Cris, Artist in Oregon

Art Tuesday :)

2012-01-24T12:43:00.000-08:00

I am still without printer/scanner machine so I got out my old camera to take some photos of my latest projects. My Aunt and Uncles 67th wedding anniversary is coming up on Groundhogs day so I decided to do them a card. They used to have a poodle they loved call Gabby, so I thought I would do two poodles for them to represent both my Aunt and Uncle.

My Aunt just turned 90 last week and My Uncle is 93.

Both Very special to me.

This is just another journal page.

More of the Oak galls I picked off the tree so I could get the correct placement of the growths on the leaves.

Then I did some mail boxes I took a photo of that had fall leaves on the ground. Nothing makes me feel more like I am out in the country then seeing multi mail boxes along the road like this.

How about you?
**
I JUST got delivery of my 'printer head' as I was typing this. Yeaaaaa. Its going on two weeks that my printer/scanner/multi machine died and I have been trying to get the replacement. Now I have to reconfigure my printer to my computer and get me up and running again. The whole thing boggles my mind so I will have to just do it one step at a time.

I was having problems commenting on some blogs. Seems to be working now. Hope it keeps working now.

-"None will improve your lot if you yourself do not."– Bertolt Brecht

Blogger & Electonic Problems

2012-01-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

Listen up my Mistress has something to say!

I decided to do a post to explain why I am not commenting on some of your posts. Not many but a few and thats a few to many. I cant seem to get the comment box to come up so I can comment. The very same ones I was having problems with before, I am having problems with now... all I needed to do then was uncheck the 'remember me box' and everything worked, but that doesn't work now. I have tried everything I know of to fix it but its not working and I tried to go to blogger support but that didn't work either. Once in a while it will work but not often. Blogger doesn't seem to be fixing this problem either.

So Robin in SF you are one I cannot comment on and I have tried and tried and also sent a couple emails to you but I don't think you got them as I asked you to let me know. I loved your Red colors post. Email will be the only way I can comment until its figured out. I might not have the right email address or they are going to spam. Also the 20 minute drawing post wont let me comment most of the time either. Elva yours let me comment today but then wouldn't let me back on and Artist Unplugged I had problems with yours too. Arrgh. Why will it let me do it once but not the next time. There must be an answer to this.

I am also without printer/scanner and a way to down load my pictures from my new camera at the moment. That broke. I even went to Walmart to have my photos transferred onto a Disk so I could do it that way and their machine broke in the middle of it. I did finally get them later in the day.
My 8 months old printer/scanner dies and my computer wont accept my new cameras cord to down load pix.. I cant comment on some of your blogs and Now the machine at Walmart breaks in the middle of it all.. My printer is under warranty thank goodness but they sent me a replacement, taking over a week to get here, and they didn't send me the printer head so it doesn't work without that. I was told to power mine up and take it out. If I could power it up I wouldn't have needed a replacement. So I wait again while they send that to me.

I am a very frustrated blogger at the moment without a way to share anything new, and comment on some blogs either. So I will be back with something when I can. I am working on a new dog card. :)

A large Bon fire of Electronics comes to mind right about now!

****

Update on the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels at SIX WEEKS.

2012-01-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

Update on my Friends CKC Spaniels in SO CAL

Newborns here. With Mama... Luci.

My Friend was kind enough to send me updated photos so I can share with all of you on Animal Wednesday.

There are five boys and three girls.

They are now Six weeks old.

Look at this sweet face.

Here's three of the eight sitting up looking around.
They grow so fast.
These are all up for sale with a deposit hold on a few already.
Some were pretty small but all made it and won't be ready to go to a home till they are at least 12 weeks old.

All eight sleeping. I think I would have a hard time parting with any of them if they were mine. It would end up being like the 101 Dalmatians story .
:))
HAW Early

Snowed today. Printer/Scanner/Photo downloader broke :(

2012-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am adding these photos from my old camera I just took a bit ago.

Its Monday and we have a white world out there. This is out the kitchen window and there

is a Hummer sitting on the sugar water jar.

This was taken out the front. Its going to be gone by afternoon but more is expected tonight.

I am taking photos with my new camera, which are coming out much better, but I cant get them downloaded right now. So I reverted back to my old camera to share with you.

We got snow Sunday.

First time this winter and it came down and stuck, but then the sun came out melting most of it....but more is expected tonight so we will see. Its plenty cold out but we are all cozy inside by the wood stove in the living room. Annie says HI.. :)

I took Snow pictures but I cant figure out how to down load them without my printer/scanner multi machine. It died on me last week and its not even a year old, but the company is sending me a replacement because its still in warranty. I just have to wait till it gets here some time next week. So unless I can figure out the downloading I have only whats in my computer to post. Unless I use my old camera. Which I might resort to.

Mr Acrobat is back hanging around. This was a week or so ago. We had thick morning fog and I liked the affect of the black with the white fog.
Also blogger is back to it not letting me comment on some of your blogs AGAIN, and I have made sure the little box that says 'remember me' is unchecked. This time its something new and I cant figure it out so If I don't comment then that is why.
Is anyone else having this problem?
Do you know how to fix it this time?
I think Blogger tweaked something again.
It's soooooo frustrating
:O

Birds of a Feather.. HAW

2012-01-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

I love my new camera.

I am getting some great photos I couldn't get before

But I am still learning how to use it. This guy was just sitting waiting for his photo to be taken.

:))

We went to the Duck pond a few days ago to walk and watch the birds.
Loved watching this guy just walking along pecking for bugs.

Zoomed in on these Guys and this Egret started stretching.
Look at that wing span.
He kept moving around.

I love how they get that crook in their necks.
Then he flew even closer to me.

Trying to hide from me as I was snapping photos.
I think these are my favorite birds. They are so graceful and I love to see them fly.

Con and Annie were waiting on me to finish taking photos after our walk.

It really was a lovely day to be out in the sunshine.

After snapping that picture Con and Annie, I turned to find these two standing right by me hoping I had something to feed them. Alas I had no food with me. Next time.

***

I sure have been enjoying the full moon the last few nights.

We actually have had clear Sky's at night to be able to see it.

This morning as I looked out the kitchen window I could still see it hanging big and low over the mountains behind us as the sun was coming up behind me. I drank in my fill of its beauty then I took some photos to remember it by. I hope you were able to enjoy it too.

The moon was but a chin of gold

A night or two ago,

And now she turns her perfect face

Upon the world below.

Emily Dickinson

HAW

PS.

My new canon printer died on me and now I have no way of scanning, printing or downloading my photos till they send me a replacement some time next week. That Warranty is VERY important on new equipment these days as things dont seem to last like they used to. One thing about Canon tho is they are there for you 24/7. I do have a few pictures I haven't shared with you so I might use those for a blog post if it doesn't come for awhile. I am a bit bummed to say the least.

Saturday Night at Dusk

2012-01-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday evening I looked out my Kitchen Window to see this glorious sunset.

I grabbed my camera and rushed out back to get better photos.

It just kept getting better

Look at this color.
Then I turned around to come in and below showed that behind me was another awesome view.
The moon was out and full and it wasn't even dark yet.
It looked so big.

I rushed up front to get some more photos of it as it got darker and darker.

So glad I looked outside when I did.

:))

Rosco at the Beach

2012-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend painting.

My Friend, who asked me to do her nephews dog, Rosco, wanted a background,

But I didn't want to ruin the header one so I did another drawing.

Since they love to go to the Beach and Rosco has been there I put him at the Beach.
She loved it.

Today another Friend came to paint with me.

She lives in Senior..55 and older.. apartment and likes to get out of there. She hasn't painted in years and just started up again and wanted some help, so we set up in my Studio and painted for a few hours.

I didn't take any photos of her or her work this time, Maybe next time
as we plan to do this again. We really had a good time.

I have been working on this house for some time, but maybe now that I have it going again I will finally get it done.

Lots of details to be done on the house yet.

****

Annies Visitors, Sunrise photos & New Ink & Watercolor Cards

2011-12-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

Annie had visitors .
This is Milo
He's about 14

This is LITTLE BEAR
He's also about 14. Look at that face. He is such a cutie and stone deaf.
Poor thing.

They belong to our new neighbors across the street.

This is Jill what you can see of her, She takes them for a walk and they love to come over here to visit.

***

Thank you everyone who wished me well.

I appreciated each and everyone of your comments.

I've been taking some needed time off of blogging... resting, reading and creating. Filling up my well again so to speak. I am still fighting that pinched nerve in my neck tho. Its very frustrating to say the least. But I can type now at least and draw.

Sunday I went out for the morning paper and saw this gorgeous sunrise greeting me.
Frost in the fields and the sky on fire. My new camera picked it all up.
Like I said...Filling up my well.

It took me two hours on the phone last week, with Canons help line, to get help for downloading my photos.
My poor old computer wont accept or recognize the camera for downloading with the cord... BUT.. I do have a canon multi task printer and so it will accept my photos from that because it has a memory card slot..which I didn't think of and with the camera software and my printer we I can now download my photos and not lose them off my memory card which I did when using a Sony card reader I bought and wish I could take back. It only took two hours tho of frustration on both sides. Never could figure out why the camera won't be accepted when the printer is and it is only a few months old also.
Another shot of the sunrise sky below.

This is Rosco
I just finished him.
A friend asked me to do him for her nephew & wife. Its their dog and a surprise, but I am going to see if I can do one with more background color as she wanted. I just couldn't do more on this. I liked it as is and felt it would ruin it to do a background. Do you ever get that way with your Art?
This is Brooklyn
A new card for another Friends Anniversary in March.
She sits like this on the couch arm all the time.
These are ink, watercolor and acrylic.

2011 is about to end in a few days and I cant believe how fast it has flown by.

I want to Thank ALL OF YOU for visiting my blog this year. It's been fun sharing my photos and my Art and visiting your blogs too. I have been inspired many times thru the year just seeing what everyone is doing. I hope you keep coming to visit thru the next year and I wish Everyone a Fantastic Art filled 2012.
****

PUPPY HEAVEN. HAW

2011-12-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

Luci & Sofi

My Friend in So Cal owns these

King Cavalier Spaniels

She just sent me pix of her Luci's litter of EIGHT puppies.
Aren't they adorable.
She will be sending me more photos as they grow.
I just had to share these cuties.
HAW a day late.
***
I am doing better. I couldn't even use my arm or hand and was doing the hunt & peck
method with one finger. A result of pinched nerve in my neck. I managed to get into my chiropractors office before he took off on a weeks hiatus and really needed another visit.
I will hopefully be back next week commenting.

HAW and back problems

2011-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hello there. I am doing the blog today.

My Master/Mommy has been having back, shoulder & wrist problems which is very painful to sit and type for long. So she asks you to forgive her if she doesn't make the rounds right now. Her Arm is in need of rest and a visit to the Chiropractor. She will be back when she is doing better.
HAW
Taken with new camera which she is having problems figuring out how to download pix and not take them off the memory card.

