Thursday, May 29, 2008

U, V, W, X, Y & Z are for.....

I'm finally finishing this up. Sorry for taking so long.

(fonts are being goofy)

UND
@
Grand Forks


Wild Turkey

First wild turkey we have seen since moving to MN 16 yrs ago. We see flocks of them back home in WI.



Young'uns

My kiddo (16) and my niece (18) right after her graduation in 2007. Oh to be that young again :)


X-Ray

Photo of my MRI x-ray
The date (yellow box, bottom right) 9/11/2001
Yep, moments after The Towers fell, I was stuck in a long tube.


Zoo Visit

Dolphin Show at MN Zoo



Kiddo horsing around after the show




Be sure to check out ">Quilldancer to find who else participated in the Alphabet project.

THANK FOR HOSTING THIS Quilly

I noticed something tonight.

Tonight while having fellowship with some ladies from church, I noticed that I am rather negative when speaking about my son. When asked how he is, I have been answering "crabby" or "typical teen." I don't know where this terrible habit came from, but I am going break it.

I have never been one to believe in the rotten teen years. We've had some pretty great ones. I think that is in large part due to my attitude going into this time.

Mom's good attitude + Great kid = Great teen experience

I always knew there would be unique challenges being a single mom rearing a son, but I always disliked the negativity that surrounds teenagers. I have always felt it wasn't deserved. I didn't want to assume my son would be rotten or unbearable. I wanted to think the best of him. Somewhere I lost track of that.

Pro 10:19
In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking; but he who holds back his lips is wise.

Pro 16:24
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Pro 18:8
The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Ecc 10:12
The words of a wise mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow him.

Jas 3:1-18
My brothers, do not be many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
For in many things we all offend. If anyone does not offend in word, the same is a full-grown man, able also to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.
Behold also the ships being so great, and driven by fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small rudder, where the impulse of him steering desires.
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold how little a fire kindles how large a forest!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by hell.
For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of sea-animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.
But no one can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
By this we bless God, even the Father. And by this we curse men, who have come into being according to the image of God.
Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Does a fountain send forth at the same hole the sweet and the bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries; or a vine, figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
Who is wise and knowing among you? Let him show his works by his good conduct with meekness of wisdom.
But if you have bitter jealousy and strife in your hearts, do not glory and lie against the truth.
This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife are, there is confusion and every foul deed.
But the wisdom that is from above is first truly pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Work in progress.

I am working on the final letters of the Alphabet Project. I should have them posted in the next day or so. I apologize for the delay. I have been extremely busy with outside chores and studying.

Here are a couple of shots I snapped on Tues (5/27) in a crabapple tree in my front yard. Last year, I hardly had any finches; this year, I have had 4 regulars in less than 2 days of having up my feeders. They seem to love the new sock-type feeder. Maybe it's the different feed? These birds are amazing to watch as they dart all over my front and back yard playing.



Read about 'em

Friday, May 23, 2008

My knee has had it.

I have been working in the yard for several days in a row and off & on for about 3 weeks. My arthritic knees do not handle uneven turf very well, plus the 5 steps in and out of the house on top of basement stairs. Tonight my knee is giving out after 2 or 3 steps. So far it's just a dull ache with a sharp pain when it gives out. That's actually good pain which means manageable pain. No swelling yet which is also good.

I'll baby it tonight as much as possible, but I still have some outside work that has to be done tonight. I am watering the back lawn to put weed killer on and I refuse to wait another day. It's supposed to start raining tomorrow night. I have the front lawn done. YAY!

Tomorrow, I need to finish building a bench that I have started after 2 yrs of having the supplies. *lol* Today I cut the boards into 4' lengths and have assembled the proper tools. I have 2 cut of the boards a bit shorter and start the main assembly. That will require bending and kneeling on concrete. Maybe I can find an old pillow to cushion my poor knee.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

"T" is for....

Tractor


John Deere green is a favorite color around these parts. The farmers have been getting into the fields for the past couple of weeks after a slow start on Spring planting.

Here's a cute video I found on YouTube set to Joe Diffie's song "John Deere Green."




I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it.

Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Monday, May 19, 2008

"S" is for....

Sunburned boy Snuggling with his dog







These were taken in the Winter of 96. The boy was 5 and the pup was 5 months. Aren't they just adorable :)

Correction: (thanks Dr. John)
We got the dog when the boy was 6½ so my dates above were WONKY!
The boy is 7½ and the dog is about a year old

It was Summer 1998. That roll of film had stuff from the Summer of '97 to the Summer of '98. (I have several disks with mislabeled dates due to taking so long to develop film. Just another reason digital is so GREAT!)

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

"R" is for...

Robin





I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

"Q" is for....

Quackers




These were taken last July 4th in Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls, WI.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

"P" is for...




These were taken last July 4th in Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls, WI.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

"O" is for...

Octogenarian

This is my maternal Gramma (Stewart). These were taken at her 81st birthday party in August of 1998. This sweet lady had 12 kids, 7 boys and 5 girls.

