Another egg group picture -
They are commer- cially available painted wooden eggs. I can put them on my spring branches secure in the knowledge that the cats cannot destroy them. :-D

There is one little bird that seems to be working for the squirrels. I actually saw it pushing lots of seeds out of the tray. The squirrels immediately came out to eat what was under the feeder.

There were three squirrels. From time to time, one tried to claim the area as its territory. It would chase the others away but they always returned. They were also chasing each other around the backyard. Every once in a while they would stop running and chasing to wildly twitch their fluffed up tails.

I got the recipe for the French Breakfast Puffs from Christine's blog. As you can see, she got it from Paulette's blog. Scroll down in the entry to the pictures and recipe. I prepared it as posted with the exception that I added ½ teaspoon vanilla. I think vanilla is a marvelous flavor enhancer. In answer to Christine's comment about Naomi's observation that the puffs are fiddly to make. They are. The batter is very straightforward. The fiddly part is dipping the tops of the baked puffs in melted butter followed by a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. I have a neat little substitution so that I do not have to do that. Before baking the puffs, sprinkle raw or turbinado sugar on the tops then bake as directed. Here is a link to a specific brand of sugar that is generally available in the US. I like to sprinkle the sugar on muffins before I bake them.

Enjoy Some Scones

This is primarily for Kathy but everyone else is welcome to it.

Dried Cranberry Scones
Makes 12

Sift together:
1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Stir in:
½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Cut in:
1/3 cup margarine or butter - I used margarine.
Work the mixture until it looks like tiny crumbs.

Stir in:
½ cup dried cranberries

Add:
½ cup buttermilk
Mix until the dry ingredients are moistened.
If the ingredients are not combining, add a little more buttermilk.

Gather the dough into a ball and knead lightly (12 strokes or so) on a lightly floured surface.
Pat the dough into a circle ½- to ¾-inch thick.
Cut the circle into 12 pie-shaped wedges.
Transfer the pieces to a baking sheet. If you wish, you can assemble the pieces into the original circle.

Brush the tops with milk or cream and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes. During the baking time check the process because oven temperatures can vary and you may use a different baking sheet from mine.

I am thinking about adding some chopped pecans.
Instead of dried cranberries, you could substitute your favorite dried fruit.

Yes, I am baking again and it is a recipe that I tried for the first time. This has gone over well with the family.

The featured eggs are my decoupage eggs. I cut the pictures out of spring and Easter themed wrapping paper. Through the years a couple of them have been broken. Almost all of our cats have been fascinated by them. In the spring, I would cut a couple branches from the pussy willow and fruit trees to force. I liked to hang my eggs on the branches until I discovered that the cats like to play with the eggs. Now the eggs primarily live in an egg carton in my buffet. I have also painted eggs with simplified rosemaling designs. I made them as gifts and unfortunately do not have any examples. When I took these eggs out, I discovered that I have 6, maybe 7, undecorated blown eggs. Perhaps I should think up a purpose for them.

Between what they eat and what they spill, the birds go through about one cup of seed every day. Yesterday and today, three squirrels have been eating the corn, old nuts, and spilled birdseed. At least for the time being, they are not shaking the feeders. Yesterday in the late afternoon, two rabbits came in and ate much of what the squirrels did not eat. This morning, a mouse came by. There is a lot of seed on the ground, every little creature that eats a mouthful cleans up that much seed.

You are invited to come over for some freshly baked cranberry scones. This time, they are from a recipe, not a commer- cial mix. I really do not know if it is tra- ditional to add things like dried cranberries but we all have fallen in love with this recipe. I will pour you a little milk or orange juice while you look at my china egg boxes.

The one that hardly shows in the background is bisque and part of the floral design is missing. As soon as I find another bisque egg that I like as much, I will replace it. Actually I think that the painted eggs are bisque egg shaped forms. Until I took pictures of the Ukrainian eggs, I did not realize how many eggs I have. This has been a revelation to me although I see my eggs every day.

