Sandia Mountains

Took these photos Christmas morning of the Sandia Mountains as seen from my yard plus a little sparrow that lit on a post.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas

Flooded Out

Drove out on the desert the other day and found where one of the cattle watering holes had flooded out when we had all the rain that caused the arroyo behind our house. 1st photo is from one side of the earthen dam that kept the water from going across the road. You can see the channel the flood water cut in the dam. Other photos show the hole or crater that was created by the flood water after it came though the dam. Must have been quite a sight. The hole looked to be about 15 to 20 feet deep. A couple of photos of some of the cows around their water hole including the bull. A photo of a leaning juniper tree that is on the side of the dam away from where the water came through. Glad it didn't get washed out. The tree and dam are just to the side of the road. We had taken Tuffee with us as she had been begging to go for a ride for some time. Photos of her kept blurring as she was running and having a good time even though she got a big chunk of cactus in her foot once that we had to pull out. Last photo just a distance shot across the desert.

Yucca Tales

Yucca Tales at  http://yuccatales.blogspot.com 

I have started a new web site or as some call it a new blog. Most of my life I have written stories. Short stories - fiction stories - nonfiction stories - fan fiction stories - and a very few poems. Over the years I have had the misfortune to loose some of the stories I have written. A few months ago I decided to start the new site to post my stories on so that any and all could read them and they will (hopefully) never be lost again.
      The new site is called Yucca Tales. The Yucca is the state flower of New Mexico and one of my favorite flowers. But it's name can be sort of like the almost word "yucky". Many readers might consider my stories 'yucky', which is why I chose the name. I hope that many readers will enjoy the stories.
    If you read a story and like or don't like it, please let me know. Most can be read by children from about age 12 and up. If I was to rate them like movies are I would say they are a GP, but do have some violence as many are westerns with guns in them. How can a TV western not have guns in it.
Many of the stories will be fan fiction stories which means that they are stories written from the point of view of some TV show. Most of my fan fiction stories are taken from the old TV westerns, like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Lawman, Laredo, Maverick, The Big Valley, The High Chaparral, The Rifleman, and of course my favorite Bordertown. Several of the last few stories I have published on Yucca Tales have been Bordertown stories.
     Many of my other stories usually have a bit of the super natural in them, some with a twist toward another favorite TV show of mine The Twilight Zone. Other stories are about adventures in the New Mexico mountains, but again they are fiction.
      At this time there are no nonfiction stories on Yucca Tales. Maybe later.
    Each of the stories starts with one of my photos which makes a good place to realize a new story starts. I don't get them on the site as often as I would like due to having to find the stories and sometimes even type the whole thing on to the computer. Many are on flash drives and CD's but need lots of editing before they can be posted.
    Any mistakes are mine and mine along. If you see one I'll be glad to try and correct it if it can be corrected.
      Please take a look at Yucca Tales and tell me what you think.
http://yuccatales.blogspot.com

Happpy Halloween!

Halloween Decorations

I didn't feel like putting up very many Halloween Decorations this year so I got out the skeleton dolls I had bought from my sister. She used to make them to sell. I arranged them with some of the other things I already had sitting out. Then I found an old guard in the yard that had first been a birdhouse. The top with the wire to hold it in a tree had broke and it was just rolling around the yard. I decided the hole for the entrance for the birds could look like a mouth and I added eyes, eyebrows, and ears. Then I added a ceramic frog I had that had its front legs curled so it can hang on a flower pot. Perfect. Looks like the frog is crawling out of the jack-o-lantern mouth.

Okra and Friends

Don't know if other gardeners raise much okra or not but I tried my hand at it this summer. The first photo is of an okra plant with it's big, jagged leaves and two of the okra pods. For those that don't know about okra it is a really good veggie that likes hot weather and a good bit of water. The long pod is full of white seeds when picked and black seeds if mature. It is best to pick okra when it is small and tender. These two were almost to big but good for the photo. I prefer okra cut in small chunks and fried in butter or oil but it is good boiled, too. It does well in soups and casseroles. Try adding some boiled okra to a zucchini casserole. The second and third photos are of the okra flower and I think it is very pretty.

This is one of the dozen small watermelons we raised. Next photo is of my one and only cantaloupe. Last photos are of a couple of gourds I raised this year.

Cash Back Scam

I saw this one FaceBook and thought it needed to be added to my blog so that others could know about this Scam. I think I have almost had this happen to me.

 

 

THIS SCAM

 

CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!!

It happened at a Wal-Mart Supercenter a month ago.

