Horse Convention

Our gorgeous sunrise.


I looked out the window this morning and saw a horse convention. There are new horses across the fence from Misty and Santana and Misty was getting acquainted over the fence. Santana seems not to be as friendly, he's off by himself.


We had a colorful sunset, too.

Cool Clouds

I looked out the window and saw this cool cloud formation this morning. It looked like a bird with wings spread wide.

I walked this morning! I had to wait until it warmed up, but by 9 it was pretty nice. Enjoyed the walk. This gate reminded me of Grandpa and the ranch. Lots of gates like this one to open and close!

I spent the rest of the day copying and moving files. Whew, I have a ton of scrapbook kits! Or should I say a ton of GB's!

P.S. Any typos you find are now the fault of the person who designed this Asus laptop keyboard!! Everything is in the wrong place!!

Cold Weather!

Wow, it's gotten cold the last few days. I didn't venture out for a walk today, it was just too cold! Our ETS heater had a weird message today, it said core fail. I called and they are sending someone out to look at it, but the message went away and it was fine the rest of the day, so not sure what's up.

I made a loaf of bread today. It's been a while since I've baked. I didn't have time this summer and I was out of the habit when I had time again.

I spent the day transfering stuff from my old laptop to the new one. Still have tons to do. I also cleaned out John's Ultra laptop, I think I got everything we need off of it. I switched places with the computers, I moved the new computer onto my desk, and the old one to the table, now I'm using the new one for everyday stuff instead of going to the old one. Lots of changes to get used to, win 7 is so different and the keyboard on the new one is bigger and I keep hitting the wrong keys. It will just take time! I watched a netflix movie, just to see the changes and it's great, the screen is bigger and the sound is louder. Sometimes we had a hard time hearing on the Gateway.

John called me this morning to tell me he'd just heard that one of my old classmates passed away, Edwin Plumb. I didn't realize that his funeral was today until Marion and Doris stopped by on their way home from the funeral. I just had to tell them my favorite Edwin story, about the time he got sick and threw up on our teacher, who was talking and ignoring him standing by her side to ask permission before he left the room. LOL, we all thought she deserved getting thrown up on! She was a very strict, mean teacher.

Our Anniversary and Snow

John and I celebrated our 44th anniversary today! Wow, that's only 6 years until our 50th! We were waiting for it to warm up so we could go for a walk, but it never did, it was a COLD day! We ate breakfast at the restaurant where we ate our first breakfast as a married couple, well it has the same name anyway, they moved the old one to St. Johns and built a new one several years ago. After breakfast we went to the parade, our favorite entry was this cool big transport truck.

We had a late lunch, and by that time the weather was looking bad, we could see white towards the mountains, so we went for a ride up to Alpine to see what was happening. We ran into snow flurries at Nelson Reservoir, then it snowed off and on the rest of the trip.

When we got to Alpine it was clear so we drove around town for a while and checked out the Golf Course.

We would have stayed and eaten at Dad's favorite Alpine restaurant, Bear Wallow, but the snow started moving in and it was starting to get dark, so we headed for home.

After we got home we went out to eat at Booga Reds. I had my favorite Chicken Asian Salad and John had a chicken fried steak. Both were yummy! Then we ventured out into the cold, cold night and headed home.

First Post from my new Asus!

I finally got the recovery disks burned and figured out the pw and stuff to connect to the internet last night. This morning I've been checking out the junk they install on new computers and trying to figure out what I can safely delete. Some stuff I have no idea what it's for so I don't dare get rid of it yet. So far the only thing I don't like is the pad thingie. It doesn't seem to be very sensitive and responsive to my finger movements and goes where it wants.

It was COLD last night! I saw 14 degrees this morning and I'm not sure if that was the lowest. Burr! We had to wait until 10 for it to warm up enough to walk. John is having a hard time walking the last few days, his operated ankle is feeling uncomfortable and his toes are sore. I think we need to make an appointment with the doc and see what's going on!

We Got Rain!

It rained during the night and was cloudy and still sprinkling when we got up. I got this shot of the clouds, wow are they low! We went for a short walk to the end of the street and back. It was cold and breezy and I didn't want to maybe miss the UPS man, so we didn't venture far. I got a call from them this morning, they have my computer ready to deliver today, but I have to be home to sign for it or they won't leave it, so that means staying home today. So, sometime between 8 this morning and 7 this evening it will be here. I'm excited!!

John saw snow on Green's Peak today! I wanted to run up and check it out, but we had to stay home and wait for the UPS man.

My computer got here this afternoon, I got it all unpacked, turned it on and started setting it up. It wanted to make recovery DVD's first thing, so it's been doing that for over an hour and a half now. I want to play, don't know why it wanted to make the DVD's first thing! Here it is:

A Change in the Weather

I noticed the wind ruffling the tops of the trees this morning and decided I'd better get in my walk early or I might not be able to go. When I left there was a slight breeze and it didn't seem too bad. In fact, I went farther up the old highway than I have been going. I made it to the tree on the right.

Here's my view looking back towards town.

On the way back, I discovered why it had been so easy going out, the wind was at my back, gently pushing me along. The walk back wasn't too bad on the old highway, a bit breezy and I could feel it making me work harder. Then I crossed the highway onto our street and it was like walking into a different place. The temperature dropped, it was cold, and the breeze got harder and I was being pushed back harder! Leaves were swirling along the road into my face, my ears were freezing and I was so glad to make it home! We seem to live in the coldest spot in the valley, we've noticed on comparing temperatures with people in different parts of town, we're always colder. Boy did I notice that difference today! Just a short distance away it was warmer and not as windy!

