Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Random pix

I'm a little brain-dead this morning because I just finished a big fat hairy article for Backwoods Home Magazine on NAIS (National Animal Identification System), or at least its current incarnation. I emailed it to the editor last night at 10:15 pm which was technically still within deadline (the article was due yesterday). Phew, what a hard piece to write.

Anyway, since I'm incapable of coherent thought at the moment but need to immediately tackle another overdue project, here are some random pix from the last couple of weeks.

Here's an interesting bumper sticker I caught from a moving vehicle (hence the lack of focus): Republicans for Voldemort.


More bumper stickers.


We've owned a harp for a few years. Older Daughter's elderly piano teacher is also a harp teacher, and Don has done a number of repair jobs for her over the years in exchange for lessons. Anyway he repaired a harp which had been badly damaged after a student accidentally knocked it over, and as a thank-you she let him keep the harp. Wow.

We've been storing it upstairs for some time, but that's an inconvenient location for spontaneous playing, so recently we dusted it off and moved it to a better spot for plucking. Here Older Daughter is making some music.


A brief but torrential hailstorm.


Our pasture fence.


Some interestingly-shaped evening clouds.


In a recent excursion into Coeur d'Alene, we stopped at one of our favorite stores -- All Things Irish -- where I photographed a few signs and bumper stickers.


Out on the street, we also saw a sign for this amazing service. Well, why not?


In an antique store, I saw this sign which, of course, is a subject near and dear to my heart. I just wasn't about to fork over $20 for it, figuring it was simpler not to.


Some unusual instructions.


An interesting announcement on the side of a restaurant.


Music tableaux. It's amazing how musical instruments can collect. Right now we have a piano, harp, violin, cello, and flute (two flutes, actually -- Don's battered old bar flute, and my higher-quality open-hole Gemeinhardt)


Driving in Coeur d'Alene, I caught this cloud formation which looked like a mountain looming over the city.


The hospital in Cd'A had this beautiful blaze of tulips...


...with a moose statue as well. Hey, this is north Idaho.


Curious hens.


Thirsty birds.



Just hangin' around...


Every night before bed, I get my tea ready for the next morning. I also put a cover over my tea cup because one time, many years ago, I poured boiling water into my cup, then instantly heard an alarmed "Squeak!" and a mouse jumped out. So now I cover my tea cup at night.


Evidently with good reason. The other morning I came downstairs and saw this. I think it's time to set a mouse trap.


Just a pretty shot of some pine branches.

10 comments:

  1. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)May 8, 2012 at 8:17 AM

    Always love your pics, Patrice.
    What breed of chicken is in the picture? I'm looking to get more hens, but want them to get along with my RI Reds.
    Maybe, some day, you could post a short video of daughters playing those fabulous instruments?

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    1. Those particular chickens are Aracaunas, sometimes more accurately called Americaunas (the original Aracaunas were crossed with another breed to produce Americaunas). Their colors and patterns vary, but their distinguishing characteristic is their “sideburn” cheek tufts. They’re also the breed of chickens which lay blue-green eggs, very pretty.

      - Patrice

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    2. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)May 8, 2012 at 9:38 AM

      Thanks! We have a chicken show here at our fairgrounds next week - Me thinks I will take a look at them (and maybe bring some home)!

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  2. Enjoy your random pics.
    I laughed when you told about the mice. Back in the 70's my wife and I rented a house in the middle of a corn field. I set traps on the sill in the basement
    and quit counting when we hit fifty. It kept them out of the upstairs though. I thought later that I should have skinned them ;). Maybe we'd had enough for a hat. ?

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  3. Patrice,
    Hi there! Love the random pictures. That is a beautiful harp and a great gift. So sweet of the music instructor. It looks like you've experience one of our random hail storms. So do you have a barn cat you can bring in the house to take care of your mouse? Looks like the mouse is enjoying him/herself and playing games with you :-) I use peanut butter, a very little on the end of a trap to catch field mice. It works really good. When I lived in Virginia, we would get field mice all the time and the peanut butter and traps helped. Have a great day and relax a little.

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  4. "Democrats for Sauron!"

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  5. Peanut butter or bacon seems to work well as bait for mice-when I lived out of town, I got "snowbird" mice that moved in every winter. I had 18 traps set,and it sounded like a mousetrap testing facility at night. I will never set out rat poison again(the landlord gave it to me to set out)-they die in the walls...doesn't smell all that good.

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  6. My in-laws live in CdA and it's always nice to see familiar pics of their town on your blog!

    Happy Spring!

    Elizabeth

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  7. Your last picture - the close up of the ponderosa pine trees - looks remarkedly like the view off the back porch of my home here in El Dorado County in the heart of the People's Republic of Kalifornia.

    Hangtown Frank

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    Replies
    1. Wow, what a generous gift! It looks like a lovely harp - who is the maker? I ask because it looks similar to my daughter's harp, which is by the German maker Frank Sievert. You can see photos of it here. They were taken at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival:

      http://www.occasionalscotland.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/na-clarsairean-and-festival-orchestra.html

      If you click on the 'music' category in the word cloud on my sidebar you'll see more about music-making in Edinburgh and Scotland - your musical daughters might be interested.

      Oh, and the clouds are mammatus clouds - literally 'breast clouds'. I think you get them much more in North American than we do. I've never seen them for real, and as a cloud-spotter I'm itching to! See
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud

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