HEAT WAVE!

I don't know whether or not you've been watching the weather reports, but while the Northeast is FREEZING, we're having a ... HEAT WAVE!  Yesterday broke a whole lot of records for the daily high.  Some records were over 100 years old!  Global warming?  HA!  It is REAL HERE!!!!

I cleaned out my clothes closet in anticipation of getting the tax write off for 2017, since we won't get it next year.  DAMN REPUBLICANS !  All they care about are (1) their rich donors; and (2) themselves.  SCREW the rest of us!  I took 2 car loads of stuff over to our nearby thrift store.  Then, back home to have hubby go through HIS clothes.  Neither one of us have done this since we retired and it was time, believe me!  I now have 2 more loads to take today and he still has one more closet to do!  AWAY went his dress shirts, dress slacks, sweaters, vests...ALL he has now are shorts, some jeans, and about 100 t-shirts!  This guy LOVES his t-shirts!

STAY WARM and have a wonderful weekend.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~Cheryl Ann~
The trees were GORGEOUS up at the ranch this fall!

Projects, projects, and MORE PROJECTS

I haven't been sitting at home doing nothing...nope, nope, nope!  I've been busy!

Well, first, hubby has had a HORRIBLE cold and cough now for 2 weeks.  I finally shoved him into the car and took him to urgent care.  OF COURSE it is a virus, so he wasn't given any antibiotics.  He hasn't been this sick since the last time he had pneumonia!

Then last Wednesday I came down with a sore throat.  Now I've got a full blown cold and I'm going through boxes of kleenex!

I got tired of making journals and I discovered a gal on YouTube who made a mixed media art journal, so I watched her 13 videos and made 2!!!  Why not?  I worked on one while the other one was drying.  It was fun!  Then I got sick and I haven't worked on anything for days.

My next one, however, will be about the Tudors and Saturday I went to the local library in the next town where they have black and white copies for... 10 cents!  and color copies for... 25 cents!  Can you believe it?  And, they are nice copies!  So, I found 2 books and stood and made copies until I ran out of quarters (and I had QUITE a few in my purse!).   If I'm up to it, I'll return tomorrow with a couple of books I checked out of my own town's library and make copies there.  THEIR copier is 65 cents for color copies and I don't remember the black and white charge!  WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

I DID complete one art journal and only have 3 pages left in the other one.  I'll take some photos today and post them.  It's too dark right now!

Linda Carson of the 7MSN is retiring in 15 days and I wish her a ...

HAPPY RETIREMENT! 
She deserves it!
http://www.the7msnranch.com/2017/12/the-story-ive-been-meaning-to-tell-you.html

Oh, and I SOLD a journal and a bag of fabric in my ETSY store!  I was shocked!  It went to a Facebook friend in Arkansas.  Whoo, whoo!  I MIGHT list one of my art journals there...I'm just not sure yet...Please DO stop by and take a look!  I just reopened it in October, after closing it for 6 months.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=pr_shop_more

Oh, and I now have over 40 videos on my YouTube channel.  Please also stop by there and take a look around!  I am now, however, VERBOTEN from doing any more until hubby can figure out why I used so much data last month on our cell phone plan.  I make the videos and just upload them to YouTube....does the uploading take ALL your data?  He had to purchase an extra GB of data last month and HE WASN"T HAPPY!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/deserthorses5

Anyway, do pop over and take a look there, too!

Have a great week!  I'm making sugar cookies with our daughter on Wednesday (if I'm over this cold by then).  We put a lot of different toppings on them, but my favorite is the lemon curd.

That's life

Life is slower now, but some days and weeks are hectic.  Last week we had to babysit the 18 month old for 2 days and then babysit he and his 4 year old sister for 2 afternoons.  And, this was after we drove to Temecula to watch our 8 year old grandson's baseball game last Saturday.  Then, Sunday I drove up to the ranch and unloaded 6 bags of pellets for the horses.

PHEW!

Grandpa and I are RESTING this weekend!  I'm working on 3 journals right now.  Two are altered books, with the pages intact and I've glue 3 pages together and am now putting gesso on them.  One journal I sewed in two signatures (groups of papers) and it has a horse theme.

