Flowers and Strawberries

Hi There!

I fished a pond in Pendleton the other day and this guy kept me company:

I've been seeing lots of sunbathing turtles lately.

Also, I spotted this, in my very own yard:

I think Spring has truly Sprung in these parts!  I know my house is beginning to look Easter-ish.

Troy has made progress on his tractor:

I've had flower fever and picked me up a variety of tulips.  To help to green things up around here, I planted them in canning jars.  First, I added rocks because it's not good to immerse the bulbs in water.

Here's what the tulips look like right now:

 

 Also, my Easter Lilly has bloomed.  The fragrance of real flowers is something I can't seem to get enough of lately.

Seeings as how I was playing in the dirt, I decided to re-pot some of my other plants.  Isn't this baby ghost cactus a cutie?

 

If I had more sunny spots inside my house, I would have many more plants.  Mostly, I just grow herbs and aloe.  I used to have spider plants at my old house.

 

Well, it's been a hot minute since I've posted food on here lately.  No reason, except I will say I tend to do more baking in bad weather.  When it's nice outside, I just toss a few packages of hotdogs in the direction of my family and that's it.  :)

 

 
I've been in a strawberry mood lately too.  And it rained the other day, so I baked up these babies:

They are just vanilla cuppy cakes with cream cheese frosting topped with fresh strawberries.  I did something I very seldom do, and used a box mix. 

Ofcourse, I substituted the oil for applesauce.  They were delicious!

Also, I made a batch of strawberry lemonade.  Yumm!

Strawberry's and Flowers, Yay.

Have a berry delicious day!   Sluurrrrp!  :)

Worm Condo

We have had some heavy April showers here in Pendleton.  The other day, I had an obstacle course of trying to walk out to my truck without stepping on anyone!  Their were worms all over the walkway!

Plus, when I went to tidy up the yard from the wind blowing the cushions off, I found a bunch more worms.

Some were little, red wiggles, I think, others were the big night crawler type.
 

You didn't think I was actually going to touch em, did ya?   :)

The spatula worked out well enough to pick them up, but I had to use a stick to help them on because I was afraid they would get squished underneath if I just slide it along the concrete.  I had saved a few bait containers to reuse, as my family tends to be scared of leftovers (even more than usual) if I store worms in those containers.

I can't even remember the last time I used a worm as fishing bait.  I think it might have been when I was with my friend, Amy in Rockville a few years ago.  That did not work out so well either. 
 

I was sitting in a lawn chair and reached down to get another worm out with my hemostats. (Redear told me, "If one worm doesn't work, try two.") Suddenly, as I reached down, the first worm on my hook, got caught in my hair!

I began to scream like mad and Amy ran over thinking I had caught a nice fish or something!

She rescued me, I rewashed my hair and survived that whole ordeal.  I'm pretty sure I've been using artificial lures, jigs and flys ever since.

So, here I am tidying up the yard, and enjoying the fire, when it occurs to me that I could get to know these worms a little better and not be scared of them.  Also, I read a post on a fishing forum that mentioned conditioning worms.  (I had pictured Earthworms in a gym lifting a little set of weights.) Later, I found out it meant growing them really big, by giving them a nice place to stay, with plenty of food.  Thus, there new home, the worm condo:

Before moving my worms into their new place, I went hunting.

Hunting for morels, that is.

It was too nice of a day to be cooped up inside, plus I wanted to get an early start on where I had hoped to find some shrooms.

Sophie and I searched and hiked all over several acres of woods.

We came across this cute little dam, which I later fished in and below.  I didn't catch anything.

Didn't find any morels either.  :(

Maybe it's just too early for em still.

I did see a few separate remains of either some opossums or possibly coyote pups.  The teeth looked very much like that of a canine.

Well, back to a more tasteful subject-- worms!   Here are the soon-to-be residents of the worm condo:

They seemed excited to leave the pile and get situated in their new home.

I put a few table scraps of fruit peels, some fresh soil, and a few worms, on each floor of the condo.  The floors are constructed of scraps of newspaper (no colored ink, I've been told it's not good for em) with an elevator (a dirt center) in the middle.  Worms hate taking the stairs!  :)

I can hardly wait to see how big these guys will get!  So far, the biggest one is a full 10 inches long.  I named him Linus after a big ram I used to have. Linus wasn't into posing for any pics, but I plan on measuring him again in a couple of days to monitor his progress.  Lucy, on the other hand, was a real ham.  She is the lightest pink worm stretched out near the top of the above pic.  Charlie is the half-worm at the bottom center of the pic.  I won't bore Ya'all with introductions of everyone just yet, but let's just say we got the entire Peanuts gang living in this condo, including a little white grub named Snoopy.  :)

Brookville

What a Weekend!  Sunday was perfect for a road trip to Brookville, Indiana.

The part of the drive that I like best is when I reach the canal in Metamora.  It means I'm almost there, and it's just pretty.  I like how the canal runs parallel with the railroad tracks; it's all so nostalgic.  

When I arrived at the Brookville Lake Dam, no one was there.  The fish and I had the entire place to ourselves!

That can be both good and bad.  Peaceful? Yes, but it also indicates fishing might not be so good right now.

This time of year, early spring, one has to expect the water level to be on the high side.  Indeed it was, the flow from the dam was really moving.

As I went to leave and head for the a section farther downstream, a truck I recognized pulled up.  In it were my neighbors from Pendleton!  How about that? 

We gabbed for a bit, then I went to check out the park.  The Brookville park is very nice; so well maintained.

I took a walk along the stream and searched for any glimpse of fish.  The water was surprisingly, crystal clear.  I didn't see any signs of fish, but I couldn't help myself and casted a Parachute Adams with a Partridge of Orange chaser in a few promising looking areas.

I got skunked.  I would have stayed and fished longer, but I had a class about catfishing (of all things), to attend at the Brookville Lake.

The lake was a muddy mess.

After the class ended, I gave what I learned a try and fished off this pier:

After a bit I decided I needed to try a more eventful location.  The first inlet closest to the dam looked promising, on the map anyways.

I tried every new technique I learned, and still I got skunked.

I concluded that catfishing is very much like an Indian Rain Dance, in that sooner or later I'd get results.  Unfortunately for me, my patience ran out, and I went back over to the Brookville Park.

I was hoping to spot a few trout before I went back to Pendleton; I didn't.

I really like how they keep the park well groomed.  This is a cool awning to a picnic table:

One the drive home, I pulled over to get a better look at the canal in Metamora.  I thought it was neat how the muddy water abruptly ends at this intersection:

It's just a lovely place.

The first wild flowers of the year:

In youngest kiddo news, Troy is restoring a John Deer.

I like how he takes his art so seriously.

He also has the bracelet making bug (caught it from Gladdie).

This is his latest creation:

:)