Our temperatures are low. They may not be bone shattering low but they are still a little below normal. We can generally say that at the end of January we will not have bone shattering cold. I think that the cold has kept the birds away from the feeders as well as the hawk that was out yesterday. Only a couple birds were out this morning. The squirrel has discovered the nuts and the corn. It ate the nuts first and then went to the corn.

More Egg Pictures for You

Here are my two painted eggs. Yes, I like violets. I believe that the eggs are hollow porcelain. I have no idea when they were painted but guess recently. One of the reasons I like these eggs is because the violets are highly suggestive of a violet design in Sweeter than the Rose from Leisure Arts. Even the colors of the painted violets echo the colors of the violet designs.

When I looked at the pictures of the Ukrainian eggs yesterday, I could not help thinking that spring is coming. I think that it is because eggs are so closely associated with Easter which is in the spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

This morning the sunrise was so extremely colorful. For those who stitch, the sky looked like Sky Blue Pink (005) by The Caron Collection. The day has noticeably more minutes of sunlight than a month ago. I helps us believe that spring is coming.

Earlier this week, I discovered that I had made several miscounts on my reproduction box top. In the end, I cut every stitch out. Unfortunately, I also cut one of the fabric threads. Tuesday I rewove a thread. Yesterday I began to stitch the box top again. This time I decided to start with the central motif instead of the border. I will still have to count the border stitches very, very carefully but it should be that much easier if I have the central motif in place.

I think but am not absolutely certain that at least one of the squirrels climbs part way up the bird feeder post and shakes it as hard as it can. The feeder swings wildly dumping out the seeds. There is a wide scatter pattern of seeds around the feeder which suggests this. Over night I put out some dry corn but no one was interested. This morning I put out some of the rancid walnuts but no one is interested. I put some seed in the bird feeder. As soon as I went into the house, the chickadees were in the feeder. Right now, it is as quiet as can be outside. There is a red tail hawk in the neighbor's tree; it is just looking for lunch. I hope my little bird friends do not become lunch.

Eek I thought I published this this morning!!

Here are the Ukrainian eggs. The two are my new ones and the three are my original ones. The two new ones are more contemp- orary designs using traditional motifs. I had a contemporary green egg but Mooch decided it was his. It broke while he played with it before I discovered what he did.

At 6:40 a.m. this morning, the sky was beginning to show light. When we got home almost an hour later, the sky was showing color but the sun was not up yet; it was light enough to see colors. Spring is coming. The temperatures are colder but at least they are not bone shattering cold.

Something got into the bird feeders yesterday. I am not certain what it was; the feeders were completely emptied. I am afraid it was blackbirds. I think the rabbits ate the squirrels' peanut butter sandwiches. I put out some nuts for the squirrels; the nuts are a little old and do not taste appetizing so I hope the squirrels do not notice. I put a couple scoops of seed into the feeder and want to try to find out what is getting into it.

It is 1:00 p.m. and I have been busy to- day. In the morn- ing, it was my regular Tuesday morning hospital volunteers followed at noon, by a quick run to the post office with a bulk mailing for church. On the way home we decided to stop for Oriental buffet lunch as we passed the little restaurant. That tasted good and was something nice to do together.

Last Thursday, we left a little early for tutoring. When we passed an estate sale and decided we had enough extra time to check it out, we did. There were a lot of interesting glassware, crystal, and china. I got this little covered serving dish. It is about the same age as my china. My china set has the same same type covered serving dishes. I also got two Ukrainian eggs. Maybe I ought to show them to you too. :-) Perhaps tomorrow.

At long last, the sun is out and it is extremely uplifting.

