Let’s Journey into the New Year

As the New Year comes upon us, my time here in the snowy winter wonderland draws to a close as we will be heading south to the Salton Sea in Southern California  for the rest of the winter.  But before going I wanted to share a little look back into our life here this past month before we journey into the New Year. 

 

Early in December I had this helicopter intrude upon my privacy.
Could have been taking some sort of scans or photos.
He was making grid work sweeps.

 

We’ve had not so much snow so far this year.  Only about 1 foot, compared to 2 1/2 feet last year at this time.  But the new snow plow and way less snow was such a relief on both my hubby’s body as well as mine.  Way more time also to do other things during the day instead of constantly clearing snow.

 

And what do we do with our extra time.  Nothing like cutting firewood
and burning all the branches during the season where fires are
welcome to help keep warm while working or taking a lunch break.

 

Another fun day with a  tree that didn’t fall the right direction or even fall for that matter.   In the middles of the lower right photo shows the tree still upright yet cut right through as it got caught on a bunch of other trees.  So in the upper left photo, I am in the big old 4X4 truck with a cable running around trees to pull the log to the left of where it is.  The top right photo I have manage to pull the log all the way down to a level area.  The back of the truck was originally where the butt of the log is now, so I pulled it about 25 feet.  In the lower left photo you can see why it got hung up to start with.  The dead tree was just full of branches.  Now that the old truck isn’t being used for plowing it makes a great winter woods truck, with the chains on all 4 tires.

 

Christmas day was just hubby and I along with Cole
who we were dog sitting for the Christmas holiday.  2 whole weeks without going into town or having company or a parties during this holiday.  So that made it very relaxing as well.  Yeah!  I made it without any back, neck, shoulder or arm pain.  No complaints right now.  My body is doing good.

 

Since Cole was here I was going for walks every late afternoon after 3pm.  Somehow during this time all the photos I took come out blue.  I have had this happen many times before when we have snow on the ground and it begins to get dark.  I always love the the effect it has.

 

With Cole by my side I was tromping on all my old trails.  Here we are taking the very narrow trail that runs along the creek on a steep hillside.  On the left photo you can see my boot in the lower right corner showing how it drops right off to the creek below.  The trail is only about 2 feet wide.

 

After crossing the foot bridge we leave the creek and head
into the forest and break new trails through the snow.

 

Cole is part of our family when here.  He was first brought to us to dog sit when he was only 6 months old and we had just said our goodbyes to our old dog Buster only 1 week before.  Cole was a godsend during my time of grief for my Buster and has continue to bring joy every time he visits for over 4 years now.  Some of you may remember Buster and my blog the day he passed was also a Blue Day on November 8 2008 .  Somehow we just haven’t been ready for a new dog yet.  When it’s right it will just happen.

 

So Cole and I have been having a ball exploring the forest around me.  I even tried to do an angel in the snow.  Problem is I couldn’t get up without messing my angel up too much.  Then just when I did get up Cole wanted to stomp all over my angel.   Ah…. to be a kid again.  

 

I never did get my new batteries for my camera that I ordered last time I was in town.  So often when I have tried to use the zoom the lens wouldn’t go back in.  So many of the photos for this blog were taken with my very first digital camera also an Olympus, much older model Camedia with 3.2 megapixel.  I am waiting till we get down south to start looking for a new camera.  There just aren’t any stores around where I live to check them out.  This little bird was taken from inside my window.

 

We will have lots of work the next couple of weeks to close the house up for the winter.  Packing and a million details to take care of like cutting back all my still wonderful blooming geraniums and a few other hardy flowering plants in the greenhouse.  I will take these plants along with the palm tree and oleander and wrap them up with a light cover to help insulate a little more.  Usually when we really get extreme cold the sun is out to heat the greenhouse for those really cold nights.  3 years now we have manage to keep all the plants over the winter with no heat.  As you can see my tomato plant in the upper right photo looks just pathetic.  It has had aphids for a couple months now.  Any good gardener would have thrown them out of the greenhouse, but I just couldn’t as they were still loaded with tomatoes.  Still harvesting to date.  To protect the rest of the plants I have had to spray them like crazy to keep them from getting infected.  Always good to do anyway as when they come from outside they tend to bring all those pests with them.

