It was about this time last year that I watched a hawk chowing down on his lunch. I’ve seen hawks flying this year, looking for prey, but I haven’t seen them catch anything. I wonder if the voles are gone from behind our lot.

I love having flowers in the house, especially during the dreary winter months. They add a bright pop of color and make me smile! These African Violets are doing their thing! Do you have any flowers inside?

My Sweet Potato Crop 2021 Sweet Potatoes make a great vining display in pots through the summer. When the fall temperatures dip, it’s time to pull those vines and dig in the dirt to see what is hidden there. This year’s prolific vines produced only one giant sweet potato. It must weigh a pound or two. That’s a regular-sized coffee cup for reference. It lasted until Thanksgiving when I shared it with the family. 

I built our house so I could have an office with a view. And I have a lovely view, even in the winter time. But the one drawback to having my office in the lower level of our home is that it gets cold. I keep a thermometer in the office, and when it gets below 66 degrees, I turn on the little space heater I bought. Then I can keep on writing. If I put on my fingerless gloves. These were a gift from a niece who can knit, which I cannot do. Of course, sometimes I can’t write

Continue reading My Basement Office in Winter

Kansas is known for its bugs: cicadas, fireflies, chiggers, oak mites, ticks, and mosquitos—to name a few. So, if you want to enjoy the soft summer breezes, a screened porch is a requirement. If you’re a writer, you’ll need a laptop computer to travel with you. Problem is, right when you’re formulating that dynamic final chapter, you notice a hole in your screen and what appears to be a very large grasshopper grinning back at you. No time to finish the chapter. This invader needs to be shown the door!

We love bird-watching at our house. Sunflowers that grew from their seed fell to the ground, blossomed under the feeder, and are STILL feeding birds in mid-November! I saw a chickadee just today eating the seeds from the now dead flowers. Chickadees are cheery little creatures — even in the coldest winter.

Oreo the cat climbs around the house at will. Once, after looking everywhere for a bag of clothespins to make a display, my sister searched a storage closet for the third time. While she looked, Oreo jumped onto a shelf, pawed a path to the back, and revealed the bag of pins.