Spring Moments 2014

Well another couple of months have passed filled with so much more then I can even begin to share.  Life is full, what can I say.

Now I am sure I had told myself I wasn’t going to garden or do flowers this summer as I knew I had a lot of other work projects that really needed attention, but once a gardener always a gardener, I just couldn’t stop myself.  In the greenhouse I soon had it filled with every pot with starting seeds and creating hanging baskets.

Soon the rains came along with melting snows and rising waters.  We had our road washed out at one point and lost a stretch of our fencing which we had only replaced a few years ago,  other then that we were lucky and not major damage.

Another year older and a beautiful birthday was spent having breakfast on the deck, then going for a bike ride just up our dirt road.

Well is wasn’t long after returning from our winter home down south that soon all our woodsy friends starting appearing to greet us for the spring.

Now I know many of you are probably wondering what is happening with that little acreage we bought last winter.   Well amazing how life’s paths can change.  Seem our tenant moved out of our rental in town right on the river that we have own for 20 years and we decided to not rent it anymore and was thinking we would sell it.  Well after spending a couple of nights and enjoying the private backyard and being right in town yet right on the edge of nature we may just have a complete change of retirement location.  We haven’t even had a chance to spend at the new property as any extra time is now spent at the house in town cleaning it and trying to get the yard green again.  Many repairs need to be done there.  News and photos of there coming next blog.

When the days warmed up and the grass turned green life was good here at the ranch with all the fruit trees blossoming and the garden ready for planting.

What ‘s spring without some spring flowers and this year I was blessed with many.

My flowers don’t even begin till almost middle of May as our season is so far behind.  But when it does come all the planting I spent years doing suddenly paints my landscape with so many different colors.

By middle of June it is time for the first harvest of rhubarb which I bag and freeze it all for later use in the fall for wine and jams.  During the summer lots of rhubarb crisps are also made.

Sheaba’s world is forever changing, upon returning back to the ranch, she was fearful and hesitant for a while.  But since the weather has warmed and sunny days with no wind she is much happier.  She now comes to us while we are sitting to be pet and snuggled with her tail wagging.  I am now trying to teach her to lay down.  Even with treats it is a fearful moment for her to be asked to do something, but today she laid down with a gentle nudge on her back.  With all the flies and mosquitoes out now she again prefers to spend all day in the house between her walks.  She showing so much more affection for us even though she can still run away when feeling fearful.  But with all her lying around she is gaining too much weight.  I think I will have to cut her food down.  But so many people always comment how beautiful she is and what a healthy coat she has.  I do spend a fortune on her dry dog food.  But cancer and many other problems on the rise with our pets I believe the food is a great cause , along with environmental exposure. 

Our animals all seem to have some sort of social problems.  Siriun our cat is now 8 years old and is the laziest cat I have ever met.  I have to throw him outside.  He used to be a great hunter when we had our other cat Wildflower, but without her outside as well he doesn’t want to go out. So he sleeps, sleeps and eats and sleeps.  He never even gets active in the house.  We have a new to us couch and he does enjoy now snuggling next to me while I am sitting there working on my laptop. He really needs to go on a diet.  But his only joy seems to come from eating.

Well the summer flowers are blooming now and I have taken a trip to Oregon for a family wedding, and so many other projects and gardening activities keeping me so busy this summer it’s hard to get a blog out, work on my greeting card project  or even less time to visit. 

From Autumn to Winter

Seems since my last blog somehow my view of the world has jumped from Autumn colors to Winter white.  A window to my world with no words… Very easy to do where my computer sits.

But with my photos already layout in my blog I look at them and the words start to flow.  I never know what I am going to write, it is the photos that create the words.

Our annual Autumn bike ride this fall we did on a quiet country road that runs along the local river.  It was  a beautiful Autumn day.  After about 13klm we stopped for lunch along the river. Of course the trip back was pure torture as the trip there ever so slightly  down hill.  I wasn’t prepared for uphill for 13klm going back.  I was almost in tears by the time I caught up with hubby at the end of the ride.  Ok I was in tears and pissed as at him as he  had the water and I was dying of thirst.  I would pedal like crazy to catch him just to have him disappear over another hill.  Our rule is never leave me behind biking or hiking or any other activities.  He said his knee hurt so bad he was afraid to stop pedaling that he would never get it going again.  Ok I had to forgive him this time.  The day was perfect in many other ways.

On our bike ride we passed by  a 3 acre piece of property for sale on this quiet country paved road just 10 minutes from town.   I sat on the bike and looked up at the property that was slightly wooded, with a gentle uphill slope and faced south with a very old rundown cabin or house on it.  Then looked to the south across the road at the view it has and fell in love instantly.  Wide open views of fields, mountains and a slight view of the river.  Also important in this area is it gets sun all year.  I had been looking for smaller acreage near town for about 5 years now but everything was way beyond our budget.

Hubby also felt drawn to the place.  So after a couple days of thought we put in a  low cash offer and it was excepted. I am sooo excited about the changes in life this place can bring to our lives.  It will mean starting all over, but the changes will be positive for our future in being closer to town as older age approaches, ok I am not so old but my hubby will be 76 and could be 80 when we move there.   Don’t ask about what we will do about our present property and home, that is so far away in the future right now that we have no idea.

A week of beautiful weather had come during October and I thought about camping again, which would have entailed a lot of extra work to prepare to leave as well as falling behind again when we returned, so instead we took it a bit easier at home and relaxed on our deck to enjoy the late Autumn warm weather and beautiful colors in our yard.

 

 Fast forward only about 2 weeks we had our first snows in early November.

Just a week ago we had almost 9 inches and then had nothing but sunny skies for almost a week.  Finally a whole week for me without having work outside and only went out for my afternoon walks which generally I tramp around the property for almost an hour.

Soon snow had added it’s white fluff to everything.  Even Sheaba…

 For a desert dog she loves the snow.  In the morning she goes out with hubby and waits patiently for him to feed the chickens, then they are off for the morning walk or for her a run and hunt.  Late in the day I take her again where she often picks up a rabbit to chase and finds herself so tired and hot she even plops in the water in freezing weather.  Her social progress is still very slow, but she does love her walks.  Some days I wonder if she had bad dreams that night as her day will start very fearful and afraid.  Other days she wakes in the morning coming to greet us wagging her tail and not anxious to go outside yet, but happy to hang with us in the house for awhile.  We have never had to spoil a dog like we have with her, just to get her to respond with us.

 So I am enjoying the new world my camera has to capture,  I love all the sun flares I can get with it.  Still canning about once a week now.  Making jams from the berries I froze during the summer.  But this week enjoying a little slower pace.

 I was busy as well making more of my homemade Christmas cards.  I had planned on attending some Christmas events to sell them there.  However all my time spent on investigating the new property and trips into  near by towns and cities for appointments of different sorts put me way behind making more cards, so didn’t have enough done to present at a sales and was beginning to stress over getting more made when I decided to let it go for this year.

So feeling snug as a bug here enjoying a little less stressful time for the moment.  I am so glad I let go of some of my plans.  I don’t take stress well, I knot up and get so tight I can’t breath, so feels good to breath deeply again and allow my creative juices to flow freely as winter surrounds me.

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.  

 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.

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.

One last blow of a puff ball