Happy Thanksgiving From Tingsgrove to Your Home~

Image taken last week at Cave Hill Cemetery~

~Happy Thanksgiving~

No matter if you celebrate with us in the United States of America, or not, I wish you a Thanksgiving day every day.  My heart is thankful for so much in my life, much of which I often times take for-granted.  One very important thing to me is my family and friendships.  You all are my friends, many of which I have never met in real life, but have learned to know you very well on here as well as many on Facebook.  I appreciate each of you and it is a pleasure to take a peek at what is happening in your part of the world and what you have been seeing and photographing.

We won't be with family this year for the holiday dinner, but we will get to spend time with them during the weekend.  My husby and I will have a wonderful meal at a restaurant that overlooks the Ohio River and then on Friday I will prepare our traditional Thanksgiving day meal because I love to do the cooking from scratch and enjoy the aromas as foods bake and roast, and the leftovers are such a wonderful thing after the big feast.

I have a request...

Even though we have never met one another, never spoken, I have known of this man since I was 16.  He was my father's son from a previous marriage.  I only learned information about him 5 years ago and he would now be 86 years old.  He lives in Paradise, California where the recent Camp Fire burned up nearly the entire city.  The devastation, the loss of lives, the fear they had to have gone through, those people who are listed as missing, pray that they will be found alive and well, for every day that goes by without word, makes it much more frightening for those searching for them.  The loss of homes, land, domestic animals, wildlife, it's truly something that I am struggling with in a very big way.  I cannot stop thinking about it.  Please pray if you pray, lift up your very finest thoughts if you don't pray for all concerns for these who have lost everything.  As for my half brother, we just don't know anything at all~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after    you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:

Saturday's Critter

http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin' 

   

Angie at:  

Mosaic Monday

https://tentoesinthewater.blogspot.com/

 Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global 

   http://communalglobal.blogspot.ca/

& 

Stewart for:

Wild Bird Wednesday

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Blue-headed Vireo...a big first for me, and right here on our property too the end of October~

We had a few of the Golden Crowned Kinglets visit us too~

Yikes and another new one for my list, also on our land, a Bay-breasted Warbler ;)~

This may be the same one, but it was on the far side of the property...also Bay-breasted Warbler~

We had a whole lot of regulars with the Chickadees~

One of our favorite visitors the Yellow-rumped Warblers stopped by too~

 The American Robins are always near by, but when it is Autumn berry season, they are in large numbers~

The famous Budweiser Clydesdale Horses came to town last week.  Many were disappointed that the whole team had not come according to advertising images, but for me I was thrilled to just see the two that did come.  They are just gorgeous and gentle creatures.  Two of our grands Braden and Maci and I got to pet one of them and that was a nice treat.  We also had a surprise snow fall while en route and during the quick visit that we made into the city to see them.  It made for some lovely snaps to share~

And then ... we had an ice storm, and it was mean to us.  

We lost many hundreds of small branches which are miserable to try and gather on such a large patch of land. In some places they are knee deep and some still frozen together. Then there were a bunch of very large fallen limbs from huge trees.  We couldn't make it past losing another monster tree behind our home.  We are so very thankful that it fell away from the house, but it also took out two other smaller trees~

I did seek the beauty in the mess for the ice covered property took on lovely scenes as I trudged around checking on the damage done.  We don't hire out, we do the clean-up ourselves and I take on much of the task myself, other than using a chainsaw...oh no way.  It's going to take months and one tree that was attached at the base of the larger one now fallen is in a very precarious position and it's facing the land that I have been working so much the last 4 years. You cannot control nature, that's for sure~

This younger buck was at a nearby park that I drove through a couple of weeks ago~

Northern Flicker, also sometimes called Yellow-shafted Flickers~

Carolina Wren~

Chickadee~

Top left to right and then lower left to right...

Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing...I only saw them one day this season and took 5 pictures was all... Chipping Sparrow and Mr. and Mrs Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers~

Ice Jewels and These Old Bones~

These old bones...

Ha... I bet that you are thinking that I am talking about me and these old bones, but I am not.  

You shall see when you scroll down what I am referring to as old bones ;)

Many people love the cold weather, Winter sports, snow sledding, skiing, etc.  When I was younger with younger bones ;) I loved to go out and build snowmen with the children and I also have done my share of sledding over the years.    

The temperatures have been very cold here and we have had very light snow, just a dusting on some days.  Last evening we had an icing, not a bad one, but enough to make things look like they are tucked under glass~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after                                                                you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:

http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Saturday's Critter

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'

    

Maggie's  MOSAIC MONDAY

                                              https://normandylife.blogspot.com/

 Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global 

   http://communalglobal.blogspot.ca/

& 

Stewart for:

http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

The afternoon sun shinning on the tiny icicles made them appear to look like little jewels glistening with their exquisite beauty~

         I liked the way the open Rose of Sharon flower seed pod seemed to hold one of the                                                                             reflection ice gems ;)

Sunrise and ice~

American Kestrel hunting over the local  fields~

Red-Tailed Hawk wire hunting when it noticed me from hearing my shutter click on the glass~

Bald Eagle posing & preening~

Evidently a Raccoon was killed in front of our property last week and the Black Vultures made an appearance to aid in getting rid of the carcass~

Red Fox Squirrels are a real favorite of mine.  We don't have them in our neighborhood, but further out the country lanes~

I still had my camera set for the Super, Blue Blood Moon last weekend and forgot to change the settings when I shot pictures of this wee little Yellow-Rumped Warbler...it's too cold for it to be here...poor little one~

I made sure that I was up and out with all three dogs on the morning of the big moon event, after selecting the best spot for me and shot a few pictures including the top one here.  My perfect spot didn't last long as I began though, when a huge dark bank of clouds began to roll in.  Well blah...what can you do, nothing, you just hope it will move quickly, but it was a slow mover like molasses slow moving.  The entire scene was lost and it was 150 years since the last showing of such...ah well it was fun to get out with the dogs, and they enjoyed the ride~

White-breasted Nuthatch found a place to hide a seed~

The husby took me for a country lane ride after picking up some Starbucks coffee Saturday morning.  Of course the three dogs came along for the ride too~

These old bones, the starkness of the trees as well as the charm of the old buildings below...

A pair of Red-Tailed Hawks hunted alongside each other~

Old barns, silos and service stations creak with age old bones...their structures falling away in places, weathered, rusted wood, what stories could they tell if they had a voice~

An old Ballardsville Service Station~

The natural beauty of aging wood, I love the green on here~

Can you see it...we didn't see it when we were there, not until I came home and ran the pictures in my photo program.  At first glimpse my husby thought it to be an Owl, now that would have been a great find.  This cat though, how on earth does it get up on that rounded roof...what could it possibly be hunting from that vantage point, or was it just wanting a spot of fresh air~

Two old silos, one day they shall be gone, just like everything...they are old and I have been seeing them since 1978 and there is no telling how long they were there before that~