Willy Nilly Friday Five and Feline Friday

Yikes!  Summer is going by so quickly and I've not posted much about it.  Seems like I'm so busy trying to keep up with yard work, housework, taking care of my mom etc..that I barely have time to breath much less blog.  I miss it,  so every now & then I manage to do a post just to let you all know I'm still alive.

Joining Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE
and Sandee (Comedy Plus) for FELINE FRIDAY

1. June was a nice cool month and we had a nice surprise on June 29th with a tiny rainshower and a rainbow.  This is the best shot I could manage of the rainbow....

Others were much luckier.  You can view their shots HERE and HERE

That same evening the sunset was just wonderful and I snapped this shot of it:

 

2. Drove up to Bennington Lake one evening and spotted these colorful kayaks out on the lake.

 

 

3.  I also found some Queen Anne's lace to photograph.

Here is an "artsy" edit of the same photo.

 



 

4.  On the way out of the lake I spotted a Quail sitting on a fence post.  I quickly pulled into a nearby turnout and quietly got out of the car and got as close as I could without spooking the quail.  I've always wanted to get a shot of a quail like this.  Sadly I didn't quite get the quail in good focus but it's not a bad shot and I'll keep working on getting just the perfect shot of a quail.

 



 

5.  We didn't go out of town over the 4th of July but we did manage a picnic at one of the local parks.  Below are shots of us having a good time.

 



 

 

6.  Bonus shot of one of the many hanging baskets in our down town.

 



 

Now for FELINE FRIDAY....

 

 



A shot of Bandit watching one of the other cats.  He has such gorgeous eyes.

 

 

It's a HOT one here this week.  The high today is expected to be 102 so I'm leaving you with this musical selection.

 

 



 

Have a great weekend.  For those of you in the "Heat Wave" areas stay cool and safe.

Willy Nilly Friday Five

Happy Friday!

Joining Tanya (Around Roanoke) for WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE




1.  My mom & I took a drive up a back road the other day so I could get some pictures of the valley but it was so overcast you really couldn't see it that well.  We did spot more deer in the same field we did last year so I had to take pictures of them.  Yes they were quite far off and even with my zoom you can't seem them that well.  Can you tell how many are in the shot?

Be sure to click to enlarge for a better view. - The answer is at the end of the post.

2.  We had a beautiful sunset the other night.  I walked down to the school (about 2 blocks) to get this shot so it would be free of power lines.

 

 

3.  I was on my way to the store the other day when I noticed this house was getting some new roofing.  Of course it's been pretty rainy here lately so they haven't exactly started on the roof yet but all the shingles are up there.  I just happened to think it was unusual to see them wrapped in purple plastic.  Naturally I had to get a picture.  This is for you Debbie (It's All About Purple)

4.  Coming back from the bowling alley on Wednesday I saw something running across someone's lawn and thought, "What is that?"  I managed to pull over and get my camera out and snapped a couple of pictures.  Sadly they weren't the best of pictures but you'll get the general idea.  It was a squirrel...so what's so unusual about that you might ask?

Well this one was a mutated squirrel.  Instead of it being brown it was a pale tan color with white splotches and a white face.  It was over cast and I was parked where I shouldn't have been parked so you'll just have to make do with the shot that turned out the best. - Believe me it was one "weird" looking squirrel.

5.  Finally today the wind has been blowing at a steady pace.  Coleen and I drove to Safeway to get lunch and on the way we noticed a street closed sign.  Now around here that usually means they are working on the streets but in this case it meant this....

A large fir tree blew over and took out a branch of a birch tree as well.  We walked up, being careful of the downed power lines and snap a few shots.  I'm just sharing this one for now.

Answer for the number of deer in photo: (14).

Finally to join Steve (BF Dude) for FELINE FRIDAY...

Harley and Miss Caramel Honeybun as an Impressionist Painting (courtesy of BeFunky.Com)  You can join in on the fun here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Willy-Nilly Friday 5

Happy Friday!

