Crafting

Brrr, cold and breezy, so it was an indoor project day.  I saw this gray squirrel crafting its vegetation ball for work on its nest.  They gather it all in their mouth and with their paws fashion a ball out of it all for easier transport.

Today I got sidetracked with an art project.  I needed a cardboard tube to store my longer knitting needles in.  Larry had one that was too long but he cut it down for me.  It is going to be stuffed in a closet but I decided it needed decorating.  I had some striped gift wrap paper and Mod Podge so I decided to decoupage the tube.  

I ripped up the paper into pieces and got busy gluing with a make-up sponge.  After I finished I decided that all those stripes going every which way was very irritating to look at, so I got my Antique copper and gold colored acrylic paints and toned the colors down with washes of both colors to give it an antique look.  Then I coated with more of the glue finish.  It turned out okay considering I haven't done a project like this since probably grade school.

What's funny about this is that
without even trying this shot
is the exact side of the tube
as the before picture above.

Yesterday afternoon I finished my super soft mohair scarf.  It is scrumptious!  Very pricey yarn, but I may spring for another color next winter and knit up another one.

P.S. We are doing great with the smoothies, one fruit, one veggie and one mixed with breakfast and dinner in between them.

Cold & Wet

This past week flew by.  Just regular stuff.  

Pilates is going to the next level.  Monday was my year anniversary and what a difference a year of dedicated exercise can do for a body.  I'm stronger, trimmer and in less pain from my hips.  Because me and my fellow students have built strength and can use our muscles with some control now we are doing things that are much more challenging.  Now after class I feel sore muscles, but it is in a good way, knowing that I worked hard.  We have an exceptional instructor.

Larry and I are getting the smoothie thing figured out.  The veggie ones need to have more water and need to be cold...stevia helps too.  We went to Costco and have a ton of fruit now, fresh and frozen, our bodies have never had it so good.  We are doing a fruit smoothie with greens first thing before breakfast and a veggie smoothie in the late afternoon...sometimes before dinner and sometimes after, we aren't sure yet when we prefer having the veggies.

Yesterday Gracie did her first poop roll...yuck.  From her eyes to her backside...Larry was busy outside and she ran up to him...he thought it was mud....no, no, no.  Thank goodness for the large utility sink.  That was the biggest event here...that, going to Costco and then yesterday having Chinese food for dinner...yummy.

This is a cropped version of the spiderweb.

This morning it was foggy and a huge flock of turkeys spent most of the day hanging out here.

A Lovely Day for a Hike

After our morning smoothie we went for a hike.  It was a beautiful sunny peaceful day and we hiked 3.86 miles...

Beautiful large old manzanita

I love manzanita.  I love the red color of the bark, its smoothness and the branches are so gracefully strong.

Having Beautiful Weather

We are having more normal weather.  It is cold at night, but it is warming up to around 60.  We have been able to have our breakfast out on the front deck again.

Friday I worked in the garden and Larry finished the radio/antenna install on my car.  Our neighbor came to dig up the persimmon tree and take it to its new home.  We were going to just take it out, but our neighbor loves the fruit so much she wanted to see if they could transplant it, hopefully it works.

Saturday I had a lovely day in Auburn with a friend.  We hit the Farmer's Market, an art showing and then had a lovely lunch out on the patio at a cafe that had really great food.  Then I had my hair appointment while my friend hit a couple of shops and then back home.  

Today Gracie got a bath and I raked more leaves in the meadow.  The oak leaves are smothering the grass down there and about once a week I rake up three or four big piles and then Larry scoops them up on a big sheet of cardboard and dumps them across the stream.  Its a great workout.

The smoothie thing is going okay.  We love the fruit smoothies.  The full on veggie one we made tonight was too much...too fibery and it didn't want to go down...not even after I added some pomegranate margarita to the last half that I was trying to choke down.  Gack.  We may eat the veggies the more traditional way and just do greens with some fruit added to compliment the fruit smoothies and slowly add in more vegetables.  Almost drove me to make a pan of brownies to get the taste out of my mouth...Ha Ha!!!!

Warmer

 One granny smith apple, two handfuls of blueberries, 1/2 lemon (we'll do a quarter next time), little knob of ginger root, tbsp of flaxmeal and cup of water. We had this about a half hour or more before our usual breakfast of oats. We are loving the smoothies. It feels good knowing we are putting pure unprocessed nourishment in our bodies. Why did it take us so long to start we wonder?!

Last nights low was 29 but finally the day warmed up, no wind and was gorgeous.  We began the day with a fruit smoothie before breakfast and then had our oatmeal with raisins.  

Larry got started on taking my car apart to install the ham radio and antenna.  It doesn't shock me anymore seeing the seat and console out.  It did look funny seeing Larry's legs dangling out of the trunk.  Even with cell phones we feel naked without our radios after all these years.


























It was warm enough finally so that I could get two rose bushes transplanted.  The ground had dried out enough that it wasn't slop-o-sis, but easy enough for me to dig.  Time was getting on and I needed to get them moved before they started sprouting out.  The clay is never easy but at least I didn't need Larry and the digging bar.

Our second smoothie today. Other than half avocado, no fruit and it wasn't horrible, but my mouth was not all that happy about it. Not sure what the problem was, maybe because it was green and thick :) This was half an english cucumber, half an avocado, 2 romaine leaves, a carrot, a small "chunk" of broccoli sprouts, a small wedge of lemon and a small chunk of ginger..oh and water. This one might have been better without the ginger and more lemon. I think my innards might be wondering WTH? One smoothie was clearly an aberration and now three?!!!! It is excited that change is happening I think.