 

Well time is drawing near where we will make this last drive on our country dirt road that takes us into town.  I love the drive in the winter as all the potholes are filled with snow and the scene is completely different.  The bridges on the road are only single lane and the creek run along this very windy narrow road with often steep drop offs.  But I have been driving it for over 20 years now with 13 Kilometers before connecting with the highway which then goes to town.

 

 

The closer to town I approach the less snow there is.  By the time I hit the highway the road can be bare.  Often town has no snow, while we will have it the entire winter as we are considerably higher in elevation.  This particular day I was given a beautiful show of the sun trying to break through the clouds.

 

It’s only another 8 klms on the highway to town.  I often go the whole way without seeing another car.  Just rolling hillsides of ranch land.

 

Well the holidays are over as is my winter hibernation coming to and end soon.  I won’t have internet for the next 3 months.   I will try and get a couple blogs out through the library.  We have no TV or internet while down south.  I will have time for reading  some books and spend lots of time being social with friends and community events as well as our never ending landscaping projects.

So may you also  journey in the New Year with
health, happiness and most of all love
and have a
Good Morning …Good Afternoon…Good Night….
What ever it is to you.

Photo & Words
by
Here I Am Carrie

Creativity to Christmas

Well it has been a very busy past month and more so with finally taking the time to be creative with my many photos in so many different ways.  I have been up many a late night trying to squeeze all this extra work into my already busy days.  So just a little view of all my creativity I have been up to the last month and more.
  Also ending this blog with a very special merry Christmas video I  created from many of my winter photos and Christmas scenes.

But first lets get in the winter spirit.  We are late getting snow this year but it is coming now.  I finally look out my window at a winter wonderland which has help to put me in the Christmas spirit. 

My winter wonderland view and a little more.

 

My New Website
click on link below
 Creations by Here I Am/Carrie

You can keep updated with all my new creations with Greeting Cards, Books, Videos, Blogs and more.   I am using this free website for sharing all my creations in one place which has wonderful templates for almost whatever you may want to share.   This site is through the company Shutterfly where I also have my photos printed.  Unfortunately they are not set up for selling what you create without paying for a professional fee.  So right now what ever I make through their company such as my book Expressions of Nature or Calendar, I make no profit from it.  But I love the use of their share site to create my website for sharing everything from my many other websites all for free.  You can always find this link on all my blog sites.
Below is just a photo I took of my new home page.

 

Greeting Cards
I am finally making greeting cards with my photos instead of just sending them by e-mail.  For Christmas I made homemade ones as well as use some recycled Christmas cards and added my photos, but hope to have a site in the future where I can order ones I create and later sell  from the internet.   I am taking baby steps on this whole process, so I will first feel the market out in local craft sales and flea markets.  Also am doing a lot of research regarding suppliers of material for doing my own cards or having them printed with my photos  ready for sale.  Just weighing the costs of everything to find the best way to sell my cards and make them affordable yet profitable either on personal sales or on the internet.  Any suggestions on this process would greatly be appreciated.
My Christmas Greeting Cards

  

I also created book marks with a quote I made up and on the back my website location.  These I included with my greeting cards I sent for Christmas.

 

Books
I have also been busy creating books.  I am mostly doing the books for gifts and possible sales locally or at craft or flea markets. The costs of shipping and purchasing only one books is so expensive for an individual to purchase through the internet.  But feel free to have a look if you haven’t already.  Anyone thinking of doing a book checkout Blub they have a great free downloadable program for creating your book on your computer that you upload when complete and can then purchase a copy and sell with profit if you want to, otherwise a great way to preserve something special to you.  In the program you can slurp your blogs here from many blog sites right into the book, however I found I had to do a great deal of formatting to get the look I wanted.    My book at Shutterfly (Expressions of Nature) I make no profit from I only made the book through them as I had a coupon special for a free book.  Here the book is done on the internet using their templates which can also be changed a great deal.
click on link below to view entire book
My photo book Expressions of Nature
Below is just a photo of the cover of the book.  I apologize for the poor picture I was in a hurry and ended up with glare on the right side. 

 

Below is a link to my book from my blogs God’s Garden of Nature a way to preserve my blog in book form.  I hope in the future to have it available in E-book.

God's Garden o...

From the blogs of H...

By Carrie Nienierza

Book Preview

 

Calendar
Here are photos of my pages on my
Calendar I created for myself.  Again I so apologize for the poor qualities photos I took of my calendar.  Trying to get so much done to fast. 

