See The Bee?

I went outside in the backyard to take pictures of the sedum flowers that are more pink today and surprised a bee on one that isn't changing colors yet. As soon as I got the camera up to my eye the darned bee crawled around the back of a cluster but I was patient and it came up into view. Gotcha!

This rabbit was sitting on the patio step just looking into the house and I couldn't figure out what it was doing there. Then it dipped its head down and I realized that it was nibbling on the doormat. Who would want to eat a skanky old fiber mat? Yuk.

Instead of turning to another drawing book I pulled out my sketchbook to draw more cans like yesterday's lesson. I like the flying pig...

... and the monster in the can.

When I was looking at the sedums I spied this Stella d'Oro lily flower tucked way down in the leaves. Usually this variety of lily blooms almost continuously but this year it isn't. I wonder why.

Today's toss was a couple of activity books that the grandkids have outgrown.

--Barbara

Just Not In The Mood

Today was not a motivated day. There was nothing wrong with the day. In fact, the weather was much better today, sunny and not humid, but I just couldn't muster up enthusiasm for it. So I mostly sat at the table and read an eBook.

There was a flock of birds under the feeder this morning, Mourning Doves and Sparrows and House Finches, all getting along until one bombastic chipmunk leaped over some grass and scared them all away.

Two of the Sparrows headed to the birdbath for a drink. I had high hopes that they'd call all their friends over to have a group bath but that didn't happen, dang it.

Drawing was kind of blah too. The next lesson in You Can Draw In 30 Seconds! was a can. I like drawing cans and I liked stacking them up like thin slices of... of... something flat. I don't know, I just like stacking them.

Late in the afternoon I got into my mowing clothes and got the lawn mowed for the week. It was cool and breezy enough that I didn't turn into a total sweat hog, I was just a little sweaty and a shower took care of that. I was doubly glad to have a shower because I was extra hairy from yesterday's haircut and felt like I was wearing a hair shirt. Itchy.

I sorted through my stack of COVID home tests and ended up tossing most of them. I didn't realize that they'd expire so quickly. I'd have tested more often just so they didn't go to waste.

--Barbara

That One Little Hummingbird

I looked up from reading a book to see a tiny blur leave the nectar feeder. For a minute I felt sorry that I'd missed a sight of a Hummingbird but I took a chance and looked at the (dead) honeysuckle and there she was. I grabbed the camera and got a picture of one of those tiny little birds that's usually in constant motion. Woohoo!

Another time I glanced up and saw a Woodpecker on the suet cakes. It isn't a Downy, I think it might be a Hairy Woodpecker but I never got a really good look at it because it was bent around the corner pecking away. This bird is paler than any other woodpecker I've seen and it's head is a pale gray or white. Not sure what kind it is. I'll have to page through the bird ID book(s).

The next page in the 3-D book was the beginning of Chapter "Q" so I drew five Qs. It's getting easier to draw them now that I'm three-quarters of the way through the alphabet.

I watched a chipmunk under the tube feeder and thought "I can draw one of those" so I tried. If only the darned thing had held still a little longer I'd have gotten the head better. Now that I think of it I should have snapped a picture. Oh well, it was fun to draw and color it.

I decided that I have to be more strict with snacking so I bought pretzels, reduced fat Cheez-Its, and M&Ms that I spent the afternoon counting out into 2 point packets. Makes it a whole lot less easy to overserve myself.

After supper I knitted some on my sock. I think I've added another inch but it's definitely slower going than the last sock. I sorted through my bag of FOs (Finished Objects) and bagged up the Seamen's Church Institute Christmas at Sea hats and the few toe caps I've knitted to deliver to my friend LB. She'll ship off the hats and take the caps to her ortho guy's office. I threw in a little moolah for shipping and gas money.

Today's toss was a few metal circular knitting needles that I won't be using anymore. I don't really like metal needles, they're too slippery for my taste, I like wood or bamboo better.

It was hot and steamy today so I didn't go out and mow. I thought about it but fortunately a friend called in the late afternoon and distracted me from mowing. It's supposed to be a little cooler and a lot less humid tomorrow so that's my target.

