Living on the lake can be hazardous

This is the view from my home. You'd think it would be incredibly inspiring, wouldn't you?

Since moving here permanently last fall, I have had some big plans. BIG ones. I have a list of things to do that is numbered and the last thing I added to it was "#77 - Rearrange the pantry."

Guess how many things on the list I have accomplished in the past year? ONE. I have done ONE thing on my list! 

I blame it on the view... each night I go to bed with thoughts of all the things I am going to do the following day. I wake up excited to be productive. Then I pour my coffee and with list in hand, I sit down to organize my thoughts and get ready. I sit down to that fantastic lake view... and stare at it all day long. 

The bird feeder on our tree gets lots of action with squirrels and a variety of birds. Yesterday hubby and I sat outside on a gorgeous day. We watched a Kingfisher chattering from tree to tree while occasionally diving into the water. A mink swam along the shoreline, occasionally climbing up the rocks to look at us. Squirrels were gathering nuts from the walnut trees around our house and terrorizing the birds at the feeder. A sailboat glided around all day... we had company stop by for a visit...

I'm not totally lazy -- things like regular house cleaning, grocery shopping and the laundry gets done. I do go to work each day. 

The only thing I do manage to accomplish while enjoying our lake view is reading and cross-stitching. I have read so many books on my Kindle this year that the titles are a blur in my memory! 

Now that summer is over and autumn has begun, I have dusted off my to-do list and hope to start accomplishing things again! Hey - writing a blog post is #6 on my list! (Although it actually reads as: "#6 - write and publish at least two blog topics a week." It doesn't say anything about posting after six months!)

I'm getting there... :)


Thanks for visiting!

Check out our Webcam at the lake!

I have a new link on the upper right hand side of my blog -- it links to our webcam!

My hubby has run a weather station for around 15 years. The first one was at our acreage and it was broadcast through the Weather Underground website for many years. We knew people viewed it, as we could see the hit counter go up. But it wasn't until he took it offline that we realized just how many people were viewing it! Apparently a few of the farmers close to us kept an eye on it; I would also get a comment or two from co-workers, friends and occasionally employees in the stores where we shopped.

A few years ago, hubby put up a new weather station at the lake. Again, it is connected to Weather Underground but he recently added it to EarthCam as well.

Here is the link to EarthCam (you can also click in the upper right corner):
http://www.mycampage.com/lostislandlakecam

And here are the links to the weather station on Weather Underground: 

http://classic.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KIARUTHV2
http://classic.wunderground.com/webcams/darkclouds/1/show.html 

Check out the calendar at the bottom of that link - iIt's kinda cool to see the weather change day by day!

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Keep Calm and Blog On

During my unintentional leave of absence from blogging, I have been thinking of what direction I want to take with my blog. Or, if I even wanted to continue blogging. It seems as if most blogs have a purpose – decorating, cooking, needlework, etc. When I started mine, I wanted to take part in everything! For the most part, however, I wanted a place where I could just post ‘things’ of interest to me. Especially tablescapes, easy recipes and small projects.

When we sold our acreage last fall and moved everything to our lakehouse, we did downsize a bit. I quickly discovered that a house half the size of the previous house doesn’t hold as much stuff! Cabinet, closet and storage space is now limited.

One of the downsizing items I am referring to are my dishes. I did not realize how much I had until I tried to hide it all put it all away at the new house. I found out just how large my collection is! And to my chagrin – so did my hubby!

When I ran out of storage room in the kitchen, living room and most of the closets, I found myself putting sets of dishes in the bathroom storage areas. Hubby found me putting dishes in there, too… I finally had to admit that I had too many.

I blame my mother. She passed on the “dish gene” to me. And when my mom passed away three years ago, her dish collection came home with me.

The majority (but not all!) of my dishes and accessories now have new homes. It felt pretty good to lighten the load in my cabinets, too!

Along with the dishes, many other items now have new homes as well. At the old house, I had multiple projects planned – refinishing a few pieces of furniture, painting a few things, updating and refreshing other things… it was a rather long list. And they were fun projects to do – not necessary ones. Projects I wanted to photograph and blog about. But those projects (along with the large basement to do them in) are no longer around to do now. And you know what?? So far I haven’t missed a single thing!

So what have I been doing all these months?? I’ve been reading – a lot. Or rather, a lot more than usual. I bought a Kindle a couple of years ago (and have upgraded twice) and it goes everywhere with me. Over the weekend, I counted how many books I have read since September:  24 fiction books, 8 books on faith and God, and 3 non-fiction books. I also started 13 other books but quit reading them about halfway through from lack of interest. (I even caught up with a year's worth of Wine Enthusiast and other magazine subscriptions that had been ignored!)

Along with books, I've been reading blogs and have kept up with each and every one that I like to follow -- I may not comment very often, but I read them all and look forward to new posts!

I’ve also renewed an interest in an old hobby of mine – cross stitching. Just after I was married 25 years ago, I started cross-stitching and literally spent every spare moment I had working on something. We have many framed pieces I completed over the years… When my daughter was born, her nursery was filled with items I had made. I continued to stitch until she was about five years old – then abruptly quit to learn and take up quilting. I’ve missed it and am enjoying working on new pieces!

Continuing from my first paragraph now, I think rather than defining an actual purpose for my blog, I am going to "blog on" as I have been. I enjoy posting about the lake – and, well, whatever else comes to mind!

Thanks for continuing to hang in there with me and I’m looking forward to blogging again!

Thanks for visiting!

Larry the Cable Guy filmed his show at our lake!

So... I don't write for three entire months (while taking a completely unintended break from blogging) ... and I have returned with a Larry the Cable Guy post! "Git r done!"

I had to pass this one on! Larry the Cable Guy has a show called Only in America and he was at Lost Island lake filming with the Iowa DNR for a carp rodeo which will be a featured segment on his show. Check it out tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 14th) on the History Channel!

This photo was posted on the Iowa DNR's facebook page. 

Update: After watching the show, the DNR's description of the photograph was incorrect. It was filmed it at Spirit Lake instead of Lost Island. Spirit Lake is about 30 miles to the north of us. The photo does look like Lost Island though and many people who live in the area thought it was, too!

Judging by the water and the leaves on the trees, I'm guessing this was filmed sometime last spring in April 2011.


Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
What brings Larry the Cable Guy to the middle of Lost Island Lake? DNR fisheries biologist Mike Hawkins (second from left) leads Larry through his first carp rodeo. Watch what happens on Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Wednesday, March 14 at 8 p.m. central on the History Channel.


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