Let's join Tanya (Around Roanoke) for some fun with,
WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE.

1.  We've had some amazing sunsets lately.  I took this first shot out our back door one evening.  The one following it Coleen took on her phone at the grocery store the other night.  It was super cool looking and naturally I didn't have my own camera with me.  I think she got a great shot though.

 

 

 

 



 2.  Coleen and I went up to Bennington Lake this past weekend.  We were just going to look at the lake for a few minutes since it was so cold outside.  Instead we got out of the car and went for a hike.  I snapped a couple of shots along the way that I thought were interesting.

What does this remind you of?  I'll see if you thought it looked like what I thought of.  I'll tell you at the end of the post what it reminded me of.

 

 



I liked the curves of these branches at the top of a hill.  Notice there are several little birds in the branches at the left of the shot.

3.  Sharing a "random" photo not posted in 2014 that we also took at Bennington Lake.  I was told these are "wild plums." - We went back about 2 days after I had taken this photo to see if we could get another photo and all of the plums were gone.  Either someone picked them or a lot of hungry animals ate them.

4.  I've been walking again this week.  I take my mom's dog, Pixie along and have been doing about 2 miles each day on the walk.  I'm hoping to drop a few pounds and walking is good exercise.  Perhaps one of these days when it warms up I'll take the camera along too.  The scenery is still a bit drab looking for picture taking.

5.  This week has had it's (moments) and right now I feel a bit like our cat, Callie-Jo looks here:

There are changes in the air regarding church and family that have me wondering just how 2015 is going to play out.  Can't say more then this right now but I hate (change.)


Okay as promised about photo #3 - I thought this reminded me of a Dinosaur's head.  - Did you think that too?

So Many Memes...Friday Fun

Gosh Friday seems to have a ton of different memes that I want to participate in.  I hope you don't get over loaded here but let's get started.

WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY 5

FELINE FRIDAY & FELINE ART

SIX WORD FRIDAY

FOLLOW FRIDAY FOR FILL IN FUN

The statements:

1. If___ then___
2. ___ reminds me of ___
3. I think of _____________ when I ____________
4. _________ is the most special thing ________ has given me

My Answers:

1.  If  I wished for anything then I would wish that no one had to suffer in pain.

2.  The Yarn in the photo below reminds me of Cotton Candy.

3.  I think of my dad when I see sunsets for some reason.  I'm not sure why either.

4.  Eternal life is the most special thing God has given me.  I have that to
look forward too.

1.As promised in yesterday's Good Fences post here is the rest of the story of Eric (the cat) and where he went after he hopped up on the fence.

 
 
 
My mom has a storage shed just a few feet away from the fence so he hopped up there and laid down.  Isn't he adorable.  I snapped this shot of him as I walked out of her yard.   ---     Sharing this for Feline Friday and Willy-Nilly Friday 5  - See below for different versions.

2.  I've always admired Deanna (Snippets from Springdale) gorgeous berry photos.  So while I was out and about this week I snapped a shot of some berries and am dedicating this photo to her for inspiring me.

3.  Remember the reluctant school girl.  Well I'm happy to report that so far she's loving the 4th grade.  This was a shot for the 1st day of school where she was goofing off before she left.  It's a much happier shot then the ones I shared earlier.

4.  We've had some lovely sunsets this week.  Here is one.  This is also my entry for Six Word Friday.  The theme this week was the word:  Sure.

5.  I like to include forgotten photos now & then and this is one that I took when Coleen and I visited Ft. Walla Walla earlier this summer.  There was a demonstration there on dyeing yard with Kool-Aid (you can read about how that is done HERE) and this is some of the dyed yarn they had on display.
So Debbie (It's All About Purple) this one is for you.

Now for some Feline Art.  See the photo of Erick (the cat) above.  I played around with it on iPiccy and came up with these two art pieces.  The first is Pop Art and the second one was something called Fiery Image.

So there you have it.  Does it bother you to have several Memes in one post.  Let me know if you'd rather I posted separate posts for each meme.

