Lilacs and Smiles

The lilacs are starting to bloom. I always find it interesting that we are about 1 week behind the
"season" in town. In town the lilacs are in full bloom. Out here they are just starting to bloom. Yesterday we had a mothers day bbq and dear Sara brought out a big bouquet of lilacs and they have filled my family room full of their lovely scent. Betty put together a beautiful bouquet of lilacs and red roses, courtesy of Dean, and the contrast is surprisingly pretty.

Mothers day was a nice relaxing day for the most part. Doug had to go into the hospital to admit a patient first thing so the girls and I shared the morning together at church. Attendance was light, I suppose most people had either traveled out of town or were spending the morning doing something outside. It was a beautiful day.

While Kate took a nap I stole away and took Sedona for a little bareback. But let me back up a little bit. Flash back two years. We gave Sedona to a local rancher who had previously used her for moving cattle in the mountains, etc. It seems that she was ready for something kid broke for her kids so she was returned. Hmmmm...not exactly what I was planning but I have always had a soft spot for Sedona despite her issues. So I took a little spin around the pasture on her followed by a riding session with Cruiser. He is healed enough to be put back into service under saddle and he felt very good after having so much time off!

I have a new opportunity ahead of me in the organization I have been involved with off and on over the past several years called bible study fellowship. They have asked me to become a discussion leader starting in the fall. I was honored to be asked and the commitment means add'l time at the church on Tuesday mornings. I have started attending the leaders meetings to learn the ropes before we start up again in the fall after we break for summer. I am excited to see what happens with this new role.

We have planted half our garden with the vegetables that do best with the cooler weather. The onions (red and white) spinach, lettuce, turnips and carrots are emerging from the ground. I can see already what a battle the weeds are going to be...I hope I am up for the challenge.

Big Boys with their Big Toys

Country boys love... big motors

dirt

girls

things that go "bang"

Country Girls

Being a country girl means... carefree hearts and dirt roads

baby chicks to cuddle in the spring

picking flowers with your favorite country neighbor

taking a wagon load of spring flowers to your grandma's because she lives right next door.

Country living is what my girls love best.

Easter Weekend

It seems spring is really here. Along with spring comes a new assortment of tasks to complete after a long winter. But we always try to mix fun in with the work to keep everyone smiling.

Saturday was a day I had been looking forward to saddling up and meeting my mom at a local farm to ride over their outdoor trail course. I was set, Doug was watching the girls and I headed down to load up Elvis and hit the road. As fate would have it, Cruiser had injured himself while being turned out in the pasture. He had stepped on himself and had a nasty looking cut about an inch above the coronet band. So instead of hauling Elvis in for a fun afternoon of riding I hauled Cruiser in to the on call vet and had it sutured up. He is on 2 weeks of stall rest. Disappointed and frustrated would be emotions that come to mind. I have my first show, Walla Walla, in 2 weeks and it is out. You just never know what life is going to deal you when it comes to horses.

Shaking off after a refreshing swim.

Okie at work.

Jake and Brody. Jake has been living in our guest house since January and we have thoroughly enjoyed his company and help. The girls love him, the farm critters love him (he feeds in the mornings) and we appreciate all of his help. It is also great to have another guy for Doug to do guy things with like ride motorbikes and shot guns.

Working on the quad.

After I got home and set up Cruiser his his stall I went down to see what Dean, Jake and Doug were doing. Amazingly, they had drug the fallen bridge out of the creek and moved it west a little and we are back in working order! Boys and heavy equipment can accomplish impressive things.

I love Easter. It is probably my favorite holiday of the year. We had a reasonably nice weekend weather wise and were happy to enjoy it outside. The Webb's and the Dunham's are always looking for a good reason to celebrate with a fire.

Christa looking especially beautiful in her darling Easter dress, smart high heeled shoes and sassy pose in the horse manure/ fire pit domain.




Just a couple of good ol' dogs having some fun in the creek.

Pinks Moons and Easter Chicks

Ok, Ok....I know it's been a long time. I will catch you up to date on the past week. As luck would have it, I haven't been able to get a picture of the full moon this month due to cloud cover. Sad but let me tell you, it's called the Pink Moon. This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month's celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn. Have I mentioned I love full moon's?



