Baby pics!

The proud parents and baby Benjamin! Our son is the father, and that's Claudia, the mother. My husband was 29 years old when our firstborn, Jennifer, was born, and now our son Hal is 29 years old when HIS firstborn arrived! Now Jennifer is an aunt! Funny how things work out! AND...the baby arrived on my husband's birthday! Go figure! That's his aunt, our daughter, Jennifer, holding him! He's like me~~ very light eyebrows, but a full head of dark hair, like his mom! Mom and baby are home now. I'm driving up to see the horses this morning, and I'll stop by to see them this afternoon. They aren't "early risers"!!!!

I'm a GRANDMA!

YES! The little guy was born at 11:17 last night! 6 pounds, 6 ounces, a full head of dark hair! Claudia went in for a routine doctor's appointment and the doctor said, "You better get to the hospital and check in!" I got there at 6:30 and he was born at 11:17! Isn't that a short labor for the first child? I never had labor as I had two c-sections! Our daughter stayed with me and I knew the birth was imminent when the doctor RUSHED in and was barely suited up and he came into the world! Man, that was fast! Claudia gave birth in her room (I guess that's how they do it nowadays)! There were 3 emergency c-sections last night, so the maternity ward was unusually busy! Oh, and he was born on my husband's BIRTHDAY! So, it will be a double birthday! I missed being born on my dear grandmother's birthday by 3 days! We always celebrated our birthdays together! The photos I took last night were awful, so I've included some of the horses announcing the good news!

Some early pics of Sunni I found on my computer!

I was sitting at my computer last night, going through folders (again) and I found some photos of Sunni before I even knew who he was! These are from 2006, when I began looking for my first horse to adopt. I had friends who had adopted their four draft horses from United Pegasus and so I began visiting their Hemet ranch, just to look at the horses and take bags of carrots! I always took my camera with me and the first times I went there, I wandered around the ranch, after checking in! They had so many horses there that it was becoming difficult to choose one! I didn't want a draft horse, but there were many that were so beautiful! They had a large population of PMU horses, from yearlings to two year olds and older. They also had some thoroughbreds, but I didn't think I was ready for one. They had several PMU two year olds and I was focusing on a couple of these, but not Sunni! There was a nice mare called "Honey" and a beautiful chestnut called "Dallas". When my friends finally said, "Enough already! Let's go hitch up the trailer and get her a horse!", I knew I would have to finally pick one horse! I really wanted a two year old and on that visit, they brought out Sunni for me to look at! But, on these earlier visits, I didn't realize I had some photos of him along with the other horses! And, they've been on my computer, tucked in a folder INSIDE another folder, so imagine my joy last night when I found this "hidden" folder! I need to start writing down which photos are in which folders because I always label them with the date and city and then I rely on my memory to help me recall what is IN the folder! Hmmmmm.....I think I need to start writing their contents down, don't you? Anyway, these are some VERY early pics of Sunni at United Pegasus, before I even knew which horse he was! They were taken in January 06, and I adopted my first horse, Sunni, that April. That's Sunni, with his crooked blaze, and a draft friend hanging out at the fence. I was actually looking at the roan next to him, but, as usual, he got his big nose in my photo! He's SUCH a goofball!

California produce

When I stopped by the mountain swap meet this weekend, it was pretty much deserted, except for the farmers. The produce was so colorful! Here in Southern California, especially the desert, we have a 365 day growing season. The fields out by my school are rotated. Winter crops are growing now and when they are harvested, the summer ones will be planted. As long as we don't have a hard frost, the farmers can grow food all year. The Coachella Valley is the second largest growing area in California, behind only the central valley. I thought the tomatoes, peppers, and oranges were colorful and were a welcome sight on a cloudy day!

That's My World for Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I wandered around my yard in our desert home the other day and took these photos. While the bougenvilla isn't in full bloom, like it will be shortly, it did have several blossoms already! That is my fence along the driveway of my home...one wooden horse for each horse in our herd! There are actually five of them, but I couldn't get them all in the frame! I used to have their names on them, but the constant desert sunlight has faded them and I need to go out and redo them! That's My World for February 24, 2009.

Mellow Yellow for Monday, February 23, 2009

When I drive up the mountain to see the horses, I often notice the newly-plowed roads. I never see the tractor that does it. Here in California, we have CalTrans, the California Department of Transportation, which would be in charge of this. There is a station up the hill and it is needed because the mountains DO get snow, which needs to be removed, so that cars can go up and down the hill. They are also needed to clear rockslides, which happen frequently. Our mountains are in an earthquake zone, and rockslides happen quite often! So, I was pleased so see the shiny, new CalTrans road scrapper on Saturday. Isn't it beautiful? They parked it right across the street from the fire station, so the firemen(women) could keep an eye on it! It already has some bumps and scrapes on it from working the roads! Mellow Yellow for Monday, February 23, 2009.

