Does ANYBODY blog anymore?

Does anybody blog anymore?

Does anybody CARE?

I look at my readers' feed and there are very few active bloggers.   Al, over at Travel with the Bayfield Bunch blogs on a nearly daily basis, and Carson, over at The 7MSN, blogs a couple days a week, but there are very few others. 

I've tried to contact people whose blogs I've followed and they have either disappeared off the face of the planet or their blogs say, "You don't have permission to view this blog"!   EXCUSE ME?   SAY WHAT?   I don't get it...

I know a lot of people are on Facebook now (I am...), but I still like the ability to write more than a few sentences once in a while.   I like to keep up my thinking and typing skills...ha~

I realize I don't get out and take photos like I used to and I DO miss that.   And, it's kind of ironic, since I now have the TIME to do so, but not the desire.  I'm using a whole tank of gasoline a week to drive the kindergarten grand daughter to school every morning and after that, I come home and eat breakfast and take a nap.   That's my morning routine now.   I have little time, money, or energy to drive ANYWHERE.

Any comments?

Some recent photos:   Sunflowers up at Oak Glen...

Thanksgiving break (THANK GOODNESS!)

Whoo, hoo....I get a 9 day break from driving Miss Ellie to kindergarten!    PHEW!   Now I can make coffee any hour of the morning and not worry about having to be gone for 90 minutes! 

And, hubby is driving to Temecula today to take our grandson Ben to his final baseball game because our son is going to my aunt's memorial service and can't get him there in time.   So, I will have some "PEACE AND QUIET" time!

I had to babysit both grandkids yesterday afternoon and evening while Mommie was on a field trip to UCLA with the junior scholarship kids and Daddie was at a football game.   By 8 p.m. Miss Ellie was konked out on the couch and I was still watching the day's news.   Such are my days now...

Some new journals in my ETSY shop!!!! Come take a look!!!

I have quite a few journals right now in my ETSY shop:     https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=pr_shop_more

I sold 5 last month and I'm busy trying to replace them!   I have 4 Christmas ones, 2 French/boho ones (although I'm finishing up another one today), some fall themed ones, and a November one.

Here are some pics:   Please DO come take a peek!

Birds, ants, and kindergarten...oh, my!

Hubby and I have been trading back and forth some kind of yucky stomach virus and I got it yesterday.   Now, NOTHING is supposed to interfere with me driving Miss Ellie to kindergarten, but I did leave about 10 minutes later than usual.   AND, I was unable to pick her up for early release Wednesday so I called her mom and told her she would HAVE to do so!   So she did. 

I'm enoying watching all the birds out front at the feeders, but the little verdins go through a thistle sock of food A DAY!   I left and returned from driving Miss Ellie to kindeergarten this morning and the darn sock was... HALF EMPTY!   Little buggers!   If we didn't have so many of them, I wouldn't even put it out, but we do, so I do.  I heard and then saw our neighborhood woodpecker yesterday so I put out some fresh oranges for him this morning, but I THINK he liked the ants crawling all over the old slices, so I also left them up.

Gotta run some errands today...I have books to return to one library for the 5 year old and I'm going to the one in my town to check out 10 more for her to read!   She is learning to read some words on her own now and she wants to be read to... EVERY NIGHT!   I think this month she's had 75 books read to her!   WOW!   That's pretty good...and now the 2 1/2 year old brother is catching onto this reading thing. 

I'm going to try to work on some journals today.   I sold 3 this week, so I need more for my shop.   Don't forget to stop and take a peek:   ETSY shop:     https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=pr_shop_more     So far I have 4 Christmas journals and I'm going to make a 5 ring binder next week.   Here are some pics:

Baseball game and Bodie

Our grandson had a baseball game yesterday and it wasn't raining, like last Saturday, so off we went.  By "we" I mean me, hubby, and our 11 month old lab mix, Bodie.   We knew he would love all the kids there (he's extremely friendly) and the grandkids hadn't met him yet.

Ben (the 9 year old) got to pitch the first 2 innings and then played first base.   His team won 14-3!  He hit a single, a double, got walked, and I missed 1 at bat because I was out walking Bodie...

The 3 year old granddaughter had the most fun with Bodie.   She loves dogs and she sat down with him and he slobbered all over her!   She was very gentle with him.

It was a good day for all.  I drove home, ate dinner, had a beer, watched the first 7 innings of the Dodgers' game, and then went to sleep!   Bodie slept the entire way home, ate his dinner, and went to sleep.  See a pattern here?

Pics below:

 Bailey, the 3 year old, with Bodie.

 Baby Riley with her yogurt...

Ben pitching

Kindergarten trip to Oak Glen

So, I drove my own car and met Miss Ellie's kindergarten class up at Oak Glen (apple growing region) yesterday.   There was NO WAY I was going on the school bus.   First, I can't stand all the noise.   Second, I wouldn't have lasted all day like they did, although I heard they were screaming for snacks and were hungry for lunch!   I left before all that (thank goodness).

I did follow them around for about an hour and went on the tour of the apple packing areas and listened to "Johnny Appleseed" talk about the kinds of apples, but it was outside and the temps were about 85 degrees and Nana had low blood sugar, so I left.   I had a bean & cheese burrito in my car from my morning stop at Baker's, so I scarfed it down driving down the mountain.  Got home and took a nap for an hour.  Life was better after that.

Here are some pics from our day:

 Beautiful apples!

 Apples going up the conveyor belt to be washed, then dried, then sorted, then packed...

 Apples on one of the trees.   It is still early in the apple season...

 Apples on trees...

I liked these apples in boxes IN THE SHADE!

More photos tomorrow...stay tuned!

Summer comes to a close

Summer is slowly coming to a close here in the desert of Southern California.   The changes are subtle.   I was driving home from Indio Interstate 10 the other day and I noticed how much further south the sun is setting.   I've followed sunsets for years now along the ridge line of the San Jacinto mountains and I'm following them again this year.  Also, there is a golden glow in the late afternoons, about 4 p.m.  Finally, my Chinaberry tree is turning yellow and its leaves are falling.   I have 3 Adirondack chairs under it, where I sit and write in my journal, and every morning they are covered with leaves.   Finally, birds are returning...I saw and heard a black phoebe and saw 2 ducks overhead one morning while driving the 5 year old granddaughter to kindergarten.

I went out this morning (since trash pickup day is tomorrow) and filled up 2 of the green waste recycling bins with trimmings just from the front yard.   The mesquite has exploded with growth over the last month.  I know because one weekend I filled up 3 of the green bins with branches from it. I'm trimming stuff now to get ready for my fall annual plantings.  I have a large area along our walkway that I want to plant hollyhocks, so I needed to clean up that area... DONE!

We DO have to get the mesquite trimmed and thinned out.   To my horror, I went out one day, looked up, and saw where one of the major branches is cracking.   It's the one that goes out over the driveway and shades our car.   So, unfortunately, because of the weight of all the side branches, it will need to come down.   There are a couple of dead branches, too, and a couple that are hanging almost straight down, so we will have to get a professional tree trimmer out to trim it.   $$$$ ahead...sigh...BUT, it has to be done.

So, fall is slowly creeping up on us.   We will have double digit temperatures next week...FINALLY!   And, our nights are cooling off, to where we can open up the windows and TURN OFF the air conditioner!   Isn't that nice?

Take care.
~Cheryl Ann~