Below is January – November

Below is the last month December

Camera
With all this extra creativity going on I realize I do need to take a step up with my little point and shoot camera and go to something I can do more with.  After much thought I have however decided against a DSLR camera as I just can’t justify the cost of all the lenses I would need.  I have always wanted a camera with a longer zoom  and  have manual setting as well.  So I am looking into the  new generations of power zoom cameras that will enable me to at least get better shots of the wildlife here without  packing so much extra gear.  My choices are The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 with a 24X zoom or one of the Canon Powershots SX40HS with a with a 35x zoom or the SX50 with a 50x zoom.  Please if anyone has any comments on the subject let me know.  I know nothing about cameras except the bit of research I have done.  I have always been happy with my little Olympus point and shoot I have had for 4 years and probably taken over 10,000 photos with it and it still gives me some really great photos.

 

Coyote and Whiskey Jacks
My camera does lack when it comes to wildlife I try and get in our field from my house, this is a coyote.
 

These whiskey jacks were taken
from inside my house through my window.

Smoking Salmon
Hubby has also been busy creating his yearly smoked salmon.

Firewood
My poor old 1978 Datsun truck has been getting a real workout with loads of firewood.  We almost have 2 shed filled now.  We have 3 different stoves in different building so even if we aren’t here all winter we need lots of firewood.

 

My Merry Christmas Video to all of you.
Heaven on Earth
I end this very long blog now with my latest video created to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas with winter scenes of our place. Starting up our driveway with surrounding scenes. As evening approaches and the lights come on in our home you will be taken inside for a glimpse of a country Christmas inside then the next day continue your journey back down and out the driveway. Be sure to have your Audio on.

So wishing  everyone a very
Blessed Christmas
and a
Happy New Year
filled with Hope, Health and most of all Love.
Any may you always have a
Good Morning…  Good Afternoon…  Good Night…
What ever it is to you.
Photo & Words
by
Here I Am/Carrie

 

The Last of Fall as Winter Approaches

Winter is just around the corner so I have kept busy trying to get done all the yard work before the snow comes including getting the garden all harvested and ready for winter. 

With a few days of snow then rain and bad weather
it has been hard to get out and work the beds as they were so wet.  But we did manage to get 3 beds of potatoes harvested along with carrots, onions and still have a bit of lettuce under cover.  I have been busy racking leaves every few days and using them to mulch the garden plots that I have spread chicken manure with straw and wood chips then hand turned the plots.  As we no longer cut our hay I don’t have bales to use for covering the garden in the winter like I use to.  Also here is a little view of the garden and our fields and creek from the rock bluff above us.

But now with all the ornamental trees that have matured over the years that we planted I have so many leaves to rack everywhere.

These trees and bushes are now providing
such beautiful fall color in and around our yard.

On even a dull day when I look out the window
they can bring a ray of light.

 

We had just a week of below freezing weather early in October but it has been above freezing for almost 2 weeks now
extending the color in the yard.  However the rain has now taken most the leafs from the trees.

 

Yes we have had our share of rain, but was much needed in the ground as we hadn’t had rain for 2 months before.

But the day before the rains hit, the weather was like a summer day on October 11 so we went for a bike ride.  Our first together in almost 2 years as hubby had given his bike away.  I finally just bought a new one for him.  I had to walk a lot as my back had been soar from the extra digging in the garden, but it was well worth it to have gone anyway to experience this beautiful trail near my town.

I also had a plum dandy day
with canning the many plums we harvested

Of course this is the time of the year for getting firewood.  While out a couple of weeks ago hubby and I were pulling logs from the forest.  I had felt pretty good with my back so I went to help. I always do all the log chocking.  That is running the cables to the logs and getting them wrapped around the ends so hubby can pull them out with the tractor.   The cables seemed so much heavier to me this year.  As usual many logs were very difficult to pull out to where they could be cut to 12 foot lengths and loaded with tractor on to the back of our flat deck truck.  We would sometimes spend an hour to get one log out through other standing trees, over stump and rocks.   There were still about 2 or 3 logs left further in the forest away from the road when we were done for the day.  Hubby said he would have to think about how we would get them out.  I finally spoke up and said if you have to think about it, then we are leaving the trees and just let them rot.  We have so many dead standing tree that are easy to get to, but for years he has always gotten every single one no matter how difficult.  Well those days are over.  Nature can now have some dead trees to replenish the ground with.