Sunday, five or six squirrels chased each other through the trees in the park behind our home. They jumped from branch to branch and tree to tree. They turned flips; one unfortunate fellow fell to the ground from the cottonwood tree. I hope it did not hurt itself. Yesterday and today the squirrels chased through the yard. So far, they are leaving the bird feeder alone. They are eating seeds that have dropped to the ground. Yesterday I took the last pieces of crackers that fell on the floor and turned them into peanut butter sandwiches for the squirrels. We first put them out quite a distance from the bird feeders because I did not want to do anything that might encourage them to climb into the feeders. They did not find their snacks so I moved them closer to the bird feeders and put them right on the path the squirrels would take from the apple tree to the seeds below the feeders but I did not put them under the feeders. Sometime during the morning today, something, most likely squirrels, ate up all the peanut butter sandwiches.

Oh, you don't suppose that the blackbirds are in league with the squirrels do you, really?

Yesterday was an ugly day. There is nothing worse than a January rain in Minnesota. The pavements are slippery when the water freezes. The snow is dirty. One feels ankle deep in slush. Obviously since it is raining, the temperature is above freezing but because of all the moisture in the air, the cold runs through you like a knife. It rained all day. In the afternoon, it alternated between rain and sleet with a little snow. Driving will be miserable this morning.

In the afternoon, one of the squirrels came in and ate a lot of what the blackbirds spilled on the ground. The squirrel was so intent that I was able to go out into the porch to watch it. I was very close to it. It is quite a plump little squirrel. Do you suppose that it is a female? A little later I saw it in the apple tree. I know that the branches had to be slippery so that is a factor. The squirrel went out a little too far on a branch and eventually slid off very clumsily, for a squirrel. Roger thinks it is too big to be a female but I wonder. It seems like the squirrel may not know what to expect of its body.

At last I have a picture of one of my current projects to show you. I set it and another project down just prior to Christmas to make time for Holiday activities. The sad thing about setting a project down is that frequently I do not return to it. I picked up the other project but this one waited a couple more weeks. The silk that is with it will be used for the finishing.

Perhaps if I report my progress weekly here, it will motivate me to finish it.

As much damage as we thought the squirrels did to the bird feeders and food, we had some even worse visitors yesterday. We had a full yard with at least four male cardinals, two female cardinals, more junkos than we could count, several chickadees, lots of finches, maybe both nuthatches, and the downy woodpecker. The birds were flying back and forth between the feeders, trees, and fences. They were circling around the feeders. In the midst of this activity, in flew a blackbird pushing the birds out of the large feeder; then four or five more blackbirds descended upon the feeder. They tipped the feeder, spilling the seed. They swarmed around the feeder, preventing the other birds from accessing it.

Initially we thought that we would have to bring the feeder inside. As mysteriously as they appeared, the blackbirds disappeared. The other birds began to return but not as many as had originally been there.

This morning I made ginger orange scones. Won't you join me for a little break and time to chat? Please do not ask me for the recipe; it is a commercially packaged mix. It is extremely delicious but I think I could make better ones from a recipe. I have been reluctant to make scones because I thought it would be very difficult to shape them. It is not so who knows? Maybe I will make my own.

Yesterday, we sorted out and removed some fabrics and fabric scraps. There is a little less clutter. It is hardly noticeable but I feel good about it.

Well, I am showing up every other day. The squirrels seem to run through the yard, stopping to pick at the seeds that have fallen out of the bird feeder. They no longer climb up to the feeder. I would take a picture to show you our foolproof anti-squirrel device but it is very unattractive. You would wonder how we can continue to look at it every day.

I continue to stitch on one project and make modifications for another.

Sunday one of our sons and I watched my DVD, Julie and Julia. We thought it was very good and very humorous. I am currently reading Figures in Silk by Vanora Bennet.

The squirrels still have not raided the bird feeders. I hope they are not trying to give us a false sense of security and then get into the feeders as soon as I put in the "good" food. I did that yesterday. We have been thinking about spreading peanut butter on some crackers that fell on the floor for the squirrels. I could put the crackers in the castoff Christmas tree.