New Card.. Westie on Plaid Chair

2011-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Did another Westie dog on a chair this weekend
I played around with plaids on this one. For some reason the shadow under the dog keeps coming out white when I scan or take a photo of it.

Fall Colored lawn. Annie with toy

2011-12-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Still raking, but at least the leaves are pretty on the lawn.

Looks to pretty to rake don't you think?

Took this photo Tuesday.

Today it was cold and foggy all day here.

One little woolly lamb got a bath today.

Annie found it drying by the wood stove and wanted to play with it.

Look at the face. :)

Here take it, she said...

We played a little tug a war. It had dried at least.
I let her win. How can I not with that face. lol

Off to play with her spoils. . .squeaking the head where they put the squeaker.

Its three months after her Surgery and she is doing soooooooo well.

A Daisy for Teri C. Annie & Daisy ..Early HAW

2011-12-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

A Daisy for Teri C... No not this Daisy...

THIS ONE..... For Teri C who loves Daisies.
I took this photo for you.

Its December and very cold out at night now and this Shasta daisy is still going strong.

I cut back all the rest a couple months ago, but this lone one still stands there strong through all its going through.

A tribute for Teri after the loss of her beloved Sunshine.

Who we all will miss for some time to come.

I have been busy helping Con with raking and raking some more.
We still have more leaves to come down yet. I hope soon so we can be done with raking.

So I am doing Animal Wednesday a little early. This is the leg Annie had surgery on September 4th.

You can just barely see the scar on her knee. Her hair is about all grown in. She hardly limps at all now.

I went looking for Con and found these two napping the other day.

Mutt and Jeff.. lol

You can see the stairs that Con made for Annie better here..
Yes the room is Pink... I love Pink.. :) I am trying to find new material tho to make new curtains for in here.. which isn't easy to find in our small town.
I want to go with black and cream. I'd like tiny stripes, like my Art Studios curtains I made and something for the Valance that is different. Con is not bothered by Pinks and frills. The pillows that Annie was laying on, in last post, usually go on the bed and makes it look more black and cream in here, but con dumps them on the floor so he & Annie can nap on the bed.

****

I got my new camera this afternoon. :)))))))))))

Now to figure it out so I can begin using it.

I hate new things. I want to dive right in to use them but have to figure them out first.

So I hope..soon.. to be posting with photos from it. Its very small and will fit into my purse to go with me all the time now. :))))))

****

Animal Wednesday

2011-11-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

We walked up our street yesterday and saw this young buck who seemed totally unconcerned we were there.

Good thing I had my camera with me.

Then down the road a bit I knew something was watching us and
saw this female deer standing very still so we wouldn't see her.
Con never could see her until I took a photo of her.

It wasn't that far from us but my camera did its blur thing.
I am so glad a new one is coming soon.

There were at least three in here we saw yesterday.

This was my view out my kitchen window before our walk. Check out the little head peeking up in the lower left side.

HAW

Annie, Another Journal page, Lamp lit for those that asked.

2011-11-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

I posted this because Annie was so blame cute laying her head on the pillows.

She knows comfort when she sees it. :)

You can see a bit of the stairs, at her hind feet, that con built for her to get up and down on the bed now. It took awhile for her to get used to them but now she uses them all the time.

He used some wood he had laying around and we used some of our left over carpet we had to cover them.

Another journal page I worked on.

I drew some of the bags that sat in the carport before taking to the dump.

Then I picked up some Oak leaves on the ground and some pods off the Oak tree and brought them in to draw and watercolor them. This time no ink. I am not sure what these pods are, they have fuzzy things in them. I thought the seed was the Acorn. Does anyone know?

I was asked to take a picture of my nite lite on but my camera isn't working so hot these days.

Its on here.
I turned off the light and took another shot of it, but it really is lighter when on then this shot shows.
I ordered a new camera today on line. I think the days of my old one are about over.
I have had it for seven years now and its been a great camera, but now I am getting more and more blurred shots and there is a streak going through the back viewing window so I cant see my subject matter all that well, and its acting up downloading it to my computer now. I hope to get the new one this week and figure it out soon. Oh and its purse size which will make it much easier to take with me all the time. :)
*****

A little light on a New Project

2011-11-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY finished a project I started years ago.

Just before we decided to move here, almost 8 years ago, I started this little Nite Lite.

When we moved I for some dumb reason tossed the top jar to this that was all done and just needed to be put together. I had just lost my Dad so I wasn't really thinking well. So for years it sat in a box almost getting tossed at one point because of the jar being gone. Recently I got it out and thought...why not finish it...and I found another large pickle jar and finished this sucker.

I used a small clay pot upside down and painted bricks along the bottom and the Rooster with acrylics. I cleaned out a large pickle jar, dabbing it on the outside with a holy round sponge in a light blue acrylic paint. When it dried I sprayed with retouch varnish to keep it from peeling off and added a nite lite cord to go up through the pot & lid with an on and off switch on it. Con drilled a hole in the back at the base for the cord to fit through to hide inside and sit level. He had to cut the cord and put it back together inside, taping it up well with Electricians tape.

Con glued on the lid so the jar will open and shut to change the bulb and I glued ivy around to camouflage the base.

It takes an 7 wt nite lite bulb..

Not the bulb shown.

I glued on some felt material I cut to fit the bottom in a circle to hide the cord and to not scratch any surface it sits on.

I had to touch up the Rooster since it got scratched along the way.

I am so glad I finished it. I think it turned out cute.

I keep it in my Studio as a nite lite and it calls me in now and then to putter in there.

****

Sweet Gum Tree Journal page.

2011-11-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

Looking out my Studio window I see this glorious riot of color and I decided to try and capture it from life not a photo. This is another page in my new journal of what I can see of this giant sweet gum tree while I am sitting at my desk. Its a shame it drops its leaves so fast once it turns colors.

Here's the tree and look at ALL those leaves we raked and are still raking and will be still be raking for a couple more weeks at least. The back is just about done.

The Window by the lattice is my studio window and the last window at end is where I am sitting now looking out as I type this.

Annie Added to Journal

2011-11-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

As you saw in my last post I have started a Journal. Something I will use to record whatever strikes my fancy each season. Of Course Annie will always strike my fancy at anytime. :))

The other night I was sitting on the bed watching TV and Annie was laying next to me after a hard day of helping rake the yard..make that.. drop the ball in leaf piles :)... and was sleeping. She looked so cute that I felt compelled to draw her so I grabbed my sketch book and started drawing her with pencil. As usual with live models she moved a few times before getting this drawn out so I had to ad lib it a bit.

Then yesterday I decided to add some color to it with watercolor and ink.

She might just be showing up here a lot.

New Journal started

2011-11-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

Everyone is having fun journaling and I have been wanting to do this for ages. I have kept a daily journal for years in words but now I want to try doing some in pictures.This is the first page. Something I was told to just do and do something I liked a lot.I like colors a lot and fall colors are gorgeous and I seem to like to record daily happenings. So I am starting with Fall. Who knows how far this one will go as I have tried before. I am not really fond of this paper. Its cansons 98 lb paper for Mixed media. It will take watercolor and acrylic as well as ink and pencil. but the first page warped big time. And I cant really paint on the back side of this. But I wanted an 8x10 book to work in and this is all this town had that I could find.

After seeing many others doing it I am going to give it a try. To see if I can keep it up. Like I said the hard part was starting. So I asked another fellow blogger how she got the first page in a new book started and she said to just do something you love and once you have the rest will come easier. Check out her blog. She is a wonderful journaling artist.

http://vickylwilliamson.blogspot.com/

I also found the blog below and its been fun to follow. Which also lead to buying the book "Artists Journal workshop, creating your own life in words and pictures." by Cathy Johnson, whom I have loved for ages from her art work in magazines. I am hoping these will finally help me get into the fun habit of journaling with drawings instead of only words.

http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/

I saw this peacock in someones yard yesterday and didn't have my camera.

So I did a rough sketch on scrap paper and came home and did it, &, the colors by memory. So I am sure its not totally correct. It didn't have the long tail I thought all male peacocks have and it had a whitish back.
Maybe it was young or just a different breed.
Late last evening while going for the paper at dusk, which is left in a little plastic box by our mail box in the street, I saw a deer streaking thru the trees to go down to the river across the street and its image has stuck with me. Maybe I will try to capture that on this page. I will make this something fun and not to detailed or if I so choose detailed.. personal or not. Daily or not..To share or not to share.... I want it to be fun and mean something for ME. Isn't that what Journaling should be about?

****

Another week another Animal and Fall post.

2011-11-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

Our new neighbors went out of town recently and asked us to Kitty sit.

This is Shadow. She is still a kitten and new to them who was some friends of ours kitten from a litter their cat had. They also have another cat called Johnny who is much older. So for Animal Wednesday here's Shadow. She is the sweetest cat.

View from their house.

Love it.

Our Sweet gum tree in front..what we are waiting on to turn and fall and rake and rake.

The colors are glorious tho

The raking not so

Con got out the ole blower
With annie helping him. She is doing great now.

This filled up six huge bags

Then he went up on the roof and blew off another half bag of leaves and put on the moss off for winter. That's our front tree peeking over the house.. WAY over the house.

There is a lot of work winterizing a house in the cold rainy country if you want your house to survive long.

Yesterday we got out and cut back.. way back.. the plum tree someone planted to close to the other tree. We have to do this every year and should cut it out but I like it to much.

It adds some privacy in the summer time from next door.

Now we have a huge load to go to the dump next chance we get.

Other then that.. nothing much going on around here.... As I drop with exhaustion. Grin

I did do a page in a journal I am trying to get going but it warped so not sure if I will show it unless I can get it unwarped. Andrea in Paris, was kind enough to email me to let me know how to fix it. I did use a mixed media book 98 lbs that says for acrylics and watercolors but it still warped. I wish I could make my own book like others show they do but I really don't know how.

Guess that's it for now.. Leaves are waiting but rain is coming so it might be awhile before we get back to it.. Darn... grin

There's a whole lotta color going on here...

2011-11-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

Looked out the other night to see this awesome sunset thru the kitchen window.

I grabbed my camera and ran outside in hopes of catching it.

Looks like I did.

A couple days ago I went over next door to take some photos of Fairs Trees in flaming colors.

They are awesome this year. Annie practically knocked me over running out the door to go with me when she heard me on the phone talking to Fair.. She was going...Period.. end of subject...She KNOWS when I talk to Fair .. I have no idea how but she knows.. She wanted to visit with Max and Abby.

They belong to the people next to Fair.

She ran over whining and talking to them. . . she was so excited to see them.

She has been so happy lately. She runs and plays and jumps up on me. The hair is growing back too as you can see in this photo.

This is what made me go over to take some photos.

I looked out our sun room window and saw this view of Fairs big tree in her back yard. It was awesome.

Since we got the two trees cut down we can see her trees much better now. As you can see it was a foggy morning so I had to wait to go take these photos.

But the sun came out and burnt off the fog.
And just look at the color of that tree on her side.
She had called and said I HAD to come and take photos before the rains came to wash them off.