On a bad note just the next day the clutch went in the tractor.  It was on hubbies list to fix this past summer just never got around to it.  Makes getting firewood more difficult as everything has to be cut right away into small pieces and walked to the truck and thrown in.  Some of these logs are almost 2 feet across and very heavy.  Hubby is now experiencing back and neck problems as well.  So now instead of spending the whole day on fire wood he only spend a couple hours.  It’s not easy for him to slow down, I have to be after him all the time.  We had the tractor taken into town to be fixed.  Hubby did the job 15 years ago, but I said better have someone else do it then him hurt himself trying or the weather turning bad and only have outside to work in.  Better no money and be healthy.

And what better way to stay healthy then with a new batch of my rhubarb wine I have just started.

Well we finally got ourselves a new snow plow.  After hubby insisted the new front hitch that was purchased for it didn't fit and left to go get firewood, I had a look at the instructions and figured out what had to be removed to get it on.  In less then an hour I had the front hitch all installed.  Hubby was shocked to see what I had done.  Later hubby got the rest of the snow plow put together and it is now on the truck and ready to try out.  I only hope it works.  This will be the first proper snow removal equipment we have ever had for our driveway.  We have struggled for over 20 years trying different ways with no spending money.  Another expense, but it gives me so much piece of mind.

In between all this I have tried to get visits in to all my fellow bloggers.  I also finally completed a book of Volume 1 of my blog God’s Garden of Nature through blurb.com.  It required so much formatting that took a lot of concentration.  I also did a quick other book through shutterfly.com as I had a special for a free 8X8 book.  It is called Expressions of Nature with just photos.  Anyway these projects and more that I have going have been taking up more of my computer time.  I will share my books with you soon. 

Until then one last blow of a puff ball

And have a
Good Morning…  Good Afternoon…  Good Night…
Whatever it is to you.

Photo & Words
byHere I Am/Carrie

 

Goodbye to Autumn Beauties

My sunflowers with your bright smiling faces
you kiss the sky.
With stalks so strong, reaching up ever so high.

 

You come in many sizes and shapes,
with colors shining like the sun.
Making every day you were here a summer filled with fun.

 

You opened your hearts to the insect world,
providing nectar for all that came.
Always attracted by your brilliant flame.

 

Your intricate folds and designs ever changing
as you put on a new face every day,
knowing that you could not forever stay.

 

As the season changes your glorious face begins to fade.
Replaced by seeds of life, soon to be laid.

 

Now feeding birds and squirrels alike,
happiness and food again you bring.
So faded is your face, but seeds you provide till spring.

 

So even though your smiling faces are gone,
a part of your memory will always remain,
knowing when summer comes you will smile again.
Author Here I Am/Carrie

In Loving Memory

Also gone forever in this season of life is Wildflower.
1996-September 24th 2012

She faded away to sleep forever cradled in my arms.
Over the rainbow she went to forever hunt
in fields filled with mice.

 

Fall is here and the season is truly changing.  The trees are loosing leaves more due to lack of water at this time.  We so could use some rain in our area.
It’s been a very hectic past few weeks with hubby injuring his neck and being out of commission for a week or so, then I was gone 6 days to a family wedding where I was caught up in lots of work and constant running around in my vehicle, then home to deal with Wildflower and a couple days of out of town appointments. 

We had our 1st problem with a bear in 20 years.  I am sure it was the young one I chased off last spring.   He invaded our fruits tree one night without our knowledge getting a taste of the forbidden fruit.  So he came back every night.  We did pick all the eating apples then, but had left the crab apple tree.  He had already broken fences, a gate and many branches on the trees.   My hubby spent 2 nights in the vehicle parked, the first night just shot over his head, but when he returned the next night he tried to shot at him, but the bear ran away into the night.   As there really are not any apples left on the tree, I don’t think he will be back any more this fall, however he now will be a problem and will have to be eliminated.  The damage he does to the fruit trees is too extensive. 

As the days have been so beautiful sunny and just warm enough with cold frosty nights I am finally feeling all the tension from the past few weeks leave me to enjoy the peace and quiet I so need here at the ranch.  My body is feeling the aches and pains again from harvesting and preparing garden beds for the winter.  However the time spent outside breathing the fresh air and feeling the sun on body still makes it all worth while.

May you also find peaceful times to recharge
and have a
Good Morning…   Good Afternoon…   Good Night…
What ever it is to you.

Photos & Words
by
Here I Am/Carrie