Saturday, February 19, 2022

Saturday This and That- A Photo Post

Hi everyone.  Happy weekend. 

Not much exciting in my world right now. We have more spare bedroom de-construction going on this weekend. After a couple warm days the cold is back. I think I might be going out with my daughter on Monday as she the President's Day holiday off from work, but neither my husband nor her fiance do. We've been talking about meeting up and doing something fun. Nothing definite planned yet though.

Today I am sharing a few random photos from my week. 

Not that either of us needed the calories, but my husband brought home this absolutely yummy cake for Valentine's Day. It was just a basic chocolate cake with white frosting, but it was one the best chocolate cakes I've had. It was just from one of our local markets, and to top it off, it was marked down since my husband didn't stop (at the market) until he was on his way home from work.


I like the lighting on Maddie's face in this photo from the other night. You can see Pete is already sound asleep  on his bed in the background.


I've created a mess in my dining room by using my sewing table as my new art table. I keep bringing things down that I want to use. I hate to see what it will look like by the time I am ready to move back into the spare bedroom. Smile.


We had some nice sunset colors the other day. I like how the trees create a bit of  texture, even if this is a one dimensional photo.


A few weeks back when it was windy, my weed  collection bin blew down into the woods. It was stuck between 2 spindly trees, and since it's been icy I left it there, figuring I could collect it when the walking became easier. Then on Thursday we had more strong wind, and I noticed my bin blew all the way down the hill into the woods. Later I noticed it had blown even further into the woods. I figured before I lost it for good, I better hike down and collection it.


Here's looking back at the house part way into my rescue mission, and 
here's looking back into the woods where the bin ended up.


And in this next photo, here are my rescued bin and my boots on the deck. I'm happy my bin didn't rip on any trees as it blew. I now placed it securely in the garage so I don't have to rescue it again.


And finally, a view of a couple of my bird feeders and my bee hive. The grey squirrel army has made a mess of the birdseed by knocking a lot onto the ground. I've counted 13 grey squirrels out there at one time. 


However, all the seeds make walking out to retrieve these feeders ( for filling) easier as they give a bit of a grip to the ice. Those seeds have also created lots of food for ground feeders like this flock of mourning doves that comes around frequently.



I also wonder how my bees are doing. I can't fully open the hive because it is still going to get quite cold, and I don't want to ruin their heated space. (The bees are adapted to heat  an area of the hive to about 95 degrees by clustering around the queen and making a substance to seal up any cracks). Yet since it was 60 degrees F (15.5 degrees C) the other day, I just lifted the top just a tiny bit to take a fast peek in and see if there was still food for them. The bee experts say the toughest thing for bees in late winter is that they run out of food. There wasn't enough honey in the hive to feed them all winter, so last fall I put in some homemade sugar paste and also some protein/pollen patties for them to feed on.  My quick 30 second glance told me they still had food,  but the question remains, are there bees in there alive? I guess I'll need to wait another 4-6 weeks before I know that answer.

That's the "wild" excitement in my world right now.
Have a wonderful weekend!

14 comments:

Valerie-Jael said...

Lovely to get a view into your world, including bees, squirrels, fly-away bins and messy tables. A bit of mess is my usual condition at home, so it doesn't worry me! Grey squirrels are always very naughty! Love the photos of the dogs, so sweet! Hae a great weekend, stay warm, take care! Hugs, Valerie

Królowa Karo said...

The cake is great :) I would taste it myself :)

Angie's Recipes said...

The sunset and snow are just beautiful!

Pimenta Mais Doce said...

Hey dear! Loved the post and your dog is so cute! Also de cake looks delicious! Love honey <3

www.pimentamaisdoce.blogspot.com

Anne (cornucopia) said...

The cake looks delicious. Great assortment of photos. The wind has been a problem a few times now. Ugh. I hope your bees are okay, and alive. Time will tell...

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Hello Erika: My wife too is on a cleaning and sorting binge in her sewing room. We had noticed that our sump pump wasn't working and so had to remove "stuff" so the technician could get to it. That opened the floodgates (not literally, fortunately!). She has been like a whirling dervish ever since and there are stacks for the thrift store and stacks for the garbage and every surface has been cleaned, the floor scrubbed and it is starting to look like a whole new place. I stay away from it, other than for offering a few words of encouragement and a timely coffee! I have my fingers crossed for your hive. It would be a real shame if the bees have not survived the winter. Great to see all those Mourning Doves and I am sure they appreciate the squirrels strewing the seed around for them. Hugs, David

Jeanie said...

I hope your bees make it. I can see why you're concerned with the first full winter and wondering what will happen. That cake is really lovely and so glad it was as delicious as it was pretty! Happy weekend!

kathyinozarks said...

Hi Erika, that is a good looking cake, and nice too that it got marked down. glad you were able to fetch your bin, and that is awesome it did not get ripped.
is there less food in the bee hive then what you put in? thinking they will be ok since you took such good care of them
Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Neet said...

Tense days ahead whilst waiting for knowing about the bees. What an interesting subject they are, I so enjoy the little snippets you tell us about them.
I don't envy you the walk for the bin in all that snow. We had snow today and the ground is still covered but it started melting off the trees in the garden this afternoon.
BTW you house looks gorgeous nestled in the snow like that, it must be lovely living there - I loved seeing the doves but thinking about 13 squirrels made me wonder - we never have more than three in a one time in our garden. How I wish they were red ones and not grey.
Hugs, Neet xx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

You may have noticed, I was offline since midday yesterday due to an area wide outage at AT&T. Now I'm trying to catch up.

I LOVE your random post. It was fun and I enjoyed seeing what you had been up to this week. Cute cake. Love those boots. Hope the bees are OK. At least you know they have food for now. Thanks for sharing this fun post.

CJ Kennedy said...

Sweet treat and sweeter hubby. Maddie looks so cute. Weed bin. That's not what I thought you meant. 😺 I was wondering if the warm up and down temps. were confusing to the bees. Your flock of mourning doves is so pretty. I like the sounds they make too. Monday is supposed to be the pick of the week. Have fun with your daughter.

Divers and Sundry said...

What a delicious-looking cake!

I'm particularly struck by your first sunset colors photo. That view! I am excited to hear news of the bees. 6 weeks is too long to wait.

Lowcarb team member said...

I do hope your bees will be ok.

Many thanks for your lovely collection of photographs.
I did like the one of Maddie ...

Yummy cake too.

All the best Jan

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hi Erika, I'm so behind, had to hunker down and "work". So glad tho I didn't skip to front and miss your photos, very cool. Love your property and sweet dogs. Oh and that cake - he did good! I'll pass on the bees tho, haha. xoxo