Almost forgot

Been so busy today I almost forgot to remember to do a post.
After running errands and getting some more snow shoveled it was
time to get this edition out. Then I saw this squirrel dig a hole
to extract the cracked corn I’d put on the ground before the
last snow.

So I had to grab the camera and get a few pictures of this
industrious critter working for his lunch. He seemed happy once
he uncovered the snow covered meal. So I came on the porch and
thought this post would be out in no time. And it almost
happened that way.

I noticed the icicles melting and what appeared to be small
red dots in the icicles. After taking a couple pictures and
uploading them on the computer I realized the red dots were not
some sort of weird run off from the roof but the tail lights of
the wife’s car! You may have to enlarge the picture, but they
are there.

Now the chores are done, the distractions are still outside, and
this post is almost done. I think it was worth it. Enjoy our
Friday as here on the east coast of Iowa we’re getting ready for
another round of white fluffy love from above. Now for some more
coffee and leftover pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

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Sunday night sky

This Sunday night we may be able to witness the Super Blood
Wolf Moon eclipse. This is an event that has a complete lunar
eclipse (Blood Moon), a full moon that is closest to the earth
in its orbit (Supermoon), and this months Full Wolf Moon. This
will be the last total lunal eclipse we can see from the U.S. of
A. until 2021. It is also the only lunar eclipse of the year.

The partial eclipse will begin around 10:30 pm eastern time and
an hour after that the moon will go through some unusual phases.
By 11:35 pm the moon will have a small bright spot while the
rest of it turns orange. This makes it look like the moon has an
polar cap.

Around 10 minutes after that the moon should take on a glow
like brass, could turn dark gray, or may look dark red. The
color will depend on earths atmoshere. And an added bonus is if
you’re away from any lights the darker moon lets the stars shine
bright.

So If it’s not cloudy where you live, and you can manage to
bundle up and go out to watch, it will be a sight to see. I have
seen it before and it didn’t look red to my tried eyes, but it
was different.

Enjoy our Thursday as the weekend is only a dream away. Now
after more coffee I’m going to work off my bacon sandwich with
some chores.
Comments are always welcome.

Of cardinals and the weather

While doing some outside chores yesterday I spotted a couple of
cardinals trying to hide in plain sight. When the first one was
seen my hands were full and the camera was on the computer desk.
So when I went back in the house and grabbed the camera I did
manage to get a shot of the other one.

It is said that a cardinal sighting means a loved one in
Heaven is paying you a visit, or thinking of you. Since I see
plenty of cardinals perhaps someone above feels I have left the
straight and narrow or at least strayed a little.

The sky looked like an old postcard that one could find in
various tourist traps around the country and had an almost
summer like feel to it. A perfect fit with cardinals spotted
earlier and a mood lifter for sure.

Later, I listened to the 6 o’clock news on TV and was told it
was 41 degrees outside and that today our high would be 58.
When I turned on the TV this morning at 7 a.m., it was 50
degrees and raining.

But this being Iowa I knew a change was on the way. Sure
enough, Wednesday the high will be 28 and a possibility of snow
is in the forecast for the weekend. It’s great to live here on
the east coast of Iowa. I can hope for a foot of snow by weeks
end while enjoying a warm day today.

Enjoy our Monday as it’s our first one of the year. Now I’m
going to fry up some bacon and make more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Looking up again

Yesterday we saw the sunrise and I watched the sunset on a
beautiful day. I fell asleep with a smile on my and woke up 8
hours later in a world of hurt. So the post is late but we hope
you still enjoy it.

As the sun was setting it gave a red glow to the nearby trees
and made some of our part of the world look magical. Parts of
the sky were red while others were almost dark.

Three different flocks of geese flew by and in the dimming light
they appeared black and red against a graying sky. With all of
them honking it sounded like rush hour on a busy street. The
pictures don’t do the event justice.

The last flock fly over after the sun was done and the world
turned black and white as they raced behind the trees. It was a
sight to see and I’m glad to say the camera caught some of the
adventure.

