Homemade Ice Cream

Every year we make homemade ice cream at Christmas. This year Grandpa Spence loaded Sutton and Stetson on the 4 wheeler and went out and chopped the ice for the ice cream maker. Sutton wanted to get into the action turning the crank. We like to train them in young. I hope these memories stick with them for a very long time. By the way, the ice cream was delicious.

They're back !

 My Blue Jays are back. I thought I only had one or two, but I noticed  six of them in the bushes the other day. The word must be spreading that I have a block of bird seed. I found out that Blue Jays like peanuts in the shell so I give them a handful every day. It does not take long for them to disappear.

Where my days have been spent

 I apologize for not having many pictures. Since I have been home I have been trying to help Spence more up in Ludden. He is feeding 900 head of cattle right now, so I am gate opener, manure hauler and any thing else I can do. So the pictures have suffered a little. Thanks for checking in. After Christmas I will be ready to shoot again

December sunrise

A December sunrise and there s no snow! As the sun came up the colors kept gettng more intense. I love the jet vapors that have drawn a line across the sky.

Oh Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree is up and it's starting to look  like Christmas. I am one of those people that like a little snow on the ground this time of the year, but I don't say that to loud because it is a lot of work for the guys feeding cattle. I know it will come in time.

Thanksgiving morning sunrise

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We were again blessed with a beautiful sunrise. We are also celebrating Spence's Birthday today. So much to be thankful for, includung all of you. Have a great day!



Ice art

The wind blow enough yesterday to make waves on the cattails. I found it interesting how the water froze and dripped down off of the cattails.

Ride'm cowboy

With a big smile, Toy Story pj's and his cowboy hat on sideways, Sutton went for a ride on his horse. He gets that horse going so fast Grandma has a hard time watching. There has been a lot of miles put on that old horse.

Grandpa's helper

We vaccinated 280 calves last Saturday and Stetson was right in there helping us. His favorite job was to poke the calves in the chute. It won't be long before I get replaced.

Not a good sign

The  muskrats are building their winter homes and it not looking good for us. The higher the mound the more water we have in the spring. They have not been wrong yet. Who needs a weather man when you have muskrats predicting the out come.

Really bad hair day

This is Vinny. He is having a really bad hair day. His mane and tail are FULL of cockle burs. I don't even know where to begin on getting these out of his hair.The other horse doesn't have any in her mane or tail. I seriously don't know how he did this.

Corn harvest

Spence and Dylan are wrapping up the corn harvest. First time in years that it hasn't been raining or snowing. I got to drive the grain cart for a couple of days and only got fired once,( they didn't have anyone else to drive so I was asked to come back) and I am proud to say I did not rip the auger off the grain cart. It was a good harvest all the way around.

Lunch with the dogs

I was up at the farm helping Spence and ate my lunch in the car. Rudy and Sadie were there to make sure I did not drop anything. Of course I had to share.....so my lunch was divided into thirds. How could I not share with these two looking at me.

First muskrats,now fish

This is not a pretty picture, but this is what's new on 104th Street....... Yes, fish. We got rid of the muskrats on the road , now we get to run over fish. When the wind blows, the waves wash the fish on the road. An official from the State Highway Dept said he doesn't think we have a problem up  here. How many you have fish on your road ?

Colors of fall

Fall is my favorite season .I love all the colors on the trees.Unfortunately the season is to short. I vote we shorten winter by two months and keep fall around that much longer. Do you hear me Mother Nature?

On fire

Again another beautiful sunrise. The fog settled in, but with the sun hitting it, it looked like it was on fire.Like Spence says, you snooze you loose.

Apple time

We were at Carlos Creek Winery last weekend and their apple trees were loaded with apples. They use the apples in their wine. I was thinking apple pie with a scoop of ice cream.

We can can

My daughter Kayla came home for the weekend and we canned for two days. It was alot of work but very rewarding to see all the canned goodies when we were done. Kayla made the labels to make our jars look awesome.

Toto, were not in South Dakota anymore

Spence and I took a couple of days off and headed north to Duluth Minnesota. We crossed over to Wisconsin for a day and went to a awesome little state park. It had great trails and covered bridges to walk through. The water is funky but learned it is from the iron ore.

Breakfast on the beach

This is the life. It was a beautiful morning on Lake Superior so we took our coffee and toast and watched a ship leave the harbor. I could learn to like this!

