The Storm of 2013

Our friend Wayne had a birthday this month so we invited him over for dinner to celebrate. I baked a cake and made "Mama Linda's Famous Tacos". I was going to fix steak but Wayne has that quite often so he really appreciated tacos. I bought him a gag gift and put it in a cracker box. He had a good time especially since he has no one to celebrate special days with. I really feel sorry for our bachelor friends so try to do something special for them on their birthdays or holidays.

My killer dog, Tilly has killed 9 rabbits so far this month. I don't even have to be in the same room with her to know that a bunny is in the garden. She has a different bark/whine for when they are just running around in the yard and when they are in the garden.

 After she catches it I let her bring the bunny in the house if it's not bleeding. She parades it around in front of the other dogs and growls to keep them away.

She's not the least bit interested in eating the bunnies she catches. She'll carry them around for awhile and then we play tug of war so I can throw them outside where the ravens eat them. Nine rabbits won't make much difference to the garden in the summer but at least we can keep the count down a bit.

This is a new bird coming to our birdbath. Have no idea what it is but it has long legs. We have a whole flock of them hanging around.

 We were expecting a winter storm yesterday. It was supposed to get here in the morning but didn't arrive until 4:30 in the afternoon. The wind was blowing like crazy so we had white out conditions. Luckily we prepared and had wood stacked up by the front door and Pa went to the well and got water.

 We really couldn't tell how much we got because there were patches of no snow and snow drifts to about 12 inches.

 Our neighbors came over to hunt this morning. You could see rabbits scattering everywhere. It's too bad they didn't come across the rabbit I threw out this morning. They don't seem to be very smart when it comes to hunting. They trot along with some distance between them hoping to flush out a rabbit.

 They must be eating well tho because they have beautiful coats and look very healthy.

 "Yo, Bro! Do ya see anything?"

 It is still gently snowing but I don't care cause I'm snug as a bug in a rug. After living 15 years in Illinois and surviving the winter of "78, I thought I'd never want to see snow again. Sure does make a big difference when ya don't have to go out in it. After 30 years living in Vegas, it's a nice change. I got so tired of seeing everything in different shades of brown in Vegas. Here, we have the trees that are green and in summer we get grass that is sometimes green and all sorts of wild flowers depending on the rain.

 Pa hates being cooped up in the house all day so he is anxious for the snow to go away. It sure would help if he had a hobby or at least would play a couple rounds of Scrabble with me. I have no one to play Scrabble with and my digital disk of Scrabble quit working. I set up my old computer and it has a game called Acropolis on it which is a word game so I enjoy playing it. I can't get past level 10 tho so I set up another player and am still stuck on level 10!

 When the sun comes out, the snow will be gone in no time except for in the front of the house where it is shady most of the day.

 The three stooges don't seem to mind the snow but they don't stay out in it long.

 More snowy scenes for your viewing pleasure. On the news last night, they said even Phoenix got snow. Show Low got a lot more snow than we did. And Flagstaff got even more.

I made Apple Crisp yesterday and Pa is supposed to make a chocolate meringue pie today if he ever gets inspired. He makes the best chocolate meringue pie! It's all from scratch too. He made dinner last night. It's a recipe he used to make when he went hunting. He calls it stuff and I call it hunter's stew. Every thing comes out of a can except for the hamburger and it is very warming and delicious with corn bread on the side. Gosh, that sounds so good I might go have some for lunch! 

Spring Ain't Comin' Anytime Soon!

Just when you get a hint of Spring. POW! Right in the kisser! We had rain one night last week and woke up to this the next morning.

Helloooooo! Is anyone out there? This is only the second time we've had fog at the ranch.

It actually lasted for a couple of hours. It smelled a lot like Oregon out side, damp, woodsy. I loved it.

A good day to stay inside and read. Speaking of reading, I just read a book (yes, I can read and quite well, thank you) . It is titled THE GOLD OF EXODUS by Howard Blum. It's a true story of two guys who use the Bible to find the true Mount Sinai. I couldn't bare to put it down. The place where all the tourists visit isn't the real site of Mt. Sinai. At one point they used satellite pictures and had them analyzed and they could see a wide path going into the Red Sea and coming out the other side in Saudi Arabia and going into the desert. They had to sneak into a secret Saudi military base where they found the boundry stones around a mountain, they found the twelve pillars talked about in the Old Testament and the real Mt. Sinai's peak is black like it was burned in a fire. Plus some other things mentioned in the Bible. It was a fascinating read. It was written in 1998 and said a movie was being made. I searched on line and couldn't find the movie so I e-mailed the author to see if it had been made with a different title. Within an hour, Mr. Blum e-mailed me back saying authors work faster than producers but the movie is still supposed to be made. I was really surprised to hear from the author. I thought my e-mail would go straight to the round file. Thank you Mr. Blum!

We're still loving the visit from the local birds. Lots of Robins, Bluebirds and a Red Shafted Flicker. The little house Finches are back, can Spring be far behind?

 Isn't he pretty? He has perfect little circles on his breast.

 When he flies away you can see the red shafts of his feathers. They are quite large, bigger than a Robin.

 Robins and Bluebirds

 Bluebirds and Robins

"You lookin' at me?"

This morning we woke up to a mini blizzard. The snow was coming in sideways thanks to the wind. It was windy all day yesterday and all day today. We actually got a quarter inch of snow but it blew into the next county and didn't stay on the ground long. We went from a high of 60 yesterday to a high of 38 today. I played in my craft room and made cards. What would I do without my craft room! I practically live in here.

Here one minute and gone the next.

This is how Jaz spent the day. Pa doesn't have any hobbies so he doesn't like days when you have to stay inside. On nice days he is piddling in his workshop/storage container. The well is all done so he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. We actually went to the community well and filled up our 250 gallon tote the other day. Anyway, Pa decided to go to Saint Johns to buy some milk and while he was there, he picked up some green beans,pink grapefruit and two roasts. That took him a couple of hours so it gave him something to do. I just don't understand people who have no hobbies. I have so many, I can't do them all! And there are so many more I want to try! So many hobbies and so little time!!! And so little cash! That's always a bummer.

A lady from Reserve, New Mexico called and said she wanted to buy the old fridge and was sending her brother in law to buy it. Pa met the guy at the highway to show him how to get to the house. Just a mile from our place, Pa looked in the rear view mirror and the guy was doing a U-turn!!!! The lady called and said he just didn't feel comfortable out here. He must be a sissy boy city boy. Darn it, I had that money spent already on a new water pump for the house so we would have a back up. So the old fridge is still sitting in the kitchen taking up room. I just wish someone would buy it.
I've done run out of things to say so see ya next time!