Welcome to California!

Woo Hoo! We're at the border!

Windmills out of Tehachapi, California

The endless oilfields in Buttonwillow, just out of Bakersfield

We found the S.S. Minnow . . .

Apparantly, it is now located in Blyte, California . . LOL

Pics along the way

Ok, time to catch y'all up . . finally purchased a card reader for my camera.

Here is a handful of pics from Oklahoma to New Mexico, including where we broke down just out of Albuquerque. We lost the hitch pin on the Exursion and almost lost the u-haul trailer.

Thanks to a fellow traveler who was hauling race cars back to california, who lent us a hitch pin . . we were back on the road in record time.

Windmill in Weatherford, Oklahoma

The HUGE cross in Groom Texas on I-40/Route 66 . . largest cross in the Western Hemisphere

Beautiful red mesas, just out of Sky City, New Mexico . . the colors were AMAZING!

Jill, taking five (or 45, or 90 . . .) nothing like napping in the sun on a road trip

Fixing the hitch pin (in the rain)

On the road

without a camera cord (all these great pics and I didn't bring the usb cord for my camera (WalMart trip . . again)

Just leaving Winslow, Arizona, next stop . . . Arroyo Grande, CA


Pics later!!

How to exercise a Jack Russell Terrior

All summer long, these black and white dragonflies fly back and forth by the dozens in my yard. My Jack Russell, Scout, is determined to catch them. (see the one I circled in red in the photo)

The funny part is, I think they tease her on purpose, they will zip low right above her head and when she jumps to catch one, they "pop" upwards just out of her reach.

We set up lawn chairs on the edge of the patio and watch her trying to catch them (boy, do we need to get out more or what??).

She will jump and chase until she is worn out, then goes and plays in her pool of water to cool off . . silly dog.

Huge Hairy Ants (in my yard no less . .)

So . . . I was out back in the yard, scouting a sunny location for a photo shoot of my 2009 Holiday cards when THIS waltzed scross my bare foot. It was over an inch long and VERY hairy.

I snapped a quick pic and ran to look it up on Google.

This species is "Dasymutilla Occidentalis" . . commonly call the Cow Killer Ant because it bite is so painful it is said to kill cows (read above . . I WAS BAREFOOT).

The males have a set of transparant wings, the females are wingless (this little beauty is a girl). I went to go find a jar so I could show my husband but that little sucker could move fast and was gone by the time I got back to the spot.

(I also put shoes on)

Unusual Art

This is the work of Czech photographer, Vlad Artozav.

Who would have thought that you could express so many emotions with NAILS?
Go take a look at this guy's art . . it is really unique

http://www.designswan.com/archives/the-story-of-nail-art.html
http://www.photoforum.ru/user/5808/photos.0.0.date.desc.0.0.0.1.en.html

Ewwwwww!!!

I went out the garden to pick tomatoes and Ewwwww!!


It was the invasion of the Tomato Horn Worms . . Ewwwww

So I got a bucket of hot, soapy water and sent them all swimming . . . Ewwww

Last New Mexico post . . animals

Here is a "Cantalope" on the open range

I can't remember which one of our kids first referred to "Antelope" as "Cantalopes" . . . the name has stuck and now (at least in our family) they are officially all Cantalopes now.

There were Elk everywhere . . . these were on a side of a mountain just outside of Angel Fire. Have you ever heard the sound an elk makes? . . . check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzWmKlZtrU (not my YouTube post, but what a cool sound) to hear it in the wild is AMAZING!

Wild Turkeys . . when I pointed at a flock on my side of the road and my husband glanced over to look . . two flew in front of the truck from his side . . if he didn't slam on the brakes, I would be posting about that turkey in our windshield that we ate for dinner!

Yummm . . food over a fire

Why does food cooked over a campfire and outdoors taste so much better?


We had our usual "Breakfast Burritos" (sausage, potatoes, eggs) wrapped in those fabulous fresh flour tortillas we got in Taos and a big pot of coffee. (Yummm)

Dinner was leftover tamales and fresh caught trout baked over the fire . . . doesn't get much better than that!

Oooo the pretty flowers

So many pretty flowers . . . I spent more time taking pictures than fishing (obviously, I am better at that).

Check out the bee on the cactus flower! That was a lucky shot!!

Here are a few more of the pretty New Mexico flowers.


The white ones are really cool, each flower opens up for one day only then dies. The petals look like hearts.

