Not much going on

 Since it has been raining, I've made a couple of things to keep me busy since I am out of reading material. The topiary took oodles of cardstock to make the 38 flowers. I had no long stick pins with pearl heads on them to stick the flowers on so went to Pa's shop and found some 2 1/2 finishing nails. I glued half pearls on them and attached the flowers to the styrofoam ball. I sprayed the flowers with glitter spray for a finishing touch. I really liked how it turned out.

The piano is actually a box. Took me all day to make it since I had so much trouble with it. First of all, I had no 12x 12 black cardstock on hand. I found some at Walmart when we went shopping last week. It was nothing but crap! So I threw everything I cut out away. I had some good quality 8 1/2 x11 and after looking at the cutting pattern discovered only the piece that surrounds the top of the piano needed something larger than what I had on hand. I put the piece on my virtual mat on my Cameo, cut it in half, made a tab and welded it on one piece, cut it out and glued the two pieces together. Turned out just great!
    We've had so much rain, that Pa has collected close to 2000 gallons of water for our garden tank. That was just from two rain storms. The weather has cooled down a lot which makes my body feel better. The garden is loving the rain and the tomato plants are getting huge. Unfortunately for some reason, there are no tomatoes. Lots of blossoms. Probably due to not much flying around to pollinate them. We do have lots of lady bugs this year and not too many potato beetles which love tomato plants. We've also seen little ants crawling around on the squash and I have a yellow squash almost ready to pick. I can hardly wait.
    We had a nice visit with some new friends who have property at Sierra Highlands. They came over for a couple of hours, first time we've met in person. They were so nice! Unfortunately, they can't move until they retire in 9 years. I guess I'm destined to have no close girlfriends who live nearby. Two friends are 60 miles away in Holbrook and one is 60 miles away in Show Low!
   My grandson might be moving in with us until he can get on his feet. His mom and stepdad are kicking him out of the house this weekend. He just graduated from high school, has no car, no driver's license and no job. He's been searching every where for a job. His stepdad can't even find a job so I don't know what they expect. It breaks my heart that they are treating him this way. He is a good kid, not into drugs or anything bad. I told him I would find a way to get him here by bus or something. I'm so upset with my daughter. She had better be prepared for him to move out and never hear from him again. Can you imagine how unloved and unwanted he feels? It will probably damage him for life.

 We had a new visitor to the bird feeder. No idea what it is but it likes sweet water!

 Just in the past couple of days, our feeder has attracted around 15 hummingbirds. They didn't appreciate the new visitor.

My windows, as usual, are dirty thanks to Tilly's nose prints. We won't mention the dirt on the outside of the windows. As soon as the monsoon season is over, I'll wash the outside. I haven't washed the outside since we moved in. Hey, I never said I was Ms. Housekeeper of the world. It won't last long with all the dust and sand blowing around anyway.

Since our little ranch fire, I decided to take pictures of all our stuff in the house so I'd have a record for the insurance company. I can't imagine anyone believing all the stuff  I'd have to claim just in my craft room alone. I have a few more to take and then I'll burn a copy and send it to my daughter in Vegas for safe keeping.

At the end of our fence line, Pa piled a bunch of tree branches to close the gap between the fence and the state land fence. Of course, the needles from the juniper trees broke down and made the brush fence lower. A cow and her calf jumped the barrier and were munching to their hearts content in the front yard. Pa and I rounded them up and herded them thru the front gate and down the road. I told Pa that we needed to check the fence line to see where they got in. I had no idea Pa had just piled brush up for a fence. Lo and behold, the cows just jumped over the brush and got back in. They were in the back part of the property. Took us forever to find them again. I was using the grannie mobile and Pa was on foot. We finally found them and I herded them off the property with the grannie mobile. This time I got them going in the other direction and down the road. That mama cow was so pissed that I wouldn't leave them alone. Fortunately, I stayed on her heels and got her to move on to greener pastures.  Pa piled more branches across the gap. We discovered the next day that they ate part of my apple tree. Dang their hides!!!  The other morning I woke up around 4:30 and heard this weird growling sound. I looked out all the windows and back door and couldn't see anything. It kinda creeped me out!  I heard it again the next day and discovered a bull wandering down the road.....growling. I had no idea they made a noise like that. Learn something new every day!

