Day Two

I was a little reluctant to begin work today, owing mostly to the sore muscles I got yesterday.  I went ahead and began work on the step.

Here you see Sully...he likes to watch the birds come and go from our bird feeders!

Below you will see the continuing results of my work, and also, Pepper.

We had lemon, butter, garlic, pepper chicken...Mmmm-mmm good!

and the requisite flower photo...

I have two more pours to make tomorrow...I spent a good deal of time trying to relax, but I also felt the need to be working...ahh, conflicting aims!  I took a hot bath at about 2 pm to battle the spread of sore muscles...it helped and I was able to begin the form for tomorrow's pours...

Hopefully this weekend will be remembered as the weekend that we made this place look good, rather than the weekend of sore muscles.

Storms

The rains came the past few days.  As you can see, through my truck window, it is not particularly easy to see through.  This is because we live in a fricking desert and I need to change my wipers, but, since we DO live in a desert and won't get a large amount of rain until November, I have NOT gotten new wipers.  At this rate, it will rain all summer long.  As soon as I break and get new wipers, it will stop raining.  So, I refuse to get wipers.  Mother nature can just bite it.

The skies do have their beautiful sides!  I took these on the way home.

My beautiful truck!  A short time after the rains came that day, the sun popped out.

So, I went out and took a few pictures of our flowers.  Are you folks tired of seeing flower pictures yet?

Neither am I!

I think a Nikon D90 would do a much better job, don't you?  These are pictures from our Canon.  I touched them up a bit.

I hope you all have a very good weekend!  Be safe!  I expect we will be working outside if the weather is good to us.  We have big plans.  A sidewalk and the forms to go with them.  If the sales are right, we might be buying a bit more siding and some more concrete.  I don't know if we'll put the siding up, but with a good sale, you can't pass it up!

I need to deliver a few paintings and see if they are up to snuff...hopefully they are!  Maybe we'll play some Wii or watch some Netflix.  I love summer!

Cold beer will go a long way to make the yard work easier!  Be safe and have fun!

Blooming Weekend!

The best way to spend a weekend?  Smelling the flowers!

I love flowers.  I love what these silly little bids for genetic diversity stand for.  I love the heat.  I love the weather.  I love barbecues.  I love spending time outside when I don't need a jacket.  I love it even better when I can wear shorts and a T-shirt and still be comfortable!  I love Spring and Summer!!

Do you ever see something this colorful during the winter that is NOT man-made?  No, of course you don't, because Winter sucks!

I love our new  Clamydia   clematis.  It's beautifully purple!

Summer!!  I'm waiting!!!

A Day

Clown fish are cool.

Trains are cool.

Clown fish really are cool.

Cora left today to join her sisters.  Her sisters were going to be there as support for her when she cut her hair.  She is tired of it being so long and, well, can explain it better on her site.

That left me free for the afternoon.  Not one to do normal things, I set out to see if I could find a what to the top of the Rattlesnake Hills.  I could, as it turns out.  I had to do a little creative driving, but I managed it.  Below you can see the roads were pretty good.  There were a bunch of cows in the way.

They were curious about me as I passed.

After some tense driving I found a high point and stopped.  Here is the view.

I think my truck is cool.  I have always liked the look of it.  I don't car if it is 9 years old.  It's a pretty good looking truck.

There are a few valleys hidden from the rest of the world.  It looked as though man had forgotten their existence.

I walked around the hill top looking for evidence that the US Navy had used it for target practice.  I found none.  I did find a few spring flowers!

I turned the truck around and went looking for that valley, since the maps say it has a road down through it.  Turns out it was a cow trail.

Yes, perhaps vehicles had been this way years ago, but I thought it best to check the road ahead before my two wheel drive tried it.

I found that the road did not go much further, rather it ended in a small canyon.  As I was checking out the road ahead, I chanced upon two coyotes.  I did not even think to take a picture, though I could have.  I was enjoying the sight, then they saw me and took off.  ONLY then did I remember the camera.  Still, here's their den.

This is the bedrock, which seems to show the columnation that is so common with basalt.  Still, usually, you see it from the side, not from the top.

Here is why the truck could not continue.

There it is in the background.  It was a beautiful little valley.

There were some tracks of a wheeled vehicle going a different direction.  i followed them to see if there was an outlet.  I found none and assume the vehicle had turned around and returned the way it had come.  Like I decided to do.

I got out to inspect the bottom of the draw and like this picture of the truck looking back toward the Lower Valley...that's Toppenish in the background.

There were some young calves that were in my way on the way back.  I let them cross in front of me.  I gunned the engine a bit more than I needed and startled them.

I got a moove on...get it, MOO-ve?  Yeah, I know, I am a comic genius.  They did not go far and stopped to watch me drive by...then followed.

Apparently they believe every vehicle brings hay...they were wrong.

This is the time to see the flowers of our desert area.  Most are small.

I made it back to paved roads without any trouble.  Overall, it was a fun outing.

Happy Spring Dog!

The apple blossoms are blooming and animals are feeling a friskiness that they haven't for a while.

Specifically, Pepper.  She romped out in the front yard of my in-laws for awhile today.  She was in high spirits.  I mean, look at her eyes!

My mother-in-law's tulips were in full bloom.

Gypsy is even smiling.

I saw some beautiful apple blossoms today and couldn't help but take some pictures.

And, of course Pepper made ME smile.

Happy Easter!

What better subject to celebrate spring than a couple flower pictures?  Well, I can think of one:  A little boy or girl looking for eggs in the back yard...but barring that, flowers will have to do.  

Stupid flowers.

Dances With Daffodils

I mowed the lawn yesterday and did some work outside while Cora worked inside.  It was a good day.  I finished the last book of the Percy Jackson series.  I enjoyed it by the way, and if you want a fast read with a decent plot and fun time, I recommend it.

When I was in high school, we had to write a Beowolf-esque story.  One that bragged about the hero's prowess in battle and his great abilities.  Dances With Wolves, the Kevin Kostner movie, had not been out very long, so I chose to title mine, "Dances With Beowolves."  I don't recall the grade I got, but I think it was higher than normal for me.  I somehow managed decent grades in English, well, not counting Freshmen year, anyway.  Anyway, that's what today's title reminded me of...sorry.

I took the camera out to record our daffodils.  I did a little with paint shop and came up with these.  The bottom one reminds me of the photos in a 1940s Kodak How To Take Photos book I have somewhere.

I have drawn a few more animals and we are VERY close to the last image!  I am very happy about it.  I need to go ahead and finish the last ones though.  I suppose I should stop blogging and go do that...

Beautiful Darned Day

I had the pleasure of teaching first graders today. I enjoyed it. I usually do. I went through the usual complaints about So-and-So doing this or saying that. "So-and-So said a bad word." "So-and-So has a toy in his backpack!" My usual response, as I have mentioned, is usually half-hearted and semi-commatose. Today at lunch, though, I heard a unique complaint. "Mr. H, Kevin is making fun of himself, and its bothering me." Huh? What the? Ahh, they are so sweet, except for the taddle tales, who are frickin' comedians.

It has been a gorgeous day! Summer-like! It is, as I write this, 73.4 degrees out there! I am wearing shorts! I was going to take a picture of our backyard to show you, but it looks like a dung heap. I will, instead, show you picures I took of something growing out of the dung heap I call a backyard.

Cora liked these so much she suggested printing them out...what do you think?