The colors are awesome right now.

We haven't had too much rain yet so the leaves are staying on longer but that's about to end this weekend. Rain is expected by then.

I just love the fall colors. Our very very very tall front tree is just now starting to turn.

I will be taking photos soon. It hasn't even begun to start dropping its many many many leaves yet. We will be raking raking raking soon enough... Did I mention I love the fall colors?? :-O

Just so you know Daisy does get lap attention.

But Annie does seem to get more.

Just don't tell her she's a ..shhh.. dog.. :))

RITUALS...

2011-11-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

The other day I got to thinking about the rituals we have, be it daily or seasonal.

and I started thinking about the Fall Rituals I have. This weekend I realized I had a lot.

Beginning with changing around my Studio. Cleaning it out so I could work in it because all summer it has been a place to throw things. I also decided it wasn't very inviting so I changed the furniture around with the help of Con. Think I do this every fall to..Change something around. Is this Nesting??

Since I don't sew that much I put my machine in the closet so I could use my desk to draw and paint on. I put like things together.. Oil paints with oil stuff and Watercolor paints and brushes with like. I even have been drawing another chair and dog picture.

Oh and I am sorry Teri I have forgotten about the card slide show. When I can find all the photos I will post one.
This is where the desk was and now the desk is where the chair was.
Its more inviting this way to me. Sorry this blurred as usual with my camera.

Next Ritual is this Geranium is back for winter in our sun room.
It belongs to our neighbor Fair who keeps it on her back porch all summer but it would freeze in winter and she has no windows to put it and it LOVED our sun room last year. So she cut it back and brought it over to visit with us all winter. I love having flowers in the house. For some reason Daisy doesn't eat these plants.
Oh and my impatiens were looking so fabulous and would have gone a few weeks more, but I have to plant my Pansies before the first hard freeze to get them to make it thru winter, and the first hard freeze these die over night anyway... sooooo I always have to grit my teeth and pull them out. Another ritual.
As you can see I left a few impatiens in for now and the pansies had been waiting awhile in the little container so they have grown some.

But instead of tossing the impatiens this year I just transferred them to pots I had just emptied from summer plants that were gone. So now I can enjoy them a bit longer. It is requiring covering them with sheets on really cold nights but its worth it to see color for a while longer. The porch is covered too. Then those pots will be stored under the carport till needed next summer. RITUALS.

Another Ritual below is the field plowing that goes on for a week in back for the Rye grass planting.

They got to the mound last so I wasnt sure they would do it this year but thankfully they did.

I thought they were going to not plant any of the fields this year because they had to harvest so late and almost lost the seeds because it was wet so long, but here they were and we love it because they keep it up and it always looks nice. See the Roses..? My Rose bush took off again but with the cold weather its slowed down in blooming. With a threat of a freeze over night I went out and picked them to bring inside to enjoy.

Another Fall Ritual for me. The only time I really enjoy bringing in flowers as I love seeing them outside on my bushes.

Altho I love them inside too, but they don't last as long. These smelt wonderful too.

A bonus this year was my Fairy Roses. They kept blooming far past May.. not many roses, but some so I had to bring this one in to enjoy.

And last but not least is the RAKING RITUAL.....and its STILL going on and will be going on till December as the front tree is JUST now starting to turn colors. Oh I almost forgot another Ritual.. Annie hiding her pink ball in the leaves so Con HAS to stop and pick it up and toss it to her. Hey, we all have our Rituals. :))

She is doing excellent now too. We are careful not to throw the ball far and hard now, but she still feels she is part of the Rituals of Fall.

How about you. Do you have Fall Rituals?

****

Animal Wednesday.. Man & His Dog

2011-11-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

What a Pair!

Can't forget the remote & ball either.

:))
Taken a couple days ago.

A New Painted Card

2011-10-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

New card

Watercolor, Acrylic & ink

I will get this copied onto card stock.

Its getting to be Anniversary time again.

I come up with a dog and chair every year and its gotten to be something expected and looked forward to by the one getting it, and by me, creating it, as I never know what I will do and IF I will pull it off.

It won't go off to the recipient for a couple month's yet.

They don't read my blog so it will be a surprise.

****

Yesterdays Tree Cutting Day..What a Ride...

2011-10-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Tree Cutting day.

We wake to 32 degrees and Fog thick as pea soup.

Just what you want on a day when two giant trees, between houses, are to be cut down.

You can see how close they are here.

We spent three days clearing the area and knocking down the arbor as it was going to get clobbered if we didn't, and a good thing we did as it got a bit battered but survived from loose limbs falling.

They were an hour early. Still foggy and cold.

Second bad news was the boom wouldn't fit in the yard so they put the chipper there.

Say Goodbye birdies, your roost is about to be gone.

Limb Walkers came to do the job and Tony Jr, the bosses son, climbed that sucker and cut it down. It was an awesome show for sure and I got oodles of photos and had to pick and choose to tell the story. it took them 2 1/2 hours from getting there to leaving.

You couldn't PAY me enough to do this.

They lowered the big branches down by rope but some fell that were small.

That Chain saw worried me.. he would lower it just in time for the branch to fall and hang on to the tree. I worried it might cut him but he was very skilled in moving the ropes and the saw around like he did it in his sleep.

He is now up to the part that worried me, the new part.. the top heavy part.

He ropes it off.

Cuts it and hangs on for dear life as it comes sliding down the rope.

Wish I could have gotten him swaying on the tree once it fell but he held on for dear life as it swung like mad and he yelled.. WHAT A RIDE...

Every thing went into this chipper and into the truck as sawdust.

Except for the big wood that they cut up for us.

Then he used the big fir tree sans limbs to anchor on and slide over to the pine tree which was rotting and unsafe to climb.

He cut thru and it slid down by rope below to two of the men waiting below.

All told there were four men on the crew. One working the chipper.

And cutting up the wood for us.

Almost done with the pine which was in bad shape.

As we stood and watched not far from the action nature was going on with life.

This hummer didn't care if we were there or not. He was going to eat drink and be merry. :)

Totally unfazed.

As was this guy.

And Girl.

I didn't realize there were two till I downloaded these but they were unfazed about it all too.

A squirrel gave us what for when they were done. and came to eat.

A huge flock of Geese flew over us that spanned the whole field width and honking all the way. I tried to get a shot of it but the delay on my camera made me miss it. The guys who were having coffee by now, that we served them, stood in awe watching them go over head and fly on.

Then it was back to the fir tree to cut it down piece by piece.
Notice the fog has lifted by now and the temps were going up.

This was hairy tho. he cut thru holding onto the loose part then moved the saw down out of his way and then dropped the log to a safe spot below.

Working all the way down. We left part of the tree as something to put plants on and for privacy or there would be a big gaping hole in the spot.

Then it was timeto say goodbye to them and our money.
:))

Which got us busy then moving this heavy pile of wood to the back field to store and let cure for next year... and putting the arbor back up & together and putting things back in place like the fountain.

Bare but MUCH SAFER. We still have plenty of trees for the critters outside.

We both were pretty sore last night from all the work we did, but I will sleep much better in very windy weather from now on.

*****

SHE WALKS...:))) AND.......Trees to come down. :(

2011-10-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend Annie FINALLY started walking on her leg normally and more often then hopping.

We are OVER the moon happy about it.

Here she is putting her foot down. That's the leg/knee that had surgery on it.

The hair is growing back now too. It has a ways to go to get as long as the other side but its hard to tell just glancing at it. She will still hop some but its more walking then hopping now.

COLOR US HAPPY!!!

Do you ever feel like you are being watched when you go on a walk?

I did and had to stop and really look. Be sure to enlarge these photos.

She was watching us very carefully. Thankfully I had my camera with me.
So that's the Good news... The not so good news is below.

We have to have two trees cut down this week.

This Fir tree should have come down years ago.

The pine tree next to it is dying.

Because we had to cut this big sucker down 7 years ago we should had done the fir tree.

With them growing together the fir tree never got any branches on this side of it and so it took off on top and branched out. We have been told by, not one, but two different companies, that it is dangerous and the pine tree next to it has beetles and some fungus in it and must come down but if we take it down only the fir will no doubt go too eventually.

I hate the thought of cutting down a pretty tree but if we get another wind like we did this year in March we might not be so lucky at it not snapping and coming down. One year another bad wind came thru our area and snapped a tree off across the street. So its a possibility.

Look how close it is to Fairs house. They bumped us up to this Wednesday because they can bring their big boom truck in to get to it from the back field but if it starts raining much they wont be able to come thru there with their big truck till next Summer. So from now till Wednesday we are going to be moving things and praying a lot that they don't drop anything onto either of our houses or my plants we have babied for years or Fairs plants she loves right on the other side of the fence underneath the branches. :O

The back corner tree is staying and is healthy and safe we were told. So keep your fingers crossed for us!!
****

A decoupage Birdhouse Project

2011-10-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Cons Cousin came to visit bringing along with her

a project to do. She brought an unfinished Michael's bird house and a book from the goodwill which seemed appropriate for me to cut up and decoupage onto the birdhouse. All Things Bright and Beautiful was the book. I really hated cutting it up tho.
We couldn't get the paper to cover everything and look good so I decided I would paint the base and the roof that showed.

I finally got around to finishing it

But in looking at this I have decided that I am going to get my OILS out and redo the color since I didn't have many acrylic colors and I can match oils much better. They don't match enough for me.

So here it is almost finished. I think it came out rather cute and will sit in my sun room on the book shelf.

****

Fall Roses,Duck Pond Walk & Annie's check up.

2011-10-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

I have been totally surprised by my Roses this year.

I thought I said goodbye to my last Rose a couple weeks ago and these Roses put out more flowers.

I LOVE this one.

I took this out my kitchen window this morning.

Look at all the buds on them. I am hoping they have time to bloom before our freeze hits usually around the end of the month.

We went to the duck pond the other day and found it to be all mossy.

Very yukky looking.
Didn't stop these Geese from being there.
Or the ducks from being there.

Or these from flying in to be there.

I love how they come in for a landing.

Its been foggy and cold in the mornings but sunny in the afternoons so we have been enjoying some walks.

Looks like a Beaver got to this tree.

It wasn't very close to the pond either. What a job it did.

Look at those teeth marks. I am totally amazed. I just was wondering where they were going to take it tho.

Annie sure enjoys her walks even if she hops on threes most of the time. So we are back to walking her.

She was feeling good here rolling all over the couch, Which is why I keep a cover on it.

Then she jumped onto Cons lap like old times. Look at the look she is giving Con.

He loves to make big eyes at her. :))

She hasn't lost any of her silliness.
We took her into the Vets this morning for a check up.
Good news is that the grizzle he was hoping for IS forming to give strength, but the not so

good news is there is still a little play in the knee which shouldn't be there. He isn't sure why. If she stretched it or if she needs more time. We are opting for the time and another month as she is making strides in walking on her foot more and more and if that grizzle IS forming it might help strengthen it more.

