Midweek Mystery

Here is your new mystery for this week. I hope it's not too spicy.
Comments will be moderated until tomorrow.

So, here was your mystery last week. I didn't make an enlarged picture of it -- here is the original. As Paula guessed correctly, the little squiggly lines are earthworm tracks. And as Linda and Jenny guessed -- it is sand.

Here are some more pictures with earthworm tracks in mud around the house. It seems that with all the wet weather, the earthworms come out at night and "crawl" around. I suppose that is why they are called night crawlers?

{Here is a great article about earthworms and their habits.}

Some more tracks in our driveway.

A Mystery and other bits....

Bit #1 -- You may have noticed that I changed my blog from a 3-column to a 2-column. I did this primarily so I could post bigger pictures, picture collages, and digital scrapbook pages. Not because I think my pictures are particularly stunning, but because I just like bigger pictures on a blog. Some blog pictures are so tiny I can barely see them, and I end up thinking -- what's the point? (or is that the point?) No offense if you like tiny blog pics, I just like big pictures. However, I realize that this may be a problem for people with dial-up. If you cannot view my blog anymore, or if it loads at an even slower snail pace, please email me and let me know. I do remember the pain of dial-up days, and boy am I ever thankful for DSL.

Bit #2 -- I have also moved some things around, probably the most important thing that you will have noticed is the "Fun blog" links. Some of them have moved to the "Links" button just under the "Almota Roses" header. Some of them are now on the right side-bar. I am still mid-process, so please bear with me. If you have added my blog to your blog roll or on your side-bar and you would like me to link your blog -- drop me a line or leave a comment and I will link your blog in my "Links" page. (that is unless your blog contains objectionable content!) I plan on adding more pages across the top as time allows and time is not allowing right now.

Bit#3 -- Are you ready for a mystery photo? What do you see in the full-size photo below? I will moderate comments until tomorrow to keep your answers unbiased. Have a wonderful day.

Midweek Mystery

Another week .... almost another year. There are simply not enough hours in the day to get all the things done I need to get done..... goodies made, presents wrapped, packages sent, cards made (and sent)....... Anyone else feeling the crunch? Why does this time of year always seem SO busy? I shouldn't whine....I bring it all on myself by not getting things done way ahead of time. For instance, I COULD make my cards in July, right? Right. Ha. Here is your new mystery -- good luck. The rest of this month I will skip MM and instead post about Christmas past.


Here is the mystery from last week, and as Linda, Paula, and Connie all guessed correctly it is frost on the window of the Suburban. I thought the crystals were so pretty. Can you see my dark shadow taking the picture?

Midweek Mystery

Brrrr.......it's cold this morning.......and supposed to get colder. You know it's cold outside when Randy has to put on his neck-r-chief -- and that he did this morning before going out with Reid to the bus. In other news, I received my first Christmas card in the mail on the 1st. It is a beautiful hand-made card. I need to sit down and design our cards for this year.....add that to the list. Hey, at least I vacuumed the living room this morning. That's a start. Unfortunately, the floors will probably need vacuumed again by the evening. Are you ready for Christmas? I am ready to just sit down and enjoy the season, not do all the decorating, wrapping, baking, etc that goes with it. Oh well, guess I am feeling a little grinchy today. Enough gabbing, here is your new mystery. Good luck.

Here is last week's mystery and as Linda and Sandra both guessed correctly, it is tinker toys. The boys have been tinkering and building and creating with tinker toys all week. It is a good winter sort of toy. I have some toys that mostly stay in the top of their closet until a cold or rainy day. That way, when these toys come out, they are very excited to play with them (AND I don't have to constantly pick up little tinker toys all over the floor). Aren't tinker toys fun? The only problem with these tinker toys is that some of these are probably 50+ years old and they are wearing out -- frustrating to little engineers when they are building the next great jet airplane.

Midweek Mystery

Good morning! Here it is almost afternoon and I am just getting around to making a post. Turkey brining and baby puking have taken first dibs on my time this morning. Should be an interesting turkey day tomorrow. I'm not sure why Nona isn't feeling well, but I hope it's not catching. So how has your morning been? Better, I hope. Well, here is your mystery this week. I'm sure you are anxiously waiting....... right? Good luck.

