A Day To Celebrate Part Two, Mar 22, 2013

This is the second half of the main posting. I don't know what happened but they got separated. I know it doesn't make sense but maybe you can following what I was saying.

Stacks Of 35 MM Slides Sorted By Year. Roughly 2,000 photoa

Earliest  Slides At Goose Bay Labrador 1956

Giant Elephant Ear Has A Second Bloom

Second Blossom Open And Third Is Coming Up

Leaf Is So Heavy It Is Bending And Will Soon Die Off

I have never seen an elephant ear have so many blossoms. I wonder what is next because I do not see any new leaves coming up. Will just have to wait and see. About this time in April I will be about ready to move them back outdoors where they can really show off their stuff. Well this is about it for this time and I will close as I anxiously await the arrival of Joyce.

Remember God Loves you and I Love you.

Grandpa Bill

A Day To Celebrate Mar 22, 2013

Hello everyone I have struggled for the last few days as to what I wanted to say today. The more I thought about it the more I realized the range of emotions I have been experiencing covered a lot of territory. I have had my cry today and finally realized that  even though I miss my Jan more than words can tell I can only be happy for her and celebrate her heavenly birthday where she is at perfect peace and comfort with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To feel any other way would be selfish. The girls bought a fresh floral wreath for Jan's grave. Joyce is driving here today from Long Island to spend a few days with me. She called earlier today to give me an update on her travel. This weekend Patricia and her family will come over and then we can go place the wreath on Jan's grave.

Isn't it suppose to be Spring? That's what the calendar says but someone forgot to tell the weather. We have been cold the last few days and have some nasty weather forecast this weekend especially Sunday. Some of the flowers and bulbs I ordered have arrived and they will go in the ground in a few days. The signs of spring continue to show up every day. Today I was out side filling up the bird feeders and I could hear birds singing all around me. The following photos show you something unusual.

My Giant Elephant Ear Has Bloomed

Bloom Pod Is About Six Inches Long

Deer in my back yard are not unusual but I love to watch them.

Three Deer In Back Yard

Deer Checking Me Out

Three Deer About To Leave The Yard. I Was Watching These

Three Deer And There Was A Fourth In The Azalea Bushes 

That I Did Not See. Also, There Were Two In Mike's Front

Yard Eating His Pansy.

Something happened to the other part of this posting and I cannot connect them so I will send them as two postings.

Grandpa Bill

Signs Of Spring, West Chester, March 6, 2013

I am like others in many respect in that I can't wait for warmer weather so I can get out side and start working in the yard. You know - digging in the dirt - and planting things.This particular posting will probable be a little over a several day period. Why? Just because I want to get thoughts down as I think of them and as I see signs of Spring. In fact as I sit here starting this posting the news is on TV and they are predicting a winter storm warning will be posted in the next day or so. Sure enough the next day they did declare a winter storm warning for my area. Now a night later as I sit here the prediction is for 5 to 6 inches of snow.  Tonight 3/5/2013 as I sit here I can tell you it has rained most of the day and is expected to change over to a rain snow mix late this evening. I watched a couple of basketball games and when I went to bed the ground was covered with a very wet and  heavy snow. This morning around 5:30 when I went out to get the paper I had about 5 inches of snow after snowing all night. Very wet and heavy. Boy would this snow make a wonderful snow man. Don't think I will try it though. This is the kind of snow that really sticks on trees and is really beautiful. Speaking of this, one of the side effects of all of this snow on the trees is the impact it has on my Magnolia tree.These trees are really an evergreen although most people do not realize this and they stay green all year and just shed old green leave as the limbs grow and new leaves come out pushing the old leaf off. They spend months doing this. It is just not a one time event so I spend several months picking up these old leaves. The snow on the leaves means that the shedding process is accelerated  so I will have thousands of leaves to pick up over the next few months. That is no exaggeration because this tree is higher than my two story house and has a diameter shade area that is over 30 feet. The Magnolia leaf is about 6 inches long, and 2 inches wide, thick and very heavy so they cannot be allowed to accumulate on the yard or they will smother out the grass. I can see from the tracks around the bird feeder that my deer friends came by for a meal. It also looks like they stopped at each fruit tree and had a snack. After breakfast I heard a noise out side and it was my wonderful neighbor Mike next door. He had his snow blower out and did his drive way as well as mine and two other neighbors. My record is still in tack. What record you ask. Well I kept procrastinating about having the snow blade put on my John Deere so this make 2 years the snow blade has not seen a flake of snow. Still new and unused. I think it is too late in the year to worry about having it put on now don't you?  Its March and Spring isn't it? Signs of Spring or signs of an optimist or signs of a procrastinator. Take your pick.