A visit with the horses

I FINALLY got up to see "the herd" yesterday! It had been over a week since I'd seen them and I REALLY missed them all! There wasn't any leftover snow at the ranch and the corrals are starting to dry out, but another storm is scheduled to come through this week sometime. Hubby had to work, so I was able to go up on my own time! Beauty always nickers and greets me when I arrive! She is such a sweetheart! Sunni didn't even lift his head from his feeder (sniff, sniff)! Even Gigondas gave me a little nicker! Silly girl! Scout, as usual, was keeping her eye on everybody and everything! I got out my brush and brushed all of them. It seems they are already shedding! Two crows kept me company yesterday morning! Do crows use horse hair in their nests? I'm sure some birds will~~ there was a LOT of it yesterday! Scout seemed to shed the most. Her hair is VERY tightly woven and is very different from Sunni's, who has long, flowing hair all over right now! Even his mane is growing and his tail, too, since he isn't in a corral with Cali and she can't eat it! I can't wait for Spring, when they will all be shiny again! I only spent a couple of hours with them yesterday because I had to rush back down the hill and attend our daughter's engagement party! Congratulations, Jennifer! The wedding will be in August.

Visit to another ranch

My cousin, Valerie, emailed me last week and asked if I wanted to go with her last Monday to a ranch down by La Quinta. She was going there to watch a man work one of his horses who was afraid of ropes. So, I said, "Sure!" and gathered up my camera. Good thing, because Val's had a "read" error and wouldn't take photos that day! It was a cloudy day and the forecast was for rain, so we headed off at 9:00 a.m. Now I don't know how many times I passed right by this ranch and didn't even know it was there! So, it was fun to actually visit it. Here are some pics from our day there. Also, as soon as the gentleman finished his training session with the horse, who is now no longer afraid of ropes, it started to POUR! It was our last rain until maybe next week. My sunflowers have grown another foot and my daisies are in full bloom!

Skywatch Friday February 20, 2009 shadows!

Several times when I drove up to see the horses, I noticed beautiful shadows on our local hills on my way back down to the desert. Hubby and I finally watched the afternoon shadows and figured out that about 4:15 was the perfect time to see the shadows on the hills. Some days were too cloudy, but this afternoon was perfect! So, this day, I pulled over several times to stop and take a photo. Aren't the shadows pretty? If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you can see cars on the road below. SkyWatch Friday for February 20, 2009. http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Sunni running and jealous Beauty!

The last time we visited the horses (before the snow), Beauty had a slight cold and I didn't want to let her out in the arena and run and then get cold, since I don't have any blankets for them. Sunni, however, was fine, so we let him out. LOOK at Beauty's reaction!

(bottom pic) Ho-hum! I'm so B-O-R-E-D!!!

"baby" pics of Scout and Cali

I was going through my photo folders last night. Hubby had to go back to work for a special job, and I had some free time! I was viewing some older folders and I found these pics of Cali and Scout, as yearlings. They were just delivered from Wyoming when I took these photos. Look how light Scout was! These pics were taken when we had them boarded up in Lancaster, which was 2 1/2 hours away! You can see why we moved them closer to home!

Weekend outing~~Joshua Tree National Park~~That's my World

Sunday was overcast and a gray day, but hubby and I had talked about driving out to Joshua Tree National Park for the afternoon, so we did. The joshua trees are so unusual~it truly is another world up there! When we got to the highest point, at over 5,000 feet, the dry wind was blowing and it chilled us to our bones! But, the view of our valley was beautiful! We could see Mt. San Jacinto, as well as the Salton Sea. And, we could also see where the San Andreas fault runs east to west through our valley. For other photos of other worlds, please visit: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

flowers by my fence!

Okay, even I'm sick of snow! We drove up to Joshua Tree National Park yesterday and went out to Keys Point. At Keys Point, which is the highest area of the park, we could look down into the entire Coachella Valley and even see the Salton Sea, but...it was cold and windy. Everybody there was bundled up. The wind jut cut through our clothes and I bundled up with gloves, a scarf, and my huge waterproof, lined jacket! BUT...my ears were freezing! Enough snow! Ugh! So, I remembered that this weekend, I took some photos of my African daisies, which are growing next to my sunflowers out in my front yard, by our fence. The sunflowers are growing about 3-4 inches A DAY! A couple of them already have buds and are ready to flower, but with the storm coming, it may be a few more days before they open up! I planted these flowers last fall in a sunny area between our fence and the street. It gets southern exposure sunlight all day, perfect for flowers that love sun and warmth! I also threw out some California poppy seeds, but they aren't ready to bloom yet. This new storm will give them some extra water (see the hose? I have to drag it all the way out front to water them!) ENJOY! Mellow Yellow for Monday, February 16, 2009. For other yellow pics, please visit: http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/