I really want to get these 3 journals DONE so that I can move on to my next one!  HA!  I really enjoy adding fabric and fabric scraps to them.  I finished two a while ago that have both their front and back covers done in fall fabric and I LOVE THEM!  I'll have to take photos of them and then come back and post them because apparently I haven't done that yet.

I have now finished and completed 26 journals!  They are all different sizes.  My next one I want to take a cereal box and sew fabric onto the front and back covers!

The horses are fine.  They are getting their winter coats.  It seems this winter will be milder and drier than last year.  Last year we had a wet fall and winter and LOTS of wildflowers!  This winter...probably not.  The eastern Sierra has had snow already 3x, so that's a good sign, however.

Take care and give your horses a hug today!
~Cheryl Ann~

A tragic story to the fires in Northern California

It was with horror that I read the name of the young firefighter killed in the water truck accident while fighting the fires in Northern California.  He was a student in my 4th grade classroom many years ago at Mecca Elementary School, where I taught my first 8 years.

"Taco", as we all called him, was a decent, honest young man with a tremendous grin.  I remember him and his sister.  The whole family was awesome.  He went on to our local community college and then moved to Missouri, but contracted out for firefighting services.

He was one of the fatalities in the fire, among many.  His water truck, which was full, overturned on the Oakville Grade (a HORRIBLE twisty, turning road).  My husband wondered if maybe the water shifted and caused him to go down the ravine...Such a sad loss.

RIP, "Taco".  I will miss your bright smile.

The next morning, we had a BEAUTIFUL sunrise here in the desert.  I would like to think it was Garrett arriving in Heaven.

Here is the story from our local news:

http://www.kesq.com/news/firefighter-originally-from-mecca-dies-in-wine-country-fires/639920253

BACK from Arizona

Hubby and I took a 4 night trip to Arizona's high country~The Mogollon Rim this week. We stayed in Overgaard. We just got home yesterday, after a 6 hour drive home.  We left last Sunday.  We rented a cabin through Air B&B, which was wonderful except the master bedroom was upstairs and neither one of us could competently navigate the stairs!  So, we slept in the "kids" bedroom downstairs.  We took Ripley (our black lab, age 10) with us and she absolutely LOVED the cooler mornings and all the smells!  In fact, one morning I looked out one of the windows and a coyote crossed the road right in front of the cabin!  Our first night there I heard an owl hooting!  And, THE STARS!  OH, my!~  I saw Scorpio and saw a meteor pass right in front of it!

We didn't do much, especially after Sunday's LONG and EXHAUSTING drive.  I did manage to make it to 2 antique shops in town.  I didn't buy anything at the first one, but I DID buy some old postcards and 40 quilting squares at the second one.  Then, Wednesday we drove into Show Low to buy our final groceries and I hit 2 thrift stores there in town and found 3 packages of fabric for $2.00 each AND some other goodies for my journals.  I also hit the library in Heber and came back with 4 Reader's Digest books with the beautiful covers.  I love making journals with those!

I will check on the herd either Sunday or next week.  It was delightful having daytime temps of 80 degrees and night lows in the low 50's.  Our daughter said our mornings here in the desert have been in the high 70's and this morning I have ALL the doors and windows open to air out the house!

Take care.
Cheryl Ann ~~

 The view from the back window of the cabin...Ponderosa Pines

Ponderosa pine forest up there.  They've had so much rain that there is standing water in the meadows and everything is very green!  Quite different from a couple of summers ago when they were in the middle of a drought.  The burned areas are also recovering nicely.

I've been BUSY!!!!

Wow!  The time certainly has flown!

I've been busy.  Hubby hurt his back again and I have to drive him to chiro appointments.  Bummer....I'm the one with the injured back and sciatica!

I've discovered Mod Podge!  Mod Podge is a mixture of glue and varnish and you can use it to coat and seal art projects!  I made 14 photo canvases and they are on ETSY (desertsandbeyond), but NONE have sold!  And, they are CHEAP!  Oh, well...I'll hang them up on the living room wall, I guess!