Rain, Glorious Rain!!!

Yesterday we had our first real rain storm. We went grocery shopping in Show Low in the morning and then had a visit with our friends who had just moved into their new home in Show Low. Show Low is surrounded by forest and right off one of the main roads, you wander thru the roads and forest to find their home. It is so beautiful, home and forest alike. From their backyard deck, all you can see is forest. Simply breath taking. You feel like you are in Oregon. We had a rain shower when we were there. Unfortunately, when we got home, not a drop of rain was to be found. We unloaded the truck, opened up all the windows in the house and started putting the groceries away. All of a sudden, it started to downpour! We ran around shutting the windows on the front side of the house, closed both front and back door. I forgot about my craft room, oops! The carpet got wet and so did some of my scrap paper/cardstock. The leftovers from projects so no loss there really and I think most of it is fine. We got 3/4 of an inch in the rain gauge and 1000 gallons of water off the roof in 30 minutes. Pa is in the process of transferring everything into the big rainwater tank which holds about 3000 gallons. What a blessing the rain is. Everything is so dry here. My garden was under water for a short while but this morning, the water has soaked in and every thing looks so happy. My body is so happy too. The hot weather really is hard on me so when it is cool, it feels alive and so much better. I feel like jogging for a million miles but can't because of my knee.

 We have a new young snake prowling the property. It was about three feet long and as big around as a pencil.

 They are so pretty!

 When we got home yesterday as I was opening the gate, I saw a chipmunk or ground squirrel running across the driveway. First time we've seen one on the property. I wonder if it was here and eating my garden last year. Hopefully, our snakes will get it.

One of my favorite online stores, SVGcuts.com offered their customers a gift certificate to their store if you would submit your version of one of their purse files. They gave us the file for free. I used some old fashioned print cardstock and ran the front panels thru my Cuttlebug machine and glued some pearls onto the front panel. Instead of a paper handle, I used some chain I had laying around. People submitted some stunning purses. If you have a Facebook account, you can see them.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152045461652067&set=a.10152045458382067.1073741856.109879932066&type=1&theater

With so much rain, we won't be leaving the ranch anytime soon until the roads dry out. Where we live, you can get out most of the time after a rain except for a quarter mile spot where it is slimy clay. We've asked over and over for the POA to put some gravel down there but that request has fallen on deaf ears. UPS and FED-Ex will not deliver here when the roads are bad but they will meet you down by the highway.
40% chance of rain all day so I'll spend it playing in my craft room. I want to do laundry but won't because I hang everything out side to dry.

That catches us up for now. I found a bloom on my green beans!!! My grape tomatoes have about three baby tomatoes on them.

Windy, What else is new?

