General Discussion & Chat: Coffee and....For Sunday, February 19, 2006 =^..^=, 1 by MaryE

MaryE wrote:
Good morning everyone. It's early, really early here. Instead of napping between trips to the barn to check on the sheep, I decided to stay up tonight and read. There was nothing happening in the sheep department. The 4 wheeler is running again. I can't decide if I got colder than when I walked to check them. I guess it's a tossup, quicker but with more of a breeze. However, I'll consider it a luxury and use it when I can.

The stars are so bright tonight that I took a couple of minutes to just stand and look at them. There was no noise at all and the quiet is something that surprises people who live in more populated areas. A couple of years ago I had a visitor who just wanted to stand still and listen to .......nothing........ something she can't hear where she lives with the constant humm of motors, traffic, planes, etc. She also enjoyed seeing the stars, there are so many lights where she lives that she never sees them. I was looking for the northern lights but they are not visable tonight, actually we are so far south we don't often see them here, but on cold winter nights we just might have them turned on like those shimmering sheer curtains in old movie theaters that came across the screen before the heavy velvet ones.

Near the neighbors' barn and haystacks there is this huge pile of baling wire that has been accumulating for 50 years or probably more. it must be 15-20 feet high and probably 12 ft at the base. Tons of it. I can't emagine how many tons of hay it held together. My neighbor is still adding to it. Birds roost inside and they peep at night. I park my pickup near it and every quiet night that is what I hear. Maybe I disturb their sleep parking there?

Speaking of birds, our great horned owls have been making lovie sounds lately. They mate early in the year, nest early and have fledglings ready to hunt in mid summer. I say "our" owls because they live here on our place and we watch the process every year. Here's a picture of fledgling owllet, his feathers were so soft they were blowing in the wind which made him look like he was shivering. Photo was taken in late June. Ah, summer, such a distant memory here in the midst of O temperatures. I know some of you have it colder than that. We are all wishing for summer, or at least spring so we can play outside comfortably.

There's an article in the paper about Jack LaLanne. Remember him, the original fitness guy? He is 90 and still going strong. His wife is almost 80. I can remember him from black and white tv and he was considered pretty wierd at that time but he's outlived a lot of those critics.

Dcat, I'm glad to hear some good news about your MIL. She has been having such a tough time for so long and your DH has been so good to spend so much time with her at the hospital.

Well now, it's time to check the sheep again and then I get to go back to bed.