Dec 20,21 2006 Pictures of Ben at his own page

Dec 17, 2006 Mudek family party at Rose & Lowel's

Dec 2, 2006 More pictures at Ben's page

Nov 24, 2006 Luke & Shelly were home for Thanksgiving.

Nov 23, 2006 Went into St Paul for turkey day.  Ben makes aunts happy and grandmothers silly - more photos of Ben here.

Nov 20, 2006 Charlie doesn't look like he cares much for having his but painted.

Nov 19, 2006 Hunting season is on so we haven't seen any deer.  Neighbors have stuffed a couple into their freezer.

Nov 17, 2006

Color is on the ground and in Star's cap.  Hunting season starts tomorrow.

Nov 15, 2006 Almost before dawn - 7:03AM, 300mm  (450 equiv),  f/6.3,  1/8th sec, ISO 800 off my monopod from the basement doorway.
Hunting season starts Saturday.

Nov 13, 2006 First real snow of the year - and it pretty much melted by the end of the day.

Nov 11, 2006

Nov 5, 2006

Oct  30, 2006 Getting ready for Halloween.  Don't expect trick-or-treaters, but we do have a  bunch of pumpkins.

Oct 7, 2006 Went to the Octoberfest in Dallas - a small town about 15 miles north of us.

The Octoberfest is sponsered in good part by the Viking Brewery.  Star is looking as some of the differend kinds of beer they make with names like Aby Normal, Dim Whit, Whole Stien, ...

Oct 6, 2006 1938 grader.  No hydraulics, all the blade adustments are gear driven.

Star as copilot.

Getting toward the end of peak color.  As the leaves come off the trees, the color is still there, but on the ground.  Since it is then possible to see through the woods, my favorite time of the year is coming up.

Oct 4, 2006 (more pictures of Ben here)

Oct 2, 2006

Oct 1, 2006 After a very dry sumer, we got enough rain to grow some shrooms as the leaves change color.

Sept 30, 2006

The shack (guest room) is still standing and in demand this time of year.

Sept 21, 2006 Trusses and half the plywood up - more photos here.

Sept 20, 2006

First freeze of the season - the white on the flower is frost

Addition at the start of the day.  More photos here (when I get round to putting them up). (Walls were up at the end of this day)

Sept 17, 2006 A flock of several turkey hens & chicks shortly after sunrise.  Hard to count since they vanish into the tall grass, but at least 22.

Sept 16, 2006 Another horse shows at Otter Creek Farm.  (Click here for more photos)

Lots of dogs, all on leash and all well behaved

(More photos here)

Sept 14, 2004 Serious start on the addition.  Will continue this under the House Construction section above.

Sept 4, 2006 Labor Day parade at the Ridgeland World's Fair
Lots of Tractors - mostly pulling floats, but some just showing off a machine that hasn't seen a farm field for a long time.

(I think this tractor could have been in the field recently)

And some trucks and cars

	Not what you think of when you see a BMW.

And horses to end the parade. 

Sept 1-2, 2006 Another contest at Otter Creek Farm (More photos here)


Not a lot of folks at this one, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The beer tasting was about the only thing I really understood.
More photos here

August 26, 2006 Party at one of the neighbor's (Neighbor out here is anyone within 15 miles).

Good band, though Frank did have some problems standing up.

And the volleyball game.
And of course some folks just sitting/standing about.
Trying out my new lens (50mm, f/1.7) to take pictures in available darkness.  Most of the light comes from a small fire.

August 19, 2006

A couple of new critters outside the house.  A bat under the eve and a stray cat.  The stray cat is going to the vet's office Monday for routine stuff and then our neighbor will be taking it in.

August 9, 2006 Peas and corn are done, green beans and brocoli produce enough for a reasonable taste every couple of days.  The above ground part of the potatoes have died back.  Squash, pepers, eggplant, and pumpkins are coming on strong.  Pumpled a lot of water this year.  Likely that every one of the thousand trees we planted this spring died, and most of the ones that made it though last year also died.