This week my mom, the girls and I took a drive up the mountain to make sure their cabin was still standing. We took a very short side trip to look at the elk ranch on the way to the cabin. I can't tell you how many elk they had grazing in their beautiful mountain pastures but it was impressive along with the velvet antlers that were starting to blossom from their impressive bodies. WOW! Can't wait to make a regular stop of this place when we visit the mountain. They sell elk meat so we will have to get our hands on some of those tasty treats for summer bbqing.






With that said, not more than 5 miles up the mountain it was like going back in time to January with all the snow. It was easily covering the t-posts. We had to hike into their place and we stepped over their fence line with the kids. The girls got a giant kick out of opening the back door to see what the backyard looked like. What should to their wondering eyes should appear but a solid wall of snow??

But back in the valley it is trying it's hardest to be spring. We had a nice bbq at Dean's of pork and potatoes and sweet treats the women brought. The kids were tickled to play on the rock pile and when the sun went down we took turns spooking each other by pretending the barn was haunted.

Dean has a gorgeous little pond that is stocked with bass and the kids took turns throwing casts unsuccessfully. Looking forward to more chances this summer.

It couldn't be spring without adding to the pecking flock out here. It's hard to say who gets more of a kick out of the chicks and chickens, me or the girls. We have added 4 black sex link chicks, 2 silver laced wyandottes, a sussex, and 4 aracauna's that lay the colored eggs. And the names? Let's see, we have Belle, Jasmine, PECKER, Orea, Stacey, Susie (is it a compliment to have a chicken named after you?? I guess I shouldn't have to ask considering we have one named Jesus.) We also have Easter, Bunny and Lily. I know there are 2 more that I am forgetting.

Hadley is the ultimate mother hen taking care of her chicks. Easing their worries with calming talk. Afternoons in the sun playing. Making sure Kate doesn't strangle them.

Chicks with Chicks

Before all of this spring like weather this week we had a lot of rain. Mother nature had her way with the banks to the creek and our old reliable bridge fell to it's demise in the rushing creek below. You know what the name of this creek is that runs through the middle of our property? Dry Creek. I kid you not. And I promise you it is never dry. So this little project will fall on the shoulders of Doug and Jake to pull out and repair. The white pipe crossing the creek is what allows us to irrigate on this side of the creek so it is imperative we repair it sooner rather than later. We have talked about replacing it with something much bigger and wider that we could ride the horses across and drive a truck or 4 wheeler.

I will leave you with the sad news of the farm. We laid our best buddy of 13 years. Max has been buried in the back yard beneath the Cottonwood and Locust trees. We will plant a tree to mark his place and will never forget the impact he had on our lives.

Worm Moon

As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter.

Making Me Laugh

Ya know, I have to give you a little glimpse into what kind of humor cracks me up. I have a former student from Inglemoor High School in Bothell where I used to work that I have remained in contact with all these years. He cracked me up then and he is still making me laugh today. His humor always reminded me of Seinfeld. And what especially impresses me is his humor is never (around me) vulgar and rarely at someone else's expense. Very rarely do you find someone who can make people laugh while avoiding those two pitfalls in my opinion.

He has a blog that he doesn't write on nearly enough but it chronicles some of his life.

http://www.spap.blogspot.com

Thanks for all the laughs Matto.

Cold Northern Winds and Tasty Eastern Nights

Northern hills and the shop and combine shed

The cistern reflecting the setting sun

The dry creek valley facing east

This is what I would refer to as a very unproductive weekend. Doug is fighting a cold, Kate has a cold and has been coughing and sputtering all night, and I am caught somewhere in the middle. Doug is also on call and has been busy with work. The wind has been howling, cold and hard. There have been threats of snow storms blowing in but at this point we haven't seen any and I hope it remains that way. As the sun set last night, the wind calmed and the sun shone through the valley on it's way out of site for the day. It gave me a glimpse that spring really is trying to break way but we just need to give it a little more time.

