So Sweet!

Just look at these crazy flowers.......in January!! Even though it's been fairly cold the last couple of weeks, with a little snow flurry last week, these hardy little primroses are determined to flourish. It's been sunny the last few days and they saw their chance to do their thing. So cheerful, so brave!
I went down and saw my Mom today and we headed over to Davis to see Molly. After lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant we dropped Molly's car off for some minor tire work. We roamed around the awesome hardware store in Davis for a little while and then took Molls to pick up her car. Molly is on cloud nine ......tomorrow Ross is moving to Davis........surprise,surprise!!!! I hope she makes it through the night she's so excited. I'm so very happy for her!
After I dropped Mom off at her house I stopped at Costco and got a few things for for Super Bowl Sunday.......Molly, Ross, Seth and Granny are coming up. I realized that around 4:30 is the time to "do" Costco......not even a line to checkout. More importantly...no lines for the food samples!
Dinner tonight will be cheap and easy. I froze some turkey soup left from Thanksgiving so I'm going to defrost that , make some garlic bread and a salad. TaDa.........dinner is served!

At Last!

President Obama....how cool is that! I watched the entire inauguration from it's start until the parade.....I only wish I could have been there. The excitement was palpable....would have been wonderful to share it with other like minded Americans! Seth was here to share it with me and think even he may have been a little moved by the speech. I felt the speech hit the right tone.....not flowery and light, but down to business, evoking history and hopeful. Such a mess is everything right now.....I want a Commander-in Chief! It only fits for me ,however, because of his intelligence, humor and sense of fairness. We can only wait and see what happens now.

Apologies to the Local Fox!

Well it turns out we falsely accused our farmyard fox. This morning when Jim was in the garden he looked over and there was a small female bobcat in the chicken coop......no doubt the culprit who did in the chickens! Since we have no guns...yet...she scampered on her merry way.......but I'm sure the coop will be forever on her daily travels. Jim's spent the day fortifying the coop and hopefully she'll decide it's way too much work to try and find a way in.
Seth and his friend Jon rolled in from Bishop last night. Seth's been gone for almost a month climbing in Bishop. Sounds like they had a great time........I'm glad to see them safely back. I guess the apartment search begins for Seth now......probably down in Auburn. Close enough for me to bug him every so often!
I'm so excited about tomorrow...... I'll probably post something then......after my tears of joy dry!

Fox in the Henhouse!

Disaster yesterday! While we've been able to protect our little flock from the local bear population, it seems a local fox has , well, outfoxed us! He,or she, figured out how to break in to the hen house yesterday and slaughtered all but one of our hens. How she escaped we have no clue , but we found her cowering in the garage. This is such a sad situation for us. These particular hens were hands-down the nicest we've had. They were sweet, kind to each other , and turning out to be great layers. Wiped out in a matter of seconds I'm sure. This sweetheart, who made it out alive , is now sequestered in a small cage in the garage until Jim has time to rebuild the coop. I've named her Cookie Jar because she's so sweet and looks just like a ceramic cookie jar I have . She even laid us an egg this morning.......all under such duress! I'll miss them all ,but most of all my little Henny Penny, the little banty who ran the place. So sorry we weren't able to protect you all ladies........I only hope your replacements are half as wonderful.

Look Who Came to Visit!

The other day we had sort of a surprise visit by some of my favorite people....Tessy, Ryan and little Maddie! They'd made a quick trip down to San Francisco and stopped by here for a couple of nights. They got here about 7:00 in the evening......so we got to enjoy dinner together and catch up on wedding plans. They've decided to be married up in the redwoods.....I so agree....it'll be perfect!
The next morning Tess and I went down and had lunch with Granny and then headed over to Old Navy and scoured it for post Xmas bargains. Tess got Maddie a bunch of cute little girl clothes which we all had fun picking out and then she also found a few things for herself.........surprise, surprise!
They just left this morning......I'm always a little sad when one of the kids comes and goes........silly me.......but going crazy cleaning helps , so the house is pretty darn clean right now!
My Jim will be home before too long and I've got a big pot of spaghetti sauce cooking....his favorite! Sounds pretty good to me too!
It was warm and beautiful again today...I ate my lunch on the deck and was actually too warm, but later in the afternoon it started to cloud up and cool off so we may be in for a change. It is after all January!

January in the Sierras!