Hello friends and family!
  Remember when I was whining about the spring winds? Now that the weather has gotten hot, I'm not complaining anymore. It helps keep the house cool, especially now that we have a security screen on the back door. The breeze/wind can blow right thru the house. Who cares about dust and sand? Who cares if it feels like you are walking on the beach in the kitchen. That's what they make brooms for, right?
   Pa wasn't happy about it, but I did not attend the annual POA meeting. Why sit there having steam come out my ears, blood pressure going high enough to blow my eyeballs out listening to the lies put forth by our POA president? They allowed voting by emailing your ballot in and then didn't let anyone see the emailed ballots, just said they'd already been counted. They allowed proxy votes even tho they are illegal in Arizona. The state legislature let the bill allowing HOA/POA's to vote by email die and didn't vote on it so I guess emailed votes are illegal also. No one saw the proxy votes either. But those in the know, know that the POA prez, stuffed the ballot box with proxy votes to get his "yes" men on the board so they will do what he wants. They are talking about forming all sorts of committees to make sure we are all towing the mark and seeing what else they can make us do. One of the reasons people bought out here was because the CC&R's were so easy to abide by. There were some very unhappy people at the meeting.
   An interesting thing happened to one of the new property owners out here. They were driving down the road in their truck, minding their own business when the Rodeo Queen (rancher's wife) pulled them over and told them they had better keep their dog on a chain or she would kill it. She was armed with a shot gun or rifle. A big argument began with her threatening the property owner . He complained to the sheriff's department but they didn't file a report. Then he went to the judge and tried to get a restraining order against her and the judge refused to do it (being a friend of their family). He told the property owner never to leave his property without a gun. What kind of a judge is that? Then he called the real estate office and told him he wanted his money back and they wouldn't do anything either.
    Some days later, one of the board officers saw the Rodeo Queen riding around with a rifle and he asked her what she was doing and she said "Hunting dogs"!  He either went to or called  the sheriff's office since it is illegal to shoot out here and they didn't do anything either. Both these people need to file a complaint with the AZ attorney general. As you can see, it is still the Wild West out here.
   My dear friend, Todd, sent me some iron on vinyl to try. Today I cut out some dragonflies and ironed them on to a new t-shirt. It seems pretty easy to do. He may have created a monster and I may need to buy a heat press!

So, what do you think? too many dragonflies? Too late now, cause they are on to stay. He also sent me some outside vinyl so I made a sign for the gate.

I should have made the NO Trespassing sign larger and put it on straighter. I really like the little guy with a gun tho.
  Lo and behold! Wayne met a lady and is now living with her on her ranch closer to Holbrook. Good for him! I thought it would be next to impossible to meet some one out here who was still free for the taking. He seems to be pretty happy so we are happy for him.
Toodles for now!

My Stunted Garden

 My first strawberries! They were so tasty. Can't wait till more ripen.

 This is one of my garden boxes with different things in it. It started out with only strawberries and onions in it, wintered over from last year. A bunch of the onions died and I didn't want to take a chance replanting the berries so I left things where they were and planted lettuce, brocolli, dill, and cabbage (I think) in all the empty spaces. You notice the milk cartons. This is the way you have to plant in Northern Arizona to protect the plants from the wind and sun.

 The milk cartons not only make little green houses, they also give the plants shade. When the plants are strong enough and big enough that the birds and mice will leave them alone, the cartons will come off for the summer.

 I cover the tomatoes up every night but leave them uncovered during the day.

 I made these tomato cages last year using hog wire and compactor trash bags. The trash bags are so darned sturdy, they last for a couple of years. This not only gives the plant shade but keeps the ground moist after watering. I need to get some sturdy tomato cages pretty soon. The plants surrounded with the trash bags seem to grow faster than those left unprotected.

 Sweet taters! We never get many but they sure do taste good.

Looking down into a tomato cage

 If I remember correctly, these are cantaloupes. Ya have to replant so many times, ya forget what went where. I'm not a good one for taking detailed notes unlike our neighbor Tom who takes notes on everything. He can tell you what the temperature was 4 years ago!

 These are early girl tomatoes. I have these, Mortgage Lifter, Pruden's Purple and grape tomatoes.

 The strawberries are doing best of all.

 I keep them covered 24/7 to keep out the birds and mice.

 My Moss Rose is doing nicely especially since it is protected from mice and birds.

 Lavendar is starting to bloom. It does well here.

 Desert Spiderwort is doing great. The rabbits figured out they could at least eat the tops off the plants. Last year they were turning the cages over and eating as far down as they could.

 Petunias do great here. I'll bring some in for the winter but not all of them.