Do you remember the bee slippers I got for Christmas?
I thought this little cartoon was most appropriate.
It was in the newspaper this past week. Our black cat Mooch is named for this Mooch. But unlike the cartoon Mooch, our Mooch does not have a white face.

We may be smarter than our squirrels. Yesterday, we watched one walk up to the bird feeder. It sniffed around on the ground under it but it did not appear to eat. It looked up at the feeder twice and then continued walking out of the yard. Later in the day, it came back and tried climbing up the supporting pole. It went up part way and then looked up, slid down the pole and walked away.

My friend who lives in Colorado says that we would make money if we marketed our anti-squirrel idea. But, I do not think so. It is very unattractive.

I am here; Wednesday and yesterday I had so much to do that I did not feel able to sit down and write.

At last I think I solved the mystery about a woodpecker that visited our feeder. I did not see it and had to go on everyone's description. As I was driving out yesterday morning, a pileated woodpecker flew in front of the car and over the car. Everyone described the woodpecker as big; yes, it is big, about as big as a crow. It is one of the largest woodpeckers living here. They said it had a red head; yes again. I have never seen a pileated woodpecker in the city before this. I will have to watch to see if it likes to come to our bird feeder.

Speaking of visitors to the bird feeder, we have not seen any squirrels for about 48 hours. Can it possibly be that our stop-gap diversion is working? Just the same, it somehow feels strange that the squirrels are not frolicking in the back yard. They were eating a lot more birdseed than the birds and scattering even more on the ground.

Our temperature has warmed significantly. It has been hovering around freezing and will be going above freezing during the next couple days.

This morning we had a more colorful sunrise. It was very invigorating to stand in the pink light of dawn.

First, the good news: I finished the Quaker motif and stitched it onto the fabric envelope yesterday. I think it turned out well.

Interesting news: Yesterday afternoon, a bald eagle was in the cottonwood tree in the park behind our home. It was extremely impressive.

Continuing squirrel saga: One of the earlier modifications was based upon a false assumption. Unfortunately, the underlying weakness remained in spite of following modifications. We watched the squirrel take advantage of the weakness and made a temporary modification. Now we are waiting to see what the squirrel does about it. Unfortunately, I will not be home this morning to monitor it. I have to admit that at this point, the pole that holds the feeder looks very strange.

Are you waiting for me to tell you that the squirrel has one-upped us?
Between the last entry and today, the squirrel learned how to get around one more modification. When we got home from church, we discovered that the squirrel turned the new obstruction around and used it as a platform upon which to sit while it ate everything out of the bird feeder.

Why am I still calling it a bird feeder??? It seems to be a squirrel feeder.

Nevertheless, we made some new modifications. We have not had an opportunity to see the squirrel get around it yet. I think that the squirrel ate so much out of the feeder yesterday that it was not hungry for the remainder of the day.

As soon as I put more birdseed in the feeder, the birds returned.

There is definite evidence that the rabbits are in the garden and specifically eating the raspberry canes. We must check a little more closely to see how much damage there is.

Before sunrise this morning, I hung the pillows out on the clothesline to air. One of the cardinals flew from tree to tree. It was singing out as loud as it could. I think it is trying to declare the boundaries of its territory.

Ack Ack Ack

The squirrel just got into the bird feeder. We put up another obstruction but are not certain it will work.

Squirrel, Quaker Motif, and Nela's Gift

I thought that per- haps if I listed my unrelated topics as the title for today's comments I might look organ- ized. :-D

For the current time, the squirrel is unable to get to the birdseed. Almost as soon as we put the milk carton on the pole, the squirrel tried to get to the birdseed. The carton is translucent; we could see the squirrel inside it as it tried to climb up to the feeder. It tried very hard to climb out the top of the milk carton but, of course, was unable to do so. It slide down the pole and then tried again. It was one frustrated and upset squirrel. It ran around the backyard as if it was on a rampage and then retreated to the apple tree furiously twitching its tail. A while later it came back and tried to get to the birdseed in the other feeder but it simply cannot get through the wire mesh that surrounds it. It tried very hard from all angles several times. After that failure, it tried the feeder with the new deflector and was unsuccessful. It ran around the yard; eventually it sat on the top of one of the fences violently twitching its tail and retreated to the squirrel vantage point tree. We can only guess what the squirrel might try again but for now, the squirrel is not competing with the birds for their food.