Look what I found today, my lucky penny!

Oh the many, many things you'll see . . . and hear!

When John started trying to get me to walk here at home, I made excuses, truth is, I just couldn't see walking here after the paradise of walking on the golf course all summer! Finally he wore me down and we went for a walk along the river trail. That was fun, so the next day he talked me into a walk starting at home. We walked down our street to the highway and on across to the old highway and into the country, and there the fun began. And what fun it has been, I've even continued walking each morning while he's sleeping from working nights. As I weave down the road, trying to find the smooth spots in the old, decaying road surface, I'm sure anyone seeing me would think I was just an old drunk walking down the road, and that makes me smile! I've seen deer tracks and each morning as I look to find new ones, I'm amazed that they are so close to our house, I even saw a raccoon print one morning! And the sounds, I never realized that fall was so noisy and loud! Walking along the road, my feet crunch the leaves and I can hear rustling in the dead bushes and I wonder what it is that's moving in there, it's kind of creepy at times! Once in a while it will be a flock of birds and disturbed by my passing, they will take to the air. I hear the ravens calling as they fly overhead, sometimes it sounds like they are laughing at me, a mere human, having to walk when they can soar and fly. I see that there is water in the creek on one side of the bridge, but no sign of it on the other. Where is it coming from? I hear the bell of a far off church ringing, sound travels far out in the country. This morning, I put on my headphones and was listening to music at first, but when I got to the old highway, I realized that I couldn't hear nature talking to me so I turned off the music and took out the earplugs, the sounds of nature are much more pleasing. As I walked this morning, I wondered why I kept making excuses not to walk for so long??

I picked my first red St. Johns chili today and we couldn't resist trying it out. I chopped it up and we put it in an omlette, it wasn't hot, just a mild chili flavor and boy was it good! I discovered later when I touched my eye that it did have some punch, boy did my eye burn!

Beautiful Weather

Sights along my morning walk.

Old truck in the neighbors yard, wish I had it!

I thought this pumpkin was carved, when I looked at the photo, it looks like the face is paper glued on.

This looks like an old sign post, I wonder what it's doing way out here?

Loading chute at the corral.

Water on the west side of the bridge, the east side is dry! The water should be coming from the east.

The view looking west.

Looks like a raccoon has been here!

Red Chili and a colorful Sunset

My first St. Johns chili pepper has turned red!! Yipee, now to decide, do I eat it or save it and dry it for the seeds?

The sunset was colorful and gorgeous tonight and the colors were where they are supposed to be, in the west!

I was a bad girl and didn't walk today, my back and leg were too painful. Guess I strained something walking yesterday.

Morning Rituals and another walk

During the cold months I like to start my morning with a cup of hot cocoa to warm me up. Charles gave me a set for Christmas one year that had this adorable tiny little grater and some peppermint candy to grate into the chocolate. Last year, I found a big bag of the same peppermint candy that was in the kit and got it, so I've been able to continue to grate peppermint into my cocoa. Yumm! Yumm! Thanks Charles!

We spotted deer tracks on our walk this morning, they were close to the highway, too! I never would have expected to find there here.

Today we walked past the creek and the windmill and almost to the first houses on the road. A bunch of mad sounding dogs barking encouraged us to turn around.

Mamie Creek

We ventured up to Mamie Creek this afternoon for a walk. The last time I walked here was on my unlucky Friday the 13th when I sprained my ankle! I was a bit uneasy and walked slowly and carefully until we were past the point where the sprain occurred. I'm not sure how many years ago it was, but it's been a long while. We were looking for the site of a lime kiln or smelter when I stepped on a rock and turned my ankle. One of the guys at work told John about the kiln and sort of where it was. We didn't spot it today, but we didn't walk the open places where it could be. This means another trip to search for it!!

The first picture was taken driving along the back side of Escudilla towards Mamie Creek.

This is an elk print we found on the highway at the start of our hike.

This area is supposed to be closed to motorized vehicles, but we found lots of 4 wheeler tracks on the trail!!

The area is wild and beautiful!

We were about at the point on the trail in the photo below when I sprained my ankle on our last visit, and a distance that had taken us about 15 minutes getting there, took over an hour going back! There was snow and ice on the water and John climbed down and got some to put on my ankle and that helped keep the initial damage down. We wrapped it up and I hobbled back to the truck. I was so glad to make it safely past this spot today!

The ground was covered with oak leaves.

When we got back to the road, we found fresh elk tracks that weren't there when we left! They probably followed us down the trail, keeping out of our sight! What a fun day, I always want to stay when I visit the forest!

I checked on my computer order today and Amazon has them in stock again, so mine should be coming soon, I can't wait!

Morning Walk

Some pictures from our walk this morning. Made it all the way to the windmill today. First picture is the old road surface, it's interesting, it looks like it got hot and melted. Next is the windmill where we turned around. Last is the road ahead of us, one day I'll be able to make it up that hill!

It's November!

Lately I've been struggling with Project 365. Some days it's really hard to find something to photograph and it would be so easy to skip a day. But, I've done it every day so far, no cheating, and I'm not giving up this close to the end of the year!

We went for a walk again today, just down our street to the highway and on the old highway towards Nutrioso Creek. Didn't make it all the way to the creek, maybe next time!

This is the good part of the road, LOL!

Looks like a bird convention.