 Moss Rose again. It was doing great until something ate it down to the dirt level

 For some reason, purple petunias smell so good, kinda spicy

 I got so tired of my lemon tree in the house, I took it outside where the wind promptly blew off all the leaves.

 It seems to love it outside because it is not only putting out new leaves but is putting out new branches.

 This is the second or third year for my Peony. It has never bloomed....maybe this year?

One of our wild cactus. It's amazing how something so prickly could put out such a delicate flower.

We had a jack rabbit nibbling on the straw bale by the garden and was driving the dogs nuts. He didn't mind them barking at him and when we tried to chase him off, he would go a few feet and then stop. Pa finally got out the pellet gun and shot him. Well of course all Tilly could think of was bunnie, bunnie, bunnie so we let all the dogs out to investigate. Tilly dashed out and "killed" the bunnie and then tried to pick it up. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't pick it up. Maybe because it was bigger than she is? She couldn't even drag it anywhere. Meantime Harley was licking it's face, he's got such a killer instinct! Pa finally picked it up and threw it out back for the ravens to eat. He said it was surprisingly heavy.
The weather has turned hot and next week is the official start of our monsoon season. Come on rain! The garden will really start growing then.
Pa is calling me outside to do something so I gotta run!

Been Craftin'

 Since the wind has been so nasty, I've spent the past two days making some cards for my mom.

 I found some pictures of desert sunsets and desert scenery on the internet and printed them out the same size as the first layer of my card.

 Used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out designs, distressed the card stock with Tim Holtz Rusty Hinge distress Ink and Stampin Up Cajun Craze.

 Mounted the pictures behind the cut outs, glued that onto some matching cardstock and then mounted everything on a folded card.

 I'm really pleased with how they turned out. My fingers are permanently died rust color. 

 After making 12 different cards, I'm kind of tired of Southwest.

 My mom will like them tho. She doesn't have the internet or email so she sends cards out by snail mail.

 Unfortunately, my computer decided to shut down right in the middle of some cuts, ruining a half sheet of card stock. It also cut off my cutting program so I lost all the designs I made for the cards. I swear I saved them but can't find them anywhere. Luckily I  literally have thousands of cutting files saved on a flash drive so I was able to make the last 4 cards and stay with my Southwest theme.

 My crafting mojo took a vacation after making all those flowers so it was nice to feel creative for the last two days.

 If the wind doesn't stop soon, I'm going to go crazy, run down the road naked, screaming. Not that it will matter since no one lives near us. The wind wouldn't be so bad if you didn't get sand blasted along with it.

 The wind sure doesn't help the garden at all. I ran into Show Low today to take care of some things and bought some yellow squash, some zucchini and a couple of cukes. Will plant them tomorrow. The checker at Walmart gave me the name of an ortho doctor in Show Low. Said she heard good things about him so maybe I'll give him a call.

Hmmm, got a little glue on the front of this one. Maybe Ma can send it to some one she doesn't particularly like, ha ha.

You should have seen Tilly and me last night. We were chasing a mouse all over the house. She kept trying to get into a desk drawer in the kitchen so I opened the door and a mouse jumped out and ran into the pantry. She was so focused on the drawer, she wasn't paying attention to me yelling " Here! here! Tilly it's in here!" Finally grabbed her and shoved her in the pantry and things started to fly. Harley decided to help so we were all running around, sniffing here and there. Well, the dogs were sniffing. I was yelling. Tilly almost got the mouse but it ran out of the pantry back into the desk drawer. I opened the drawer and here are two little beady eyes staring at me. We were both equally freaked out. By the time Tilly got back to the drawer, the mouse jumped out and ran into Pa's office and hid behind the file case. I gave up and set two mouse traps. After we went to bed I heard a SNAP and I gave a satisfied chuckle. This morning, both traps had mice in them. That makes a grand total of 11 mice caught in the house so far this month. I guess the word's gotten out that we run a nice mice motel. I put out 5 little boxes of D-con outside and they were gone over night. Honestly, I'm a clean person and have a fairly clean house. You'd expect all those mice in a hoarder's home, not in a new home. I bought 4 big boxes of d-con today which will go outside around the garden. I need to buy it by the bucket full until we get the mice under control. I'd like to get an outside cat but since the coyotes ate the last one, I don't think it would be worth it.