As many of you guessed last week (Linda, Jenny, Julie and Connie), it is a picture of T3, one of our cats. He is a nice kitty, who just happens to think that Nona's crib is the best kitty bed ever. Doesn't he look contented? You should see the indignant look he gives me when I remove him from his nice warm bed. Poor kitty. Poor mistreated kitty.

He is a blanket sucker. Have you seen one of those cats? He especially likes the crocheted blankets that my grandma made. He sucks on part of the blanket and kneads bread, his eyes half closed. Poor mistreated kitty.

Midweek Mystery

Good morning ladies and gents. Hope your week is going well. After our cold and snow, yesterday was 50 degrees -- a heat wave. Right now, the sun is shining, the winter wheat is glowing green, and you would be hard put to know it is fall instead of spring. Maybe I just slept the winter through, and it really is spring? I wish. I also wish you good luck on this week's mystery photo. If no one gets this one right, I will know that I am doing a very bad job with the mystery photos, and maybe I will just retire Midweek Mystery for awhile. What think ye?

Here is last week's mystery. And I can see where Linda and Connie thought it was mushrooms or puff-balls. But no, it was a picture of some of the tulip bulbs we planted a couple of weeks ago "in the rich, dark Palouse soil" as Connie said. Some of the tulip bulbs have the skin peeled off because Wyatt thinks they HAVE to be peeled. That is his way of "helping" -- silly boy.

Midweek Mystery

Good Wednesday to you -- and good Veteran's Day, too. Hope your week is going well. I have mounds and mounds of laundry to conquer today. What do you have to conquer today? Are you going to any Veteran's Day celebrations? I have been wracking my brains trying to figure out what to do with the kids (school holiday today) to help them understand the significance of the day......11th month, 11th day, 11th hour..........etc. Anyway, ..... here is your new mystery photo. I am being VERY easy on you this week since no one made any guesses last week. Come on --- give it your best guess!

Here is last week's mystery and as no one guessed correctly, it is a photo of some vintage dessert cups that are stacked on top of an antique scale in my kitchen. I know, it was pretty obscure, but I love how the light plays on the ridges and scallops of the dishes.

Setting in the cups is a frilly little hen that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas last year. I know, I know....obscure.

Midweek Mystery

Good morning! Really, it is a good morning. Sunny, supposed to be near 60 -- amazing for November. I will take it, and say a prayer of thanks. Hard to believe it is Wednesday though -- I have so much to do before Friday. We had a wonderful time last night with Winona's birthday. So, here is your new mystery. Have fun and good luck.

Here is last week's mystery photo. As Linda, Julie, and Sierra all guessed -- it was a picture of Nona -- but not eating ice cream -- she was eating noodles.

Nona loves her some noodles.

and more noodles.....

and yet more noodles.....

Ooops! That wasn't noodles -- that was skin!

Midweek Mystery

Yes, it's Wednesday and it's morning. That's about all I can say right now. You already know how our week has been -- hope the first half of your week has been better. Walter and Winona are still having sleep issues, not sure why. No fever, no sore ears, no rash -- just grumpy and sleepless. Anyway, here is your new mystery. I know you will immediately recognize the mystery -- so tell me: Who is it and what are they eating? Good luck! Comments will be moderated until tomorrow.

Last week Betina, Suzie, Julie, Sierra, Linda (via email), and Walter all correctly guessed pumpkin. You guys are all so smart. Here is the original photo. I hope to post pictures later today of what we did with the pumpkins. Have a great week, and stay well!

Midweek Mystery

Hello Wednesday. How are you? Windy, I see. Good day to stay inside. How is Wednesday in your neck of the woods? Here is your new mystery -- a fairly easy one, at least I think so. But then again, I know the answer!!! Ha Ha!!!! Think you know the answer too? Drop me an email, or leave a comment. The comments will be revealed tomorrow.

