A Big Day for Tiler

Look at this smile, he is so proud of this new

driving permit and I am just plain worried!!

Is he really old enough to drive??

At least he is tall enough to reach the peddles.

The Christmas Tree 2008

I was going to try and get away with no tree this year but guess what!!

Sophie came over the week before Christmas.....so the tree goes up.

I gave Jen all the memorable Christmas decorations years ago,

so I have a small tree. It is already sparkly , so I only put little frosted balls

and birds on it. That is all I need......WRONG!!

Sophie was very upset that I stuck one of

the little birds on the top of the tree.

She said there had to be an angel or a star and that was that!!

So we made a star.

It is only red construction paper but

we think it is a very nice star, it will

probably last for many years.

We agreed that we would put some glitter on it next year.

As you can see, it made her very happy!!

Sophie's Christmas Progam

Here are some pictures of Sophia's

Christmas Program at her school. She is in the first grade

at The Church of Joy Christan School and she

loves to sing. She also had a speaking part

and did an excellent job.

I do not have pictures of the program itself

because the pictures are always of such bad quality when

the lights are down. I feel lucky to have these pictures.

Tiler is always happy to attend his sisters events.

Sophia does not like loudness, she is like me in this way.


I love to look at the expressions on the
kids faces while they wait for the program to start.

I especially like this one.

Life’s Little Pleasures!!

This is just one more thing that makes me so happy.

My little herb garden on my patio.

I have tried to grow herbs other times in my life but never had success,

especially in the summer.

Now I know it is easy!!

That is if you have a good source of water.

Since I installed my little drip system on my patio

growing has become so much easier and the herbs have become my favorite.

On Thanksgiving I was able to just go out and pick some for my stuffing

and today I had fresh sage, rosemary and thyme for my pork roast gray.

The best part is at Thanksgiving there was no running around to every grocery store in town

to get the herbs at the last minute…just to fine out everyone was OUT of fresh sage.

This is what I have growing right now,

lemon thyme, common thyme, sage, rosemary, curly leaf parsley, Italian parsley and sweet basil.

I planted these the first of November and am curious to see how they grow year around.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

So most of you will have tons of photos of a beautiful table setting, lots of gorgeous food and all the wonderful people that you invited over to celebrate Thanksgiving.

I also had some wonderful people over, my little family.

We had a lot of good food and a lot of dishes,

which Jen did most of . There was also a lot of football,but not a lot of pictures.

There is one video on

my new video bar at the top right that I would like to share.

I wanted a short video to show how tall Tiler is getting.....but since

my family is super hyper-active, after dessert it

got a little out of control.

Oh!! How Wonderful

It was raining when I got up this morning!!

You probably know that it only rains at my

house a few days a year.

So I enjoy it so much!!

Maybe my Rain Lily will bloom.

If it does you know I will take a picture of it.

Up-Date on the Snake

OK, so I obsessed about the snake.

I looked on the Internet and in every field guild I have,until I found it.

It is a Night Snake, gets only 12" to 24" long and of course

is nocturnal and is rarely seen....so I guess he

will not be much company for me!!

Don't worry....he is harmless, I think!!

Look what I found.

Right in my backyard!!

I picked up a stepping stone....

and there he was.

What a treat!!

He is very tiny and immediately started to curl up.


I don't know if he was curling up to strike or
to hide?? He did not move from this position
while I was taking pictures.....but when
I went to get a jar to put him in,
he got away.

Do you know what he is??
At first I thought he was a rattle snake (no rattles yet) but
now I think he is just a garter snake.

When I first moved in this house, a had a small
garter snake that lived in my little rock river.
I would see him from time to time,
it didn't bother me....but one night when it rained, he got
between the screen and and glass door.
When I opened the door it must have scared him
and he jumped right in the house.
I got him out with a pair of spaghetti thongs.
After my first year here, I did not see
that snake again.

I am going to go look for this little one again,
I think he may be under that rock in the picture.
He is so little I do not see him going very far.

If it is a garter snake I will be very happy....I could
use the company!!!!

Picking Apples in Colorado

As most of you know, I go to Colorado twice a year to visit my family on the ranch.

This year I got there just in time for the first frost.

That means apple pick'en time.

I was more then happy to be involved in this task!!

My sister Janet, hard at work!!

The hornets decided this would be a good place
to build a home.



Part of the harvest.
The snow on the mountain in the background
came the night before.



Yes, that is Dad up in the tree.
He is going to be 88 next month but he
doesn't let that stop him.


Most of these apples are off of one tree.
They are Organic Heirloom Macintosh.

Mom cookin' some up to make applesauce.
She is the pro!!

Dad giving us a hand.


It was gooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!

At Least Finished

Just a little project, but at least finished!!!

You know I have trouble getting things finished
I have been working on this design for awhile
and decided to finish it even though it is
not exactly what I pictured.

