Signs of spring at last!.....

Spring must be coming....there were turtles to count on the logs at the wetlands!  Yippee!

These two looked very comfortable and decided I wasn't a threat.

 Turtles up front, turtles in back further....lots of turtles already!

 Bit of an overlap with the last photo

 Turtles in the creek

 Gathered around the stump

Goose friend with the turtles :-)

 A couple goose portraits.  This one must be used to being thrown food.  It kept eyeing us very hopefully.

 A lone Mallard swimming by the turtles.

 Cutting a wake.....he seemed fairly friendly, too.

Two lines....close and far.

 They may be weeds, but to me they are the hope of spring and beautiful wildflowers!

And at home, a few crocus!  yeah!

Still feels like winter to me, and we have some cold coming, but the signs of spring are there at last.

Overdose of cuteness at Rural King....

I can't resist going to Rural King to see the baby chicks, ducklings and turkeys every year.  So cute!  You just want to pick up a handful and take them home.  

 These little spotty ones were one of my favorites.  I should have written down all the exotic names.

 The baby ducklings were soooooooo cute!

 Everybody eating!

 I liked all the mix of colors in the ducklings.  Taking photos was difficult with the red lights.

Cute!

These had interesting markings.

 Very light

 I like this rusty color

 Face to face

Yellow

Black....these were really hard to photograph!

A few bird shots from home...

A few of my recent backyard visitors....

 I never tire of this little nuthatch....

 ....and he never tires of the peanuts!

 Was able to sneak a photo of the Cardinal before he flew away.

 Several shots of the female Red-bellied Woodpecker

 Blogger decided to order my photos in its own way and I was too lazy to move them.

 One of my daily squirrels.  

And the woodpecker again.

Still cold here!  But I do see a few daffodils tying to bud and convince the world that it is really spring.

Spring is coming so late for our part of the country!  Usually I would have flowers blooming by now.  Maybe by next week.....or not.

Jasper City Mill.....

We saw an item in our local newspaper about the rebuilt Jasper City Mill that stone grinds corn to make corn meal and grits.  So we went on a day trip to visit and buy some corn meal.

 The first thing I did was take photos of the mill from the back.  It was a gloomy day as you can see.  This is the third mill to built on this site.  The first mill burned down and the second was torn down due to old age.  When they wanted to rebuild it this time the Corp of Army Engineers gave them a lot of trouble.  They wouldn't let them put it right on the river....it would "impede boat traffic".  What boats?  This river is suitable for canoes at best.  So they built it 20 feet out of the river.  Then they were told they couldn't draw water from the river to run the wheel.....the water would have to be treated before putting it back in the river.  So they run the wheel with city water stored in a tank and then recycle it.  Sigh....progress??

 The "mighty" river next to the mill.

Looking downriver. They have a nice river walk along the river and across the bridge I am standing on.

We came to buy corn flour and it was quite reasonable.

The corn is sorted into 4 sizes:  Corn, Grits, Corn Meal, and Corn Flour.

 The corn

 Sorter?  I should have let Mike caption these photos.

 One type of screen used to size the ground corn

 Gears and pulleys

 The old stone grinding wheel that they use.

 Tools

A sorter

They had lots of nice things for tourists to buy :-)  Wooden bowls. 

 Someone had painted wildlife on feathers.  Very nice! Wonder how they got permission to do this, unless the artist is an Indian?  You are not allowed to pick up feathers and keep them....did you know that?  Not even from your own yard.  And not just eagle and hawk feathers, but pretty much all feathers.

NOTE:  Just found this note on the Internet about this:  "The Migratory Bird Treaty Act decreed that all migratory birds and their parts (including eggs, nests, and feathers) were fully protected."

 Jams, jellies and sauces.  We bought some Blueberry Butter and some Apple Barbecue Sauce.

 Looking upwards inside the mill.

 An old stove....the historic corner.

Old equipment.

It was interesting and we bought some stone ground corn meal and some blueberry pancake flour.

I'm tired of winter....

Gloomy days, spitting snow, cold.....I'm ready for spring!

I think the animals feel the same way I do.  

Mr. Cardinal looks very pretty, but I'm sure the constant search for food in the cold gets to be a real drag. 

 I looked out and saw these two cute squirrels in the same feeder....they aren't usually that chummy!  Dusted in snow.  Not much, but it means it is still cold out there.

 The Carolina Wren looks very indignant and wants me to chase the squirrels away and put out something he likes to eat.  There is suet out there....so he really doesn't have anything to complain about!  

It's the weather.  

Makes us all grumpy!

Maybe it will be warmer by the time I find something else to post.