Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Take a walk with me....

...along the mighty Mississippi.  My home is on the Mississippi river.  When a day dawns this beautiful, I can't resist a walk along the levee to soak up the rare winter sunshine and see whats up.  It's so warm today that sandals are just fine to wear....I  brought my walking pole just incase I see any coyotes or mean stray dogs....
...this ship is just outside my window....
....the citrus orchards are picked clean....
...sigh...clearing out the woods for a new home....I know it's necessary...but...at least they didn't clear everything...
...that gully is usually full of water....It'll make a great path out to the rocks....
....so still and pretty....
...not for long....here comes a crew boat heading out towards the gulf....
....wow....I think this is the lowest I've ever seen the river....
....you can actually see the sand....
...it's hard to imagine that once the snow starts melting up north the river will reach near the top of the levee....maybe 14 to 16 feet higher?...I have a healthy respect for the strength of the Mississippi...even when it's low...
...can't resist...I've just got to draw something in the sand with my walking pole...hmmm...a graceful bird perched on a delicate twig...
....these look like river pebbles...but when I pick them up...they're really balls of very fine silty clay...wow...I wonder if you could use it to make pottery?...
...see them...don't they look like pebbles...
...ha....coyote tracks....we heard them howling the other night...I gues this one was checking out the sandbar...
...looks like water's been dripping...
...hmmm...dew from the overhanging trees....
....a whole slab of that silty clay stuff out on the sandbar...
...I've never seen this before...it looks like it grew from a vine in the tree...I'll have to look this up...
...this clear area for the pipeline makes a great place to approach the river...
...someone has made a trail through the woods here....I like to follow it....
...whats in this huge old stump?...nothing....interesting anyway...

...there are very old brick fragments everywhere....they look handformed...I wonder what used to be here...I wonder if this old stump was once a beautiful oak planted by a home made of these bricks...or maybe these bricks were part of industry along the river once...the willow leaves seem to be flowing around the brick fragments...
...up there...a coast guard helicopter....
...looks like some citrus left on that tree....
....four ships anchored...I noticed they are anchored further out in the river than they usually are....must be because the river is so low...
...looks like a push boat and a fuel barge....must be going to fuel up a ship....
....things are slowly turning green again...the wildflowers are peeping out...
...the neighbor's palm farm is so pretty...and they are getting really big....
...back home again...wow...my neighbor works so hard...his tree nursery is really pretty...I just wish he'd cut back on the chemicals...
...I've been seeing these little yellow bellied birds chirping in the trees lately....they're really friendly...
...that was fun.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Wellllll....I was going to...

........tell you about my wonderful idea to avoid buying anything new unless reeeeealllly necessary.  Then,  my husband does this.........................................

............Yes,  he does.  He spoils me rotten.  All of the time......... He doesn't always spoil me by buying me stuff....but in other ways....like when he makes me coffee every morning and makes sure I take my medicine.  Taking the medicine is a little nicer when he brings it to me.  I hate taking medicine. 

Or when he unloads the dishwasher before going to work in the morning, or when he gathers up the dirty clothes and brings them to the laundry room, or when he pulls all of the dead pepper plants, egg plants, and okra plants out of the garden for me, or when he figures out how to do the crazy idea for the garden I came up with....you get it............Thank you Byron for my wonderful Valentine presents.  I Love You!





...I'll never have to buy those overpriced monstrous plastic razors with a zillion edges again.  I have my very own non disposable razor....sigh.....I love it.  Yes,  The straight razor is Byron's, and he's becoming quite a pro at using it.....um yes....he did have a bunch of nicks and one pretty serious cut....the price of manliness   :-).  I'm delighted with both of these.....Find someone to hug today.