BALD EAGLES

Every January we try to see the eagles before they leave and so today Dale and I went looking for them. Oh to have a SLR digital camera with a super good zoom lens!!! Nevertheless, we managed to get a few photos and we did get to see around 50 eagles.

A Juvenile Eagle


ADULT EAGLES

A SNOWY DAY in the NEW YEAR

Christmas has come and gone and the new year arrived. In most places, the snow that had blanketed Christmas day was nearly gone. But at our house, because of its sheltered location, we still had quite a bit of snow left. When we woke up this morning, we found that we had a whole lot more. Even though it was not the prettiest we had ever seen, it was still very beautiful. I donned a coat and Heath's boots and trudged outside for the scenery pictures. But for the bird pictures, I had to opt for inside the house shooting through a window. Much warmer for me, but not so clear for pictures.

After Christmas was over, we put our Christmas tree outside by the bird feeder so that the birds could enjoy the tree. What with the green of the tree topped with the white snow, the cardinals looked so pretty sitting in them.

Too Bad We Couldn't Have Had Him
as Our Tree Top

A Female Cardinal in Contemplation

Looking Over Her Shoulder
at Me in the Window....
Leads to the Question...
Do Birds Have Shoulders?



A Beautiful Couple...
I Love How He Seems to Be Looking Down at
His Wife while She is Acting Queenly


And, Finally.... A Titmouse
Surveying the Crowd

COOKIE DAY

Aaron and I had a good time baking cookies today, though it is a toss-up whether his "help" was beneficial. Anyway, he had good time and I guess that is what really counts. He was excited to help and I was a little less excited about his declaration. He saw me rolling up cookies with my hands and decided that was what he would like to do. He immediately went to wash his hands. Now that is a good thing. This is an almost-nine-year-old boy who knows that he must wash up before he cooks!!!! Soon he was back but was in such a hurry that he hadn't dried his hands all that well and was finishing the job on his sweats. I had to tell him that wouldn't fly in this household... so he had to do it all over again... wash and dry his hands once more! He was happy rolling cookie dough into balls and then rolling those in sugar. He even tried his hand at rolling dough with a rolling pin for the sugar cookies. We could actually tell which cookies he had made when they came out of the oven. His had extra sugar on the outside. That's my boy!

11 YEARS OLD

Amazing how fast time flies. We celebrated Heath's 11th birthday Tuesday evening as a Monday celebration was out of the question. I hope the next 11 years do not go as fast - but I am sure they will - maybe even faster. Here are just a few shots of a happy Heath.

The first picture was one of happy relief. Aaron and I had gone to Joplin for his orthodontic consultation, so while we were there we picked up the cake. When we got home, we told Heath we had forgotten to get his cake. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy with us at that point but that turned around when he walked in and saw it sitting on the table. And I was really, really glad we hadn't forgotten it. The cake was Monsters vs. Aliens.... and I tried to convince him otherwise. I didn't win - wasn't my birthday.

Some of the pictures show yellow marks on his cheek. I didn't see them until I was well into taking pictures. I wondered where he had gotten them, but marked it down to school activities. Later, after he gave me a belated birthday card he had made, I realized why he was yellow.

HEATH with HIS PRESENTS and BIRTHDAY CARD

ANOTHER PROJECT - COMPLETED!

More than a year passed since we had basically completed the kitchen/dining room remodel, and I still didn't have the splash guard for the cooktop. Sure, I could have gotten something... like the stainless steel guards that started somewhere around a thousand dollars or so. At first, I thought we would install the tin ceiling tiles on the wall, but after finding that there were none to be had locally, I bought the faux kind. Dale and I decided those might not work out so well with hot grease spatters, so I returned those and put my brain into high gear to figure out another solution.

BEFORE

I finally had a bright idea! I knew what I wanted but never could find anything that would work. Finally, a few weeks ago, I saw what I was looking for at Hobby Lobby; except the items were not on sale. Needless to say, I try not to pay full price at Hobby Lobby unless I absolutely have to. A couple of weeks later... ON SALE!!! I grabbed up a few of the metal picture signs and put my husband to work. Poor guy had to file off the hangers on the backs of all the pictures (all of them had 2 hangers each - ouch!) Before we began on the project, we experimented on a spare picture to see which finish we would use and then did a grease spatter test. It survived the test and we began the final process. We mounted all the metal pictures onto a piece of plywood (sort of), lacquered them, and now I FINALLY have a splash guard.

Okay, maybe this isn't what most people would want. But I like it and I can guarantee that there is not another one like it in the whole world! Plus, the cost.... under $50.00. Yay!!!!

LEAVES, BOYS and CATS

Today, while blowing leaves into piles, Dale decided to build a fort/tunnel of leaves for the boys. As soon as they got home from school, ate a snack and changed clothes, they were in for a fun surprise. While they were crawling through tunnels, the poor cats got tossed into the leaves. Usually cats love to pounce into leaf piles but today it wasn't their thing. It was quite hilarious, though, to watch the cats emerging from the mountain of leaves. I never could get a good picture - never knew where they were going to pop out. I also was thinking it was too bad Matthew Williams didn't live a little closer so he could enjoy it too.

Update: Thought I was done posting on this subject, but have just been informed that one of the cats, Tippy, is now playing inside the leaf fort with the boys. I knew those leaves would be hard to resist!

NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS

Just to let everyone know who is interested, the Ritchey Bible Holiness newsletter will be linked here on my blog each month along with previous issues. I have also added a link that includes excerpts from some of the older issues of when the newsletter began.

All of these links are on the sidebar of this blog and if you are a facebook member, you can also link to the current newsletter on my info page. If you prefer to receive the newsletter through email, that is possible also as I have started an emailing list. If interested, send me your email address and I will add you to the list. Dan and Tammy Williams' blog also has a link to the newsletter, so if you happen to be there first - you won't have to come here!

We realize that there may be some information in the newsletter that only pertains to our local church, but some thought it would be nice to have others read it as we have many friends and family that may enjoy keeping up. It's just another way to share our lives and our God with others.

As a whole, the newsletter will be published about nine times per year.