OLD MAN WINTER

Old man winter finally has reared his ugly head.  I love the beauty, but it has a coldness in look and feel that tend to sway me to the more intimate softness of spring.  I heard the sparrows talking yesterday morning and today they are hid up in the branches of the spruce.  The robins have been surprised by the mild winter, thinking they had returned at the right time.  But they are tough like me and will wait it out because I know spring will come.

HORSE ISLAND

In 5th grade my teacher took all our essays for the year and from reading them determined at that time what we would do when we grew up. "Mary will raise dogs and cats on horse island."  Very insightful.  Thank you Ms. Wardhaugh.  Need I say 
more..............PS sorry bunnies I have no pictures of you.

THE CREW and the GRANDPA

Agenda for the day: Football for Trae (they won) soccer for Jamison the day before (he got MVP), Mason wiggling.  Swimming from 2-5:30, in between play with 6 dogs, dinner: shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp on tortillas, fries, ding dongs, root beer and cream soda, ice cream bars (push up for Mason see picture).  More swimming from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm (light on in the pool) and playing with dogs.  FINALLY settled down and watch Green Hornet.  Everyone soooooooo tired they ended up calling it an early night and in bed by 10.  Me?????  head buzzing from watching 4 "boys".

bright blue bright blue 
my choice for sky
my choice for you
add the sun for accent 
the clouds for softness
the stars for dreams

this is a picture of you

LILY'S LUCKY #7

My sweet Lily is now in Dog Heaven. She has lots of company. Susie, Chokum, Sage, Blue, Mcduff, Ellie and our sweet little Aspen. Did did a long hard fight. The toughest dog I know. I will probably miss her the most.

SNORING

I do believe he is snoring. He went on a crazy rampage and then he was done. Sweet Robbie.

RAIN DANCE

Papa taught the boys how to Rain Dance!

THE BATHTUB

Since the last post I wrote, it has turned from snow to hot! But that's ok because now our beautiful cement pond is filled with a tired, sweaty rancher who finally takes a few minutes to relax. It has dogs cooling off, grandson's who will be here for 4 days using it as a bathtub, neighborhood children who come knocking at the door, shyly asking if they can swim.

I do have another "bathtub" in my yard. Last April I had the "pleasure" of attending a dinner at a local restaurant which has a decor of an old country house. As I'm sitting there not listening to someone talk who lied when he said he would cut it short, I studied the scene outside the window of this room. It had an old water pump, surrounded by rocks, buckets with flowers popping out, and old time claw footed bathtub filled with colorful pansies,..........wait! an old time claw footed bathtub with colorful pansies........just what my yard is missing...OMG!!! I nudge Wess awake, sleeping with his eyes open, "honey, look out that window", and to my delight he said "honey, find a tub". Off on my quest to find an old tub who people have bathed in for centuries, (yuck) I look on a local classified website. To my heart's dismay everyone who had one thought they were worth the sun and moon. I, however thought they were only worth a piece of sand. Not wanting to spend my retirement on one I pretty much gave up. Wess finally said, try again. I set a goal to look for one within my hometown and if I couldn't find one for the right price then it wasn't meant to be. I stuck in my zip code and to my utter amazement I find one. $250. So I email them back, offer them $125 and wait for a reply...and wait and wait. Finally I get an email.....It's my neighbor 2 houses down........I back the truck in, we heft it up and now it is yard art....and it's beautiful.

WHAT I DREAM ABOUT BUT REALLY SEE

It's my party

I have been listening to 60's music while working on my XM Radio on my computer. It's scary to know every word to just about every song. Once in a while there is one that I have never heard. Of course I sing along, off key, but no one hears me but the dogs. They just tilt their heads and look at me in wonder. Little snots. I came across 2 songs which I know every word but never realized they were so connected. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to". Now the story goes this girl is throwing a birthday party for herself and her boyfriend Johnny disappears. And so does Judy, oddly enough at the same time. Where in the hell did they go??? Later Johnny and Judy return, holding hands. I can only guess what they did. And to boot Judy is wearing Johnny's ring. Holy cow! And on her birthday no less. Worse birthday of her 16 year old life...so leave her alone, it's her party and she can do what she wants...CRY.

