Pippie and the Cadillac

We bought a 76 Cadillac for $500 way back, we loved the car... it was fun to cruise around. The trunk however, was Pippie's favorite place to hang out when no one was looking.

Adding Photo to Profile

I can not believe how computer illiterate I have become. Yikes!

Pippie and our Chicks...

I was looking for the photos of Todd building our first chicken coop (for Bobbie) when I came across the photos of the first day getting Pippie our wonderful Goat. The first few are of Hannah trying to feed her a carrot... she must of got bored with trying and laid down in the pen and started eating the carrot herself. I had forgotten all about these photos... thank you Bobbie for making me look for the chicken photos. ;) You can see the chicken coop in these photos and our two grouping of chickens... Those were the days and how we can not wait to do that again!

** Our secret for getting our hens to lay sometimes twice a day... We added light on a timmer, so they were getting 16 hours of light and we played soft music all day. Sometimes we would shake things up a bit and play rock, a few of them loved it! I also think by use collecting eggs twice a day helped as well... they thought, hmmm, we might have to lay some more. lol Hannah was great at collecting and would ask permission to have the eggs, Ms. Chicken can I have your egg please... and it came to a point that they really would only let her collect the eggs, well, they would get upset when we did. ;)

Mud, Mud, and more Mud! You gotta luv it!!

Todd is almost done putting his jeep together... yippie!! His friend, Shawn stopped by to show off the mud. He was going back, so we all piled into the truck and went to watch.

We tried to get a picture of the jeep, but he was too far away and got stuck. Had to wench himself out... Todd wasn't going to get stuck too! ;)

This is why you should never play in the mud in your socks.... slip, slide, whammo, dirty!

Doesn't all that mud look like fun!! Fun until I have to do wash that is.

Instead of water slides... the kids made mud slides. lol

Head first... this is going to be good. lol I was laughing so hard I didnt get a photo of the finish. ;)

Jay, doesn't this look like fun? ;) This one is posted for Hannah's cousin Jay Jay.

2 Things Photo Challenge ~ Top and Tail

Top

Poor thing is covered in mud... it rained hard and boy does it show.

The tail... ;(

It just hit me... I was having a hard time with this one, but by golly I got it!!

My neighbors now know that I am 100% certifiable... Laying on my back to take this picture just cause I could, only one car slowed down. :)

This is the view that made me lay on my back... LOL

An afternoon of nature...

This afternoon we decided to take lead from Donna and tied apples to our tree to see what types of birds we can attract. Well, it got hot and after an hour of being outside we all decided we would try again later... it surely wasnt the movement and noise from the kids that was keeping them away. ;) lol So I am hoping tonight to get some good photos.

Here is what we did with our poor sunflower... and the praying mantis *S* brought when she picked up *M* to go home.

They are watching you... Eat your vegetables and fruits!!

Snack time today at our house... fresh peaches, apples, peanut butter and whole wheat crackers, yummy!

I have to post something about this... I was reading my dear cousin-in-laws blog this morning and sadness for our nation struck me like a ton of bricks. If you get a chance take a look and read her post for today, it will make you think and cry (it did me).

Our children's health is failing in America and it brings up many emotions. I want to save them all!! Why is it OK with Society to raise kids to be addicted to video games, junk food and really awful TV, theres more...?! I do not have the answers by any means, but I remember yesteryear and how did we get to where we are in such a short time?

I have my food issues, and boy am I aware of them and how I do not want to pass them on to Hannah. I am learning to balance that fear with a healthier way of living with food and hopefully Hannah will not have the same struggles. She loves her fruits, veggies and water, thank God for that!

"Lead by example!", is a phrase that is big in our house in so many ways... That is what needs to be done; Schools, adults, Society, and so on, lead by example. Confusing, to say the least, how can we change this? One person at a time.

I am adding a few links to the side bar and different food programs that schools can adopt and other information.

PS. Please keep Vicki and Joey in your prayers... they both need help from God to change their eating for the sake of life.

A new appreciation... in multiple ways!

I would like to Thank all of you, but especially Debi...

Through her photo a day blog, she gave me the inspiration to see something new in our surroundings each and every day.

Thank you Debi, my Blog Soul Sista!!

The beginning of this year I was really feeling yucky about AZ again. (I go through my spurts) Now, I have a brand new appreciation because of the eye of the camera (thanks to Debi)... I know this may sound a little, uuummm, not sure, but it has left me thinking, WOW, amazing... We revisited all of our photos from the last few months and it is truly amazing! An example... the centrury blooming, we know people who have lived here for the entire life and haven't seen that, but we got to this year. That is truly amazing! Mailboxes, who would have thought that would help me, but it has... look at how diverse and creative people are here. :) I could go on and on. I have seen the beauty and I know I better for the change. :)

I know what it is... dirt, dirt and more dirt, but when the desert comes a live, outstanding!!! I can hardly wait for winter again so I can find another new appreciation of our surroundings!