The talented cooks
Saturday night Dean and his girlfriend Sara created a real treat for us. Sara planned an entire dinner of East Indian cuisine. YUM!! We always enjoy trying new dishes so when Dean offered to come out here and cook we jumped at the chance! Dean and Sara are both very at home in the kitchen so I eagerly turned over the reins to them and stood by to see what they whipped up. We dined on cauliflower curry, curried spinach and chickpeas, chicken Marsala and my contribution of jasmine rice.

The bounty

I have really enjoyed getting to know Sara. She is smart, funny and so upbeat. Dean is happier than I have ever seen him.

This morning, as I type this, Kate is sitting right next to me eating frozen raspberries from last summers harvest. I had forgotten just how wonderful they smell, even frozen they smell like a bouquet of roses almost. I have so many summer plans for gardens and activities! I don't want to wish away the time we have right now but it gives me something to fill my mind with when the cold wind blows and we are stuck inside.

Adios amigos! Gotta fry up some pancakes for the baby coyotes.

Blissful Wednesday

In spite of intimidating weather reports of a snow storm moving into our area, today was actually quite beautiful.

I was awakened early EARLY by Kate who joined us in bed and spent quite some time discussing Grass and Orange (the cats) and how much she loved them and how cute they were and so on and so on. They both took up residence right on her chest and I asked her several times if she could breath. She was as pleased as could be with their attention and wouldn't consider asking them to move. I finally convinced her to go back to sleep around 5:00 am so I could get a little more sleep before I had to start the day.

Wednesdays are the days I spent 2 hours at Bible Study Fellowship. It is absolutely a shot in the arm in a hectic and crazy world. There are 7 different studies and this year we are studying Moses from the Old Testament. Don't be surprised to hear that Moses is really a fascinating read even though it is what many feel is the "dull" half of the bible. My experience has been quite the opposite. As we are well into our last half of the study year we are so close to the Israelites making it into the promised land we can almost taste it. With the help of a great teaching leader and discussion leaders every week has something fantastic in store.

After BSF, it was just Hadley and I to run errands because Kate had stayed home with Betty. We made a fun stop at Joann's fabric store where Hadley picked up a couple of craft projects that we will do later in the week for fun. Then it was time to head home so Hadley could spend the afternoon with her grandma and I could make a bee line for the horses! It has been so long since I had a good opportunity to RIDE and RIDE I did!! Ahhhh......horses, dogs and the wide open space... nothing quite like it. I rode Elvis and ponied Cruiser along for the sights and the dogs ran to their hearts content. I believe living on a farm has got to be almost every dogs slice of heaven. It was so wonderful to get out and make such a good use of a sunny afternoon.

And with that report, I better go stack wood and prepare for the storm that is supposed to roll in. Until later, Adios!

Post Weekend Report

It has been raining. Raining and blowing. But I won't complain, nope...you're not going to hear any complaints out of me. Because that's not my nature. But I will say if my horses could talk they would probably have a few complaints to offer up. They are tired of the mud. Tired of the blankets. Tired of slop. But they can't talk so we don't need to worry about it.

The weekend was a fun one, if you were Hadley. Saturday morning was beautiful, sunny and chilly. We dressed up and headed into town for the retired teachers teddy bear tea party. We met up with a few friends and other little girls and enjoyed a 4 course tea party. We started with the fruit tray, followed by the tea sandwiches and then came the cookies and tarts plate and lastly the chocolates. The first two were great but I had to pass on the last two because I gave up for lent. I know, I know...why give up something so hard? Well, does it really mean very much if I give up something that is relatively easy?

Yesterday we went to church and Doug was immediately called to provide some medical attention to an elderly church member who had fainted. So I went solo into the sanctuary and enjoyed a sermon by my very favorite Rev Robin Peterson. He is amazing. Keeps me coming back for more. Doug made it for the second half and we both get a lot out of the time we spend listening to Robin.

The church had organized a family evening at the ice chalet and Hadley and I signed up. She loves to skate. We took her little friend from church and we had a great time. Hadley used the assistance of a skating helper, a metal walker of sorts, and by the end she was skating so fast I could hardly keep up with her. I think next year we will sign her up for some skating lessons.