I love fishing . . . at least I think I do

I get my pole out, patiently get it ready, attach a lure . . . cast it out, catch a bush, yank hard, catch myself. Lose the lure in a beaver pond (throw a fit) . . . . walk 2 miles through the sticker weeds (catch poison ivy . . thank GOD I didn't squat in it) got goosed in the ass with a monster thistle bush, fell in the creek (twice) and after 2 days . . . catch one of these . . . finally.

The picture is much more impressive . . I think it was all of 5 inches long LOL. This was one of ONLY TWO that I caught the entire trip (good thing I don't have to depend on fishing to feed myself)

I fished my BUTT off . . . my husband approaches a stream and the fish throw themselves at him . . . what is up with that?? (see the fish whisperer below)

Ahhh . . just to get away

We decided to take a weekend off and disappear from the world (no computers, no cell phones . . .) We drove to Taos, New Mexico and stocked up on provisions to go camping and fishing.


First stop was licenses in town and asked a local where to buy the best tamales. Everyone said the same thing . . the guy in the red pickup of the Super Saver parking lot LOL (I didn't get a pic . . dang).




While we were waiting for him to show up, we went inside the grocery store and were delighted to find a tortilla machine cranking out fresh flour tortillas! (bought a dozen of those too). We bought a dozen tamales, half pork, half chicken & cheese and porked out eating tamales and fresh hot tortillas all the way up the mountain YUMMMMM


Before leaving town, we stopped and bought a ristra from the Chile Factory for our friends Lori & Ray who are back home watering our plants and checking on the livestock (thanks guys!) (she promised to cook something wonderful with them . . I am holding her to it!)

Taos is a gorgeous little town, flowers everywhere! I especially love the Hollyhocks, I've forgotton how much I like them and have decided to plant a patch when we get home.

There is art EVERYWHERE you look, gardens, rooftops . . even doors for sale at an importers store becomes art!

Tomorrow . . FISHING pics!

Good Morning all!

This picture was taken on one of our wanderings this spring. This is on Highway 16, just before the Dentonville store. If we had stopped a few miles back I could have gotten an even better pic . . sometimes I think too late. It was a delightful morning with huge pockets of dense fog in the valley areas. I love mornings like that!

Check out this yard sale find!

The picture doesn't really do it justice. It stands about chest high and is HEAVY. I am going to make a fountain out of it. $15 at a yard sale . . Wooooo

Yummmm . . Garden Goodness

We have not had rain for so long so we broke down and purchased drip irrigation for the whole place, complete with timers and every gadget, got up Sunday to install and guess what? It was RAINING . . go figure (sure way to make it rain . . 1. Wash the car, 2. Water the yard)

So, after the rain, we spent the rest of the day running drip lines to every garden box, every flower bed and every potted patio plant . . . WHEW! my back is achin! . . but boy am I glad that's done. We have all the timer boxes to water 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour at night. This should save a TON of water and make for much happier plants (cuz Grace is famous for shamlessly torturing plants) . .

But check out the cherry tomatoes and bell peppers! Yumm . . we can't wait . . we try to will them into ripening every day by staring at them . . . soon, soon

Weed Eater (Okie Style)

We truly do live as organically as possible . . to prove it . . here is my favorite Weed Eater. His name is Mr. Ed!

My Husband's Dad's Day Adventure

Ok (so this is a little late in posting) . . Our daughter and her fiance Tyler, treated her father (and myself) to a day at the ballpark. We went to the Bricktown Ball Park in Oklahoma City to watch the Red Hawks win at the very last inning!

Jim wore a very LOUD colored Hawaiian shirt. The only thing I regret is not being fast enough with the camera to catch a pic of him on the Big Screen as a camera zoomed in on him dancing to the YMCA song . . DANG IT!

But a GREAT time was had by all of us . . thank you Jim . . for being the very best father to our children . .I love you!

Can it get any HOTTER?

OMG! . . it has been over 100 (and humid) for about 4+ days and it is forcasted for more through Monday . . . I can't drink enough water . . the weatherman says it will "cool off to the upper 90's next week" (like that will help LOL)

He doesn't look happy . . .

So, we were out for a drive and out in the middle of "no where" was this HUGE cow with HUGE horns, dragging a rope around. The rope is all tangled around his horns and does not look very happy. The span between his horns had to be at least five feet . . monster cow!

I said "oh . . . he's lost . . ." my husband dared me to get the rope and lead him home (Umm does Grace look like an idiot?. . . he looked like he would just as soon eat me as look at me).

We stopped at the ranch he obviously belonged to and let them know where he was (hope they took a BIG stick with them LOL)