The fella with Gramma is her Uncle Curt. I believe he was 96. Their birthdays were very close. Uncle Curt's wife (not shown) was at the party as well and she was 92. I wonder if this means I am going to be living a long life...


I want to thank those who gave me recommendations on SLR cameras yesterday. I do appreciate it.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

"N" is for...

Nest


Today's photos are of an Eagle's nest. I was about 100 yards away. It was rainy and I didn't want to walk in a wet marsh. I also didn't want to annoy the birds by getting too close. Better zoom is one reason I want an SLR camera. (I'm taking recommendations).

I took these photos last June on the way to my niece's graduation. The eagles migrated during this past winter, which was new for this pair. They have not returned yet. While we have several in this area, I am hoping this pair returns. I've grown fond of watching them over the past several years.



More information about American Eagles can be found here:
I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

"M" is for...

Mural


This mural was painted on the side of the Lewis and Clark Elementary school in Grand Forks, ND. Here are a few interesting links on Lewis and Clark:

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

"L" is for...

Light

See it peeking through the clouds....




I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

"K" is for...

Kith and Kin

From my mother's side, Great-Great Gramma Brown, Great Gramma Claflin and Gramma Stewart

Gramma Stewart with Uncle Glen (9 mos)

Gramma Claflin with her siblings. She was the only girl.


Gramma Stewart with Great Gramma Claflin holding Aunt Violet.
I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Because I feel silly





"J" is for....

Japanese Garden

Grand Forks, ND at one time had a sister city in Japan. When Awano was annexed into a larger city which ended the relationship. Sertoma Park holds a couple of mementos from that relationship.








I apologize for the blurriness. I had a computer crash and lost several pictures, but found that I had uploaded some to Snapfish. It was too expensive to have them put on cd-rom so I simply saved them to my computer and resized them which accounts for some blurriness. I hope to spend an couple of hours this summer, retaking the pictures.

For more information on sister cities take a look at Sister Cities International. Here is a Wikipedia article on Town Twinning.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project.

Friday, May 09, 2008

"I" is for

Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race

While I do not have any pictures of dogs that were actually in the Iditarod race, I do have some of an actual sled dog. You can learn more about the Iditarod race here and here. Scholastic has some fun stuff about it here.

Now on to those pictures...






Smokie is half Samoyed and half Husky. She worked on a sled team in Pequot Lakes, MN when she was 1-3½ yrs old. She was given to me at that point and she's been a lazy house dog ever since. When I first got her, she hated being in the house. Now I can't get her out except for short periods of time. She loves to run and play, but doesn't know how to stay home :( She's 10½ now and these pictures were taken this month.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project

Thursday, May 08, 2008

"H" is for....

House

People House

Dog House


Bird House

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project

"G" is for....

Grand Forks, ND


Gazebo


Sorry I'm late tonight had a busy day with dropping of stuff at charity and Ladies Class at church.

Both pictures were taken along the west side of the river that borders East Grand Forks, MN and Grand Forks, ND. The river bordering the twin cities is called the Red River of the North.

Tidbit: This river flows north not south. During the Spring all eyes look south to gauge how bad the flood will be. Grand Forks to Fargo, ND, Pembina, ND to Grand Forks, Winnipeg, MB to Pembina. Here is an interesting webpage on northern flowing rivers

Luckily flooding was non-existent this Spring. Grand Forks suffered a horrible flood in the Spring of 1997.

I thank all who have stopped by and left comments. I do appreciate it. Be sure to check out Quilldancer to find more participants of the Alphabet project

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Slogan Generator




Your Slogan Should Be



Minkydo. Stronger than Pain.



Man! This fits me to a tee! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Money-Saving Monday (on Tuesday)


I just found this meme when visiting at Thoughts Of A Father. It's new and hosted by Indescribable Life.

Monday's question was: What do you do to cut your grocery/personal items/household items costs?

  • by less junk food
  • shop 2x a month (paydays)
  • I'm starting a price list so I can see which stores actually have the cheapest items. I only have 3 stores I am willing to grocery shop so it's not going to be the absolute cheapest.
  • putting in a garden which won't produce much this year, but we are building it up so maybe in the Summer of '09
  • using my local grocery store's green stamps and buying some sale items
  • shop at Wal~Mart and Sam's for most of my items even though I have to drive an hour; local store is too expensive and doesn't carry much (joys of rural living)
  • shop on church days (Sun/Wed) since church and Wal~Mart/Sam's/Hugo's are all in the same city
  • buy name brand items on sale (if I must have name brand)
That's it for this week. Please leave a comment and jump on over to Indescribable Life for more tips and participants :)

The Flip Flop Test




What Your Flip Flops Say About You



You are super laid back and peaceful. Not much disturbs you.

You're content with what you have in life, and you can't stand feeling worked up.



A lot of good things tend to come your way in life...

You're not too busy or stressed to let an opportunity pass you by.



Your ideal warm weather place: Hawaii

Bare pantry

My son cleaned out our pantry (dry goods) about 10 days or so ago. My son, who is 24, works in Retail/Grocery so he's the king of expira...