It's snowing!!!!! It won't last and we didn't get very much but Hubby is having a time getting to work. He left at 5:15 instead of 5:30am but we'll see if he makes it on time. He had to fire up the old Chevy four wheel drive truck for the drive in this morning.
This is a very wet snow. It started out as heavy rain sometime last night and it is 33 degrees out now so it isn't really even freezing temps. Penny the Pembroke Welsh Corgi loves the snow and has been out there for over an hour.
While Hubby was leaving the coyotes started ki-yi-yi, yippity-yip-yipping. The pack must have been within 200 feet of the east fence. Then, off in the distance, you could hear another pack greeting one another and calling to the neighbors. Our pack started up again and then more packs in the distance. They don't usually vocalize for that long but they sure were going to town this morning.
Dawn will come a little late today. Usually we can see the sun rising for a good 50 or more miles away but with the thick clouds we won't have that foreshadowing of the sun to soon arrive.
It all turned to rain and then the clouds went away this evening. Nice!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Rain
We finally got some rain but not just in the nick of time. No, the rain came after an accident that left 26 homes burned to the ground, three horses and one 93 year old woman dead. We have had high winds lately and on one of those windy days, an older gentleman disposed of the ashes from his fireplace inappropriately. That started a fire that burned fast and furiously.
This is a wonderful community and many people and businesses have stepped up to help out their fellow Nevadans. That is the good part of living here. I don't know how many times I have seen a need and then seen money pour in or neighbor's helping neighbors. We aren't a rich state, although some people here are doing quite well. We are a boom and bust state. We are up and then we are down. Yet, Northern Nevada has a really nice side to it.
We got a half an inch of rain and it all soaked in nicely. Three months without snow or rain has left the area incredibly dry. We can only hope that we get some more moisture while there is still time. The high country is bone dry and that will be an issue this summer. Not so much for us as for the Californians that rely on those mountains for all their water.
Cleaned out the goat pen today. Six or eight wheel barrows full. Got some new straw in the goat hut. They so love snuggling into their straw when it is cold. Keeping them dry keeps them healthy! We have been feeding them weedy, foxtail filled grass hay alternating with alfalfa. They haven't had any problems with the weedy grass hay but it has caused a lot of waste and I am having to do extra loads in the wheel barrow because of it. I am not sure if I will do that again.
I counted up our round fence posts and we have 17. We have about 20 T-posts. That will be enough to build my horse pen but certainly not enough to finish the cross fencing. I have t o buy about 100 feet of no climb horse wire. I have a gate that has been sitting out in the sand for quite some time. It was supposed to go in when we finish the cross fencing but now we are thinking about a double gate since our area is a bit tight and having extra maneuvering room would really help with backing up the truck with a trailer on it.
I also managed to clean out the front and south patio gardens [at least 80 percent anyway]. We bought a gas powered hedge trimmer and I whacked it all down in a matter of minutes a few days ago. Today I raked it up and took it to the back to burn the garden refuse later when it dies up a bit and there is no wind.
Now to finish up the new sheets on the bed, mopping the kitchen and, finally, taking my long afternoon break More about what it will take to have a mini horse later.
This is a wonderful community and many people and businesses have stepped up to help out their fellow Nevadans. That is the good part of living here. I don't know how many times I have seen a need and then seen money pour in or neighbor's helping neighbors. We aren't a rich state, although some people here are doing quite well. We are a boom and bust state. We are up and then we are down. Yet, Northern Nevada has a really nice side to it.
We got a half an inch of rain and it all soaked in nicely. Three months without snow or rain has left the area incredibly dry. We can only hope that we get some more moisture while there is still time. The high country is bone dry and that will be an issue this summer. Not so much for us as for the Californians that rely on those mountains for all their water.
Cleaned out the goat pen today. Six or eight wheel barrows full. Got some new straw in the goat hut. They so love snuggling into their straw when it is cold. Keeping them dry keeps them healthy! We have been feeding them weedy, foxtail filled grass hay alternating with alfalfa. They haven't had any problems with the weedy grass hay but it has caused a lot of waste and I am having to do extra loads in the wheel barrow because of it. I am not sure if I will do that again.
I counted up our round fence posts and we have 17. We have about 20 T-posts. That will be enough to build my horse pen but certainly not enough to finish the cross fencing. I have t o buy about 100 feet of no climb horse wire. I have a gate that has been sitting out in the sand for quite some time. It was supposed to go in when we finish the cross fencing but now we are thinking about a double gate since our area is a bit tight and having extra maneuvering room would really help with backing up the truck with a trailer on it.
I also managed to clean out the front and south patio gardens [at least 80 percent anyway]. We bought a gas powered hedge trimmer and I whacked it all down in a matter of minutes a few days ago. Today I raked it up and took it to the back to burn the garden refuse later when it dies up a bit and there is no wind.