Sunrise on Lake Superior

When in Duluth we were fortunate to stay in a carriage house on the lake. Spence went for a early morning walk on the beach and captured the sun coming up. Everyday the sunrises were breathtaking.

Oh the webs they weave

I was out feeding Patrick ( my bottle calf) and I noticed this huge spider web. Not sure how long it took to make, but think how discouraged you would be to have it destroyed and know you have to start all over again. It is truly a work of art.

Hundreds of rainbows

I have two beveled glass windows in my dining room.This is the effect I get in the morning when the sun is shining. My 4 year nephew said " Auntie Jayne you have hundreds of rainbows".

The pressure is off

I had two firsts today. I canned green beans for the first time and I used a pressure cooker. Fear has stopped me from using a pressure cooker. The horror stories from the "old days" of explosions and my luck were not a good combination, but I did it with out blowing up. Look out tomatoes, here I come!

Good Morning Glory

My Morning Glories are blooming. They are a simple flower but I really like them, and they are hardy. A added bonus in this country

Barn Swallows

Every year the Barn Swallows build their nests under the eves of our barn. I am always fascinated that the nest stay connected to the barn. According to my handy dandy bird book, it uses up to 1,000 beak loads of mud to make the nests. When it is really humid I will find some on the ground that have come down.I personally like the one that is a duplex.

Farmers Market

I was in the cities visiting Kayla and we went to the Farmers market in St. Paul. The veggies and flowers were wonderful. We got a lot of goodies. The little boy is my nephew Blaine. He lives in Chicago and will be visiting me for a week.

Foggy Morning

The end of the storm

We just had another storm move through leaving us more rain and branches all over. After the worst was over Spence and I went out to check out the damages. The clouds we amazing. They would light up with flashes of lightening and the colors changed constantly.

Among my flowers

While spraying my flowers for a fungus, ( there's a fungus among us) I moved some Day Lily leaves and found this little nest with 4 eggs. I not sure if they have been abandoned or if they have a future. My handy dandy bird book does not have pictures of bird eggs so I do not know what bird these belong to.If any one out there has the answer let me know. I will keep you posted if we have babies.

Dew

The humidity was so high and everything had dew on it. The dew highlights the beautiful work of the spider that created this web.

Nature at work

We were visiting Spence's sister at the lakes last weekend. They have a spot by the beach with wildflowers and I was lucky to capture this dragonfly doing his thing.

Cast off day!

I am on my way to Sioux Falls to get my cast off. Yeah! This day is one of my happier days. I will not miss this thing at all. Thank all of you for your support and kind words (again).

farm fresh

I am very fortunate to be able to get farm fresh eggs. I love opening the carton and seeing the different colored eggs. And yes, they truely do taste better.

Got candy !

Hecla celebrated their Quadcentennial (125 years) this last weekend. They had a great parade and lots of candy. Sutton worked hard picking up candy and finally decided it was time to try it out. It's always good to have some on reserve.

Native birds

Spence loaded me in the car and we went for a drive. We see these birds all the time but do we really look  at them. The top one is a Yellow-Headed Blackbird and the below it is his cousin the Red -winged Black bird.

My peonies

A new woodpecker in town

This little guy was digging around my rocks this morning. I have never seen this one in the neighborhood before. I got my handy-dandy bird book out and found out it is a Northern Flicker. It is a type of woodpecker, but it does not drill holes in trees and so relies on soft and dead trees for nesting. It forages on the ground for food such as ants and insects.

Blooming

My iris's are bloming in my flower bed. I can only enjoy them from my kitchen window, but they beautiful even from a distance.

What more can I say

This says exactly how I feel about my broken leg, and wanted to share!

Sticking together

As long as Stetson has a passenger and Sutton has a Oreo cookie and a big brother to drive, there is no where these two won't go.

All in a days work

I was lucky enough to work at Meagan's greenhouse in Groton for a couple of days. I love being around all the flowers.What a great place to work.

I know how he feels

This poor little guy got stepped on by his mother and his leg broke. The vet came out and set it. He doesn't realize I can relate to his situation. He needs all the TLC I had and he will be well on his way.

Looking down on us

Today the Endeavour blasted off for the last time. As I take a picture of the moon, I wonder if they are up there taking a picture of us.