yet and mama bird still hangs around to protect them.

We almost had another empty nest of sorts.

Casey ran away for three days.

It was during that time we realized we had never lived in our house without a dog on our property.

This was a sudden thing and were shocked she was gone.

 

Little did I know that this was almost the last picture I took of Casey.

She started having seizures.

We decided to take her to the vet the next morning.

We woke up and she was gone.

We searched and searched the farm for her but never saw her.

We figured she had left to go somewhere and die.

She showed up three full days later dirty, hungry and thirsty.

We took her to the vet that afternoon.

According to the vet's theory, she had poisoned herself... or as he joked she was high.

This pot is full of the bulbs that are believed to have poisoned her.

They are Pink Lady bulbs also known as Resurrection Flowers or Ghost Flowers.

The only part of the plant that is poisonous are the bulbs.

Casey is the first dog we've owned to dig them.

We dug up all of the bulbs, which were starting to bloom,

and moved them to outside of the fenced yard.

The good news is that she should have a full recovery.

So far, she's gone two full days without a seizure.

Not a Happy Mama

I'm a happy mama.

This bird, on the other hand, is not.

She's not happy because one of her babies has jumped the nest.

It happened while one of the boys was looking at them.

Now mama bird is not happy with us.

She swooped at me while I was trying to get a picture of the nest.

Not wanting to get whacked in the back of the head, I quit and took a picture of her instead.

This picture was taken several days ago when there were still four babies.

As you can see, the nest was quite crowded then.

I quickly took this picture today.

This is probably my last nest picture.

Mama bird swooped at me again.

I think there's only three babies there but it's hard to tell.

That's chewing gum not tobacco.

Casey occasionally sleeps with her head on the bottom rail.

Goofy dog.

The cat occasionally uses the dog for a pillow.

Goofy cat.

This week Connor got to brown hamburger for the first time.

He was thrilled to finally be able to do it.

He wanted to do this a long time ago but he was too short!

Not anymore. :)

~

This also week marks one month since my surgery.

I am doing great, better than any of us anticipated.

I still need the occasional nap but for the most part I'm back to normal.

Whatever that is.

Eastern Black Swallowtail

So apparently this has turned out to be nature week at the Schultz household.

We've pictured baby birds and a fawn.

Now we're adding a female Eastern Black Swallowtail to the list.

The week we got back from St. Louis, the boys found lots of caterpillars in the barn lot.

We brought one in and stuck it in the fish bowl.

She had plenty of food to eat.

We made sure she had things to attach her chrysalis to.

She ended up attaching herself to the glass of the fishbowl... go figure!

This morning we discovered that she had hatched and we missed it.

Dwayne and I both checked it last night and there was no butterfly.

I know this is a fuzzy picture but that's Casey's nose coming in for a closer sniff.

We Spied a Fawn

We saw a fawn wandering around in the bean field behind the house.

Dwayne and I tried three different times to get pictures.

We finally had success!

It cost me six mosquito bites though.

Peek-a-boo.

He was a little hard to spot.

He's shorter than the weeds.

Eventually, he stopped right in front of me.

I was about 20 feet away.

What a cutie.

Hungry!

Feed us!

Mockingbird babies hoping it was their mom disturbing the branches.

It's been three weeks today since my surgery.

Today I dusted, vacuumed, weeded the watermelons and did a few dishes.

I almost feel like myself again. :)

Shooting Fun

It was such a beautiful summer evening.

There was a slight breeze so the mosquitoes weren't quite as bad.

Me shooting the shooter.

I love shadows.

She stays by our side all the time.

Another shadow picture.

Beautiful flower down on the farm.

Some piglets.

I also love taking puddle pics!

The barn kitten that swatted at Casey.

We were so proud of Casey for not trying to kill the kitten!

(Truthfully, she ran from the kitten.)

I love finding random things around the barn lot.

This hammer is hanging on the side of an old wooden wagon.

A different kind of puddle pic.

It's a bucket of oil.

It made for good reflections.

Anyone else see the face on the tractor?

I had to get another shadow picture.

I tried to get Casey in it too but it's a little hard to

get the dog to cooperate for a shadow picture!

Tomorrow will be three weeks since my surgeries.

I am doing better each day.

I have had two days in a row where my suture spot has not throbbed.

I also had my first good night's sleep without Tylenol.

That means I haven't had any pain meds for almost two entire days!

Praise be to God for these small steps!

Hatchlings

The mockingbirds have hatched!

I'd say they're cute, but I've never seen a cute baby bird.

I couldn't tell how many there were.

I know there were four eggs because I counted them twice! 

This is one of the mockingbirds down at my in-laws' house.

We went for our usual evening walk.

We only made it as far as the ditch before we sought refuge from

the mosquitoes at my in-laws' house.

I felt so good today.

It's the best I've felt so far during my recovery.

I made a crock pot meal and homemade biscuits for supper.
I quilted some more and did a few dishes.

I even made an angel food cake with the help of my mother-in-law...

OK, I made the cake and she did the dishes ;)

One painful thing did happen today.

We got into Dwayne's car to take the angel food cake to his brother and
I whammed the back of my head into the head rest.
Someone had adjusted the seat forward and I failed to notice.
Dwayne asked me if I was OK.  I told him I was but I needed to cry.
And I did.
Thankfully the pain was temporary.

God is still good.