My nephew, David, had a little birthday get together after ice skating to celebrate turning 13. He is a great kid, I can't believe he is a teenager now. Wow. And his brother Michael is already 16. In the blink of an eye it will be Hadley and Kate turning into teenagers. But for the time being, I will enjoy snuggling with them and seeing all the "firsts" that come their way.

Don't Mess with Penny Henny

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!

Well it happened. It finally happened. I was starting to wonder if perhaps Jesus, the most famous chicken in the coup, was a girl or a boy! But she laid an egg. Yes, you heard it here first. She LAID AN EGG!! A little egg, mind you, but an egg just the same. A small white egg. Do you think I could sell it on ebay for a lot of money? How many eggs do you think have been laid out of chickens named Jesus? I am willing to bet a large sum of money this is a rare specimen indeed! In addition to Jesus, some of the other girls are warming up their feathers by spending time sitting on the nests and laying some eggs also as the days grow longer. I had forgotten how much I missed collecting eggs every day. We get 2-3 a day now and it will grow to 6-8 as summer arrives. I plan on adding more hens and chicks to the flock this spring.

Both of my cousins have added new babies to their families in the past month. My cousin, Katy, in Colorado, had a little girl named Allison Taylor to join another sister named Emily. Her brother/my cousin Jeff and his wife Kim, living in Texas, had a little boy on Valentine's Day that they named Benjamin Robert who will join his other brother Matthew. You know what's funny, well at least to me, is all the cousins in our family have 2 kids and they are all the same sex. My sister has two boys, I have two girls, my cousin Katy has 2 girls and now my cousin Jeff has two boys. I am always happy to hear about now additions to our family.

We have someone living in our guest house. He was Doug's medical assistant and we are all enjoying his company. It is especially nice for Doug to have another guy at here at Camp Estrogen. They can do guy things like ride dirt bikes and play Need for Speed on the Wii. Boys will be boys.

Doug's aunt, Karen, was featured on the front page on our local paper to celebrate her contribution to our community by folding origami cranes for people to help brighten their days. She has given a number to our hospital and they have hung them and have said they help the children when they are having procedures done and they can focus on the crane instead of the needles. Below is one of the pictures they used in their article. Congrats Karen!

That is all friends.

Snow Moon

What is it with my mild obsession with the name of the full moon each month? I don't know. Perhaps I have a suppressed fascination with vampires. Anyway, today is the snow moon. I look up the meanings on the farmers almanac and this is what they have to report about this months glory. February: Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult. I know it is going to be beautiful and we will celebrate it by joining my mother in law, Betty, for her birthday celebration. My mother in law, I might add, defies time. She simply doesn't age! I thank God my girls genetic make up seems to weigh heavily on the Dunham side.

Yesterday was a busy day and it was fun to have my sister, Lisa, here. Yes, I do have a sister. Please don't ever EVER tell her "Oh, I didn't know Stacey had a sister!" But anyway, she came out and spent some time with me. She is going back to school and is a stellar student so I appreciated the fact that she took time away from her studies so we could swap meat. Yep, that's what we did. We swapped meat. She traded some of their locally grown hamburger for some of my locally grown pork so her husband could make some summer sausage. He has recently developed a hobby of making stuffed sausage. After we swapped meat, she joined me in an afternoon of making pepper jelly and the results were SO worth it. I love love love the pepper jelly over some cream cheese spread on some crackers. It is so tasty!!

And with that friends, I must go. I have used up my allotted 10 minutes of time today that is not devoted to feeding, cleaning, organizing, picking up, moving, feeding, changing, washing and whatever else I do. Do you think I am kidding?

Back on Track

I wanted to share a few pictures from recent events. The girls had such a good time (along with their parents) at the Portland zoo and Cannon Beach. It was cold at the zoo but spirits were still high. Hadley was so excited to see zebras and Kate liked the giraffe the best. A summer trip to the zoo is a must for this year.

