Sheesh

I just thought this was cute!

I can not keep up with this.  I think a few days have gone by since my last entry and then I get on here and look and nine days have passed.  Half of this month is gone and before I know it I'll be writing in the new year!

This Black Phoebe was a lovely ornament on my car.

We had another inch of rain since I was last here, but have also had some nice days.  We have been out hiking and when I don't go Larry and Gracie hike the trails.  Gracie loves the trail hikes and Larry says she does better every time they go...we keep her on the retractable leash but Larry is teaching her commands to keep her from stopping in front of us and to keep her in back of us when necessary.  She no longer barks at the people sharing the trails, but she still wants to take the face off of other dogs when we pass to closely...another lesson for her coming up.

The persimmons are close to ripe, but the Flickers love them
and scrape them out until just a shell remains.  Our neighbor
has been picking the persimmons.  Neither one of us like them.

This past Sunday a friend invited me to join her on the tour of Placer County artist studios.    We had a great time exploring the back roads and finding the studios.  The artists were wonderful to talk to and we learned quite a lot.  We visited clay artists and glass artists.  Sara and I both came home with treasures.  We finished with a great dinner in Auburn at the local brewery.

I have been busy working on knitting and crochet projects for Christmas.  A couple of days ago the sun was warm on the deck so I gave Gracie her bath so she could dry in the sun, Larry clipped her nails and then it was Larry's turn...he got a haircut...so both my animals are all pretty!  :)

It is rutting season and this big buck was herding "his" does
but stopped to study on the garden.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving with whomever you get to spend it with!  It will probably be after that before you hear from me again!

This chicken was rude!  She huddled her chicks under her in the time
it took me to get the camera out of the trunk!  Sara and I had stopped
so she could get some mandarins at a farm and I was going to get pictures of the
cute little balls of fluff on teeny legs...but nOOoooo.   There are a lot of chicks under that chicken!

Birthday Boys

Today is Larry's 55th birthday and yesterday was our youngest grandson Connor's 3rd birthday.  We spent the weekend down at Andrea's and she made them each their own cake.

Rain

Sun dog snoozing

Dang woman, quit with the camera...yeah, I'm cute!

Being out here in the country we don't get trick or treaters, but the night before I did see a friend or two "sweep" across the moon...haha.  After dark it started raining and rained all night, by this morning it added up to an inch of rain.  

Chloe & Connor

Connor & Ian

Connor

Ian & Destiny

Hummer on the fence enjoying the fog this morning.

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.