What you do if you're iced in...

Well, you hang around your kitchen window

 looking at all the critters and birdies who are looking for a snack...

Critter feeding is pretty messy business.

This is the frosty view outside my kitchen window above the sink.

It seems a certain little somebody was trapped when the icy rain started coming down in buckets. She had to take cover under the wagon. Looks pretty chilly...and uncomfortable.

can you see her?

As soon as it let up the bluebirds were back. I've lived here 10 years and only seen bluebirds a handful of times, but a little Bluebird "couple" have taken a liking to the feeder up here, so now they're regulars.

Now, look who's back...

She didn't like all the ice pellets in her food pan.

It was a battle all afternoon, 

birds vs. squirrel.

I don't have a zoom telephoto lens, so I just had to use my regular lens. These aren't the best photos, but if you look closely you'll see the variety I had on the feeder. Purple finch and Sparrow on the feeder, a goldfinch on top of the faux evergreen and a little wren waiting turns.

...got some fluff going on here.

My little female bluebird on the feeder again.

The bluebird is the Missouri State Bird

 and speaking of "state birds" we couldn't leave out the Cardinals...

And yes, I had a little help from the "Official" Bird Watcher.

We never lost our power, but it did cut out off and on for awhile.

This has been a long week of feeling lousy, 

but I'm better now.

I think I slept about 16 hours a day most of the week.

and that's with having a flu shot.

I guess if you are going to be sick it's best

when it's snowy and icy,

...a good time to be snuggled up at home.

I hope the rest of you are making it through the snowstorm.

Stay warm.

Spring will be here soon...

I think.

p.s. EpicLinen is still having a discount 

on all orders until March 3.

Head over and look around.

xoxo,

Some chipmunk fun...

I have to say "sorry" for the blurry photos up front. This post is sort of an experiment, hope you all don't mind being the "guinea pigs" for my lackluster techy skills. Actually this is close to "guinea pigs", since I'm showing you one of my little visitors on the deck the last few days.

These pics were taken through my kitchen window above the sink,

 that's why they're so blurry.

Early in the week I put out this old enamel wash pan filled with seeds for the birds. The cats and I need our entertainment from the sunporch you know. So besides the birdies, we've had our regular squirrels and then my favorite little buddies, the chips.

This one is having a great time filling his pouches with all the yummies, but what's been the real laugh, is seeing him bob up and down making sure no one is going to grab him. He's on the alert, but really wants to take advantage of his good fortune in finding the mother load of seed.

My camera has a video option, so this is my first time using it. I'm hoping it works. If it doesn't, then just look at the blurry pictures and imagine you see him doing his thing. He had me in stitches, but then it doesn't take a lot to amuse me now-days.

It's a minute of up and down, up and down. But like I said, this was my first time inserting a video into a blog post. Stay tuned later today for the cliff hanger on my "Late Fall Mantle". I know you all are on the edge of your seats waiting for it. Oh and the racket in the background is my dryer. I have a load of rocks in it evidently...

Thanks for indulging me, 

hope you have a chuckle from this,

xoxo,

On the Deck

More Outdoor Fall Stuff,

this time on the deck.

Here's the view from my kitchen window, out to the back deck. I like to keep a seasonal vignette out here and change it up every year, and I wanted to do something totally different this Fall. I usually use a small barnwood wheelbarrow, but this year I grabbed a little black French wagon and added the old bushel basket and a watering can as a backdrop.

We had a limb come down from one of the maples in front early in the summer, so I nabbed it before it could be cut into smaller pieces. Hubbs knows not to argue, just save the thing in the garage and don't ask questions....

Of course I had a plan!

Why not just hang a Fall sign for pumpkins from it?

Up until last week I still had a few straggling hummies, so the feeder has been out. If you want to read about those amazing little birds and their migration south, then it will give you a new sense of wonder about how God is so evident in nature.

 Hard to get a picturesque shot from here, but an old ice cream maker bucket and a white washed apple basket are holding a few more mums, along with a few of my old watering cans.

Love the rusty patina on that old bucket.

Now, the deck would not be complete without a hidden camera shot of one of my little stinkers. This little fellow and a smaller one have been sneaking around here messing with the pumpkins and eating those "preserved" leaves that you find at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I cannot imagine that they taste good, and could even be dangerous, but they have a fascination with them. Each day there are fewer of them in the basket...yuck.

no chewing on the pumpkins, please...

Hope you're having a great week. 

Fall is finally here, 

and I'm loving it!

(naughty squirrels and all)

joining in for

Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Creek Cottage

TTT at Stone Gable 

French Country Cottage

The Charm of Home

At the Picket Fence

2805

xoxo,

On the Porch

I'm going to admit that I've been dragging my feet about posting any photos of the outside of the house, because I just haven't been able to get good ones. The front is heavily shaded and if it's overcast out, then just forget it. blah, boring, washed out. So we had some sunshine the other day, and I managed to get a few shots, but I'm warning you they are sort of lackluster. I did my best to dress them up a little for you. This little half park bench that I keep out here is my favorite pic.

