Pickling!

I love refrigerator pickles. A lovely buddy, Bonnie, has a garden overflowing with cucumbers - I of course took some.

Local Dirt Biking

We went up to the ski hill yesterday and saw some pretty sweet dirt bike racing!


Of course it was dumping rain!

Friday!

Video by a no name girl which if you haven't seen has become crazy popular.



You know you have made it when Stephen Colbert covers you!

HAPPY FRIDAY! "hope the song gets stuck in your head!"

Chupacabra Trapped & Caught Near Hospital.

Mystery solved. Chupacabra is just a funky looking animal!

Hump Day Humor!

Life lessons to live by :)

Summer Time!

This is the fifth tomato


to be pulled out of the garden! I love summer gardening.

The craft fair this past weekend was perfect.

When The Cats Away

DH decided to go on a short motorcycle trip up to Colorado. While he is away I don't ever make a big pot of coffee, but I make just enough for me. With my new super cool vintage percolator I'm now set!

Weekend Love!

Well the weekend has come and gone. I'm more exhausted than I was before it started. But a few things happened. First the Kevins turned 1 year old today. A whole year since their birth. In other news cherries are coming into season. Rainer cherries to be specific. I love them so much that it is possible for me to eat them until I vomit.

Image of the Day

From Sci-Fy Blog: Megatron Cat

Dust Devil

Dust Devil a video by RocketGirl* on Flickr.

While driving home from ABQ the other day we saw this amazing dust devil. Normally dust devils around here are small and short lived. Not this one!

I Feel This Way Sometimes!

Days End!

At the end of the day - this is what I come home to find!

Summer Putting Up!

The basil is popping and pesto had to be made. I also dried dill and cayenne peppers. I've never dried these peppers before - can't wait to try them!

How is your garden doing?

California Trip.

Last week we were in Palm Desert California. It was hot. Super super hot (as in 114 most days). But, we did get out one morning to go to Joshua Tree. The park was really cool. I had no idea that Joshua Trees got so big. The rocks were very scratchy and seemed to be made up of millions of smaller stones (from reading the guide on the park that they are granite).

Over all it was a nice trip. A little pool time, Mike was in meetings most of the week, dinners out, bowling, antique shopping and hiking!

An Update ...

I noticed the other day that my blog has more photos than stories or notes on life these days. Figured maybe I should change that a little. Last night, while it was dumping rain at our house, Mike noticed that his wedding ring was missing. He had been working in the garage most of the day and wearing rubber gloves. So, he sat on the floor pulling rubber gloves apart. I was certain that an adult melt-down was about to happen. I have no idea why, but I thought to check the bed and under the bed. With one quick glance I noticed the ring under our bed. When I gave it back to Mike he said that during the night he heard what he thought was a washer hitting the floor - but it was just his ring.

Adult melt-down averted!




In other news another nice error message with a robot. People online have been coming up with really good error messages!

Summer Macros.

Summer time around here. 90 degrees or so - which is perfect for taking macro shots of all kinds of tings. Any idea what type of lizard this is?

4th of July

We aren't allowed to have fireworks this fourth. So we had some bubbly instead. Happy fourth everyone!


Not sure if you can tell - but my corn is knee high and it is the fourth of July!

Fire Update

Day 4 of the fire and it sure is one mean mother. Seems to be burning all around. We have been held up at a friends place in Santa Fe - but we are thinking about going back. Not "unloading" but being closer to home and the fire means less waiting impatiently.



Here is the crap that is falling in our back yard.

So the plan is to be ready to leave at moments notice - but to be home.

Fire

The past few days have been crazy. Sunday we flew to Chicago for a meeting. Once we landed our phones went bonkers. A fire had broken out and Susan wanted to know what to do with all the animals. We formulated a plan. Susan, Ray and Lee loaded up the rv and the trailer. The trailer had the chickens in it and the cats were inside. Our buddy Ray drove the whole flock down to his house in Santa Fe. We bought one way tickets home - $1000 - and we got back home: just in time for a state trooper to tell us we could drive up to the house. Back to Santa Fe we went. The wind rocked the rv all night as we slept fitfully. Our 3rd fire evacuation in ~10 years. I'm not sure I like living here.

Methow.

We let the cats out back as long as we are out back. There is a lady on Flickr who always has amazing photos of her kitties playing and running. I decided to see if I could snap a shot or two of Methow at full speed.

Wild Fires.

Yesterday we noticed smoke coming from the mountains near by. Since yesterday it has been burning and filling the air with smoke (not as bad as the Arizona fire - but still smoky). Summer in the south west!

Birthday Party.

I decided for my birthday to take a photo with each guest. You can see the full set here.

Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes. It was a splendid day/week and year!

Fridays ...

Here is what Fridays look like around our house. We try to get to the ski hill once a week to run/bike out the trails and then have lunch. Today the trails were covered with butterflies and dust. But, the lunch was delicious and refreshing! There is something perfect about a small town when you can get away like this.

Weekend Biking

Mike and I road up to the bagel shop this past weekend. Hot, smoky, but really nice!

