Beautiful Eyes

I just love horses eyes, they have such long gorgeous eyelashes! This horse is named Santana and he lives in a pasture across the street from us. He's a good neighbor to have, I love looking out my window and watching him and his two companions.






This is Misty, Jessie's favorite horse. Last summer, she had Misty trained to come to her when she called her. Now, Sultana won't let Jessie visit with Misty, he gets jealous and pushes her away or bites her when he catches them trying to visit. I guess he wants to get all the grass and bushes Jessie feeds Misty!

Blankies

The beginning of a new month and a bit closer to spring! We visited the great-grandmother's today on our way to take Jessie home. She had a good visit with them and received this beautiful handmade quilt from her Grandma as a late birthday gift. Grandma asked Jessie if she was going to retire "Blankie" (a quilt she made and gave her several years ago), but she said no, she isn't ready to put her away yet. Blankie accompanied Jessie everywhere when she was a little girl and provided comfort to her when she was sad or hurt. She wore out the first Blankie, (now retired and saved in her closet) so Grandma made her a second one, and that one is now worn and threadbare, but Jessie still loves her Blankie and she still accompanies Jessie on visits to our house. (You can see a corner of Blankie in a photo in the last post, Cutie is laying on her edge.)

Growing Up

Jessie is growing up so fast, it seems like every time I talk to her she sounds older. Last night for the first time ever at our house, she spent the night in the guest bedroom! I'm sure having her very own TV to watch in there had nothing at all to do with it, LOL. I kept listening for her to come in and sleep in our room and had her regular little bed all ready for her, but she didn't need it. Sigh, I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be so grown up!

We noticed the water was running in the drainage that comes from the 20 foot falls so we thought we'd take a picnic lunch and ride up and see it. Forgetting about snow we took the scenic route and found a nice plowed road, until it ended here and the last 4 or 5 miles to go looked snowpacked! We decided not to try it and instead followed the plowed road in to see Red Cabin Ranch Estates. There were some nice lots, but it looks like most of the best ones are already sold. We ate our picnic lunch by a pond, sitting on the tail gate of the pickup. It was sunny, but cold and a bit breezy. Jessie had fun throwing rocks onto the frozen areas of the pond to see if they would break through. We wondered if the ice was thick enough to walk on where the rocks didn't break the ice, but didn't want to risk falling into the freezing water so didn't try it out.

Jessie and Cutie watching TV and checking email at the end of the day.

Curtains and Jessie

Finished up the curtains today! Yea!

We picked up Jessie this afternoon after school and brought her home to spend the weekend.

We explored the garden and talked about how it's almost time to plant again and then she amazed me by climbing up about 15 feet into the Locust tree! What a girl!

Birds

For a while now I have been hearing the birds sing and when I stepped to the window to look out one day, there was this big bird sitting on the fence post looking right at me. I ran for the camera and of course by the time I got back with it turned on, the bird was gone. Since then I've been stalking the grape vine, waiting for him to come back. So far, I haven't caught him, but today, I did get a few bad shots of some birds on the grape vine.

Everyone needs a wizard!

February 25 . Here's my dropping for today, a whimisical little wizard that sits in my garden.

Special

John reached in the silverware drawer today and pulled out his favorite childhood fork. It brought back lots of fond memories of childhood!

He reminisced a bit about how when he was a child food just didn't taste right if he couldn't find that fork to eat with, and asked me to make a layout about the fork. So I photographed it and here's what I came up with.


The journaling says: I don't know where the fork came from, but it was the only one of its kind in Mom's silverware drawer. It appealed to me because of the ornate design on the handle and it became my "security fork". As long as I had that fork at meal time all was right in my world.

Fun Store

We went shopping in Show Low today and stopped at the new Maverik store to gas up. The last time we were going to stop there, the place had cops at the entrances stopping all traffic from going in. We found out later there was a butane leak inside the store. It's a neat store with the inside all painted up with different scenes on the walls. I took this photo of a truck stopped outside pumping gas underground for the station. Pretty cool!