I think I mentioned in the earlier post that my grandpa celebrated his 91st birthday this week. He had a really nice party at the Country Club for friends and family. Someone was kind enough to snap this picture of me and my mom and sister, Lisa.

Saturday was a beautiful winter day on the farm. Doug Lowe came and joined Doug and I for some trap shooting. I can't wait to do some more shooting soon, it was fun!


Saturday night we went to the Evening of Elegance which was a fancy benefit dinner for the local Hospice, an organization Doug supports strongly. It was a special event for sure, we sat at a table with Doug's nurse, Janet and her husband who is on the board for Odd Fellows. After bidding in the silent auction and enjoying some of the valley's BEST wines, we sat down to a four course meal while the live auction took place. You could tell by the generosity of donations this is something others felt passionate about also. As an early Valentine's Day present Doug surprised me by bidding (and winning) a trio of hand made tribal baskets. :)

I am glad Saturday was so beautiful because today is that dreary freezing fog out here and a good day to sit inside and reflect on life, which I might add, is only possible to do because Betty kept the girls overnight.

One Month Closer to Spring

I have taken quite a little break from the blog. I apologize for the vacation. When I am gone so long then there are so many things I feel like I need to report but so little time to write it all down. I will give you the highlights.

* My parents have returned from their trip to Sedona, Arizona. Their horses had lived with us while they were gone and were happy to see them return. They are currently in the process of trying to buy a home in Goodyear. Hopefully that will work for them.

* We had to say good bye to a long long time friend, our 19 year old cat named Haley. She was a fun cat who got us through our college years and made all the moves through our life.

* We took a trip to Portland and Cannon Beach last weekend. It was the first time the girls had been to the coast and I tried to prepare them by explaining several times that this was NOT going to be like Hawaii. The weather ended up being beautiful and mild. They didn't seem to be bothered by the cooler temps, they loved playing on the beach and making sand castles. We had a really nice room right on the water. Downtown was 2 blocks away and it was an easy walk. The food was great, I love seafood and indulged in my favorite....oysters.

* While in Portland we made a trip to Lloyd's Center so Hadley and Kate could see the ice skaters. Hadley especially is infatuated with the beauty of ice skating. On Friday everyone joined me on a trip to Powell's bookstore. I love love love that place!! Oh my gosh! However, as soon as we got inside Hadley pointed and said "MAMA, LOOK!" Great. A little person. Midget. I don't know what the pc thing is to call him but I was thoroughly embarrassed. Hadley didn't mean any harm, she just doesn't get to see that kind of variety in people on the farm. And then we took the girls to the zoo, it was surprisingly fun considering the cold temps. I will share pictures later. Before we headed out of town we took Doug to the Triumph motorcycle dealership in Beaverton and drooled over some high dollar street bikes.

And with the kids bouncing off the wall and "playing" the piano I will take my cue that I need to finalize this post and look forward to staying on top of the farm life in blog form from here on out.
* My grandpa celebrated his 91st birthday at the Country Club on Wednesday with about 50 friends and family members. It was so fun to see all of their friends and everyone enjoyed a slide show of his life and family. My grandparents are amazing people.

That should pretty much bring you up to speed of the high lights. Forgive me if I forgot something.

Feelings of Accomplishment

Don't you love it when you get something done...something that you can see and shows for your effort? I have had feelings of ambition in the last week or two and have been wanting to put some different flooring in our laundry room for quite some time so I thought this would be a good place to direct my energy. It was an old concrete floor that was always cold and it needed to be repainted so I just picked up a few boxes of those stick down tiles from Home Depot and away we went! We, meaning me and myself. It feels good to have a mini face lift in the laundry room and now I am looking at the back entry way and our upstairs bathroom. I love love love the look of real tile but I realize my skills are not what they should be to take on such an advanced project so I will just be happy with what I have got right now.

The second photo also gives you a glimpse of the small princess dress wardrobe that the girls share. Who'd a thunk I would have two little girls that would love to dress up?? I swear to you, I never even owned a Barbie doll! But back the floor...looks good huh??