I am a bit disappointed tho. I am hoping this doesn't mean its not going to work like we expected. I never expected it not to work. He did say he went to Reno for a conference this past weekend and learned a new way of doing this surgery that is up and coming and I wish he had learned it before Annie's operation. But its going on 7 weeks on Friday of her Surgery and there has been some improvement in the last week so hopefully another few weeks will make a big difference. If not I don't know what can be done now.

***

Animal Wednesday

2011-10-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

Got this photo on our walk the other day on a walk.

This Turkey Vulture was taking advantage of a sunny afternoon to sun itself.

It turned back to look at us and kind of creeped me out a bit, but it went right on sunning itself. But isn't it magnificent?

Still not a lot of change in Annie.
She has been walking on her leg some, when she forgets and I get my hopes up, but then she reverts back to three legs. We have another week to go and then we take her back to the Vet for him to check it out. I sure hope we picked the right Vet after all.
This photo is looking from our back field towards the house. One of our trees is showing signs of turning fall colors. A few around town are turning, but its still a little early for us yet. We have been busy slowly winterizing the yard so there's really nothing much to show Art wise.
HAW

PS. As of this Wednesday afternoon These sunflowers and Green beans are gone.

We cut them all down in preparation for winter. The nights are down in the 40ies now and the days in the 60ies. Time for putting it all to bed for the winter.

****

Found Art I've done & Annie's 5 week update

2011-10-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

We have been busy winterizing already.

It turned to Fall the minute October showed up and we have had much cooler temps and lots of rain. So we decided to start covering the wood furniture and start putting the pretties away for winter, cleaning everything up. We will gradually do more as it nears the freezing weather.

So I haven't gotten anything done Art wise but I was going thru my sketch books today and

came across a couple drawings I did earlier this summer and never posted. So I thought maybe I would posts some Art.

This drawing of a White goose was sitting along the duck ponds bank. I was thinking I might make it into a card when I did this but never did. The water doesn't show up in the scan.

This was a Goat that belonged to some people we know.

The offered us a couple of their babies but we said, Thanks, but no Thanks. :)
I found an old memory card in another camera and decided to use it this morning and this was on there.
I painted this years ago and took this photo before moving here. It was taken back East somewhere..I forget where now. This was from a photo a neighbor took when back there who let me do it and bought a print of it. I have more prints of this that sit in my closet as we moved here soon after getting them done because at the time I was selling my work pretty well down there. And an update on Annie.
This was taken this morning and as you can see she is still favoring that leg.
She wont walk on it completely but she has put her foot down some now and then.
I called up the Vet to see what he thought.
He said she should be walking on it by now but to give her another couple weeks and if not take her back in he will see what he thinks. He might have to do a little more minor surgery. I am not happy about that. He said it might not be making the scar tissue its supposed to make to stabilize that leg. But it could be other reasons too. She is babying it. She needs more time. Tomorrow will be FIVE WEEKS since her surgery.
But we DO see some progress so I am hoping its just a matter of more time.
***

October is here and the Sunflowers are Ready

2011-10-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

You know when Fall is here when the sunflower seeds are being harvested by the birds.

A friend emailed me and asked if the birds were picking out the seeds yet in my sunflowers.

I emailed back and said, No, not yet. Then went to sit at my dining room table

and low and behold I had lied.. The scrub Jays were out there feasting. What timing for her asking.

It's got as mouth full in this shot.

We have the other garden bed full of the sunflowers and birds.

Interesting fact is these plants feed little birds too. The finches eat the green leaves while growing. The tear holes in all the leaves except at the top of the plant. We get pleasure out of the sunflowers and feed the wild life at the same time.

The Geese are still going back and forth in droves to the River and back to this field daily. I wish I could get a video of them coming and going over head each day and the honking they make. With the sounds of their wings flapping in the air.

Its Awesome.

I am surprised they aren't in that pool back there tho. That place is right on the River and they have a nice pool too. It calls to me. I wonder how I could meet them. lol
Soon the plum tree behind the white cabana will be turning Fall colors.

We have been very busy this past week doing projects. Trying to beat the rains.

The house is in need of some paint so we are doing it little by little. We got so behind being ill last year and now we are making up for it. We spent a morning cleaning out this flower bed and around the side of the house. The flowers I had in here were mixing with weeds and it got hard to tell the difference. We needed to dig up the weeds and flowers and clear it away from the house to be able to paint.

This part is done. It looks a lot richer. We will go around the house between rain storms. Some has been painted already.

We also had to paint INSIDE the shed he built by hand since his sprayer quit working.. Figures...and he had a few things to fine tune on it. So it is really done now.

We just made it. It is raining some as I type. We really need the rain as everything is so dry and dusty but not for long. Several storms are predicted for the next week.

I can at least relax now and do some other kind of painting.

When I can move again.

****

Animal Wednesday Early

2011-09-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

My mornings are never boring around here.

I went out to feed the birds and saw movement next door.

I ran for my camera then went out to the back field and got some pictures of,

One buck, Two doe and two fawns.

This would make a great painting.

I will never get sick of this sight.

She stopped in her tracks and gave me the, I have babies don't come any closer, stare.

Annie was with me and stood up on our fence, between them and us, barking, because I was sweet talking them, and off she trotted.

Or should I say off THEY trotted.

A 'Daisy' in a box.

For Teri C

:))

Annie update....She was still favoring her leg today & not walking on it.

Con misses her jumping up into his lap to hug him when sitting in his recliner in the living room.

She hasn't done that or jumped up on the bed to push me out of bed in the morning since her surgery.

This afternoon we decided to give her a bath outside with the hose from the laundry tray.

She stunk!!

She heard us plotting and for the first time since her surgery she jumped up on the bed to hide.

She did it with ease. She jumped down with ease too.

I had to put on her leash to get her outside so she didn't jump back up on the bed.

She danced around on BOTH back legs & feet, being silly,trying to get me not to bathe her.

She gave in when I mentioned the COOKIES she would get when done.

She is still hobbling around on three legs in the house, but she DID walk on that back leg and I think it surprised her. So when she feels comfortable she will be walking on it.
HAW !

FALL.. Another week in the Life of the Marlows

2011-09-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

The last Rose of Summer.

I hate to see Summer go, but Fall is here whether we like it or not.
My zinnias are still hanging in there & Fair was amazed how tall these got, but I can see them & other summer flowers winding down.
We have been cutting things back already, which is a good thing because I needed to cut back my Jupiter's beards on the back side of the house to put in the new bathroom window.

As you can see this bathroom window we put in two years ago cracked big time.

It came with a very tiny crack at the top of the frame which we didn't notice until it was about in and we were pressed for time to take it back with a big rain storm that was coming..it takes two weeks to get orders... so we went ahead and put in it hoping it wouldn't ever continue down the window. Ah yes we are overly optimistic some times. It was OK until a big bird hit the window this summer and that's all she wrote.

Here is Con taking out all his hard work from two years ago to replace the whole thing because you cant just buy replacement glass. That ended up being more work because we had to paint the whole back side of the wall to cover the peeling paint from taking off the molding. Which is why I had to cut back the tall Jupiter's beards. We did the painting on Saturday morning along with painting the shed below.Con has since painted the trim whiter. So except for some paint inside and a couple air vents this shed is DONE and just in time as a storm is upon us now and we are to get our first rain in ages.

We also went out to pick the grapes to make Jelly this morning.

But the birds had beaten us to the majority of them this year as we have been to busy to notice that they should have been pick a few weeks ago. So no jelly making this year.

But I am not to unhappy about that as I quit eating sugar in April due to the migraine's I was getting and since then I've hardly had a headache and only if I slip up and eat something I shouldn't, AND I have lost 16 pounds to date. I would have made the Jelly for Con to enjoy if there had been enough. Now I just wont be tempted to have some because I slaved over it. :))

This might be the last of my painting outside this year.

Its getting to be a bit windy now bringing in storms. We will see.

We did go for a Walk with Annie. She really wanted to go and she pulled me the whole way galloping like she was running on all fours.

She still isn't running or walking on that leg but I do see her putting it down a little bit now and then.

We had to take Annie to the Vets again last week when I saw some of the suture coming out her incision in a big loop. He took us right in and cut it off.. it must have been along the edge and she pulled it out in a loop. Its fine now and he said it will all dissolve after awhile. He also said the last surgery of this kind he did was in May and it took almost two months for that dog to use all fours, but its doing fine now, so its only been 3 weeks since surgery for Annie.

So that's about all that's been going on around here. Just another dull week in the Life of the Marlow's. :)

The big projects seem to be done but we are thinking of another one to do, I am sure you aren't surprised. :) but maybe not till Spring.

Gotta run now.

****

Annie update, Painting and Shed Projects update.

2011-09-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

Annie still isn't walking on that leg.

But her hair is growing in quickly.
I called to talk to Dr Kang and he said she will walk on it when she is ready.
There might still be some healing still to be done from the accident. She only ruined one ligament in the knee.. the other one might need some healing yet. But He said we can let her run and play and jump in & out of the car three legged now. We just have to keep her from racing around after a ball and jumping for it.
She's doing a lot of her normal routine now and seems happy. We even took her into Home Depot with us Yesterday as usual. She LOVES to go get petted by the help in there. :) I set up outside again and painted. The weather has been so nice.

The top painting I finished up earlier this year. The bottom painting is the same house only the other side of it and needs finishing. I was touching up something on the top painting here that bugged me. Both of these were started last summer. While I paint, Con's been working on his shed.

Pouring a cement floor.

Putting on the siding & roofing.

Spray painting a primer coat on first with recycled paint someone gave us.

My Friend called him the Marshmallow man here. :))

The windows we decided to leave out. They were windows we took out of our house when we replaced them. We thought it would be better for storing things in there to not to have the windows.

He used chip board for siding like the other shed and the paint doesn't want to go into the grooves. So here he was brushing the drips in.

It will get a coat or two of the green next as soon as we get it. The door is cut out but not done yet. It will have to wait because tomorrow he will be replacing a bathroom window that got cracked. We had to buy a whole new window to fix it. We couldn't just buy the glass to replace it we found out. . . Nooooooo you have to go for the whole window. Big Sigh.

Which means taking off the molding and taking out the window and putting in the new one and replacing the molding with our ruining it, re caulking and touch up painting. Boggles the mind!

So we are, as usual, busy making sure things get done before the rainy season sets in soon. And Con is in 7th heaven doing all this.

Fall Starts Friday.

Can you believe it???

******

One year Anniversary of My Surgery today & Annie gets her staples out.

2011-09-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yep Annie and I have lots to celebrate today.

Its been one year today I had my Parathyroid Surgery and its taken pretty much the year to recover. I didn't realize I how bad I was till now that I am feeling sooooooooooo good. Lynn can attest to that. :)) My mental attitude has improved so much too....Helped along by Annie getting her Staples out this morning and being pronounced ready to rock and roll again.

Just have to tone it down for about three more weeks tho.

This was this morning before going to the Vets.

Shows her staples.