Next on the list is the Quaker motif. I have made progress with it but have not been a very ambitious stitcher. My deadline is Monday.

The next part of Nela's gift is the tape measure. I think that I have all of the parts together with the tape measure and I think Nela is going to show me how to decorate it. I think it is going to look like the one in her blog. Scroll down to the picture collage of the tape measure. It is just below the picture of the Inspirations magazine.

Trying to think like a squirrel: Phase 2

We got home from the museum only to find the squirrel in the feeder. I ran out of the back door waving my arms and screaming like a banshee. It ran out into the crab apple tree that is on the right side of the picture just on the other side of our fence.

Roger slit open a one-gallon milk carton; wrapped it around the pole; and taped it in place with the handy-dandy cold weather electrical tape. Again, it is just materials we have on hand.

By the time I thought to take a picture of Roger in action, he was finished and on his way inside. He said it was too cold for him to go back out to pose for pictures.

As I took this picture, the squirrel was running from right to left though the trees that are beyond the fence. I think it is now in the squirrel vantage point tree that does not show on the left side.

At the bottom of the picture, you can even see the seed the squirrel has dumped out of the feeder during the past couple days.

Are You Smarter Than A Squirrel?

We are trying to be. Here is the new and improved bird feeder hook. You can see our attempt. We used PVC piping. The hook is PVC piping and copper piping. It is taped to the original hook with cold weather electrical tape. We used materials that were at hand so it is a little quirky.

The birds have no trouble with it. As of now, we have not seen the squirrel on, in, or hanging from the feeder. We have not even seen the squirrel under the feeder. It was definitely watching us from one of the trees you can see beyond our fence.

We are very curious to know if it can jump up to the feeder from the ground. We are also curious to know if it can climb the enlarged pole.

It is bone shattering cold. Right now, the temperature is -1° F. We also have wind chill to factor into this. Wind chill?? you say. In the warm season, you know how pleasant and cooling the breeze is as it tickles your toes on the beach? In the sub-zero wasteland, let me tell you, it still does that and does it with a vengence. Wind chill is how cold the wind makes the temperature feel. Wind chill applies only to living flesh and not machines. Essentially it gives us an idea of how quickly we can become frost bitten.

Just because wind chill does not apply to machines, do not make the mistake of thinking that machines are not affected by the cold. Cold is hard on cars. We ought to change the oil in our car to winter weight oil just for a simple example. It is just that if the temperature is -1° F with a wind chill of 10° colder, the car does not feel that additional 10° colder.

Even the sunrise looks chilly. The color is so pale and watery.

All of that being said, in an hour, we will be driving to Minneapolis to see The Louvre and the Masterpiece at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. We feel very fortunate to have the tickets.

Yes, it began to snow during the night and is continuing. The wind has picked up and is blowing the snow around. I thought that perhaps it would be interesting to you if I took a picture but the conditions are not very good for a picture.

How do you like this little suitcase? It is actually a sewing kit for travel. Inside it are little spools of thread.

This morning, the squirrel actually got into the bird feeder. It was sitting in the tray where the seeds spread out. It dumped out all of the birdseed. Roger made a longer pole for the feeder. We are hoping it is too high for the squirrel to jump. Now the post has a larger diameter; I think the squirrel will be able to climb up it.