Here is something else I finished,

a baby doll quilt and pillow.

Soon it will be living at Sophie's house.

Sleep Over

Sophia spent the night with me.

She still seems like a baby to me.

Especially at bath time......but then

sometimes she seems all grown up.

Like when she shows me what she has learned

at Cheer Leading Class.

It is hard to believe!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Weekend with the Grandkids

Well, we waited all weekend for this tooth to fall out

but it didn't. It fell out Monday morning and I missed it.

Sophie and I had a tea party.

So you ask where is Tiler??

He is trimming the front yard to make

and extra buck!!

I cannot believe he is this big/old to run and

electrical device that could hurt you!!

The First Day of my Weekend

My friend Toni and I decided life was too boring so we

went down the Verde River with 40 other people.

Not really my style, you know I like the NO PEOPLE PLACES!!

But it was so much fun!!!

It turned out to be a little more wild than

we expected, this was our first river.....

and it had rapids, A LOT OF RAPIDS!!!

Too bad I forgot my memory card at home

or I would have more good pictures...

or maybe not, I really didn't have time to take pictures.

This leg of the river was 10 miles,

we were so tired and we could not wait to get our hands on the Ibuprofen bottle.

The Second Day of My Weekend

I had not planned on kayaking on Sunday
because I thought I would be too tired from the river trip.
I was OK, so off I went!!

I first went to Woods Canyon Lake,

it was not far off the highway. There were so many

people there I thought I would not like it.

But... it was not bad, it was pretty big

for a northern lake.

Most of the people were on shore fishing and letting their kids

run a muck and make all kinds of noise. But some where

in boats since they rent them there.

These girls caught a fish and were happy to pose for

a picture. I witnessed a lot of fish being caught here.

I guess that is why the crowd.

If there is a quiet place I can always find it.

At the left end of the lake there were NO PEOPLE!!!

It was a hike on foot and the water was to shallow for most boats

so I was all alone.

It was pretty here but I had to move on,
I was pretty far from the camp and had more

stops to make.



Next I stopped at Bear Canyon Lake, a little
disappointing because you could not put your boat in.
You can only hike to it, only 1/4 of a mile
but down a step hill.

But coming to this lake was worth it.
I have only seen three Tarantulas in my
life, in the wild, and this one was a beauty!!




Knoll Lake

My third stop and it was getting late in the day so
I did not get to stay at this lake as long as I would have liked.
Since it is 20 miles on a dirt road not many people come here.


It was a beautiful lake with a large island in the middle.
I kayaked around the island and then had to go.
I was almost out of gas in the truck so I could not go
back the way I came. I used my map and took the
Rim Road (303) back to camp 24 more miles on
a dirt road, boy are we dirty, my kayak and me!!
That is another blog!!!

Garden Day

Today was my garden day. I had not been to the garden in a few

weeks and how everything had grown. There are a few things that grow

exceptionally well here in the summer and one of those things is

Okra.

This is Red Okra.

The bloom.

The pod.


The plant.

The Silent Lake

I only had one day to go up North but what a beautiful day it was.

This is looking over to Anderson Mesa. You can see the

San Francisco Peaks in the back,

they are near Flagstaff and are the highest in Arizona.

There is a sign on my way to Lake Mary it says Kinnikinick Lake 9 miles.

I have been wanting to see what a Kinnikinick Lake looks like.

So it looks like this.

It was a pleasant surprise to arrive at this lake.
The road was dirt but not bad to travel.
There were only a handful of fishermen at this lake, it was so peaceful.


Even though it was a little muddy in spots and a little wavy from a breeze.


It had a very pretty shoreline with some interesting plants and trees.

I will try to make this long story short!!

When I got to the far end, there was a dam, I got out of my kayak and walked up on top.
I never do this, it must have been fate!!!

What did I see??

I could not believe it!!

It was another lake.

This lake was clear blue and perfectly still, there was not one person there.

You know how much I love...... NO PEOPLE!!

I had to go!!!!!! It was like a dream!!!!!

I hustled back to my kayak and across lake Kinnikinick.
I loaded up in the truck and starting down the little road to the East;
this was a terrible road, it took me forever, only going 1-5 miles an hour.
The road had big rocks and holes, I didn't want to hurt my truck,
you know how much I love it!!
Luckily it was only a little over 1 mile to that lake.
When I got there it was very primitive, no parking lot and no boat ramp, NOTHING!

THAT'S A GOOD SIGN!!!!!

When I was putting in I scared 5 Great Blue Herons
and they flew across the lake, what a beautiful sight!!

I started to paddle out and then I stopped........

I realized it was totally silent here, not just quiet but silent.

The Silent Lake!!!

I stayed at this lake as long as I could, enjoying the peace that it had to offer.

When I got home I looked up the name of the lake, the real name is Morton Lake, but I like my name best.