It healed wonderfully.
This is Dr Kang and his Assistant Melissa ..If I remember right.. She did the anesthesia.
Annie went to them and cowered down. she isn't being held down.
He was trying to pick her up which she doesn't like.

Shes a big baby. But she did good. she got a nice treat afterwards too and she shook hands for it.
He said she will walk on it when she is ready but it will probably be a couple weeks yet.
But she is free to run, just not ever again after a ball and jump in the air like she likes to do. How will we ever stop that.. she LOVES doing it... We have our work cut out for us.
Thank you Dr Kang for giving us our Annie back. She will be playing like nothing happened soon.
Well I have to go.... I am being summoned .
She wants to go join her Daddy who is pouring a cement slab for the shed he is working on.
I have some Art to do too.
And life goes on.
If you missed my finished painting check out the post below this one.

*****

Painting DONE & Come Fly With Me....

2011-09-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

I have been having a good time sitting outside painting.

This is healing for both Annie and me.

I finished my painting today too.

Color me Happy!!!

DONE.
I might add more white to the flowers as I see fit but for the most part it is done.

My camera doesn't really capture it well here. I need to take a better photo.

I plan on doing some more painting outside next week as the weather is supposed to be in the 80ies still. Maybe I'll finish up a couple other paintings I started last year before my surgery.
I seem to be painting so much better now that its almost been a year, on the 14th, I had my parathyroid Surgery.

Everything is drying out now because of being the 90ies for the past week. The Geese are hanging out in the back fields because of all that grass seed laying around. I love hearing and seeing them daily. They fly back and forth from the field to the Duck pond honking the whole way. You can hear the wind of the wings flying over. We figured there must have been about 200 of them back there when I took this photo. They were spread all over back there and behind the mound. You cant see them all in this shot. They were making a LOT of Racket like a big huge party was going on out there.

Then Along came the Para planes that took off from the private airport back there and they went over the geese several times to shoo them off.. :(

You can see the rainbow one in this photo if you enlarge it...but for some reason it wont enlarge...then a second black and white one took off and flew over.
Soon the geese took off too.

I had my camera ready to catch the sight.

I almost missed it tho because of that dratted delay my camera has.
There are two people again in this machine.

Reminds me of the movie, Fly Away Home.

The Geese took off in all directions.

It seemed like they would never quit coming over us or around us.
be sure to enlarge these photos.

And we can't forget Annie.
She is really showing progress today.
She tries to do the normal but does wear out easily,
but we let her do as much of the normal things, within reason, to keep her happy.
I do believe she is healing faster because of it.

We take her in on the 14th to get her staples out, She seems to be healing up nicely.
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
I Did!!
*****

Progress of Farm house painting & Annie, One Week after Surgery

2011-09-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning outside painting yesterday.

This blurred and the sun light faded out the right side.

This was taken at the end of the mornings work.

I have lots more to do yet

I have neglected my Art while dealing with Annie & Nikki since the first of August.

It's been getting in the 90ies in the afternoons lately so I set up my Paints in the morning out back before it got hot and tied up Annie next to me so I could keep an eye on her and let myself drift into my Right brain for awhile.
It felt really good too.

Con was working on his new shed below while Annie and I painted. :) Its slow going since our time and money has gone into getting Annie well again. He got tired and came to sit and watch me for awhile. There was a nice breeze.

The shed isn't going to be attached like he was going to do it in the beginning.
It will slant down on the back side to let the rain roll off. We hope to get it done before winter sets in so we can store some summer things like lawn mowers and lawn chairs in it.

In the mean time we are concentrating on Annie getting all better. This is one week after her Surgery and we are hanging in there. Its like having a new baby right now having to keep watch on her so she doesn't over do or pull out the staples, or chase after squirrels.

One week down and one to go to get those staples out if she doesn't get them out before then. So far two are gone.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Animal & Garden Wednesday, A Visit & Project

2011-09-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Our sunflowers have never gotten this tall before.

We were guesstimating how tall it was so we got out the tape measure while our company was here and measured it.

This photo goes down below of Cons Cousin Rita.. I accidental deleted it and cant get it back there.. so it will be explained below. Arrgh.
Meanwhile...This sunflower was so tall we had a hard time getting the tape measure up there and the head has finally started turning over.

So we compensated by going to the ground and it was 13 feet tall.
Amazing.

Cons Cousin and my Oldest best Friend from childhood, came to visit us last week.

We had a fun time altho it was to short. So we took off on a little drive. She wanted to see a covered Bridge. But first we got lost and had to make a U turn but when Rita saw the blackberries she had to stop to get some. HUCK FINN went out with her. Did Huck Finn have a cousin??? They are made from the same mold!!! LOL

Rita's Mom and Cons Dad were Brother and Sister. Cons Dad being the second oldest in a family of ten kids.

I found that no matter what happened.. getting lost or being delayed for some reason, she would just go with the flow and find something fun out of where she was.

We found a Covered bridge and got out for some Picture taking.

We took lots more then these and maybe I will post them in another post.

Con sat in the car for these pix. We had actually gone out to the Vets for Annie to see him one more time before having surgery on her knee, so she was in the car with us. We went by Vineyards and Old barns and Rita loved it all. She lives in SO CAL but was born in Montana.

She came with a Project to do.

No one has ever come with a Project to do.

What Fun.

This is me saying... C'est la Vie..

With my old baggy paint smock on.

Anyway...She brought a light weight unfinished birdhouse with her,
like you get at Michael's. She found an old pretty book at a thrift store and we cut it up.
The cover became the roof and we decoupaged the sides with pages of the book. My camera has been blurring lately when using the flash.
I am bummed at losing these photos to blur. I am hoping Rita's photos came out better.

THIS IS WHERE THAT TOP PHOTO SHOULD HAVE GONE!!

PICTURE IT HERE.

With Rita working at the table I set up for us.

We kind of messed up on finishing it. I will have to do a little painting on the base of it and when things settle down with Annie I will and post the pix of it done. Its really quite cute.

Looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning to see these two young bucks playing in the field next door.

Practicing their head butting with each other.

Look at that rack. It shows red in the sunlight.

They were over that hedge in a flash when we got out in our field so this was the best photos I could get.

Annie is doing good. We take her out with us on a leash and keep our eyes on her to not lick and pick. She wants to gooooooooo now, but

we have to keep her contained for another week at least. Its like having a little baby to watch over right now. Constant care to make sure she doesn't undo all this. I am trying to get back to normal but its slow going. But overall she is really pretty good.

Daisy is wondering what all the Hullabaloo is over tho.

Anyone want to pay me some attention???

****

Two days after Annies Surgery.

2011-09-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

ANNIE TODAY

She was laying on her sore side here.

She perked up big time today. Didn't seem to bother her to lay on that side.

We took her outside on a leash today and let her lay around .

She wanted to be outside with her daddy. :))
She also wanted to chase the neighbors cat away but she was on a leash thank goodness.

Its going to be hard keeping her down for the next week.
She wants to do everything she is used to doing. I even saw her put her foot down today.

But she seems to be content

Look at that face. You think she was spoilt before just wait till this is all over.

:))

I have been spending my nights on a mattress on the floor in the computer room so she wont have to wear that CONE anymore. I don't want her jumping up on our bed or on the couch. The first night I decided to sleep in there to keep watch on her as she was so groggy. She came over to me. Dipped the cone OVER my face and was nose to nose glaring at me to take it off. Once I did she laid down and slept the night away. Now I don't have the heart to put it on and stick her in the room by herself. We have to be very watchful for the next week while the tissue is very tender Dr Kang told us. I am still pretty tired and trying to recoup with her from the emotional roller coaster I have been on.

Annie's Knee Surgery Update

2011-09-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Operation over and went well.

We got her home about three and she is still a bit groggy here.
She will have to wear the cone when we can't watch her closely.

They really shaved her. Poor thing.
We go back in two weeks to take out the staples.
We will have to keep close watch on her for a week. Tissue will be tender by Tuesday till Saturday so no jumping or running during that time.

Company left last night and we took Annie in early this morning so I am
EXHAUSTED!
More pix & checking blogs when I have time to breath.
I plan on Crashing for a few days.
Have a great weekend and thanks for all your concern.
***

Flowers of late summer. Annie update

2011-08-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Summer is winding down.

The kids start back to school this week. The summer plants are waining and some are finally blooming. It seems like summer only just started a couple weeks ago here with some serious heat. We got a few days of 90 degrees. I placed Zinnias around where ever I wanted a pop of color and they did very well this year.

The sunflowers did Amazing this year. a couple are actually TEN FEET TALL.

They are finally starting to open and slowly growing larger.

The birds are going to have a field day when these all ripen.

The tallest one isn't quite open yet. You have to enlarge this photo and really look in between the ones blooming but look up higher. Con is going in to pick green beans and tomatoes. Taken this morning.
Then we went up front where he pick blackberries on our bush we let go in the front yard.
I sent these photos to a friend of mine who promptly called Con,
HUCK FINN
:)

We weren't alone out there this morning.

With tons of Geese flying over head honking came these two flying around.

Yep there are TWO on that thing. I was stunned when I enlarged the photo.

There is no padding if it were to crash land. Yikes.

Daisy has now become our 'Limited Edition' Since Nikki has passed on.

We went to Costco and came back with this box that once empty she promptly took over. We have left it for her. She loves it ..for now. They are a fickle animal tho if you know cats. :))

Annie is still following Con around with the ball.

He just isn't throwing it far for her now.

She is managing with three legs and sometimes she puts her left one down but you can tell it hurts. Poor thing.

I find she gets tired faster. So Surgery is scheduled for Friday morning, Sept 2nd, to fix it once our company, that is coming this week, heads home. I am hoping all goes well with this but I just cant let her be three legged if there is something that can be done and this Vet says he has done this procedure with much success. We took Annie with us to Home Depot on Saturday as she loves to work the crowd..:)).. and one of the greeters told us she has a three legged dog and she does very well and plays and runs with only three legs and has for three years so this makes me hopeful Annie wont be blowing out her other knee if one with three legs is fine.

I probably wont post anything again until after company leaves and I hear something about Annie after her Surgery Friday. We can pick her up in the afternoon. So keep good thoughts for us.

I am also hoping all of you that were in the line of Irene are all safe & sound and had no damage to Hearth and Home.

***

Animal & Flower Wednesday and Annie update

2011-08-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

The weather has warmed up now.

Its in the 90ies. The green beans are growing like weeds over night.

The sunflowers are starting to open up.

I can never get enough of these babies.
Neither can the little finches. They eat the leaves.

We had to see it to believe it.

Went out to feed the birds and saw some movement. three dear frolicking in the field next door
.I caught this buck thru our fence. Look at that rack.

I cant get enough of these Beauties.
He just watched me and moved off slowly
what wonderful beauty to see early in the morning.

We took a drive out to Oakland Oregon today.
Its about half an hour from us.

This is a place called TOLLYS. Its a quaint restaurant with an old fashioned soda fountain...interesting fact is this used to be owned by a family called Tollefsons... and the woman we bought our house from was married to a family member. This was a going place at one time where Actors and Actresses came to be seen.

