Things I forgot to tell

Lets see.....Kim is getting over his cold that he came down with the night he got home. We figured it was from fatigue.
We finally got Betty Lou out and took her for a nice long ride. We barreled down Bond Road and back home. After we got back, I decided that, while I still had my boots on, I would take a hike across the pasture. Mostly I wanted to see if I could get a better look at the house being built behind us. I can see the roof and chimney from a couple of places at my house, but I couldn't see if from the fenceline at the far end of the pasture....too many trees (cedar bushes) and too far down the slope.
As I headed back to the house, Jack took off after a cottontail...slowing down just enough to get through the fence. Dufus missed out on the Jackrabbit I flushed out in front of me. Then getting almost home, I just happened to stop and look around me. I didn't remember anything being on top of that old telephone post......so pulled out the binoculars Kim let me use and got a closer look. Not more than 20 feet from me was a healthy Barn Owl!! And he was looking at me! I said hello, and took afew steps in his direction that caused him to take off in flight. Did you know they have ragged wing edges that keeps their flight silent? Since he flew to a tall tree closer to the house, I was able to point him out to Kim. I looked him up in my bird book and found they lay their eggs in Jan or Feb. Also, they are fearless.....even attacking skunks and possums, thus known as Flying Tigers. I think Jack needs to stick close to home and watch his back.....the cats too. Tigger looks like a Coon in the dark anyway....wonder if he has had run ins with the owl?
Edit!!! My mistake, it was a Great Horned Owl....and a big one at that!
Today my legs hurt. Walk/jogging a mile a day for the past couple of days, then the hike in the pasture with my Wolverine steel toed boots on really did a number on my muscles. I don't know right now if I will go for a mile this afternoon or not.
I think that is all for now.....except for the picture.

That is me at Camp Crochet, with the felted purse I won. The double chin you see is the very reason I am trying to exercise a mile a day. So far, I have quit smoking, gained 10lbs, and am sore all over. Yeah, real encouraging. But hey, I managed to get the hair to behave that day. It's not a curly mop sticking out all over.

Have a good one, Y'all

Missed a Birthday

November 20th was the birthday of my little Princess, Lucy. She was a birthday gift to me from my dear friend, Judy. I had seen her among a batch of kittens Judy was raising and absolutely fell in love. Lucy is a delicate, silky, long haired calico. But don't let the delicate fool you. She has a temper and is an ace hunter. Tigger drives her nuts and she hisses at him when he is in sight. She did teach him how to hunt though.

The baby picture is one Judy took before I got Lucy. The close up is last winter, when she was wearing her winter coat. I would get a shot of her today, but she is nowhere in sight. Lucy likes long naps in my sewing chair or a sunbeam, hunting birds at the feeder.....picture posted, I plant flowers in the tub and put seeds in that black container on the post for the birds. Lucy likes to nap in the tub on the plants, or hide until a likely prey is in the container getting seeds and can't see her. She also brings in rabbits. One of her favorite things to do is bury her nose up in the palm of my hand when I am scratching her ears. She also likes to wait until I am snuggled down in bed on cold nights, then she will lie on top of me and get me pinned in securely. She also has this weird habit of calling me from across the yard or pasture. I will be outside and hear a distant meowing......search around until I spot her coming across the pasture. Even when we have spotted each other, she will meow at me until she is right up to me.

So....Happy Birthday my little sweet Princess......now you are 8.

In other news, Kim got home from Wyoming wednesday afternoon. We had Thanksgiving lunch with just the 4 of us.....Kim, Matt, Aaron (his dad), and me. I heated up the smoked, sliced turkey breast, spooned in a container of ready to eat dressing, opened a couple of cans of turkey gravy, heated up frozen glazed carrots and roasted sweet potatoes......you seeing a pattern here? The only thing from scratch was the mashed potatoes and the zucchini. I hate cooking, so Thanksgiving makes my kitchen a torture chamber. Everyone made pigs of themselves anyway and pronounced it good. My thanks to JennyO for the turkey, Schwan's for the carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and to all the other companies who's wrappers are now in the garbage can.

We also give thanks that A&M beat the pants off UT. Amen

Projects

First project to show is especially to my sister. She gave me a kit to make a Melon Purse and I want to show her that I finished it and made a little purse for my cell phone to match. There is the before picture, and two shots of after it went through the wash. Also, the cool buttons I found to put on them. On the purse is a pewter Celtic swirl looking button....and my Crochet Guild pin. On the phone purse is an antique rhinestone button. I have taken this purse out numerous times.



Next, we have the free London Fog coat I got. A friend was closing her thrift shop and I spotted this coat on the freebie rack. I had it dry cleaned and it looks brand new. You can't tell from the picture, but it is a yummy hunter green wool. I got some yarn in my goodie bag at Camp Crochet that is a fur yarn in hunter green, rose, and cream. I am not much for fur yarns, but this stuff was a delight to work with and the resulting knitted scarf is perfect for the coat. Now...if it will just turn off cold enought to wear them.

