Bye bye 2010 12-31

Today was sunny and cold.  I got started on my 2010 restrospective...I might have it finished tomorrow.  I sat at the computer for two solid hours and went through 5,000 pictures and pulled out about 90, now I have to get those thinned out.  Then another couple of hours to write and that was about my day.  The rest of the time I have been getting it all organized and editing.  Here are pictures of my lovely work space and pictures of Larry's progress.

Larry spent the day out in the shed building his shop wall. 

It has been a wonderfully exciting year...looking forward to this next one!

Town Day 12-30

It was a cold one last night...high 20's and didn't climb out of the 40's today and we still have that north breeze blowing a bit...mostly sunny though...love seeing that sunshine.

our little seasonal stream in the meadow below the shed

Today was a town day....we made our way carefully down the canyon, the shady parts were slippery and Caltrans was cleaning up little rock slides.  Larry had lumber, a door, wire etc to pick up at Home Depot and then we went to Safeway so we could restock the pantry and freezer.  We had a little snack at Del Taco so we would survive the trek back home.

Larry spent the rest of the daylight hours working on his project out in the shop....I did womens work.

Here are more pictures from yesterday.

It is so open now with the fence moved and the oleanders gone

from the meadow

squishy, spongy meadow

cleaning her tail

Lots of pictures today 12-29-10



bathing buddies

It was a wild and very wet night.  By this morning it was still cloudy but the wind and rain had stopped.  Overnight we had gotten 2.25 inches of rain.  Water was standing everywhere and the birds were taking baths in the puddles and the robins were pulling up worms right and left.  Birds were everywhere again this morning.  I was able to get a pretty good shot of a flicker...they are large beautiful birds but those beaks of theirs are brutal.  They can make huge obnoxious holes in buildings.

I set up my massage table for the first time here to work on Larry's neck and shoulders.  The table makes massage so very much easier and I have missed being able to use it...it was too big to take on the road with us.



flickers are very pretty large birds





The sun came out for awhile and I gave myself a headache taking pictures today.  The sun was shining through the bathroom window on some of my crackle glass and a blown glass heart and I spent awhile taking pictures...I don't know if it was the closeup work or the bright light but my viewfinder eye was tired.



Over the course of the day there were several cloud bursts of rain, hail and gusty winds.  The deer didn't seem bothered by any of it and spent quite a lot of time in the yard today and we spent a lot of time watching them.  Larry worked out in the shed getting ready to add a wall out there and I walked around outside taking more pictures.  Our little stream was full and our meadow is a marsh.  So the rest of my day I edited pictures.  A nasty north wind blew all afternoon and evening and after the sun set the temp really started dropping.

 



The east corner of our place...so serene

from our living room

Ready for the storm 12-28

Our resident rabbit posed for a picture today.  We see him run through here once every week or so and he never stays still long enough for me to get his photo.  He seemed to be studying on the propane tank like this is the first time he has seen it since it has been moved.

It was clouding up and the birds seemed to know they had to fill their tummies while they could.  The robins were on the ground hunting worms and they were throwing leaves up into the air right and left, it was funny to watch.  Later the bushes were alive with robins and cedar waxwings pigging out on the berries.  Yesterday it was the deer...today I only saw one deer and it ran through.  I was standing at the window talking on the phone and a male Anna's hummingbird flew up to the window to say hi.  Startled me at first and then I was wild because his entire head was a flash of fuschia and orange...so very pretty.  I have only seen females here until today.  Outside it was so noisy with bird chatter and then after an hour or so....gone.  The wind and rain started and the only thing moving were the leaves left on the trees...not a bird to be seen.  Tonight we are having very big winds again and I am still not used to the house not shuddering and rocking after 6 years in the trailer.

Look how the deer have pruned up the bushes!  Also you can see how far the birds are...I am using a 200mm lense, which really isn't strong enough and then cropping/zooming on the computer...so the bird pics aren't 100% sharp.

Pruning 12-27

I am basically uninspired in the word department today.  All I can come up with is a list of what we did today.  Watched the deer rip up the bushes and then lay around for their naps.  We had company for a couple of hours.  I pruned the fruit trees as far as I could reach...the ground is too soft for the ladder...hmmm, but it would be softer to fall on, nah I'll wait. 