So thank you to all!!

Fridge Art

Well, I am getting ready for school and I was cleaning out some of Hannah's fridge art frames and I came across this one from Kindergarten... I have only walked past a million times and today I realized, I haven't really stopped to look at it... Oh my goodness, who is that shark eating?

When I asked Hannah who the shark was eating, she said, "The guy swimming in the ocean. Well, how did you come up with that... I didn't, David (our neighbor boy)drew that mom, why would I draw a shark eating a person. We have been to the beach in Mexico and there were sharks in that ocean and they didn't eat anyone... " Oh Lord help me!! :)

Differences!!

More Rain... This means FUN around here. :)

The mud is here!!

I was going to vaccum... Until I saw them. YIKES!!

Even the sunflower didn't make through yesterday and todays rain. :(

Friday night we had some rain... boy did we have some rain!

The water on the street was past Hannah's Knees.

Hannah and the boys caught over a 100 frogs...

Making lemonade out lemons...

After we had a blast at Peach Mania... we got on the freeway to come home and whammo, flat tire, YUCK!! Another truck had lost a tire too. When they were finished changing their tire they stopped to offer us assistance. Well, hey, we are country folk and know how to change a tire. LOL Well, we had the jack under the car at least. :) They changed the tire and we had to get Todd to bring some fix a flat or air or something cause it was FLAT too. LOL

Check you spare tire to make sure it is aired up.

Anyhow, we could not go any faster than 50 mph and wow, we were amazed by how much you see at that speed. We even reminisced about the days when the speed limit was 55 mph and how fast we move now. :)

Needless to say going 45 to 50 and traveling 26 miles, takes awhile, so we came up with idea to see how many truckers we could get to honk at us... it was a blast and the truckers were all so nice, even the ones that didn't honk. 22 of them did and we all laughed and watched out the windows... So, when ever you get the chance, take your time and enjoy what you see. (avoid the flat tire though.) ;) We sure did!

What is in her bucket today?

It was a wounded Desert Spiny Lizard.

I just loved watching her walk down the road with her bucket, walking stick and hood over her head to keep the sun out of her eyes... Very Mayberryish! :)

Busy, Busy, Busy... was us this weekend!

What a beautiful day it was...

We have had a bit of rain (LOL, a bit, now that is funny!), we went to the Cove, Alabaster carving, and finished it all off with peach picking today. IS summer over yet? :) The next few posts are going to be of all the fun we have had this weekend... and taking photos was some time hard, but we managed. :)

The Cove

Friday we took the kids to the Cove... the water slide and wave pool at Sierra Vista's rec. center. Even the grown ups had fun! :)

Peach Mania!

Apple Annie's Orchard was having their annual Peach Mania Pancake Breakfast and peach picking today... Hannah, Susie, Matty and I enjoyed ourselves and brougth home the best peach crumb pie you ever did taste. I love this place and Hannah always has fun with their Golden Retrievers. :) If you ever make it out to AZ in mid summer through Fall, you will have to take tour and pick some fruit or veggies here. :)

WOW!!! Totally in her enviroment!

The piece of Alabaster Hannah picked? Can you see in it what she did?

Today, Hannah found her comfort zone... yes, there still was a bit of shyness but, not after 10 minutes of warming up she broke through that shell and became the Artist Hannah. :) I have never been so impressed with my daughter and her talents as I was today! I actually cried.

We took an alabaster carving class at Gallery of Dreams here in Saint David... What a wonderful, warm place and the nicest set of people. We started at 9:00 am and we just got home. Hannah showed off her work of art and took off to find more frogs.. not like the 100+ you caught last night wasn't enough. ;) Oh my gosh... I can't stop smiling, what a great time!!

Mr. and Mrs. Trask, gallery owners, were so impressed by Hannahs eye and talent she was showing, that they have asked us to send copies of photos today and are going to display them in the gallery, as well as on their website. They are very encouraging and hope to see more of her around there. Hannah says she cant wait for the next class and even asked them if they were having anyother kinds of classes. :)

The finished piece... INCREDIBLE!!

(Sorry for gushing...I just am in awe of her talent!)

It is a Grizzly bear on a rock...

(I thought it looked like a rooster first, but she definitely saw what it was meant to be.)

Hannahs Materpiece comes to life...

Why did the rooster cross the road?

We don't have that answer but... Hannah had fun chasing him home.:)