July 30, 2006 Lowell's 70th birthday party

July 21, 2006

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June 28, 2006 Made the house to small for quilting so will add a 14x15' room on the north side.

Garden is doing well though the bugs are really bad this year.  Until last week-end, we hadn't had rain for a long time - still need more.

June 18, 2006 Jess, Henry, & Ben came out for a visit and lunch.   More photos of Ben here.

The cat knows who has alergy problems with cats.

Went to lunch at the Otter Creek Inn - BBQ chicken & a horse pull.

June 8, 2006

May 3, 2006

Siberian Irus's are at their peak, old fashioned yellow irus's just past their's.

May 31, 2006  The long-legged rats are at our garden.

May 20, 2006  Fancy horses at a neighbor's: Otter Creek Farm


(More photos here)

May 15, 2006 Went to Klinger's to get some plants.  Got the plum and apple in, will plant a very early tomato more in hope than expectation it will survive the last few frosts.

Klinger's has a really wide variety of plants.

Flowers, flowers, and more flowers.

May 14, 2006 Visited Jess, Henry, and Ben.  Had lunch and planted a few things.

May 8, 2006 The summer birds are back.

May  7,  2006  Tree planting is  done. 

Sping colors are almost done.  The young popple back lit by the rising sun almost glow.

The flowers are an inch across so that is a small grass hopper.

May 5, 2006 Turkey shot on our top field.  A lot of them this year, though only a solitary hen comes near the house.  I think the fox keeps them away.

April 28, 2006 Looks like we will have a bumper crop of maple seeds this year. Star's rock gardens are turning green and a few things are in bloom.

If the frost holds off, we should have a bumper crop of plums.

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April 27, 2006

Star just got back from a trip to Las Vegas with two of her sisters. Doesn't everyone go to Vegas just to see the topiaries and Star Trek stuff?

April 22, 2006

Visited one of the neighbors to see his yearling horses.  Star was practicing with my old digicam before she headed for Vegus.

Perhaps a bit different processing, but it seems the new camera is better for getting subtle colors than the old one.

The yearlings were figuring out which one was in charge.  Not at all sure who was winning that battle.

They wanted to lick just about anything in reach.

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April 21, 2006 Spring has sprung.  Daffodils are in bloom - even if they are getting overgrown by blackberries.

April 20,2006

Spring colors are showing in the trees.  Planted carrots, letuce, and beets today.  Likely to early, but the soil temperature is up to 56F.

Mangaed to trap a couple of  pocket gophers and tossed them out in the field.  Pulled in a turkey vulture.

April 15, 2006 Put in some potatoes & peas.  Likely to early, but just can't resist.

April 12, 2006
We haven't seen many turkeys since the fox started hanging out.  This one was outside the kitchen window shortly after sunrise.
Went into town to help put railings and handrails on the deck at Pearl's new house.  What we were puzzling over cost a couple of 2x4's sawed into pieces to short to be used before we figured it out..  All worked out well in the end - that was the only real mistake.  Not bad since neither of us had put that kind of thing together before.

April 1, 2006

Even a toy, Dad, and Grandma can't distract Ben from his mother on the other side of the room.

March 29, 2006  First fifty degree day and Star has to start removing mulch and winter cover.  We could still get a foot of snow.

March 26, 2006 Got some corn to bring the deer up close

March 25, 2006 The fox were up getting the food Star puts out every evening
Shot 10 minutes after sunset with a 300mm (450 equiv) lens, ISO 3200, 1/20th sec, f/6.3 (wide open),  hand held, through our bedroom window.

March 18, 2006 Pearl's 88th birthday party.  Started at the Port of Beirut

And then on to Pearl's "new" house.  Star put out some water for the birds.

March 16, 2006  Another 3-4 inches of snow.  Light fluffy stuff this time so shouldn't cause any problems. Snow does seem to bring out the birds.  Cardinals showed up a few days ago, but haven't seen much of the turkeys since the fox started showing up on a regular basis.

Deer showed up 6 minutes after official sunset.  Been throwing out the squash as it goes bad - lots of critters like the seeds and the deer almost get into a fight over them. Gets dark fairly early with a hill to our west.  Nice in sumer though.