--Barbara

Darned Rain

I had every intention of mowing the lawn today and it started out looking like I might be able to but as soon as I got dressed in my mowing clothes and on my way to go get gas it started to rain. Not hard and not a lot but enough to make everything wet. Then the sun came out so I went to the grocery (I had coupons expiring) and when I came back the grass was still wet so I waited some more. Then it started raining again and we even had thunder. Maybe tomorrow. Or Tuesday. Sheesh. If only I'd mowed on Friday...

 

There are no new flowers blooming in the yard so I've got a pretty good close up of Black-eyed Susans today. I noticed that when the flowers fade others pop open to take their place.

 

The daily art page (or half-page) said to draw what's under the sea. First, that song from The Little Mermaid is now stuck in my head, and I got to draw something that's near and dear to my heart, reef fish!

The next (and second to the last) figure in The 15-Minute Artist book was a unicorn horn. ??? Um, it looks like a stick of twisted candy colored like a rainbow. And I always thought that unicorn horns were iridescent white.

From Drawing Cute I have a bear, that I colored like a panda, and a beaver. Once again I pulled out all of the brown colored pencils to try to have a variety of shades for coloring the beaver and its log and still wanted more. Maybe one day I'll put all of my colored pencil sets into one common container.

I tried my hand at a lakescape watercolor. I'm happier with how it turned out. It isn't great but it isn't terrible either. Practice practice practice.

More workout shirts went into the toss box today.

--Barbara

Two Birds

Two of my favorite birds showed up today and stayed long enough to have their pictures taken. First a Bluejay landed on the crook, flew to the birdbath, and then managed to hang onto the suet cake feeder upside down long enough to peck out a few bites. That's the first time I've ever seen one on the suet cakes.

Then a Hummingbird showed up on the nectar feeder. I took a picture but it was too blurry. But the Hummingbird came back and landed on top of the crook so I got a picture that isn't too blurry. She flew down to the feeder but hadn't been there long before a male came and chased her away. I waited, hoping that he'd come back or she'd fly around him but nobody showed back up.

Here's a day lily that's still blooming. You can see by the angle how tall they are. I can't manage to get a head-on shot so I have to be content with an underside one.

Right next to the day lilies are the sedum and I noticed that the buds are starting to open. They're a nice pale green but then they start to open and are a bright pink. Pretty.

I decided to knit my Villasol sock onto a long circular needle this evening. For some reason the Double Point Needles that I'd started with felt awkward and annoying even though I knitted the last sock on DPNs. Maybe it's the change in yarn weight. The red and white sock was Sport weight which is slightly thicker than the pale green Fingering weight. I don't know why but it felt easier to knit once I had it on the circular needles. 

Today's toss was a couple workout shirts. I tried a few on and they're all way too big (aw!) so off they go to Goodwill. I don't know why I've kept them for so long.

I had every intention of mowing the lawn today but it started to drizzle just after lunch and kept up for most of the afternoon. It was no use going out after it stopped because you can't mow wet grass. Guess I'll have to hope for sunshine tomorrow or Monday, or no rain at least.

--Barbara

And Finally

It took some fortitude to motivate me to cook that last recipe today. In fact I didn't get around to it until after lunch which is out of character for me. Usually I'm not out of my pjs before I've got the stove on and the recipe in the clip. Today I just wasn't in the mood but I could see the finish line so I persevered. I made Salisbury Steak and portioned it out with brown rice and it's down in the freezer with its compatriots ready to be carried upstairs one of each at a time to feed me for the next six or seven weeks.

We saw this Cardinal at the feeder yesterday and wasn't sure what it was because of the blotchy color of its feathers. I can't decide if it's a mutant or has some sort of feather condition but it's definitely a Cardinal. It likes safflower seeds like all the others.

Flash, the baby bunny spent the afternoon racing back and forth across the patio. It was a
good thing that it stayed mostly under cover because I saw a Red-tailed Hawk in one of the trees in the lot behind the house. Hawks eat bunnies.

I don't think that I drew today's figure from the 3-D book exactly right. I think it's too narrow and there's supposed to be another part on the left side that I just couldn't wrap my head around. I did a lot of erasing. A. Lot. Ah well.