Almost Finished!

We're getting close to being finished with the living room. The curtains and hanging a few pictures are all that's left. Won't be long now! We're enjoying the new carpet and really like how the room is turning out!

My Old Woodie Wagon

Here's my dropping for today, one of my favorite scratchboards. We had it hanging in the Art Barn last summer and I was secretly glad when no one purchased it. John gave it to me at the end of the season, yea!!!

Yum, yum!

Today I cooked a roast like Lynne served us while we were visiting. It was so yummy that I wanted to try it out while I still remember how. To make the roast, place a bottle of Herdez Chile Verde in a crockpot and put a beef roast on top. Top the roast with a small can of diced green chile and a medium can of diced tomatoes with onions and garlic. Cook overnight or until tender. Shred the roast and stir. Let cook until the roast has soaked up all the liquid and is very tender. Use the meat mixture in burritos, St. Johns Tacos, Chimichangas, or anything you'd like. We even made sandwiches out of some of the left overs! Yummy!

Caution Dust Storms May Exist!

After a yummy breakfast John and I packed up and left for home. We had a good visit with Shelby and Lynne, they were great hosts! I like this dropping I took today, it made me smile, don't know why, as dust storms out here could be pretty bad! This was one of about 4 signs warning of dust storms.




We were running low on gas so we made a side trip into Reserve, New Mexico to fill up. I only remember being in Reserve one other time, back in the days when I was working at Casa Malpais and we all went on a field trip to a cave near Reserve. We met up here at Bill's Bar so everyone could catch up with the party. I think this is only the second time I've ever been in a bar, and nope I didn't have a drink, LOL. Seeing this sign brought back good memories of those good old days and our fun trips! I was tempted to step inside today, just for old times sake, but resisted the urge.

Trip down south

We left on a fun trip down south this morning, this time to gather up some "pre-art" (rusty metal) for John's sculptures. We had a fun trip and John got lots of neat items to incorporate into his sculptures. I took this shot of the beautiful dawn shortly after we left home.


While John was picking through the "bone yard" I was busy making more camera droppings, taking pictures of all the neat antique vehicles and farm machinery. It was a fun day in spite of being cold and windy!

I ended up with way more than my one photo for today, but that's okay, I got some good shots and had fun taking them!

Paul McKenna

Last year about this time John and I watched a series on TV called I Can Make You Thin with Paul McKenna. I was so excited by the idea behind these programs; that by listening to our body and only eating until we are full we can lose weight! It took some time to rediscover when I was full, but in a few short months I lost about 16 pounds, simply by listening to my body tell me it was full! Then came summer and trips to the barn and winter and I gradually slipped back to my old eating habits. Lately I've not been feeling well and have been thinking I need to lose the weight I gained back. Then yesterday I got an email from Paul, inviting me to join his online group for 6 months and receive 5 free CD's. Was that good timing or what! I joined and have been browsing his site and getting myself acquainted with the new things they've added. And, I am trying to listen to my body again and I was full after eating only half my sandwich for lunch! Thin, here I come!

Day 2 of my 365 and Happy Birthday Jessie!

Day 2 of my 365 project. This is one of my favorite pictures taken at Jessie's birthday party.

Jessie celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday with a bowling party. She invited some of her friends and they had a fun day. After bowling, they returned to Jessie's house where they had pizza and birthday cake. We joined the kids for the last part of her day, but missed the bowling part. The cake was yummy and the kids all had a good time and Jessie said her day was a great one!

Today is actually her birthday

Happy Birthday Jessie! We love you!

John's model dump trailer

Here's my photo for today. John actually took this one, but it's so cute I had to use it. He is building a model of the dump trailer his dad invented and it was just right to be pulled by this truck.

Happy Birthday Jessie!

