Daily observations of my simple life.

Cheriki In The Wind:

It is a warm and windy morning and I am out putting out the garbage when I look up and see Cheriki kicking up her heels and running in the wind. First it's kick up your heels and trot about then it's stretch out pull out the stops and run like the wind. I stood quiet, breathless, smiling, like when you watch a horse race and you see  heart. Round and round the pasture, full stretch and can that little horse run. Sage looks at me quizically,ears forward. "What's going on?" but she doesn't follow suit just does a little kick dance and then watches in amazement.  Cheriki like a feather in the wind begins to settle to a graceful trot, softly slowing as we're all caught in the moment of the wind dance.

Posted by: cactusandquail at 14:34 | link | comments (3)

Posted by: cactusandquail at 14:06 | link | comments

Washing Texas Dust Off My Truck

It's Saturday morning and finally after almost two weeks home I go out to wash my truck. I've enjoyed the Texas dust , a reminder, but it's time to clean up. I'm not a great fan of washing vehicles but I dig out the long handled brush and fill a bucket with soapy water and begin the process of doing one section at a time. Lot's of bugs on the grill, wash, scrub, wash, then dry the job is finally finished. Bye Texas dust.

It's getting to the time of year of warm/hot weather. My border collie , Miss Smarty has been watching me all morning, showering, washing the truck, etc. and she is not coming back in the house. She's parked herself under the truck so I cannot leave without her.  I cannot take her when I must leave her in the truck so we have a stand off. Usually very obedient she knows I can't get to her under the truck.  Sigh, I will have to go out and walk her in. First trick her, then take her two front legs and make her walk into the house on her hind legs. Oh the joys of pets.

 

Posted by: cactusandquail at 17:06 | link | comments

Mother's Day

My daughter came by and we didn't really plan anything because the day before we had gone out to lunch at chili's . The first time for both of us and it was good.  Chicken/Shrimp fajita's for us both. I said, "Call if you think of something you'd like to do."  A bit later the phone rang and she said, "Let's go to Oatman" Oatman is an old mining town where burro's roam the street and they have some cute little shops. The ride up was beautiful and breathtaking as the road is steep and narrow with cliffs but the mountains are rugged and red, dotted with trees and cactus. We saw one wild burro going up. My son-in-law is not too good with heights so he was a bit queezy going up.

Once there we started at one end of the town and walked on through going in and out of shops. Got to see a shootout, fake guns of course. Down at the bottom of the town , just outside of town there were three mother burro's with new borns. I would guess less than a week. What sweet little faces . We oohhed and aahhed getting to see those babies. Course there were other burro's on the street as well. I decided that Sage is the prettiest burro in all of Mohave County with her long legs and perfect build. She also has a very loving disposition. In Texas I picked up a book called, "Lizards On The Mantle,Burro's At The Door", It has pictures of a little girl sitting at her desk outdoors with her burro standing behind her and his head is on her shoulder. Reminded me of Sage last year when I'd sit out with my coffee. She'd have her head right on my shoulder or head.  Her lips on my cup when ever she could. I would love to have her out by the house but she loves my fruit trees and some of them are full of fruit right now and others are still recovering from her nibblings last year.

After walking the town we went on through and headed for Laughlin where my son-in-law was eager to do a few slot machines. Heidi and I went and had lunch and sat watching as a tour bus somehow rolled over into the river. Was a sight to see that bus laying in the water and we were wondering how that could have happened. Didn't see any people so it must have been empty except the driver. Lucky for him.

Posted by: cactusandquail at 15:37 | link | comments (1)

Home From Texas:

I went again to Texas and this time I came home the purchaser of 70 acres. I love the small towns and friendly people in Texas. The little town of Marathon is just a joy. A friend and I stayed at Evesgarden.org. a papercrete built bed and breakfast. What an amazing job this couple has done in less than 5 years.  I swam in the beautiful lap pool, also made of papercrete with a special sealer. What a wonderful exotic room that pool is in. Then there were the gardens , oh those gardens. Just amazing. We had good company with our breakfast the next day.

Marathon has a population of 600 yet there are three motels. There is the beautiful Marathon motel that has courtyards and gardens, the beautiful historic Gage hotel and Evesgarden. It is a walking town with a lovely little book store , a coffee house, antique stores, artists gallery's, a french market, a bank, and other shops. Driving around town I saw many old adobes and churches.

A nearby town, Alpine is also a very interesting town with lots of shops that are fun to visit. A book and bead store, another bookstore, bakery, cafe, antique store. While I stayed there , a movie crew was there setting up for a movie. Little helicopters, lots of hollywood types .  Close by this town is Ft Davis another lovely little town . 

In Terlingua there is ancient rock houses the Indians built and an ancient adobe that has a long porch. This is called ,"The Porch" where locals and famous and travelers alike sit in the evening and enjoy the gorgeous sunset over the Chiso Mountains. This is Big Ben National Park. You think you can see forever and the colors change. There is a lovely restaurant with live music and lots of character and a truly beautiful gift store with bookstore in the old adobe. There are also gardens one can walk through not to mention walking down among the old stone buildings. 

Coming home I went through Albuquerque N. M. and shopped at the Farmers mkt and Trader Joes. It is a beautiful clean city sitting up againsst the mountains.

I was glad to get home and see flowers blooming, fruit on the trees, animals doing fine and a new front porch that was built while I was gone.

Life here is changing. A new mobile in front of my house and I just learned  that there has been a rezoning so now the 10 acres on the other side of me can now have 5 trailers. There are now 4 and they put in a new pad yesterday. I'm still content here as people have not moved in yet . How I will feel about it after all the move ins will depend on the type of people.The Texas land is my back up. Will have to start all over again but I can hide out in the middle of 40 acres and they are beautiful acres in a good water area.

Posted by: cactusandquail at 19:32 | link | comments (2)