New Beginnings

It has been a week since our first big rain of the season.  In the last day or two what was formerly dusty powder is becoming a beautiful green velvet fabric of new plant life.

With every week of pilates I get stronger, more fit and lean.  With this fabulous weather I've hiked every day with Larry and Gracie.  Gracie doesn't believe in taking a day off...she loves the trail.  Her ears are pointed  straight up, her nose is up in the air taking in all the smells of the animals that crossed before us and she prances so that her feet barely seem to touch the ground.  We slow Larry down quite a bit...Gracie with having to delve deeper into some smell and me with gawking at some beautiful oak tree or shiny rock that catches my attention.  

Sadly the daily hiking gets my hips inflamed so I've had to take a day or two off from the trail...Gracie tries to convince me otherwise, sitting under me while I'm at the computer barking her talk.  It frustrates me that walking gets me so bad.  

Larry says that Gracie is saying to me that I should get one of these comfy loungers!

We've all three enjoyed soaking up the sun.  Gracie is a sun dog for sure...she loves nothing more (after hiking the trail) then laying in the sun...  Larry and she are in the sun and I am over in the shade.

The trees around here are really starting to put on their beautiful fall colors.  I love this time of year.

Today my sister Lori's best friend Jennifer left this earthly plane after a courageous battle against pancreatic cancer.  Lori felt honored and blessed to be with her friend on this momentous last journey.  Lori shared with me the joy she felt at being present at the lifting of her friends soul to heaven.  It humbles me...Lori's strength.  In every ending there is a beginning.

Jennifer Phillips Graham 
February 18, 1960 - October 30, 2012

Change is Constant

And especially with me.  Same blog, new look.  You can let me know what you think.

Our rain total for this storm was 2.25 inches.  We kept getting tornado warnings at days end yesterday on our weather warning radio, but other than black ugly low creepy clouds, thunder with the occasional flare of lightning we wouldn't have known anything was going on out there.

Today was mostly sunny, cool with lots of clouds floating through.  I had a wonderful massage at noon.  And a first for me...instead of being a lump of uselessness for the rest of the day I actually cooked dinner.  THEN we went for an after dinner hike out on the trails....I KNOW...ME!?  No dust, the colors more saturated with the damp evening light, no one else was out there and so fresh smelling!  Oddly this was our first evening hike across the highway since we've moved here.  The clouds were beautiful.

Gracie loved the walk.  She prances so that her little feet hardly seem to touch the ground with her nose high in the air so she can catch every little smell on the breeze.  She would like to stop and sniff every blade of grass but we keep her moving.  

Two sad happenings yesterday.  One with a happy ending and one not so much.  First we send our love to our cousins Mike and Pat...they were traveling on highway 50 when control was lost of their vehicle and they actually rolled off the highway and down the hillside, but due to a boulder they only rolled twice and lived to walk away.  A Good Samaritan stopped to help them get out of their truck.  As I understand it they landed upside down and were trapped inside.  Other than being very sore from their wild ride they checked out okay, though their truck was totaled.  I'm waiting a couple days before I call and get the details.  

The other sad happening was a friends horse somehow broke its leg in its pasture and had to be put down.  They'll never know how it happened, the storm may have spooked it and it could have landed in an animal hole in the ground or just twisted wrong, but it was a compound break and...well you don't need all the gory details.

Hope you enjoyed your walk with us!

More pics of yesterdays hike 10-22

I was having much difficulty last night getting these pictures uploaded, so here are the rest from yesterday's hike.  

The blackberry vines are just beginning to change color.

In the twelve hours of our first storm of the season we've gotten over an inch of rain.  We have also had lots of wind and it's cold of course.  They are getting snow in the higher elevations.  Our tomato plant blew over and a few orange cosmos, but that is all.  

Gracie does not like the rain and wind at all.  Larry think she ate too much turkey crap before he spotted her yesterday and that she is sick this morning.  She has just laid in her bed and hasn't played or talked to us at all.  She has been eating and drinking and the other end is working regular, so I imagine she'll feel better tomorrow.  I'm thinking she has storm issues from where ever she lived previously....she was acting like she was afraid we were going to do something bad to her.  I miss her annoying me with her bids to get me to play with her. :)

There are blackberry patches all over the place, I made sure
I made enough noise to let any snacking bears know we were coming!

I have finally completed the massive organizing of my pics and now I pass them all on to Larry to do the final.  I won't do that again!  Let them back up like that...I have all you as witnesses!  Now I can get onto other things guilt free.

The clouds were gathering into interesting patterns
and made the huge oak trees seem small.