Now to finish up the new sheets on the bed, mopping the kitchen and, finally, taking my long afternoon break More about what it will take to have a mini horse later.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Large Gardens and Miniature Horses
So, what have I been up to lately. The annual garden catalog perusal has begun along with the long discussions on what kind of melons, corn, beans should we grow this year. There is only two of us and we grow a garden big enough for a family of eight but at least I traded some of my produce for fresh eggs last year. I put my first two seed orders in today. Only three more orders to go.
I have been considering a miniature driving horse. Of course, that will mean a lot of work for me [and Hubby, too]. No, I'm not talking about watering and feeding. I am talking about fence building and shed building and buying stuff for the little guy. They are so cute and we really do have plenty of room here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=miniature+horse+driving+photos&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=k2sbT6veHZDKiQLVrYTICA&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=655
There are lots of photos of the little horses pulling people around in carts. I am trying to learn a whole lot. I took one driving lesson but I am not certain she is the right teacher for me. She is a very nice person but... we'll see. I am managing to get in touch with some people that are in the area and they have minis so I will have more info available as I meet people.
I have been considering a miniature driving horse. Of course, that will mean a lot of work for me [and Hubby, too]. No, I'm not talking about watering and feeding. I am talking about fence building and shed building and buying stuff for the little guy. They are so cute and we really do have plenty of room here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=miniature+horse+driving+photos&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=k2sbT6veHZDKiQLVrYTICA&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=655
There are lots of photos of the little horses pulling people around in carts. I am trying to learn a whole lot. I took one driving lesson but I am not certain she is the right teacher for me. She is a very nice person but... we'll see. I am managing to get in touch with some people that are in the area and they have minis so I will have more info available as I meet people.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Internet Censorship
I am supporting efforts for blocking the SOPA bills that are going through Congress. I think they are a bad idea , especially as they are written now. So,
this page has more info on how to join the internet blackout planned in protest for tomorrow the 18th.
Monday, January 2, 2012
What am I Reading?
I just finished Memoir of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
I felt like I was transported back to another time and place. The way the women were treated is just heart breaking. Life was hard in the early twentieth century for poor girls in Japan.
I like this book a lot. It did have some sad stuff about the geisha girls lives. Sold as a young girl to a geisha house in Kyoto, she is beaten into submission, rescued from certain oblivion into the cheap sex trade and fights her way to the top with the help of another geisha. She lives with a rival that hates her and is devious and cunning. Our heroine does overcome much and there is a happy ending. The action occurs from pre-WW II through some fifty or so years and ends on the streets of New York city.
I felt like I was transported back to another time and place. The way the women were treated is just heart breaking. Life was hard in the early twentieth century for poor girls in Japan.
I like this book a lot. It did have some sad stuff about the geisha girls lives. Sold as a young girl to a geisha house in Kyoto, she is beaten into submission, rescued from certain oblivion into the cheap sex trade and fights her way to the top with the help of another geisha. She lives with a rival that hates her and is devious and cunning. Our heroine does overcome much and there is a happy ending. The action occurs from pre-WW II through some fifty or so years and ends on the streets of New York city.
Worth It
If I had known on the day I was born all that I would have to endure throughout my childhood, I would have said "No thanks, world. I don't want to be here." Really, life doesn't give you that choice. You are stuck with what ever life you are born into.
If you would have asked me at age four or nine or twelve or fifteen or twenty five, I would have told you that life just isn't worth it. Fortunately, by the time I reached thirty, I had discovered that life is "worth it". At forty I found love and at fifty, contentment and peace. Yes, my life has been a gift, fought for and hard won. A present I had to find, purchase, wrap in pretty paper, add ribbon and a bow to. It has been a very high price that I have paid for my gift. Perhaps that makes my life now all the sweeter.
The sadness and confusion, the hurt and the fears, they haven't so much left me as I have incorporated them into who I am. They do not overwhelm me anymore. They don't leave me either but they are not what my life is.
Perhaps, for the time being, that is enough.
If you would have asked me at age four or nine or twelve or fifteen or twenty five, I would have told you that life just isn't worth it. Fortunately, by the time I reached thirty, I had discovered that life is "worth it". At forty I found love and at fifty, contentment and peace. Yes, my life has been a gift, fought for and hard won. A present I had to find, purchase, wrap in pretty paper, add ribbon and a bow to. It has been a very high price that I have paid for my gift. Perhaps that makes my life now all the sweeter.
The sadness and confusion, the hurt and the fears, they haven't so much left me as I have incorporated them into who I am. They do not overwhelm me anymore. They don't leave me either but they are not what my life is.
Perhaps, for the time being, that is enough.
Computer Woes
Turns out my computer woes were solved by going out and buying a new keyboard. We got the cheapest keyboard available since I seem to need a new one every so often. This one is ergonomic and it sort of hard to get used to.
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