CROCHET CRAZY

Recently I started crocheting again after a several year hiatus.    I got inspired by a tutorial I saw on youtube for an infinity scarf.   I just had to try it and now I can't stop.   Since November I've made     2 infinity scarves for Christmas presents and 3 scarves for  myself.    For my daughter I've made 1 scarf, 2 hairbands and a rainbow heart garland.    For my  husband, I made a drink cozy.   I have also started a lap blanket, that is still being worked on and lastly I just finished making a bag.     I have become a little obsessed!!

I love crocheting because it allows you to  make finished products rather quickly!   Most of the small things I've made took me less than and hour and the bigger things took me 2 days at the most with the exception of the blanket.   I also love crochet, because as my mom tells me ( i have not knitted myself), it is more forgiving then knitting.  Which means when I make a boo boo, as I sometimes do, you don't necessarily have to rip apart everything to fix it.  It is usually hard to see the mistake so I just go with it :)

I definitely suggest youtube tutorials if you want to try out some crocheting yourself.     Oh,  and also Pinterest for great project ideas too!   Just watch out you might not be able to stop!   Now off to make something new........

 my scarves

I have even learned how to read basic patterns and made this bag.   It will be great for small trips to the grocery store or to carry stuff for my daughter.   I actually think I will be making more,  maybe an even bigger one for the beach!

BIRD CAMS

My daughter's class has been enjoying watching a live bird cam of a bald eagle's nest, this past week here.   That reminded me to start checking out all the live bird cams I love watching over at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.    There are hawks, owls, herons and albatross nests.   You can watch the birds get their nests ready, lay eggs,  and finally watch the babies hatch and get taken care of by their parents.    Check them out here  and enjoy!

I don't have a  bird cam, but here is a nest I discovered in my yard last year!

IN SEARCH OF SPRING

I am really getting antsy for Spring.   This cold & gloominess really need to go away.    To try and help pick up my spirits, I went out in search of some signs of Spring in my backyard today.   To my pleasure,  I found a few buds of hope!!   The lilac bush, dogwood tree and Kousa dogwood tree all had some promising looking buds on them.   I  could even see a little green, YAY!!  Now all the snow needs to melt away.
           

        Buds on the lilac bush!  I am really looking forward to its pretty purple flowers  

The dogwood - see that green!!

The kousa dogwood - its hard to tell, but I could see some green here too, I swear!!

A BOBCAT IN THE BACKYARD

My husband, daughter and I live in a suburban area with lots of houses that have small  backyards. Surprisingly though,  we have seen a fox,  a mama and baby deer, skunks, ground hogs, hawks, turkey vultures, squirrels and lots of birds.  It's fun to still see all this wildlife even though we aren't in the woods.  
The other night, when my husband and I really should have been in bed, we were still up watching TV and suddenly heard a rather disturbing sound.  It was kind of like a cat fight/ baby cry/person screaming  .   Definitely a little unsettling late at night when it's dark and most of our neighbors were probably sleeping.   I felt pretty confident though, that it was an animal, so I was more excited to figure out what it was, then scared.     My husband and I opened windows to listen and turned on the outside lights to see if we could spot whatever it was.   My husband thinks he heard the same cry/scream faintly in the distance so whatever was near our house may have been responding.   Finally we opened the backdoor and flicked on the light again and my husband caught a quick glimpse of a very large cat jumping up onto our chain link fence  and then running off.    We decided that it was probably a bobcat.   The next morning,  since we still have snow on the ground ( UGH!!!) I went out and checked to see if our visitor left any prints.    Sure enough, there were some pretty big catlike prints near the fence and I could see them venturing off into the patch of trees in our neighbor's yard.    These confirmed what we thought, that it was most likely a bobcat and now I kinda wish it would come back so I could see it.  I Just want it to keep to the night time visits.

The prints on our side of the fence

Comparison of my hand verses the single print.  Much bigger then a house cat!