Well, it's been awhile. So much has been happening around here, all good in my opinion. First, we had some family members move in with us so they could get a second start at life. Life hadn't been too kind to them in their previous town. They couldn't find jobs in a huge metropolitan city but found jobs in Show Low the first week. Go figure! They stayed with us a month, driving back and forth to Show Low in my truck. I sure did miss my truck even tho I rarely go anywhere. Thanks to the kindness of other family members, they were able to get their own place in Show Low about 2 miles from work. They will have to walk until they can afford a car but they are young so I don't think the walking will hurt them. I'm not too comfortable with them walking home at midnight but that's where God comes in with his angels protecting them. I really enjoyed having them around. Someone to talk to and play Scrabble and Sequence with. One of our neighbors gave them a bed and will give them a sofa and recliner when we can get over there to pick it up. Wow, God is so awesome, He had everything fall into place at just the right times.
Then this little girl showed up on our door step. She was such a cutie and there was no way she could have arrived here unless someone dumped her. She was so thirsty, she drank 4 cereal bowls of water in a couple of hours and ate a huge amount of dog food. Her body was long like a weiner dog, her markings were like a border collie and her face had wired hair. Such a mix! She got along with our dogs and of course I wanted to keep her but Mr. Grumpy.... I mean Pa said no. We had to go to Phoenix for the day right after her arrival so I asked Tom if he could keep her for a couple of days (hoping he would fall in love with her and keep her). She got along with his dog, Max so I kept my finger's crossed. No, Tom didn't want her and no matter how much I asked, Pa kept saying no. I listed her on Craig's List and someone from Eager wanted her. They had a dog about the same age with opposite coloring they had adopted a couple of months ago. After they saw her, they thought the dogs might be sisters. I had named her Sadie and their dog's name was Callie so it was a match made in heaven.
The first weekend in May, my daughter and her family came for the weekend. She'd visited before but not her daughter and husband. We had fun showing them around the ranch. They are city folk so I don't think we will be having them for neighbors. Which is good! I have a free place to stay when I go to Vegas.
We went out to a secluded place and did some target practice. I finally got to shoot my Ruger 38 special. I had no idea it would kick so much and my thumb felt dislocated for a couple of days. We forgot targets so I have no idea if I even hit anything. Well, I did hit the dirt, does that count?
Here's Cathy, AKA Rambo
and here's Sarah, AKA Rambette
My mutant tomato ripened on the vine in the kitchen window.
We are going to eat it tonight. My entire kitchen table is covered with seedlings. We have to eat in the dining room right now. I've already planted Ozark Beauty strawberries, onions, garlic, broccoli, carrots, and bell and mini bell peppers. The broccoli and peppers are transplants. I saved the seeds from some mini bell peppers from the store and they took off like crazy. Just like the mutant tomato seeds. It will be interesting to see what kind of crop I will have. We've harvested some of our asparagus but don't get enough for a meal. Guess I'll have to plant more next year. I've decided I will have to enlarge the garden another 4 feet wide. In it's present size we aren't getting enough to put away for the winter. Tom's is about the same size as ours and he doesn't get enough for himself. He keeps trying to grow corn and usually has 4 or 5 plots of them. The size of the corn is about 3 inches. It takes too much water to grow and the results aren't that great so I've given up on growing corn. I still have to plant spinach, lettuce, kale, green beans, okra, cukes, cantelope, squash and tomatoes. Just need to wait till mid may and hope we don't get a freeze.
We woke up this morning (thank God) and it was sprinkling. Our weather is bouncing back and forth between cold and warm. We actually got up to 80 one day and yesterday and this morning we had to light a fire in the wood stove. I'm behind on the laundry because our spring winds arrived late and I don't want to get the clothes full of sand while hanging out on the line. I only use the dryer when it is raining.
Gosh, I'm sure a lot more has happened since my last post but I don't keep notes and due to old age, have forgotten most of it. I'll leave you with a picture of my hedgehog cactus in bloom.
Until next time!