I did notice a few little green leaves and the buds swelling...wow.  Living in frozen winter land since 1989 this foothill living is going to be fun to learn the cycles of growth.  I also noticed some of my daffodils poking through the ground...seems weirdly early to me.  We did decide to keep the gates closed on the garden area now and keep the deer out...we don't want them nibbling on the new shoots or have the bucks ripping off the branches to scratch their heads.

Back to my list...Larry put some gopher "bait" in a few of the multiple land mines that have popped up in the garden the last couple of days and I dismantled the Christmas tree and Christmas is put away for another eleven months.  Well I undecorated and Larry broke apart the tree and returned it to its box.  Beats getting every last piece of tinsel off a dry dead tree and vacumming up needles for the next month!  So thats pretty much it.  I love that it is already later before I close the drapes in the evening...YAY!

Colder and we saw a teeny tiny bit of sun today.  We got about a quarter inch of rain last night. 

Oh, Diane, thank you so much for the email and the kind words!  I love hearing from the people who find and enjoy my blog!

Those of you who get this via email:  for some reason all the contacts were dropped, we didn't get this one last night as we normally would, so I reset it this morning.  For my faithful followers I have a few openings for that option so if you would like to receive my entry in your email when I post drop me an email and let me know.  It isn't as pretty as seeing it on the blog, but you can always go over there and look at it.

A new day 12-26

For me Christmas has always been a celebration of giving and I have always been sensitive to its connection to the shortest day of the year.  Once Christmas day is done it is time to get all the decorations put away that brightened the shortening days and now that the days are getting longer to get ready for the new year.  Having an artificial tree there isn't the raining danger of needles littering my home so I didn't have the driving need to get it out of my house.  In years past I have even taken the tree down on Christmas day.  As the box for the ornaments was way, way, w-a-y out in the shop I didn't feel compelled to do anything about the tree today. 

I did have a fresh outlook on the state of my art room and spent the day in there moving the table into a more favorable position, cleaning out drawers and emptying the last boxes from storage.  I reacquainted myself with old unfinished art projects and supplies that had gotten buried and found everything its own niche.

I entertained the idea of taking a walk, but that breeze that was blowing out there was too brisk to entice me out there.  At one point one of the coffeeberry shrubs was attacked from the air today instead of by the usual hoofed grazers.  A large flock of robins and others that I couldn't identify until I took a picture and zoomed in on the computer.  The other birds were cedar waxwings and even a flicker or two were chugging down the ripe red berries.  The quail were scuttling around too....it was a feathered smorgasbord.

It saddens me how we humans take for granted the indigeneous plants in an area that we move into.  In our frenzy to protect ouselves from fire or to mold our plot of land into an english garden we mow down every plant that has fortified the wildlife for lifetimes.  As much as we disliked the weeds...because we waited long past the seeds ripened before we obtained our mower the birds and squirrels were busy all summers end and fall eating the fallen seeds, which in turn we enjoyed watching them do.  Same with the coffeeberry shrubs...the berries are bright and beautifully "christmassy", the deer eat the leaves and the berries and even the bark.  Yet people will cut every last shrub off the land.  I noticed these shrubs growing all along the freeways in the bay area when we were through this last time and I had never really given them much notice before. 

This evening we have been getting heavy rainfalls again and later this week we are going to get very cold again...yuck.  Good thing I have gotten my studio in order...

Merry Christmas 12-25

We had a lovely day at home.  I have a lovely Murano red glass bead pendant and bracelet...purty.  Santa brought me a Sony Walkman digital music player...I am in music heaven now!  Larry has been playing with it and the computer getting it loaded most of the day.  Now with my head filled with music and pounding on the computer time totally gets away from me.  I got sidetracked looking for a picture for facebook and then decided to do a trip down memory lane of past Christmas's.  Enjoy!

Santa Grandma...Larry's Mom surprising the kids

Michelle & Andrea...sexy!

1980 Andrea and Gram

Our first Christmas...Santa got that one right!  1977

Andrea with Santa...she needed coaxing, she was 15 months.

Who?  The hair and makeup, must be the 80's!....Me

Michelle

Love the hair on everyone...just out of bed, Andrea taking care of what Santa left

Andrea, Larry and Michelle

After taking a nice picture they got crazy!

Michelle, Brandon, Michael and Andrea

Lori and Me...ahhhhhh, cute.

1966, I am 7 years old...that ruddy faced red suited fat man never brought me what I asked for!

My sister Lori, Maggie and me, 1966