Signs of Spring. I think I mentioned a few days ago about my mail box being stuffed with catalogs seed and plant companies. That is a sure sign of Spring. In my front flower beds the daffodils  are up about 3 inches. The Maple trees are really starting to put out their buds. The pussy willow buds are swelling. The Canadian Geese who generally are around in large flocks are now around as mating pairs starting to check possible nesting locations. It is interesting they mate for life. Wonderful concept. When I am doing my workout at Fit Works one of the machines I use is upstairs in front of large floor to ceiling windows. From there I can see the entire parking lot and the various landscape island sin  it. Typically I see geese flying around but lately I have seen four pair of geese checking out roof tops and the grassy areas for nesting sites. Every year we hear about some duck or goose that made her nest on a roof top and later the babies could not get off the roof and had to be rescued. They are also, starting to get very aggressive when you get to close to them. When they lower their head and stretch out the neck and head for you you better watch out. They seem to think they own the parking lot and often seem ready to challenge the cars which get too close and generally will not move out of the way of approaching cars. You don't dare hit one of the crazy things because they are protected. Last year one pair had a nest just a few feet from one parking slot and the male goose was adamant that no one was going to get very close to his mate's nest. To protect the clients as well as the mother and her nest they finally blocked off this particular parking spot.

Speaking of planting, I have ordered so much stuff I don't know where I will find space to plant it. I may have to convert some more lawn space to flower beds. I may have to increase the number of planting pots I use. Sometime in April I will have to have these questions answered. Another sign of Spring is to be fund in my plant room where the Elephant Ears, Fern, and Banana plants are waiting for spring. My giant Elephant Ear is putting out a blossom bud. I hope is continues. They do not often bloom.

Speaking of snow I had to call grandchildren Michael and Lisa and cancel our weekly Wednesday meal after school.The church also called and told me that because of the snow I would not need to come in to sign checks. They did not want me out driving around in this stuff.  I am thankful for that because Lady Blue does not do well in the slick stuff. All this free time means I can look through more 35 mm slides. In the mean time a few snow photographs.

Snowy Back Yard.  Deer Tracks Around Bird Feeders

Snow Sticks To The Limbs

Snow Laden Magnolia Tree And Picnic Table

Beautiful Snow

Giant Elephant Ear Blossom Bud In Center Of Photo

Well this is about it for this time. Speaking of the 35 mm slide project a new idea is starting to jell ( in this cold weather jell is a good word ) in my mind and that is as I find and group my slides according to dates, places and events I may do a blog posting on that period of time for example my first year on active duty in the U. S. Air Force in Goose Bay Labrador 1955 and 1956. Boy that was a long time ago. I may even create a new blog to cover those kinds of activities. What do you think? How about something like " Life with Grandpa Bill ".

Remember God love you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill

Natural Beauty,West Chester,3/3/2013

I have people ask what have you been doing? I haven't seen any activity on your blog lately. Well I have done a lot but just have not had time or taken time to put it down in written form. I have been quiet busy. As I told you I finished the painting of the downstairs except for the laundry room and I decided to hold off until warmer weather to finish that. I need to put in a new dryer vent and a couple of water valves and I want warmer weather before I tackle those jobs. I have been busy going through my 35 mm slides that have accumulated since 1955 and trying to sort them out as to the date of photograph, place and who is in the photo. Some times I get so involved in looking at this stuff I just enjoy looking and forget what I am actually trying to do. But, Oh what wonderful memories they bring back.

The weather here for the last couple of weeks  has let us know that Spring is not far away but Winter does not want to go away quietly. It has been cold. A lot of damp days, cloudy and a few flakes of snow every day and night. Tomorrow night we may get a mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow. I have worked out at the fitness center most days. I have watched a lot of DVDs and basketball games and of course of lot of my favorite shows on TV. Many of the programs I like are on cable stations which have frequent commercials and the commercials typically last 5 to 7 minutes. I have found it is amazing how much work I can get done while the commercials are running.  Go figure.

Of course the cold weather means I have to stay busy keeping all the bird feeders full for all my outdoor friends and I have a lot. In this posting I want to show you just a few of my friends which I get so much fun out of watching. All these creatures are in my back yard except the turkeys which are a couple of miles away. When ever I see the vegetation and wild life God created I am just in awe of his creation. What an awesome God He is and how magnificent is the work of His hands.

Mother Cleaning Up Loose Grain Under The Feeder

Fawn Eating

Fawn Still Eating

Dogs Next Door Got Fawns Attention

Look At Those Big Beautiful Eyes

Mother And Fawn Both Hear Something

Satisfied They Are Safe Go Back To Eating

Still Not Sure About All The Noise The Dogs Are Making Next Door

Boy It Is Hard To Get Food Out Of This Feeder. 

