Sunday, October 30, 2011

A Sew an Sew Sunday!

I did it again!!   

Only this time I made some really small dog/cat size collars and a leash.  

 

Friday, October 28, 2011

A Friday Photo




I think this is an awesome photo of the Elvis Chapel at the Superstition Mountain Museum.



My brother captured them on his cell phone! 




Have a great weekend!
Karen

Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Sew an Sew Sunday!






I've been busy today!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Friday Funny!



 It's not very often that dad wants to go to the grocery with me.



Hmmm....could this be the reason why?




Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Pebbles Gets Dressed Up

You may remember my foster pup, Pebbles.  She had to go to a new foster home before I left for Arizona and Jaimie, her new foster mom, is so good to send me updates and photos!


Just love the Halloween Costume Jaimie dressed her up in!!









Doesn't she make the cutest little lady bug ever!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Finding Gold

Well not really though I wish!!  

Before my little brother and his wife went back to Indiana, I took them to visit the Goldfield Ghost Town nearby.  


A great location for tourists, Goldfields was an actual town that in it's day, almost got bigger than Mesa, Arizona.  Boasting around 1,500 residents before the gold played out, it became a ghost town on November 2, 1898 when the US Post Office closed it's doors and the last of the town miners moved on. 


  
In it's heyday, Goldfield residents could avail themselves of a general store, brewery, blacksmith, a school and at least three saloons.  All of which flourished in the short five years before the gold rich vein gave out. 


The fancy building at the back of the photo is the Bordello, which I suppose, some might find interesting but I prefer all the old stuff sitting around outside everywhere.  If only it could all talk, what history we would learn!

Of course, shopping was important back in 'the day' so I had to make sure that my visitors checked out the general store.

Baby brother is SUCH a good sport!!!


 Aren't they cute!  We had such a great time being tourists!!



This is one of my favorite photos that I took that day. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the sights here and getting a tiny history lesson as well!
Karen


Saturday, October 15, 2011

A Busy Week

This first full week back in Arizona has flown by.  Baby brother and his wife left last Sunday and I've been busy ever since settling in and unpacking.  

Of course, folks have figured out I'm back, maybe because of the vehicle in the driveway but whatever!  At any rate, I am back to grooming and boarding this week with a total of three groom jobs and one day boarder!  

Yes, I had to venture into the dog grooming shed where I knew that baby rattler could be hiding.  Thankfully, I've not seen hide nor skin of him since and that's fine with me.   Hoping it was too noisy around here for him and he has slithered on.  Trust me though.....I am VERY cautious and constantly looking around!  

I must say it is very, very nice to have my 'regulars' come back to see me and see them get so excited.  Well.....mostly excited.  Tigger hates grooming and he knew right where he was this morning when his hu'mom dropped him off!  Dogs DO remember things!  


This is Nellie.  She came to board for the day and was SOOOO excited to be here though she's looks pretty relaxed in this photo!  

When she came in the door she wiggled and groaned and carried on to get my attention.  Sure makes me feel good!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A Hint of Fall

My sister-in-law is like the energizer bunny times five.  She doesn't slow down and when she gets something in her head there's no stopping her.  

She was determined I have a touch of fall out here in the arid Arizona desert.  I acquiesced and bought a pumpkin, to her delight!  However, I told her we couldn't carve it because that would more readily attract the Javelina.  

Photo is of a mom and baby.  I have yet to see a Javelina in person though many residents of our community see them on a fairly regular basis. 

Sister-in-law was not about to be gotten the better of by a giant rodent/pig like animal.  

 That should scare anything off don't you think?


 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Anything but Uneventful!

Dad and I landed in Phoenix last Tuesday and things have been, crazy, unusual, scary, messy and stressful, ever since......almost from the time we took off!
 
I 'thought'  it was going well because when we left, Indianapolis was sunny, warm and the plane took off on time.  Clear skies till we got about half way to Phoenix.
 
The first sign of trouble was when dad decided he needed to go to the bathroom on the plane!  He never does that.  But guess what....it was my fault because I forgot to remind him before we boarded.  I knew this wasn't going to go well and it didn't.  After about 60 seconds or less in the bathroom he came out with the front of his pants wet down to the hem.  Can't say it was pleasant for the next two or three hours in a tightly packed and slightly warm plane!  (Before anyone suggests Depends, he already wears them.  However, with his diabetes and Parkinson's, he doesn't always know he has to go till it's almost too late.)

