September 29, 2008

Summer Comes to an End


Bronte’s baby is doing great. We named her Sabrina. The weather has definitely turned towards autumn, with the night time temperatures getting as low as 40 degrees. I have been in the process of upgrading my computer. My original hard drive was about maxed out with hardly any space left. It was inevitable and I put it off as long as I could. During the upgrade I even changed to windows Vista. Let’s just say it is not my friend yet. So many of my everyday software does not even work and even my printer no longer works with the Vista. It has been a real pain in my BUTT! I am almost done with setting up the main things although I think it will take me a little while to get everything the way I like it.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away and come back to it later. So I went outside and did some exploring with my camera. Here is what I found.

Although summer is over yellow has sprouted up all over my property.


You can not help but be cheerful walking through these fields.


Also on my walk I spotted something in the distance that looked like wild strawberries. It took me a little maneuvering to get over to them, do to the weeds and what not in my way. Once I got to them I realized they were not strawberries. I think they are rosehips from some wild roses. Disappointing but still they are cool looking.


These morning-glories are growing up the fence of my garden. I believe they were planted by previous owners, or at least the seeds migrated here.


My Turkish turbans are looking great and will bring wonderful fall color once I harvest them and place them inside.


I went to the back of the property to check the creek bed. It had a little bit of water trickling through.


If there is water I usually check for tracks to see what kind of predators are on the property. Luckily I only spotted these raccoon tracks. They have five fingers so it looks kind of human like. The photo on top is mine and underneath is one off the internet.


Hope everyone is easing into Fall. I am looking forward to October; it is one of my favorite months of the year.

September 15, 2008

Twisted Saturday


These sketchers I have had forever or at least 9 years. Back in their day they were cute and even sparkly. I loved the fact that they had no laces and you just slip them on. They are the pair that I kept near the door and the ones I slipped on when having to go check on the alpacas, the mail, or even to see what the dogs are into outside.

Our Saturday started out normal Chris left with the trailer around 8 am heading to Lowes to get a pallet of the wood pellets we use for the stove. The temperature has started to drop and it is only a matter of time before we start running the pellet stove regularly. He got back after 9 with the goods. We keep the bags of pellets stacked on the back porch so we can get to them easily. I slipped on some jeans and my old sneaks (photo above) and headed out the back to help unload the bags and stack them. Chris was driving the jeep towing the trailer through the back yard to position the trailer as close to the back porch as possible so we would not have to travel too far with the bags.

He only made it about half way when his transmission died. It sounded terrible and we think it was stuck in neutral. Unfortunately we were not even close to the back porch with the trailer when the car died. At this point our stress level began to grow. Chris decided to go get the tractor to see if he could push the trailer from behind to get it closer to the porch. He was able to move it a little bit closer. He got off the tractor and tried his jeep again, yes it is confirmed the transmission is broken. Every moment that passes the stress lvl is increasing. The jeeps front end was close to the dog door at this point and of course Brandy chose this moment to come out of it. Since she is practically blind and deaf I ran over and stopped her half way out the door and pushed her back in the house afraid she might get hurt in the drama that was taking place outside. Once I got her in, I turned on the steps and my goal was to run and get through the back porch to close the dog door to prevent the mongrels from getting out. I am not sure how it happened but I missed the last step and landed on my ankle in a falling motion with a twist. When I hit the ground I immediately felt sharp pains and I grabbed my ankle. Of course with all that was going on in the dark abyss of Saturday morning I could not contain myself and started to cry uncontrollably while lying on the ground where I landed clutching my ankle. Chris of course witnesses my whole graceful maneuver and he was beyond his breaking point.

After I released all my tension in a river of tears and Chris had moments of beastly rage where he released his tension by making animal like noises to the gods of despair. I realized that I had to pull myself together because that is my roll I push on and get things done even when it feels impossible. Chris was overwhelmed with the situation and I knew we would not get passed this point with out me moving forward. He was worried about me being pregnant and maybe needing to go to the hospital to have my ankle checked. So I got up and although I had pain in my ankle I could tell it was not broken. I also knew I had a little bit of time before it got worse so I would go on the adrenalin and the shock of the accident.