Summer Macros.

Time Goes By.

Seems like forever since I've blogged. Guess life just gets away from me. Tomorrow is my birthday so I thought I should get my butt in gear and post something.

As most of you know we live next to Arizona where there are wild fires burning. As it burns and my lungs kill me from the smoke - the sunsets look amazing. The sky seems to be on fire!


Summer in our house means a lot of grilling and partying out back. Here is my honey having a lovely time!

Hope all is well with you and I plan to try and get a little more blogging in!

Wondering ...

Are you wondering how we are doing without Bend? We still miss him - but he has a place of honor in our house. As we walk down the hall we chat to him. Mostly "Hi Buddy - how is it going."

The Kevins - Go To Oz.

Did any of you ever watch the HBO show Oz? It was about prison (a bit violent and really made me never want to see the inside of a jail). Well that is what we are now calling this inclosure. See, Kevin's were eating my garden, digging up the grass and basically running the whole back yarn into the ground.

The fence was a serious labor of love. It took Mike two full weekends and was not fun to put up. The girls seem to be adjusting to it well though and our hope is that over time they forget about the rest of the yard.

New Dinner Item!

I got this pan from King Arthurs and the recipe. It has taken me a while to make them - but here they are. Home made hamburger buns. They taste amazing and really weren't that hard to make!

Gardening 2011

During the weekend - while trying to get the fence up - I did some weeding in the garden. Why is it weeding takes so long but has such a big impact?

Memorial Day Weekend

Around here it means bbqing and back yard work. For a white girl like me it means burning in the sun. Yes - that white spot is where my shirt was. I'm a lobster!

When The Cats Away ....

The mouse does play - she plays in the kitchen re-organizing everything.

As part of my Project 333 I'm going through the kitchen again. Thinking about what I need and what I don't need. I have 4 full sets of dishes. I have a lot of silverware sets. I have too many dishes.

So, what does one do about this? Well I apply my Project 333 criteria to my dishes. I've found that sentimental plays into my kitchen more than my closet. What I've decided to do is move dishes into a temporary cupboard until I can decide what to do with them. Live without them for a while and see what I love and dislike about the stuff that is currently out.

So my cupboard now looks a bit empty - but we'll see how it goes.

Garden veggies!

The first radishes of the season!

Geek Art.

Being someone who made coffee for a living I appreciate good coffee art. Amazing work!

Ten on Tuesday

Carol has another great Ten on Tuesday (sorry it is coming out on Wednesday). 10 Favorite Things to do Outside.

1. Just be outside. I love the smells, sights and sounds.
2. Hike/run. Traveling through the woods is a great way to relax and forget about all the crap that we seem to deal with day in and day out.
3. Eat. Back yard BBQing is one of our favorite things to do. Just good inside and eat outside is lovely too.
4. Garden. Putting seeds in the ground and watching them come to life is amazing. I like knowing where my food comes from.
5. Chicken watching. Might sound odd - but there is nothing more relaxing then watching the flock of Kevin's cruise around the back yard. We could spend hours doing it.
6. Hot tubing. We mostly hot tub in winter. But, sometimes in summer as well. In hot water, watching the stars on a clear cool night - AH ... nothing better!
7. Sparkler Dancing. In summer I like to have a ton of sparklers on hand and I like to dance through the back yard with my sparklers.
8. Biking. Something about the breeze through my hair and the peddles beneath my feet that can make any day better.
9. Spinning. I like to take my little wheel out and get some good spinning in.
10. Chess. Yep. You heard me. We have a board that we keep outside and we like to sit with a cool cocktail, listen to the rustling of the leafs in the aspens and play a good game. I normally beat the crap out of Mike - but it is fun none the less.

What do you love to do outside???

Tuesday Laugh.

For any of you that use twitter!

Moab

I love taking photos of the cats during rv trips!

Sunday - Race Day!

Sunday here - which means racing time! I spend most of the day outside being Mike's pit Betty.

Cat-tastic

The cats are missing Bend this weekend - but they are doing okay! It is going to be a while before we can RV without thinking about him.

Craft Fair Weekend.

This past weekend was the Los Alamos craft fair. I have never been do tired. A whole day is just a bit much. The fair was great though. Lots of interest in the reusable bags and bowl covers.

Geek Zodiac

Doing okay?

You might be wondering how Mike and I are doing with Bend's departure. I know we kept getting calls from people. Grief is a strange thing. For a few days all I could do was cry and now I cry at strange moments. Out of the blue something will make me think about him and I'll loose it.

I finally put together a big photo book of Bend and we get to pick up his ashes this Thursday. I'm sure it will be emotional, but the closure will be good for us.

The girls are having just as hard a time dealing with Bend's departure as we are. Methow waits for him at night and wont come to bed. Moab is super happy and likes to run around quickly.

Crazy Spring.

Today it is snowing out. Snowing on May first, what in the world is up with that? I found this massive moth on the front step of our house this weekend. I'm glad one of the cats didn't eat it (because the vomit from this large moth would have been too much for me to handle).