Random 5 Friday

Hello! -  If you are here to view my entry for PHOTO ART FRIDAY click on the link.

It's time to join Nancy (A Rural Journal) for Random 5 Friday.

1.  The above photo has nothing to do with Random thoughts...well maybe it does.  This is (Fred-L and Ghost-R) the neighbors kittens.  Of course they aren't feeding them properly so we get to do it.  They show up on my mom's porch every morning and every night for food.  They've been sleeping in the hollowed out TV case that sits on her porch.  I managed to get a picture of them together yesterday.)  -  Feeding all these extra cats is not cheap but we just can't let them go hungry.

2.  I love Christmas decorations.....I "HATE" the work it takes to put them away.  - My back is killing me today as I packed up all the inside stuff yesterday and helped to move it back to the basement storage area.

3.  We need a 1-level house. I hate stairs...oh my aching back!

4.  I got a new zoom camera lens for Christmas!!! - Now if only I had time to go out and shoot something with it.  I have been using it just around the house to test it out though.  So far I'm loving it.

5.  The new Professional Bull Riding (PBR) season starts today! - I can't wait to see which riders will ride or get bucked off.  - Also I know I've admitted this before but I'm addicted to the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows and the new season starts Monday.  I'll be kicking back with my Wine Coolers and watching mindless TV for sure...Yep, it's back to normal life now that the holidays are over.

Last nights sunset...

Thanks for stopping by.

Songography - Blessed Edition and Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

Welcome!

Please join me for SONGOGRAPHY and SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY

This week Kathy (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out) offered us the song,  Blessed by Martina McBride.
Again a country song that I wasn't familiar with but this one I actually liked when I listed to it.


I am truly "Blessed" to have a wonderful family, a nice home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear and time to enjoy the beauty around me.  Today I took a little drive and was able to capture some wonderful pictures.  Then on my way to the store tonight I saw that the sun was just starting to set and I knew that it was going to be a gorgeous sunset.  So I made a bit of a "detour" from the store and headed out on a country road so I could capture this:
CLICK TO ENLARGE:

Yes it is a beautiful world and I am truly blessed.

Please join me now as we head over to Ashley's blog  (Ramblings and Photos) for Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  The prompts this week were:
Horizon, Sharp, Leather, Blue and Diagonal Lines.

HORIZON:  One of the many shots I took on my little drive today.

 There was a bit of haze over the mountains which is pretty typical for this time of year but I think they are still lovely.

SHARP:  Coleen and I stopped yesterday on our way for Yogurt so I could get some pictures and I knew exactly what I was looking for as I'd taken similar pictures of this very same thing last year but never posted them.  I decided to see if they were still there and sure enough they were:  Well new one's that is.

I'm thinking the thorns on these bushes must be sharp.

LEATHER:  Got my little model and did a small photo session of her Leather Jacket that her Grandpa bought her for Christmas last year.

BLUE:  Frost crystals on the Van's tinted window - Aren't they pretty.

DIAGONAL LINES:  This one was a bit tough but I think this counts...

Callie-Jo has diagonal whiskers.

Photo Art Friday - January 18, 2013

Hello and Welcome!  Please join me for Photo Art Friday over on Bonnie's blog,
Pixel Dust Photo Art.  This week the optional theme was Entrances or Exits.

It's been super cold here the last couple of weeks so I have not been outside any more then absolutely necessary.   Which means I haven't spent much time taking pictures or going anywhere to take an specific pictures that would fit this theme.  However I did have my camera with me the other night and snapped some photo's of a gorgeous sunset.

I decided to use one of them for this assigment because a Sunset is an "exit" of sorts.
I then sought out (in keeping with my word of the year, Seek) a quote that I felt fit the theme and put them together along with one of Bonnie's textures called, Perfect for this piece.  I left it pretty simple as far as edits because I wanted the sunset to be the star of the piece:

 Don't forget to pop by and check out all the other great pieces of photo art.

On a side note today is my mom's 84th birthday,  Happy Birthday Mom!