That catches us up for now! Ta Ta!

I DID IT!

It took me 1 year 7 months but I finally finished reading the entire Bible from cover to cover. This is the second time I've read the entire thing. I just wish I could have retained everything I read. As is always the case, my favorite books are Proverbs and Psalms. I've also been reading the book my daughter , Cathy got me, "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young which I enjoy so  much. Daily nuggets to read and apply to my life. Now I have to decide if I want to start all over and read the Bible all the way thru again. Maybe this time I should take notes. I find the Old Testament to be so fascinating, just from the historical point of view. The main thing I got out of the Old Testament is that God is a God of second chances....and third and fourth. Those people of old kept getting rescued over and over by God and still kept turning away from Him and he kept taking them back. Thank God, he still does that today. I can't count the many times I've fallen off the path and got back on.

Got the garden all planted. Every thing looks so sad. The sun really does a number on the seedlings which is why they are covered either by shade cloth or milk cartons. It looks like I am growing milk instead of veggies.

 One of our snakes came out for a visit. I should put him in the house so he could eat the mice. We've caught 9 mice in the house this month! Aren't they supposed to go outside in the spring and do mice things? The other morning I went to use the guest bathroom and found two mice in the toilet. One drowned and one looking up at me with those beady little black eyes. I just flushed those little suckers right down the pipe. May they rest in peace!

 Anyway, the snake lives under one of the containers. We have 3 or 4 of them now. They are so beautiful.

 Even tho everything is covered, all the plants look so sad. The milk cartons act like a mini green house plus shade the plants. Once they get a good root set going and get used to the sun, I'll take the milk cartons off and then the mice and birds can eat them!

 My strawberries are doing great so far. They've been covered with a shade cloth since day one so haven't suffered sunburn. They are getting blossoms on them so hopefully we'll get some berries before the mice get them. I'm putting D-con in the garden today so hopefully the critters will die before anything ripens. I've gotten to the point where I don't care if the Towhee birds eat the D-con. I was planning on shooting them with the pellet gun. They are fun to watch but so destructive in the garden.

 Good thing we save our milk cartons all year long.

 There are some pepper plants and broccoli in here. I planted some other peppers and cauliflower in another section of the garden and put some shade cloth over it. The wind came up and blew the shade cloth back and forth which acted like a lawn mower and cut them all down. End of those poor things. Gardening is so hard here in NE Arizona. If the sun doesn't kill your garden, the wind will. You also have to water every single day since it is so dry here. This may be my last garden unless we get some kind of hoop house and some decent gardening soil.

 I made this lattice thing to hang some plants from so the mice and rabbits would leave them alone. I got the planters from Dollar Tree. I think they are waste buckets. I cut some wire to form handles which I looped over the lattice. There are Petunias, Marigolds and some Nasturtiums. I hate to see everything die over the winter so bring a lot of plants inside and baby them. I got so tired of watering all those plants so may just let nature take it's course this year.

 Finally the lilac bushes are looking healthy in their little prisons. Everything you plant here has to be protected by some kind of barrier to keep the critters from devouring it.

The spiderworts are doing great. I transplanted these a couple of years ago from the field next door. Without the cages, the rabbits would eat them all. I read that people can eat these also.