The geese were heading north and that confused me a bit as I
thought they fly that way until a little later in the year.
Perhaps this foretells a mild winter? We don’t know nor do we
care, we’re glad we got to witness it.

Now I’m need some coffee and my dumbbells to work out a few
kinks in the back before getting busy again. Enjoy our
Saturday as the weekend will gone before we know it.
Comments are always welcome.

New month

The sunset last night was amazing to watch but with the sun
being further south than in the summer there was no way to get
around the trees. In the coolness of the late afternoon it was
quite a show here on the east coast of Iowa.

And we are in the first week of the first month of 2019. We
have been through our coldest day, our warmest day, and our
wettest day. So here are a few things that happen in January.

January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, National Mentoring
Month, Stalking Awareness Month, Be Kind to Food Servers Month,
and Hot Tea Month to name a few. Today is Chocolate Covered
Cherry Day.

The new year means the Rod and Custom Show at the QCCA Expo
Center later this month. It will be held January 25-27. This is
an indoor show and is just the ticket for getting rid ov cabin
fever. Not sure if we’ll be there or not but we are going to
try this year.

If you need a quicker fix <A href=”http://www.fiveflagscenter.com/events/2019/retro-rewind”&gt; Retro Rewind</a> will be at the Five
Flags Center in Dubuque this weekend. For more on the this one
just click the link above.

And we’re going to a little warm up in out weather here and
that means when the warm up ends we’ll dip back down again. But
enjoy it while it never lasts long enough.

So enjoy our Thursday as I have to go out and feed Mama cat
because she has claws and I don’t.
Comments are always welcome.

Comfort food

Once again God has proven he has a sense of humor. At least
here on the east coast of Iowa. Just a few short days ago our
high was in the 50s and the low was almost 40. Yesterday we had
freezing drizzle which turned to snow and todays high won’t
make it out of the 20s.

We didn’t get enough white fluffy love from above to blanket
all the blemishes but just enough to blow against curbs and
settle in places of most resistance to the wind. Makes we wish
we had gotten a few more inches.

Now we’re back to weather when comfort food works the best. A
meal that warms the body, fills the stomach, puts a smile on
ones face when finished and the kitchen smells great. We’ll
have such a meal as soon as this post is finished and the soup
is made.

Today we’re thinking potato and cheese soup with hot corn bread
on the side. The thought of a bowl full of potatoes, carrots,
onions, a little corn, some ham, and a lot of cheddar has me
feeling warmer already. If the soup turns out as good as I think
it will we will share the recipe.

I’d rather have some gorp but can’t find one ingredient that is
really need to make it and the wife wants to try the cheese soup.
So we’re having the soup. Now that I’ve said that, au gratin
potatoes sound good too. Lord knows we have enough cheese in the
house to survive an apocalypse.

Enjoy our Saturday even though it means the weekend will be
over in what feels like a few hours. And we have soup to make
and coffee to drink.
Comments are always welcome.

A few Saturday thoughts

We couldn’t get any pictures of the full moon last night as the
clouds kept getting in the way. It was time to call an end to
the endeavor at 2 am when I popped out to see the same cloud
covered sky that was there at 6 pm.

Yet since the moon is supposed to still be 95% full on
Christmas a shot of the almost full moon looks to be a good bet.
A little later today I’ll try my hand at taking pictures of
people and see how that works out.

If lucky we may have some pictures to share later and if not
we’ll have some critter and/or sky pictures. We did get a picture
of the nearby lighted nativity scene. Who knows, I may even get a
shot I’m happy with before the season is over.

Shortly we’ll be going over to Dads’ and if things work out as
we hope it will be great. Our youngest and his family got in
town last night to help put things in perspective. Nicole said
it was cold up here as it was 69 degrees in Muskogee when they
left.

I imagine a 30+ degree drop in temperatures would take a little
getting used to. We hope all of you are having a great day on
this Christmas Eve Eve, or whatever you call it. Enjoy the rest
of our Saturday as we will. Now we need more coffee and have to
get ready.
Comments are always welcome.