BARN CHARM TUESDAY

This was a neat cow barn filled with hay taken in northern Michigan. You can see below how they keep their calves in tiny little houses all their own. So cute. 
I am wondering if they keep them inside there all winter long. Wish I could have stopped and asked many questions. It was a very nice working farm.
More Barn Charm Tuesday photos here..

WATERY WORLD WEDNESDAY

                                               Taken last fall near Rockford Michigan.

HOPE YOU ALL ARE HAVING A NICE FIRST DAY OF SPRING.

More Water World Wednesday photos HERE

                                        
                                  

                               

BARN CHARM TUESDAY.

We got a slight dusting of snow last week and some of the barns in our area were just so wintery looking. I decided to share those here for BARN CHARM Tuesday. You can see some other great barns at the link listed. 

WATERY WEDNESDAY

Lake Michigan

Marina at Ludington Mi.

                                       
                                    More photos here at WATERY WEDNESDAY 
                                              
                                 

                               

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

What amazes me is that the barn looks sooo old and run down and yet they put a brand new roof on it and the smaller barn. Goes to show that even though it looks old the wood may still be good. What talent it must take to put a name on the roof like that and get it perfectly centered in white shingles on both sides..etc. I guess there are roofers and then there are professionals that know their business. This barn and property has been there a long time and so I am sure the family is proud of it. There was snow as of Saturday but now the rain and temps rose so today the field is brown. 

ORANGE YOU GLAD....

Okay..I went into a store and saw this sign and just kinda wigged out. Why oh why could management NOT SEE that terrible mistake? It is large and very obvious.

SO it was describing a new product, and the display was not really big. It didn't take them long to do it. Shows how someone can just do their job and never mind the signs. Well of course, me, I had to tell someone about it. The clerk had no idea what I was talking about. She told me to tell the Asst. manager on duty. I walked around looking for anyone in charge. Well "just forget it" I thought.. never mind after a few minutes of finding no one. I decided to check out and the clerk asked me if I found her. I told her I hadn't but the sign was pretty large. She said she would tell her. Couple of days later.. I came back in and there was the sign still there. I know anyone can make mistakes, but this just irked me.

I decided to find someone this time and let them know.  Sure

enough I did find a manager and took them over to the sign. He laughed in my face and said no one else had noticed it. Well I didn't believe him. I said..

"Well I am sure they did and just figured no one was smart enough to take it down and correct it." Ohhhhh I got a nasty look from him.

AS I WALKED AWAY I SAID

ORANGE YOU GLAD I TOLD YOU ABOUT IT NOW!!!

                                              

LET THERE BE LIGHT....

                                                           

YES, one hour more of sun starting tomorrow morning. I will love it being lighter out in the evenings. Longer days mean you can get so much more done. Outdoor fun, work or relaxing it's all good!  SPRING forward your clocks tonight!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

WATERY WEDNESDAY

I really like adding photos to Watery Wednesday. I guess that's because I love the water. I don't so much love boating on it..just watching it.  I sure do like to stop and watch waves or listen to it. Something about it calls to me somehow.  This week's photo took place in Indiana.  I was down there on a short visit and went for a walk and found this footbridge running over a quaint little creek. {Click for better views)

                

 This tiny creek rises a lot when it rains in the spring season. I love to listen to the water moving slowly over the rocks. It truly was a restful, peaceful and very green place where I could have lingered all day long. Someone asked me if I had one of those waterfall things in my house. I sure don't, I don't think I could listen to it night and day. 

Below is a photo I took of Swans in the winter of 2011, I just could not believe how many there were in that cold river.

  

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

This is Barn Charm Tuesday and this week I entered this photo. Does it look to you like the big barn is a house? As I drove by I wondered if someone made their home out of the large barn. Several other smaller ones around it and sheds. Sorry it's a little fuzzy as the sun was shining right at me. I can't imagine the cost of heating a barn that size here in Michigan in the wintertime!! (Click for better views.) 

The second barn this week is a barn I pass on the way out of town. It looks like it is pretty old and ready to be torn down. Doesn't look used anymore but still retains some of it's color. 