Hiking along 10-21

This morning was cloudy, cool and breezy...perfect day for a short hike.  Well, Larry says short if I wasn't along...he said he forgot how long a normally for him quick hike can take because I am always stopping to take pictures and gaze at something.  I had to trot a few times to keep up with him and Gracie...I like to see everything and there is a lot to see.  We saw bear tracks again, lots of birds, ducks on the pond and even a bobcat that didn't run off or really seem to care that we were on the other side of the field/fence from it.  I think it may have been having a meal the way it was sitting.  I used Larry's teeny camera, I forgot to bring mine as it was just a short hike...tee hee.  I keep Gracie on the leash, she is led by her nose and doesn't come when called all the time and out there she would be easy pickens for a hungry coyote or cat.  Enjoy the hike:

The bobcat is to the left of the third fence post.

These were cropped and blown up on the computer.

Catching up 10-21

Pretty mums.

Time continues to get away from me.  I've been busy, but events' time placement in my memory bank gets sketchy.  I have to look at a calendar to figure out how long Larry has been home.  We have accomplished a lot, but in my world of time compression it feels like he has been home only a few days when it has been a week and a half.  

He was busy getting stuff done that needed doing.  This past Monday we had a memorial party to go to in Hercules and on the way we delivered the caddie to its new owner, visited some friends too on the way.

Still stunning, huge rose blooms!  You stick your nose
in these soft beauties and instant "nosegasm"!

We spend a lot of time talking and getting caught up.  Mornings can slip away from us...we take a walk/hike, have breakfast and then get started talking about some insight one of us has had or thought or dream and before we know it the morning has crept into afternoon. Then we get busy doing whatever chores we've decided are important and so it goes.  Twice a week I go to pilates class at 9 a.m., so breakfast gets a late start to begin with...10:30 or so.  Gracie makes me take way more walks then I would have in the past and of course I am better for them.

Crape myrtle color

I've imposed a moratorium on new photos until I get the past six months worth named and shoved into files and readied for Larry to add to our running album of the year.  I get really lazy about dating, naming and filing the photos.  I take so many pictures and I get overwhelmed on the managing of them.  I try to delete the horrible ones, but I keep tons that I know I'll have a use for some day but don't want to clog our regular folder with.  Larry has rubbed off on me and I realized that organization helps on down the road when I want to find a certain picture for a certain purpose.  I have a feeling though that my system might be more complicated then it needs to be, but maybe not.

BUT, with these pictures I'm posting here of the fall garden, you can see I've picked up the camera a teeny bit.  Gracie and I went out on the trail with Larry a couple days ago and I abstained from picture taking.  We saw bear tracks on our trail and we crossed paths with a big coyote, it was a gorgeous sunny morning.  The trail is powdered dirt in spots and Gracie comes back all dirt dusted from her feet to the tops of her sides, we just get dusted up to our knees.

We've been having stunning weather, shorts and sunshine weather.  No rain this fall so far so not a lot of stunning fall colors around here.  The neighbors trees that were so colorful last fall have had their leaves just turn brown and fall off, the same with some of the oaks around here.

Oaks

Chinese pistache trees getting started

A huge perfect rose next to my glass pumpkin

He's Home!!!! 10-12

Connor and I had a lovely time together...he is so sweet and funny, with a temper and stubborn streak.  All the horses and chickens we saw on our walks were his and he had lovely conversations with all of them.  One horse was fascinated by him and walked from across the field to come see him...Gracie wasn't sure she liked that.  Connor loved walking Gracie and giving her treats.

Taking turns with my Kindle.

Tuesday afternoon Andrea, Scott and Ian arrived.  Andrea and Scott are officially a married couple and enjoyed their time at Lake Tahoe.  Ian had a great time with his Dad and family.  As usual once the parental units arrived on the scene the easily managed boy became a pill.  It was nice spending time with them all and they missed Larry.  They headed home on Wednesday afternoon.  

The stormy light looked cool on the garden,
but I don't think it show up here very well.

Larry left Idaho Wednesday morning and got home last night at 7:30.  He had been gone 28 days. 



Now some of you have wondered what Gracie thinks of Larry...they've had exactly nine days together in the past two months.  I heard the truck coming down the street and was waiting outside when Larry drove up.  He opened the door and once Gracie saw him she ran and jumped into the truck and into Larry's lap wriggling like a crazy thing and dancing around and whining.  I was thinking move it over and let the Big bitch in you little four legged traitor!  I didn't dance and whine but I squished into the front seat too for hugs and kisses!   We are happy to have him home!

Gorgeous, scrumptious smelling roses!!!

It was cold and cloudy today and we fired up the furnace for the first time this season.  I was wearing shorts last week.  It is supposed to warm up again this next week.  It would be nice to get some rain, the trees around here are turning brown instead of changing colors.

Saturday with Connor 10-6

I could hear him giggling and knew he was hiding...I figured
beside the bed.....

Crazy kid! 

Who knows?  He was having fun.

"I do it"...he says.