We had an afternoon veggie smoothie.  Well, it had half an avocado which is a fruit, but the rest was veggies, it was a pretty color and wasn't horrible, but my mouth was acting like it was dirt.  Maybe because Larry said it looked like slime...haha.  It is just nice to be feeding our bodies with pure food.  I think my innards are in shock from this nutrition.

It has been awhile since spending so much time outside, I hope we are done with this cold.  I've got lots of stuff to move around out there in the garden.  Gracie loved being out in the garden all day.  She claimed the arbor bench as her throne in the sun.  She can watch who comes and goes and keep an eye and ear out for the gopher.

Warming Up

It was in the high 20's again last night but at least it warmed into the mid 50's today.  We are starting to finally move back into some more normal temperatures.  This cold is wearing on everyone around here.  The ground has heaved for several days with ice crystals like it does higher up in the mountains.  With the garden not having a lot of vegetation on the ground I find it interesting that all the striations in the mud are all in the same direction across the entire garden as if raked by a giant zen garden master, almost north to south in direction.  Why?  I might learn why some day, just one of those things that catch my attention.

A few rose bushes are sprouting.

Gracie the sun dog was happy to be able to sun bathe
instead of shiver in the garden

This moss is healthy.  I discovered that the little black lines
were shadows from taller sprouts in the moss.

The garden today

Last year was about getting my outer body in shape, this year is about my internal workings fitness.  In the last couple days I've been reading "Crazy Sexy Diet" and this book pulls together a lot of info I've heard the last few years about our bodies, nutrition and our food industry.  I love this book, it is an easy read, lots of great information and the diet is really a small part of the book.  We have already cut out most processed foods and now we are going to work at eliminating milk products and sugar.  I don't know if we'll ever make it to vegetarian but we ARE going to start adding a lot of veggie/fruit smoothies to our diets and cutting way back on meat.  We aren't going to hold ourselves to any rigid standards...like when company comes or we are out of town, but anything we do will be better for us overall.  And if we find we can do it and feel better we'll go whole kale....instead of whole hog....hahaha....I crack myself up.

Our first health smoothie. 2 romaine leaves, 1 red pear, handful of pea sprouts, inner celery heart leaves, 2 handfuls frozen blueberries, 1/2 avocado, 1 TBS of flaxseed meal, small nub of fresh ginger and about 6 oz. of water. Down the hatch. It wasn't bad, just the right amount of ginger, and we could have passed on the celery leaves, but all in all pretty tasty. We each had a 10 ounce serving.

The blueberries turned our green smoothies purple.

Frozen!!!

Larry, Connor, Gracie and Chloe

It has been nastily cold this past week.  It wasn't bad when the kids were here, but nasty cold since.  It rained one night, turned to ice and was foggy/icy when we got up.  It was an icy mess, the raindrops had frozen on the limbs.  It was beautiful but so danged cold I snapped pictures fast and got back in the house.  That was Thursday.  That night before 10 p.m. it was already frozen hard again outside.  Friday morning it was a winter frozen icy wonderland outside.  Everything was covered in white ice crystals.  I didn't have time to take any pictures as I was on my way to Pilates.  My red car was white, coated in crystals almost a half inch tall, the ground had heaved with ice, everything was coated in white ice and it stayed frozen most all day.  Once it thaws the ground becomes slop-o-sis.  Larry has had to wait until noonish to take his hikes.  He came back one day talking about the icy parts, the slippery mud, the cold wind and the next day he asked if I wanted to go with him.  After yesterday's glowing report, I think not, I told him.


We've tried to sit outside on the deck in the sun but the breeze and air was just too cold. It is supposed to finally start warming up this week.

This looks wet but it is ice with the ice pellets frozen on top.

All these frozen pictures were taken on Thursday the 10th.

One of many bluebirds feasting on the coffee berries.  This was through the kitchen window
with my telephoto lens.

Sunny Day!

Smaller needles, better now.

It was icy this morning but in the 30's instead of the 20's.  I went to my Pilates class, and of course as we get stronger we "get" to learn more difficult things....my aching everything.  As my reward I stopped for a Latte on the way home.

More yard work.  As dismal as the yard is looking things are already happening.  I started pruning my roses for the season and noticed the buds swelling and even a few new leaves popping out.  I was pulling weeds and picking up dead leaves out of one of the flower beds and realized in a hand full of leaves I was trying to pull a sprouting daffodil.  The tulips are poking through too.  I'm not used to it here yet.  Winter barely started and Spring is starting to sprout....in the mountains, we didn't see this until April or May.

The sleeping Garden.
There is more clean-up needed and I'll be moving stuff.

Just a heads up my Cousins.  It is only about 8 weeks until the dedication at the LAPD Museum.  When they have the details ironed out...the organizer's are getting together  next week...I'll let you know what's happening.

The kids are coming for a quick over night visit tomorrow from Ukiah...and that's all I've got for now.

Three of the six rose bushes pruned today.

Pruned Trees

Boy has it been cold at night.  Hard freezes, and even though it has been sunny, if you are in the shade or there is even the slightest breeze you need a sweater.

Larry finished pruning the pear tree and we did a hard prune on the plum tree.  They both look good.  Larry hauled all the branches and limbs up the hill to the burn pile, made the call to the burn day recorder, it was a burn day and torched the pile.  To keep it burning he raked pine needles and I cleaned out a few of the flower beds.

This evening I ripped out my mohair scarf...It was too wide and I would run out of yarn, so I needed to go to smaller needles and start over.  I like it better, the colors are falling in waves like a sunset instead of the gold being in spots.  I'll take a picture when I get farther along.

The plum tree, much shorter and the pear to the left in the back.

You will of course see pictures of it this spring and summer.

This bug was on my Japanese maple...friend or foe?