Country Life on the Farm

Boy am I beat! I sure did get my exercise today exploring around in the woods off my friend Melanie's farm today. She told me about a month ago when it got nice that I could come visit her farm and we could go look for mushrooms. She thought it would be a perfect place for me to get some pics of the wildflowers too. Well....we didn't find any mushrooms. It's just been so darn dry around here lately. We are expecting rain starting tomorrow all through the weekend. So that may help the mushrooms grow. Before we started our little trip through the woods I got some amazing pics of the few farm animals that she has.

She has one rooster and three hens. They liked eating cat food! LOL

The rooster was very handsome!

One of her two ducks on her nest

Her new stray kitty that found her named Gizmo. He was a very loving guy.

So then we got on her ATV and headed for the woods. This was a first for me to ride on one of these All Terrain Vehicles! No picture....LOL

As I said before but no mushrooms but wildflowers were blooming!

Red Trillium

Some kind of Phlox I believe

Violet

Not sure what this is.

Then we crossed the main road to the other side of her property that is along the Mississippi River. We walked and walked along the levee and came upon a Eagles nest, high up in a tree!

We had no idea it was there until we heard her call and she flew off her nest and was circling around looking at us. It was an amazing sight! We stood there for quite a while watching her fly around.

Butterflies doing what butterflies do! LOL

Hog House that used to house baby pigs

And some rusty farm equipment. They had plenty of that.

So that was my adventure today. It was a beautiful day that's for sure. I will sleep good tonight after all that walking!

Thank You Melanie for a wonderful day!!

Primitive Note Cards

Very cool weather we've been having lately. Nothing like we had a couple of weeks ago in the 80's. Freeze warnings for the last three nights. I think tonight will be the last and then will start warming up again. I'm so anxious to get out and plant something!

Today I made a set of Primitive Note Cards and listed them in my new etsy shop Red Oak Images. I'm selling them for $6.00 a set of 4, plus shipping. I will be adding more in the coming weeks!!

This will be a short post for tonight! Hope to have some awesome photos for tomorrow. Making a little trip tomorrow to some place new!

My New Photo Etsy Shop!

Been so busy the last couple of weeks making my bunny dolls and getting ready to open my new etsy shop which I opened yesterday!!! Finally! I had many requests over the years to make note cards with my photos and it's finally a reality! I will be selling photo prints of my work too, as soon as I get time to do that! My shop is called Red Oak Images and here is the link to it -----> Red Oak Images I also have a widget for my new etsy shop in the right hand column at the top. Just click on that.

Here is one of my collections of butterflies

I will be adding more note card collections in the coming days and weeks. And I will make custom collections too. Just let me know what you like and I'll put your special order together for you. Same with the photo prints. I can make prints from any of my photo in different sizes!

Tonight before the sun went down I went out and captured some amazing shots of our lilacs blooming!!

These Purple Lilac's are my next door neighbors

The Virgina Creeper is starting to creep everywhere again!

This year is the first time I've seen this tulip bloom after planting them 3 years ago!!! Why???? Because the deer would eat them as soon as the buds appeared. Got smart with my deer repellent. I use dial gold bar soap flakes. Just grate your bar soap on the fine setting of your cheese grater and sprinkle around your flowers. I sprinkled some inside the tulip flower and they were still there this morning! Only problem is you have to apply again after it rains. But this works pretty good for me. 

More Lilacs. These will be perfect for a centerpiece for Easter this Sunday!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

New Prim Mama Bunny Dolls

I finished up a couple more bunnies yesterday after our little trip to Starved Rock State Park. They are now listed in my etsy shop!!!

http://rockriverstitches.etsy.com

It was a gorgeous day yesterday, so we decided to make our way to Starved Rock State Park. I had never been there and hubby said he'd been there when he was a boy. Tons of hiking trails! So my legs are a bit sore today. Starved Rock is a huge park and there seemed to be many people like us that had the same idea that Sunday was a perfect day for hiking! Man was it crowded for such a big park! I did manage to get a few pics!

