Garden bugs and quilting

Hi there Mary,
I have been out in the garden a bit these last few days. It is just beautiful out. Breezy and cool but bright sun. It is fall and my favorite time of year. I was trying to clean out the birdbath and found a monarch caterpillar attached to the bottom of the saucer. It was in the 'J' position so I figured it had gotten too cold for it and it had died that way. Later on that day, Tuesday the 18th, I took another look and it had made it's chrysalis so I am hoping we will have the latest ever monarch this year. Another sign of global warming I suppose. The average last frost date here is the 21st of September and I am writing this on the 26th and it still hasn't happened.

I am keeping an eye out and saw several other last monarchs out there this week.

I also saw a mysterious butterfly-like creature that I think is a skipper. There are many skippers and I have no idea which one this one is, or even if it IS a skipper. But there were dozens of these hanging around. They like the marigolds and zinnias.

The bees like the sunflowers and the morning glories.

I just like the garden.

It is a mass of flowers right now and I will take all the frost free days I can get. This is my view as I stand under the arch covered with Heavenly Blue Morning glories. The flowers are up at eye level. That shallow dark area on the left was my brick path.

Tomorrow I get to go into Fargo and stay for the weekend at the Holiday Inn where the Indian Summer Quilt Show has taken up residence. It started on Tuesday with Quilt Take-in that I worked at again. I really like to volunteer for quilt take-in cause I get to look at EACH quilt UP CLOSE. It is much better than walking around the show especially when your feet hurt as bad as mine do. Also I get to meet those Fargo quilting people that I only see once a year.

Tomorrow, Thursday, will be the start of classes. I don't have any classes scheduled then but my friend Karen and I are registered for the lecture that evening. They always show lots of quilts at these lectures and we get all excited and go out and buy more fabric that we don't need and come home with bags full of stuff that we have no place left to store. My closet is full of yarn and teddy bear fur and the quilt room is full of fabric. However I haven't started storing it in other rooms yet so I am ahead of many of my friends.

Friday and Saturday we have classes and another lecture on Sunday and then we come home. We are planning to eat at Acapulco's Mexican Restaurant and at Season's Buffet (chinese) sometime during our weekend out.

Now you have a few days to try to get a post up. Get to work little sister.

Love,

Nancy

American Goldfinch

So this is from about 3 years ago. Taken out the front window about a week after we got home in April. I had some new feeders and they were very popular with your LBB's.

You can see the color change on a few of the little buggers backs. And some of the dark ones may be male but I can never tell at this time of the year.

So ask Brian what field marks he uses to tell winter plumage males from females. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention since they are always around.

Thunderstorm,

Gotta go.

Love,

Nancy

Your pictures - WoW(bang)

Hi Nancy,

I just looked at your Birding Vacation album on Webshots - you are getting so good with your camera! I wish I could get bird close-ups like you do. I enjoyed the heron pictures too because we have those here along the Whitefish River.

Meanwhile, I'm assisting my computer to limp along. It's just about ready to crash, and somehow I've been keeping it alive. I can't believe I'm able to blog while listening to PandoraRadio because this morning I couldn't even get my web browser to run. This is only because Monday I start school and must have a computer because it's online, as in needing a computer (bang). (For those of you who aren't getting the (bang) thing, I refer you to this post's comments.)

No way can my bird pictures rival yours, but perhaps you can help me identify the new guys at my feeder:

Ok, ok, I know they're LBB's (Little Brown Birds) but what kind of LBBs? I've got the ol' bear working on it too. Love, Mary

PICTURES and more PICTURES

This was Sunday morning...
This was Friday afternoon. Jim and I were at Goose Pool and I took way too many pictures of this heron but he was a good poser.
This was Saturday morning.This was Saturday afternoon on the bus tour and our host was Bev Paulen of OM who 'thought' that since these were three and were on the site of the 'first family' that maybe this was the famous trio themselves having a little get-together.

This was a bus tour through the back roads of Necedah Wildlife Refuge. The places where you normally are not allowed. After we watched them for a while they took off.
This was Sunday morning.

Mist over Necedah.

OOOOO Fly away home!

ON the bus trip these two wouldn't get off the road and then they started displaying to scare us.
The youngest crane chicks don't like to get too high. Joe Duff thought that Chris, who was this pilot, was using water skis for the cranes.

Love,

Nancy

Just in Time

Well, since you must still be recovering from your vacation, I'll keep on blogging. And I finally did something besides work and moving and getting ready for school. Went hiking in Glacier with some friends, ahhhhhhhhhh.
That's me and Nancy and Kim on a rock where we ate lunch. For people who want to know, we're at Haystack Butte on the Highline Trail. The Going-to-the-Sun Road closed tonight, so it was the last day and we saw tons of people we knew taking their last chance of the year to get up high in the Park. Here's one of the views on this incredibly easy and scenic trail:

Too bad it's still a little smokey out. This was, sadly, the only hike I've done this year. I swear it will be different next year! Hope to hear about all the birds soon. Love, Mary

As a librarian...