So the next song is "It's Judy's turn to cry." Well the girl who got dumped realized it was a foolish thing to do, to sit down and cry. Now at another party, she sees Judy and Johnny kissing. And being the 16 years old and that time of the month (I'm guessing) she just wants to make a scene. She grabs some other guy and plants one on his lips. Pissed Johnny off to no end and he beats the other guy up because he still loved her. So now it's Judy's turn to cry, Judy's turn to cry cause Johnny's come back to her. Thank you Lesley Gore for 2 wonderful songs that show girls then and now. Only now the girls just beat the crap out of each other and the boys just do what boys do..love to watch those girls fight!

LEAVES WITH CHARACTER

DOGS AND LEAVES

All the trees are bare now except for a few holdout leaves. The pups and I went exploring to see what we could find. What commenced was a game of tag. Them chasing me and me trying to bury them in a heap of leaves. Nessie finally had enough. Me too! But it seems like fall has come into my house. Everywhere I go I find leaves, twigs and a whole lot of seed pods. We will see what grows in the spring..............

TREED KITTYS

If kittens could talk they would say ""Damn Dogs"!

GHOSTS

It's Tuesday morning and it did indeed snow like the weatherpeople said. How can something so pretty be so despised. At least by me. Yesterday was so nice and cool. But in the middle of the night you could hear it coming like a ghost train. The wind slow at first then the crescendo into a full blown engine careening down the tracks. Then "POOF' it was gone. Like a ghost. And the ghost left it's calling card all over my valley.

My Pot of Gold

It's Monday morning, and I have been in a funk. Change of season I guess. Not ready for winter. But to stand on the deck and look around this morning I know it is inevitable. Darn.... However if I could figure out how to put sound to this you would hear the birds singing and talking everywhere. A week ago there were drastic layers of seasons. Snow in the mountains turned into the hills that turn brown with the heat of summer that turned into red, orange and yellows trees, then the lower trees showing just a hint of pale green and yellow. And lastly the stubborn tree who to this day refuses to change. He too wants to stay. And even though we have put away all our pots of flowers for the season there is still one that keeps on keeping on.

It's Thursday morning, Tuesday it was 90 degrees, today there is snow in the mountains. Because of that snow it's like a refrigerator in the valley. No warm air until next spring I guess. I've learned a few hard lessons this week. Summer never stays around very long. Someone you care for and trust with your life can be selfish and accusing just so they can have it all. Leaves turn from a beautiful green to a mellow yellow and striking red and will soon be brown and on the ground. (kinda rhymes) Someone who I thought to be my friend and I thought we were has turned on me. Horses go back up the canyon. My good lessons this week are my husband is my hero and comes to my rescue. Lily is still in good shape, eating better and gaining weight. Dogs are happy no matter what. The mantas' are laying their egg sacks for next spring to start the cycle all over again. And my gerber daisy is still blooming even tho it is cold. The boys are healthy and doing good in school and I did laugh this week.

Strange things on a ranch

It's Sunday evening and I have just had a massage. I feel good. As I was wandering and working around the ranch the other day, I thought of the things a "city folk" might think as strange to see. Warning the following pictures may cause you to say "ewwww". Now I don't mind any of this at all. To me it's perfectly normal to see a spider, or a pig or even some kind of excrement. It's just on a ranch, you know, there are animals that, how shall I put this.....shit everywhere. And if they aren't pooping then they are breeding. And of course you can't have just little spiders, you have to have BIG CRAB LIKE SPIDERS. So the pictures attached are 2 piglets humping. The spotted little fellow is the same pig grown up with big boar balls. The spider is one of many crawling around. They won't hurt ya! And the poop on the fence is actually from a raccoon that was climbing over the fence and thought he would relieve himself half way over. I love my life and wouldn't trade it for a million bucks. And if you ask my sister she will tell you that I always wanted to live on a ranch. And Rebecca ( Barb's friend) I love it and hope you will too!

Bad Camouflage Job

It ain't easy being a pansy on the lam.

Yard Art

It's Tuesday morning, and I was thinking that a garden isn't garden unless it has character. You could have nothing else but the most beautiful roses in world in every different color but that sounds like something the "Queen" would have. So to cause a little excitement we have added an assortment of eye catching, not so expensive, silly things.