A beautiful shot of the Illinois River. Over on the sand bank were some geese honking away!

Gorgeous Bluebells in bloom!

A bunch more Bluebells!

There were many fishermen out on the Illinois River

Loved these! Dutchman's Breeches

Dutchman's Breeches

Was hoping to get some shots of the waterfalls there, but it was pretty dry. We didn't get that much snow this winter and not much rain either this spring.

These were my favorite! Spring Beauty

There were a lot of these! Yellow Bellwort

So that was my day yesterday! Today it's back to being very cold. Barely made 50º today, but will be close to 70º tomorrow. That's spring for ya!



Red Barn Sale!!!

What a busy weekend! Went by in a flash! I can't belive the weather we have been having! I think it has been getting up into the 80's for about 4 or 5 days now! Crazy I tell ya!
My first order of business yesterday morning, was to head to the annual once a month Red Barn Sale!! It runs once a month from March to October, I do believe. I found this sale last year on their last sale of the year. For all my primitive blogging friends, I tell you what, you would love this sale! And the prices were awesome! I asked the owner for permission to take some photos to post and my blog and she was more then happy to oblige. I'll show you the goodies of what I bought after I show you all the goodies they had for sale!

Oh and have to tell you the photos are not my standard best as I was taking the pics with my iPhone.

And here are the two things that I purchased. The wooden drying rack I got to grow my cucumbers on this year! And the rusty star is way cool! It has a little door in the back that opens so you can put a little candle in there.

So that was my adventure for the early morning. My hubby was telling me that he saw the other day that the eagles were still around here. I didn't think they would be with the temps for the last 4 or 5 days have been in the 80's. The bald eagles come to my area every winter to fish out of the two rivers that we have. So I grabbed some breakfast and headed down to Sunset Marina where hubby saw the eagles. At first I didn't see any and found the only mallard duck pair in the whole place! Here is a shot of the male with his gorgeous emerald head!

Young eagle with his fresh catch! Sorry the eagle pics aren't the best. They were way across the pond.

This pic is when he flew over my head!

When I was sitting there taking the eagle pics, a older gentleman walking his dog asked me if I had been to the marina during the winter taking any pics. I told him no I hadn't. He told me about three weeks ago when it was still cold that one day he counted close to 100 eagles!! He said it was the most he had ever seen in all the years coming to the marina. I am kicking myself now for not going there a month or so ago. Oh well....I will be there next winter!

So after I left the marina I went to the Botanical Gardens to see if I could find some flowers blooming. I found these lovely Daffodils!

And these interesting spring blooming flowers are Siberian Squill. I only have a few spring flowers from the Botanical Center that were outside the gates. I didn't pay to go inside and see the greenhouse area. I'm saving that for another day as I have promised my sister we would go there together. Then I spent the rest of the day doing yard work!

And what did I do today!!!! More yard work! Raking and raking leaves! At least we got it all done.

More Primitive Bunny Rabbits!

Whew!! Finally finished a batch of bunnies yesterday! What should I work on next?? These sweet dolls are now listed in my Etsy Shop. The second one from the left has been sold. I may make a few more if there is a great demand for them.

Maybe I'll go out and find some interesting photos to take. Like something growing!! Will be in the 60's today!! Tomorrow will be the same. Seems crazy, yesterday morning when I got up it was 14º. Come on Spring! I'm still looking for the first robin. My sister and I always have a contest to see who spots one first! 

And in other news. I've gotten totally addicted to Independence USA goat cam. If you know me, then you know I just LOVE goats!! It's located in Pennsylvania. It's of 2 goats, a mother (Pepper) and daughter(Elle). Pepper the black and white goat, gave birth to 3 kids on Friday night and I was able to watch the whole thing! If was truly amazing! The babies are so darn cute!!! They are so funny hopping and skipping around. We are now waiting for Elle the white goat to have her kids anytime now! The owner Frank believes that today or tonight might be the time.  

Link to the webcam on Ustream---> http://ustre.am/HKZb

So everyone have a wonderful Tuesday and hope it's warming up in your neck of the woods!!