                                    

We might be in for some more of the white stuff around here.. not sure if it will hit where we are as bad as Indiana or Ohio though. I wonder how these birds can stay on the ice like that it makes me cold just watching them. They sure started honking as soon as I stopped to take their picture. They have been around all winter this year.

DON"T FORGET TO PUT YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD ONE HOUR ON SUNDAY!!

WATERY WEDNESDAY

Wednesday is a Watery day and so I am posting my entry for this week. I took this last year at Lake Mi. This is the Badger that makes a round trip run from Ludington to Wisconsin once a day during the summers. The sun was shining on the side of it and you can just barely see the people standing on the upper deck as it comes into port. 

Locals use this boat to get back and forth to work and tourists use it for day trips to Wisconsin.  You can see that underneath holds LARGE semi's as well as regular cars .

It was fun watching it come in and it blows it's horn on departing and arriving so the whole town knows when it comes in. 

To enter a photo for Watery Wednesday CLICK HERE.

                                

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

While traveling a two lane road to Manistee last year I took this photo of an old run down barn that was on it's way out. I noticed another smaller one in just about  as bad a shape. I loved the shape of the smaller one. The large one had a tin roof. The roof will outlast the building despite the bad winters they have there. 

On the way back home I spotted this one..

It was used as advertising and for their farm. Place was pretty busy. I never stopped but here is the LINK so you can see what they sell. I must check it out if I get back in that area. 

For here.. we are looking at another storm to come through..this time maybe 4-6 inches of new white stuff. Me.. I will wait and see they keep changing the forecast several times a day.

REMINISCING....

 I came across a

box I had stored all my many journals in recently. I have mentioned here before

that I have kept them since 1976. I found that one book was missing and was

heart broken, it led me into a panic trying to find it. A whole day later 

I remembered that that particular one had vanished in a move from Ca.

to Michigan. Number Two chapter started in 1979!!

In opening the second chapter,

I notice that my handwriting was pretty good. Better than it is now. I type so

much now that my actual handwriting has really suffered a lot.I was taking tests at college and going on interviews and at a loss for what direction to take. Wondering if I should make a move back to Michigan. "Looking for work is harder than working" I wrote, so true even more today.

There really are 28 chapters..28 is not yet finished) probably never will be as

I have taken to putting everything on computer now. The way of the handwritten journal is fading for me at least. I blog and keep track of things that way, and only write in the journals really significant things that happen in my life. 

In one chapter I wrote...

"Little did I know that because I WASN’T working, I would be able to make

a trip to Santa Barbara where SUE lived. Friends from  my hometown came by on

their vacation and offered me a ride there with them. I literally had

minutes to throw a suitcase together and be on my way. I had no idea

what would happen, but I knew it would be an adventure! I always

am up for one of those because you haven’t planned and don’t know

how they will go."

 I spent 12 days in Santa Barbara according to this chapter.

“It was never my intention to stay more than a week. So much had happened

and so much was packed into those days that they really just flew by.”

The memories of those warm summer days and

the sneezing from the kitten that SUE had then, will always be with

me. Cool foggy mornings near the Pacific were so strange compared

to the valley where I had been staying. The larger city and the

whole culture shock of a seaside town was so different than

anything I had ever experienced.

Ours is not to question why things happen the way they do. I was there for a

reason that I just did not know about. If you believe in fate at all,

it sure came to pass in those 12 days. On my way home on the bus I had

plenty of time to think about how my life was going to go on from there.

Job opportunities were there in Santa Barbara, but back then hard to find

something in such a short timespan. Less than a month later I was

winging my way back to Michigan for a visit, and developed Bronchitis

two days after getting there.. a few days later it went to full blown

pneumonia. Why the heck did I leave Ca. so fast kept

running through my mind?  
More later....

ALL GOOD THINGS....

All good things must eventually come to an end or so they say..our week long visit in St. Croix ends and we return home to cold stateside.  I dread the shovel we might have to use or the heavy coats we have to haul out to wear. Maybe it's time to think about being a snow bird. "SNOWBIRD" meaning..

