Music Monday

This reminds me of my son...

**Language Warning!

Wordless Wednesday

Post-It Tuesday

Music Monday

Music Monday

Post-It Tuesday

Music Monday

Wordless Wednesday

Post-It Tuesday

Music Monday

Post-It Tuesday

Music Monday

Post-It Tuesday

Post-it Tuesday

Post-it Tuesday

Post-it Tuesday

Post it Tuesday

Post-It Tuesday

Post It Tuesday

Make your own post-it notes here.

Post-It Tuesday (on Wednesday)

My Joy

This little dog brings me so much joy. It isn't just how excited she is to see me when I wake up or come home but her true, unspoiled zest for life that makes me smile. Some may say, she is so ugly she is cute -but I call her my Super Model, I think she is gorgeous :) She loves to play, alone or with you, she doesn't care. She will pick up a ball in her mouth and bat another one with her feet as though it were a soccer ball. Tug of war - she loves it, whether with a human friend or a puppy friend, she is up for it. She doesn't care how big you are, or how small you are. She isn't aggressive like a lot of small dogs are, she just wants to play :) I need to take lessons on living from her. It doesn't matter how dismal the day, she is one happy girl!

Retreat

This little statue sat under a tree outside the dining hall. She is holding a bird in her hand and every time I would walk by it would make me smile... I go on a retreat of Celtic spirituality every year. It is so nice to get away and be totally "unplugged" for a few days. No computer, no TV, no radio, I get very poor cell coverage where this retreat is held so my phone usually sits in my room and I only check it in the evenings. Usually we bring a portable labyrinth with us (it is painted on cloth) but this year we didn't because it was so wet. However, there is a creek that borders the property, a pond, and plenty of space for meditative walking. It is so peaceful there.



I come home rested, relaxed, refreshed and then go back to work and it all hits you in the face again... I have been working 14+ hours a day all week (and am working this morning)... I know that it won't last forever (the long work hours) but how do you maintain that feeling when life is slapping you in the face?

Love the view

I love when the clouds are down around the top of the mountains... I would love to be up in them. I'll have to research this particular range and see what trails are available. I have no recollection of ever being inside a cloud before (other than on a plane :)) I have this idea that it would be a neat experience, reality is it is probably just damp and cold -haha.

Show and Tell

Well, I heard from Blackbird that we should post our refrigerators today. So here is mine...



Very crowded.. and basically - well, a mess. I did not take a photo of the outside. If I did, it would be covered with a bunch of magnets and various bits of papers, and a few photos. I really need to clean my fridge, perhaps I will now that I have shown off its messiness - haha. I probably should have just cleaned it first :)

Love...

Haiti Still Needs Our Help

Friends, family, bloggie folk - I love you all. Thanks for the smiles, laughs, and yes, tears along the way. I would not be who I am on this day if it were not for you. For the 'real life' folks who inspire me, challenge me, make me laugh, give me hugs and are just always there, and for the 'blog life' folks who inspire me, challenge, me, make me laugh, and make me cry. All of you call me to be a better person daily. I hope all of you make your life count - be the best you that you can be every day. Root for the underdog - you may be the only cheering section that they have.

Why am I writing this? Because of Heidi Swift over at gritandglimmer. She reminds us that Haiti still needs our help, and will for a long time to come. She is donating .10 for every post about this, and giving people an opportunity to win a donation to Haiti through a charity of your choice. Please click over and read Heidi's plea and please be sure to tell your loved ones how much you love them today - because really - life is too short not to.

Rain, rain, rain,,,

It's raining, it's pouring, my little dog is snoring! We have had an incredible amount of rain here in the last few days, and more to come. More important, we have had a lot of snow fall in the more northern regions of this state, the runoff from the snow fills our reservoirs to get us through the long, hot summer. We have been in a drought for several years, obviously it will take more than one good winter snowfall to get out of the drought but every little bit counts!

Yesterday we had very high winds. My poor pup was a bit scared of everything flying around. On my way to work this morning I saw a lot of uprooted trees. There were a couple of sitings of funnel clouds around the area, not by my house, though I have seen one try to form by the mountains west of me. We do occasionally see funnel clouds, but nothing like what they see in the Midwest!

I think the prediction is more rain for today and then we will start to see clear skies over the weekend. Yeah :)

Yardwork

I have been working the last couple of weekends on my backyard. A friend of mine needs help with her yard too, so we have been working together to get things done in each of our yards. It is so nice to have someone working along side you. It just makes the work go by faster. Last weekend we loaded up her truck with a bunch of stuff that I have been accumulating in the corner of my backyard and took a trip out to the dump. Then I did a lot of raking and sweeping. This weekend we picked up some flagstone, I wanted a path to my side patio and my friend needed some for around her pond. We got all the rock set, at my place we used some of the displaced gravel to fill some holes that my boston terror - I mean terrier - had dug up. It was so funny because as we were lightly digging she came over and stared at us. My friend said that she was probably thinking "Why isn't anyone yelling at them for digging?". At just that moment, she started digging beside us! haha - I had to tell her to stop but it was too funny. After getting that completed we went to my friend's house and trimmed some trees on the side of her house, then cut down a bamboo patch that she has. It just amazes me how well bamboo does here in the desert.
Next on the agenda is to plant a small tree (that I can manage digging the hole for), and a privacy fence to separate a storage area from the rest of the yard. Finally my peas are starting to bloom (well, one - haha). I don't think they get enough sun during the winter where I have them. Hopefully as the sun moves they will do better.

Biking...

I am by far - not a serious biker. A friend of mine and I bike, usually on the weekends. We will bike anywhere from ~6 - 20 miles. I enjoy our bike rides, the weather here is just about perfect right now so our bike rides really take advantage of that. It is amazing how at first you may feel tired but you get into the rhythm and that feeling dissipates. I have lived in this area for ~30 years now and it is so amazing to see the changes. Places where all I remember are farm fields are now housing developments or industrial parks. It is sad. It wouldn't bother me for the area to turn back 15-20 years as far as growth goes. I live near a large city (I guess now I live in a large city - but used to be a town) so cultural events were always near by. It was nice to be near that, if you wanted it, but be able to live in more of a small town environment. Of course, then you also have a large majority of people with a small town mentality and while I may be stereotyping I like to think that I have a broader vision than that.

Happy New Year!

Wow... Almost a month with no post - how did that happen? Holiday craziness and family - that's my excuse!

Yesterday my boy's paternal grandmother passed away. She had suffered for years with Alzheimer's. I think that has to be the cruelest disease for both the individual and the caregiver(s). We all knew the end was coming but when I was informed it still hit me in the gut. I don't think you are ever prepared to loose someone you love. Even when it comes with some sense of relief and you know it is inevitable - there is always some sense of shock when they pass. She was a warm, thoughtful woman who loved to take care of her family. My boys last saw her at Christmas, it has been a few years since I had seen her and she hasn't remembered me for some time now. My boys would tell me, "We don't think she remembers you, but she remembers the idea of you." I know they have some wonderful memories of her, as do I and in the end - isn't that all that we have anyway? Memories.