It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Valley

For the last couple days the wind was so strong you could be sand-blasted out there. A few minutes ago I saw no farther than the end of the driveway. By the time I got my cell phone ready it had calmed down to this:

This poor Southern California-born gal hasn’t been able to take walks for a couple days and it may be a few more before this blows over. Kali is very sad! Me, too!

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Goodbye Summer Part II

Because of this:

I had to wear these:

(Far too many rocks outside to go barefoot.)  But that resulted with this:

TANNED TOES!!!! The only tan I have had in years!!!! By the way, taking pictures of one’s feet is not easy!

So goodbye bare feet and tanned toes. Wearing socks in the day and shoes outside. Ugh!

And all the fun I had this summer. These crazy kids:

Got to visit and loom-knit/crochet and CHAT in the same rooms rather than over the internets. That was so fun! The one on the right came up to see me a couple times! Oh, and my hair is very short now. Hope I don’t freeze in the winter!

I love these ladies to pieces!

The above tree has no more leaves now.

 

The driveway has more leaves now and the above trees are far yellow-er.

And this currant bush is showing beautiful colors.

It is getting cold at night. Days get to the 60s when we’re lucky but we are back to the faucets dripping at night to prevent frozen pipes. The poor turkeys’/chickens’ water is frozen when we wake in the morning.

The saddest thing is I didn’t get to swim at all this summer. 😦

#A to Z Challenge–Z–Woo-hoo!!!!

What better thing to begin with the letter Z than Zoo. Here are current pictures of mine:

Kali and Teddy on the day I went to Hugger Hats, taken by Hubby-AKA Pet Sitter.

Remember those little tiny chicks and turkeys? Yeah, I can’t pick up the turkeys anymore they are getting too big for me. The chickens never got brave enough to be picked up. The Turkeys try to get me to pet them and are so curious that they will pick on my cell phone as I try to take pictures. Bro is gathering materials to make the portable coop.

Kali wants to know when Kali can play with the fowl!

One tired Teddy-cat.

And another very tired Rosey-cat. Both were at our feet this morning with a dead mouse. Irm-thanks?

This is the end of the #AtoZChallenge! Yay!

This was fun!

#A TO Z Challenge–K

And of course K means:

This little sweet Kali who has a visitor–her MommaLaura, my daughter! So we are both happy. Kali can’t decide who she is going to sleep with tonight. Tomorrow she get to see the vet to get updates on shots and get her nails clipped. Then we will go looking for a doggy run for her so that when days are nicer weather she can stay outside safely sometimes.

Oh. K is also for Knit.

Here is the latest hat finished.

The hat has a sun brim. Next is the sock I am STILL working on. knitting with thread on a small gauge loom takes forever! The next is another hat with the Andalusian stitch, another fine gauge that is taking forever. The doll needs a hat and a face but nearly finished.

Busy days ahead. Hope to be able to hit here. Looking forward to fun times with family and friends!

Come join the fun but joining the #A to Z Challenge

#A to Z Challenge–G

Going, Going, Gone? GNot!

Kali’s first ‘outside’ of the day. Hubby took her out around 11 last night and proclaimed it was snowing. I took her an hour later and it was just wet. (We are late night people so Kali is too.) This morning at 9:30 there was snow on everything.

See all the brown? Snow goes away quickly where the quail get fed. Oh, and Kali isn’t looking at the car. There is a quail still finishing up and two seconds later she is attempting flight. For walkers, quail CAN fly away quickly. Kali hasn’t quite mastered it even though her huge ears are flapping.

If you can see her please give her a bit of privacy, please. I couldn’t see the screen of my phone the sun was so bright so I didn’t realize she was in the middle of the picture.

Front yard. Look at that sky!

So Father Winter isn’t quite finished with us but Spring Sun has it melted by noon. But more clouds means he’s not finished for the day. At least the temps are not so cold anymore.

#A To Z Challenge–D

Okay, Kali, the blog is yours!

You Serious? Bark, Bark, Listen up!

Wanna know my favorite place? It’s called OUTSIDE!

Isn’t it GREAT?! I get to play out here a lot. MommaDar, Dad and Uncle David take turns making sure I’m safe out here. There are coyotes, hawks and bald eagles, they tell me so the people keep watch while I–well, you know.

The rest of my day?

I play hide the toys and bones in these two beds in MommaDar’s closet, or the one in the living room near the couch. Mom says it’s very funny to watch me, but I’m a survivor, I want to make sure there’s plenty to eat should times go bad.

But my favorite place?

That’s easy:

Laying my head on MommaDar’s leg.

Guess what! This Blog is about a Dog–Me! That starts with “D”

of the

#SoCS and #atozchallenge

If you want to know and possibly participate in this challenge go HERE. This is my first time so I am not quite sure what I’m doing. I just like having prompts to get the blogging done. We are supposed to keep this short but this may be long as I am also doing the:

 

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to us by Linda G Hill. Click her name to see how this works. It does help get the writing chops working.