This is a sleepy little town with really cool old Victorian houses, which I didn't have time to take pix of because we were on a mission to visit the place below.
The Oakland Veterinary Clinic that has recently been bought by a Gene Kang that does Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Conventional and Holistic treatments on all animals. Even does house calls.

He has come highly recommended by several people and so we took Annie out for a consultation today and we really liked him. He doesn't believe in confining a pet after surgery. He believes they need to do some moving around to heal better like people do. He does think she is a candidate for the operation as apposed to the vet in town we go to, and is very healthy, and highly recommends it for her for any quality of life. Annie fell this morning when putting her weight on that leg. So We decided we are going to do it and he took some blood work and says she is in excellent health and he has done this procedure with excellent results. So after our company leaves, that is coming next week, we are going to go thru with it. I am going to be a nervous wreck but it has to be done for her to be happy.. oh and he is way way cheaper then what the town vet would do it for. IF they would do it as I haven't even been able to talk to them again and she seemed to think Annie was to heavy and not a good candidate. He said she wasn't over weight. Which we don't think she is either.

I am a bit stressed over all this right now so I'm outta here till next time.

*****

Annies Exray Results

2011-08-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a Vet appointment in the early morning and had to leave

Annie for a few hours so they could sedate her and exray her back left knee.

Results were not good. She destroyed her cruciate ligament like Lolo said it might be.

Anabelle plowed into her while they were chasing a ball causing Annie to twist wrong and it snapped.

Right now she is on medicine to bring down the swelling.

She has a little bit of arthritis in that hip and hip displacia in her right leg but mild. All in all she seems to be OK other wise. She is going on seven years old. But this means being very careful not to blow out the other knee.
I am not sure what will happen from here out, but Dr Bethany gave us all the ins and outs of what to do and surgery is very very expensive and the recovery is eight weeks in a cage and she doesn't think that would work for Annie being the type of dog she is. So I have been given two kinds of medications she might be on for life.

I am really sick about this and not sure how this affects her life and longevity.

This coming on the heels of losing Nikki is very devastating to me

****

New card & Annie hurt

2011-08-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine in SO CAL had to have an emergency operation last Friday.

She had cancer in her Ovaries, but they are pretty sure they got it all so hopefully they are right.

So knowing how much she loves the Beach and knitting I did this little card for her.

I am still trying to figure out ink and watercolors but these are fun to do.

I also added some acrylics. I went down to Staples and put it on card stock and mailed that off.

I like how they look on card stock. This is the original.

I told her I hoped she was back in the swim of things soon.

:))

Annie loves to keep the squirrels up in the trees.
I looked out the window to get these shots.
Last night Annie was playing over next door with Anabelle chasing hard figs like they were balls, when Anabelle smacked into Annie really hard and did something to Annie's back left leg. She started limping and we came home. She didn't seem to bad after awhile and this morning she seemed fine, so we went out to the field to chase the ball making sure she didn't jump for it but half way thru her normal romp she came up lame again and is still limping pretty bad. I felt it and its not broken but I made an appointment for Thursday morning with our Vet. She wasn't in today. Drats...I am feeling down about this after what happened to Nikki. I sure hope its only a pulled muscle & it gets better by morning. We are keeping her down as much as we can.
***

Summer time & the Livin' is.....Veggie Gardens & Projects

2011-08-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

August, The Dog days of Summer.

Actually Annie is panting because she had been running the field chasing her ball.

Our summer has been the mildest summer since we've moved here.

Only once have we gotten to 90 here and its cools down to the 50ies at night.

Our veggies aren't producing like they should this year due to the late start to summer and the cooler days. This peter pan squash was a freebie so we are enjoying what ever we get from it.
But the sunflowers have really out did them selves this year.
At least height wise.

Two of them have gotten 12 feet tall

I've seen them get 9 feet tall but they really took off this year.
We are eating green beans but they aren't producing like they usually do by now either.

Ah here's Annie running in the field, the reason she was panting actually.

Behind on the mound are geese that come to glean the fields from what the Grass seed people left behind. We must have at least a hundred coming and going daily & they will go right over head and you can almost feel the wind from their wings. You CAN hear it. Its an awesome sight & sound.

Be sure to enlarge the photos.

Fair called us to come and pick what we wanted of her figs. Something we love to do on summer evenings

We stood there making pigs of ourselves with sweet sticky syrup dripping down out mouths and fingers.

Her tree is loaded this year.

She let us have first dibs at what we wanted before she lets others come.
Con was in fig heaven.
:)

Even Annie and Anabelle got in the act of eating them.

It was so lovely out we didn't want to come in.

The days are getting shorter and the mornings are darker longer and I am not ready for that.

This weekend we did some garage sale ing and I found this drafting table at a Garage sale.

I wasn't sure where I was going to put it but after rearranging things I found the perfect place for it. I got it and two gold frames for ten bucks.

I could have stayed all day at this place as they had so much but I knew I didn't have room for everything I saw so we left with our treasures. It needs a little
TLC but its basically in good shape.

Oh and Con has a new project.

He cant stand it unless he has something going.

He is adding onto his shed. We need it to store things that take up the carport in winter.

His idea not mine.

I am adding onto this post.. Theres been a change of plans for this shed. He is out taking it down as I type.

He said he slept on it and isnt happy with something to do with it.

So stayed tuned to see what he comes up with next.

:))

And Life goes on...Some Flowers & Animals

2011-08-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Its been a week now since we lost our Nikki and its time to move on.

I do have one photo of her to share but first some pretties.

My Phlox are blooming now and I just love them.

I am going to plant more after this. They stand up so straight and are fabulous.

Saw these in someones yard when we were doing Garage sales this weekend.

These are for you Teri C. Happy to hear your sight is doing much better.

Going thru some photos I came across this photo of Nikki taken a couple years after we got her.
She wasn't allowed to get up on the kitchen counter so when I came into the kitchen she sat there ram rod straight and tried to act like she was a statue. I even had time to get my camera to get this shot. When I said she was a character I wasn't exaggerating.
I chuckle every time I see this shot. I will miss her for a long time but life goes on and so I choose to remember the good times.

Mama eating in the new box. We usually chase them out of this one but how can you chase a mama away. She is eating for her Babies too.Saturday we went to do some garage sailing and not far from us we saw this barn.
The couple how own it said its falling down in back but they don't have the heart to tear it down.

This gazebo was up a hill and Con drooled over it.

He wants one so much. I might just have to paint one for him to look at. :)
I have done nothing Art wise this past week I need to get back to it.

I do have a little story to tell tho.

If you remember I did the little dog licking the plates in a card and sent it off to the owner of 'Chuy' as a thank you card for a luncheon she had invited me too. Only to find out a few days later that they don't have a mail box receptacle at their house for reasons I wont go into but have a post office box. So much for doing a nice surprise...groan..Well I called and found all this out after it was sent since I never heard anything from her. It took a week to get back to me and we decided to get together for lunch yesterday so she could get it in person and I handed it to her. She loved it so much she bought me lunch. Now how is that for a surprise. Things do have a nice way of working out. :)

What are we doing? Annie is looking around excitedly...

Along with doing garage sales we decided to go to the local Farmers Market.

Others had their dogs on leashes so we took Annie. She was working the crowd from kids to other dogs. I didnt get any pix of the dogs there because Annie kept pulling me when she saw one.

I was rather fun to walk around looking at things.

Listening to the blue grass music playing.

Oh and the Kettle corn this couple was selling.

Oh I knew her.. Where have I seen her before?

Well she is my hair dresser and her husband does the kettle corn at the Farmers market every weekend. It took me a few seconds to figure out who was waving at me. Which after wards I felt very silly because I had spent two days at her Salon having her do my hair.

Well out of context its hard to place people. Don't you find that?

Anyway I was feeling depressed after Nikki and went in to get my hair cut & layered and while sitting there I decided I wanted to go back to weaving my hair with blond color so I made an appointment for the next day.
Which is why it was so silly of me not to have recognized Jackie when she waved to me.

oops.

I took this photo in the mirror after my appointment and it doesn't show the blond very well.

but best I could do.

I came out feeling much better actually.

Nothing like a little 'ME' treatment if you're feeling down and out.

Works every time.

:))

Nikki

2011-08-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

Nikki

1997-2011

Its never easy to have to decide when to let your beloved pet go ,

but she was in such pain & we had some blood tests done and it was with a heavy heart we decided it was time to let go. She had something wrong with her Liver and was wasting away. We took her in on trial 13 years ago when she needed a home and we had just put our last cat to sleep and did NOT want any more pets but my Girlfriend begged us to rescue her and she wormed herself into our hearts even tho she was a stinker at first, but she turned out the be the best cat we ever had. I am going to miss her dearly & my heart is broken right now.

Rest in Peace my sweet Nikki.

****

New Card Art. A visit to a new neighbors house..River View

2011-07-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

I did another little ink and watercolor painting for a card.

Its a Friends Chihuahua licking the Fiesta plates which were not round and not square either. Just very wonky.

She had a few people over for a luncheon who were Artists to mingle and get to know each other She also gave me some homemade soap she makes so I decided to do her a card as a thank you.

I call it the Dish Washer.

Actually I called it the Mexican Dish Washer as its a Chihuahua and Fiesta plates but I was told they couldn't tell what KIND of dog it was. I'm still working on this painting but I do have to say I am getting spoiled doing little quick cards that see instant results.

Where I put my new sign. The sun has made every thing I take outside glare lately.

I might have to paint the letters black to see it better.
It seems to not show up very well. I want it to get weathered looking.
This View is just across the Street from us.

This River runs around us and our new neighbors have this lovely View from their house and I was over there last night to see it and took my camera.

They also have a private boat ramp they can drive down to and can go play in the water below here.

It is rather steep here and they have two young kids but at least they have a small road down to the water.

As we stood there looking at that view this Turkey Vulture flew up to this tree by us and started sunning itself. Isn't it just awesome? Just across the Street and its a whole different peaceful kind of feeling. More of a hushed running water feeling.

I had to buy a new monitor recently and unfortunately its a lemon and the store wont take it back..which is another grrr story... so it has to be sent off Monday to be fixed by the company, so my desk top is going to be out of action for a couple weeks. I do have my lap top but its hard for me to get to my dashboard even tho I was shown how to do it..... So I might not be johnny on the spot commenting. Just so you know.

Have a Wonderful Weekend.

Animal ???? Wednesday

2011-07-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Its Animal Wednesday so here are a few live and non live Animals of our area.

This photo kind of sums up our love around here.

Birds, Flowers, Art and our Veggie garden.

Bun Bun, I am told, is now a free Range Bunny.
He comes and goes as he pleases but knows his way home.
A painting is going to come out of this shot.
He hates his cage and his owner says he is a mean bunny.
Awww how can something so cute be mean??
Look at that face...

On our walk we spotted this cat out looking for mice in the grass seed fields that aren't harvested yet. We are so behind in everything growing here.

Hanky Panky in the Garage

New projects in the works.

