Exploring part two

 My sun flower. Isn't it pretty? It just makes me happy to look at it. I planted more than one but this is the only one that survived.

 One of our resident snakes shed his skin.

 Miss Kitty didn't quite know what to make of it.

 Here's the sunflower poking his head above the corn. Speaking of corn, we harvested 5 ears and had them for dinner the other night. I have corn worms so I cut out the part they munched on and we munched on the rest. I don't know whether to just let the corn grow or pull it all up to get rid of the corn worms.

 I found these yellow wild daises in the wash and transplanted them in front of our house. They have very shallow roots and didn't even realize they had been transplanted. I may get more of them. I kind of wanted to put in some kind of flower bed before putting in flowers but that idea got put on hold.

 On Sunday we grabbed Tom and took him exploring. This is on the north side of the ranch. Actually we were in Sierra Highlands which is the next big ranch next to Woodland Valley Ranch where we live.

 "On a Clear Day" you can see forever. We were up on a mesa looking down.

 This is Max, Tom's dog. He is part Lab and maybe Australian Shepherd? His coloring is so unusual. When he was a puppy, I kept threatening to steal him because he was so darned cute. Tom had done a wonderful job training him to obey. Maybe I should send my dogs over so he can train them.

 I love rock formations of any kind.

 Isn't it amazing how flowers can grow just about anywhere? Look at how cracked the ground is from being so dry.

 We took Tom over to where there is a bunch of black petrified wood. It is only at one place in the area and only concentrated around a red hill. Very unusual.

 The wood is so well petrified that you can see the bark pattern and where the knots are from branches.

 From the formation, you can tell that this is petrified juniper. It looks just like some of the live juniper growing on our property.

 This is a tree stump. It has been polished by wind and rain for centuries.

 Is it possible that this live tree is related to the petrified tree sitting next to it?  A great, great, great, great, great, great grandchild?

 Love this cloud formation. Ok, so I love rocks and clouds, get over it.

 An old cattle chute leading nowhere. I bet is it at least 100 years old.

 Tom had to climb over to get a closer look at the cattle chute. Be careful there Tom! Lives are at stake!

 Well look! There's an old bull peaking at us. Maybe that chute isn't as old as we thought.,

 This beautiful home has been sitting here for years. It has never been finished and no one has ever lived in it. A lady, her mother and daughter were going to live here. She bought a log cabin kit and hired someone to put it together. The idiot put it together wrong. Apparently, he couldn't read directions. We don't know the entire story but it is for sale now. The views are wonderful, the septic tank is in so all it needs is some TLC and some finishing inside and it could be a beautiful home for someone. It isn't far from the main road so it would be easy to get to in bad weather.

This big guy was sitting in the road on the way home from exploring. We didn't want anyone to run over him so Tom got the shovel and moved him into the brush , off the road. Oh mercy, as we were driving down the road towards home, some city slicker had pitched his tent not 10 feet off the road. I was so worried someone would swerve off the road at night and take the whole family out. I don't know what they could have been thinking! We thought they had broken down or something but they said they were fine.
Daisy Mae had a bunch of us over for dinner last night. I made my famous baked beans which were a hit. Daisy Mae made homemade chocolate lava cake. Words can't describe how delicious it was. Just thinking of it right now makes my mouth water like I'm a slobbering dog. We are so blessed to have made such good friends out here. Daisy Mae, Lil Abner, Tom, Don and Nancy. We all look out for each other and know that help is only phone call away. Don said he would give me shooting lessons so I am more familiar with my gun in case of an emergency. He's a retired LA cop so he knows his guns. He says I need to practice enough to have muscle memory and everything will come to me automatically. I'm really looking forward to that. I love to shoot.
That catches us up for now! Hey, where are all you people who promised to come for a visit when we got settled? We are settled so call now and make your reservations for the guest bedroom. We'll keep a light on!