So following both prompts here is today’s blog:

As it Applies: Anxiety, Adventure, Aches, and pains.

 

Thursday morning after a night of no sleep, I rarely sleep well when I know I have to get up early for something important, I got up and talked Kali into her vest, harness, and leash. I told her that today would be an adventure. She was pretty excited about wearing the vest because the last few times she got to go on walks.

When you think of doing something for the first time, you picture it how you think it will be. I pictured one of the bins we take to hold our groceries for a dog bed to sit next to me. Instead, I put her blanket next to me. Hubby took the bin up in the seat with him.

For my tailbone issue, I brought the

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EBDV9BU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  

I found it more helpful to turn it upside down with the little grippy side up as it made it more firm. It did help the bumpy parts of the road not hurt quite so much but it still hurt my back and neck. But maybe turning to make sure Kali was okay, or holding her on my lap made it worse?

By the time we got to our first stop we had been in the bus for an hour. Kali and I were both feeling car sick. Not enough to make messes but just yuckie, ya know? Most folks get out of the bus and get breakfast. I don’t like most breakfast foods so I pick up Pringles. The tea and coffee are always too hot for me so I just picked up a diet Dr, Pepper. These help settle my tummy.

I felt naked as I walked Kali around the store. I don’t know why. She was very good. Heeled just where she should. No one said anything about her and there were many employees around that could have said something. So I gave Hubby my purchases and took Kali back out for a walk. The next get out was another half hour away.

A couple chips and swigs of pop and my tummy sorted itself out. While everyone was eating their breakfasts I tried to give Kali a drink of water and her food. She refused.

Once in the big town we dropped people off at their appointments. Hubby asked if I wanted to come with him but I felt funny about it. I told him we would stay on the bus.

Bad news? Hubby will need to have surgery on that shoulder. Apparently there was another chip on the top of the rotator so, yeah–not just one chip on his shoulder. LOL! Still, this is going to get more complicated and painful before it gets better.

I didn’t even get out at the dollar store. There are things I need that I should have checked to see if they had but I still didn’t feel up to it. And those stores are always crowded, even without people in them.

Most every stop I took Kali out for a walk. The weather changed in that short time, EVERY time! Cloudy, sunny, raining, windy. Windy was when I aimed us back to the bus. It was the first time I’ve ever taken bags to clean up after her. On our walks in the countryside there is no need. It’s all dirt. So this was a newness for me. No biggie, just needed to be more aware.

Even at Wally World I didn’t take her in the store. I just couldn’t handle –something. Too many people? Worrying about her? I don’t know. So broken shouldered Hubby had to do the shopping. We couldn’t afford much so it didn’t take long.

Meanwhile, it was fun on the bus. Everyone has stories to tell. We laugh freely. Our driver is such a wonderful person. Always cheerful and helpful to everyone on the bus. She has that kindness that is rare. I love being on her bus. It’s just the ride itself that kills me and makes me carsick. Think about the wealth of experiences all these seniors have. There is so much to learn from everyone. And there aren’t that many people. It’s a small bus so it’s most comfortable with fewer than 6 people because of how full it gets after everyone goes shopping.

All the people loved Kali and though they spoke to her and even offered her treats, they were respectful of her job and didn’t overwhelm us. In fact, after not eating all day, one of the ladies gave her a treat that she actually liked.

At the end of the day, we dropped people off at their homes. That was the bad part for me. Each house had a dog that runs up to say hi to the folks on the bus. Kali claimed the bus. I think she was protecting me. But I tightened her leash and put her on the other side of me with a NO. I still said hello to the visiting pups while holding Kali off. Maybe I should have given her a chance but I just didn’t want that kind of behavior.

When we got home Kali was SO excited she ran from room to room and doing that crazy jumping running thing dogs do when they are happy. I took off her vests and she did that shake it off thing. She was a very happy puppy then.

But I have had 3 days of exhaustion and pain from doing very little. I don’t understand it.

Throw It Out There Thursday Is…

Throw Away Thursday

Naps and bingeing on the last two episodes of Vampire Diaries. I am still nearly brain dead and not sure if I am up to making the long blog that the adventures of yesterday and the meanderings in vampireville want told. The previous weird sentence brought to you by fibro-fog. It is similar to the feelings you get when catching the flu, or maybe a case of hangover. That one I have never experienced just heard about from many people.

How do you regular bloggers do this on your off days? I do have plenty to say about Kali’s adventures on the bus and Bend. I just want to do it justice and learn what I can about how good it was and how to improve our next experience, if my body can recover.

And I learned a lot from Vampire Diaries that I wanted to record for myself and see what others have felt. I don’t know if any of you remember but I used to find Vampires, Zombies, and Werewolves and the like just silly. But I have learned that they are actually vehicles to character and plot development.

I just don’t have enough in me right now to manage the thoughts I want to put out there. I’ll hit these on the next couple of days. Needless to say, I am alive and have a lot to share. So is Kali. I can’t say the same for all Vampires.

