Resilience

Winter isn't over yet. Another blizzard has come. I've locked up the chickens again. It won't last long though, only a day or two.

It is nothing compared to what the people in North Dakota & Minnesota are going through, with flooding and snow on top of it. I am very impressed with the peoples resilience there.

The population of Fargo is 90,000 and 80,000 people showed up to help sand bag. All the able bodied men, women, and children. The people all got out and helped themselves.

That hard work is paying off. Fargo has only lost five houses so far and they do think the worst of the flooding is over.

Nudity in the Pacific Northwest

We've just got back from our trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Going through my pictures I've noticed something strange.

I believe the area's residents tend to go towards nudity.

After all it is natural and comfy.

Bear feet

More bare feet

Cloths casually flung on the street.

And this sign really brings the point home.

Bon Voyage

I'm leaving on a jet plane to visit my beautiful home state of Oregon.

Over a month ago my niece Brittany asked me if I wanted to go.

At first I thought "Oh, no I can't go" but the more I thought about it, I concluded "Why can't I go" The plane ticket is inexpensive at $335, cheaper than driving and I may not get a chance like this for quite awhile, so rearranging a few schedules I made my plans, and tomorrow morning bright and early Brittany, Noah and I will be zooming through the blue sky's, on our way to Oregon.

Spring has Sprung

This morning when we went out there where birds every where, robins & meadowlarks singing away.

I love the trilling sound of a meadowlark singing.

The summer Dawn was three years old we moved up on Monument hill, about eleven miles north of Cody, Wyoming. Dawn called meadowlarks her morning birds. As soon as the sun came up and the birds started singing, she would rush outside to play.

She had a rabbit, a chicken named Soda Pop (that would come running when Dawn called) and ducks that followed her all over the farm.

Sunday Stills-Water

This weeks Sunday Stills challenge is water.

My picture is of an old iron bathtub, that a spring runs into and we use for livestock water.

Wyoming is one of the driest states in the nation. With our precipitation only measuring 7 inches a year. Water here is a high priced commodity.

We have extensive irrigation systems and with out them in allot of the area nothing grows. The land is dry and barron, but since it is hot and sunny all summer long, the land that is irrigated and fertilized is very productive.

I am a Winner!

Look at what I got in the mail from my "Winning Hand" swap partner Sherry @ http://www.nwnest.blogspot.com/

Aren't these hand warmers great? I plan on using them to grip my cold steering wheel while I'm driving.

I love this vintage, hand embroidered table cloth.

And check out these classy Limoges dishes from France. So awesome!

In this swap we had to represent diamonds, clubs, spades & hearts. At first I had a hard time finding anything except the hearts, but once I got into searching I started to find more and more things with card themes.

It gives me an excuse to go to different stores than usual and check out the thrift shops.

Dawn is a great helper on this kind of a venture. She even spotted beads with card themes on them, that I made a bracelet out of.

What fun, both to get a surprise in the mail and to put one together for someone .

What Time is it?

Does anybody really know what time it is?

I've always been fascinated by the concept of time. I remember learning to tell time when I was five or six years old. We lived in Alaska and Dad worked at Alaska Airlines. He always came home at six on the dot. I remember asking Mom when Dad was coming home, so she showed me where the hands on the clock would be. Sure enough, Daddy walked in the door when the big hand was on the twelve and the little hand on the six.

I started wearing a watch at a very young age. People always asked me what time it was. I remember when I was in third grade, my friend Cindy's Mom couldn't belief that I knew how to tell time.

To this day I feel naked without my watch.

One of my all time favorite books is "A wrinkle in time" by Madeleine L'Engle

Today is the day I will go all around the house changing our numerous clocks to daylight savings time, springing forward.

What has happened to that hour?

Where has it gone?

Cookies & the Eighty's

Dawn stirred up a batch of her famous oatmeal raisin cookies.

While they where baking, her friend Kylen turned the radio way up loud. It was playing early 80's high school reunion tunes.

I herd the girls saying "We should have been teenagers in the eighty's. We would have fit in, in the eighty's."

I piped up and said "I'm from the eighty's."

"Oh Mom, you where a cowgirl."

"Really, if I was just a cowgirl, how come I know all of these songs."

To a fourteen and fifteen year old the eighty's was ages ago, but to me it seems like just a few years in the past.

New Egg

Isn't this the cutest little egg you have ever seen?
I had to laugh when I reached under the hen this morning and pulled out a tiny little egg.
When a new hen starts laying this is the size of her first egg.
I am always surprised when I find one that is so small.

Wild Sky's

The sky's where wild today.

First it hailed, then the bright, warm sun came out.

After that it rained and now is cloudy,

with a cold wind blowing.

As they say,"In Wyoming if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change."

Recycled wrapping paper

I've been using news paper to wrap gifts in every now & then.
I think the packages turn out rather cute with a red ribbon tied around them and heck, why not. The paper will get thrown away anyway.
Why not save a few bucks and use news papers you have laying around the house.
Well, that's a wrap.

March, in like a lamb

March has come in like a lamb.

Time will tell if it goes out like a lion.

It was actually 64 degrees in Cody today and 58 on Heart Mountain.

I hung cloths out on the line to dry.

Nothing beats the scent of sunshine on your clothing.

No perfume or dryer sheet can capture that essence.