...I'm embarrassed to say I had no idea who Amelia Peabody was, until I googled her. So follow that link to the best website I found, and you can get updates emailed right to you that will tell you when EP is going to come out with another book. From what I read, she intends to write until she "drops at age 99," so I think you're in luck.

So did you notice on the library website you linked to, they have a Sesquicentennial Quilt Show at the Boorman House September 15^th 10 AM–4 PM? That's tomorrow. Maybe you can make it.

I'm pretty busy getting ready to go the the residency this online degree requires. I leave for Seattle the 23rd of Sept., go to school all week and then return the next Saturday (29th). I'll try to get some pictures and do some blogging about that. Knitting is on such a far back burner...and so is that yarn I'm supposed to ball up and send you...have a lovely rest-of-your-birding vacation. Tell Jim I sent him a joke! Love, Mary

Travels with Nancy

Hi there Mary,

Jim and I are in Mauston, Wisconsin at a beautiful public library. We are in the media room which has about 20 computers for patron use. Quite a nice place. Later today we will be going to help Operation Migration set up their booth at the crane fest site in Necedah.
I wish I could download some of the wonderful pictures I took yesterday when we were up in the viewing tower at Necedah National Wildlife refuge. I got some real closeups of the ultralights and the cranes. After the morning viewing we went around the Refuge and I took a few more shots. It was a good day.
Today it was too windy to fly with the cranes so we came home and I took a nap and rested up. I am reading the last Amelia Peabody...The Tomb of the Golden Bird. After 18 of them I am going to go through withdrawal. Do you, as a librarian, know if she is planning to write another one soon?
More later,
Love,
Nancy

Winning your quilt

Oh Nancy, it would be so cool. I'll definitely buy some raffle tickets to win The Quilt.

Funny, I was just looking for the post that showed the quilt, checking out the Operation Migration site as well. So when I entered a search on the blog for "quilt," your latest post showed up first, and 30 seconds earlier it hadn't been there. Since it's almost midnight here, that means you are up much too late! Go to bed! Me too. G'nite, sleep tight, etc. Love you, Mary

Here chick chick

So not much happening here. We got the wheat off and Jim says I can have some money. He didn't tell me how much or when but I am ready. I have been working on a quilt for my nephew Dylan, age 6. Dylan came to the quilt store and picked out fabric. I wish I had a picture but it is in the quilt store waiting to be quilted.

I did do a little chicken applique piece for a quilt someone is making for Faye of Faye's Henhouse Quilts and have a picture of it for you. We are supposed to make it reflect our quilting personality so I made mine with star fabrics and added rhinestones.

I also made it a non-chicken color because I liked it. Everyone else's look rather brownish except the lady who loves Halloween. Hers is orange with spider webs.

Next week Jim and I will go on my birding vacation. We are going to the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge near Necedah Wisconsin. It is their Crane Festival next weekend. I will kick off the raffle for my crane quilt there. Liz from Operation Migration says they want to raffle it online too and then at the fly-over when they finally get to Florida. That is where they will pick the winning ticket. (When we get the raffle tickets online I will let you know so you can buy some.) I would love it if the quilt stays in the family!

I am fairly sure we will go up to Duluth also, after the cranes and see if we can view a few raptors at Hawk Ridge. Really the same old vacation I have been taking for three years now, ever since I discovered about the kidney disease. I still might not have gone except for that.

So stay well, you college student you.

Love,

Nancy

Skinny yarn and a shawl challenge

Howdy, sister dear.
You say you love this yarn:
and you plead for it: "OHHHHHHH I WANT ONE OF THOSE CONES!!!!!" and "Pleeeeeeeeeeease?????" Geez, what a little beggar. But I am prepared to be generous, as I am your (much) younger sister, after all, and everyone knows that the youngest child is never a Shrimp, nor a Brat, but verily the Bestest of the Best.

Ok, getting a little carried away there. However, it's nice to return to the alleged topic of our blog. I was about to suggest changing the name to Sibling Rivalry, or Hi-Line Honeys (referring to the northernmost train route in the US - but a name that has to be explained is never any good). At any rate, I must warn you. These are very skinny yarns. You'll have to closely examine this picture to see how skinny they are because either my camera does not do extreme closeups, or I don't know how to make my camera take extreme closeups. I think probably the latter.
So, with that in mind, what do you mean when you say, "Maybe we can do a shawl challenge?"
Also, here is a picture of the card I sent Jeni for her birthday (to arrive late, as is customary.)

Inside it says, "Your Male Strippers are Here! Happy Birthday!
Love, Mary