OH SNOW!

Howdee all,

OH YES

We had snow in Connecticut yesterday….

This is what we woke up to this morning.

About 9 inches

Of the lovely white stuff..

Sicksta Dell and I helped Dad shovel and clean the snow off of the cars.

As we were shoveling I noticed an arch of color in the sky..

I called it a Snowbow

I am not sure what it is..

My Aunt said she was told it was a Sun Dog

I did see an arch..can you make it out in the photo below?

The sun was in the middle of the arch..

A sun dog or sundog, scientific name parhelion (plural parhelia) from Greek παρήλιον (parēlion), meaning "beside the sun"; from παρά (para), meaning "beside", and ἥλιος (helios), meaning "sun", also called a mock sun^[1] or a phantom sun,^[2] is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.^[3]

Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the sun is low. via Wikipedia

Anyone familiar with a Sun dog? is this what this was?

 Tomorrow is New Years Eve!

If you are reading this..you survived 12/21/12 and you are getting ready to usher in a new year.

May your New Year be filled with Love, Laughter and Good health!

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog!

Hope to see you in 2013!

Family time

Howdee all,

We are still visiting with family here in CT.
Here are some of the gals..

Some of the fellas

Jeff carves up the Christmas ham...

Sicksta Lori and I hugging Muther...

I am having a great time ..eating way to much and not exercising...

Jeff, on the other hand, is not doing very well...he caught a cold and is resting most of the day. I am fighting hard not to get it. Lots of zinc and vitamins.

We plan on leaving here after New Years and heading south.
It's pretty darn cold here and I am ready for some warmth.

I hope you all had a Wonderful Holiday with family and friends!

All photos taken by my niece Tara
That's her with her Dad.
Isn't she a beauty?

Over the river and thru the.....

Howdee all,

Jeff, my Sicksta and I traveled from NC to Connecticut for our annual Christmas/Hanukah road trip.

We leave Homey behind in NC and travel in our trusty old Ford Explorer.
Well, maybe not so trusty...it's slowly starting to fall apart..and won't let us open our driver side door..the seatbelt buckles are finicky and work some of the time...the windows go down and sometimes want to stay that way...anyway...the list goes on.

Our halfway point on the trip is Annapolis ...a favorite stop of ours. Time to unwind after a seven hour drive, have some crab cakes and do some last minute shopping.
The last leg of the trip is always the most taxing...traffic is not much fun.
Thank goodness we travel with a MIFI device so that Sicksta and I can surf the Internet while Jeff does the driving.

We are now with our families and its all out party time. Last night we had a belated Hanukah party. More parties and celebrations to come.
If I don't get a chance to post before Christmas...I want to wish you all..
A VERY MERRY LOVE FILLED CHRISTMAS!
Peace
Thank you all for your friendship

A tragedy

Howdee all,

The world is again sadder as we mourn the lives lost in the horrific killings this past week in Newtown CT.

20 young children gone

6 adults gone

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims.

May they somehow find comfort.

How many more precious lives have to be lost before we take action?

I fully understand the right to carry a firearm. I have family members that are hunters.

I Do Not understand why we need Semi-automatic weapons in our society.

I understand that this is only part of the problem. We have very sick, mentally disturbed people walking around in society..always have, most likely always will……Though, I like to think not…

Yes, this should be addressed as well.

This situation could have happened anywhere….think about it…

A busy shopping mall, a movie theater, a resort…we are all in those places.

Of course there are other ways someone could find to kill others.

Semi-automatic weapons make it all the more easier.

………………………………….

As we go about our Holiday preparations with heavy hearts..…

May we pause and think about how we can work together,in honor of these young children and teachers that lost their lives, to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.

Random bits and pieces…

Howdee all,

Here are a few things I see here and there

and hither and dither while hanging around the yard in Carthage, NC..

They are not in order ..

just random bits and pieces of days and things I see…

Simple things..with some silliness

Just because I can..

because this is my Bloggy Blog..

Where weird and random things happen.

