An Ode to Miss Kitty

 "Love to eat them mousies,
Mousies what I love to eat.
Bite they little heads off,
Nibble on they tiny feet"
by Kliban
Pa found what was left of Miss Kitty not too far from the house. There was just a digested ball of fur. So now we know a coyote got her because it was next to a coyote poo. I hope her tick and flea collar gave it a big belly ache. I almost would have preferred just thinking that a coyote got her, not that it actually happened that way. She was a good cat, more like a dog. I'll miss going on walks with her. Rest in peace, Miss Kitty.

 Here are the jars of stewed tomatoes  I made. Aren't they pretty? I froze a few more today and have less than a dozen green ones left.....Thank God!

 Here's Tilly. I thought this picture was so cute because she jumps on a table I left by the window just for her. She loves to look out side and rests her chin on the window sill while she is gazing around. Scouting for rabbits, no doubt.

 Here's our snake. Not the usual big one, this must be junior. Getting some last of the sun and warmth before winter sets in.

 Pa was poking at him so I could get a picture and he didn't like that one bit. He tried his best to hide in this tiny hole.

 He doesn't understand that we like him. At least until we get chickens. We may have a few words then. Daisy Mae couldn't figure out when she wasn't getting many eggs from her chickens until our neighbor Tom saw a raven fly out of her chicken house with an entire egg in it's bill.

 This is Jaz doing her favorite thing. She loves being covered with a blanket. I think she would have been a great child's dog who got dressed up in clothes. She's so patient.

 Well, don't over do it Jaz!

 Here's Maggie, doing her favorite thing. Don't these dogs ever work?

On Saturday, I went to Holbrook to meet my friend Katie. We went 7 or so miles on to Joseph City to a Stampin Up class. It ran from 1 to 4 pm. and we made two of each card. I had a great time and learned something new. I'm going to talk to the sales lady and see if she would do classes in Saint Johns. But I am willing to go back to Joseph City again.
OH! my one broccoli plant is putting out little shoots of broccoli . It doesn't seem to bother it getting frosted each night. It was 32 this morning so we had a little fire going in the wood stove. The house heats up pretty quick when the sun comes out so it doesn't take long to open a door or window.
Guess that catches us up for now!Stay tuned......

Hunkering down for the winter

Sunday and Monday of this week was sunny and clear and warm. Clouds and wind came in on Tuesday with some sprinkles. It has been raining off and on ever since. Pa has had to run the big generator every morning for an hour or so to charge up our battery bank. Now he is making me turn off my computer and printer every night. I almost didn't remember my pass word when I turned it back on!!!! I know it is good for the computer to reboot but I seldom do it.
With the weather being what it is, Pa has been reorganizing the semi trailer looking for various things. A good project for rainy, windy weather. He did find a box of books I've been pining for that we packed up 6 years ago. It's like Christmas morning when we find something we forgot we had. Since we replaced various things over the past 6 years, we should take our duplicates to the thrift store. Pa has a hard time letting go of things but he said he had a "few" things he could donate.
I've spent the past three days in my craft room working on a Christmas project for my grand daughter. I've run out of ink in my printer and don't want to go clear to Show Low to get a replacement cartridge. I need to get a printer where I can refill the cartridges myself. I used to do that when my Canon printer was working. Every year, I had to replace the print head which runs $80.00 but refilling the cartridges was cheap. I still have the Canon and am rethinking buying a new print head. What to do.......what to do!  HP has fixed their cartridges so it is next to impossible to refill them. I have had some success with the black one but the color one? Forget it! and that is the one I need to replace.
Remember the Desert Spiderwort plants I dug up and replanted in front of the house? The rabbits left them alone all summer but now have eaten them down to the ground. Guess they need to fatten themselves up for the winter. Around here you need to fence everything in with at least 2 feet high of fencing to keep the varmits out. But who wants fencing everywhere? I have milk crates protecting my lilac bushes from hungry teeth. In spite of their appetite, I still love watching the bunnies frolic in the yard. One of our resident snakes was outside yesterday morning. There was a few minutes of sun he wanted to take advantage of. I took some pictures and will post them next time. Until then!........

Tomatos everywhere!

 Sorry I've been MIA. I've had writers block or something. You can tell from the above picture, I'm not known for neatness or organization. It is almost impossible for me to keep counter tops clean. I am going to peel and freeze more tomatoes today while Pa is in Show Low getting his middle sized generator fixed.

 This is my bumper crop of sweet potatoes. Really not too bad for just rooting a store bought yam/sweet potato and breaking off the roots and planting them half way thru our growing season.

 Honestly, I have tomatoes everywhere in various stages of ripening.

 I didn't even take pictures of the ones in the motor home.

 I'm getting tired of tomatoes all over the kitchen.

 Pa asked me if I wanted a recipe to pickle green tomatoes. I don't like green tomatoes. It all goes back to my child hood when my mom made fried green tomatoes which reminded me of fried egg plant which I threw up right in my plate at the dinner table. Something about a gag response.