It Keeps Swinging Around

I have been watching this mother and her two fawns for over a year and I wondered why at this time only one of them was with her. Last year when the mother first came in the yard with her fawns they were very small and were not very stable on their little legs. I started leaving the gate open so they could come into the yard with her. She had been jumping the fence and coming in and eating then jump back out where her fawns were. Of course now they just glide ever so gracefully over the fence, As you can see from the above photo it was starting to get fairly dark and to my surprise the second fawn was in the back yard all the time but was in my azalea bed eating them rather than eating the grain.

House Finch Enjoying A Meal. Male Is On The Left With The Red Head

Beautiful Little Female House Finch

Morning Dove Always Eat Off The Ground

Snow Bird Eating

Mother Trying To Reach Up To Th.e Feeder To Eat 

 Fawn  Eats Off The Ground

Deer Getting Into Trouble Starting To Eat My Fruit Trees.

The One By The Feeder Looking Back Over Her Shoulder 

As I Am Pecking On The Window Telling Them The 

Party Is Over.

Stretching to Reach A Choice Fruit Tree Limb

I was not able to get a photo of it but the deer and squirrels do not mix. I have eight squirrels that call my backyard home at least when it comes time to eat. And just like in all the animal world there is always one dominate animal. In this case the dominate squirrel get to eat out of the tray at the top of the feeder that is on top of a post. That is except when the deer are in the back yard. They will run around and try to sneak up behind the deer to get near the feeder but just don't seem to be brave enough to get to very close. It is so comical to see those eight squirrels running around ever which way wanting to get to that feeder. You see there are six or seven other feeders that the deer are not near.The birds are the same way they seem to steer clear of the deer. Although I did see one dove who was just walking up close to get some grain. When she got too close the deer just moved her head around from where she was eating looked directly at the dove. The dove decided to wait till another time to eat.

I think in the past I have made mention of the fact that I had seen some wild turkeys not far from the house. I have wanted to get pictures of them but I either did not have my camera or the traffic was to heavy on the road to stop and get a picture. One day the traffic was heavy, I did not have my camera and that day the turkeys decided they wanted to cross the road so the two male ( Toms ) just slowly strolled out onto the road, stopped and looked at the cars. Now we had two cars stopped from each directions waiting for the turkeys to make up their minds as to what they were going to do.The females ( Hens ) just stood on the grass next to the road to see what they were to do. Finally two guys got out of their cars and drove the turkeys off the road. After I got by I watched in the rear view mirror and the two toms started across the road again. A few days ago I came by the field where I generally see them and they were out there. I came home got my camera and went back. There is a home on the hill at this point and a paved driveway that goes up to it. I had always thought if I pulled into this driveway it would scare the turkeys away but after thinking about how they tried to cross the road I decided to go into the drive way to get some pictures. It was raining fairly hard so I stopped the car and started trying to get a few photos and to my surprise the turkeys started walking toward me The two Toms leading the way as you can see in the following photo.

See The Hens Following The Toms. Just A Few Feet In Front 

Of The Car Coming To Check Me Out

Tom Turkeys A Couple Of Feet In Front Of The Car

Wild Turkeys. You Can See The Front Hood Of The Car. 

The Tom On The Left Had Just Finished Closing Up His 

Tail Feather Display. I Missed It.

Close Up Of Male Turkey Head

Wild Female ( Hen ) Turkey. Isn't She Beautiful

Wild Male ( Tom ) Turkey. He Flew Up On A White Plastic Fence To Get A better Look At Me. He is

Not More Than Four Feet From Me. In The Photo Of The Female You Can See The Top Of One Of The Fence Post. He Is Also A Handsome Male.

I have a friend in my Sunday School Class who walks a lot  on the trails in Keener Park which is near where I took the above photos and he has indicated he has seen wild turkeys in Keener park. There is an individual at the fitness center who has a neighbor who lives near Keener Park and says wild turkeys often sleep in the trees around their home. Since the turkeys were obviously not afraid of my car and the way they came over to check me out I suppose they may be use to someone in cars throwing out some food for them. 

Well I suppose that is about enough from me tonight. It is nearing my bed time and I need to put the dishes in the dish washer. As always remember that Gods loves you and I love you also.