I know not what this is, other than a lovely yellowish green flutterby that looks like a leaf…

I have found it hiding a few times.

impersonating leaves..

Reflections of Old Blue..

Old Blue is as broken as this ole window..

Sicksta wants to make a planter out of it..

Craigy wants to get it running.

Anyone want to make an offer on Old Blue?

Napping leaves….

they deserve a rest..

Some pooh I found near the bird seed..

Aren't you glad I shared this?

Squirrel?

A plant..with pod thingys on it.

I love dried out seed pods..

A closer look of Pod thingys..

dried out veins..

Ohh…that makes me happy.

I not only photograph shadows..

I like to touch them…

When around me..

Beware..

I might just touch yours

Lichens on tree with lovely grasses down under..

I do Love lichen.

One of the hundreds of culprits

spreading berry graffiti all over Homey.

She digs..and digs and digs…

and stares for hours at things that hide in the ground.

A fuzzy pod flower thingy thing..

 

Things that make me go…aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Golden grass and sky…

Two fellas discussing life beyond golden grasses

as Big Blue listens..

My pretty sparkly red nails..

touching dogwood buds..

I love this one..

Looks like a hand holding a Dogwood bud.

Another darn Graffiti artist..

Eastern Phoebe way up there..

Bird Condo that swings in the breezes…

That’s all folks

I told you..I warned you..

Random bits and pieces of nonsensical silliness

from

Carthage, NC

Weymouth Woods

Howdee all,

Last Saturday after watching the Southern Pines annual Christmas parade…

Jeff and I needed a walk, so we went to one of our favorite spots for walking and birds here in the Sandhills of NC.

Weymouth Woods

There seem to be many Red-breasted nuthatches in the area this year.

  Plenty of Golden-crowned Kinglets also.

We walked the paths thru the Longleaf Pine forest.

Wonderful lighting..

Long shadows..

An American crow was clucking..

See the young Longleaf pine trees in the middle?

This is the habitat for the Red-cockaded woodpecker.

We didn’t see any this trip.

I did find some lovely Turkey tail mushroom

And an amazing huge hole

I didn’t see any birds near it.

What do you think?

Piliated Woodpecker?

I love this bark..

I take a photo of this tree just about every time we visit.

Hermit thrush

A few Maple leaves shining in the sunlight.

 

Jeff waiting for me on the bench while take photos.

A young Longleaf pine

More shadows and sunlit grasses.

We saw a herd of 20 deer in the distance.

See the pathway..

its sand..

We are in the Sandhills region of NC

The Sandhills is a region in the interior of the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is a strip of ancient beach dunes which generally divides the Piedmont from the coastal plain, and is the evidence of a former coastline when the ocean level was higher, or the land lower. The beach deposits were formed principally during the Miocene Epoch, circa 20 million years ago. Typical beach fossils are found along the front edges. The coastal plain is terraced from other ocean levels, but none appear to have been so long-lasting, so as to build up dunes of this size.

 

 

Pine Warbler

Here I am shooting shadows again..It was a wonderful day for shadows.

Brown Creeper

We ended our walk with a look at the feeders

Brown-headed nuthatch

Caroline Chickadee

Always a pleasure to visit Weymouth Woods

 

Birds of the Day

Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve
Traveling
1.5 miles
80 Minutes
Observers: 2
All birds reported? Yes
Comments:  
Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.5.1
 Turkey Vulture
 Red-shouldered Hawk
 Mourning Dove
 Red-headed Woodpecker
 Red-bellied Woodpecker
 Pileated Woodpecker
 Blue-headed Vireo
 American Crow
 Carolina Chickadee
 Red-breasted Nuthatch
 White-breasted Nuthatch
 White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern)
 Brown-headed Nuthatch
 Brown Creeper
 Carolina Wren
 Golden-crowned Kinglet
 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
 Eastern Bluebird
 Hermit Thrush
 American Robin
 Northern Mockingbird
 Yellow-rumped Warbler
 Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
 White-throated Sparrow
 Dark-eyed Junco
 Northern Cardinal