The fence is all finished in the front of our property. Pa and I worked out butts off and got it done in less than two weeks. The gate is gone from the road. We heard we are going to get another letter from the POA because after we took the gate down, we temporarily put a chain across the road to keep the cows out while we were fencing in the front. Wouldn't you think they would know it was only temporary when they could see we were fencing in the front? Pa and I drove all over the north side of the ranch and found all sorts of properties that were not in compliance with the CC&R's. Just about anyone who fenced in their property, put the fence too close to the road. We took pictures and notes and are planning to do the same on the south side of the ranch. Then after we get our letter, I want to see an attorney and have him write to the POA and ask them to provide him with a list with other properties they targeted just to make sure we aren't being singled out for personal reasons. Our POA president says there are no exceptions which makes him the biggest hypocrite because one of his properties is a dumping ground, covered in old dried up wood that is blowing all over the ranch and is a terrible fire hazard. The CC&R's clearly state that you can't use your property as an uncovered storage area. He tore down a bunch of buildings and dumped all the wood on one of his properties. It's been there so long, it's useless and all dried up. We got lots of pictures of that!

I've been having trouble with my right knee. I can hardly put any weight on it. It's not the front of my knee but most of the pain is in the bend of the knee. Last night, my right calf was pretty swollen. I've tried ice and heat. The heat gives me the most comfort. Sometimes it feels like the knee is going to bend the wrong way when I walk. The front of the knee is swollen a bit also. I'm too old to be in pain so , yes, I'm calling for a DR. appointment. You know, I have to be dying to call a Dr. so you can imagine how much this hurts.  Plus Pa is tired me limping around and groaning in pain.

Lets see, what else is new? I got a hair cut this past week. My hair was so damaged and dry, the stylist said I really needed a hot oil treatment. She also said I need to come in every six weeks to get a trim till all of the split ends are gone. She asked when I last had my hair cut. Professionally, it's been years so I told her I whacked at it a couple years ago. She just shook her head. I don't have any pictures but it is basically a long shag. She cut about three inches off the back and layered it. Gosh, it feels so light now! I hated to get it layered because my main goal was to get it all one length so I could braid it and forget about it. Ah, the price we pay for beauty!

Pa really got after Tom the other day because of his AT&T phone. You can barely get two words out and lose the call. He has to stand on top of his 5th wheel to get a signal and that's iffy. Pa finally blew up and told him what a cheap @$$ he was. He is on his sister's plan which cost him $10.00 a month. We've offered and offered to put him on our Verizon plan. With taxes and all , it will cost him $14.59 a month. He finally agreed but I told him I wouldn't do it unless he let me buy him a phone like ours which is a 3G Barrage phone. It is heavy duty, lightly water proof and works all over the ranch.  I just got one for Pa off of Ebay. He agreed so I bought one off Ebay for Tom and it should arrive shortly. He refuses to keep his phone on because he doesn't want to be bothered by the world. We told him to just not answer if he doesn't want to talk to anyone! Plus it is harder on the battery to turn it off and on. One nice thing about the Barrage, it charges up in 15 minutes and stays charged for a week or more being on all the time. I'll have to ask the Verizon people to give him a pep talk. Pa has been helping Tom to get his truck fixed. He hasn't had any transportation for a month. He ordered parts and apparently needs more parts so ordered them yesterday. We took him to Show Low with us Wednesday so he could buy groceries. When he goes alone, it takes him the entire day to shop and he gets home after dark. That's only visiting 3 stores! When I go, I get there by 8 , visit 6 or 7 stores and am on the way home by 11:30 a.m. He can't believe it. But then, he has to compare every price, talk to every person he sees, compare more prices ( this bottle has 30 pills, each pill lasts for 4 hours is is such and such a price. This bottle has 20 pills, lasts for 6 hours and cost such and such a price. Which is the better deal?) Imagine doing that with nose spray, this bottle requires one spray up each nostril, this one requires 2 sprays up each nostril, this one has x amount of liquid in it and this other one has x amount of liquid in it and this is the price. If I shopped this way, I'd hang myself!!!!!  Ya gotta love him tho. He's really funny and entertaining and is a good friend plus being my garden mentor.

Well, friends and family and who ever else reads my blog, that's it for now. Yak at ya soon!