And with these exceptionally warm days I spent a good bit of time cleaning out my car and cleaning off the patio and raking wayward leaves and just enjoying being outside. It was 60 today and I was outside working in a tank top. Isn't that crazy? However, Kate can always top me when it comes to crazy. She was "helping" me hose off the welcome mat and next thing you know she is giving herself a shower under the hose and it soaking wet. It took quite awhile before she could be convinced it wasn't quite warm enough for such thing.

No matter how much I love to cook I never seem to learn that I really need to READ THE DIRECTIONS THOROUGHLY!! I had planned on preparing the leg of lamb last night for dinner but than I actually started reading through the directions and realized I needed to a) butterfly the meat and b) marinate it for 24 hours. Ok, I had to get my dear, extremely talented friend Brooke Maloney on the horn right away. What the heck is a butterflied leg of lamb?? She has answered COUNTLESS cooking questions for me in the past and I know there will be just as many in our future. She is AMAZING! She is a fantastic cook, really. I want her to move to Walla Walla and knock the socks of the wine community with her cooking. But that's kind of off topic isn't it?? The point is, my leg of lamb is wallowing in olive oil, garlic, lemon, rosemary and other tasty herbs just waiting for me to grill it up tonight.

That's all friends. Gotta get out and feed the horses before the sunsets.

Wolf Moon

Did you see it? Wasn't it amazing? Oh, I shuttered as I watched it crawl up over the Blue Mountains last night to show it's intense beauty. What was it?? The wolf moon! The wolf moon is the name of the January full moon named for the hungry winter wolf packs howling at the village edge of the Native Americans. Oh how I love a full moon.

And that, friends, is the most exciting thing I have to report...isn't that great? No flooding. However, all the flooding on the coast brings back vivid memories of the floods we endured when we lived right next to the Pilchuck Rive in Snohomish where we lived when Doug was in medical school at University of Washington. And the lay night drives his parents made to help us gather our belongings and stay with us to boast morale when we worried that all of our material things would float away. Thank God for higher ground!!

The sun is actually shining right now and the weather is mild. I love it. It is a shot in the arm. My parents are continuing to enjoy a restful and fun month in Sedona Arizona. It is great they get away every year at this time so they can enjoy the better things in life.

I have been cooking up some great stuff here. We had a really yummy chicken stir fry recipe from www.thepionnerwoman.com . A round steak from this years deer was also on the menu, a recipe also modified from her website. Tonight we are going to have a leg of lamb from a local farm. I haven't had lamb in a million years and I don't recall ever having leg of lamb so this should be interesting. Yesterday I made a fresh salsa when my sister and nephew came to visit. I think we knocked back most of the salsa and chips before the sunset. I am in the mood to COOK! Too bad I am not in the mood to EXERCISE!!

Ok, that's all. Gotta get back to running this joint. They are lost without me.

Shimmering January Morning

So I thought perhaps we had seen the last of our bitter cold winter weather but I was in for a little shock Saturday morning when I woke up to more snow. It was a nice dusting, the temps colder than anticipated but we had grown accustomed to it in December so I just pulled my snow boots on and trudged on. Saturday night I had the Mountain States Quarter Horse banquet in Pasco at the TRAC. My friend Tara joined me for the drive over. We stopped by Columbia Center and returned a couple of things and then went over to my friend Cathy's for a cocktail before we met up with horse show buddies for a year end celebration. The evening was fun, I enjoyed visiting with my buddies and I came home with 3 awards. I have to laugh though, one of the awards was a buckle for high point Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. They had made a rather major mistake by adding a Paso Fino for the English horse. Ummmm....no. They are sending all the English buckles back. The halter horses look something like a halter horse being shown by some man showing pigs. Instead of a lead shank he is holding a stick. So I am glad I didn't work all year just to end up with something like that! I got a very nice pair of cordless Laube clippers that I am looking forward to using and a saddle blanket carrier.

We had a couple of hunters staying in our guest house this week. They made us dinner twice and it was fun to go down and visit over a few glasses of wine and enjoy a really well made dinner. John is a fantastic cook and he made an elk meatloaf with turnips and then we had a pheasant stir fry another night. They headed out this morning after a week long of hunting. The bitter cold spell we had has been hard on the animals on the farm including the pheasants. They said many are missing their tail feathers which is the result of them being sluggish and weak and coyotes getting close to filling their bellies.

