Flowers and cats and frogs and birds, oh my!

So many things in one post!!! First, Steve's thrilled his (actually mine, but I'm terrible with houseplants) African Violet has finally started blooming again. It hasn't bloomed in ages, just a lot of green leaves. You can text him to give him pointers if you have his cell number! 

Jon got out his dad's birthday present. Moses wasn't as impressed as he was last year, mostly cuz he was alone in it!! 

 Mittens seemed to tolerate it for a while with her new two legger. .

 Maxwell T. Silverstone, however, was in bliss. A breeze, a safe warm haven, and a human to purr on top of.

This annoyed me. Jon thought it was a bag hung up on a tree, it was gone a few days later. Whatever it was, it does not belong out there floating around. 

Lovely lady bugs are everywhere. 

 This is the Lazuli Bunting Jon saw three of. All males waiting to stake out spots for a female. The girls are definitely going to be a lot more difficult to find, as usual, the guys are best dressed.

Saturday Jon went up to the Mountain Ranch. It snowed briefly, he saw numerous turkey and deer, and a lot of frogs. 

On Sunday, Jon was doing something outside while hummingbirds visited the feeder. The Rufous was fighting with a Calliope! Thankfully, Jon got photos of them visiting at different times. 

 And now we've come to the end of April 2019's posts!!!!! I leave for Alaska in a couple of weeks, so a mixed bag of photos will be forthcoming.

Christmas!

We always miss Tony, but we seem to feel it more on Christmas. In ages past, the boys would sleep by the lighted tree. We'd leave the Christmas lights on all night, inside and out. Makes for a very bright household! We left the lights on this year, but Jon opted to sleep in his room with Kila. They woke up VERY late. Another thing Tony would never let happen. The first things we usually open are Santa presents and Christmas socks. Jon found a Hallmark tractor  this year. A tractor very similar to the one he drove for Brooks (It appears I don't have any of those photos posted to share, cept on FB. How silly!). 

 Steve found a box of candy cane Christmas lights in his loot. Maxwell wasn't as impressed as Steve was.

 How irritating-I can't turn this photo of Jon's ammo box full of candy. The perfect preppers box. Inside is a part of a 2x4, assorted KitKats, Rolos, the ammo was added after the candy was removed!

 Our tree. The first one purchased from Jon's former Boy Scout Troop. It was a lovely tree. I'll be sorry to take it down in 10 or so days.

 Jon got me a lovely oven mitt. On me, it is an elbow mitt, but I rather like it. We were amused to discover the tag had 22 different languages on it, all stating this was 'not for commercial use'. It, however, didn't state what was not to be used. The mitt? The logo? The tag?

 Another of my gifts included bird seed and a new feeder. In my haste to fill said feeder, I forgot to cinch the catch on it and poured out a measure onto the porch. Moses is waiting for someone to stop by.... They did later, but only after Moses left!

 Supper was yummy! Jon's volunteerism got us a lovely ham earlier, so the not thawed turkey went back in the freezer. (they did have a dress down call on Christmas Eve Day--it was a false alarm, but they were ready!) After dinner I had some spice cookies that needed decorating. I think it was a great deal of fun!
                                               Jon's cookies.

                                                              Steve's cookies.

 Kristen's cookies (note, they are sideways again. Dadburn blogspot!)

 Another of Steve's sideways cookies.

                                                Dorothy's cookies (also sideways).

 We ended the evening with a few hands of Triominoes. Steve and Kris were left in the dust as Grandma and Jon blasted away. It was touch and go for a while. At one point, Jon forgot there are more ways than one to reach a solution. He had the numbers 4,4, & 5. Steve told him his score was 8 and 5 or 13. Jon looked up and said, "I thought it would have been 9 and 4....." Jon finally got into the math groove. Here is Jon's closing round of points. 44. Grandpa would have been very grumpy with this grandkid of his!!!! Nest time we'll skype Tony and he can play with us.....I wonder if that would work?????

December warmth~

Moses and Maxwell T. Silverstone know how to enjoy a cold December day! Thankfully, it has gotten warmer, although we still don't have any snow. It tried today (12-20), but after a brief snain, nothing. 

 As you may have noticed from previous readings, I absolutely ADORE red salmon. I had some and wanted to do something different with it. I found a super delish, amazing, tasty recipe and opted to use it. The odd part? I've seen this recipe elsewhere, but when I read the one found on the link highlighted, it made my mouth water! The words and phrasing Marzia used were perfect!

 I didn't use as much honey as the recipe called for and the fish was still slightly frozen. Thus, the photos in the link are much better than mine. The caramelizing she did was beautiful! However, I am sure ours tasted better (Alaskan salmon does). :o)

 I'd like to share another link. This one takes you to a nativity you can stick to your fridge. I have a great many nativities around my house and this one is fast becoming a favorite. I've sent off into the world copies of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and His manger. Sharing His birth and sharing an author friend at the same time is pretty cool. The magnets are the worst part, for me. I had some that were great and those were the ones I sent away. The ones I had left were wimpy, as magnets go. Some of them would not even adhesive spray stick to the shape (they would fall off after they dried!). Many of them were perfect for sticking to the fridge, but alas, you could not stick the baby to anything but the space above the magnet on the manger or Mary. He floated! I learned some magnets have 'power' levels on the back. I needed something stronger than 2. It was a great deal of fun to color and I'll do more for next year.

He's back, birds, and Romeo Flies Free...

Well, Jon is back from Scout camp. It appears they had a very good time. I don't have his photos yet, but here are ones that I took from before and after!

Many of the kids were worn out and I was impressed that Jon seemed to look just the same..a bit dirtier and without his scarf, but pretty much the same!

This last week, I took lots of bird photos. Some of them were fuzzy, but some were not.

The finches are beautiful (especially the males)! The Ring Necked Dove (Romeo, who is mum's ring necked dove) was hiding in the trees and this smaller dove was outside looking for seeds while we were having an outside dinner. Earlier, while I was bird watching (not during dinner), Maxwell was sitting on the table looking regal.

And with that, I will close for today. Reading some 'new' Mercedes Lackey books.