Next, even though I don't care for fur yarns, I couldn't resist the furry flip flops I have been seeing, so had to make myself a pair. So...there...I have exposed my icky feet to the world. At least the legs were shaved!
After I did these flip flops and fell in love...wear them all the time....I got Autumn and Hannah a pair of flip flops and going to make them some. I need to find out Brooklyn's shoe size...she may like fancy shoes by next summer.
Well, that's the show for now. It took forever to get pictures loaded today, so I will post more another day.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A Day on the Rez

Back to the story of Kim's and my anniversary trip....














On our last day in Ruidoso, we took a trip to the Apache Reservation. They have the Inn of the Mountain Gods there, with a casino. I had never been to a casino before, so was totally dazzled by the whole Resort. The entrance to the resort is accented by the most impressive bigger than life sculptures of the mountain gods (I presume). The lobby was huge and at one end was a wall of glass that looked out on the golf course, lake, and the beautiful Sierra Blanca mountain. In that area was a split staircase, leading down to the exit doors and a restaurant. In the middle of that split was a fountain that was shaped like an Apache basket.
Kim took me into the casino and we did a tour of the room, with him showing me the tables and slots. He pulled out a fifty, which is his gambling limit, and showed me how it was done. We went from machine to machine with the paper token it gives you, until the 50 was gone. I pulled a twenty from my wallet and started playing with it. After it was gone, I decided I wanted to play some more and hit the ATM machine. Kim left with my purse to sit in the lobby and wait for me. I played 40 more dollars and won 30. When I was through with that, I decided that I wasn't impressed with gambling and cashed out. I went to the gift shop and bought a tshirt and a pair of riding goggles for Kim. That's the whole part and parcel of my gambling experience. I could take it or leave it, and really know of better ways to spend my money. But it was fun trying it for the first time.
Monday morning we loaded up, locked up the cabin, and took the south route home. We went past the resort and through the reservation to the Cloudcroft turnoff. We ended up kicking ourselves for not taking that route on the bike. It was exquisitely beautiful with the mountains and pines. Bits of fog hung on in places and it was drizzling most of the way. On the way out of the mountains, we stopped at a couple of roadside stands where I bought apples, apple and cherry ciders, and a jar of mountain honey.
We got to Artesia just in time for lunch, which we shared with Kim's old friend, Tim. Great little mexican food place called La Fonda. On our way up to Ruidoso, we spent thursday night in Hobbs visiting with Tim and his wife, Susan. We had a great time catching up with them. Kim and Tim went to high school together, then lived together for a while after graduating. Kim and I were witnesses at Tim and Susan's wedding. We all lost touch a couple of decades ago, so it was wonderful to meet up with them again. We were going to have lunch with both of them on the way back, but Tim called and said he was out on a job, so we met him in Artesia.
To catch everyone up.....Kim has been gone on jobs for about 3 weeks now. He headed to West Virginia for some jobs, then Pennsylvania for one, then the past week in Wyoming. We are counting on him being home for Thanksgiving.

My New Room

I have something very special happening in my life right now. My sweetheart is having a room built just for me and my stuff. I will soon have a room to put all my sewing machines, fabric, yarn and various other things that go with it. I can put my treadle machine in there, the machine and cabinet that was his mothers', my gigantic trunks, and all the other antique furniture.
A friend of mine and her husband are the builders, so they let me help as much as I want to. I am their weekend job. Last weekend they poured the footings. This weekend the floor joists and flooring went in. Now we wait until an extra worker can be freed up on a job so my walls can go up.
The room will be 28 feet wide and 12 feet deep. I didn't think that was very big until the floor went on and I stood up there. Also standing up there, I realized that I prefered the window going on the north side instead of the south side.....better view.
I am so stoked over this. I need to get busy and plan out the room arrangement before I am left standing in the finished room, wondering where to put cabinets and such.

More mountains

Okay, more scenes from New Mexico. Can you see the three does? That was taken out the back door of the cabin. There were over half a dozen of them. I know....I get the same thing happening at my house, difference is...these are Mule Deer...bigger build and bigger ears. And bigger racks as you can see from the next picture. There were 4 bucks that had moved in at the vacant cabin down the road. They were quite content laying around chewing cud. Then the next day, they had to leave. Someone across the street had come for the weekend and their Terrier wasn't going to allow the squatters on the block.

Saturday morning, Kim and I got out the Harley and took her for a mountain ride. We headed north and found the end of the range where we stopped at a rest area. I took pictures of the fantastic view from there. The first one is of the Capitan Range,my map says that is Carrizo Peak. The second one is my favorite. Just pointing the camera a little to the west of the range and you see for must be over a hundred miles. The view is for so far that you can't even tell the land from the sky. When I checked the map later, I figured out that just to the southwest...just out of camera range to the left of me, is the north end of the White Sands Missile Range. I stood there for quite a while just soaking in the astounding view.

The last picture is from that same rest stop, looking south to Sierra Blanca. That is the mountain that holds Ski Apache, I believe. I don't ski, so ignorant in that area. Later I will post a picture of that same mountain, only from the lobby of the Inn of the Mountain Gods.