I've made a few wooden signs, too.  I go to Home Depot and have them cut either fence boards or 1x12x72 lumber.  They do the cuts for free.  I have a LOT of wood for wooden signs now.

Then I discovered paper napkins!  Oh, my!

Here are some photos of my projects:

 Paper napkin on 5x7 canvas...I added the vinyl stickers and the glitter netting.

My photos on canvas.  Next time, I'm going to paint the canvas with colors from the photos.

I made this one for the grandson.  2 pieces of wood glued together with paint stirring strips on the back for extra support.  This is while the Mod Podge was drying.  It dried clear.

Charismatic dead at age 21...sigh...

Charismatic is dead at age 21.  He was a grandson of the great Secretariat and had a beautiful chestnut coat.  He won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and came in 3rd in the Belmont, with a fractured leg.  I remember watching the race as his jockey jumped off and cradled his leg.

...sigh...

That makes me think about my own horses.  Gigondas is the oldest.  We believe (she has no tattoo) that she was born around 2000.  That would make her 17 this year.  Sunni and Quad were both born in 2004, so they are 13 now.  Scout was born in 2005, so she is 12.  WHERE did the time go?

As they age (and as I do, too), I'm finding that I just don't have the time for them.  I only see them once a month (if I'm lucky).  Riding is OUT of the question.  I don't wish to get injured again.  I already have sciatic nerve damage from a fall off a friend's horse and my legs don't work like they used to.  I'm not as quick as I used to be and remember Gigondas knocked me down last fall...

I DO worry about Quad.  He seems to be the most fragile.  He frequently suffers from choke, so I don't give him ANYTHING extra.  He also paces and cribs.  I NEED to get up there more often and take them out, but my babysitting duties call me elsewhere.


Here are the two little STINKERS down here in the desert.  The other 2 are in Temecula...

 Girlie girl!!!

Little flirt!

My Garden

I think I've said this before, but this is my first REAL garden in over 25 years!  It's probably more like 30...I don't really recall having one the whole time I worked!

I'm really enjoying it.  My swiss chard is bountiful.  My cabbages are growing nicely.  Even the little ones that were nibbled upon have come back!  I water them with "alfalfa tea" which is just some alfalfa thrown in a bucket filled with water, and then I dump it on the vegetables.  My sugar snap peas are already 24" tall.  My first two tomato plants already have blossoms on them. However, we are having quite a WINDY DAY here, so I'll have to see how they are tomorrow or Sunday.  We're supposed to get showers here tonight and all day tomorrow.

I find my garden very therapeutic.  Sometimes I go out and pull weeds.  Other times I water it with my watering can.  I have bird feeders away from it and the birds come and go and now they visit my bird bath!  I surrounded it with branches and perches for them and I love to sit at the window and watch them!  I have hummingbirds in the yard and a female who comes to the feeder on the porch!

Life is slower now...less hectic (most days)...I just enjoy watching everything.

I'm reading books about how to maintain and support one's garden.  I have 6 red cabbages, 6 green ones, a cauliflower (with 3 cauliflowers on it), 1 swiss chard, 2 lavender (for the bees), 2 mints (to keep the varmits away), and some sage.  I have sugar snap peas growing on my chain link fence, along with 5 tomatoes (not together, of course)...I have 2 chili peppers and a few sweet peas. I don't know what happened to my sweet peas this year, but they are straggly and struggling.  Yes, they, too, get the "alfalfa tea". I think for next year's crop (this one is going to be rather meager), I'm going to REALLY dig up the soil for them and add LOTS of organic matter.

I now wander up & down the aisles at Home Depot and Lowe's and investigate and read the labels on their mulches.  I want to find an organic one.  There IS a composting facility down valley, but I'm not sure they have organic compost...I'll have to check it out.  I'm a little hesitant about using horse manure on my plants unless it has been out in the sun for over a year ( to burn off the parasites and germs...)....

Anyway, the granddaughter is coming over today before we go to the library so I can show her my garden.  I'll take some photos and post them tomorrow!