I had better luck with the next page in 10-Steps: Nature. It's violets and the hardest part was figuring out which purple colored pencil and which greens were the best ones to make it look right. I know that there's no right or wrong but I liked the colors in the book and hoped to replicate them, especially the greens. I'll have to check out the greens in my other colored pencil sets next time.

Once the Salisbury Steaks were in the freezer I cast on another sock. Turned out that the yarn I brought up last night I'd already made a sock out of so I went back down and found this Villasol yarn I bought in Livingston, MT last time I was out there with Lala. Might as well knit up my souvenir yarn.

It was a nice day today, sunny and mild, so I could open the patio door to let the frying-beef-patties smoke out instead of setting off the smoke alarm which I usually do but today I remembered to put on the exhaust fan and the ceiling fan and had the door open so the alarm stayed silent. Whew. I also made the executive decision to trash my 12- and 10-inch Teflon frying pans. The coating looks like it's about ready to give up the ghost and I don't want tiny fragments of the stuff in my food, plus they're getting hard to clean. I'll splurge on a couple of the copper coated ones at Meijer.

--Barbara

Just The One

Today I only managed to get one recipe made. I made Chicken Breasts Pierre in the morning. That's one recipe that really smells great. The stewed tomatoes are enhanced with brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, celery seed, garlic, and chili powder that the chicken breasts then simmer in. Oh, it has a couple drops of hot sauce in there too. It all smells and tastes divine.

 

The daily art page said to draw pencils. I drew some "real" pencils but then I made a pencil rocket and pencil stilts that amused the daylights out of OJ. His chuckles made me feel good.

The next figure in The 15-Minute Artist was a skull. Ugh. Not my favorite subject but I did my best to make it look real.

Black-eyed Susans are the dominant flowers in the backyard these days. The lilies are still pushing out a flower every now and then but these rudbeckia are staying the course.

After supper I sat down to watch the first Downton Abbey movie that I DVR'd a while back and finished the toe of the True North sock. I swear that's the fastest sock I've ever knitted. Before coming back here I went downstairs and dug out another skein of sock yarn so that I can cast on another different sock tomorrow. God forbid I make one to match. Maybe I can knit another sock in a week or maybe I'll drag this one out for a while.

I left the windows open today. It wasn't very hot but it sure was humid. Oh, I opened the fridge to dig out supper and there was a fly in there! It took quite a bit of coaxing to get the darned thing to fly out but there was no way I was going to leave it in the fridge. Ick.

I didn't find anything to toss but OJ found an old glass eye cup that was in the tosses that he "had to have, please, Meemaw." so I let him have it. He discovered that it was just the right size to keep together a few pennies he found laying around. He thought at first that it was a tiny wineglass but I explained how to use it to get things out of your eye and he and LC campaigned to keep it because they get sand in their eyes "all the time." Everything old is new again, I guess.

--Barbara

Just Another Kitchen Day

I spent another day in the kitchen cooking a couple Investment Cooking recipes. Only two today, which leaves two to go. This morning I whipped up BBQ Turkey Meatloaves. The recipe makes six but I didn't want to have leftover ground turkey so I made nine. I'm excited to have nine of the delicious little pucks of meatloaf.

One of the Stella d'Oro lilies has come back to life sending out a bloom every couple days. I do love the color.

This Downy Woodpecker hung under the suet pellet feeder for a fairly long time pecking away at the little pellets. I was afraid that no birds would eat them because they look like they're a bit weather-worn but this little birdie seemed to like them just fine.

After lunch I put together Easy Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies. Each time I make it I'm in love with the colors and the savory aroma as it bakes. It tastes good too.

I wasn't very inspired by the lesson in the 30 Seconds book yesterday but I pulled it out again today and took another stab at embellishing basic boxes and managed a couple fun pictures.

Today's watercolor didn't turn out exactly the way I imagined it would but it's better than my effort the other day that got ruined by spilled water. I'll try this one again, maybe without the trees on the left side that I can't seem to get right and the leaves over the top. I think this one would benefit from a "less is more" philosophy.

I got to the toe decreases in the True North sock tonight, which means I'll finish it and need something else to knit at Friday Night Knitting. Maybe another sock but in a different yarn. Good thing I wound up another one, huh?

