Our Yard In Winter

Left side of the front yard.

Our plum tree and the spot where the pine tree used to be... Pat cut it down when I was gone one day..

This is what is left of our beautiful ash tree.. We lost it to the emerald ash borer a few years ago.

The left (West) side of the house.... In the summer there will be tomato plants here!

The shrubs lining fence between ours and our neighbors yard.

This is a familiar view of the back yard for those of you who followed my January photo a day series.

This is this waterfall and pond my husband built with stones from job sites and around the house... The stacked slate is salvaged from the old roof of a church in Ann Arbor. A tree fell on the stacked slate this Fall to late in the season to repair at the time. Pat has a plan for refurbishing it this Spring.

This is the top part of the back yard.

Our compost pile... Our plants like this very much.

I got these planters on trash day... I can't believe someone would have thrown them out.. Or that they thought the trash men would take them.. They weigh a ton. I could barely get them into the car...

This is the Winter storage area.. In the Spring it is a strawberry patch.

And full circle around the East side of the house.

What Stephanie And I See When We Walk The Trail

Stephanie is ready to go.

The railroad tracks at the beginning of the trail. We like it when a train is passing. We wave to the engineer and count the cars.

Here is the start of the trail at 10 Mile Road.

Even in the Winter there is color in the woods.

This is our little towns water tower.

Half way down the trail.

There is a dirt trail hiding in these trees... This is the shortcut home if we need to cut the walk short... It is tough pushing the chair up that hill though.

This bush has been fooled by the mild weather... The branches are new green and berries are too early.

This stream is usually just a frozen drizzle this time of year.. It has been so warm though it is almost a full Spring run off.

These flowers are bright red in the Spring but fade and last all year. I think they are pretty any season.

When you look left there is a marsh where I have seen foxes. When you look right there are woods where I have seen deer.

Another picture of my favorite model.

These are the two smaller ponds.

This is the big pond.

This is the strangest looking ice I have ever seen... It must be from the weird weather.

The trail goes on for miles from here.. But we turn right and walk up 11 Mile.

Love this wooden bridge.

These grasses are ten to twelve feet high... They are really something.

Here we are home again... And Gaela is home for lunch too! Can you tell we drive on dirt roads a lot??

What Stephanie And I See When We Walk Downtown

Bundled up and ready to go

This dog barks and growls at us every time we walk by. Stephanie always yells "No Barking! Enough!"

This house belongs to the Mom of one of Stephanie's former bus drivers. A few summers back they had one of the best yard sales I have ever been to. As I pushed Stephanie in her chair down the driveway she saw the bus driver. Stephanie yelled "No! No School!" That just makes me smile when we walk by. Also some great acorn caps for crafting from the tree in front of the house.

This church has a great rummage sale every year. It is always the last sale of the season. I never miss it.

This is a new shop in town. It will become my go to stop for a number of craft supplies.

These two shops are always on my list of stops. The book store is fun to browse and has a nice selection of greeting cards... I bought a card today. The Resale Shop has a bit of everything. Today I bought two dream catchers for Gaela, some yarn and some fabric... I also bring things in to sell on consignment.

This is the front door to the fabric store. There is a door around back I can get Stephanie's wheelchair into. The building was once a bank and the sale fabric is displayed in the vault! They have the most wonderful fabric!

This is my friend Karlee's shop So Me Unique Finds and Designs. She makes most of the things in the store but takes a few of my pieces too. It is filled with fun things!

This is the post office where I wish I had more to mail every day!!!

The large orange Fluffer-Nutter cat that lives here wasn't out today. When he is out he comes down the driveway to say Hi! He has so many extra toes on each foot it looks like he has two paws on each leg.

Here we are home again! This is almost a four mile round trip....

Photo A Day January 31, 2012

Even I am totally bored with my dreary snowy or muddy back yard shots so this series ends on January 31. February has no theme as of now... We'll just play it by ear. The back yard will be revisited in the Spring when things green up.