A snowbird is someone from the U.S. Northeast, U.S. Midwest, Pacific Northwest, or Canada who spends a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as California, Arizona,Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt region of the southern and southwest United States, Mexico, and areas of the Caribbean. Well we can dream anyway..most cannot afford to have two residences to care for. If I were a snowbird where would I go for winter?? Hmmm any suggestions welcome here.            

                                          

I lived in California for 20 years, and where I was there was little change in season. It was either green and lush or dry and brown. Rain and fog or hot and hotter. No trees changing colors or sight of snowflakes unless you went TO them. You could drive to the ocean,or the mountains in winter. Nice..but pretty expensive to live there. When I returned to Michigan I found that my blood must have thinned a lot because I was freezing and others were laughing at me wearing a sweatshirt in 70 degree weather. Took at least 4 or 5 years to get used to the cold temperatures. My first winter was TERRIBLE. I just could not get warm no matter what I did. Christmas was wonderful...all white and peaceful looking..until I had to snow blow the driveway. Ahhhh I realized why I had moved to warmer territory after all. 

Well I would have to think hard on where I would want to live, is there anywhere that has a happy medium? The climate being what it is and so many  global warming changes, we all may be in a more warm zone sooner than we think. 

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!! 

GONE SWIMMING...

WATCH THIS VIDEO FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR  VIRTUALTRIP...SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME ..I loved the water and the warmth. I found the driving on the left kind of strange but got used to it if someone else was doing the driving..that boat was really rocking at some times, but smooth sailing at others. This video is short and covers our trip just great. Someone left their goggles and flippers in the boat..that's a no no.. but looks like 

 

 Joe is ready for a swim!!

We must hurry back though and get ready for our Valentine's dinner on the beach.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!

YO HO HO..OFF WE GO!!

Today we are at Buck Island, St Croix.. it's so gorgeous here. We are going on a charter cruise and doing some snorkeling. Sounds like fun. Clicking the link above you can go on the one minute tour and see some of the special scenery. 

I am not telling on any one of us..but ONE person in our group got a pretty bad sunburn yesterday. OUCH!! Hmmm don't think they will go swimming today so we might end up in the Sunny Isle Shopping center. We will stop and get some lunch 

I truly could sit here all day and enjoy the scenery but the CASINO awaits us!!

It is so regal looking..the front entrance looks fantastic. I hope we have luck inside and maybe we can manage to stay a few more days on the islands!

REST UP.... TOMORROW IS ANOTHER GREAT DAY 

ON THE ISLAND!!

GONE FISHING!!

Anchors away blog family.. today we are taking that fishing trip

I know I will get some help from you all if I hook one

and can’t reel that sucker in. What fun!!

When we get back Sue will be playing tennis at the courts at

the hotel and we will cheer her on. By dinnertime we all will

have one of those sunset beach side buffets. 

with all we can eat. We have private chefs that will

make it the way we want it!!!

Tomorrow we will sail to BUCK ISLANDon a charter trip

and explore the island ..it has a wonderful protected reef

that is just beautiful. 

I can’t wait!!   Whoever lost these sunglassessee

me because I am keeping them safe until you retrieve them. LOL

We sure had a nice get away from all the cold.. don't know about you but think I will be staying on my beach a little while longer.. Anyone got extra suntan lotion??
Who knows what we can get into tomorrow??

WHAT SNOW?? WE ARE HAVING FUN!!!

We ARE in the U.S. Virgin Islands.. there are many

islands that make up the whole.

What Fun!!

Today we are taking a horseback ride on one of the many

tours they have.  Joe has ridden ahead of us, I would

know that hat and shorts anywhere! 

Cindy, Beth, Carole and I made plans to shop in the duty free stores

 

and some

went to visit the sugar plantation on St Croix and have dinner

at a place called the Harbormaster Beach Club.

 There is a beach

barbeque floor show that can’t be beat!  Ohhh the beat of

that steel band was wonderful too.

Word comes from the cold cold country that snow is really

piling up. A smile comes to your face as you sit and watch

the sunset over the beach after a wonderful warm day.

Long day.... tomorrow I hear someone is impatient to

get on the boat and go fishing.. wonder who that could

be?? LOL

What a view.... that can’t be beat.. See you tomorrow....