So here is last week's mystery photo. As Julie, Sierra, Linda, and Connie (via email) guessed correctly -- it is a caterpillar in Wyatt's hand. Wyatt found about a half dozen caterpillars much to Reid's chagrin. I think Wyatt is a bug magnet. I have always called them woolly bear caterpillars. They are the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth. Here is an interesting link to read about them {LINK}

Midweek Mystery

Goooooooood Morning! Have I got a good mystery for you this week? Oh yeah, baby! (As Wyatt would say -- wonder where he learned that phrase?) I was up until almost midnight canning salsa, so I am running on fumes, and just a touch crazy. Hope you had a good sleep last night. I will reveal comments tomorrow.

Here is what we had for a mystery photo last week. Linda, Julie, Grandma Pat, and Betina (via email) all guessed correctly -- cut-out donuts waiting to be fried. I guess it must be fall. I have been cooking and baking more than I did all summer, and making lots of soup. Do you bake more when the weather starts to turn cool?

Midweek Mystery

Another week has flown south for the winter. Baby Nona is 11 months old!!!! (I'd better start thinking about a 1st birthday party! Anyone want to come?) Oh yeah, back to the subject at hand -- this week's mystery photo. Here it is in all it's glory (or not). Good luck guessing. I will reveal the comments tomorrow.


Here is last week's mystery photo. As Julie (and Linda --wrong post but correct answer) both guessed--it is tomato skins.

Here is the larger photo -- the tomato waste that is left over after you make tomato sauce with this handy-dandy food processor. The kids love operating the processor. Randy loves eating the tomato waste --it's good for the prostate, right? (yuck!).

We use it to make tomato sauce and applesauce.
You can also buy other screens for berries, pumpkin, and grapes.

Midweek Mystery

Another week. Hope your week has been good for you. I have been going crazy trying to get my booth at Grady's Corner ready for Hullabaloo. More about that later (when I can actually take the time to write about it). Here is your new mystery photo for the week. I will moderate comments until tomorrow (For those of you that do not have your own blog-- that means that I get notification when someone leaves a comment, and I can choose to publish the comment or wait to publish it until later. So when you leave a comment, it goes into Blogger land until I publish it. I think it gives more people a chance to leave an unbiased guess--isn't that more fun? Also--has anyone been having trouble leaving comments? One person mentioned they were, so I was wondering if anyone else is?)

Here is last week's mystery photo. As Wraylee, Julie, and Jenny all guessed correctly -- it is spaghetti. Linda guessed it was fiber optics, and that is partly why I first took the picture. I was playing around with my new lens and I just happened to be making spaghetti for supper and viola! (Don't ask, my brain is weird). When the spaghetti in my hand caught the sunlight -- I thought it was so pretty-- and some of the noodles DID look like fiber optics with light shining through them. Interesting, eh?

Midweek Mystery

Is it Wednesday already? Where did Monday and Tuesday go? Where did September go? And is it Fall? I guess no one told the weather man -- it was 70 degrees at 6 AM. WOW. Wish it would stay this way for another month. I could tolerate that-- it would be SUCH a hardship, but I could handle it.

Ready for this week's mystery photo? Here you go.
Like last week, I will hide the comments until Thursday or Friday,
depending on how many of you have had a chance to guess.

So here is last week's mystery photo. As Janni, Wraylee, and Betina all guessed correctly-- it is an alpaca. Alpacas tend to be smaller than llamas, have finer fiber for weaving, and can cost a LOT more than llamas.

This alpaca was in the petting barn at the fair. I'm not sure what it thought of all the children standing and looking at it. It pretty much ignored me while I photographed it.

Midweek Mystery

Another week, another 7 dollars -- get it? (another day another dollar..... ah, never mind =). Ladies and Gents, may I present your new mystery photo. Put on your thinking caps 'cause you are gonna need 'em! (Can you tell I didn't get much sleep last night?) Comments will be moderated for 2 days and then I will reveal them on Friday if you care to leave a guess.

Here is last week's mystery and as Linda and Betina both guessed, it was a clip from the photo below--a praying mantis.

Wyatt was serving as my display surface --no surprise there. He particularly likes these ugly looking insects. I enjoy looking at then, but would just as soon not have them crawling on me. Did you know that they can change colors to blend in with their environment? Cool.