Zipping along...

We visited some good friends in southern Indiana recently. I never dreamed how much fun a zip line could be. We were ready to go again.

Our friend's father and uncle are extremely creative. It's always fun to see what new creations they have added to their adjoining places. Like this anatomically correct buffalo made from pine cones, real cattle horns, etc. 

Smokey the bear's newest friend is also crafted with pine cones and complete with wooden ears and snout.

They not only have a sense of humor, but they are becoming masters of chain saw sculpture. This handsome guy (another of their creations) fresh from the cigar store, is currently residing in the round out-house that they built from an old grain bin. 

The out-house is a handy addition to the nearby shelter where family and friends gather frequently (at the shelter, that is). The door and hardware are even crafted to complete the curve of the building. This is probably the more adorable "out-house" ever .... it looks like something right out of Tolkien's The Hobbit. 

This big fellow is a commission they recently finished.

Isn't it fun having creative friends who enjoy life so much!

Giants on the prairie

Wanted to share some photos from the time spent helping with the harvest of corn and beans this year. I marvel to think how many bushels of corn or soy beans these bins are capable of holding. Could you imagine counting each individual kernel of corn or bean that go into these giants. And there are hundreds and hundreds of these scattered across the county. 

This Aermotor was intact and pumping water for livestock. So many times, all you see are skeletons of these lovely sculptures.

I read at one time, the water windmill numbered over 6 million across the U.S. landscape. The wind turbine seems to be trying to catch up with it smaller cousin. I am in awe over how large these structures are. Here's a quick link comparing sizes: http://www.energy.iastate.edu/renewable/wind/images/howtallareturbines_08.pdf

Couldn't resist stopping to snap photos of this adorable 35 ft. tall creature. He's a "fire breathing" steel dragon located in Vandalia, Illinois. Googling him, I learned he really "breathes" fire when fed tokens you can buy for $1 at a nearby liquor store. Will have to check that out the next time we go that way.

Here are the true giants on the prairie:

Fossils and fabric and buttons, oh my...

As Dorothy said, "there is no place like home". We are done helping with this year's harvesting of corn and beans. It has been a dry year, so the corn yield was down. Seeing friends and former neighbors again was wonderful even though we didn't get to visit everyone we would have liked.

In addition to helping with the harvest, we visited around with friends, helping with various chores and fix-it jobs, like building several wheel chair ramps, fixing a deck, changing a leaking faucet, reupholstering 6 dining chairs and re-gluding their legs, taking photos for a friend for eBay, etc.

Per usual, we came home loaded to the gills with treasures. It wasn't all work, there was some play time, like visiting fabric and quilt stores, a favorite thrift store in addition to Goodwill and our favorite the Half Price Book Store.

The Wabash River bank gave up some interesting fossil rocks to add to my rock collection. One of the books I read this past month was Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures. If you like historical fiction, read her books. Anyhow, one thing mentioned in Remarkable Creatures was the amount of time one can spend walking the beach, constantly looking down, searching for rocks and fossils. I find time spent like this so relaxing and you never know what lovely piece of nature you may discover.

There was a wonderful fabric store in Kalamazoo that had a lovely sale (22% off) on a 100% cotton. This included the wonderful quilt store quality fabrics.

The best of this plunder, is all the lovely cotton fabric, buttons and creative notions June, a very generous friend gave me from her fall cleaning spree. She had a quilt shop in one of her lives, so you know the fabric is awesome. It's all washed now and waiting to be sorted by color. I think some of the fabric will be used to make charity quilt tops for babies and young children. 

What can I say, thank you again, June.

It's harvest time...

We are helping with the fall harvest, so my blog is on the back 40 for a while. Will return soon. Thanks for visiting.