Eagles

Wow - what a sight! We had two bald eagles in our tree overlooking the pasture today. Unfortunately, they chose a very overcast, grey morning to make their appearance - that happened as well with the elk (I wonder if they did this on purpose?!). So this is the best this amateur photographer could do. I'm now shopping for a new camera with a telephoto lens!!
Our flooding waters from last week receded but now the weather has warmed up and a new rain storm has come in from the Pacific and our water is higher than it was before - so the entire western part of the state is under a flood watch for the next 2-3 days. Well, from hurricane insurance to flood insurance............
And for those of you in the sunny South, I have transitioned from flip flops and open-toed sandals to boots. I now have 5 pairs (count 'em!) and looking for one more! There are knee high ranch work boots, weather proof boots for going into town, leather jeans boots, cowboy boots, knee high moccasins, boots for dressier occasions, .........................
I am having difficulty finding a really warm hat, however - I think they're more interested around here in keeping their feet warm instead of their heads!
I woke this morning to find our pond completely thawed for the first time since the winter weather started, and within about 2 hours we had a duck appear again - then 2, then 3!!
It was so nice to see them again, since the ducks and heron have been gone with all the ice and snow. How did they know it was thawed? I will try to show the video at the end of this post - there were two mallards and one female, and even though there were only 3 ducks in the entire pond, the two males kept up their territorial spats. Just like boys and girls - fighting over the female!!
For those of you who like to bake, I have a great pumpkin loaf recipe, courtesy of one of my favorite website/blogs that I read (edensbouquet.com). It will even appeal to those non-pumpkin eaters, I think:

Pumpkin Loaf
5 eggs
1 1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 (3 oz) boxes of vanilla pudding mix (cook and serve, not instant)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together flour, sugar, vanilla pudding mix, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add pumpkin, vegetable oil and eggs. Pour into greased pans and bake at 325 degrees for 75-80 minutes. Makes 2 loaves.

Well, my jewelry blog site is now updated with nearly all the jewelry I have done, and soon the web site will be completed. To see the results, go to handcraftedjewelrybycj.blogspot.com.