Three Pictures from Bob

Bob sent me three more pictures. As always if you want to see them full screen click to make them larger. The first on he entitles "Frozen Diamonds" I would rather see pictures of spring flowers peaking through the snow but this will have to do. I will exercise my imagination for the flowers, and the green grass, and the blue, blue sky with a bright yellow sun.
Next a picture of a distinctive weathered old barn. Great shot. Did you ever go to the farm as a kid and get to play in a barn? My aunt and uncle famed in Adel, Iowa and we would go down there for Easter and sometimes at other times during the year. Fran and Harold were a lot of fun. Fran was mother's older sister and she knew how to be a hostess. Their farm was several miles west of Adel on a (then) gravel road. There was an old farm house with lots of room for all of the relatives and a barn. We would go to the barn to play. I can still see the "hay dust" floating in the sunlight that seeped in through the cracks in the barn. We would take hay bales and build forts and swing from ropes and have a great time. Sometimes there were cattle in the barn and it was a great place to explore.

I also remember a barn which my great uncle had behind his house at 522 Crawford. I got into trouble there but then I was only 3 or 4 years old. I had climbed a long ladder to get into the barn. My great-aunt had to get me to come down. Another time I was found hanging over some farm equipment which would have hurt me greatly had I fallen. You know it is a wonder I survived.
Speaking of survival. Bob sent this photo of our resident Sandhill Crane. The Cranes usually flock together but somehow this little guy got left behind and is stopping over in Ames at Lake Laverne. He is visiting Lancelot and Elaine (our two swans) who are there year around. Sandhill Cranes are interesting birds and if you have never seen them it is worth the drive to the Platte River in Nebraska when they are migrating. National Geographic has a Cranecam which is live when they are migrating. Right now they are showing highlights. It is worth a look - of course, you have to wait through a short commercial but you can do that. The hope is that he will survive to rejoin the flock. In the meantime he is with a murder of crows. They go out together to the fields to get corn during the day.

You can read my poem about crows here. You can read a much better poem about a type of crow here. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. And you can get some answers to Frequently asked questions about cows here. What all of this has to do with Bob's pictures is beyond me but that is just the way it worked out.

As another side bar which has nothing to do with the pictures but I am in the mood to ramble this morning (keeps me from doing my work) Jon was over last night (until 1:30) and we were talking about the movie The Golden Compass which he has finally seen and is now a convert. I told him how he could make his own daemon by visiting the movie site and he asked me about mine so I started to look for the post. If I click "Return to the list of Posts" on the page where I make the post it will take me to a list of all the posts and then I can scroll through them to find the one I want. He suggested that I just Google Bailey's Buddy The Golden Compass. You know, by golly, he is one smart nephew. It worked and that is how I was able to get the link for the 522 Crawford and the Crow Poem for this post. So from now on when I want to find something old I can use Google. If you just Google Bailey's Buddy you get a lot of other "stuff" but this way sure beats scrolling through a list.

By the way Happy Birthday to Louis Carroll and Brother W.A. Mozart.

I laughed and learned something yesterday so in addition to everything else it was a very, very good day. Hugs, You are loved. j