I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it....
She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a supervisor.

Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it! I said NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover & I wasn't paying interest on the cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order.
So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & rescan everything!

The second time I looked at the electronic tab before I signed & a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it.

The total came out right. the cashier agreed that the electronic pad must be defective. (yeah, right!)

Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad wasn't defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning.
Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?

Just to alert everyone. My coworker went to Milford , DE Wal-Mart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt.

She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her.
My coworker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for $20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK!

My coworker called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her This is a new scam. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line.

Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards!

This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents.

I am adding to this.... My husband and I were in Wal-Mart North Salisbury and paying with a credit card. When my husband went to sign the credit card signer, he just happened to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she canceled it.
We didn't think anything of it until we read this email.

I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one????

BEFORE LEAVING THE CASHIER'S STATION!!!!!
CHECK YOUR RECEIPT
BEFORE LEAVING THE STAND. I'VE SEEN PEOPLE DO JUST THAT. NOW I'LL START!

PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, KIDS, LOVED ONES
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chili Peppers

New  Mexico is known for their Chili Peppers. Here are a few of the ones I grew this summer (as well as a couple of okra that I grew, (green veggie at the top of the first photo) The long skinny red peppers are cayenne peppers.

 The second photo is a green jalapeño pepper, New Mexico's pepper, the state fruit, with a red one in the third photo. Actually the same pepper. They are green to start with then turn red but can be picked at either stage for eating. It depends on the color and how much water, fertilizer, and the type of soil it was grown in how hot (not from the heat used to cook it) the pepper will be.

This photo shows a green jalapeño and one that is a starting to dry out a little beyond the picking stage. I will be keeping most of mine for seed to raise them next year as I don't care to cook with the fresh ones. The juice from fresh peppers can burn your skin and a lot of people use plastic gloves when working with them. Some people can even have asthma attacks if in an area where they are ground into dry chili  powder for cooking with. I have been know to start choking just from running hot water into a pan where I heated enchiladas sauce. As always the question here in New Mexico is 'Green or Red?' It isn't about Christmas. They are asking if you want green or red chili sauce on your Mexican food.

After Surgery

It has been 3 weeks since I had the para-esophageal hernia surgery. According to my Dr. I am doing great, but I feel like I'm taking a lot longer to get well than I expected. I am still feel weak as can be. Seems all I can do is sit around, watch TV, read, or play simple games on the computer like Bookworm or jigsaw puzzles. I have been doing the few dishes we use and a bit of laundry. Even then hubby fusses at me for doing it. He has been so good to me, doing all the chores by himself. Housework as well as yard work and taking care of the horses, dogs, and cats. I keep trying to do more but don't seem up to it.
     But eating has been the worst problem. For the first 2 weeks I was on nothing but a liquid diet. Broth, ice cream, pudding, yogurt, and a ton of pills that had to be crushed, mixed with food and taken that way. Some of them were awful tasting and the best thing I found was to mix them with some chocolate syrup. The first suggestions of applesauce, and yogurt didn't work at all. In fact the applesauce was the thing that caused me to want to throw up the most. And I was told not to throw up or could pull out all the stitches that were used to pull my stomach back into place.
     Now I am able to eat a small helping of cream of wheat cereal, soft scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, cream cheese on a Ritz or Graham cracker, (I take a small bit and let the cracker soften in my mouth then chew it about 15 times until I can swallow it.) I plan on trying some noodles with butter for supper tonight.
    I had thought I'd be eating more by now and the Dr. told me I could have small amounts of anything I wanted except bites of meat and raw veggies. Everything needed to be well cooked, and ground or mushy. Of course not eating meats isn't a problem. No, I am not a true vegetarian but well on my way to being one.
     This is not the best way to be loosing weight, even though I needed to loose a few, but I am. About 10 pounds so far and my clothes are starting to hang on me. But still I am swollen enough around my waist that most of my pants are to tight. Don't think I've ever worn PJ's and robes this much.

Twinkie & Murphy

A conversation between Twinkie and Murphy. Murphy, "Can I whisper sweet nothings in your eat?"

Twinkie, "NO." Murphy, "Are you sure?"

 

Twinkie, "Hissssss." Murphy, "Alright, be that way."

Murphy, "I'll just pretend there's a bird out there."

Summer Flowers

Even though we had drought and to much rain my flowers didn't do bad. Here are some photos I took about a month ago. My althea, or rose of Sharon, tame 4-o-clocks, geraniums, morning glories, and one white cosma.