Cousin Phillip made this wheel from a piece of an Osage Orange tree from Grandma Copt's farm in Osage City, Kansas. The sun light steaming through the front window today drew my eye right here. That must have been a humongous tree! We burn this kind of wood, known as hedge, in the sauna stove. It is a brilliant yellow when split. This warm color reflects the warmth of the sun, and the wood burns hot and slow. Also, this is the tree that produces hedge apples. I use them as bug repellent in my basement. I have only seen squirrels eat them and only occasionally. Otherwise those hedge apples are sometimes used as bowling balls when sister Lois and children come to visit, and once I tried cutting them into discs and drying them in the oven for holiday decor. That didn't work very well for me. Oh, and this wood makes excellent fence posts.

 

What began as a sketch on a napkin . . .

Lady Smith Black Mambazo's solid two-hour singing, dancing and laughing still warms the cockles of my heart. The performance halls in the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts in Kansas City combine sophisticated aesthetics, acoustics and technology with the intimacy of a smaller space and the comforts of home. A spectacular place to see a show! http://www.kauffmancenter.org

 

 

Frosty Morning

Clear and 24 degrees this morning. We sure could use some kind of precipitation. I'd even welcome snow. I'm still watering my two crab apple trees.

 

Stealing St. Francis. Really?

When I spotted this sign on Peterson Road, I couldn't believe it. Who would steal St. Francis? Lots of bad karma comin' someone's way.

 

February 64th

It's still February. Rain, ice pellets, sleet, snow. Severe thunderstorms predicted for tonight with snow in the forecast tomorrow. Must be Kansas.

 

Pat and Buck

Pat and Buck are moving from Cave Creek, Arizona to Burlington, Kansas. Buck is a runner, so Pat is introducing him to the vast prairie slowly. She will keep him on a leash to mark his territory and gradually let him loose.

 

Valentine breakfast

There's a brownie under there. Yum!

 

Whose tracks are these?

I recognize the bird tracks, but I can't find an image of the others. Is it a rabbit?

 

Lost gloves

It's February, and I'm walking around with mismatched gloves.

 

Snow day!

I almost missed these frosty guys as I rounded the corner on 850 Road. The three boys that built these guys had a great fort, too. It didn't survive their snow battle, but what fun they were having.