After getting up Chris noticed the shoes I was wearing and told me to immediately throw those pieces of trash away. He was right, I knew it was time to let them go. Of course I took some photos of them before tossing them in the trash. It felt weird.

So I went inside put on some lace up boots and went back outside and I steered the jeep while Chris pushed the back end of the trailer with the tractor. We got it into position and I stayed on the trailer handing him the bags one by one all 50 of them. I just tried to stay in one spot and just pivoted around trying to keep most of my weight on my good foot.


We went inside Chris called the repair place and eventually they came and towed his jeep away to be looked at on Monday and we have no idea when we will see it again. Here is Chris watching his car being set by the tow truck. I think we both felt a loss, him and his car and me and my old shoes.

With all the chores done I propped my foot up and iced my ankle. It did not look bad but it hurt. That evening it hurt so badly I ended up giving in and took one Tylenol. I really miss Ibuprofen, but I am not aloud to have it while pregnant. Chris wrapped my ankle and that seemed to help. I kept ice on it all evening trying to num it. All weekend I have been keeping off it and trying to keep it elevated. I think in a few more days it will be as good as new. I will keep my fingers crossed the jeep will have as good a turn out.


I am an optimist at heart, even when life comes at you hard. I think that if you learn from your experiences and you always get back up after a fall and brush your self off. You are going to be ok, and be more prepared the next time life knocks you down.

September 09, 2008

Long Weekend in Florida


I went to Florida for the holiday weekend for my Dad’s retirement party. I stayed with my sister and her lovely family. This is a photo of their two dogs. The one on the Left is Charlie, and she is a miniature schnauzer. The one on the right is Samantha and she is a snoodle. I love these dogs. They were so well behaved compared to my mongrels at home.


The first day my sister and my nephews and I went to Mt. Dora and I found Knit & Needle Nook. It was a great little yarn shop. I ended up buying a couple of knit baby pattern books. I did not get any yarn, I feel like I have enough yarn at home to last me a few years.


This is a fountain we found as we ducked under shelter from the rain while walking along the street filled shops of Mt. Dora. I think that is a clematis vine growing along the trellis in the background. We did get a couple of days of rain while I was there, mostly from the hurricanes around us.


Here is my Dad and to the left his wife, he was leading a bunch of people in a chicken Congo line through his property. By the look of him it appears he is having the time of his life. I definitely long for the day Chris and I both can retire. His party was a huge success. There were probably over 200 people there. He had one of those blow up jump inside thingies for the kids. He also had a dunk tank, which was very comical. There was plenty of good food and even a DJ with a dance area. The party was a huge success and was a great asset to set my Dad off into his retirement.


Here is me and my nephews at the party. I had not seen them in a couple of years so I was shocked at how much they had grown.


One of the days my sister, brother, his girlfriend & my nephews went to the Disney market place. Along the water there was a flock of ducks resting on the grass. It was real cool to see them up close since we do not see any ducks in New Mexico.


Here are my nephews in one of the shops.


Here is my sister on the left my brother in the middle and me on the right in front of a large Lego Lockness Monster. This day was very hot and humid we all felt like we were melting while outside.


Here is my bro with his girlfriend.


One of the nights my brother had us all over for a night of Italian & some Wii games. He made this awesome tiramisu. I was impressed I have never attempted to make one. This one turned out great. Another night his girlfriend made an orange chocolate chip bundt cake. She is going to send me the recipe, and I can’t wait to make it. It was delicious.


The last night the whole family went out for Mexican. Here is a photo of my Dad, his wife & me at the restaurant. My sister and her husband were celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary. It was a great night.

Overall I had a wonderful time and am so glad I got the chance to see my family and spend some time with all of them. I was lucky enough to get in and out of Florida in between the hurricanes. The weather there this time of year really blows. I am really spoiled in New Mexico with over 300 days of sunshine and blue skies.