We went on down that mountain and back up the other side, stopping at Capitan for lunch, then on back south, to Ruidoso. Kim was in the mood for a nap and I was in the mood to explore the shops. He took me in, dropped me off, and I spent the next three hours shopping while he rested. I found lots of goodies to buy, but the best was the tooled leather backpack purse. I have wanted one, but never could find one to my taste. This pack is classy enough to take everywhere and will work fabulously when we ride Betty Lou.

Tomorrow I will take you to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, where I tasted gambling and was unimpressed, then on the ride out of the mountains to the south on our way home.

I got a call from Kim about an hour ago. He is packing up in Pennsylvania, heading to Rock Springs, Wyoming today. That is going to be a long drive. We are both hoping they let him come home for Thanksgiving, and especially his Dad's hip replacement surgery on the 28th. At least he wasn't the crew that went to China or Argentina.

Poke Me, I'm Done

I should be....been slow cooking at 90 degrees for two days. Geesh...it's freaking November! Where is my cool weather? Apparently it's still in storage, like my winter clothes. The only wardrobe change I have made is to dig to the bottom of my drawer for a sweatshirt.
So, since it is so hot here, I think it is time to pull out the 30th Anniversary pictures. We were in the mountains, 8000 feet up, where the air is cool and trees grow, and apparently the air is so thin that you run out of breath after climbing two flights of stairs! I thought I was having an asthma attack the first night.....and I don't have asthma!

This first picture (geez I hope they turn out in the order I am loading them), we are heading west out of Roswell. Just before I took this picture, I was really getting concerned that I was not seeing mountains. I knew they had to be there eventually. Then, rising up from the scrub desert floor.....a mountain! I believe this is the El Capitan mountain range. And for those who want to know those things.....we were south of the famous crash site.

And it looks like blogger is going to flip my sequence...so bear with me. The house you see is the "cabin" we rented. Oddly enough, the owners live in the neighboring town from us. There is Kim at the top of the stairs. The cabin was a full three bedroom, two and half bath, full kitchen, living room with wood burning fireplace, and hot tub on the back deck. It was a wonderful weekend in the high mountains, listening to echo's and watching deer. A front went through while we were there which made for some divine misty rains. The rain made it seem so magical.

I will leave you today with a picture of one of the mule deer does out the back door, and a view off the side of the road on the mountain we were on. The vista's were breathtaking. Next set of pictures will be from the ride we took on Betty Lou to the north end of the mountains, then the reservation as we left.

I am feeling about 10 degrees cooler already, just from looking at the pictures

More inspiration from Camp Crochet

Since I don't know the ins and outs of blogger yet, the pictures and captions will probably be hit or miss. I have no control over which picture ends up in what order once my entry uploads. So, here goes. Margaret Hubert was our guest teacher at Camp. She has written numerous books and patterns for knit and crochet. What she taught us that weekend was Freeform crochet. We worked on a handbag, but the examples she brought to show us were breathtaking. The first two pictures (hopefully) are of the mesh jacket with fringey accents. This was a big hit! She wore it to lunch and I noticed the ladies at a table behind her were fascinated with it.

The other breathtaking garment she showed was the long black vest. This one was of mostly black and gold yarns and threads. On this one, she included knitted pieces also. Below is a picture of the back, which shows the butterfly at the top of it. The other two pictures are of her demonstrating a stitch, and of her in another red jacket, different from the first one that caused such a stir.



I wish I knew hot to hotlink, I would include a clickable address to her website. For now you will have to cut and paste www.margarethubertoriginals.com

Hmm...maybe it will hotlink after all....we shall see when it uploads.
I bought two of her books from her, having her autograph them. Then I found the one on Freeform when my sister and I hit the Hobby Lobby in Austin. It has been fun going through my knit and crochet magazines, finding her designs. Margaret was an absolute delight to be around.....for a New Yorker....LOL and all us Texans loved her accent.
It took me about 45 minutes to upload these pictures. That means that you will have to wait for the pictures of lunch and the Fashion Show on the last day. I didn't get any uploaded yesterday because I took two dogs in for a teeth cleaning. Their breath was getting more than I could handle being in the same room with. Luv and Jack are more pleasant to be around now, but after discussing the problem with my vet, we agreed that the smell and weight loss may be due to the store in my town not carrying Iams crunchy dog food anymore, so the dogs have been eating Beneful crunchies the past month or so. Their little systems can't take anything but pure food now. So, I will be making a shopping trip to the city friday....picking up a big sack of dog food and other things I can't get in my town.
Oh, and it turned off cool today. A cold front blew in last night, forcing me to bring in plants and cover up what I couldn't bring in. There was a frost warning out a little over 50 miles north of me, but I don't think we got below 40 degrees last night. If we did, it was a momentary touch. It has been wonderfully cool today. The air was cool enough that Jack couldn't keep his head out the window on the way into town. I have thoroughly enjoyed it...as I should...because it will warm up again to the upper 70's in a few days. If we hold our mouths right, we may get some rain this weekend. Catch ya later with more Camp pics, plus a few pictures of Kim's and my 30th anniversary trip to the mountains. This will be followed by my latest projects.
Until then.....Doggy Supper Time!