Jessie celebrated her 9th birthday a day early with a bowling party in town




and a party later at her house. We attended the party at her house and got to enjoy a bit of her enthusiam! Here she is with cutie who was given to her by her boyfriend.

Project 365

Everyone seems to be doing project 365 this year. It took me a bit to find out what Project 365 was, then I'd missed the beginning so I didn't start. Yesterday, I thought "better late than never", so I went out and took a few pictures. For those, like me that don't know what Project 365 is, you take a photo of something in your life everyday and at the end of the year, you have your year in photos. Kind of a neat thing. My only problem will be, how do I take just one photo! I went out yesterday to start and could I take just one, nope, I ended up with 7!

Project 365

I've been hearing about Project 365 for a while now and decided to find out what it is all about. I discovered that you take one photo a day for the year and at the end of the year you have an album of little glimpses into your life for the year. I discovered it after the first of the year and wasn't going to start because it was late, but I decided why not do it anyway, and I'd have most of the months, so I went out and took a picture, well okay, I guess you know me better than to believe that, right? I went out and took 7 pictures! I have to make up for lost time! This is one of them, and now you know, pigs CAN fly!

Putting it all back together

The carpet is down and we're putting the room back together now. We haven't decided for sure on curtains, so I put up the old curtains for now.

New Carpet

The installer put the carpet in today! Here's the padding going down.

And here's the finished floor.

Snow and Paint

We've got snow!

Painting the living room walls. The windows are taped and we're ready to go!

Weather

We got a bit of bad weather today.

Carpet removal

We removed the old carpet today. We gave it to Andy, who is going to put it in his house.

Here's Jessie and her new puppy.

Remodeling

We are getting new carpet in the living room, so we're prepping the room. The curtains are all down and the walls are ready for paint. John made the light fixture using an old pulley!

An early birthday visit

On the way to take Jessie home from a visit, we stopped in at Mom's to give her our birthday gifts a couple days early. Jessie made her this picture, Mom loved it!

Beginnings

I kind of have an addiction when it comes to cameras and snapping photos and since the advent of digital and being able to snap at will without the worry of developing and printing costs, I carry a camera pretty much everywhere I go and am always snapping pictures. John came up with the name "Camera Droppings" for the results of my "obsession" and I think I like it! This blog will be a place to share my "camera droppings" with family and friends.

We just got home from a trip down south to visit friends and family. We were gone 5 days and traveled to Tucson by way of Mule Creek and Lordsburg and home by way of Winkelman, Superior, Globe and Salt River Canyon. Wow, that was a lot of traveling!

I'm a lousy traveler, love to be places, but hate the getting there, so I came up with a great way to pass the time while on the road! I snap pictures, tons and tons of pictures, signs, scenery, whatever catches my fancy and I have time to catch and some I don't, LOL! You'll recognize them by the blurriness.




























The price of gas is going down, we gassed up at Circle K before leaving and this is the lowest we've seen in a while.























There's still a bit of snow left over from our first snow of the season on November 10th, at least it was the first snow here in town.






Rest stop on the Mule Creek road.
























The motel in Lordsberg we stayed in even had an exercise room! After a long day of travel it felt good to walk!

We made a stop to visit friends this morning and had a tour of the area they live in. What a cool fascinating stop this was. Here's a sign I stopped to take a picture of.







Here we are visiting friends, Nikki loved the horses!

We visited San Xavier Del Bac today, I've always wanted to go there and we made it this time. The church is so ornate and beautiful inside and I'm so glad I finally got to see it!

One of the highlights of a trip to Tucson is a tour of the old downtown area, and the old Fox theater is one of my favorite stops. Today we walked through the streets, climbed up to the top of a couple parking garages and got a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

No trip to Tucson is complete without a good old BBQ cooked by our favorite chef! YUMMM!

Remember those weird shots I warned you about, well here is one I took early in the morning at the beginning of our trip home. Goodby Tucson, till next time, we enjoyed our visit!