 Pa and I went exploring on a ridge by our house and came up with these goodies. Don't know what this is but I am fascinated that these objects were handled by someone 500 to 1000 years ago. The designs are so precise.

 I can't draw a straight line and yet these ancient people painted such beautiful designs with out a ruler or even a modern day paint brush. I don't know what they used for paint but it is still vibrant and beautiful.

I looked out the bedroom window this morning and saw this jet trail. My first thought was a plane had gone down but 20 minutes later it was still there and joined by other trails crisscrossing the sky. It was really beautiful.
Last week we met a lovely couple, Pam and Bob who own property at Sierra Highlands which is the big ranch next to Woodland Valley Ranch. We've been emailing each other and finally got to meet. We really liked them and are hoping they can sell their house and move out here soon. With neighbors far and few between, you need all the friends you can get and it is always nice to meet someone and connect with them. There are about 30 properties out here that have people living on them full time but we've only met four or so of them. Woodland Valley is so huge, we have no idea where the other people live. A lot of people move  here to be left alone so we may never meet them. It really takes a special type person to live out here. We all march to a different drummer and I'm sure some would find each person a bit peculiar. (Not me though! I'm as normal as can be!) You definitely have to like your own company since you may not see someone for a couple of weeks at a time, you can't be afraid to be alone, you can't be afraid of the quiet or the dark and you can't be afraid to use a gun if necessary. Oh, you can't be afraid of a little (lot) of sand and dirt since it is everywhere. I've had to give up on the idea of clean baseboards in the house unless I want to vacuum them a couple of times a day or more and dust is always on flat surfaces.
Miss Kitty has been missing for a couple of weeks now so I guess she's not coming back unless it is in the form of coyote poo. I'm hoping she wandered off to find a new home, the closest being the hated rancher. Even that would make me happy if she was treated well. I'm not sure we will get another cat next spring because since she has been gone, the dogs don't bark as much as they did when she was here. I enjoy the quiet. I very seldom have the radio on for background noise and never have the TV droning on to keep me company. Just peace and quiet, that's the life for me!

Still here!

We are still alive. Just haven't been doing much so keep checking back and I'll post some pictures of some goodies we found.

Company

 My Vegas daughter came for a four day visit. She drove alone all the way from Vegas with the help of her GPS. Of course once she hits the ranch road, her trusty GPS just shows an arrow and no roads. I met her at the entrance and led her to our house. One of the things we did was go exploring. I took her to one of my favorite places. Ya know I love rocks!

 Here she is! She likes the our place and the ranch in general but thinks it is too far out of town for her. I took her to another place where there are lots of pottery shards and we drove around so she could get the feel of the ranch. Then I took her on a mini water run to town so she could see how we do things out here in the sticks.

 In her honor, my inner domestic diva surfaced and I made a black berry pie and a peach pie. Who am I to think I'm a good cook? That kid could out cook me any day of the week. Before she left I made her husband a black berry pie so he wouldn't feel left out.

 Gosh, I sure do miss her!

 Here is some bounty from the garden. Daughter went home with tomatoes, green peppers and some squash. The weather is really getting cooler so I may have to harvest everything and let the tomatoes ripen inside the house. Really not enough room for all the tomatoes out on the vines.

 Pa ran out of cookies. I made four dozen for him and have only eaten half a dozen myself. Ugh, I have to get back on my diet.

 This was what greeted us on our way to Reserve, New Mexico yesterday. The weather gurus were predicting 90% chance of rain so Pa decided he wanted to go buy some firewood. The trip was beautiful, lots of mountains and pine trees. Reserve is maybe 60 miles from Springerville but since you have to drive thru mountains, it seems to take forever.

 We drove thru the remnants of the largest forest fire to ever hit Arizona. Right now it doesn't look so bad because the forest floor is green but of course it was devastating.

 Doesn't this look a bit like Oregon? Mountains and pine trees? It was so beautiful. I'm sure Pa got tired of me saying "How gorgeous, how beautiful! Look at those boulders! Isn't it pretty? I'm homesick for Oregon, How gorgeous, how beautiful" and on and on. He did take the time to stop at a look out so I could take some pictures.

 Here is Pa throwing wood into the back of the truck. Even tho I stopped to take pictures, I did my fair share of work. Not too bad for two old people! We got almost 2 cords of wood.

 We had to turn the trailer hitch upside down to make the truck a little higher in the back.

 Loaded and already to go.

 Look at all the pine trees! It was so beautiful. I took this picture out of the moving truck thru the front windshield.

As we were coming back, it started to rain. We were a bit concerned about the roads at the ranch but we made it ok. The extra weight in the truck helped a lot. There was some slipping and sliding. It was so chilly in the house, we built our first fire of the season. It was so comfy. What is it about a fire to make it so homey? Now I get to spend the rest of the year emptying the darned thing out!!!  Apparently that is in my job description.
Today it still looks like we will get more rain. Hopefully it will hold off till we get the truck and trailer unloaded.  And the guest room is empty once again, so who is next? Get your reservations in quick!