From my mailbox

DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher says, "Okay, but do not go in that field over there," as he points out the location.

The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me." Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the rancher. "See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... On any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?"
The rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life chased by the rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull......

With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer, and it seems likely that he'll get gored before he reaches safety. The officer is clearly terrified. The rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs.....

"Your badge. Show him your BADGE!"

Something's Up

I can hear the fighter jets from the nearby air force base scrambling this morning. Hope it's just a training exercise.

Dear Charitable Organizations

Please, please, please stop sending me address labels. I have more than I can ever use in my lifetime. They are going straight to the shredder. Sending a contribution to you is about the only time I mail a letter nowadays. I don't want any more labels or other gifts to guilt me into giving.

And that's my other beef. I'm not happy that my name has apparently been passed around as a supposed soft touch. I am hearing from agencies that I never knew existed. How did they get my personal information, pray tell?

FWIW, it makes me grumpy and consider not contributing in the future.

Spring!

My mother-in-law gave me this little birdhouse for Christmas in 2008. I hung it in the yard last year where it remained birdless. You can't imagine how happy I was to see a pair of chickadees going in and out of it the other day. There was also a pair of redpolls that seemed interested.


Every year we have a pair of mallards do a layover in our yard. I noticed they were eating birdseed that had fallen to the ground from my feeders so I bought some cracked corn and set out a dish of water. They come by at least once a day and hang around until I have to let the dogs out. Yesterday evening only the hen made an appearance which caused great consternation on my part. My husband had noticed one of the young men who live behind us running around with a paintball gun yesterday. I bet a paintball could be lethal to a duck. So I fretted about that for a couple of hours. I was so relieved to see both of them when I looked outside at 10:30 - yes, this is the land of the midnight sun and it is just twilight at that hour this time of year.

Here is a picture of my two guys that I took while waiting for a chickadee to cooperate yesterday. They are so happy that we took the jolly balls out of the shed.

Who Says We Can't Grow Stuff in Alaska?

Garage windows

First broccoli crop

Flowers on spool

Fence flowers

Back deck

Petunias on deck

Aaaand, it snowed yesterday (sob)

I've Been Crafting

The strings are bookmarks, or book thongs, made with leather and beads. The doilys are called jug covers, I believe. I copied some I saw in a tea shop. They are used to cover your teacup, sugar bowl, glass, etc. I gave away a couple of each before taking pictures. If I get ambitious I may try to sell these on etsy.

Peepshow

I've probably posted this picture before but it always makes me laugh.