Grandpa Bill

Changes A Comin 99% complete, Feb. 16, 2013

Well here it is February 16, 2013 and Valentines Day is past and incidentally I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day. I always loved Valentines Day it was always so special for Jan and I. It has been a busy several days since I last updated you on the changes. Just in case you did not already know it this is a lot of work especially the way I am doing it. I am trying to clean out cabinets and drawers  as I go from room to room. It takes me about a day to empty cabinets etc so I can move them away from the wall. Then a day to tape the trim, baseboards and crown molding. Now another day to paint. Another day to touch up where I missed or did not get a good covering and remove the tape and put up the new drapes. I did not take the plantation shades down and left them white.  Another day to move the cabinets etc. back to where they belong and another day to replace dishes etc back into the cabinets. and then on to another room. I guess I failed to mention that in each of these days I had to stop and rest and that is why it took a whole day. You youngsters won't understand that but you will some day. I had mentioned sometime in the past that the older grand daughters were getting Grandma's ( Jan's ) china ware so I took this occasion to put together all that was going to Sara and Nicku.  Parisa got hers last year when I went on my New England trip and visited her and Dan in New York City. The following are a few photos of the new look. You have to see it in person to see the drastic change. You may notice in a couple of places there are some things stacked around. Well those are more projects still in progress.

Looking Into The Living Room

Front Entry And Stairway

Computer Center In Living Room

Street Side Of Living Room

Looking Into Dining Room

Part Of Dining Room

Part Of Dining Room

Dining Room Hutch

Part Of Kitchen  ( Color Is Distorted )

Kitchen Hutch ( Color Is Distorted )

Family Room Looking Into Front Entry, Dining Room And 

Kitchen And Of Course My Warm Jacket

I still need to put the dawn stairs bath back together and I am finished. I think I will hold off on doing the laundry room until later.

I mentioned earlier about cleaning out drawers and cabinets. I found several interesting items.The following is one I will mention now and it was one of Jan's favorite and it sat around for years in fact so many years that it was part of the fixtures and was overlooked by all except Jan and she made this comes to life and even more so for me because I found it on Valentines Day. That brought a tear to my eye. The author of the following is unknown.

                                                

            THE STORY BEHIND LOVE

                               For many years a man watched his wife take a locked box down

                               from the cupboard. She would unlock the box, take a pinch, 

                               sprinkle it over whatever she was cooking, re lock the box and return

                               it to its place. 

                               One day, while his wife was away, his curiosity got the best of him.

                               He went to the cupboard, took the box down and opened it. To

                               his surprise it was empty! He turned it over and on the bottom was

                               written the word " LOVE ".

                               Don't keep your " LOVE " locked up in a cupboard. Keep it within

                               easy  reach and use generously.

                                       SO......

                                       Through not in your recipe book, Into everything

                                        you cook, Put a big pinch of " LOVE ".

The above was printed on the side of a spice can which Jan kept sitting on top of the control  panel of the stove in the kitchen. I don't know where or when she got this. It may have been a gift but the important thing is that she practiced the thought set forth above. 

This week I have received many many gardening catalogs and that makes me wish for spring more than ever. I am ready to start doing one of my favorite things. If you wonder what that is just ask any of my daughters and they will tell you, " digging in the dirt ". You can't grow stuff if you don't dig in the dirt. Well it is time to close this and get something to eat since I have been up since way before dawn and breakfast was a long time ago.

Remember God loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill.

                                

Change A Comin Part One Done, Feb 1, 2013

Good morning from Ohio. It is a very cold and blustery day here with the actual temperature in the area ranging from 6 - 10 degrees with a pretty steady wind which gives us a wind chill factor of 5 - 10 degrees below zero. There is an official weather service advisory about the wind chill and telling everyone if they have to be outside to bundle up and protect them selves. I plan to do one better than that I plan to stay inside and look outside to see what is going on. According to traffic reports on the TV traffic is a mess because of so many accidents. People just don't how to drive on black ice. The very light snow we had last night was very fine and melted quickly on he road which had been treated then froze with some more light snow on top of it creating black ice under the snow. Just because there is no snow piled up on the road people assume it is OK to drive fast then suddenly they have to stop or make a turn and they find themselves in a tail spin and off the road or worse yet into another car.  Yesterday afternoon I got hungry for some chicken and dumplings. I got out my trusty slow cooker and found a recipe on the Internet I thought looked good and started cooking. If I do say so myself it was delicious. Saturday night we have a forecast for 1 - 3 inches of snow. Speaking of looking outside I looked out this morning and there are deer track all around the bird feeder so  it looks like some of the deer friends paid me a visit last night for a little food. That's OK if they will just leave my fruit trees alone and let me do the pruning which I need to do next week.

Unveiling of Part One of Change A-Com in follows:

Looking Toward The Street

Fireplace Wall

Looking Toward The Back Yard

Time Warner is coming at noon today to check on a problem I have been having with my cable box. I have to start taping part of the Living Room now as that will next for change that is Change A - Com , Part 2.

I love you.

Grandpa Bill