Busy Hands...Keep Me From Snacks

Due to lousy weather, two cataract surgeries, and planning menus for a new diet I've been on, I haven't had much time to get out and hike.  Although, I did hike the last 3 days with umbrella and on a paved trail (not my favorite kind of trail.)

Here are a few projects I've been working on.  This is my latest completed afghan.  Herb refers to it as Joseph's Afghan of Many Colors...a play on words of Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.  I refer to it as the Big Box of Crayons.   It's big enough to cover our Queen size bed.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these afghans, just storing them for now.  I love the colors, and the lacy pattern.  I only used one color twice, the first and the last row.

I still have plenty of extra yarn left, so I have another afghan ready to start.  However, first I've had a project in mind for several years that I wanted to do.  Here it is completed.  Can you guess what they are?  Probably not.

This next picture may give you a hint.

We've had many pets over the years.  We loved them all, but it was getting a bit expensive to buy each and every one a nice urn to store their ashes.  I must confess, we didn't always have all of our pets cremated...just too expensive.

These boxes aren't perfect, but I did my best.  I tried to match the colors to the pet.  Some don't show up as perfect matches, but they are pretty close.  Here are the pets' pictures to match the urns.

The first box on the left:  Magnum

 

 The big middle box:  Idol

The box on the right:  Sedona

As far as my surgeries, they were great!  I only wear glasses now when I read.  My diet?  I've lost 19 pounds so far.  I'd like to lose more, but only time will tell.  I can now fit back into my old jeans.  I still have some other jeans that are even smaller, maybe I'll wear them eventually, but right now I'm content on what I've lost so far.  Hope to continue to watch what I put into my mouth!

Practice Shots with My New Camera

Herb got me a new camera for my birthday which was back in November.  It took some time for me to actually sit down and read the manual and try to figure out the new camera, but I finally got it done.  So,I thought I'd try some practice shots while counting birds this month.  I'm including a few of my favorites here.

This is not the best picture in the world, but this little bird is the hardest to spot and moves very quickly.  I was lucky to get this shot at all.  It is a Brown Creeper.

Here is another shot of the same bird.

This next one is, of course, a goldfinch.  When I first started counting birds 8 years ago, we had a lot of goldfinches visit our feeders,  Over the years, though we seemed to get less.  This year, the count has picked up again, so I was happy to take his picture.

I love the Red Bellied Woodpecker, and here is a male enjoying some thistle and waiting his turn at the suet cage.

Finally, two pictures of my favorite little bird, the Carolina Wren!

I love my new camera!

On the Road with the Deer

Sometimes I see deer when I'm driving to the trail.  Usually one or two, but on this day, I saw four!  It always makes me nervous when I see deer along the road in the parks.  The speed limit is set low, but you know people they are always in a hurry and don't watch their speed.  I stopped, and prayed that no one would come speeding along behind me and rear end me.  There are lots of turns on this road and I didn't want to be a sitting duck.  Or that drivers coming in the opposite direction would hit the deer.

#1 deer on the right side of the picture checking for cars before he crossed.

Deer #1 making it across!

Deer #2 and #3.  One on the right, and one on the left.

Deer #4 on the right.  He's going to make a mad dash!

Quick! Before a car comes!

Hey guys!  Wait for me!

Right after they passed a car came in the opposite direction.  So I was glad they made it.  For some goofy reason, I think of the album cover of Abbey Road with these pictures.  They just needed a crosswalk. Haha!