I missed another sign too......we always leave Indy with cold, and clouded over weather and arrive in warm, bright, sunny Phoenix.  I should have guessed something would be different this year, especially when we left beautiful weather behind.   Sure enough, about 200 miles from our destination, things got turbulent.  And we couldn't see the ground till we were nearly landed.  We had arrived in the middle of a dust storm!  Bad enough that any turbulence freaks me out but we circled and were buffeted round and round.  There was a young lady seated next to me who was five months pregnant and I glanced over at her to see her eyes squeezed shut and desperately fanning herself. It could have been worse, she didn't toss her cookies but, oh my, it was touch and go for awhile.  I felt so bad for her.  

My youngest brother and his wife had driven dad's vehicle out for us and they picked us up on time from the airport.   Life was now looking better....well....pretty good.  We arrived home to find the toilet in my bathroom not working.  How did that happen in only four months of being gone and it was fine when I left?  Not good when you have four people needing the bathroom and only one works.  My sister-in-law and I promptly headed for the nearest Wal-mart to buy groceries and a new TV for dad.  We were also pro-active and bought a new toilet flapper assembly so baby brother could fix it the next morning.  

Here is baby brother and SIL putting together a stand for the new TV.  Not sure he is paying as much attention to construction as his wife would like him to be!  

And there is the new TV and stand with, of course, a Western on!!  Have I mentioned, dad doesn't like to watch much else????

Baby brother managed to fix the toilet a few days later when SIL nagged him to do it.  It wasn't the flapper assembly, it was a corroded flange.  Then my utensils drawer in the kitchen fell apart when someone opened it.  Got that fixed and after that, the top of my curtain fell off the back door due to a broken plastic holder thingy.  But it's all good, these are small things and not worth sweating over.  

Unfortunately though, it got worse when baby brother went to take the trash out to the curb.  There it was, right underneath the trash receptacle.....an Arizona rattlesnake.  I've always been lucky and never found one in my yard though neighbors across the street have. 


 There it is in the center of the pictures kind of coiled up and really hard to see in the rocks. 

As if it knew, said snake decided to take off before the fire department could get here to take it away.  (See middle of photo)  It was a baby, only about 12"s long, but deadly.  They say the babies are the most dangerous as they don't know how to control their venom.  Really?  If any of them knew how to control their venom, nobody would get bit right??

I watched in horror as it slithered toward that pipe at the back of my shed assuming it was headed inside it.  Oh no.....nope, didn't happen.  Instead......it went directly for the wall and disappeared up under that lip at the bottom of the shed.  That's right, it went right up through the ledge into the wall inside my shed.  And that's where I groom dogs all winter!  

So now, the thing is in the wall of my grooming room.  The firemen got their after it disappeared and suggested we put out sticky glue traps like ones used for mice.   They didn't think we should silicone the ledge closed because that might force it to come out somewhere inside the shed!!!   Oh freakin great!!!


It's been five days now and no sign of the snake.  My monthly bug man came this morning and put down some 'Snake Away' pellets but where o where is the snake!  Someone else came and moved things inside the grooming room and pronounced it 'safe', however, I get really nervous everytime I go in there.  I have two grooming jobs this weekend so hoping for the best!

More soon!









Monday, October 3, 2011

Season's Change

Hard to believe that summer has passed and tomorrow dad and I will wing our way to Phoenix for the winter.  Another season has come and gone. 

Dad decided to spend some time on the deck and soak up some beautiful fall weather.  Today, the farmer ran beans in the field behind the house and I caught dad looking out across the newly combined acres and reminiscing.  Fall on the farm was always busy for dad and my brothers getting the harvest done but they loved farming. 


After supper I took a walk next to a nearby cornfield.  

The smells and sights of fall where overwhelming to me.  In a flood of memories I was reminded of other fall days.  Days when I couldn't wait to get home from school, saddle up my horse and take off across harvested fields.  Days when I collected brilliantly colored fall leaves and watched fuzzy black and brown caterpillars scurry on their way somewhere.  Days when I collected acorns by the edge of a field and watched as a dust bowl swirled around a combine eating away and collecting the bounty of the summer season just past.  

All too quickly, it was over.  Not just fall.....but that season of my life.   I wonder if dad was ruminating similar memories this afternoon as he observed the field behind our deck that is now devoid of bounty.  

Seasons change.







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