Today's toss was the last package of paper napkins so I carried up the carton, reloaded all of the packages into it, and carried it out to the back of the car for eventual donation.

--Barbara

I'm Cooking

 I cooked like crazy today. This morning even before getting dressed I made a batch of Hoisin-Glazed Chicken. I had rice left from yesterday so I didn't have to make any right away.

Once I had that packaged up and in the freezer I got dressed and went down to Zambaldi Beer where DS was brewing another batch of Octoberfest beer which is very popular. This is a look at the baby beer moving from the mash tun to the cooker. I got to taste it and I have to say that hot, malty water isn't exactly my favorite.

Then I went over to Kroll's restaurant by the Packer stadium where I met TW, a friend from high school, who was in town from Lafayette, IN visiting cousins and friends in WI. I threw WW under the bus and had a cheeseburger and fried cheese curds. I'll get back on the diet, no, food plan tomorrow. Cross my heart. I did skip supper because of having such a big, greasy, cheesy lunch. Oh, it was so good.

After I got home I decided to forge ahead with my Investment Cooking and made Chickpea Curry and Rice. That's another quick and easy recipe that takes about a half hour to make.  Once it was all simmered and portioned out and in the freezer I washed all the dishes and sat back down to rest a bit.

I don't know what got into me but I decided to make another recipe right away so I whipped up a batch of Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls. I had to make another batch of rice for that one but I have a lot of rice leftover for the next recipe or two. With today's three recipes that's four down and four to go.

The next lesson in You Can Draw in 30 Seconds! was a box so I'm not really going to show that one off. I did the Daily Art page which said to draw a feather. I had a macaw feather that I got in Bonaire a long time ago so I drew that. It turned out better than I thought it would.

All I did today was cook so there aren't any wildlife or flower pictures to share. I didn't find anything to toss, didn't paint, and you can't tell that I made sock knitting progress although I'm within a couple rounds of the toe decreases. Maybe I'll get to all that stuff tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just keep up my cooking and dish washing jag.

--Barbara

Birdies

Today was a birdie day at the feeders, not that I got pictures of all the birds that came, but I saw a lot of different ones. I did get a picture of the Cardinal that hogged the platform feeder, fending off a pair of House Finches that tried to share.

And the female Hummingbird came to the nectar feeder and then sat on the crook for a minute or so giving me a chance to take her picture. I didn't manage to get a picture of the Bluejay or the Goldfinch. They didn't stay very long, flew off before I got the camera up to my eye.

Today is the first day of Investment Cooking week. I waited to go to the grocery until just after lunch because I learned the hard way that Monday morning the shelves are a bit sparse but get stocked by afternoon. I spent about $20 more on supplies than last time but I also pulled out eight recipes instead of seven. Late in the afternoon I put together the first of the eight recipes, Chicken Burrito Bowls. I splurged on chicken tenders that I sprinkled with a spice mix and cooked in the microwave before cutting into bite-size pieces and assembling the bowls with chicken, black beans, corn, and brown rice. Before serving they get topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a couple spoonfuls of salsa. Yummy! And only 2 WW points per serving. They're supposed to have cauliflower lime rice but it's a pain to make and I like real rice better.

 

The next figure in the 3-D book was this foot and mouse. I don't know how this fits into Lesson "P" but it was fun to draw.

 

Next in 10-Steps: Nature was a raccoon. It turned out pretty well, I think. I didn't have the colored pencils in the right shades of gray but managed with light blue and darker gray. 

And finally the next page in 10-Steps: Everyday Things was this succulent in a pot. It's a little cockeyed but I think it looks okay.

Today's watercolor is my two favorite small people. This is the second painting I did today. I spilled water on the first one and ruined it so I tossed it and started over. I'll try the landscape, lakescape again tomorrow. Maybe. If I'm not too busy cooking.

 

I didn't find anything to toss today but I did go out and fill the feeders. I also ended up having to cut off both ends of the watering hose because I couldn't pull it through underground. I guess having CG bury it when he built the retaining wall and had to redo part of the lawn wasn't the greatest idea. Oh well, I can buy another hose.

-Barbara