Simply Beautiful

At our new house there are many different kinds of flowers blooming in the yard, and the nice thing is, they were already here when we moved in. :) Right now, there are beautiful lilies blooming; I was out weeding a few days ago and could hardly believe how many different ones there are. I didn't get pictures of them all, but here are a few. I think my favorites are the bright yellow ones.

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Luke 12:27

Moose!

The other day we were able to see two moose just a few miles from our house. I actually had our camera with me and was able to take a few pictures.

The smaller moose.

This was the larger one; it came quite close to our truck. Because the sun was behind it, I had a hard time getting a good picture. They were neat to see:).

One Robin's Nest

Last month I discovered a robins nest down by the grain bins in our yard. Over the next few weeks I enjoyed quickly checking it whenever I would take Abigail for a walk by it in her stroller. The mom and dad birds. They were both protective of the nest and would fly quite close to me. You can see the male is a lot darker then the female.

The first time I found the nest it had four beautiful blue colored eggs in it. I love robins:).

A few days later this little fellow had hatched. Then there were two of them. The other two eggs never did hatch.The next time I went down to look there was a huge difference; one of the babies had already flown and this guy was ready to go as well. And finally, the empty nest. It was fun watching for a few weeks:).

Bird Watching

It has finally warmed up enough to go outdoors without freezing:). A few days back, while talking a walk around the property, I spotted two Great Horned Owls perched together in a tree. I had my camera and was able to take few pictures. I looked them up in my bird book when I got back inside and found that they are the top predators in their food chain, and will often kill and eat other owls and even skunks! Maybe that is where half the cats on the farm have disappeared too!

Right as I was taking this picture the other owl flew away and just missed being in the shot.

Close up. They have incredible hearing as I was quite a distance from it when I made a small noise and it immediately turned to look at me.
Bird Facts:

Voice: Series of hoots, also screams, barks, and hisses; female higher pitched.

Nesting: Old stick nest, in tree, exposed cavity, cliff, human structure, or on the ground; 1-5 eggs; 1 brood; January-April

Feeding: Hunts mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects; mostly nocturnal.

A Lunar Experience

I checked my email last night and found my sister (by the way if you haven't already please go check out her blog:)) had written to tell me there was going to be a lunar eclipse. Despite the fact that it was close to 10 below outside, my dear husband asked me if I would like to stay up and see it. I being interested in such things said yes, and we went out and enjoyed watching it together:).

This is how it looked when we first went out at around 1:30am

The second time we went out at 1:38am
and watched it move completely into the shadow of the earth.

Covered.

Our camera wasn't able to capture them, but I also got to see some Northern Lights last night. Although they were rather faint, it was neat to see:).

"He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down."
Psalm 104:19

Barn Cats

Out in the old red barn

Up the loft stairs..

In a pile of hay bales...

In a little hole, is a mother cat with five kittens:)

"Tabby" and kittens

Four of the little kittens.

My nephews and I have had a good time visiting the barn almost every day and checking on the kittens. Their eyes have now opened, and they are so cute:). We always had cats when I was growing up, and now it's been fun having them around the farm:).

A Morning Walk= Random Photos

A few day's ago I took a morning walk around our property. We have recently been making trails though the back woods so I enjoyed walking on them. It was a beautiful morning with many different birds filling the air with lovely song. I took along our camera and was able to capture a few photos along the way. :)

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

Red berries covering a tree in our yard.

Beautiful colored leaves.

Florida Pines.

This cactus grows by our greenhouse,

the fruit is edible.

Fallen oak leaves and acorns.

Bug Parade

Every Winter, (usually in December) we have a flower bush in our yard that blooms. Several days ago while enjoying the lovely white flowers, I was struck by the many insects that there were buzzing around. :) I attempted to capture a few photos but because our camera is relatively new, (the camera I used to use gave out a few months back) some of the photos turned out a little blurry since I have not figured out all of the settings yet. But I had fun anyway, and here are the results.

A yellow jacket and honey bee.

A black and white wasp.

I found this bug to be interesting, apparently it preys upon the bees, wasps etc. that come to the flowers. Here it is eating a honey bee.

Yet another wasp.

A black, brown and yellow striped wasp.

Two flowers, two bees. :)

THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD

This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Keep Your Eye on the Sky!

After my sister heard that there was going to be a meteor shower (the Eta Aquaids) this morning May 5, 2008 we decided to get up at 4:30 A.M. and see if we could see any "falling stars" as they are commonly called. :) I've heard that this particular meteor shower occurs annually as the Earth is crossing through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet. We were rewarded by a spectacular show of meteors. We were able to see from around 15-25 in a hour and a half. It was amazing! :) Having never seen a meteor shower before, it was a neat experience, and besides that the stars were beautiful and bright!! :) The heavens truly do declare the glory of God! The meteor shower will also be visible on Tuesday May 6th before dawn, though I believe last night was the peak night.

A meteor (possibly 2) and Milky way, Photo from Wikipedia

A meteor shower, some of which are known as a "meteor storm" or "meteor outburst", is a celestial event where a group of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the sky. These meteors are small fragments of cosmic debris entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speed. They vaporize due to friction with the air, leaving a streak of light that very quickly disappears. For bodies with a size scale larger than the atmospheric mean free path (10 cm to several metres) this visible light is due to the heat produced by the ram pressure (not friction, as is commonly assumed) of atmospheric entry. Most of the small fragments of cosmic debris are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all fragments disintegrate and never hit the earth's surface. Fragments which do contact Earth's surface are called meteorites. -Taken from Wikipedia

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Psalm 19:1

Katydid

We found this katydid in our house a month or so ago, (I have no idea how it got inside.) It was such an interesting looking insect, lol! (not that I've never seen one before but anyway....)

Isn't it amazing how it’s wings were created to look just like leaves?

Katy :)

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

-Cecil F. Alexander

The Beautiful Snow

Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Job 38:22

I found these pictures of snowflakes online. It is just so amazing that no two are alike and just think there are literally billions of snowflakes that fall every winter! God's creation is absolutely awesome!

All photos taken from SnowCrystals.com

Mushrooms or Toadstools

The other day I was walking in the yard and I noticed that there seemed to be quite a few mushrooms (or toadstools if you prefer, Botanists do not separate mushrooms and toadstools into two different groups. Some people give the name mushroom to the kinds that can be eaten, and toadstools to those that are poisonous. ) growing. We had gotten quite a bit of rain a few days ago which probably had something to do with it. Well anyway, I thought it would make an interesting post so I grabbed the camera :) and started taking pictures. I was amazed at the different kinds that I found in just a small area of our yard. The encyclopedia stated that: "There are about 38,000 known species of mushrooms." !I found several interesting websites here, here and here about mushrooms. All of God's creation is amazing!These are a few of the pictures that I took:

I thought this one looked really interesting!