I'm ready for Spring! NOW!

Even tho it has really been a mild winter, I am more than ready for Spring. I've already ordered my garden seeds and still want to order a couple of apple trees and a peach tree so the rabbits will have something to eat later in the year, ha ha.
We woke up this morning to snow on the ground but it has mostly melted now. We've had some cold nights, down to 8 below 0, our pipes froze for a couple of days, the barrels at the corners of the house that catch rainwater pretty much froze solid. Sounds like a great time to hunker down in my craft room.

So I made this 3-D cowboy boot the other day. Doesn't it just fit in with living at the ranch? I had to figure out how to put it together without any instructions. The top half of the boot came in 9 pieces which were numbered so that helped. It took about 3 hours to cut it out and glue it together. Wish there was a pattern for a spur to add on to the back.

Then I made this wanted poster for our grandson, Parker. I will send it to him in the next couple of days. I sure do love my craft room.
The community well is now pumping water!!! The guys have a couple of things to do to finish it, like put up the fence and weld a cover over the lock to keep people from cutting the lock off. Of course the weather got too cold for them to finish. One day on the way home, Pa saw a herd of wild goats! We think they are feral goats. The guy down the road from us, about 9 miles saw a cougar and our resident wolf. He has small kids so I hope the cougar stays away.
All of a sudden, we've been invaded by mice! We caught three of them just last week. Tilly has been going nuts trying to get in the kitchen drawers, under the stove, and in the closet. The other night I pulled all the drawers out of one cabinet and she crawled in there trying to find a mouse. I was worried she'd get stuck in there and we'd have to tear out half the cabinets to free her. To keep her interested, I let her "catch" the mice in the pantry. She was so proud of herself, parading around with a mouse and trap in her mouth.

 She insisted there was a mouse in the guest closet so I opened the door and removed some boxes of books so she could hunt. She didn't find anything but was sure there was one in this box of books. She was digging and books were flying.

 "Where are those suckers!"

Jaz and Harley were supervising. I ended up taking out all the books so she could see there was nothing there.
This morning there was a rabbit in the garden so I let her chase it down. She proudly brought it in the house to show the other dogs. I hated to take it away from her but I didn't want her to eat it and get sick so I threw it outside for the other critters to eat. We don't know why she is such a hunter when the other dogs aren't but we want to encourage her to keep it up.
Other than that, not much else to report.

Potata Frittata

We've been experiencing extremely cold weather lately....like lows of minus 8 and minus 6 degrees with highs of 25 or so. To me it seems like forever for the house to warm up. One day I baked a cake and all of a sudden the house was nice and toasty. An Aha moment! I couldn't seem to get warm this morning so I decided to turn the oven on and make a Potato-Cheese-Egg Frittata. Not that Pa would ever eat it. He's currently at the well, slaving away. I took a pound of frozen hash browns, defrosted them and patted them dry. Browned some onion and green pepper, diced. Took them out of the pan and browned the hash browns. Mixed up 6 eggs with some water, added the onion and green pepper and cheddar cheese and poured them over the hash browns. Popped it into a 350 degree oven and baked till a knife came out clean. I could have used more salt but just added it when I ate it. So yummy! Frittatas are supposed to be cooked on top of the stove but I like my eggs DONE and didn't want to babysit them so the oven worked really great. You can freeze the left overs and heat them up in the microwave whenever you get hungry. But back to my point. The house was 53 degrees when Pa got up and it is now 74 in here.  And lucky us, the weather is warming up to the 40's today.

For the first time ever....ok for the first time in 2 years....we had no water for 2 days. Yep, frozen pipe. Poor Pa spent all day Tuesday trying to figure out where it was frozen. Boy, it was so cold that day too. My BFF Katie was working in Saint Johns on Tuesday and Wednesday so spent Tuesday night at our house so she didn't have to drive back and forth to Holbrook. I had to break the bad news that we would have no water for showers but pioneer that she is, she didn't bat an eyelash and toughed it out with us. Pa brought in some water from the rain water storage tank so we could flush the toilet and we had 3 gallons of drinking water to drink, brush our teeth and wash our face. Pa worked all morning on Wednesday and finally figured out where the pipe was frozen. The only 2 inch section that was close to the ground and had no insulation, close to the water tank. The ground was frozen so he had to use a pick and then put heat lamps on the pipe and viola! water at 2pm.  Our hot showers felt so fantastic that night. I didn't realize how often I wash my hands thru out the day until we didn't have water. I'm not compulsive or anything but everything out here is covered in dust or ashes from the wood stove so hands do get dirty.

Pa bought some Aspen logs to cut up for the wood stove. We are really disappointed in how it burns and heats. We are just about out of juniper. We will probably cut more this weekend if Pa can get the chain saw to work for more than 5 minutes. He gets it started, cuts a few pieces and it floods and dies. He's done all sorts of research to see what to do about it but can't find any answers.

My mom's birthday is this month. I usually get her flowers but wanted something to last for awhile. I found this idea on Pinterest and made this for my mom. I made the whole thing myself including the lined paper in the middle. It is divided up into 12 months with a page for each week. When something wonderful or noteworthy happens or a prayer is answered, she can jot it down in the journal and at the end of the year she can read back thru it and count her blessings. If she doesn't want to do that, she can write her grocery list on it. It was a lot of work but worth it. Katie made herself a memory jar which is the same thing. You can see it here: http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com/2013/01/makn-memories-happen.html
She's taking orders if anyone is interested.