 

 

Gratitude and Life

Today I am full of gratitude. I have so much to be thankful for, family, friends, pets, habitat. I think these are played up in my blogs often. But last night one of the things I was afraid to mention happened for real. We have a sofabed! It is used. But still looks quite nice and we didn’t have to pay a thing for it. You can’t tell what it looks like, and I knew if we were lucky to get one that this would happen. The first thing I did when it came in the house was to cover it. With a cat and dog that shed in white and a cat that sheds in black, there was no sofa that was going to look nice in the spring or summer without a cover I could wash. I should have taken a picture of it but cell was in the bedroom and only now did I think of it. I’ll try to share that later.

I have been wanting a sofa since we got to this house but somehow the budget couldn’t do it. Now, because local friends helped, I will have a place for company to sit or sleep. Since most of my family and friends are at least five hours away I wanted somewhere to entertain and put them up. This will help so much! And since it is under the picture window I foresee doing my knitting there as the room warms in this next season. Love brings love.

On a whole different topic: I thought it was spring. I went for that nice walk yesterday and though the wind and spitty rain threatened, it was actually comfortable for me in my sweatshirt covered in my windbreaker. Woke up this morning to snow on the ground. It didn’t stay long the rest of the day was a steady light rain. We hardly noticed as we did the ‘outside’ things today. Kali didn’t want to the first out but the rest of the day was easy peasy. We hardly got wet. So that’s a promise of nice weather coming. Yay!

Most of the day I spent watching NetFlix while loom knitting. I am still on sock number one for my brother. It is slow and tedious. My hands and eyes can’t do a lot at one time so I’m working on another Hugger Hat using the Andalusian stitch. It, too, is slow going but not so tedious that it hurts. Since I’ve already put the knitting away for the day I have no pictures.

I watched Pete’s Dragon. No Candle on the Water but it made me cry at the end.

Then I binged on Grace and Frankie

What a fun little show!

Stream of Consciousness Saturday–March

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to us by Linda G Hill. The prompt today is march to be used in any way.

 

 

Harness–check

Vest–check

Leash–check

Crocs–check

Sweatshirt–check

Windbreaker–check

Treats–check

Oops–Sunglasses–went back–check

Forgot GLASSES!

Forgot CELLPHONE!

Forgot Water!

I didn’t realize I forgot those last three until a mile in. We just marched on. Kali quite proud to get to lead the way. We both wimped a little at the corner house with the three barking dogs. Kept a short leash and only a few whines and “Sh’s” but once past I let her lead the way. She knew where she was going and remembered her favorite marked spots.

When we got to the next big street she decided to turn. We hadn’t gone down that dirt street before so it was an adventure for both of us.

See that haybarn? That’s where we were at this point. WAY OVER THERE!

 

I was worried that we would meet up with loose dogs. In fact, I thought I saw one ahead. That’s when I realized I only had on sunglasses. Got closer and realized it was a Jack Rabbit. Duh! Now Kali was aware! We have great things to chase here! I told her we don’t chase them, they are bigger than she is!

Seeing the rabbit seemed to give Kali a boost. She gave off a more confident air and marched with her head raised. Even though we were the next official street over we could see the back of our house. That’s when I noticed I didn’t have my cell with me. I kind of wanted to call and tell Hubby to look out the window to wave, but alas!

 

We got to the next street sign. I couldn’t read it until on top of it. Then I saw that the sign had worn out so that only a bit of the word showed up. But in the faded background, I saw the whole name. I knew this street went straight through to my own. I also knew it connected close to a house with a loose dog. Gulp.

What I didn’t know was there are two homes between where we were and where we needed to go. Gulp number two. What if there were other loose dogs?

Safely by the two nice homes with nice little fences and no barking dogs, we got to the corner of our street. Now my biggest fear: DOG HOUSE! Luckily said dog didn’t come out to either greet me as has been in my experience in pre-Kali days, nor was that dog sitting outside. We got past that house with a bit of a ‘whew’ when from across the street we heard barking. I pulled the leash close and said, “Heel!” Kali stayed close. Dog didn’t come out. We were safe. I call that house (across from ‘dog house’) Statue House because there is a statue of a frontier guy in that yard. I don’t know the people of either house but I like their unique yards.

Now safe I told Kali to take us HOME. She smelled her marked spots and led us straight here. I pulled out a treat. She smelled it but didn’t take it. She just Marched to the back porch and into the house. As soon as I took off her walking garb I offered her the treat again and she took it to her bed and enjoyed the heck out of it.

Though a little tired, I marched into my room proudly to see if I couldn’t figure out how far we went. Are you ready for this? 2.3 miles! Yay! I know. It isn’t like those 6-8 mile trips we took last year but I am still alive after this walk. Those walks KILLED me. I think if I work up to it I will find those walks more fun. Especially with Kali!

She’s pooped!

An hour later?

Me:  Wanna go for a walk?

Her:  Again? Nah, that ‘s okay you go ahead. I’ll wait right here. Yawn!