Unbelievable!!! Seventy-six degrees here yesterday......while we had snow on the ground just a couple of weeks ago! This weather's supposed to last through this week and maybe through the weekend. I was even able to hang clothes out to dry on the clothesline.......one of my great joys!
As you can see from the photos there was a lot of outside music played here this weekend by Ross and Jim. Molly and I were the appreciative listeners.
I ordered myself a pair of semi-cowboy boots online yesterday.....I'm very excited! I used some of the money Jim gave me for Xmas. I just wish I had the long slim legs to go with the boots! I sure hope I wear them......I'll try not to be intimidated by the beauty of a pair of perfectly matched leather boots!


Well guess I'll go outside of get a few "rays"......not a bad way to start the new year!

Canyon Hiking!

Wow, what a beautiful day it was on Saturday......so sunny and warm, very hard to believe it's January! Molly, Ross and I did an old standard........the "under-the bridge" hike. We were hiking along with about 50 other hikers, but a pleasant day was had by all! Before heading down into the canyon we fortified ourselves with some delicious sandwiches from Raleys , found a primo parking spot by the river and then heading up the trail. We actually got hot while hiking in the sun and the cool, damp, shady spots on the trail felt so good. It's a goodly little hike.....about 2 1/2 miles mostly up hill......however it's 2 1/2 miles mostly downhill on the way back!!! Molly and Ross were the best hiking partners.....they're so sweet together and we laughed coming and going.
We hiked up to the dam and found some rocks with a great view and there enjoyed our sandwiches. It was starting to get late...it is after all January with it's early sunsets.....so down we headed. About 1/2 mile before we got to the car I remembered to snap a photo......actually Molly did the camera work!.....hence the picture of Ross and the under side of the Foresthill bridge.......the tallest bridge in California.
Molly and Ross went to Placerville for dinner so Jim and I barbecued some steaks from Costco...........relaxing by the glow of the televised Kings game!

Sick Dog!!

Poor little Jenny has been under the weather the last couple of days. Yesterday morning when I first let her in she was drooling like a mad dog!! First I freaked myself out thinking rabies, but eventually the drool stopped....... Yippee!!!! She stayed inside with me all day advising me on some designs I've been working on, but I could never get her to eat anything.......even offering to share my turkey sandwich with her.
When we got up this morning she seemed a little more chipper........well, as chipper as anyone is at 4:30 in the morning! When I let her in I got her to try a bite of dog biscuit.....even a piece of string cheese. It's now evening and I tempted her with a bowl of milk of which she took a couple of half-hearted licks. I don't know what's wrong with her......I sure wish she could talk. She is at least showing some interest in the world this evening which I'll take as a good sign.
Molly and Ross are coming up late tonight and then tomorrow we plan to go on a long hike down in the canyon......it's supposed to be a beautiful day and a hike sure beats toiling away on the treadmill! I'll try to remember my camera so I can share the day with you.

Gray Day!

Brrrrrr...it stayed so cold and wet all day today, however just a tiny bit above snow temp.....so it just rained and rained. I stocked up our much depleted refrigerator and empty pantry , but not before I had a wonderful chat with Jilly.......the high light of my week so far! Espen also came on and spoke to me........I'm so very fortunate indeed!
AND when I returned from the grocery store .......my Molly called! Back to the grind of work and school for her after a lovely 3 week vacation,but...she's in love so that softens the stress of it all!
Tomorrow morning a guy from a solar power company is coming to discuss installing a solar system here. It'll be very interesting to hear what he has to say......it would be so nice to be able to circulate some cool air during the summer!
Stay well everyone.........take time to smile!

Happy Belated 2009!

Wow...things are getting back to normal after an amazing Xmas! We had such a wonderful time and Xmas really lasted about 2 weeks this year. We had so many house guests......all of them so very welcome........so much snow ...and rain....poker games, sledding excursions, cookie and candy eating, secret keeping, teasing and laughing, of course music playing...........all the things I love so much about this big, hilarious family!!
Everyone is gone now and Jim and I are still basking in the silence and peace, but, at least in my mind, I miss everyone already! Such is a Mom's life!
Yesterday, however, we had another wonderful day of family . Marcy,Jim's sister didn't make it out here in time for Xmas ,,,,so we drove to Jim's dad, Jerry's house in Benicia to see Marcy. Jack and Donna were also there and Molly and Ross joined us . Granny drove over with us, so it ended up to be quite a crowd. We stayed all day and enjoyed great conversation, a wonderful pizza and musical entertainment by Ross. An awesome way to start off the new year!
Today I've spent the day on the computer trying to come up with some new ideas of things to make and sell this year. Any ideas.....send them my way!
Now that things have settled down I hope to get back to posting more on this blog.....I've missed sharing tidbits of my "so-called life" with everyone. For now......have a great 2009.....no doubt an interesting one!
By the way.....Blogger isn't letting me download photos right now......hopefully I'll be able to add them sonn.