I did bring out one of my Fall Pendleton wool throws to bring in a little color, and then added  some of that "worth it's weight in gold" bittersweet vine to the mix. I'm going to have to include bittersweet in every blog post I do this Fall, just to get my money's worth out of it!

I always have a hard time decorating the porch, so this year I invested in some vintage concrete urns that are painted white, for the mums. They are heavy little boogers, so hubby had to deal with them. But they do class it up a little, which always seems to be the issue.

Thank you PicMonkey for all your help!

I guess I just need about $200 worth 

of extra pumpkins sitting around out here.

 Maybe that would help.

That, or a personal visit from Martha Stewart.

Wonder how much she charges for house calls?

We're in for a freeze tonight so this will all have to be covered. I can usually keep my Boston ferns until the first of November, but it might not happen this year. I hate throwing them away until it's just too cold for them.

I'm really loving this plump one here in front.

white, with some green and orange veining.

And I think this one is called a Peanut Pumpkin,

see, what did I tell you about the photos?

OK, gotta round up those old sheets and blankets

so I can tuck these babies in for the night!

(click here for last year's porch pics)

Deck photos coming right up...

joining in for 

Seasonal Sundays at the Tablescaper

Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming

Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Make it Pretty Monday at the Dedicated House

Cowgirl Up at Cedarhill Ranch

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Knick of Time

Primp

WOW at Savvy Southern Style

Welcome Home Wednesday at Vintage On A Dime

The Inspired Room

xoxo,

A Christmas Visitor...

Christmas afternoon, things were  quiet while our "big kids" took a walk around the lake with their "frenchy", Vinnie. Hubbs and I were setting in the Living Room talking when we saw a some commotion in the little skinny tree on the deck. Hopping and fluttering we could see a bird outline, but we couldn't make out what kind. It was bigger, looked a little like a cardinal, but more like a robin.  We got up to investigate.

I've enjoyed bird watching my whole life. Living in the country we always had birds in the bushes, trees and yard, and since my dad was a "waste not, want not" kind of person there was always something for the neighborhood fowl to feast upon. 

I used to keep bird seed on the deck for prime viewing, but we have a chipmunk and squirrel population and this was just too close to the pool. Besides, the squirrels have chewed our deck to embarrassment.

This little birdie, rummaged thru my Christmas greens in the basket, sat on the ladder, then on the head of the goose, just bouncing around for a few minutes. I didn't want to waste time running for my camera because I knew I just needed to savor the "visit". 

Glad to know someone else liked my "Backdoor Christmas" decor.

After searching my field guide books we found our little friend, a Gray Vireo, who was out of his normal habitat. It says that he likes scrub brush and junipers in the arid country of the southwest United States. (pretty far from home here in SW Missouri) I guess he was visiting relatives for Christmas and just took a moment for a break. But I'm so glad we were able to have a sweet visit from a little friend; just a little Christmas blessing.

Hope you've had time to enjoy the "small blessings"

 of this Christmas Season...

xoxo,

This and That

I had a few sets of photos I wanted to share, but they weren't very "blog worthy" by themselves, so hey, I just threw them all in this one "pot", kind of like a bloggy soup! These first ones are of my back deck a few weeks ago. This is what I see when I look out my kitchen window above my sink, so I like to have something interesting to view. Love this old vintage ice cream maker bucket on a vintage garden chair. The washed out blue and gold really speaks to me. I "planted" my mums this year in pots other than the store containers. Having extra soil around them has enabled them to stay nicer longer.

My old picnic tin with mums.

My metal garden table 

made from a married old furnace grate and sewing machine base.

That's my kitchen window.

These next photos are from the Antiques Festival of the Ozarks,

which was last Saturday, Oct. 29, before Halloween.

This show had a lot quality antiques and collectibles,

and I loved this display with the kitty hanger and fur collar.

The next few photos are from Pheona's Antiques in Billings, MO.

They have a great once a month sale with lot's of dealers inside the

adorable Victorian house, and more on the lawn. 

Their Christmas Open House starts next Friday evening.

Check out Sheila's blog for info.

more dealers from the show

I was shooting on automatic,

 so my photo of this great seed cabinet from Ohio isn't very good. 

It was amazing, with individual glass jars that once held bulk seed.

The cabinet below is for bulk herbs.

The old seed graphics were just wonderful,

I didn't even ask the price...

And finally my mantel downstairs for Fall.

 I found this great oil painting of an Autumn landscape

 in a shabby white frame a few years ago.

I like to change out my prints for the season.

Ironstone pitchers and vase with my Bird Frames that I did last Spring.

Those crows really got around this Fall!

Vintage Inspiration Friday

is still going on,

just scroll down if you haven't joined in!

Hope you enjoyed the "soup"!

Oh, and be watching for a wonderful 

"All things French" Give Away coming next week!

xoxo,