Some more egrets for gifts and I did a sign for the garden in French.

I have put a protective coat on it here and its drying.

Jardin de fleurs

Jardin means Garden & Fleurs is Flowers

Its to hang in the back yard on an arbor.

The Geese are happy the sun has come out finally.

Lots of bunnies running around the place.

Ewwwwwwwwww.. there are creepy crawlies down there.

I'll come down when I am good and ready!!

HAW

Weekend fun and flowers

2011-07-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

We had a nice warm weekend finally.
we actually got to 92 degrees on Sunday but Saturday was in the 80ies and just lovely.

No humidity so that makes it nice. Today we are back in the cloudy cool temps.

Nothing is growing very well because of it but here are a few things that are doing pretty good.

I love my Rose I brought from CA. It blooms faithfully.
This Hydrangea does well every year.

The one below did nothing last year and this year is doing great.

it will turn blue soon. It always starts out white then turns.

This weekend we went to a 40th wedding anniversary and this was in the back yard.

I LOVE the color of it.

Here's a close up of the colors. Just awesome.

There were oodles there and the place was right on the River. out of the picture was a big trampoline that the kids were playing on.

It was a Hawaiian luau bring a dish.

This was on the property too and I just wanted to go put a table and chairs in there and sit.. so did Con. This is something he has always wanted. I got some photos instead & it might end up in something artsy.

What a lovely view they have.
This River right out back not that far.

More of the view

And here's Con being the loner he is off eating his dinner by himself.
Actually there weren't enough chairs to sit in.

The couples daughter made the cupcakes and there were lots of cakes too.
It was a lot of fun.

On the way home we see this Buck eating some food this Lady puts out for them by us.
Con stopped on a curve for me to get this and I had to hurry so it blurred unfortunately.

Just look at its rack and people hunt these. So sad. But they aren't allowed to hunt them here so its safe.

I did a little more painting on this but not a lot. I got hooked on a REALLY GOOD BOOK.

If you want something on the history of America Artists going to Paris
from 1830ies to the 1900s read;

THE GREATER JOURNEY; AMERICANS IN PARIS.
By David McCullough

It was a thick book that told stories of Doctors, Artists..Painters & Sculptors & writers who went to Paris to find themselves and better their education that they couldn't do here at that time, and brought back so much of our history. It was a thick very riveting book that I couldn't put down till it was done. Check it out on Amazon.com. I learned so much and put pieces together of the History of Paris, including the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel tower and what was brought back from there. So many went there to find themselves and they truly did.
Hope you had a great weekend.
***

Animal Wednesday Early & ART

2011-07-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today I heard a thump on the sun room slider door and knew a bird had hit it. It aways makes me cringe when I hear that.
I looked to see a Acorn Woodpecker. I was sure it was dead as it was face down and head under and wings spread out. But I rushed out and gently picked it up and its heart was beating. I held it for awhile keeping it warm against me. It was stunned, its eyes were half open but glazed over.

I quietly talked & petted it on the chest telling him over and over he was going to be OK and slowly I could see the eyes opening more and more and his heart beating a little faster and it lifted its head turning to look at me wide eyed but not in a panic. Finally I said OK you're much better do you want to fly away now? and he looked at me, blinked and took off. Flying very well I might add.

I had no camera and since I had held it for about five minutes I had it seared in my brain so this is from my memory of holding him.

Watercolor and ink.

Our neighbors were gone this past weekend and took their trailer so I got some nice photos of my Rose area without the beast in the photos. You can see the clouds around here. We have had this kind of weather for a few days now.

My poor roses and flowers are drowning and not looking so good at the moment. I am so glad I got my photos when I did. We are to finally get up to the 80s and dry weather starting tomorrow. The grass seed companies are worried that they will lose their crops if we don't. Its been a bit humid but not to bad.

This is a place we see on the way home. its the back side on a hill that this Woman keeps looking great. She cant see it so she has to do it for those passing by.
It is ever changing with bulbs and seasonal flowers that come and go.

We did have one day last week that was nice and we spent the whole day outside.

Con enjoying the bench throwing ball for Annie.

I set my painting up outside and worked on it.
Its so nice to be able to work outside.
When it isn't raining!!!!

Progress so far. I would have more done by now but I got hooked on a big thick book that was posted on a blog recently. THE GREATER JOURNEY. AMERICANS IN PARIS by David Mccullough Lots of American Artists, Doctors, Lawyers went to Paris from 1830 to 1900s and brought back many many ideas that became part of America.

A wonderful read for any Artist.

Since it is Animal Wednesday I thought I would add more wildlife in here.

I looked up from my computer a few days ago to see this little gal looking longingly at our yard.

After seeing me, She decided to turn around and go back the other way.
Good idea!!

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

2011-07-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

My garden is at its peak right now and I am going to share some of the pretties blooming.

I have many in pots this year and since they are annuals and wouldn't make it thru the winter here its a good idea. I can enjoy them now and when they die off put the pots away till next spring. this is in the ground tho.. some are some aren't. This is a Crocosmia.... Lucifer is the color. The first year in the ground.

I LOVE how it spreads when it matures
We see this plant along our route to town and its FULL of red flowers now.
One of my favorite Movies is;

RETURN TO ME.

In it The main character is a Watercolorist and Gardener and since she lives in NY she has only flowers in pots.... And what a Garden...I love that movie just for her Garden. So this has inspired me to do it in a smaller way. Are you ever inspired by a movie?

More of my fountain and flowers.

The lavender does well here and smells heavenly.

Has the most wonderful black and yellow bumble bees on it.

This is a new one in a pot that attracts Hummers and butterflies and bees.

This is called PENTAS Butterfly Deep Rose.

More Lavender One is a French lavender but now I don't remember which one is.

I brought out one of my indoor geranims to summer out here too.

Zinnia, Profusion Cherry

Wave Petunias and Impatiens

We moved this bench so we can sit in the morning sun.

I love this blue. Called Periwinkle blue.

The honey suckle is taking over but smells wonderful too.

My Favorite.. Shasta Daisies

Our corn is growing but not that fast. A friend of mine in SO CAL planted hers at the same time and hers is twice this high.

Our unusually cooler weather is making all our plants behind the time they should be producing.

The beans are getting up there tho. and the sunflowers too.

Oh and here's APRIL. I had to ask the neighbors if indeed this was their cat and it is and what her name was. I mean if she is going to sit on our fence I would like to know her name.

They have been living here going on three years and have had this cat all this time and this is the first we have seen her. They said its a very strange unfriendly cat. And all of a sudden she wants out side.

But she likes our Fence so we let her be.

How can I fault her for loving my flowers too?

:))

Have a Great weekend.

A little Sketching & A little Painting.

2011-07-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Sitting in my garden yesterday I felt antsy and decided to go get my pencil and sketch pad and do a little sketching. The garden was just to pretty not to try and capture what I was looking at. I did this very quickly and went to get my colored pencils to add some color to cement in my mind what was so pretty about sitting there.
Then I got my camera and took some photos and maybe this will end up being a painting one day.

This IS going to be a painting. I started it a few weeks ago and it sits waiting for me to get back to it. We have had company coming thru to visit for the last couple weeks and so I was cleaning for that and then we have needed to do Yard work to keep up this pretty yard, which is fun actually, but I am looking forward to spending some time outside painting soon. Our weather has been on the cool side lately, even sprinkling.

If you want to see more of our yard go to Lynn's blog today it is featuring her visit with us.

http://lynn-nonameblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-visit-with-cris-and-con-in-oregon.html

ANIMAL WEDNESDAY

2011-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

There's something new in the neighborhood.

Our new neighbors across the street moved in with two old dogs and this bunny that keeps getting out.

Isn't it adorable tho.

It has a Cotton tail.

I LOVE IT.

I did chase it home but had to get this shot.

Sometime later this Deer and another buck came trotting by in the same spot right across the street.

Its really becoming Grand Central around here lately.

Went for a drive today and saw this Ram and I had to get a shot of it to share.

What's this band tail pigeon sitting on?

It took a week but most of the birds are now coming to eat from our new bird feeder.

The Crows still dont trust it tho.

I had Con put it up higher then the older one in the yard with a slick cover over the stand and had him cut back all the branches reaching towards it so the squirrels can't get into this one so the birds can actually have some of the food.

BIG SIGH

I looked out and saw this.
You just cant keep them out.

Arrrgh!!

Oh and also the next newest Animal on the block.

Our neighbors have a cat they are letting outside now and it spent the whole day on our fence today.

Right by the yellow bird house we put up front.

I am not to thrilled over this with the birds we feed.

Lets see, The Bunny likes Veggies, We have a Veggie Garden. The deer like flowers, I have tons of flowers and the cat likes Birds.....Need I say more?

ONE neighbor moves and takes his wandering dog and the whole neighborhood changes.

BIG TIME

HAW

Animals & Flowers of this past week in the Hood.

2011-07-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to be at the bottom on this post but it got deleted and I cant figure out how to move things around anymore. Anyway I saw these guys going to town the other day. Look at those horns. I am always seeing the females but its always a treat to see the males.
My Rose Garden is looking pretty.

Its a delight to go under and thru the gate this way right now.

They only last about a month and are gone till next year but what a splash my Fairy Roses make while here. We have had company visit us the last two weekends so its been nice showing them off.

Here's a few photos of pretty plants taken in Fairs yard next door. Astilbe and Hydrangeas below.

Love the bit of yellow green in the flowers

Our butterfly bush is going strong this year.

We have had company over and the hummers & butterfly's come visiting while we are sitting out there to the delight of company.

Smells as good as it looks

We took a drive out to the country a bit and this is what you see a lot of around here right now.

I love the rolled ones.

Meanwhile back home we are feeding the birds while out in the field behind them 'they' are plowing the rye grass seeds into rows to be harvested when dry.

Three of these tractors got a lot done in a short time.

The noise didnt even faze the birds. They just kept eating.

This guy loves that suet.

and hanging upside down.

This Turkey Vulture showed up to stake a claim on anything eatable.

We have noticed the Geese coming back again since they have plowed. Always lots of activity going on around here.

Oh and as we drove home We stopped to watch this Mama with two babies up a couple houses, Gulp down all the Roses along the side of this house. Nice big pretty flowers gone in a munch. I came home and sprayed mine with Liquid Fence.. Which does work. All of our Dogs that were loose around here, like Goose the white lab and Scout a German Shepherd, are now gone.. Moved away... and we are seeing a lot more deer daily. Not a good thing if you want to have a pretty yard. But fun to see. :)

I finally got a new monitor today on sale for my desk top. I havent had my desktop on for a few days now. Which happens to have my photos on it. The old was was six years old and I was told that was pretty good for lasting that long but it wasnt coming on much any more and I was afraid to use my desktop, which is much easier for me to deal with then the lap top getting to blogs and commenting. So hopefully thats the last of the electonic things breaking down on me for awhile.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.
***

Lynn comes to visit. & Animal Wednesday

2011-07-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of this has been going on this past weekend.