When I took the empty feeder into the house, the birds perched on the top of the hook. The chickadees could go to the other seed feeder but the other birds cannot get to the seed in that feeder. The nuthatches were eating from the suet feeder. As soon as we hung the feeder from the new and improved hook, the birds flew in.

For now, this is just a picture of every- thing that Nela sent me. I want to show you some special things but do not have the time right now. I have an appointment in about an hour. I must get ready to go.

Nela has been very generous. Everything she sent tells me a little bit about her.

The tall, round canister that is on its side has a little music box in the lid. It plays Jingle Bells. I played it while I looked at all the things she packed into the canister. Nela could send only some of the candy because her husband found it first and thought it was for him. I gave my husband some of the chocolates and told him about Nela's husband. My husband laughed because he knows he might easily have done the same thing. :-D

I ate one of the chocolates before I had breakfast this morning. I do not recommend eating candy before drinking orange juice.

We have a success. Nela's package is under my Christmas tree. I will wait until tomorrow to open it in celebra- tion of Epiphany.

It is cold, way too cold. I think I need to look at seed and nursery catalogues and think about what I want to plant in the garden.

To take my mind off the cold, I am stitching a little Quaker motif that I will put on this fabric envelope.

As cold as it is, the birds have to eat and are visiting the feeders. The squirrel is also hungry. It was hanging from one of the feeders and stretching its head up to get some seeds. Then it would drop down and hang by its hind feed while it ate the seeds. It must be very hungry because it seems like a lot of work for it to get the seeds.

Please send encouraging thoughts and prayers to the US Postal Service. I am waiting for the arrival of a package Nela sent me from Venezuela. It went through US Customs in Miami Sunday and then traveled on to Minnesota. It is supposed to be on a regular delivery truck for delivery to me today. But, the messages in the tracking service are saying other things. I am hoping that the tracking entry really is wrong and that the people working in our local post office really know where the package is.

The temperature remains bone shattering cold. What should I expect? This is, after all, January in Minnesota.

Next Sunday we have another baptism at church. Yesterday afternoon I really did not want to stitch the name and date on the banner. I just wanted to pull my little cover over my head and go to sleep. I worked out a compromise with myself. I would pull the cover over my head and sleep for a little while and then get up and stitch in the name and date. The compromise worked well.

Today I cut the lining and pinned the banner and lining together. I am ready to sew it together tomorrow.

I think I will read a little and stitch a little this afternoon.

Much to my surprise, the birds are playing around the feeders as well as eating during this very, very cold weather. Even the squirrel has been out looking for food.

Why am I the last one to know? Friday when I tried to make graham cracker crumbs in my food processor, I discovered than not only was the latch broken but it was completely broken off.

It seems that everyone else in the family knew it happened when one of our sons wanted to pulverize cooked apples in the food processor a few days earlier. He was making applesauce and I had suggested to him that he run the cooked apples through the Foly food mill, something just made for this purpose. Perhaps that is why I was not in the loop. Perhaps it is because they thought they could order a new part and it would be delivered before I found out.

I would say that my brain was fried but the temperature is bone shattering cold and is probably not going to warm very much during the day today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or or or. We have typical January weather for Minnesota. The only good thing about it is that we know the days are not going to get shorter and that they will only get longer. In January, longer days cannot come too soon.

Yesterday I baked. The turtle pie that I made for Christmas had some problems that I tried to work out. The solutions created a couple new problems but at least they are of a much smaller nature and should be very easy to work out. It may not even require another test run but then chocolate, caramel, and pecans are a basic food group so maybe we will need another pie.

I made ginger bars, lemon bars, and shortbread bars with chocolate, coffee, and almond topping. Hmmmmmmm chocolate, coffee, and almonds, that sounds like another basic food group. I made the bars for a funeral luncheon today. While the passing of a friend makes us sad, please do not feel sad about this. She was elderly and had lingered a little after having a stroke. Her husband died several years ago; she died just prior to Christmas and the family waited until this weekend for the memorial service.