Last time I was at the Goodwill Weigh and Pay in Flagstaff I found these hair rollers.

The heating element doesn't get very hot so I've been using just the rollers. So tell me what ya think?

 This is Stella from Bugaboo Stamps.

This is me from Hell n Gone Ranch. Do you see a resemblance here? I usually don't look so somber but wanted to see how I compared to Stella. I think I've found my long lost sister!!!  ( I hate, hate, hate having my picture taken!!!!)

Did I share this card I made? I made it a month or so ago. I'm thinking about making 5 or 6 different themed  cards and putting them in a holder and seeing if I can sell some of them. I made a real pretty sympathy card the other day but haven't taken pictures of it yet.

Tilly slayed another rabbit in the garden this past week. Wednesday morning she went berserk and tried to claw her way into the pantry. When I opened the door I found a mouse that had just snapped the mouse trap. Meanwhile, Tilly was tearing thru the pantry, knocking over things trying to find the mouse I was holding in my hand (via the mouse trap). I couldn't get her attention so threw it down so she could "kill" it. She was so proud of herself. When she killed the rabbit, I let her carry it into the house and parade it around in front of the other dogs. We had quite a tug of war when I tried to get it so I could throw it out for the critters to feast on. This table is her favorite piece of furniture. It's perfect for her to sit on to look outside which she does for hours. She also uses it to watch tv and to nap on.

I sure hope Pa and Wayne get a lot done on the well so it can finally be finished. Pa said he will never volunteer to do another project for our Property Owners Association, especially for free. Like I've said before, it would have been done months ago if the officers of the board would have kept their noses out of it and let the guys do what they know how to do. I don't think the officers could find their way out of a wet paper bag without directions. That is, if they could read the directions. It wouldn't bother us at all if we just got rid of the POA all together. We aren't the only ones who live out here that  feel that way .

Well, I guess I'll go out and enjoy our "warm" weather.......

Happy New Year a little late

My brother -in-law informed Pa that I have been a bad blogger lately. Soooooo I guess I will prattle on and get you caught up with goings on at Hell n Gone Ranch. Not much, ok so good by for now!

Ok, just kidding. Not too much goes on in the winter here as we hunker down, waiting for Spring. It really hasn't been a bad winter if you don't mind the morning temps at 4-8 degrees. That doesn't stop me from running around outside in my pj's and Croc's getting wheel barrows full of wood for the stove.

We had such a lovely Christmas day. I decided to make it easy on myself and had a cold dinner for our guests. I made potato salad, deviled eggs, bought two pies, had various breads and cheeses and spiral sliced ham, jello salad and appetizers. Wayne, Tom and Nancy and Don came over and spent the day. Gifts were exchanged. I made Nancy two charger plates with Santa on one and a snowman on the other in vinyl and forgot to take pictures of them. As a matter of fact, I was having such a great time,I forgot to take pictures of anything on Christmas day.

New Years Day was just another day. I got engrossed with the internet and forgot to watch the Rose Parade for the second time. We were in bed and sawing logs by 10 on New Year's Eve. Yes, we are such party animals.

We've had a bit of snow since my last post. I am tired of taking pictures out the front and back windows so decided to take a walk in the new snow. Here are some coyote tracks. They love to hunt after a snow. I think they can hunt quieter and see the bunnies easier in the snow.

 We got about three inches of the stuff. Since I don't have to go out in it unless I want to, I don't mind the snow at all. After living in Illinois for 15 years and surviving the winter of "78, I swore I would never live anywhere near snow ever again. It's amazing how retirement changes your mind about things.

 Coyotes are coming closer and closer to our house to hunt. As long as they leave the dogs alone, we will leave them alone. This one was in the back yard.

 These are in the front yard. They really are pretty.

 I stood at the top of our road and took a picture looking down one length of our property. With no tire tracks, doesn't it look isolated?

I haven't done much crafting lately. I just can't get inspired!

 Here is a card I made for my brother-in-law. It is a pop up card. I used vinyl for the notes

 Also used vinyl for the front decorations on the card. I was pleased with how it turned out.

 I made all our Christmas guests a stocking and filled it with candy.

This was made for my BFF Katie. Her birthday was Sunday. We went to Flag last Thursday and had a blast. I don't know which store I like best, Saver's or the Goodwill Weigh and Pay. I found lots of goodies at each one. Too much to mention here.

Pa and I went to Show Low a couple weeks ago and shopped at Lowe's. The next Friday, this arrived.

 Yes, yes, yes!!! Finally a big fridge. It is a Samsung French Door 26 CU. I swear, if we have too many guests, one of them can spend the night in here. Even Pa was getting tired of rummaging around in our old fridge trying to find something. Believe me, if he wasn't unhappy with the old fridge, he would never have consented to buying a new one.

Look at all that room!!!! Which shelf would you like us to reserve for your next visit? Pillows and blankets will be provided. Now we have to find someone to buy our old fridge. If you hear of anyone, have them give us a call. It's only been used for 2 years and would be perfect for someone who can shop once a week instead of once a month.

Pa , Wayne, and Tom worked on the community well yesterday. They got the new pipe and pump installed. Today they are going to wire it up. Then they will have to install the solar panels and everything should be ready to go. We will be so glad when this project is over. It has been dragging on for months. Not their fault tho.
Ok, brother- in- law, I'm all caught up for now. Stay tuned for the next "exciting" episode.
P.S. Pa actually saw a wolf, yes, a real wolf less than a mile from the house. How's that for excitement?