I've had to babysit "Little Man" for 2 days because he had a rash and fever, but he appeared to be okay...kinda cranky yesterday.  Here's what he thought of Grandma's babysitting:

He gave me an "F" for babysitting because I forgot one of his bottle feedings!

THEN... (I nearly had a heart attack...)
Now, mind you, GRANDPA came along to "help".  YEAH, right!  All he did was sit in front of the TV for 10 hours...

I was running around doing laundry for our daughter (I did 7 loads yesterday and folded everything and put it away).  On one of my trips around the corner to the laundry, HORROR...I noticed the front screen metal door wide open!  HUH?  I was SURE I locked it (but the lock is very tricky)...

GUESS WHO was sitting outside the front door on the step?  YUP.  Little Man!  I screamed and ran SO FAST across the room...I think I set a new land speed record!  I swooped him up, closed and locked the wooden FRONT DOOR, and said a prayer of thanks!  He somehow managed to crawl all the way down the hallway, push open the screen door (which does have a lock on it, but apparently I didn't get it properly locked) and crawl onto their front step.  They only have one step and then a walkway which goes down to the driveway!   I think I now have 100,000 new gray hairs!  Fortunately his parents both have a 4 day holiday weekend, so THEY can watch him for the next 4 days!

Phew!

I had to come home and have 2 beers last night.
~Cheers~!
Cheryl Ann

ETSY shop open! PLEASE stop by!

I opened an ETSY shop this week:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=search_shop_redirect

I wanted to post photos of the desert, mountains, Sierra Nevada, and places we've traveled, as well as some of my horses, and I decided on this name:  Desertsandbeyond...

Anyway, PLEASE do stop by and take a look around...I have some prints and some prints with frames.
Please also send me your ideas/suggestions.  I haven't posted any horse photos yet.  I have had an incredibly busy week...babysitting, running errands, babysitting, babysitting...do you notice a pattern here???

My garden is coming along nicely.  Tomatoes are growing, cabbages, swiss chard are all doing FINE!

Thanks, everyone!  I appreciate you coming by.  It is lonely over there...

Cheryl Ann

Settling in

I think I've finally settled in with retirement.  I like it; it likes me (I think)...

I have now planted a vegetable garden (my first one in over 30 years!).  I enjoy getting up before dawn, fixing my coffee, feeding the dog, waiting for the alpenglow to hit our local mountains, feeding the birds, and then checking on my garden.

Some kind of VARMIT got to 4 of my cabbages and nibbled most of them off, but they have...SURVIVED!  And, they are getting bigger and stronger.  I think it also has something to do with the bucket of horse manure tea I poured on them!?!?!?!?!?!?  I forget and left the damn thing out in our rain when the last storm came through here and VOILA! It was full of tea, so I used it!  And, I poured some on my sweet peas and I SWEAR they doubled their height overnight!

Every Wednesday morning through May there is a certified farmers' market here in town and hubby and I get up and go to that.  Then we usually run our grocery errands, although today I drove out to COSTCO and to Lowe's (where I bought 4 more tomato plants and another chili).  Oh, and 2 more lavender plants...nice size!

We try to get down to our son's house in Temecula twice a month.  He works all week, so that's a weekend thing.  I babysit the 2 grandkids here in the desert on Wednesday afternoons.  Hubby stays home and babysits the cat and the dog.

Other than that, my time is pretty much open.  My colleagues (who also retired the same time I did) and I get together about 2x a month.  Last time we visited Sunnylands, in Rancho Mirage, "home of the presidents".  I think every president since Eisenhower has visited there.  President Obama donated a bench there, which we saw.  You can tour the gardens for free, but the house tour is $21.00.  That's a little steep for 3 retired teachers!

Here are a few photos from the last few weeks.  I didn't realize I hadn't posted since December 2016!!!!

 This was during one of our rain storms!  I haven't seen that much water in the wash since about 2011!!!!!!  We got nearly 2" of rain!

 Another view of the wash.  It runs down several golf courses and I noticed that today a bulldozer was out leveling it all out again.

 I met a roadrunner on one of my morning walks.

 Bench at Sunnylands donated by President Obama.

 The house.  Too stark and sterile for me.

One of the water features at Sunnylands.