This is our latest addition to our yard. I drug myself out of it to get more ice tea and down load some pix to share with you of our weekend and special Visit from another Blogger.

We had a nice, Short but sweet, visit from Lynn and her DH Last Saturday.

Here is Lynn Cohen, from Getting my Feet wet, enjoying our patio.
We knew they were coming and I was looking forward to it.
While our hubby's yakked outside,We spent a couple hours talking & sharing Art, Catching up and She helped me with some blogging problems. Cramming as much as we could in only a couple hours.
We took our annual photo together.
Most of mine blurred, but I've always thought candle light and blurry photos were more flattering.
:))
And all to soon it was time for them to head off to their yearly destination with their Friend Sam in a near by town.

Never seems to be enough time before they are pulling out of our driveway.

:(

But she left me some very very nice mementos.
This watercolor painting she did and has won 2 second prize awards on, She had it put on canvas for me.
Very Cool affect.
This is one of my very favorites of hers
Thank you so much Lynn.
I LOVE IT.

Knowing my love for Refrigerator magnets they got these two from their two trips for me.

How cool is this. And she gave me a few other trinkets.
It just was to quick a visit tho.
How fun to meet up with other bloggers.
This is our third visit I think. I hope there will be more.
I had to show these for Animal Wednesday.

My neighbor Fair, did these for kids for a 4th of July Party she went to.
She LOVES making cookies and always tries to surprise the kids with something different each year and they try to guess what she will do.

She did a few different views of cats.

But the Scotties were my favorite. She is very artsy in everything she does.
Sunday afternoon, another Friend and I went to the show, Just the two of us, to see Woody Allens, Midnight in Paris. She used to live in France and has been several times to Paris so it was fun to see it with her. We both really liked it. The scenery alone was worth the price of the ticket.

And we FINALLY remembered to get our new bird feeder, Con made and I painted, up in the yard. Now we are waiting on the birds to go to it like they do the old one.
It was a WONDERFUL Weekend. Hope yours was too.

Now I think I will get back to my Hammock. There's a Summer to enjoy.

:))

More Art work

2011-06-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

New little painting for a card.

From my own photos of my pansies.

Not easy working on crummy card stock so I used some acrylics on top of the watercolors.

The paint grabs so it didn't come out exactly how I wanted it to.

Here's a better photo of the bird card I made.
The black pecking Chicken we got at the Art Festival last weekend.
Lots cheaper having our critters like this.
:))

Animal Wednesday Bird Card

2011-06-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Towhee on Poison Oak

I made my drawing into a card and had some printed up.

I did this from a photo I took. This towhee was just sitting there singing as we walked by.

This is not a good scan of my work.... the good one just wouldn't post. I will have to try later to get a better shot of it.

I did some touching up on this and gave the bird some white on his chest before getting them printed out.

***

Who doesnt want a bath? Drawing for practice & Me on Laure Ferlitas blog.

2011-06-24T08:10:00.001-07:00

Oh My Whats with this face???
OH NO... DID SOME ONE MENTION THE WORD BATH??

Yep and you would think she was going to be beaten within an inch of her life here.

LOL

We had to bribe her with COOKIES to get her to stand still but she felt so much better when done.

:)))

We went for a walk this morning. It was perfect.

Not to hot and not to cold.

This little Towhee was in our yard and didn't seem to care we were standing right by it.

Last week I got a photo of one in a bush where we were walking.

They are the friendliest of birds and talk to you while looking for bugs.

So last night I did a little drawing of the one in the bush that I hope to turn into another card.

I will put it on watercolor type paper to paint and see what happens.

Yesterday I got a lovely surprise. I went to Laure Ferlita's "Painted thoughts blog" as I usually do and there I was in print. ME.. She had asked her readers if we draw daily and I commented that I don't because I don't know what to draw and on what etc. She said in her comment back to not worry about what, and where just do it. So it freed me to try drawing something, Anything actually & I have been daily so far.... so below are little nothings I did while sitting out side in the sun the last few days. The one above was done last night after my few practice drawings below.

I just used an everyday pencil on a torn and old sketch book with no cover.

It freed me to just play with the pencil and see what came out.

She tells us that failing is good as we are learning from everything we draw.

No they aren't fine art but they are fine failures.

To read her blog posting of this, click on the web site below. If you haven't visited her before you will LOVE her Blog. Thanks Laure.

http://paintedthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/drawing-for-sake-of-practice.html

Today is the start of our Summer Art Festival weekend. I am planning on going with my camera. I hope to get some good shots.

Projects Old and New & Summer time here you come

2011-06-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Summer is finally here officially on Monday.

Some nice warm weather is finally here too.

Got this cool shot of the hummer.

I can 't keep the sugar water filled right now. As I worked to weed underneath these roses I was buzzed a few hundred times. :) The Honeysuckle and Roses are keeping these guys happy too.

Annie now needs to shed her winter coat. She is a bit behind in doing so since it has been below normal for so long.
The Bluebirds & Chickadees babies have flown the nest.
I got this shot by us while out walking. I always carry my camera now in case I see an interesting shot which I usually only see if I forget my camera. :)

One of our creations in Fairs yard seen from the street as we pass by.

Con made her one as a gift. It looks real when you glance at it.

Fence project got done. We only went so far to cut back on the AC noise and it did help A LOT.

Con would like to take the fence all the way down but for now that's enough but one never knows with us. :)

So that fence project is done but never fear I am not without other ideas.

Poor Con...but he likes it.

I was watering the lawn and trying to get a schedule for it and get ALL the lawn watered in as few movements of the sprinkler as I could, but that corner you can see in the shade NEVER gets enough water from the sprinklers and dies back every summer. Well I got an idea.

And This double pink Knock out Rose seen at the store gave me the idea.

Along with this Shirley Temple

Double white Peony sitting next to the Knock out Rose, I mean.. Aren't they just gorgeous??

Yep, New project in progress. Con took out the picket fence and we decided to take out some of the grass and bring the little picket fence out further to put in the Rose and Peony as it gets lots of Lovely sun there all afternoon. Anni is making sure we are doing it right.

Con borrowed Fair and Jim's Rototiller

Which knocked out the work in no time

We planted the plants and he had to add onto the fence some which is what he is still working on since we got pretty tired and had to quit to take a loooooooong nap.

Ignoring the neighbors Trailer... its going to look great.. and I might have to plant more honey suckle closer to the end to hide some of that ugly trailer. An acre of land behind them and they park smack dab next to us in front it so we can't see a thing but it... arrgh.

The Rose is going to take some time to catch up to the others but I am liking it already.

Oh and I am sure we will come up with a few more projects before Summer is over. You know us.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Animal & Flower & New Projects Wednesday

2011-06-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well Another Week has zoomed by and we have been busy. This Rooster is the last wooden project for awhile.

MAYBE..... :)

All I need to do it put on the clear protective coats and This Rooster is ready for the barn yard.

I had fun with it. I love black and white and Red.
This young Doe was seen out back in our neighbors unkempt yard a couple days ago.
Got to make sure all our plants in the field are in wire fences.

My Roses are in bloom now.
This one is my favorite.

If you zoom in and look at the Sugar water feeder you will see a Hummer on it drinking.

I was just sitting there taking photos when she lit and started drinking.

My Peony's are blooming too

As are the Jupiter's beards. I LOVE the color of these.

They come thru cold winters beautifully.

My Roses close up
I could live in Rose Season forever!

Cons got a new project.

Its my fault. We had 13 painted boards left over from the fence job where the wood is.

The neighbors AC is to the left of Con and the sound still swirls around this corner to annoy us. So we went to get five more boards and a couple posts and two rails and painted them yesterday and today he is adding nine feet more on this side of the side yard...so we will have a more cozy back yard and hopefully it will dull the noise more. Their AC has cost us more money. Sigh.

Well That's all I have to Crow about this week.

Animal and Flower Wednesday.

2011-06-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

We have been going for walks in the Mornings lately. Trying to get some exercise in first thing like others have been doing. This is a sight we saw one morning. She was just laying in the grass like a statue.
She didn't even seem to care I was taking her photo and Annie was on the long leash.
This is on the side of our neighbors house across the street.

These were along the road we walked on. Volunteers coming up all on there own. An area that once was kept up but hasnt been in a few years.

This is for Teri C who LOVES Daisies.

My Knock out Roses are a knock out this year and the honey suckle behind it is even better this year.

Sitting at my Dining table we have the best views.

You can just see..if you enlarge photo.. the bird feeder full of Band Tail Pigeons.

At one point this feeder was stuffed full of pigeons.

Then the Crows and Squirrels come to compete for the feeder.

Who ever can scare off the one there gets the prize of food.

This crow was stealing a seed right underneath its pals beak.

I have come to enjoy these crows antics. They are such characters.

We have one crow that makes sounds like a Turkey and the other day we heard him imitating a woodpecker pecking away. We are now calling him TURK. We have heard him several times now. We have this Guy who is an acrobat.

He/she loves to hang upside down on the suet. We get such a charge out of it.

We usually have up to 20 in our yard these days.

The weather is warming up finally and the veggies are starting to grow. FINALLY.. We have been working in the yard again but I find I am not so blogged out as I was. So I will be posting as I find something interesting to post.

OK.. I have to fly now... Have a Great week.

I sure am enjoying my 80 degree weather, She said sarcastically.

2011-06-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

Its Patio time.

Well we THOUGHT it was going to be Patio time.

We WERE going to get into the 80ies today but that isn't going to happen.

Clouds came in today. This was yesterday and we did get to 73 and it felt good, but today its looking like rain again and not that hot. BIG SIGH.. I wanted what they promised a nice summer weekend!!!!

But Its just not happening this year it seems. Our garden is sitting there.. doing NOTHING.

This is so not usual. So I am back to my blogging and posting this and that for something to do.

Strange year!!

I got some blurry pictures of the blue birds coming and going feeding their babies.

We haven't seen the babies yet but we can hear them cheeping.

They nested in Fairs yard. They really like red it seems.

They don't seem to mind me taking their picture tho.
Now this is a authentic BLUE BIRD NESTING BOX in our front yard.
And the Blue birds wanted NOTHING to do with it but the Chickadees took it over.
I got this shot of it coming out after taking in some food for the babies we can hear cheeping in there. The Swallows decided not to nest in the yellow box next to it after all. so out of all the bird houses and all the activity we only have the Chickadees with babies in our yard this year.
Another strange thing as we ALWAYS fill up the houses with Sparrows but not this year.

This is in Fairs yard. I thought it made a cool photo.

I got this out of sync. We finished the critters and put them outside but that's below here yet.

One Bearded Iris bloomed this year for me.

This is called WORLD CLASS

This too is in Fairs yard. That clematis loves this spot.

This is on one of my Rose bushes.

OK.. here's the egret finished.

My Gray bunny will go somewhere eventually but not sure where so I stuck it here for now.

Con got got these moving eyes at Michael's and put them on everything.

I don't think they will last long but he is happy for now.

And this my Friends is THE END of this post.

:))