New Years was fun. Betty watched the girls. She took them to Milton-Freewater for a light show with her friend Marcia. The girls loved it. And that was followed by a serious game of hide and seek in Betty's house with flash lights. I can only imagine the thrill that must have been. Kate and Hadley are amazingly brave. But while they were having a wild time we were making a few stops at different friends house to bring in the new year. We finished up at the Kimball's with a lot of fun playing 4-5-6. Whew!!

This morning we awoke to some of the most beautiful frost I have ever seen. It was wind swept so it stood about an inch on the northeast side of all the branches and shimmered in the morning sunshine. Despite the beauty, the temps in teens called for another round of hauling water and dragging out the trough heaters and running extension cords. I have my mom's horses out here while they winter in Sedona so I have two more animals relying on my ability to keep things running smoothly. They are great guests.

Christmas In My Rear View Mirror

We are faced with about 20" of snow and freezing temps daily. I can't remember the last time we had snow for Christmas. I think it must have been in the early 90's when Doug and I were in college. I know I am among the few but I really love this weather. It is different and challenging but despite having to haul water for horses and goats and chickens it makes me feel alive and invigorated.

Christmas eve was spent in with at my aunt and uncles house with my family. They always host a beautiful dinner. Candles, good wine, lovely china and warm lighting...it is a lovely evening that can be topped by few. My grandma looked memorable in her new sweater and I enjoyed a glass of wine while visiting with my grandma about the price of hay while looking out on icicles hanging at least 4' outside the window. The roads were as slick as could be but well worth the drive into town. I try to rarely miss an opportunity to spend time with my family.
The girls were radiant in the dresses Hadley picked out this Christmas season. I try to get them something special to wear and they LOVE to spin around and show off at every holiday event. I was surprised Hadley broke out of the tradition of matching pinkish dresses and opted for something elegant in black and gold. It was a challenge to get them to settle down for a picture and after a couple of shots Kate was becoming something that resembled more of a burglar than a Christmas sweetheart.

Here and gone in the blink of an eye. Everyone's dreams came true. Well, at least for Hadley. She got the chest xray she had been dreaming of. She also got a blue "diamond" she had asked for but it was nearly as exciting as I think she had dreamed. Mostly because budget and dreams didn't necessarily match up. And lastly, she got her accordion and is making beautiful polka music. Ahhhh...life is good.

After the sunset on Christmas day, we rolled down to Betty's to fill our bellies with the traditional comfort foods. Doug's aunt joined us from town.

With Christmas already behind us, I spent Friday filling water troughs by bucket because our stand pipes are frozen. What a drag!! And then we got one unthawed but didn't have enough hoses to run to the troughs from its location so I hauled buckets with the pick up to fill up Cruiser's trough. Elvis will have to wait for another day, he has a couple days worth of water left. While I was filling their troughs I let them out on the pasture to romp around. Cruiser just looks like an accident waiting to happen. He just looks like he is trying to find trouble and I can't relax so he lives a more sheltered life than I would like. Elvis, on the other hand, has lived in countless situations from running with bucking horses in the mountains to life on the open range with other groups of horses so he poses little stress for me. He is tolerant of Cruiser and his obnoxious ways, just one more reason I love them.

After 32 days of work, Doug finally signed out for the weekend. Signing out means he lets the on call doctors cover his in patients and he can mentally let go of care giving. Even when he is not officially in the office he has their needs and concerns on his mind because he might receive a call regarding the patient in the hospital at any time during the day. That also means he needs to be of sound mind (no beer!) and within 15 minutes of the hospital in case he needs to go in. Whew!! He deserves a long vacation.

So we wrap up this Friday with disc 2 of our new favorite series, The Office. This is the funniest series since Seinfeld. Check it out. Because I just got turned on to it by my sister I am getting caught up with seasons gone by from discs from netflix.

Feliz navidad amigos!