March 14, 2006 Ended up with a bit over a foot of snow which is melting and compacting fast.  A light snow kept going for a long time so couldn't get out to take pictures before a lot blew out of the trees.  More snow expected tomorrow.

Star can't wait for the snow to stop falling before she shovels the steps.  Not likely that anyone will show up for a few days unless the neighbor walks over.  Not sure if we want the snowplow to show up or not.  The driveway is partly thawed so the snowplow could rip it up .

March 12, 2006 Snow has melted further, but some due tonight.

March 9, 2006 The red squirel was teasing the cats in front of the basement window.

March 6, 2006

The Beast. Plastic toy promoting Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" was left out in the snow.  Squirels chewed the ends of the fingers off

March 5, 2006 More birds through the bedroom window

March 1, 2006 Neighbor was getting some work done on the horses.

Feb 27, 2006 Yet more birds.

Feb 25, 2006  Deer in the back yard

Shot through a screen window.  Kinda surprising it came out at at all.  They come by most evenings to pick at the sunflower seeds under the bird feeder.

Feb 22, 2006 Star got her first deer

This is what happens to the deer after they get hit: scavengers (Bald Eagles) have lunch.  They were 2-300 yards away so even with my cheap 300mm (450 equiv) lens  it isn't a very good picture.

Cats gotta eat.

Feb 10, 2006 A red wagon and leaves on the red oak at sunrise

Feb 9, 2006 Yet another cat picture

Feb 7, 2006 A puzzle: what is this?  From what culture/region (suspect Central America)?  Or is it just a tourist item with no significance? Star has had this for a while and doesn't know anything about it.  If anyone has an idea, let us know. BillDrew@Toast.net

Feb 5, 2006  Out playing with my 100-300mm lens.

No snow anywhere the sun shines. First Quarter is tomorrow.

Both shots taken with my 100-300 lens at 300mm (450mm equiv).  The house was shot from the other side of the field, 2-300 yards/meters away.  The moon shot is a serious crop - that is almost a 100% crop so I wouldn't bother to print it.  Good enough resolution for the web though.

Feb 4, 2006 Also new photos on Ben's page.

Amaryllis is on its last legs

Feb 2, 2006

Feb 1, 2006 Went to Madison to see a concert by Huun Huur Tu, a quartet from Tuva.  Well worth the trip.

Jan 30, 2006 Got a little snow last night - and we do have cats.

Jan 27, 2006 Cat playing in the house.

Temp hit 50 today.  Early mud season before it refreezes.

Jan 26, 2006 Went back to the shack, er, guest room.  Snow is melting at an incredible rate.

Jan 25, 2006 Visited neighbor with my new camera - shot through a not real clean window.

Jan 24, 2006 Some of Star's flowers are blooming.

Jan 23, 2006 Warm winter: only used 1/4 or 1/3 of the woodpile.

Jan 21, 2006  Bought a new caemra (Minolta 5d) with a couple of lenses- the 18-70 kit lens & a second hand 100-300mm and have been reading the 147 page manual.  Expect lots of these kind of pictures. 

Jan 11, 2006 There is a page just for Ben and whoever is with him at the time here. 

Oct 21, 2005 The turkeys are back.  The first time we have seen a big flock.  A solitary hen was in the field most days this summer, and a group of three toms were out front in the late summer many days.
 

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Sept 5, 2005 Star won the Grand Championship in the quilting show at the Ridgeland World's Fair (They really do call it that - everywhere but in print).  The first place is for the category (Hand Applique), the Grand Champion ribbon is for the best of any kind of quilting - about 30 entries including the quilted jacket next to Star.

Oct 11, 2004  View of part of our front yard.  The garden has been mostly cleared, we will leave up the sunflowers on the north edge for the critters.  The rest will come out so I can dig in some more turkey manure and spread the cow manure that has been composting in a pile.  This sand seems to be able to take an almost unlimited amount of turkey manure.  Put it on about three inches thick in spots this year and those were the best areas.