Hi there everyone....how you all doing?? It's still Quarantine time here in Wisconsin. Kind of getting tired of this staying home business....I needs to get out of here and just go shopping with out worries of getting sick. But my mind takes over and says...."oh, just be lazy and do nothing!!" So I listen, and only do what I feel like doing when ever I feel the need to do something. So everything sits for a couple of days till I finally get to it. Same thing with this blog...guess that is why you don't see too many posts from me...just lazy I guess.
So on April 9th we had some visitors to our back yard....Mr. & Mrs. Duckie. Wonder what drew them to our backyard...not really sure. Maybe they thought there was water near by. Maybe it looked like a good place to hide and take a rest. Whatever it was...glad they landed in our backyard.
Isn't this a handsome male duck? I love the way the sun hits his head....so pretty!!
See the female, she almost blends in with the dirt, leaves and moss. I was taking the pictures from the kitchen window....almost seemed like they were watching me, making sure I stayed my distance. They made their way around the tree and into the section behind my bedroom window. Then came around again to the patio.
They were keeping an eye on me....no sudden moves please!!! Then suddenly from above....comes a black squirrel down the tree....what are those big birds doing down there....WHAT!?! HEY!!! This is MY tree and MY yard...scram you's guys!!! Suddenly they were gone. Squirrel and ducks gone as quickly as they came!!!
Certainly am feeling like I live at a Wild Animal Preserve…they must know I am still missing my doggie. So when an animal shows up....it's picture taking time....love when the animals come to my backyard.
This rabbit showed up last September in front of my bedroom window....I zoomed in quite a few times to get this close up. I think he/she was watching me. No sudden moves please!!!
Pretty soon it will be time for me to go outside and start working in the yard....I have quite a lot of work to do. Well, a little bit at a time and I might be done by fall.
We finally got the stimulus check in the mail today....that helps for sure, We will have to use it to pay the property taxes and probably the Federal taxes too, but that won't be due till July 15th, thank God the due date was pushed up. We would not have had the $$$ at the time it was due and probably would have had to call IRS to get an extension.
I ordered 1/2 yard of some Chicago Blackhawk material on Etsy....I want to make some masks. Made two masks yesterday, using red check material, just to see if I could. They turned out okay and will be good to wear while my Blackhawk masks are getting made. I have to see if I can make a "single" layered mask....two layer is hard to breathe through....some of these masks being made on "you tube" have 3 layers. Now that would be very hard to breathe through. I tried making a bandana mask...with all the folds there were 8 layers.....whew, that was really hard to breathe through. I could only leave it on for a few minutes. My gosh....a person needs to breathe!!!!
One of these days I will start working on some cards...that is one of those things I keep putting off for another day. You would have thought I would have been doing cards all this time. Quarantine = card making. Guess not, not in my books.
Still making bread, buns, cookies, pizza dough, waffles etc. with my sourdough starter. Want to make some sourdough donuts one of these days....soon. Well, I think it is time to close here, this post is getting insanely long and probably boring. So you all take care and I hope in the next few weeks we can all escape "house arrest" and get on with our lives!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone, how ya all doing??? This Coronavirus has sure taken over our lives.....unbelieveable isn't it?? Hope you are all taking care of yourselves.
JP has gone back to work, his back is much better, but now I think his company will be shutting down next week. Bills are getting very hard to pay....guess I can only pay what I can pay.
So glad to hear that the IRS will allow us to pay our taxes by July 15th. Just did not know how I was going to pay Uncle Sam by April 15th??? I have been told if I call the IRS, I might be able to get an extention for 120 days if I am still having a problem paying. Was hoping for a refund, but that did not happen this year. Did you know your Social Security checks are taxed. Hard to believe, aren't we taxed once already, then taxed a second time?.......my goodness, that makes no sense to me.
Following are some cards I made for Hospice last month. Pretty simple, but fun to make. The background is an embossed folder and the 'hello' is a die cut. Just added a few gems.
Here again, the background embossed with a cross with the different names of Jesus. Then I added some flowers and gems.....a good one for Easter which is coming up April 12th....gosh time flies.
Did you know....tomorrow is the first day of SPRING???? Surprise!!!!! My crocuses are popping up now. They sure are pretty and there seems to be more popping up each year.
If the weather stays nice, maybe I will get outside and rake some leaves that I never got raked last fall. Will have to see how the weather goes, if not, I have plenty of things to do in the house.
Can you believe.....I still have my Christmas village up, thought I would take it down on the 7th, but that did not happen, now it is starting to get old and I did not even turn the village lights on tonight. Oh well, see what happens time wise.
My Chicago Blackhawks have not played since March 11th (I know that is just last week....but it seems like a month ago) because of the virus. All the teams were shut down, that has to be hard on all the players. Especially if the teams were in the top 3 and in the wild card position. But supposedly Hockey will start up again in July/August. Probably then the Ice will not cooperate....who knows what will happen, every day is a guessing game.
Well time to close here, hope in the next few weeks this coronavirus will be but a bad dream and life is back to normal. So far 2020 has been a TUFF year for many people. Going to have to go out to the store and see if I can find some toilet paper.....just using Kleenex right now (I have maybe 4 boxes, that should last for awhile)
Take care and keep looking up....better days are right around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone. Hope you are doing well. It's been a rough month so far....just too many things to expound about....hey, hey how do you like that word. (definition: explain).
So JP went to work today. He was supposed to get a Doctor's release first. He called the Doctor and it was sent to his place of work. He came home after a couple of hours and is to go to the office tomorrow. They have to ask some questions before he goes back to work. Hopefully he will be able to work for a couple of hours a day. We'll see what happens. His back is not bothering him anymore.
Today is Kylie's death date. It has been 8 months since she has been gone. Gosh, I still miss her. It's hard to believe she is still gone...still so fresh in my mind. Miss her barks and walks. I honestly think I have gained weight, at least walking with her kept me trim. Guess when winter is over, I shall have to take walks by myself.
Pinterest has so many pictures of dogs and the rainbow bridges with lots of poems. Sometimes I have to leave Pinterest because tears come to my eyes and I start crying for Kylie. She was so much a part of this home.
Well, my Chicago Blackhawks won their game tonight, 6-2 against the Sharks. The NHL maybe either cancelling the rest of the games played by the teams for the rest of this month or let them play BUT there will be no fans at the stadiums. I don't know, this coronavirus has gone a bit too far.
Symtoms of the virus sounds like the colds we get during winter. Fever, cough and shortness of breath. The Hockey players have been told to drink plenty of water, wash their hands and don't touch their faces (they are VERY sweaty after games). I guess tomorrow the NHL will decide what will happen to the rest of this season. The Stanley Cup finals are supposed to start the second week of April and then last till June. 
We got some really bad news today. We got our taxes done and we owe the Government $383....plus $200 to the accountant. First time we have had to pay in years, nothing has really changed...just don't know why we owe so much. I have to go to IRS.com and try to get a 120 day extension because we won't have that money by the 15th. I can do payments to the accountant. NEXT YEAR I am going to get our taxes done free, should have done that this year...live and learn I guess.
Well, here is a picture of my Kylie....she was smiling at me while I took this picture. I only wish that rose was still blooming at the time and had not died.
Well time to close here, it's going on 2am, time to go to bed. Keep looking up better days are coming. I still believe!!!
Cheers ~ Louise
PS.....I never took my village down, it's still UP!!!! Maybe this weekend.
